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California Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer blamed the tornado that devastated Oklahoma on global warming during a Senate floor speech Tuesday, using the opportunity to push her own plan to tax carbon dioxide emissions. “This is climate change,” Boxer said. “This is climate change. We were warned about extreme weather: Not just hot weather, but extreme weather. When I had my hearings, when I had the gavel years ago — it’s been a while — the scientists all agreed that what we’d start to see was extreme weather.” “Carbon could cost us the planet,” Boxer added, plugging her own carbon tax...

Things go wrong in government. Sometimes it’s just bad luck. Sometimes it’s rank incompetence. Sometimes it’s criminal wrongdoing. Most of the time you never hear about it. Or, if you do hear about it, the media eventually gets bored talking about it (see warming, global). But every so often an instance of government wrongdoing sprouts wings and becomes something quite exciting: A political scandal. The crucial ingredient for a scandal is the prospect of high-level White House involvement and wide political repercussions. Government wrongdoing is boring. Scandals can bring down presidents, decide elections and revive down-and-out political parties. Scandals can...

Tzipi Livni lit Hanukkah candles Tuesday evening with activists from her new party.... “In every generation a group of people arise who do not give in, and who fight against every challenge, even if it is hard and the odds do not look good,” she said. “The group keeps fighting to bring the light.”

When black voters gave President Barack Obama 93 percent support on Election Day in defiance of predictions that they might sit it out this year, black leaders breathed a collective sigh of relief. That encouraged those leaders to try to leverage more attention from both Obama and Congress. Although they waver over how much to demand from the president —particularly in light of defeated GOP challenger Mitt Romney's assertion that Obama gave "gifts" to minorities in exchange for their votes — they are delivering postelection wish lists to the president anyway. "I think the president heard us loud and clear....

These are words I never thought I’d have to write: William F Buckley Jnr,I’m sorry.Actually,my apology isn’t really directed towards that titan of modern conservatism;he’s galloping proudly across the eternal range with the Gipper. It’s more a mea culpa to my good friends at National Review,who have kept Buckley’s flame flourishing during the long days and dark nights of the Obama administration.Yesterday,I let them down. In this piece admiring the strange beauty of the US electoral college,I wavered. Or at least,I gave columnist John O’Sullivan the impression that I had finally allowed the cold needle of doubt to pierce my...

LIVE POLL Q: President Obama and Mitt Romney faced off in the first 2012 presidential debate focusing on domestic policies. Which candidate performed better?

I agree with most of the letters in Talk Back about what we should do regarding the extremists in the Middle East. Therefore, we should cut off all financial aid to anyone affiliated with the tea party, an extremist group in the United States -- no bailouts, no subsidies, no Medicare, no Social Security checks, and certainly we shouldn't allow them to use public facilities such as roads and libraries. They shouldn't be allowed to use services provided by union members: police, firefighters, nurses, teachers, etc. [snip]

A swarm of right-wing loyalists with intimidation on their minds can be expected to descend on polling places in minority neighborhoods this November, two public interest groups warned government officials Monday. In a new report titled, “Bullies at the Ballot Box,” Demos and Common Cause describe campaigns by conservative groups—particularly the tea party-affiliated True the Vote—to train and deploy as many as 1 million persons to police the polls. Demos, based in New York City, and Common Cause, based in Washington, D.C., are public interest groups that have targeted right-wing voter law revision and monitoring efforts. “As we approach the...

If the Republicans had been victorious in 2008, today would you be: A. Better off - 48% B. Worse off - 49% C. No different - 4% Total Votes: 334

(CNN) -- Controversy continues to swirl around the comments made by Todd Akin, Missouri Representative and Senate candidate, that "legitimate rape" would only rarely lead to pregnancy. Initially, the media focused on the fallout of his remarks concerning issues of abortion, sexual violence and the effect on women voters. While Akin has vigorously recanted his remarks, and both Mitt Romney and President Obama have lambasted his statements, only more recently has attention been paid to the fact that Akin sits on the House Committee for Science, Space and Technology. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's petition for Speaker of the House...

Mike Huckabee rallied hundreds of Southern Baptists on a conference call Friday night in support of Todd Akin, offering advice about how they can help the embattled Missouri Senate candidate stay in the race — while acknowledging Akin still may have to bow out. “This could be a Mt. Carmel moment,” said the former Arkansas governor, referring to the holy battle between Elijah and the prophets of Baal in the book of Kings. “You know, you bring your gods. We’ll bring ours. We’ll see whose God answers the prayers and brings fire from heaven. That’s kind of where I’m praying:...

Pelosi: Spirit of Susan B. Anthony Spoke To Me at White House By Eric Scheiner August 8, 2012 (CNSNews.com)- House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi told a recent gathering of the Women’s Political Committee that the ghosts of suffragists Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Alice Paul and others spoke to her at the White House. She claims to have heard them say, “at last we have a seat at the table”. A video recently posted on Youtube shows the House Minority Leader talking to the Women’s Political Committee in May of this year describing her first meeting with President George...

During an interview with CBS's Charlie Rose that aired on Monday morning, President Obama said his proudest achievement over the past three and a half years is stabilizing the economy, not his signature health care reform law. “My proudest achievement is actually stabilizing the economy to avert a great depression, because if I don’t do that nothing else matters,” Obama said. “And the central question becomes building on what we've done. Where do we go from here?” ....

So for those of you who don’t know me I posted at Free Republic as Dengar01 from September 15th 2001 till I opused and 2 months later after questioning the finances of Free Republic my account was zotted. When I first came up with the idea of this thread I emailed TBL, NOTA and a close friend here for their opinions. I then expanded to email some ex-FReepers who were run off the site by some of the most vile creatures on the planet. Some who made up handle’s at TBL to continue their cult like obsession. I was stalked...

Mitt has been pushed on us by the GOPe. Mitt = Obama. Who would be a good alternative to Obama? Let's rally around someone to support.

Predictably, Nancy Pelosi applauded Rep. Bobby Rush when he donned a hoodie on the floor of the House to show his solidarity with the likes of Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson and the Black Panthers, in their calls for George Zimmerman’s head on a platter. Meanwhile, back in Chicago’s 1st congressional district, home to Mr. Rush, during one recent Thursday night, 13 people were shot, two of them fatally. I understand that the shooters all wore hoodies. I trust that Mrs. Pelosi can provide Bobby Rush with an alibi. In the meantime, in the NCAA basketball tournament, the Final Four consisted...

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama said Thursday that the 2012 election will be a "fun debate" over two competing visions for the nation, referring to Mitt Romney as the Republican "front-runner" who has backed policies that would undermine middle-class families. At a fundraiser held at a Washington hotel, Obama told supporters that his administration had spent the past three years "cleaning up after some of that mess, and I don't want to have to do it again."

The Most Rev. John D'Arcy, Bishop of Fort Wayne-South Bend, in a statement which may be found here, asks, "What is wrong with the text of this play [The Vagina Monologues]? It distorts the beautiful gift of human sexuality, clouding its richness so it becomes merely the seeking of pleasure. Sexuality in the Catholic tradition is always related to the gift of self to another. 'Sexuality is an enrichment of the whole person — body, emotions and soul — and it manifests its inmost meaning in leading the person to the gift of self in love.' (Familiaris Consortio, Pope John...

Californians must love $4 gas, enroute to $5. And a stubbornly high unemployment rate. Now, if only the Golden state could become the official ATM for Campaign Obama. So the overworked guy wouldn't have to deal with any real issues, citizens or media on his regular trips to the left coast. He could just fly his 747 into LA or San Francisco, tie up traffic, squeeze $35G's out of awed supporters for the same predictable fundraiser speech (change is hard, there's more to do) and head out to milk Western boosters elsewhere. Oh, wait! He's already doing that every couple...

Check out this amazing image from Rick Perry's ad, instructing voters to believe in... Mitt Romney??? I was arguing on FR that Perry always seems to attack Romney's rivals, but never Romney. Apparently, Romney learned from McCain that to win the primary, you have to get a tool to attack your enemies FOR you. But I figured before making the assertion that Perry doesn't attack Romney, I'd better confirm what 1,000 bloggers have previously complained about. I did quickly find an ad from Perry attacking Romney, but was amazed at what I found. The video ends with the question, "Change...

Obama is certainly the most arrogant president in American history. This clip from the end of the entire 60 Minutes Obama interview didn't make it on air.

As conservatives look over the field of candidates we have been provided this election cycle, one thing becomes abundantly clear: most of these candidates will lose to Obama in 2012. But Rick Perry is the only guy that can show why he is the one you want to have a beer with while Obama is the one upset that the price of arugula is has risen at Wholefoods. If you’re reading this, you may not care who the most likable presidential candidate is, but the voters who decide elections do. The simple truth is that Perry is likable, Romney and...

Rick Perry may be stuck near the bottom of the polls among those vying to become the Republican nominee for president, but he might still enjoy a second act, according to veteran journalist Cokie Roberts. “He’s got the resources and nobody else does,” she said during a press conference before the “A Conversation with a Legend” fundraiser for the MD Anderson fundraiser in San Antonio Tuesday. “If we do see Newt Gingrich self-destruct, which I think is highly likely, and Romney continue to sit there at 23, 25 percent, then people will start looking around again. Roberts, a political commentator...

DERRY — Texas Gov. Rick Perry may be dropping in the polls, but some New Hampshire voters are confident he'll still be a viable candidate in the presidential primary Jan. 10... Voters who listened to Perry speak at the Greater Salem Chamber of Commerce event last night said they were impressed with what they heard. The voters, who came from across the state, also said they think Perry can weather the criticism his candidacy has received and still play a vital role in the first-in-the-nation primary. Those in the crowd included Salem Selectman Michael Lyons and Salem Budget Committee member...

Colin Powell on Sunday blamed the media as well as the Tea Party for the divisive political tone in Washington. Not surprisingly, neither the class warfare stoked by President Obama and his Party nor the resulting Occupy Wall Street movement was mentioned during this seven minute interview with Christiane Amanpour on ABC's This Week (video follows with transcript and commentary): CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, HOST: What about this tone in the country right now? It's still very divisive. It's still very sort of brash, some say poisonous. I mean, you can barely get anything done on Capitol Hill, just behind me there....

First Thoughts: Romney's Clear Path By NBC’s Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Brooke Brower *** Romney’s clear path: After Herman Cain’s defiant news conference on Tuesday and after Rick Perry’s brain freeze at Wednesday night’s CNBC debate, Mitt Romney’s path to the GOP presidential nomination is now WIDE open. In fact, not since Bob Dole in 1996 has a candidate been such a clear front-runner right before the primaries and caucuses begin. The ’96 comparison is also instructive: Dole still lost New Hampshire to Pat Buchanan. What this all means: While Romney looks to be on his way...

Numerous preemptive obituaries are being written for Governor Rick Perry’s campaign. These efforts are premature because they fail to understand and appreciate the fickle winds of political fortune. Governor Perry has substantial political assets that make him a potent candidate and that will give him another chance to prove himself to Republican voters. Each candidate brings their own set of positives and negatives to the game: Mitt Romney has money to burn, establishment support, business experience, and passable debating skills. He also has a record far to the left of the majority of Republicans, a history of changing his position...

In an exclusive interview with ABC’s Jake Tapper, Obama essentially said that, if he could redo the first few years of his presidency, he wouldn’t have made a single decision differently. “I guarantee it’s going to be a close election [in 2012] because the economy is not where it wants to be and, even though I believe all the choices we’ve made have been the right ones, we’re still going through difficult circumstances,” the president said. Sheesh. More power to a person for confidence and conviction, but no doubts? No second guesses? No mistakes to regret or amend? Must be...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Drawing a bright line with congressional Republicans, President Barack Obama is proposing $1.5 trillion in new tax revenue as part of his long-term deficit reduction plan, according to senior administration officials. The president on Monday will announce a proposal that includes repeal of Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthiest taxpayers, nearly $250 billion in reductions in Medicare spending, $330 billion in cuts in other mandatory benefit programs, and savings of $1 trillion from the withdrawal of troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, the officials said. The plan includes no changes in Social Security and does not include an...

Just days after the Labor Department announced zero job growth for the month of August, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D.-Fla.), the chair of the Democratic National Committee, said that the economy is “continuing on the upswing" and that every economist "worth their salt" acknowledges that this is the result of the economic stimulus signed into law by President Barack Obama in 2009. When Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in February of that year, the national unemployment rate was 8.2 percent. As the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported last week, the national unemployment rate was 9.1 percent this...

Dear Glenn, Even the mainstream media is starting to notice that Newt Gingrich is making a comeback. Check out this article in US News and World Report labeling Newt the next 'comeback kid.' "The big-thinking Republican, his supporters, and presidential political experts sense that Gingrich...is on the way back. The reason for the emerging Newt 2.0? His effective performance in the last debate that inspired supporters to boost online donations after he assailed the deficit "super committee" while spelling out detailed solutions to fixing the economy." This article is more evidence that our campaign's strategy is working. While other candidates...

Hurricane Irene, at this moment, is ravaging the East Coast and will continue to do so for the next few days. It is a hurricane, a natural disaster; it was created by the weather on earth. It has been that way for thousands of years. The previous paragraph was common sense. Unless, that is, you are a liberal. In that case you might, as unbelievable as it may sound, blame Republicans for causing a storm. Don't believe me? Take a look for yourself: liberals are actually blaming a hurricane on Republicans. Take this one, for example, which states outright that...

Ralph Nader, the consumer advocate and perennial third-party presidential candidate, announced last month that he would work to find a Democrat to challenge President Barack Obama in 2012. Nader now says that a primary challenge is a near certainty. “What [Obama] did this week is just going to energize that effort,” Nader promised in an interview with The Daily Caller. “I would guess that the chances of there being a challenge to Obama in the primary are almost 100 percent.” The only question, he said, is the stature of that opponent and whether it will be either “an ex-senator or...

We’ve seen a lot of advancements in automotive design and technology in the past 14 years, so what’s to come in the next 14 years? We’ve all heard of autonomous cars in the making, and we’ve seen the evolution of hybrids, electrics, navigation, Bluetooth connectivity, and advanced safety features that are capable of stopping a vehicle in its tracks. Imajerk17 asks us to look into the future to 2025, and debate what things automotive will be phased out in the cars of the future. He thinks steering wheels will be phased out and may possibly be replaced with a joystick,...

Obama : "You have 80% of the American people who support a balanced approach. 80% of the American people support an approach that includes revenues and includes cuts. So the notion that somehow the American people aren't sold is not the problem. The problem is members of Congress are dug in ideologically."

President Obama on Friday pointed to polls to argue that his proposal of a "balanced approach" on a debt deal - one that includes revenue increases as well as spending cuts - is what the American people want. "My Republican friends have said that they're not willing to do revenues, and they have repeated that on several occasions," he told reporters at a news conference in Washington. "My hope, though, is that they're listening not just to lobbyists or special interests here in Washington, but they're also listening to the American people. Because it turns out, poll after poll, many...

Still more hubris from the Manchurian Moonbat at a fundraiser in Philly: "And, Philadelphia, I know there are some of you who are frustrated because we haven't gotten everything done that we said we were going to do in two and a half years. It's only been two and a half years. I got five and a half years more to go." America would not survive another 5 1/2 years of deliberately profligate spending, treasonous foreign policy, and packing the judiciary top to bottom with ultra-radical screwballs. Fortunately, this is becoming clear to most Americans even through the wall...

Of the early potential Democratic contenders, Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley says he supports gay marriage but stopped short of making a major push for the legislation earlier in the year, while Virginia Sen. Mark Warner is opposed. Hillary Clinton, if she runs, would still have her commitment to civil unions but not gay marriage from the 2008 race hanging over her — and at least until the end of next year, when she’s said she’ll be done at the State Department, she won’t be able to make any new comments on the issue. “It gives him an authenticity and a...

A YouTube video of Minister Louis Farrakhan taking President Obama to task over the war in Afghanistan and the bombing of Libya is making its way around the web. In the video, Farrakhan admonishes the president for turning into someone else. Farrakhan says, "We voted for our brother Barack, a beautiful human being with a sweet heart and now he's an assassin. They turned him into them."

It was about three weeks ago that Jerome Corsi, author of "Where's the Birth Certificate? The Case That Barack Obama Is Not Eligible to Be President," called me with some disturbing news. In response to the success of his book (No. 1 at Amazon in pre-release stage) and the elevation of the eligibility issue because of Donald Trump's big megaphone, his sources in Hawaii were telling him that Barack Obama was about to release a fraudulent birth certificate. Corsi urged that WND report the story. But because of the nature of the warnings, I didn't think it would be meaningful....

Obama predicts: 'American people will feel that I deserve a second term' By Michael O'Brien - 04/15/11 02:59 PM ET President Obama said Friday that he's convinced that voters will come to see him as the candidate best prepared to serve as president by next fall's elections. The president said he thinks that he can make the case for a second term, though he acknowledged that the state of the economy could be his biggest hurdle to clear in winning reelection. "I think the economy's going to continue to improve, and I think I'm going to be able to make...

President Barack Obama is lining up donors, courting independents and targeting battleground states for presidential travel. Looks like a real campaign. Did anyone believe Obama when he told Diane Sawyer less than a year ago that he’d rather be a good one-term president than a mediocre two-termer? No. And here’s why: Reelection is critical to presidential greatness. And Obama clearly fashions himself a prospective great. Should Obama win reelection next year, Americans would make not only his day but history as well: It would be the first time in 200 years — since Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and James Monroe...

"Democrats have long fought for fiscal responsibility as a top priority of this Congress. We won't go into the history right now, but it is well known that President Clinton took us out of a period of deficit into his last five budgets being in surplus or in balance," Democratic House Leader Nancy Pelosi said on the floor today.

Where’s the separation of church and state when you need it? According to Nancy Pelosi, there may be no such concept, since government offices have “biblical power to cure� illnesses. Pelosi made this remark while responding to the budget cuts proposed by Republicans in Congress that include the NIH, as CNS News reports today: CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE VIDEO House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said the House Republicans’ proposed cut to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) budget would hurt biomedical research’s “biblical power to cure.�Pelosi, speaking at a press conference on Capitol Hill celebrating the first anniversary of...

"And then somebody -- I don't remember who it was -- turned and said, 'You know what? What about Gibbs' tie? What about Gibbs' tie? That might look good.' And, frankly, Robert didn't want to give it up because he thought he looked really good in the tie. But eventually he was willing to take one for the gipper, and so he took off his tie, and I put it on. And that's the tie that I wore at the national convention."

Outspoken former Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean apparently isn't planning to celebrate Ronald Reagan's 100th birthday February 6, around which there are coast-to-coast events planned. Instead, the former Vermont governor is shrugging his shoulders, asking what all the fuss is about? At a media roundtable today, Dean suggested that Reagan had little impact other than stopping the social progression begun under FDR and seemed to dismiss the Gipper's efforts to crush communism, giving the last Soviet premier, Mikhail Gorbachev credit for ending the Cold War, a statement sure to draw sneers from Reagan fans and even historians. While Reagan is...

Well. We've just seen, the fruits of our corrupt, lame, spineless and wimpy "Republicans" idea of how to deal with democrats: Surrender. Abject surrender. How deeply disappointing this month has been.

<p>If Barack Obama wins reelection in 2012, as is now more likely than not, historians will mark his comeback as beginning on December 6, the day of the Great Tax-Cut Deal of 2010.</p> <p>Obama had a bad November. Admittedly shellacked in the midterm election, he fled the scene to Asia and various unsuccessful meetings, only to return to a sad-sack, lame-duck Congress with ghostly dozens of defeated Democrats wandering the halls.</p>

For two years we watched Barack Obama undercut the left wing of his party at every turn, with a disdain so palpable his minions could not resist insulting leftists in the most juvenile terms. For two years we watched the First Black President facilitate the greatest transfer of wealth in human history – $12 to $14 trillion – to Wall Street, and we watched as he put the U.S. war machine back on the offensive in the world. For two years we heard Obama say over and over again that he had no intention of taking targeted action to help...

Nancy Pelosi is getting the first test of her might under the new Democratic reality as she scrambles to extinguish a rebellion against her power to appoint lieutenants to top party posts. Realizing they don’t have the votes to knock the defeated speaker from the top perch in party leadership, moderate Blue Dog Democrats have set their sights a little lower, targeting liberal Pelosi enforcers George Miller (D-Calif.), Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) and Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.), all of whom hold influential jobs because Pelosi has installed them. Pelosi has already faced down challenges to her authority from a diverse set of...