Free Republic

Should the U.S. House pass the Democratic plan for health care reform? Total Votes = 264 Yes 40.53 % No 53.03 % Not sure/don't care

Reporting from Washington - At least one Democratic political strategist has gotten a blunt warning from the White House to never appear on Fox News Channel, an outlet that presidential aides have depicted as not so much a news-gathering operation as a political opponent bent on damaging the Obama administration. Political consultants are a staple of cable television talk shows, analyzing current events based on their own experiences working on campaigns or in government. One Democratic strategist said that shortly after an appearance on Fox, he got a phone call from a White House official telling him not to be...

Dede Scozzafava, the Republican nominee who issued an election eve endorsement of Democrat Bill Owens in the Nov. 3 New York special election, will meet with Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb Monday to discuss whether she will be stripped of her Assembly leadership position. POLITICO has learned that Kolb will announce after the face-to-face meeting whether Scozzafava, the Minority Leader Pro Tempore, will remain as the GOP floor leader. “Fundamentally my members are very disappointed with her endorsement of Bill Owens and aiding him in helping achieve the Nancy Pelosi health care plan in Washington,” Kolb said. Scozzafava’s last-minute endorsement,...

Are You Finally Ready To Trust Your Conscience? Most politicians are not bad people, but the system has a way of chewing them up and spitting them out. Once in the system, they learn to play the game and almost always compromise their integrity when it can be justified and even sometimes when it cannot. This is done while we look the other way if it’s “our guy” and/or they give us something we want. That’s the insidiousness of democracy and these “representatives” continue to do anything to stay in power. Many of the problems that we face today can...

ALBANY, New York, November 6, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Gov. David Paterson has convoked an extraordinary session of the New York State Legislature to address the state's soaring budget deficit, as well as to pass legislation that would legalize same-sex "marriage."Paterson issued a special proclamation Thursday announcing the special session would convene on November 10 at noon. He said the legislature would take up consideration of the Governor's $5.2 billion "Deficit Reduction Plan" - a proposal which promises steep cuts in government spending - along with several other items including the same-sex "marriage" bill already passed by the Assembly.The fate of...

AUSTIN — State Rep. Chuck Hopson says he's leaving the Democratic Party and becoming a Republican. Hopson says President Barack Obama and Democrats in Congress don't reflect the conservative values of his East Texas district. Hopson, in a phone interview from Jacksonville, said Friday that more than 70 percent of voters in his district voted for Republican John McCain in the 2008 presidential election. The decision is tough blow for the Texas Democratic Party. The split in the Texas House of Representatives was a narrow 76-74 in favor of the GOP. State Democratic Party chairman Boyd Richie said he's disappointed...

Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Despite the best efforts of the White House and much of the media to portray this week’s elections as a meaningless barometer of the public’s mood toward the Obama administration, the results were clear. The voters were communicating buyers’ remorse. One year after reaching its zenith, the Democratic Party is now grappling with what could be the beginning of the end of the Obama era. In Virginia, former Attorney General Bob McDonnell, a solid pro-family, pro-life conservative, won a landslide victory, as did down-ticket conservative candidates. Repeated Obama visits to his own backyard did...

THE END OF 'OPRAH' AS WE KNOW HER: Daytime Diva Giving Up Syndicated Talk Show & Moving To Her Cable Network In 2011 EXCLUSIVE: One of the biggest questions in the TV biz has been when, and even if, Oprah Winfrey would give up her daytime syndicated talk show to focus on OWN, her long delayed Oprah Winfrey Network in 70 million homes that was supposed to launch in place of the Discovery Health Channel as a joint venture between Winfrey and Discovery Communications. The industry has been betting that the daytime diva would extend The Oprah Winfrey Show for...

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/statement-president-barack-obama-iran Home • Briefing Room • Statements & Releases The White House Office of the Press Secretary For Immediate Release November 03, 2009 Statement by President Barack Obama on Iran Thirty years ago today, the American Embassy in Tehran was seized. The 444 days that began on November 4, 1979 deeply affected the lives of courageous Americans who were unjustly held hostage, and we owe these Americans and their families our gratitude for their extraordinary service and sacrifice. This event helped set the United States and Iran on a path of sustained suspicion,...

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Last year, 23-year-old Rashida Hill watched the presidential debates, visited the college political party meetings and put a Barack Obama bumper sticker on her townhouse door. She voted for Obama because she felt like the election was about "being a part of something." But on Tuesday, the Virginia Commonwealth University student didn't bother voting in the governor's race because, she said, the candidates didn't give her anything to get excited about. "The simple fact is, unless you put it in front of somebody, they're really not going to seek it out," Hill said.

And David Plouffe said Obama considered this guy for Vice President

Taxation: Policymakers piled up a $1.4 trillion deficit for fiscal 2009. The figure is so high that if Congress were to use the income tax to balance the budget, rates would have to be nearly tripled. The 2009 deficit was larger than the combined federal debt of the first two centuries of the country's existence. As staggering as that is to the mind, the 2010 deficit projects to be even bigger, roughly $1.5 trillion. The rates for joint filers earning at least $373,601 would have to be almost tripled, from 35% to 95.2%, to help close the 2010 deficit. (See...

But enough with the blind contributions to the Republican Party, and with the blind voting for establishment-backed candidates. That the establishment attempts to save face every time it loses, at it is doing now by supporting Hoffman two days before the election, should not blind anyone from the fact that only hours ago, it was throwing money at a genuine leftist while trashing Hoffman, and that in the coming months, it will be supporting a decidedly non-conservative Charlie Crist over a perfectly conservative and perfectly electable Marco Rubio in the Florida Republican Senate primary. Thus, until the Republican establishment truly...

Budget Committee Senator Says Freeze Was Mismanaged. Gov. Bill Ritter promised a hiring freeze last year to help bridge the budget gap, but a CALL7 investigation found that as many as 2,300 employees were hired during the “freeze.” “We have taken a number of steps to shore up our fiscal house: imposing a hiring freeze, stopping several new construction projects and halting non-essential spending requests,” Ritter said in his January 2009 State of the State speech. But a CALL7 investigation found that the number of state employees increased during Ritter’s hiring freeze, and Ritter’s top staff, who were tasked with...

The White House is beginning to send strong signals that it recognizes the $1.4 trillion budget deficit is a looming political problem that needs to be addressed, even as President Obama reminds Americans that the country's fiscal crisis originated with the Bush administration and will not be resolved overnight. The president's budget director, Peter R. Orszag, on Tuesday will deliver the second major speech on the deficit in a week by a top White House official. Mr. Orszag's speech on "reining in the deficit" will be the first time that a top White House economist will look forward at the...

Pauline McAreavy voted for President Obama. From the moment she first saw him two years ago, she was smitten by his speeches and sold on his promise of change. She switched parties to support him in the Iowa caucuses, donated money and opened her home to a pair of young campaign workers. But by the time she received a fund-raising letter last month from the Democratic National Committee, a sense of disappointment had set in. She returned the solicitation with a handwritten note, saying: “Until I see some progress and he lives up to his promises in Iowa, we will...

The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator John Kerry (D-Mass) labeled General Stanley McChrystal’s proposal to send 40,000 additional U.S. combat troops to Afghanistan “ill-considered.” “This kind of blind blustering and saber-rattling might have sold in the Bush era, but it’s a new day under Democratic leadership,” Kerry boasted. “A more cautious and deliberate approach must guide us.” In support of his position, the Senator cited a resolution passed unanimously by the Berkeley City Council calling for “an end to the United States’ barbarous ravaging of Afghanistan with cowardly remote attacks.” “At least the so-called jihadis have the...

One of the most important things to remember about socialism – or coercion of any kind – is it fails eventually because human beings have an innate desire for liberty and a strong need for personal property rights. In fact, the origins of government lie in the need of agricultural communities to protect themselves from violence and theft. So it is particularly ironic that in more recent times, it is government itself that has more frequently played the role of bandit. When you start taxing people at extreme rates to pay for socialist "benefits," when you start telling them which...

For the third straight month, the number of Americans identifying themselves as Democrats inched up while the number of Republicans fell slightly. In October, 37.8% of American adults considered themselves Democrats. That’s up three-tenths of a point from September and a full-percentage point since July. While President Obama’s party has been regaining ground since bottoming out in July, the number of Democrats nationwide remains lower than in any month from December 2008 through June 2009. (See the History of Party Trends from January 2004 to the present.) Still, there are more Democrats than Republicans. A total of 31.9% now claim...

Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh warned in a TV interview of unprecedented "radical leadership" in the White House and called President Barack Obama a narcissist who is "immature, inexperienced, in over his head." Limbaugh, who regularly rails against the administration in his weekday radio program, said the health care overhaul working through Congress would become "the biggest snatch of freedom and liberty" ever seen in the United States. In an interview taped for "Fox News Sunday" nearly a year after the presidential election, Limbaugh derided Obama's recent visit to Dover Air Force Base to observe the return of 18 service...

Fearful that the party had almost no chance of winning the Nov. 3 New York special election after Republican nominee Dede Scozzafava abruptly announced Saturday that she was dropping out, high-ranking national Democrats immediately began working to secure her endorsement of Democrat Bill Owens, POLITICO has learned. On Sunday afternoon, their vigorous efforts paid off as Scozzafava bucked her own party and issued a statement supporting Owens over Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman, a coup for Democrats who recognized that their best remaining chance of winning the Republican-leaning seat on Tuesday was to swing disaffected Scozzafava supporters their way. By...

Check this out:Watertown, NY paper: Scozzafava urging supporters to vote for the Democrat During the day Saturday, she [Scozzafava] began to quietly and thoughtfully encourage her supporters to vote for Democrat William L. Owens. - Watertown Daily Times

Obama Touts Good Economic News, Yet Warns More Job Loss to Come October 31, 2009 ABC News' Jordyn Phelps and Sunlen Miller report: President Obama touted good news in the economic recovery in his weekly address, pointing to Thursday’s report that GDP has grown for the first time in over a year and credited his administration in helping to bring about a conclusion to the current economic recession. “We can see clearly now that the steps my administration is taking are making a difference, blunting the worst of this recession and helping to bring about its conclusion,” the president said...

America, where is your character, your pluck, your grit? If that question seems overly harsh and needlessly aggressive, then you are staring directly at the problem. This nation sits at the precipice of a fundamental, irreversible transformation that will make all too visible a new country that is incontrovertibly “one nation under a spineless, politically correct, brow-beaten, emasculated bunch of sheep.” Is that too harsh? If you believe my words are too offensive, that I should tone it down, possibly give contemplation to all opposing views from every potential angle, if not every position within the cosmos, then, you’re actually...

Obama Requests More Options for Troop Levels The Washington post reported two officials as saying late Friday Obama asked the Pentagon's top generals to provide him with more options for troop levels in Afghanistan. President Barack Obama grappled Friday with the costs and consequences of a long-term commitment to Afghanistan, but reached no decisions about troop levels, a top aide said, as military advisers briefed the president on an armed services already taxed by challenges around the globe. The president reviewed his options with the Joint Chiefs of Staff and made clear he wants at least one more meeting with...

President Barack Obama has been accused of betraying his campaign promise to change the culture of Washington by "selling" access to the White House to prominent donors. Leaked Democratic National Committee documents showed the party had offered up to four briefings a year from senior presidential advisers in exchange for a personal donation of $30,400 or a commitment to raise $300,000 for the 2010 midterm elections. They would also be entitled to "twice-monthly conference calls ... [and] contribute to shaping policy agendas", the documents said. Major donors to Mr Obama's presidential campaign have already been rewarded with invitations to lavish...

<p>Prominent Houston attorney John O'Quinn was one of two men who died this morning when their SUV slammed into a large tree on Allen Parkway after the driver apparently lost control, police said.</p> <p>"I'm stunned. The community lost one of its biggest assets," said Rick Laminack, who worked with O'Quinn from 1987 until 2006. "He was a great lawyer who shared a lot of his wealth with people who needed help."</p>

Does anyone in Washington tell the truth? Why should Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid be believed when he promises states can “opt-out” of a public option on healthcare? This isn’t like opting-out of sex education class. Individuals won’t be able to avoid the consequences of national healthcare once the government puts the insurance companies out of business, because there will be no other choice than the government program. With health insurance “reform,” opting-out is really opting-in for eventual single-payer national health insurance that will include rationing—especially for seniors, who will be told by government what treatment they are allowed—higher taxes,...

Schwarzenegger drops F-bomb in veto message to lawmaker By DAVID K. LI Last Updated: 10:50 PM, October 28, 2009 Posted: 12:24 PM, October 28, 2009 Arnold Schwarzenegger dropped a subtle f-bomb on a bitter political rival in a possible payback for the lawmaker’s recent heckling the California governator. The Golden State’s leading man has Sacramento buzzing with his written explanation of vetoing a finance bill sponsored by Assemblyman Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco). Down the left-hand margin of Schwarzenegger’s open correspondence, the first words of successive lines were: "For," "unnecessary," "care," "kicks," "Yet," "overwhelmingly" and "unnecessary." The first letters, of course,...

While the deaths in Afghanistan multiply, unemployment explodes, record deficits skyrocket, and in-between his busy schedule of golf, "men only" basketball games and Lincoln Bedroom timeshare rentals, the president managed to prioritize his time to attend a fundraiser for the esteemed Democrat Alan Grayson. It's a good thing that the president can fit such important events into his busy schedule. It's not like he has anything better to do.

A "hate crimes" bill opponents claim will be used to crack down on Christian speech, even the reading of the Bible, was signed into law today by President Obama. The Senate approved the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act by a vote of 68-29 on Oct. 22 after Democrats strategically attached it to a "must-pass" $680 billion defense appropriations plan. Most Republicans, although normally strong supporters of the U.S. military, opposed the bill because it hands out federal money to states and local governments in pursuit of "preventing" hate crimes. The bill creates federal protections and...

Note I sent to my elected representatives today: Dear xxxxxx, NO GOVERNMENT OPTION. No matter what it is called, government option, trigger, personal choice, opt out -- NO GOVERNMENT OPTION. Please vote NO on the health care bill package President Obama is trying to push on America. We can’t afford it and neither can the future generations. My husband and I would like to see: 1. tort reform. 2. the ability to purchase insurance in any state. 3. the deductible (high or low) of our choice. 4. medical savings account. Growing up in a low-income home, I do know that...

For years, Philadelphia candidates for judicial seats and other offices have written checks to a New Jersey-based firm called Dan Silo Consultants. Insiders knew that there was no Dan Silo. It was the name used by Pete Truman, a former Philadelphia ward leader and elected official who brokered the support of an alliance of African-American ward leaders in return for some handsome consulting fees. Yesterday Truman, 74, was charged with filing a false tax return, failing to report consulting income estimated by federal authorities at $700,000 between 2001 and 2007. Also charged with filing a false return was Chester...

Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) / President Barack Obama Washington D.C., Oct 27, 2009 / 02:17 pm (CNA).- Pro-life Democratic Congressman Bart Stupak (D-MI) has called on President Obama to back up his stated support for the exclusion of abortion funding from health care legislation. Recounting how congressional leaders are opposing funding restrictions, Stupak warned that action is needed as “crunch time” arrives.Rep. Stupak, who is advocating the inclusion of a Hyde Amendment provision that would bar federal abortion funding from proposed health care reform, spoke about his health care conversation with President Obama in an interview with CNSNews.com.On Sept....

(CNSNews.com) - Rep. Bart Stupak (D.-Mich.) told CNSNews.com that President Barack Obama told him in a telephone conversation that when he said in his Sept. 9 speech to a joint session of Congress that “under our plan no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions” he was not talking about the actual bill drafted in the House but about the president’s own health care plan—which has never been written. “I don’t know if it is a game of semantics or what,” Stupak said of Obama’s nationally televised declaration to Congress that the health-care plan will not allow federal funding...

We are Democrats of the Democratic Party, and we are joining together in seeking reform within the Democratic Party. Many of the elected representatives within the Democratic Party are no longer following in the time-honored footsteps laid down by the founding fathers of our great Nation. More importantly, we as democrats see our elected representatives within the Democratic Party abandoning the values and principles as set forth within the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States. Overall, this is only the beginning of our problems as Democrats, for the current Democratic Party leadership is full of corruption...

Why do Democrats in Congress want to change key laws that have helped to discover terrorist plots? One would think that the arrests of Najibullah Zazi...and of two others charged with planning to blow up buildings in Dallas, Texas, and Springfield, Ill.—would generate support for the intelligence-gathering tools that protect this country from Muslim fanatics. In Mr. Zazi's case, the government has already confirmed the value of these tools: It has filed a notice of its intent to use information gathered under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which was specifically written to help combat terrorists and spies. Nevertheless, there is...

Not only does the pro-Sharia Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), continue to whine about the four GOP members that have targeted them, they also have a sold out house for tonight's hate fest. Here is what one of tonight's speakers had stated in the past. In September 1991 Wahhaj stated the following:, "…And [Allah] declared 'Whoever is at war with my friends, I declare war on them.' ... Your true friend is Allah, the messenger, and those who believe.... Hear what I'm telling you well. The Americans are not your friends ... The Canadians are not your friends ......

SNIPPET: "A hate crimes bill sent to President Obama for his signature raises a red flag for Christians." SNIPPET: "Barber explains that Liberty Counsel intends to challenge the constitutionality of the hate crimes legislation."

Note: The following text is a quote: THE BRIEFING ROOM THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary ___________________________________________________________________________ For Immediate Release October 23, 2009 White House Announces Global Technology and Innovation Fund During his speech in Cairo on June 4, the President announced that the United States would "launch a new fund to support technological development in Muslim-majority countries." As the latest step in delivering on this commitment, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation announced this week a call for proposals for a Global Technology and Innovation Fund. This fund will help catalyze and facilitate private sector investments that promote...

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration expressed mild disappointment Friday that Iran withheld a decision on whether to accept a U.N.-coordinated plan that could ease fears about Iran's potential for making a nuclear weapon. The U.S., along with Russia and France, officially endorsed the plan Friday. The State Department said it was unhappy that Iran was not ready to embrace the plan, which calls for Iran to ship most of its low-enriched uranium to Russia for further enrichment and eventual use as fuel for a research reactor in Tehran that makes medical isotopes and is under regular monitoring by a U.N....

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Friday shows that 29% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Thirty-eight percent (38%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -9 (see trends).

No Republicans. No C-Span. No press. Nope. Can’t even get in unless you know the double-top secret Democrat handshake.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Senate passed groundbreaking legislation Thursday that would make it a federal crime to assault an individual because of his or her sexual orientation or gender identity. The expanded federal hate crimes law now goes to President Obama's desk. Obama has pledged to sign the measure, which was added to a $680 billion defense authorization bill.

I am not one to usually post a vanity; however, I thought there should be a voice to the Dr. Pepper/7-Up corporate folks who've recently released 7-Up commercials featuring Brad Garrett, an "actor/comedian" who made untoward remarks about Palin and her family. Garrett said during the '08 election cycle, "Joan Rivers face has been lifted more times than Bristol Palin's prom dress." Moreover, Garrett called Palin and her family "white trash." This is outrageous that a major company like Dr. Pepper/7-Up brands would have this stooge peddle their product on television given his sickening comments.

You have to give it to the agenda driven media.... they just don't let go of that bone easily. Case in point, Chris Good and his little diddy at The Atlantic, "It's Not (overtly) About Race".Centerpiece to the headline, and content of his op-ed, is James Carville and Stanley Greenberg's polling/strategy/research firm, Democracy Corps, and it's 18 pg study, "The Very Separate World of Conservative Republicans: Why Republican Leaders will have Trouble Speaking to the Rest of America" released Oct 16th, 2009. Here the disconnect between Good's op-ed, and the actual content of the study begin. Good has chosen to...

While Obama dithers on major decisions he needs to make regarding Afghanistan, shoves off the Iran issue to others, outsources health care to Congress, and otherwise does very little other than vote present as President, there is one area that he devotes his time and energy towards: the permanent campaign. Not only does he focus his travel to battleground states, but he also holds what may be a record for attending fundraising events at this point during a Presidency. Weren't we told that we were in a crisis? Yet Barack Obama has time to check out a Broadway show, walk...

After dropping some popular immigration-enforcement measures, Congress on Tuesday passed the 2010 homeland security spending bill that gives President Obama the authority to transfer terrorism-suspect detainees to the United States for trial, though only after he submits a plan to Congress. The Senate voted 79-19 to pass the $44.1 billion bill, following the House's approval last week. Mr. Obama is expected to sign it. "It has been eight years, eight long years since the attacks of 9/11. There are some people in this country who have become complacent about the threat of another attack. Don't count me as one of...

  President Barack Obama has nominated a Georgetown University law professor, Chai R. Feldblum, to the Equal Employment Opportunity Council. Feldblum, a lesbian activist lawyer, formerly worked for the American Civil Liberties Union, the Human Rights Campaign Fund, and in the mid-1980s clerked for Justice Harry A. Blackmun, the author of Roe v. Wade.   Feldblum faces Senate confirmation hearings before she can assume her post at the EEOC. The significance of her nomination for Catholics is underscored by the EEOC's recent ruling that Belmont Abbey, a Catholic college, must provide coverage for contraception in its insurance plans for...