Free Republic

To quote the esteemed Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the chickens that were hatched in the stimulus package are coming home to roost in the healthcare proposal. The budget deficit Obama racked up paying for the massive federal spending passed in January is now having a real economic and political impact, which is forcing the president and his congressional allies into hard choices as they face his healthcare legislation. Of course, the prudent thing to do is postpone healthcare changes until the economy generates some revenues and trims the deficit. But the socialist in the White House can’t do that. He’s got...

To quote the esteemed Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the chickens that were hatched in the stimulus package are coming home to roost in the healthcare proposal. The budget deficit Obama racked up paying for the massive federal spending passed in January is now having a real economic and political impact, which is forcing the president and his congressional allies into hard choices as they face his healthcare legislation. Of course, the prudent thing to do is postpone healthcare changes until the economy generates some revenues and trims the deficit. But the socialist in the White House can’t do that. He’s got...

It is increasingly clear that Barack Obama -- in a delicious irony -- may be sunk by his own deficit. As the old recession, which started under George W. Bush, stubbornly pushes unemployment ever higher and the new recession, caused by the deficit, raises interest rates and inflationary fears, the public will increasingly blame Obama's big spending ways for both. Deficit spending has always been the bete noir of American voters. The gospel of the balanced budget is deeply ingrained in their political and economic psyche. Throughout all the Keynesian experiments of the Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon years, voters remained...

At last, there is convincing evidence that Obama’s poll numbers may be descending to earth. While his approval remains high — and his personal favorability is even higher — the underlying numbers suggest that a decline may be in the offing. Even as he stands on his pedestal, the numbers under his feet are crumbling. According to a Rasmussen poll, more voters now trust Republicans more than Democrats to handle the economy, by a margin of 45-39. Scott Rasmussen notes that “this is the first time in over two years of polling that the GOP has held the advantage on...

At last, there is convincing evidence that Obama’s poll numbers may be descending to earth. While his approval remains high — and his personal favorability is even higher — the underlying numbers suggest that a decline may be in the offing. Even as he stands on his pedestal, the numbers under his feet are crumbling. According to a Rasmussen poll, more voters now trust Republicans more than Democrats to handle the economy, by a margin of 45-39. Scott Rasmussen notes that “this is the first time in over two years of polling that the GOP has held the advantage on...

At last, there is convincing evidence that Obama's poll numbers may be descending to earth. While his approval remains high — and his personal favorability is even higher — the underlying numbers suggest that a decline may be in the offing. Even as he stands on his pedestal, the numbers under his feet are crumbling. According to a Rasmussen poll, more voters now trust Republicans more than Democrats to handle the economy, by a margin of 45-39. Scott Rasmussen notes that "this is the first time in over two years of polling that the GOP has held the advantage on...

The data is in for April. Obamanomics is failing terribly. Here's what happened: 1. Household personal income (inflation adjusted) rose, but every penny — and then some — went into savings or paying down debts. Consumer spending, on which Obama is betting to stimulate the economy, actually fell. None of the stimulus money was sent. None. 2. Meanwhile, to pay for this stimulus spending that didn't stimulate, Obama had to borrow so much money that long-term interest rates have almost doubled since he took office, forcing postponement of business expansion and hiring across the board. What a record! In April,...

When President Obama first met the Saudi royals, he seemed to bow at the waist. Either that or he doubled over in pain. Did he bow? Or didn't he bow? That was the topic du jour at the press briefing that day. But now we have the answer: Obama is, indeed, really bowing to the Saudis as he visits the Middle East this week. First, he is bypassing Israel. Visiting the Middle East and not going to Israel would be like touring North America and omitting a stop in the United States. It only makes sense if you interpret it...

The consultant who helped Bill Clinton win the Arkansas governorship has joined the Christy Mihos campaign. Dick Morris, a Fox News contributor and veteran of several campaigns, including former Massachusetts governors Bill Weld and Ed King, will oversee strategy, polling and advertising for Mihos, the first announced Republican candidate to challenge Gov. Deval Patrick.

The Rasmussen poll conducted over the weekend of May 30-31 asked a key question designed to give us perspective on Obama’s current popularity. The question was whether the current problems “are due to the recession that began under the Bush administration or to the policies Obama has put in place since taking office.” In other words, who’s to blame, Bush or Obama? As long as this opinion remains prevalent, Obama will continue to enjoy high popularity. But when it changes, as it inevitably must, we will see him begin a long, long fall. And this is the key measurement to...

Make that speech to the Muslim world, but don't visit Israel, our only friend in the region, I have to think that all Obama's radical friends like Rashid Khalidi are so proud of him...

Asked why he was naming some of his rivals to top administration jobs, President Lyndon B. Johnson said it best: “I’d rather have them inside the tent pissing out than outside pissing in.” President Obama seems to echo Johnson’s management style in his handling of Bill and Hillary Clinton. By bringing them into his inner circle, he has marginalized them both and sharply reduced their freedom of action. It may appear odd to describe a secretary of State as marginalized, but Obama has surrounded Hillary with his people and carved up her jurisdiction geographically. Former Sen. George Mitchell (D-Maine) is...

From Caroline Glick, deputy editor and op-ed writer for the Jerusalem Post, comes alarming news. An expert on Arab-Israeli relations with excellent sources deep inside Netanyahu's government, she reports that CIA chief Leon Panetta recently took time out from his day job (feuding with Nancy Pelosi) to travel to Israel to "read the riot act" to the government warning against an attack on Iran. More ominously, Glick reports (likely from sources high up in the Israeli government) that the Obama administration has all but accepted as irreversible and unavoidable fact that Iran will soon develop nuclear weapons. She writes, "...we...

PRESIDENT Obama is attacking a red herring when he defends his decision to send the worst terrorists at Guantanamo to United States prisons by saying the likelihood of escape from secure federal facilities is very low. Of course it is. No rope ladder or prison laundry truck is likely to do the trick.

The widely heralded credit card reform legislation making its way through Congress is a sellout to the credit card companies. Obama has proposed and Congress has passed a series of minor reforms that deal with the fringes of the problem - late billings, retroactive interest rate hikes, misapplication of payments and such - but fail to reform the most basic offense of the companies: their usury.

PRESIDENT Obama is attacking a red herring when he defends his decision to send the worst terrorists at Guantanamo to United States prisons by saying the likelihood of escape from secure federal facilities is very low. Of course it is. No rope ladder or prison laundry truck is likely to do the trick. But when it comes to federal judges, we can't be so sure. The reason we sent the terrorists to Guantanamo in the first place, rather than bring them onto US soil, was never really connected to worries that they might escape. The Bush administration feared, quite correctly,...

It's obvious that either Leon Panetta, Obama's head of the CIA, or Nancy Pelosi, his party's Speaker of the House, has to go. No administration can tolerate a permanent, public civil war between two such high-ranking officials. Especially when their disagreement stems not from issues of policy but from matters of veracity and credibility, the battle must end in one of their resignations. You cannot have the head of the nation's first line of defense against terrorism calling the Speaker of the House a liar and being attacked by her in turn.

When will the economy stop dropping because of the recession and start dropping because of the harm Obama's cure to the recession is inflicting? There will likely be a seam that will run through the polling and recession statistics in the next few months when the symptoms of the disease abate and those triggered by Obama's program begin to kick in. In short, when will the Bush recession become the Obama recession? In fact, it may already have happened. Obama's popularity and the economic statistics fell, pretty much in tandem from his inauguration until early April. During this period, unemployment...

When all of America's top health insurers and providers met at the White House this week and pledged to save $2 trillion over the next decade in health costs, they were pledging to sabotage our medical care. The blunt truth, which everybody agreed to keep quiet, is that the only way to reduce these costs is to ration healthcare, thereby destroying our system. Here's why: # Essential to any cost reduction is a cut in doctors' fees. Congress is trying to cut Medicare fees by 21 percent. But cuts in fees and doctors' incomes will just discourage people from entering...

I have always believed this since the day she suspended her campaign on June 7, 2008 that she would try to force her way back and Dick Morris thinks so too. You heard it here first, if Obama's poll numbers tank and the economy is a disaster, Hillary will resign from being Sec. of State and give a Primary challenge to the Bamster...

When all of America's top health insurers and providers met at the White House this week and pledged to save $2 trillion over the next decade in health costs, they were pledging to sabotage our medical care. The blunt truth, which everybody agreed to keep quiet, is that the only way to reduce these costs is to ration health care, thereby destroying our system. Here's why: 1) Essential to any cost reduction is a cut in doctor's fees. Congress is trying to cut Medicare fees by 21 percent. But cuts in fees and doctors' incomes will just discourage people from...

Despite Gen. Colin Powell's advice that the Republican Party must move to the center, now is not the time for triangulation by the GOP. It is, rather, the time for the Party to stand firm and fast upon its principles and let this nation come around to its way of thinking, driven by horror at the consequences of Obama's program. The leftist challenge brought by Obama is no longer a theoretical one to be parried by adroit positioning. He means to pass the ultimate left agenda and has the votes to do so. When he is finished — well before...

GEN. Colin Powell is wrong to say that the Republican Party must move to the center: Now is not the time to try for triangulation. This is a time for the party to stand firm on its principles until this nation again comes around to the GOP's way of thinking. This process will be driven by the consequences of President Obama's program. The challenge brought by Obama is no longer just theoretical: He means to pass the ultimate leftist agenda and has the votes to do so. As a result, our nation will be unrecognizable well before the 2010 elections....

GEN. Colin Powell is wrong to say that the Republican Party must move to the center: Now is not the time to try for triangulation. This is a time for the party to stand firm on its principles until this nation again comes around to the GOP's way of thinking. This process will be driven by the consequences of President Obama's program. The challenge brought by Obama is no longer just theoretical: He means to pass the ultimate leftist agenda and has the votes to do so. As a result, our nation will be unrecognizable well before the 2010 elections....

President Obama’s vision of the future is, apparently, an economy guided, steered and — when the occasion demands — commanded by the federal government. Some of the companies will remain private. Washington will take others over. But all will look to the White House, as to an orchestra conductor, for signals as to how and when and where to proceed. This summary is the vision that emerges from the Chrysler bailout. Whether or not one believes the claims of attorney Thomas Lauria (I do) that the investment bank Perella Weinberg Partners was strong-armed by the administration, the fact remains that...

Watch video of O'Reilly's interview of Dick Morris video

Dick Morris nails it with his analysis here of Sarah Palin in the above video! He says EXACTLY what I've been thinking since the election and have been so frustrated about. To be honest, I think even people in the Republican party are threatened by her because of her ability to connect with the average, American woman. And its not because she's not smart. Its because Sarah Palin is REAL and she gets the intellectual stuff at the same time.

President Obama's vision of the future is, apparently, an economy guided, steered and — when the occasion demands — commanded by the federal government. Some of the companies will remain private. Washington will take others over. But all will look to the White House, as to an orchestra conductor, for signals as to how and when and where to proceed. This summary is the vision that emerges from the Chrysler bailout. Whether or not one believes the claims of attorney Thomas Lauria (I do) that the investment bank Perella Weinberg Partners was strong-armed by the administration, the fact remains that...

Former chief White House political advisor Dick Morris revealed Tuesday that his former boss Bill Clinton cared so little about global terrorism that his own Assistant Secretary of State had trouble getting him to pay attention to a bomb threat against the Khobar Towers Air Force barracks in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. "In 1996, I got a phone call from Dick Holbrooke," Morris told WABC Radio's Sean Hannity. "He said, 'We're getting hard intelligence that terrorists are planning another hit on our guys in Riyadh.... They're in the exact same building they were in when it was hit last time.'" In ...

Just as Cassandra wandered into the Trojan celebrations prophesying an unwelcome message of doom so Morris is on the steps of The One’s temple whispering warnings to the starry eyed worshippers as they stream forward to make obeisance and receive the blessing of the Cook County messiah.

When the Obama administration crashes and burns, with approval ratings that fall through the floor, political scientists can trace its demise to its first hundred days. Although Americans are careful not to consign a presidency they desperately need to succeed to the dustbin of history, the fact is that this president has moved — on issue after issue — in precisely the opposite direction of what the people want him to do.

When the Obama administration crashes and burns, with approval ratings that fall through the floor, political scientists can trace its demise to its first hundred days. While Americans are careful not to consign a presidency they desperately need to succeed to the dustbin of history, the fact is that this president has moved - on issue after issue - in precisely the opposite direction of what the people want him to do. Right now, Obama's ratings must be pleasing to his eye. Voters like him and his wife immensely and approve of his activism in the face of the economic...

Apparently, here's the deal: If you are a longtime enemy of the United States, count on a grand reception from the Obama administration. All is forgiven and, worse, forgotten. But if you have a track record as an ally or friend, you won't get the right time of day.

Add one more reason to the long list telling us that Chris Simcox needs our support in his primary run at Senator McCain. Undercutting conservatives in his party is McCain's middle name even, apparently, when socialism results. But to avoid the issue of a potential for government control of the banks, everybody agreed that the stock the feds would take back in return for their money would be preferred stock, not common stock. “Preferred” means that these stockholders get the first crack at dividends, but only common stockholders can actually vote on company management or policy. Now, by changing this...

Sit in on a corporate boardroom struggling to come to grips with the new economic climate Barack Obama has created. Do we expand? Create more jobs? Launch a new product line? Step up our marketing efforts? Ratchet up production? But, wait a minute. The bigger our company gets, the closer we come to being "too big to fail," a "systemic risk." The nearer we are to intrusive government oversight, limits on executive pay and regulators breathing down our necks. We better watch out. We may even get taken over. Stay small. Forget the new jobs. An investor ponders where to...

At the G20 meeting in London, President Obama agreed to create of an international board with authority to intervene in U.S. corporations by dictating executive compensation and approving or disapproving business management decisions, Jerome Corsi's Red Alert reports. Political consultant Dick Morris said that by agreeing to create the Financial Stability Board, Obama is a "willing accomplice" to a decision that effectively repealed the U.S. Declaration of Independence and abrogated the sovereignty of the United States.

This economic crisis is too useful for Obama to want it to end. When Rahm Emanuel -- and later Hillary Clinton -- spoke of never letting a good crisis "go to waste," many people were shocked. But now Obama seems to embody the corollary: that the crisis should continue until he has thoroughly milked it to reshape American politics, society and the economy. As with Faust, it seems that this "given moment ... he wishes to endure forever." Unlike Faust, however, he will not lose his "life and soul" to such a wish. He'll sacrifice ours, instead. First came the...

watch hereDick Morris commentary on Obama's agreement to let the Financial Stability Board regulate US Companies including executive pay

VIDEO: Dick Morris: Obama’s G-20 Giveaways ‘Effectively Repealed’ Declaration of Independence — Internationalizing (Not Nationalizing) Companies Essential to the System http://www.butasforme.com/2009/04/05/dick-morris-obamas-g-20-giveaways-effectively-repealed-declaration-of-independence/

MORE than anything else, business needs a predictable environment if it is to create jobs. Changes in the regulatory environment and the tax code make it almost impossible for businesses to make investments. Yet President Obama seems to ignore this reality. Each day's news brings another bold and far-reaching proposal to change the fundamentals of the US economy. And each time he indulges his personal ideology with such a pronouncement, businesses all over the world cut back on their planned investment until the dust settles. Most incredible was the fact that he chose the middle of a deep recession to...

President Obama's glib assertion that his reduction in tax deductions will not reduce donations is absurd. His pathetic defense at his press conference — that he would still give a $100 dollar check to charity even if he only got $11 less of tax deduction from it was both disingenuous and beside the point. And his comment that his reduced deduction would only impact 1 percent or 2 percent of the nation misses the point that it is these folks who are doing almost half of the donating. In 2006, the most recent year for which data is available, 4...

President Obama's glib assertion that his reduction in tax deductions will not reduce donations is absurd. His pathetic defense at his press conference -- that he would still give a $100 dollar check even if he got $11 less of tax deduction from it was both disingenuous and beside the point. And his comment that his reduced deduction would only affect 1 percent or 2 percent of the nation misses the point that it is these folks who are doing almost half of the donating. In 2006, the most recent year for which data is available, 4 million taxpayers had...

"He wants to nationalize the banks. He wants a socialist economy. And nationalization of the banks is the best way to achieve it. And if he really wanted this cooperation, he wouldn't have his people leak a story that's the front page of The New York Times lead article today that he wants to take companies over."

It is one thing - as Rush Limbaugh has been vilified for - to say you have a desire for the president to fail, but what about accusing the president of wanting his own policies to fail? That's what Fox News Channel's Dick Morris said on the March 25 broadcast of "Your World with Neil Cavuto." According to Morris, those who are criticizing Obama for his spending, including Daniel Hannan, who represents South East England for the Conservative Party, made famous by a YouTube video eviscerating Keynesian politics, are missing the point. Obama wants to worsen the economic conditions to...

Does President Obama truly believe that he can castigate and condemn Wall Street on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays and then secure its cooperation on the other days of the week? Does he not understand that when he ignites a public furor over AIG bonuses and then incites Congress to pass a punitive tax, he sends shivers down the spines of every other corporate executive who makes a lot of money? Does he seriously believe that Wall Street investors will not worry that their winnings, should they join the Treasury as partners in risky investments, would be subject to public abuse,...

Here is video of Dick Morris last night on Hannity. Morris says he believes Obama's true aim is to be able to Nationalize the Banks. . . . . (Watch Video)

Does President Obama truly believe that he can castigate and condemn Wall Street on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and then secure its cooperation on the other days of the week? Does he not understand that when he ignites a public furor over AIG bonuses and then incites Congress to pass a punitive tax, he sends shivers down the spines of every other corporate executive who makes a lot of money? Does he seriously believe that Wall Street investors will not worry that their winnings, should they join the Treasury as partners in risky investments, would be subject to public abuse,...

During the past five months, the money supply in the United States has almost tripled, increasing by 271 percent, according to the Federal Reserve Board. Have car sales tripled? Home purchases? Consumer spending? Corporate investment? Not only have they not tripled, but they have all declined more sharply than they have since at least the recession of 1981-82, and perhaps since the Great Depression. So where is the money? If it isn't being spent, where is it? It is being parked, squirreled away. Consumers are using it to pay down their credit-card balances, pay off their mortgages, reduce their student...

In the last five months, according to the Federal Reserve Board, the money supply in the United States has increased by 271 percent. It has almost tripled. Have car sales tripled? Home purchases? Consumer spending? Corporate investment? Not only have they not tripled, they have all declined more sharply than they have since at least the recession of 1981-82, and perhaps since the Great Depression. So where is the money? If it isn’t being spent, where is it? It is being parked, squirreled away. Consumers are using it to pay down their credit card balances, pay off their mortgages, reduce...

PRESIDENT Lyndon John son's administration was known for his War on Pov erty. President Obama's will become notable for his War on Prosperity. We're speaking, of course, of Obama's plans to hike income taxes on the most wealthy 2 or 3 percent of the nation. He's not just raising the top rate to 39.6 percent; he's also disallowing about one-third of top earner's deductions, whether for state and local taxes, charitable contributions or mortgage interest. This is an effective hike in their taxes by an average of about 20 percent. And soon the next shoe will drop - he'll announce...