Free Republic

WASHINGTON - The independent counsel investigation that led to the conviction of a former Clinton administration housing chief could come back to haunt Sen. Hillary Clinton. The Daily News has learned that lawyers are fighting to suppress a potentially embarrassing final report from the probe that found Housing Secretary Henry Cisneros lied to the FBI about paying $250,000 in hush money to his ex-mistress. Cisneros paid a $10,000 fine after he was found guilty in 1999 and was later pardoned by Bill Clinton. And though neither Hillary Clinton nor her husband was targeted by independent counsel David Barrett, his 420-page...

A Coverup That Won’t Stay Covered by Paul Craig Roberts CNN recently reported that "the Justice Department is re-examining its investigation into the 1995 death of a federal prisoner that the victim’s family alleges was murder at the hands of the government." The victim was Kenneth Michael Trentadue. At 7 AM on August 21, 1995, officials from the Oklahoma Medical Examiner’s office arrived at the new Oklahoma City Federal Transfer Center for the body of a man recently picked up for parole violation who allegedly was a suicide by hanging. The astonished state officials saw a body with scalp split...

In January of 2010, then-Senators Christopher Dodd (D-Connecticut) and Byron Dorgan (D-North Dakota) announced they would not be seeking re-election that year. The New York Times reported on the sudden retirements saying they "signaled that President Obama is facing a perilous political environment that could hold major implications for this year's midterm elections and his own agenda." We now refer to those major implications as what Mr. Obama himself called the "shellacking" of his party in those elections. Does today's announcement that 16-term Congressman Barney Frank (D-Massachusetts) will not seek re-election send a similar signal about 2012?

When you see bipartisan agreement on energy and transportation policy, it means one thing: truckloads of subsidies for well-connected big businesses touting some unproven high-tech "green" solution. Most green subsidies are mostly harmless (if also useless) -- such as solar and wind subsidies. But in recent weeks, lawmakers are lining up behind one green idea that could waste unprecedented amounts of resources -- venture capital, taxpayer money, intellectual innovation -- by approving vast new subsidies to make plug-in electric cars the dominant mode of transportation. A cabal of government-friendly big businesses -- ranging from lobbying king General Electric to made-for-subsidies...

Those proposed new supplement regulations remind me of what we have had in Europe for a few years now. Who'd have thought the (EU) tail would ever be wagging the (US) dog... or is it a matter of McCain working for the same masters that control both of our respective areas? ... and yes, illegal doping was also used in the EU to "demonstrate the need" for a supplements directive. They aren't very original in their campaign strategies, are they?...link to rest of article http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/2010/02/23/us_supplements_attacked_in_mccain_bill_health_supreme_newsgrabs_tuesday_23_february_2010.htm

Shock Switch: Pro-Reconciliation Senator Once Called Process ‘Absolute Abuse’ http://www.breitbart.tv/shock-switch-pro-reconciliation-senator-once-called-process-absolute-abuse/ Breitbart.TV and Naked Emperor News

Margaret Carlson: The Republicans should be happy over Dorgan, that's a reliably red state they'll get it back unless they do what's happening in Florida, which is to have a nasty primary in which the more conservative tea party candidate wins and then can't win in the general election. You have down there Governor Crist who at one time had a 70 percent favorability rating fighting off a primary challenge from Marco Rubio an attractive 38 year old cuban american Tom Ashbrook(host): Tea party guy MC: A Tea party guy, who if he's successful will be the first republican to...

There are two parts to this story, both equally devastating to the Democrats and spectacular for the Republicans. And is has to do with North Dakota. The first part came last Tuesday, when Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) stunned the political world by announcing he would not seek a fourth term. Today part two is expected at 7 pm Eastern time today, when Gov. John Hoeven (R), who is in his third term and yet remains extraordinarily popular, is likely to announce he is a candidate to succeed Dorgan. The news has been confirmed by several sources, including the Bismarck Tribune,...

The Tribune has learned that North Dakota Gov. John Hoeven will announce today he is running for the U.S.Senate seat being vacated by Democratic Sen. Byron Dorgan.

Why Dorgan Pulled the RipcordBy John Kartch - FOXNews.com Updated January 07, 2010 Like Senator Tom Daschle in 2004, Byron Dorgan was finally exposed for who he is. What a difference a year makes. The 2010 Senate landscape has been rocked by North Dakota Democrat Senator Byron Dorgan’s stunning announcement Tuesday that he would not seek reelection come November. Retirement announcements from Connecticut Democrat Senator Chris Dodd and Colorado Democrat Governor Bill Ritter came soon after, the latest indicators of a worrisome electoral outlook for Democrats. The most consequential of these is Dorgan, who has strong approval ratings and decades...

Purely on a red-state/blue-state basis, the Republicans should be expected to lose several seats, but instead should pick up several. They'll have a much easier go of it in subsequent elections, since 2006 and 2008 saw outrageous liberal victories in red states. Republicans currently have 5 of the 16 Senate seats which look to be competitive in 2010. They need all 16 to take over the Senate (or 15, if Sen. Joe Lierberman of Connecticut or any Democrat refuses to vote for the Democrat candidate for majority leader.) Polling data and predictions for each of these 16 seats are listed...

Here is video of MSNBC's Ed Schultz last night saying he has been asked by a Democrat official in North Dakota to run for the open Senate seat there created by Sen. Byron Dorgan's decision not to run for re-election. Schultz said "he is in a different place than politics right now," and said he is "honored" to be asked. However, he did not repeat what he said the night before when a guest raised the possibility. At that time, Schultz's immediate reaction was to say he "can't" run because he has been living outside of North Dakota for two...

Republicans woke up this morning with a spring in their step: Sens. Byron Dorgan and Chris Dodd both said they wouldn't run for another term...

Election 2010: The back-to-back Senate retirements of Byron Dorgan and Chris Dodd may be just the beginning. The people have seen the future of health care reform and found it doesn't work. Apres moi, le deluge. We don't know what the Mayan calendar says about 2010, but it's starting to look like the end of the world for Democratic electoral prospects. Americans who watched in shock as government tried to step between them and their doctors, may have the last laugh. The tea party isn't over until the angry mob votes. As rage grew over the attempt to nationalize one-sixth...

Two Democratic senators have announced they will not run for re-election later this year, raising fears Barack Obama's party could lose its “super-majority” in Congress. The loss of seats in the November elections would mean they could fall short of the 60 votes needed to overcome Republican procedural obstacles in the Senate. If Republicans continue to stand united against Mr Obama, it could lead to gridlock in the second half of his four-year term and harm his chances of re-election in 2012. It would the pressure on the president to get any major legislation – such as health care or...

A top ND Dem has asked MSNBC host Ed Schultz to return to his native state and run for Senate, Schultz said today. In an interview on MSNBC, where he hosts a nightly program, Schultz said he got a call from state Rep. Merle Boucher (D), the House Min. Leader, asking him to consider a bid. Schultz said he had worked hard to get where he was in his career, but he refused to rule out a bid. "I'm flattered. I'm honored. I can't say that I'm even considering it right now," Schultz said. "I'm in a different place right...

The very public way in which the existence of a center-right in the Democratic Party proved to be a mirage has done more to undermine the party’s chances for victory in 2010 than any other aspect of the healthcare debate. When liberal Republicans failed to rally to Bill Clinton’s 1993-1994 agenda — including his failed healthcare proposal — they laid the basis for their total demise in subsequent years. Sens. Jeffords, Chaffee, D’Amato, Packwood, Hatfield and Specter (as a Republican) are gone. Sens. Snowe and Collins are all that remain of the once-dominant Rockefeller wing of the GOP. They have...

Are Dodd, Dorgan and Ritter quitters? One would think that the State Run Media would surely be consistent and affix the label of quitter upon them. Surely... I mean, didn't the State Run Media call someone else a "quitter" when she left the governors office to move on with her life and expand her horizons, both political and otherwise? We hear the action lines spouted by Dorgan, Dodd and Ritter (Democrats all) being promoted by the State Run Media as to why they are retiring, yet we know that it is because they have seen the hand writing on the...

Here is video of MSNBC's Ed Schultz announcing that Democrat Sen. Byron Dorgan will not seek re-election in this November's mid-term election. Dorgan joins Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd in dropping out of the 2010 election. Dorgan was trailing in polls against potential challengers. Ed Schultz said "this a a big blow to the Democratic Party." A.B. Stoddard told Schultz that this is going to be a "tough year for Democrats." As we pointed out yesterday, the Generic Congressional Ballot is swinging heavily toward the Republicans, which may trigger an avalanche of Democratic "retirements" by incumbents rather than face defeat.

Sen. Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee and a Democratic Party stalwart in the Senate, is set to announce today that he will not seek re-election this year, according to a party strategist familiar with his plans. Sen. Dodd's decision was the latest in a string of big-name Democratic retirements revealed Tuesday as the party struggles to contend with a challenging political climate. Sen. Byron Dorgan of North Dakota said he, too, would retire after this year, unexpectedly saddling his fellow Democrats with a wide-open race that could be tough to win in a Republican-leaning state....