Free Republic

In the old Soviet Union, Kremlinologists would read the state party newspaper Pravda not so much for the news it contained, but to glean what the commissars wanted readers to believe the commissars were thinking. The closest we have to that in America is the New York Times. Obviously, it's not a state organ and there are many fine journalists there, but it does play a similar role for the Democratic Party, often reporting less on what Democrats actually think and more on what Democrats want readers to believe is the current state of Democratic thinking. Two days after the...

IN POLITICS, there’s nothing harder than realizing that it’s time to go. For Democrats Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, that moment has arrived. With the Democrats’ midterm losses, the two 74-year-olds should announce that when this session of Congress ends, they will relinquish their roles as leaders of their respective Democratic caucuses. And if Reid and Pelosi don’t soon come to the conclusion on their own that it’s time to bow out? Well, then, their fellow Democrats, recognizing that you can’t begin a new era with old leaders, should let both know that the time has come to go.

Looking back on the 2014 election cycle, I see two largely unnoticed turning points that worked against Democrats and in Republicans' favor. The first came in response to the October 2013 government shutdown. This was blamed, as shutdowns usually are, on Republicans, partly because of their skepticism about big government, and partly because media professionals tend to fault the GOP in any partisan fight. The shutdown occurred because about 40 Republican House members refused to support a continuing resolution funding the government without a proviso defunding Obamacare. Texas freshman Sen. Ted Cruz had been barnstorming the country arguing that this...

Senate Democrats are split over whether to ram through the White House's stalled nominees. Reid’s approach would keep the holiday season from ending in a series of bitter midnight sessions and could avoid antagonizing Republicans. But other Democrats argue Republicans may have little interest in approving the bulk of the president’s nominees regardless of what happens in the next few weeks, so it’s now or never to act on a slate of new judges, ambassadors and perhaps even the confirmation of attorney general nominee Loretta Lynch. “Let’s clear the decks, unless we can get some agreement with Republicans,” said Sen....

Alaska will begin counting nearly 50,000 absentee and questioned ballots on Tuesday in an effort to resolve the state's unsettled contests for the Senate and for governor. Democratic Sen. Mark Begich trails Republican challenger Dan Sullivan by about 8,100 votes. ... The Alaska governor's race is also too close to call. Independent candidate Bill Walker leads incumbent Republican Gov. Sean Parnell by about 3,000 votes.

The more serious problem for Democrats is the drubbing they’ve taken in the states, the breeding ground for future national talent and for policy experimentation. Republicans have unified control — the governorship and the legislature — in 23 states, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Democrats control just seven. Democrats hold 18 governorships, but only a handful are in the most populous states. In California, Gov. Jerry Brown won again at age 76, his fourth, non-consecutive term in the governor’s office. His victory means that younger Democrats will have to wait until 2018 to compete for one of...

House Republicans will have their largest majority since the 1930s next year, but that doesn't mean Speaker John Boehner's (R-Ohio) job will be easy.The House GOP leadership's struggles in keeping members in line over the past four years have been well documented. Some of the incoming freshmen will likely join the ranks of conservatives who frequently oppose leadership initiatives.Among the new freshmen, for instance, is one congressman-elect who has called Hillary Clinton the "anti-Christ," another who has suggested Muslims don't deserve First Amendment rights, and yet another who has declared himself open to the idea of the United States invading...

Not long after the polls closed on Tuesday night, Georgia Congressman John Barrow earned his place in history when he lost his reelection campaign to Republican Rick Allen by almost 10 points—a peculiar place he undoubtedly didn’t want. Barrow, a five-term Democratic incumbent with a conservative voting record that earned him endorsements from both the National Rifle Association and the Chamber of Commerce, was the last white Democrat in Congress from the Deep South. Much as this is a problem for white southern Democrats, it's a crisis for black ones. That’s because blacks in the South—who, notwithstanding the very compelling...

Facing a tough midterm election, Democrats put aside some of their remaining scruples about the new age of unlimited campaign spending and courted unions and hedge-fund billionaires for big checks to try to salvage a Senate majority. They spent a lot of money. But not enough. This year, in a reversal of 2012, the big-money Democratic donors watched their investments return little on election night Tuesday. Although Republicans outspent them overall, Democrats got beaten even in states like Colorado and North Carolina where they spent the same or even a little more than Republicans. "We just saw a national tsunami,"...

The window for President Obama to add another liberal justice to the Supreme Court probably closed last week when Republicans took control of the Senate. Over the last 10 years, the Senate's vote on high court nominees has increasingly followed party lines. Republican senators lined up against Obama's first two nominees — Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan — but lacked the votes to block them. Now, they will have the majority to stop any nominee, particularly one with a liberal record.

The 2016 cycle began before the 2014 cycle ended, and the prospective presidential candidates long ago mobilized to hit the ground running as soon as the polls across America closed on Tuesday night. The results of the midterm elections have, however, lit a special fire under the inevitable Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton. A report in The New York Times on Friday morning revealed that the Clinton Machine is revving into high gear, but it also suggested that Hillary will burst out of the 2016 presidential gate with a whimper. The former secretary of state will cease to deliver paid...

With the walloping Republicans gave Democrats in the midterm elections, the GOP stands one Louisiana Senate runoff away from completely controlling Southern politics from the Carolinas to Texas. Only a handful of Democrats hold statewide office in the rest of the Old Confederacy. The results put Southern Republicans at the forefront in Washington—from Senate Majority Leader-in-waiting Mitch McConnell of Kentucky to a host of new committee chairmen. Those leaders and the rank-and-file behind them will set the Capitol Hill agenda and continue molding the GOP’s identity heading into 2016. In statehouses, consolidated Republican power affords the opportunity to advance conservative...

In one of the most bizzare explanations for losing a campaign ever, a spokesman for pro-abortion Texas gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis blamed the massive loss to pro-life Governor-elect Greg Abbott on ebola. From Breitbart: wendydavis11Texas State Senator Wendy Davis was steamrolled in her bid to become the state’s next governor, and it appears that her staff believes Ebola has something to do with the failure of her campaign. Speaking on behalf of Davis’ campaign, Communications Director Zac Petkanas told the Wall Street Journal, “The losses that you are seeing in very blue states are simply amplified in states like Texas...

The “most expensive election in history.” Our democracy is being “bought and sold.” This election, “debased by money, shames us all.” These are some of the recent expressions of outrage about what the Center for Responsive Politicsestimates to have been $3.67 billion spent for federal offices during the 2014 midterms. Two days before the election on “Face the Nation,” CBS’s Bob Schieffer asked viewers to name one item whose costs have gone up as much over time as campaigns. That’s easy. While campaign spending soared to $3.67 billion this year from $1.6 billion in 1998, federal government spending rose 5%...

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit Friday challenging Iowa’s tough policies that bar felons from voting, seeking to restore the right to thousands of former offenders before the 2016 presidential election. The case aims to end confusion over rules that followed a 2011 policy change by Gov. Terry Branstad and a criminal investigation into people who improperly voted. Iowa is among three states where felons cannot vote after completing their sentences unless their rights are restored by the governor. “The widespread denial of voting rights on the basis of a felony conviction is the single biggest denial of...

California Democratic Rep. Scott Peters has defeated (homosexual)Republican challenger Carl DeMaio in one of the most competitive House races in the country. The Associated Press called the race Friday night, nearly 72 hours after polls closed in the San Diego-area district. Peters, who trailed DeMaio in early returns, currently leads the Republican by 4,491 votes, 51.2 percent to 48.8 percent.

The Republicans did not have a national campaign except to send back Obama's words to haunt him. It was a nationally silent campaign and whoever came up with it was a genius. As long as the Republican spoke out about any national issue, the Lamestream Media would speak out against it. Whether it was abortion, healthcare, racial bating; it did not matter, the media would take the side of the Democratic party. By avoiding speaking on these issues and focusing like a laser on Obama's misstatements and obvious mistakes (Ebola and ISIL), they avoided the Democrats and the Lamestream Media's...

Yesterday, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals struck a reverberating blow on behalf of natural marriage and the Constitution by upholding bans on sodomy-based marriages in its jurisdiction.It is impossible to overestimate the importance of this ruling.It means, for one thing, that the issue is now on the fast track to the Supreme Court. If the Court accepts a marriage case by January, a decision will almost certainly be issued by next June.From a constitutional standpoint, the 6th Circuit’s ruling is a model of sound jurisprudence. The ruling observes that the Supreme Court has already settled the question of the...

Obama took to the podium on Wednesday after the midterm elections and made it clearer than ever that he lives in his own universe. Americans sent the message loud and clear that they reject his policies and the Democrat platform as it currently stands, yet Obama drove the message home that even with a Republican Congress in control, he would continue to push his extremely unpopular liberal agenda. The wellbeing of Americans has never been the top priority in Obama-land, and his arrogant-selfishness was the resounding sentiment throughout his misguided press conference. In Obama’s mind there may as well not...

Some observations on the election: 1) This was a wave, folks. It will be a benchmark for judging waves, for either party, for years. 2) In seriously contested races, GOP candidates were generally younger, more vigorous, more sunny and optimistic than Democrats. 3) The combination of Obama’s low job approval and Harry Reid’s virtual shutdown of the Senate insured a Republican Senate majority. 4) Democratic territory has been reduced to the bastions of two core groups — black voters and gentry liberals. 5) In many states — including many carried twice by Obama — Republicans have been governing successfully, at...