Free Republic

As Democrats took sharp aim at the White House over a year-end spending bill, President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden scrambled to stave off a revolt from congressional liberals over a deal that no one in the West Wing or the Democratic Party really wants. Obama’s base says he’s sold them out—and didn’t even wait to do it until Republicans officially expand their majority in the House and takeover the Senate come January. Some on the left are worried the wide range of policy riders in a spending bill is a worrisome sign as Republicans take over the...

In a rare alliance, President Barack Obama and Speaker John Boehner scrambled Thursday to salvage a a $1.1 trillion must-pass spending bill amid a Republican revolt over immigration and a Democratic revolt over provisions that would deregulate Wall Street and increase the amount that individual donors can contribute to national political party committees. With its fate in doubt, President Obama took to the phones to personally lobby Democratic members on Thursday to vote for the legislation, a development White House spokesman Josh Earnest confirmed to MSNBC’s Alex Wagner. Republican leaders scrambled to convince enough conservative dissenters to change their votes...

The Obama administration made a last-ditch attempt on Thursday to drum up Democratic support to salvage a faltering $1.1 trillion spending bill, just hours ahead of a midnight U.S. government shutdown deadline. Administration officials from President Barack Obama down to staff at the Department of Education were phoning Democrats in the House of Representatives to ask them to set aside objections to a financial provision and pass the measure to fund most of the government through September.

Fresh from their overwhelming victory on Election Day, handing them control of the Senate over pro-abortion Democrats led by Harry Reid, Senate Republicans have unanimously elected pro-life Senator Mitch McConnell as their leader. McConnell, hailing from Kentucky, has promised the Senate will vote on a House-passed bill that bans abortions after 5 months because scientific research shows unborn children can feel pain at that point in pregnancy. The Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act: bans abortions after the 20th week of pregnancy and would save at least 18,000 lives a year. McConnell previously pledged that if his party won the...

After weeks of promising bipartisanship and refusing to make policy announcements that might rile Democratic lawmakers, Maryland Gov.-elect Larry Hogan has picked his first political fight, coming out swinging against environmentalists and their powerful allies in the General Assembly. Mr. Hogan vowed Monday to roll back proposed new regulations that would limit phosphorus runoff from farms, siding with Eastern Shore farmers who rely on phosphorus-rich chicken manure for fertilizer and against environmentalists who blame it for choking the life out of the Chesapeake Bay. The regulation, known as the “phosphorus management tool,” or PMT, has been hotly debated in the...

ime running short, Republicans and Democrats agreed Tuesday on a $1.1 trillion spending bill to avoid a government shutdown and delay a politically-charged struggle over President Barack Obama's new immigration policy until the new year. The compromise will permit virtually the entire government to operate normally through the Sept. 30 end of the fiscal year, with the exception of the Department of Homeland Security. Funds for that one agency will run out again in late winter. That will give Republicans an opportunity to try to use the expiration as leverage to force Obama to roll back a decision that will...

There's no sugarcoating it. The November 2014 election results marked a serious setback for Democrats, the anti-ultra right alliance and the broad people's coalition led by labor. The fight for jobs at living wages, workers and immigrant rights, racial and gender equality, for climate justice and peace proceeds under more unfavorable conditions. The election resulted in a wave of victories for the Republicans and ultra right that may have surpassed 2010. However, while the GOP claims otherwise, it was not a mandate for right-wing policies. Grassroots efforts by labor and its allies mobilized millions of voters. Tens of thousands of...

President Barack Obama met Friday with a handful of newly elected governors from across the country, including the Texas Republican who has led efforts to sue the president over his immigration executive orders. Texas Gov.-elect Greg Abbott said the lawsuit did not come up in his conversations with the president. […] Obama said much of the agenda for Friday’s meeting focused on the economy and ways states and the federal government can work together to promote growth. “The good news about governors is they usually don’t have time to be ideological because people expect them to deliver,” Obama said. …

The Democrats are divided. The Republicans need to resist Obama’s provocations. Take no bait. Act independently and in accord with national priorities. Cause no pointless trouble. If there’s trouble, it should have a clear, understandable, defendable purpose. That is general advice for the new Republican congressional majority. They will be proving every day they’re a serious governing alternative to the Democratic-dominated establishment that has run Washington for six years. The Republicans are being told they are a deeply divided party. True enough. But another way to look at it may prove more pertinent: “My father’s house has many mansions.” The...

In a defiant challenge to GOP leaders, immigration hardliners in Congress announced Wednesday they will oppose upcoming legislation to keep the government open. They demanded specific provisions to stop President Barack Obama's executive actions that granted a reprieve from deportation for millions. "We aren't with our vote going to give him one dime to execute his illegal action, and we believe the American people are going to stand with us," said Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., at a press conference outside the Capitol where she was joined by other House conservatives and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. Cruz warned against "having a...

Progressive New York Times columnist Thomas B. Edsall wrote on Tuesday that Democrats' embrace of Obamacare's redistribution scheme has angered and alienated working-class and middle-class Americans. "Even though midterm elections favor Republicans, the 2014 results show middle and working-class dissatisfaction with the Democratic Party rising to dangerous levels, which threatens the party's growing demographic advantages," wrote Edsall. As Breitbart News reported last Wednesday, the latest Gallup poll finds that President Barack Obama's approval rating with working-class white voters has hit an all-time low 27%. Moreover, the Gallup poll's findings were taken from opinion data collected prior to racially-charged riots in...

U.S. President Barack Obama voiced optimism on Wednesday that a government shutdown can be avoided in coming weeks, pointing to comments from Republican leaders of Congress who oppose a budget showdown. Obama said there are enormous potential areas for compromise with the Republican Congress, mentioning tax reform, trade and paying for infrastructure projects that would create jobs.

The top brass of the Republican Party spent the last 48 hours plotting ways to twist President Obama’s arm while outlining the new majority agenda they intend to concentrate on come January, when the 114th Congress takes its place. A two-day, invitation-only conference hosted by the Wall Street Journal featured a pairing of top executives and political leaders. Here are three ways Republicans plan to use their new majority in Congress: 1) Get President Obama to Listen. 2) Show the country that the GOP can govern. 3) Think broad and specific when proposing an agenda.

WASHINGTON — As Republicans took control of an unprecedented 69 of 99 statehouse chambers in the midterm elections, they did not rely solely on a bench of older white men. Key races hinged on the strategic recruitment of women and minorities, many of them first-time candidates who are now learning the ropes and joining the pool of prospects for higher office.

It wasn’t all that long ago that the Democrats were predicting the end of the Republican Party. With the rise of Obama, James Carville began peddling a new book “40 More Years” promising that the Dems would rule for generations. Just this year Carville predicted that the Republican Party would become extinct if it lost to Hillary Clinton. But it was the Democratic Party that was going extinct in Carville’s own backyard. Republicans began winning Senate seats in Louisiana for the first time in a century in just the last ten years. If Landrieu loses, then both of the Louisiana’s...

Mary Landrieu is dedicated to the well being of Louisiana residents. Even her vote for the Affordable Care Act, which is being used to attack her, reflects concern for the hundreds of thousands of her constituents who lack health insurance. Seniority matters in the Senate. Although Democrats lost control of the chamber in the midterm elections, Sen. Landrieu would be one of the highest-ranking members of the minority party in the next Congress. Her track record demonstrates her ability to work successfully with Republicans on a variety of matters. Louisiana needs Sen. Landrieu's knowledge, energy and influence in Washington as...

WASHINGTON - President Obama and the Democrats have been peddling some whoppers lately about women in the workforce and Obamacare that are patently untrue, or based on questionable, exaggerated data. Obama and his party are betting they can get away with such falsehoods because the news media swallows them whole, regurgitating their charges as facts. Washington's ultra-liberal press corps rarely digs into the veracity of his claims. The first is the White House's election year claims that average working women are paid a great deal less than men, often for the same amount of work. Here's what Obama said...

WASHINGTON - President Obama's bogus promises, predictions and claims are legendary, but perhaps you've forgotten his "sky is falling" forecast about the $85 billion budget sequester. Last February, as Congress's automatic budget cuts began chipping away at the government's out-of-control spending levels, Obama went hyperbolic. The spending cuts would deal a "huge blow... to our economy as a whole" and "all our economic progress could be at risk." In a string of speeches, the president played his fear card again. Air traffic control operations were being put at risk. Cancer research projects would be halted. Your food safety was in...

ERICK ERICKSON FRONT PAGE WRITERS FEATURES E-LETTERS COFFEE & MARKETS GATHERING FRIENDS RedState Gathering Set For Atlanta in 2015! Click here for more information. « BACK | PRINT RS FRONT PAGE CONTRIBUTOR 2014 and Republican Morale By: Dan McLaughlin (Diary) | November 24th, 2014 at 05:00 PM | 15 RESIZE: AAA Share on Facebook 12 57 SHARES Sexy Karl Rove 622 There’s been a lot written about the impact of the 2014 elections, but let’s not overlook one of the really crucial points: its effect on Republican morale. Republicans didn’t just need a win: we needed a win that met...

New England is beyond a doubt the most socialist section of the country. For all their talk about “Boston Strong” and “Hearty New Englanders,” they are the most committed supporters of Democrat liberals. Last Wednesday their loyalty to Barack Obama was rewarded with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) crushing blow to New England’s cod fishing industry. Obama’s henchmen at NOAA placed a, “six-month ban on most cod fishing off New England this week and are threatening to cut next year’s catch by up to 75 percent.” Given the extent of the damage this ban will do, observers have...