Free Republic

House Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) on Sunday indicated that he is open to working on a second stimulus package as long as it “makes sense.” “But let’s not use the stimulus package as an excuse to do what Democrats have wanted to do from day one of this Congress, which is a huge public works plan,” Blunt said on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos.” House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) said Democrat would do a second stimulus that will “give the middle class and the average citizen the same kind of relief that we try to...

I just added my donation, so I don't feel so guilty cluttering up the boards with yet another vanity. Go donate and write a vanity! Here's why I think we should ignore the polls and continue with our efforts to elect McPalin: 1) I think some of FR's gloom and doomers just might be shills. With the kind of crooked dough that Obama's amassing, ACORN, and Soros has bought in the past, it's not so far fetched that the #1 conservative site would get "seminar callers." That they have senior dates on their page doesn't mean they're not seminar callers--it...

Harry Brighouse hears some murmuring: So I hear (via a prominent member of the sane Republican faction) that the word on the right side of the street is that the Republican National Committee is about to pull the plug on its joint ads with the McCain campaign, and devote its resources instead to trying to save a couple of the senators who are at serious risk of losing their seats. Now this is gossip, albeit of the high class variety; take it with the requisite pinch of salt.

General David Brooks has declared war. And like General David Petraeus, he could well win it. On October 10, the New York Times columnist and former Weekly Standard contributor proclaimed that Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin is a danger to the future of the Republican Party. In a column entitled “The Class War Before Palin”, Brooks asserted that Palin represented nothing more than the GOP’s embrace of anti-intellectualism: “…[O]ver the past few decades, the Republican Party has driven away people who live in cities, in highly educated regions and on the coasts. This expulsion has had many causes. But the...

An ad and a slogan. A sky-rocketing homicide rate , a sewer of corruption that stands as an inspiration to grafters and mob guys everywhere, a state government trying hard to follow suite, deteriorating city services and a failing school system. Are we missing anything? Yes! One of the most stressful cities in the entire country

The Pennsylvania Republican party is claiming that fraudulent voter registration efforts by ACORN are threatening the integrity of the coming election. Saying ACORN has ties to Barack Obama, Pennsylvania GOP leaders are questioning the integrity of the election, citing ACORN’s voter registration activities. But even if there are problems with ACORN, Rendell administration spokesman Chuck Ardo claims there’s a difference between fraudulent voter registration applications and bogus registrations: “Those names are ferreted out, and those voters never actually make it to the polls." But state GOP Chairman Robert Gleason says there are thousands of questionable applications and he believes some...

Montana’s former Gov. Judy Martz, a Republican who served from 2001 to 2005, said her tenure in politics offers unique insight into Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin. Here’s what Martz learned: The women’s movement is hypocritical, Martz said, because it doesn’t celebrate all women, only those who align themselves with it. Too often the press ignores policy, favoring gaffes instead. Politics is tough on families. And although the electorate continually asks for authenticity, it seems to reward the phonies. The connection between Martz and Palin is less direct than intuitive. The two have never met. Yet, like Palin, Martz...

ATLANTA -- The Republican Party has held the White House for the past eight years and has controlled both chambers of Congress for 12 of the past 14. But if trends continue as they have, that run is about to come to an end. With less than four weeks to Election Day, polls today suggest that Democrat Barack Obama will sit in the White House come January, enjoying enhanced majorities in both the House and Senate. And if that's how things play out, John McCain is doomed to be cast as the scapegoat by his fellow Republicans, in part because...

A federal judge on Thursday ordered Ohio's top elections official to verify the identity of newly registered voters by matching them with other government documents. U.S. District Judge George C. Smith in Columbus ruled that Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner must perform verification required by the Help America Vote Act. That includes matching new registrants' information against information in databases maintained by the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles or the Social Security Administration. The order was the result of a lawsuit the Ohio Republican Party filed against Brunner, a Democrat. "Plaintiffs assert, and the court agrees, that it is...

Hey All Ohio Valley FReepers: McCain-Palin Rally 3pm this Sunday in St.Clairsville, OH at Brush Run and Airport Rds. (6160 Airport Rd.) Call 614-441-8622. Free Advance tickets required.SEE ALL YOU OHIO VALLEY FREEPERS THERE!

CONGRESS. Here are the latest independent polls for US House races. ALASKA (Anchorage Press/Ivan Moore): Former State House Minority Leader Ethan Berkowitz (D) - 49%, Congressman Don Young (R) - 44%. FLORIDA CD-18 (Telemundo): Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R) - 48%, businesswoman Annette Taddeo (D) - 35%. FLORIDA CD-21 (Telemundo): Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R) - 48%, former Hialeah Mayor Raul Martinez (D) - 43%. FLORIDA CD-25 (Telemundo): Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart (R) - 43%, former Miami-Dade County Democratic Chair Joe Garcia (D) - 41%. ILLINOIS CD-10 (SurveyUSA): Marketing executive Dan Seals (D) - 52%, Congressman Mark Kirk (R) - 44%. INDIANA CD-10...

The memories of that particular fall just won’t go away. Thankfully, most of the memories are positive or funny. Turning 15 and finally having an ice cream cake. Hearing Prince’s “Love Symbol” album for the first time. Seeing Bret “Hit Man” Hart’s first interview as WWF Champion on Superstars of Wrestling. So much was strange about that fall. None of the movies seemed particularly interesting: The Last of the Mohicans, Candyman, Under Siege and Glengarry Glen Ross struck me as brutally dull based on the newspaper ads and TV commercials. Madonna generated a national scandal with her book Sex and...

Republicans are slipping. They used to be far better at conniving and manipulating situations – like during the “golden age” of the “Bush lied, People died” era, when they could peddle sweet deceit about weapons of mass destruction and simultaneously persuade the frightened citizenry that the Patriot Act was for their own good while progressively raping them of their basic rights. *sigh*No, they don’t make neo-cons like that anymore. Making it all that much more notable, in retrospect, was that during the meat of the “lets-overstate-the-terrorist-threat” period (which is still in full swing today), Republicans were somehow – masterfully -...

Guilt by association is the latest theme of the presidential race. John McCain's campaign continues to attack Barack Obama for his relationship with Vietnam-era radical Bill Ayers. The Obama campaign fired back Monday with a 13-minute Web video on John McCain's connection to Charles Keating and the 1980s savings and loan crisis.... Regardless of his background, it was never a problem for anyone — including Republicans and Chicago's most powerful business leaders — to work with Ayers on Chicago's public schools. In fact, Ayers is widely respected in the field of urban education. "It was never a concern by any...

What: Road to Victory Rally: in Richmond, VA with Governor Sarah Palin When: October 13, 2008 Starts at 1:00 p.m. Where: The Arthur Ashe Center 3017 North Boulevard Richmond, VA 23230 Join Governor Sarah Palin at a campaign rally Monday, October 13th at the Arthur Ashe Center. Tickets are available online or by visiting one of the designated Virginia Victory offices between 9:00am and 9:00 p.m. EDT If you have any questions please email: richmondrally@johnmccain.com

On the heels of Gov. Sarah Palin's statement yesterday that Sen. Barack Obama does not see America as "a force for good in the world," Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M., accused the Democratic presidential nominee of "talking down America." Referring to his visit to Germany where he said of America, "We've made our share of mistakes," Wilson said, "We've always had this history of saying, well, you know, 'Politics end at the water's edge.' And it didn't for Barack Obama. He has been critical not only of the president but of American policy and hence has kind of a negative view...

After the vice presidential debate ended, as the TV jurors started delivering their verdicts, Sarah Palin and Joe Biden were joined on stage by their families. Nothing unusual there - except the history-making picture of Palin hugging her 5-month-old son while sharing chitchat with Biden. Freeze the frame and savor its remarkable collection of milestones. They start with the fact that Palin is only the second woman to be on a major-party national ticket. She is the first who would take office as the mother of five children, the oldest being 19. Her baby, Trig, has Down syndrome, and her...

President Abraham Lincoln said it succinctly. It is true, he said, that you may fool all the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all the time; but you can’t fool all of the people all the time. One thing is clear and constant. There has been a lot of rhetoric thrown around about which political party represents “rich” people and which is the party that is not representative of the “rich.” That’s a subject that’s repeated so often it may be difficult for the average South Carolinian to grasp what it’s all about....

The trends in polling data seem consistent and disturbing. The Democrats have succeeded in blaming the economy on the President, and John McCain by extension. By and large, the public doesn't comprehend the role the Democrats played over several administrations to bring us to where we are. Chances of McCain winning in November seem bleak, moreover, control of Congress will likely be strengthened for the Democrats. And how will the Democrats deal with the crisis? Democrats are simply incapable of solving any problem without throwing money at it. This is completely antithetical to what is needed, which is a near-total...

Something very spooky happened in the United States last week. The chances are you noticed it too, many days before it was reported. Tuesday found me in New York, on my first stateside visit in a couple of years. The details of the Bailout plan had just been revealed and the slow burn of outrage was apparent everywhere. Admittedly, this was New York. (Long-time readers will know I was the San Francisco correspondent for El Reg for six years and was frequently asked by Europeans: "What do Americans think of ... x?" To which the only honest answer is, "I...

Last night was a big, big win for Sarah Palin. She showed originality, charisma and sass - a style that is refreshing and different in our politics. She didn’t just win the vice-presidential debate, she showed that she belongs with Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton as among the best communicators of our modern political times. Her sallies against big government were brilliantly conceived and well executed. Her line that she didn’t understand how Washington worked because politicians vote for something right after they vote against it, for example, was just wonderful. Another classic came when she bit back at moderator...

Sure, 91 House Republicans finally voted to pass a tweaked version of the financial bailout bill Friday. But for the GOP's big honchos, last Monday's defeat in the House of Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr.'s plan was still the most stinging humiliation they've suffered in years. To unlock the mystery of the earlier bill's stunning rejection, consider two numbers: 82 and 0. The first is the percentage of retiring Republican representatives who voted for the bill. The second is the percentage of Republican freshmen who did. Think about that for a moment. The GOP's retirees, the people who finally...

Michigan GOPers oppose McCain's pullout In the aftermath of John McCain's decision to pull out of Michigan, Republicans in the state are expressing shock and bewilderment at his move—and aren't willing to cede the state's 17 electoral votes just yet.

Yesterday, I was on FreeRepublic and read an article. There was a prompt that said I could download something that would help the GOP if I did. It is somehow affiliated with Yahoo.Well, long story short, it is garbage. It takes me a few minutes to get on the internet. When I hit my homepage (msn), my screen goes white and at least 2 or 3 minutes later, I get the internet. I tried to call FreeRepublic to report and could not find a phone number in Fresno. Somebody tell me how to get this crap off.

The Citizens for McCain phone banks are up and running. Please help us in our efforts to reach out to Democrats and Independents in targeted regions near you to ensure that we secure the support of every potential voter who could make the difference in this tight race. Please use the links below to connect to the phone bank and begin making calls to these voters who are putting country before party. Daytime Phone Bank (10:00AM-6:00PM local time): http://www.johnmccain.com/PhoneBank/?guid=59169733-6F60-4228-8A8F-7FD538E52989 Evening/Weekend Phone Bank (6:00PM-9:00PM & Weekends 10:00AM-9:00PM local time): http://www.johnmccain.com/PhoneBank/?guid=A72D7DE9-5BFE-41D6-808C-F1E8CCF9E500 PHONE BANKING INSTRUCTIONS Please use the first link to make calls...

Republicans sue Brunner over voting observers Friday, October 3, 2008 4:27 PM By Mark Niquette THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH Republicans filed a new lawsuit today in the Ohio Supreme Court against Democratic Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, this time challenging her position not to allow observers at in-person absentee voting sites. The lawsuit was filed this afternoon by former Franklin County Commissioner Dewey Stokes, who said he was turned away as an observer today. It is the latest in a series of lawsuits over disputes about absentee voting in Ohio. Brunner has advised county elections boards that because the legislature specifically...

If Republicans want to get 100% re-elected, they should stay in Washington throughout the election and develope a strategy for dealing with the financial crisis. They should get testimony from top economists, they should evaluate present and future risks, and they should develop free-market alternatives to simply throwing money (with attached pork) at the problem. Besides the experts, they should bring in ordinary citizens to get their opinions as well as senior citizens whose klife savings ar threatened. They should recess only after developing a solid, taxpayer-oriented proposal that sells on main street.

Elon, N.C. — Nearly half of North Carolina residents blame the Republican Party for the nation's economic crisis, according to a poll released Friday. Elon University surveyed 477 people statewide this week and found that 47.7 percent felt the Republicans are more responsible for current economic problems, compared with 24.4 percent who blamed the Democrats. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.6 percentage points. By a 43-to-33 percent margin, respondents said Democrats have done a better job of managing the economy than Republicans. The margin between Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama GOP candidate John McCain...

Proponents of the massive financial rescue plan are expressing optimism that the House will pass it on Friday. At least 14 members who voted no on Monday have indicated that they will approve of the package that will be voted on on the House floor early Friday afternoon, according to interviews and a review of media reports. Members who have publicly suggested that they will approve of the new compromise include Democratic Reps. Shelley Berkley (Nev.), Emanuel Cleaver (Mo.), John Lewis (Ga.) and Hilda Solis (Calif.) and Republican Reps. Gresham Barrett (S.C.), Howard Coble (N.C.), Jim Gerlach (Pa.), Tim Murphy...

A must see: Video at link

The 263-171 roll call Friday by which the House approved a $700 billion government bailout bill for the battered financial industry. ADVERTISEMENT A "yes" vote is a vote to pass the bill. Voting yes were 172 Democrats and 91 Republicans. Voting no were 63 Democrats and 108 Republicans. X denotes those not voting. There is 1 vacancy in the 435-member House.

A Republican official in Michigan has filed a defamation suit against an independent news site, over a story in which he is quoted as stating his party plans to challenge voters whose names and addresses appear on foreclosure lists. "We will have a list of foreclosed homes and will make sure people aren't voting from those addresses," James Carabelli, the chairman of the Macomb County Republican Party is quoted as saying in the Michigan Messenger in an article published September 10. Just a few days after the article was published, Carabelli back-tracked on his statement, telling the Macomb Daily that...

They caved. Those brave Republicans and blue dog Democrats who squashed the bailout earlier this week caved and the bailout bill passed. A politician just can't pass up an opportunity to "Do Something!," especially when this much pork is involved. John McCain and the Republicans blew their chance to stand up for Main Street and maybe engineer a conservative comeback this election. They could have made the case for a return to responsible government, but they chose instead to keep their snouts in the trough. They're no better than Democrats, which means they lose this November. And the bailout will...

The GOP Toolbar allows you to stay connected to the GOP and raise valuable contributions, without spending a dime! As you use the toolbar, you will raise funds that go directly to the GOP. You will be able to track your donations in real time, and watch as your donations grow! From the toolbar you will receive updated messages directly from the GOP, keeping you up to date with breaking GOP news. Raise money every time you search through the Yahoo! powered search box. One click access to hand selected web destinations for quick and easy access. Guaranteed Safe: No...

A tide of lobbyists representing corporate executives, small-business owners, farmers and retirees swamped Capitol Hill yesterday in hopes of pushing an emergency economic rescue plan through Congress, but the fate of the measure remained uncertain as the House prepared for a climactic vote at midday today. Leaders of both parties said they were optimistic that they would be able to marshal more support for the Bush administration's $700 billion bailout than they mustered on Monday, when the House delivered a shocking defeat to the measure and sent the Dow Jones industrial average plummeting 778 points, or about 7 percent. The...

ST. LOUIS - Sarah Palin used folksy language, winks, smiles and sharp elbows to try to put seasoned rival Joe Biden on the defensive in last night's vice-presidential debate. "It's so obvious that I'm a Washington outsider and I'm someone who's just not used to the way you guys operate," Palin said after Biden answered a question about Iraq. "You voted for the war and now you're against the war," she said. "Americans are craving that straight talk. If you voted for it, tell us why you voted for it." Biden called GOP presidential candidate John McCain the "odd man...

The RNC raised nearly $66 million in September, breaking its all-time record.

GOP wins one: Ohio ordered to accept McCain absentee ballot applications Posted by Reginald Fields October 02, 2008 15:13PM Categories: Real Time News The Ohio Supreme Court today ordered Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner to accept absentee ballot applications that do not contain a checked box indicating the person is a qualified elector. The applications were mailed to registered Ohio voters by the presidential campaign of Republican Sen. John McCain. But thousands have been returned without a checkmark in a box stating the requester is qualified to vote in Ohio. Brunner, a Democrat, issued a directive last month telling county...

The refrain from most of the GOP talking heads over the last twenty four hours concerning Gwen Ifill's role during the VP debate is that she's a fine journalist, who, now that the fact of her book is public knowledge, shouldn't be precluded from moderating the event. Heck, it may even work to Palin's advantage because Ifill will be under intense scrutiny to be fair and balanced. This rationale points to the GOP's ( and, to some extent, conservatives') nearly wholesale capitulation to liberal media dominance and is one of the reasons the GOP base find themselves so frequently dispirited:...

Twenty-seven years after it was first established, he Congressional ban on offshore drilling officially and quietly expired today. The ban was not a prohibition on drilling per se. Rather, it was a ban on appropriating money for the Interior Department to process of new drilling leases. With the beginning of the new fiscal year, that prohibition will end, once Congress passes a budget resolution that restores the funding. After years of opposition to increasing domestic supplies of energy, a full year of fighting House Republicans on the issue, and a summer of defending itself against a vocal Republican minority and...

As soon as someone tells me that one particular political measure or decision is the right or moral choice and the alternatives to it are irresponsible and immoral, I start to feel an almost irresistible urge to do the immoral, the forbidden thing. It's not that I am a willful reprobate. Or not just that, anyway. I simply don't believe it. This assertion looks way too much like moral blackmail to me, and hence it is itself at least as likely to be immoral as the thing it deprecates. American politics for reasons that I go into in detail in...

Republicans' Votes Against Rescue May Backfire Wednesday, October 1, 2008 5:13 PM By: Ronald Kessler Rightly or wrongly, Republicans are being blamed for the failure to pass a financial rescue package, causing a one-day loss of $1.2 trillion in the value of American equities. If the bill does not pass this week, Republicans will be blamed not only for another scary decline in the stock market but also for the ensuing loss of jobs that will accompany what probably will be a deep recession or depression. The reality is that, if they do not receive enough support from Republicans, the...

I know, the title is creepy, but before jumping at me, just consider these facts... 1. IT IS THE WORST TIME TO BE IN POWER FOR ANY NATIONAL PARTY America has been suffering the worst economic crisis since 1929. Americans are blaming the party ruling the executive branch for this rout, and that's why McCain numbers are so low. Now think that Obama will begin his presidency with America depressed. The power will be 100% controlled by Democrats, and the anger of the folks will turn against them. 2. DECMOCRATS WILL HATE OBAMA JUST AS THEY NOW HATE THEIR DEMOCRATIC...

House Republicans picked a heck of a time to rediscover their free-market “principles.” The pork-barreling GOP luminaries – who during their time in the majority couldn’t be bothered to get federal spending under control, fix Social Security, reform the tax code or lift the ban on offshore drilling – are suddenly committed to limited government. The same underachievers who didn’t raise a finger when they had the power to keep Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from endangering the nation’s entire financial structure, nor to exercise leadership on reform of the Community Reinvestment Act (which the Bush Administration wanted), now can’t...

No one risked more — for himself and for his party — on the bailout bill than House Republican leader John A. Boehner. The result: He lost. The Ohio Republican went all in for the $700 billion economic rescue package. But when the gavel came down on the vote Monday, 133 of Boehner’s 199 Republicans had gone the other way. The bruising tally — coming on the heels of a weeklong revolt — had some GOP members asking privately whether Boehner can hold on to his leadership post. Boehner said he’s confident of his job, but the vote clearly took...

Bob Tippee of the Oil and Gas Journal says it's certainly good news for the Gulf Coast economy. "It's good news in the long run because it means supply out in the future and it also means jobs and tax revenue out in the future." The ban was imposed after a spill off California in 1969. Houston democrat Gene Green says that's long in the past. "I don't have environmental concerns. I think, maybe, at one time 30 years ago and 20 years ago we did. But I think we've done so much better today in drilling off shore."

A group of House Republicans is cobbling together a proposal to stabilize financial markets that can serve as an alternative to the plan proposed by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, legislative sources have told CNBC. The failure of Monday's vote on the $700 billion bailout package—which these Republicans doubt is likely to cause an economic "doomsday" scenario—emboldened the group to press forward with its own plan, sources said. The group pressing the alternative plan is doing so for largely ideological reasons: They're opposed to the federal government taking a large role in financial markets, sources say. Components of the alternative plan...

Years of bad decisions and stupid mistakes have created an economic nightmare in this country, but $700 billion in new debt is not the answer. As a tax-paying American citizen, I will not support any congressperson who votes to implement such a policy. Instead, I submit the following three steps: Common Sense Plan. I. INSURANCE A. Insure the subprime bonds/mortgages with an underlying FHA-type insurance. Government-insured and backed loans would have an instant market all over the world, creating immediate and needed liquidity. B. In order for a company to accept the government-backed insurance, they must do two things: 1....

I have read the posts here and elsewhere. Sometimes these things are made to look more complicated than they really are. From an economic perspective, if the problem is liquidity and credit, there simply is no need for the federal government to assume massive amounts of debt on its book by assuming loans in anticipation that their holders or borrowers will default.

Could more Republican members of the House of Representatives act like adults, please? If they can bring themselves to do so, the House may yet do the responsible thing and pass the financial bailout bill that failed on Monday. If not – well, let's not dwell on such a depressing prospect. What happened Monday was depressing enough. No one should have any doubts about who is responsible for the failure to pass the compromise plan worked out by the Bush administration and members of the Senate and House. For this package to work, both Democrats and Republicans have to have...