Free Republic

Mike Wiley won’t fire until he sees the whites of their eyes, but needs you to provide him with the ammo he’ll need to win this campaign

You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours. That’s the way it’s always worked in Washington, so the news that Mary Landrieu will hold a fundraiser in New Orleans for Senator Harry Reid comes as no surprise. Reid procured a substantial dose of cash to Landrieu’s Louisiana in exchange for her crucial “moderate” vote. Senator Mary Landrieu from Louisiana garnered a lot of attention before the healthcare vote last night as to whether she would or wouldn’t vote yes to send the monstrosity of a bill to the floor for debate. After rumors of a $100 million dollar bribe by Senator...

Did anyone else catch this? Just now on C-SPAN, Harry Reid quotes communist Andrei Sakharov in closing statement of Senate debate on socialist health care. Google: Andrei Sakharov OK granted, Sakharov was not a ranting Leninist but why wouldn't Harry quote a founder or an American patriot to make his simplistic, sophomoric point. O wait, Harry IS a ranting Leninist...

When Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was informed that the House had taken less than an hour to approve an unemployment bill that languished for a month in the Senate, his aides said he did not know whether to laugh or cry. It has been that kind of year in the polarized Senate, where even popular bills and generally acceptable executive branch nominees have to traverse a time-consuming procedural thicket even if they end up, like the unemployment extension, passing with no dissenting votes. Now the tab for that snail’s pace is about to come due. While the Senate hopes...

[T]oday let's focus on the damage the [Senate health care] bill would do to consumer-driven health plans—the kind that give individuals more control over their health dollars and insurance choices. The 2,074-page bill crushes them with malice-aforethought. ... Start with its attack on flexible spending accounts that are an important part of many employer plans. Flex accounts let employees set aside some portion of their pre-tax pay for out-of-pocket costs or medical services that their insurance plan doesn't cover, such as a child's orthodontics or testing supplies for diabetics. The Reid bill caps these now-unlimited accounts at $2,500 per year...

Landrieu's Vote Will Reveal her integrity (or lack of): WASHINGTON -- Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's health care bill has millions of dollars to help Louisiana finance Medicaid at a time when he is hoping that state's wavering Democratic senator will support overhaul legislation. The bill provides at least $100 million for Louisiana in extra funds for Medicaid, the state-federal health program for the poor. Louisiana's Democratic senator, Mary Landrieu, has said she is undecided about the Democratic health care package. Reid needs the votes of all 60 Democratic senators for the Senate debate to begin.

Climate Change: As scientists confirm the earth has not warmed at all in the past decade, others wonder how this could be and what it means for Copenhagen. Maybe Al Gore can Photoshop something before December. It will be a very cold winter of discontent for the warm-mongers. The climate show-and-tell in Copenhagen next month will be nothing more than a meaningless carbon-emitting jaunt, unable to decide just whom to blame or how to divvy up the profitable spoils of climate change hysteria. The collapse of the talks coupled with the decision by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to put...

Remember it for your grandchildren: Saturday, November 21, 2009—the day of the Transformation of America. That’s the day Global Marxism will begin its inexorable march to take down the Free World, starting with its leader the United States of America. There will be no shots fired, but the aim of the U.S. Senate’s poison arrow is right on target at the heart of humanity. While America’s Marxist President is abroad, Senate Majority House Leader Harry Reid is tying the red ribbon bow on his Christmas present, the Transformation, and Take Down of the United States of America. “Senate Majority...

Reform: Only a Bernie Madoff could believe the Senate's health care bill will extend coverage to 31 million Americans while cutting deficits by $127 billion over 10 years. It would be the first profitable entitlement. But that's what Majority Leader Harry Reid, citing Congressional Budget Office estimates, tells us the 2,074-page bill — said to cost only $849 billion over a decade — would do. Like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, he seems to be following Vice President Joe Biden's admonition at an AARP town hall meeting that "we've got to spend money to keep from going bankrupt." We suspect Reid's...

Either today or later this week, Senate Democrat Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev) wants the Senate to vote on a "motion to proceed" on the Senate's version of the healthcare bill. That wouldn't be so bad except for the fact that it has barely been seen by anyone in the Senate. At least not as far as most Senators are concerned. Why is that? Because the bill has not been shown to them with sufficient time to study it, that's why. What Reid wants is for the Senate to vote to proceed on a bill that has not been seen,...

One of the primary tenets of Medicine is Primum non nocere a Latin phrase that means First, do no harm. The Senate version of the Obamacare bill ignores that phrase and is poised to raise health care costs for all Americans, of all income groups, not only through taxes but via fees on health products that will be passed along to consumers. Below is an outline of the unlucky (for America) 13 New Taxes in Harry Reid's Bill:

Senator Harry Reid’s health care bill included an array of new provisions that are being scrutinized on Wednesday night, but one particular tax proposal in particular already has attracted a buzz — a 5 percent levy on elective cosmetic procedures that was quickly dubbed the “botax.” Hold the guffaws. For all the instant punchlines about taxing nose jobs, breast enlargements and facelifts — cynics righteously demanded to know if members of Congress had written in an exemption for themselves (they did not) — the proposed tax is both serious and controversial policy. It would raise an estimated $5 billion over...

Senate Democratic leaders said Tuesday they would put off debate on a big climate-change bill until spring, in a sign of weakening political will to tackle a long-term environmental issue at a time of high unemployment and economic uncertainty. Legislation on health care, overhauling financial markets and job creation will be considered before the Senate takes up a measure to cap emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases linked to climate change, Senate Democratic leaders said Tuesday. Climate legislation will be taken up "some time in the spring," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said Tuesday after a Democratic...

Senator Harry Reid claims to be an ethical politician and he often employs his Mormon religion in order to demonstrate his alleged immaculacy. However, the reality is that he is, in fact, one of the most ethically challenged politicians in office today. This report will review his alliances with corrupt individuals, his support of ACORN, his ties with organized crime figures and his chronic failure to comply with campaign finance laws. Harry Reid’s Alliance with Jack Abramoff Soon after the Jack Abramoff scandal broke, Reid took the lead in attacking Republicans for fostering a “culture of corruption.” (1) But shortly...

A local architecture firm that recently won an $8.3 million federal contract to redesign a U.S. border crossing in California is being investigated by the Federal Election Commission for irregular campaign contributions to Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada, who is up for re-election next year. Henderson resident Randy Spitzmesser prompted the FEC probe of his former employer, Tate Snyder Kimsey Architects. On behalf of the architecture firm, Las Vegas attorney Stan Hunterton told the Las Vegas Review-Journal by fax last month, "We do not believe that anything was intentionally done wrong" regarding campaign finances. Spitzmesser also thinks Henderson-based Tate Snyder...

Quietly slipping through the legislative process, at least until lately, is the latest incarnation of the Immigration Reform Bill, called Immigration Legislation S-9. This is still nothing but an amnesty plan and a give away of America. This plan cheapens citizen ship by giving it to virtually anyone who can get to U.S. Soil and seek it. Senate Minority Leader John Boehner has called this bill a "piece of shit" and while the words are strong, they re descriptive. This more than can be said of the full name of S-9 as sponsored by Senator Harry Reid. It is called...

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) says Tuesday’s Republican victories in Virginia and New Jersey should be a “wake-up call” for Democrats in Congress. Here are 10 likely to be hearing alarm bells. Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) No one noticed the election results more than Reid’s advisers, who know he faces a situation similar to that which befell New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine. Like Corzine, Reid is an unpopular incumbent running in a state whose economy is in the tank. And like Corzine, he’ll have to use his massive war chest to create a negative impression of his opponent...

Last week in a dramatic announcement, Senator Joe Lieberman announced that he will vote along with the Republican Party to filibuster the Obamacare bill in the senate. It was a big blow to the Democratic efforts to take over our healthcare, so big that Senator Tom Harken threatened to throw Lieberman out of the Democratic Caucus. Yesterday Senator Reid's office reported that the Majority Leader and the Connecticut Senator reached a secret deal where the Senator will not vote for a filibuster but will continue to vote against the bill in the final roll call: But sources said Reid’s staff...

If you’ve been reading the papers lately you’ve probably concluded that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s political future doesn’t look good. The headlines speak for themselves: “Poll: Reid’s re-election numbers don’t add up”; “Harry Reid Seen Losing 2010 Reelection, Poll Shows”; “Senate Leader Harry Reid faces tough re-election” — just to name a few. If you’re just glancing at the polls, Reid’s two likely challengers are clobbering him in hypothetical match-ups — and some polls show Republican challenger Danny Tarkanian has a double-digit lead over him. Further, Reid’s approval rating ranges between 20 and 40 percent, with some polls showing...

It’s no secret that Harry Reid is in trouble in Nevada. The Senate Majority Leader’s approval ratings in his home state of Nevada is lower than Rush Limbaugh's at a Move-on convention. been in the dumps. A poll conducted two week ago showed Reid with an anemic 38 percent approval rating, down more than 15 points since he won re-election back in 2004. But Reid’s falling popularity with Nevada voters isn’t the only thing that has Dems worried. The last two Mason Dixon polls in the state have found Reid losing against two potential GOP challengers: businessman Danny Tarkanian, who...

Here is video of Michelle Malkin talking to Sean Hannity last night about plans by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to use the "reconciliation process" to ram through ObamaCare legislation. This is also called the "Nuclear Option," because it would disregard to rules of the Senate and use a process intended for funding legislation to ram through Obama's radical agenda. It would require only 50 votes to bring a bill to a vote, rather than the usual 60 votes to invoke "cloture." Using this approach would also limit debate to "20 hours," and limit the number of amendments that can...

Could a dynasty of Reids, Harry and son Rory, both get elected to high office in Nevada a year from now? Of course, Harry Reid is the highest-ranking Mormon in political office. His son, not as well-known outside of Nevada, is also running for governor. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is looking at a tough battle in his home state. More than half of likely Nevada voters think Harry Reid is a "weak" leader -- with 84 percent of Reid's Democratic base supporting a public option for health care reform, according to a poll sponsored by a progressive group...

According to CBS and other media reports, “Sen. Joe Lieberman (ID-Conn.) said Tuesday that he would support a Republican filibuster of a health care bill that includes a public option.� This is a serious blow to the passage of any Obamacare bill including a public option, yet the blow may not be fatal. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) yesterday announced a deal and it is notable that he was not accompanied by any member of the secret team negotiating a deal on Obamacare including Senators Max Baucus (D-Mont.), Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, Director...

So Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid stood up to conservatives and the entire health care industry and included an opt-out public option in the bill he will take to the Senate in a few weeks. Bully for you, Harry. You did what you should have done all along. I can't believe there was any question whether we'd include a public option in the mix to make sure the insurance companies had something to compete against. And now we have to worry about...conservative Democrats. This is really too much for me. Two terms of Bush and his wall-to-wall idiocy took all...

Angry KOmmies are FUn to watch! And in this case the KOmmies have gone absolutely BERSERK over the promise by Senator Joe Lieberman to filibuster the ObamaCare bill. That promise alone is enough to KILL ObamaCare in the senate but add to that the very high possibility of Ben Nelson, Evan Bayh, and perhaps a couple of other Democrats refusing to vote for cloture and that bill is DOA. If the bill is later changed to DUmp public option, then the "progressives" will filibuster it. Heads We win, tails you lose. And the fringe benefit is watching the KOmmies...

Everything is going wrong for Dingy, having trouble with the Health Care Bill and it looks like he had some trouble in high school...

Grayson: “You know…FOX News and their Republican collaborators are the enemy of America. They’re the enemy of anybody who cares about health care in this country, the enemy of anybody who cares about educating their children, the enemy of everybody who wants energy independence, anything … good for this country. And they’re certainly the enemy of peace, there’s no doubt about that. They ARE the enemy.”I’ve seen people like Alan Grayson, the Democratic Representative from Florida’s 8th Congressional District, before. For example, I once attended an event held by Michigan Congressman John Conyers in the southern, suburban, part of his...

<p>After a weekend of intense consultations with fellow Democrats, Senate majority leader Harry Reid has decided he has the votes to get a health-reform bill with a public option to the Senate floor. "I believe we clearly will have the support of my caucus to move to this bill and start legislating," Reid declared at a news conference Monday afternoon.</p>

Harry Reid was caught red-handed and red-faced in a bold-faced lie yesterday by Fox News that he’s been spouting for months in his ideological battle to scam the American people into coming around on the universal healthcare-mess known as Obamacare, being the Obama gofer that he is. The Reid Lie centers around this talking point that, in all fairness, is one that many Democrats including Pelosi have been repeating or at least implying; however, Reid is the one which Fox News’ fact-checking can actually expose as the total liar he is because of what he incriminatingly said on tape.

What Harry Reid did Monday afternoon gave new meaning to the phrase "public option." The Senate majority leader, after haggling behind closed doors with members of his Democratic caucus, realized that he couldn't cobble together the 60 votes he needed to pass health-care legislation with a government-run health plan. So Reid chose another option: He shut down the private talks, booked the Senate TV studio and went public with his own proposal. "I've concluded," he told the roomful of cameras and reporters, "that the best way to move forward is to include a public option." For Reid, it was an...

CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) —Nevada Republicans who supported Ron Paul in last year's GOP presidential contest announced a political action committee Monday to oppose the U.S. Senate bid of former state party chairwoman Sue Lowden. Robert Holloday, spokesman for the Fair Nevada Elections PAC, said Lowden's handling of last year's state convention when delegate selections were stopped amounted to betrayal. "Sue Lowden's leading role in improperly halting the delegate election disqualifies her for any position of trust in government," Holloday said. "Our group hopes to raise awareness of the dismal record of Sue Lowden and to oppose her election to...

SEARCHLIGHT, Nev. -- Along a curve of desert highway near the gated home of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, mechanic Bill Johnson is struggling to keep his checkbook balanced. With Nevada's economy poisoned by recession and the nation's highest foreclosure and bankruptcy rates, business at Johnson's boat-repair shop has nose-dived 40 percent since last year. He cannot afford health insurance, and his sewer bill jumped to $875 a year. "I really have to pose a question: Harry, what have you done for me lately?" asks Johnson, who vows to vote against Reid and other incumbents unless health care is made...

Senate Majority Leader will announce this afternoon that he plans to push ahead with a public option vote -- one that includes an opt-out provision for states -- even though he's currently short several votes for passage, according to people close to the situation. The Nevada Democrat has a 3:15 p.m. press conference to discuss details. Leadership sources tell me that Reid, who spoke with virtually every member of his 60-member caucus this weekend, currently has between 56 and 57 votes for the opt-out, which is being pushed by Sen. Charles Schumer, according to Democratic aides. A public option with...

Just from the title of today's Huffington Post cover story, Leaderless: Senate Pushes For Public Option Without Obama's Support, you can see that they have pretty much given up on counting on Barack Obama demonstrating leadership in the fight to pass ObamaCare. Here are Huffington Post correspondents Sam Stein and Ryan Grim registering their disgust with Obama in a grim story: President Barack Obama is actively discouraging Senate Democrats in their effort to include a public insurance option with a state opt-out clause as part of health care reform. In its place, say multiple Democratic sources, Obama has indicated a...

Here is video of Good Morning America today reporting that Democrat Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid will bring forward a Senate Health Care Bill that DOES contain a Government-run "Public Option" Insurance program: "I am told that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is leaning toward including the creation of a new government-run insurance program – the so-called public option – in the health care reform bill he will bring to the full Senate in the coming weeks. Democratic sources tell me that Reid – after a series of meetings with Democratic moderates – has concluded he can pass a bill...

The public option. The idea was believed to be dead. Liberals wanted it, but Senate vote counters insisted it simply could not pass the Senate. The dynamic, however, has changed. The public option may be back from dead. I am told that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is leaning toward including the creation of a new government-run insurance program – the so-called public option – in the health care reform bill he will bring to the full Senate in the coming weeks. Democratic sources tell me that Reid – after a series of meetings with Democratic moderates – has concluded...

In a vote that was a highly symbolic proxy for the larger partisan fight over health care policy, the Senate on Wednesday rejected a bill that would have averted steep cuts in Medicare payments to doctors. Senate Democratic leaders had pushed the bill, which would have cost $247 billion over 10 years, as a standalone measure separate from the broader health care legislation that is President Obama’s top domestic priority. The bill was meant to fix a longstanding payment formula that calls for annual cuts in Medicare payments to doctors — cuts that for years Congress has avoided with yearly...

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is prepared to run a sharply negative campaign if that’s what it takes to win reelection next year, with a top adviser predicting that the Nevada Democrat will “vaporize” his Republican challengers with attack ads. Trailing in the polls and under constant attack from the GOP, Reid’s campaign has just launched a warm-and-fuzzy million-dollar ad campaign to reintroduce the veteran senator to his constituents. But Reid’s team also wants to be the one that introduces lesser-known opponents to the electorate — and will be ready, when the time comes, to unleash a torrent of ads...

Politics: Move over, John McCain and Olympia Snowe. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina is fast becoming the Democrats' favorite Republican as he partners with John Kerry to push cap-and-trade through the Senate. Earlier this year, eight Republican congressmen made it possible for Waxman-Markey, the 1,400-page job- and economy-killing cap-and-trade legislation, to barely pass the House of Representatives. At the time it seemed dead on arrival in the Senate if it was brought up there this year. Once again, as with their medical plan, the Democrats seek to better the odds by putting a GOP hood ornament on a Democratic clunker....

<p>Two normally savvy observers weighed in on Sen. Harry Reid’s electoral prospects, and both were, well, sort of wrong.</p> <p>“The fundamental dilemma that Reid faces — how to carry Obama’s agenda effectively while also appealing to Nevada voters to whom that agenda is too liberal — is quite similar to the puzzle that (Tom) Daschle tried (and failed) to solve six years ago, however.”</p>

Democrats' secret 4-step plan to jam public option!! Step 1: The Senate Finance Committee must first approve the marked-up version of Sen. Max Baucus (D.-Mont.) conceptual framework. Then Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D.-Nev.) can say that two Senate Committees have passed a health care bill, which will allow him to take extraordinary steps to get the bill on the Senate floor. During the mark-up last week, members had difficulty offering amendments and trying to make constructive changed because they lacked actual legislative text and Baucus made unilateral last minute changes. For example, the AP reported that under pressure from...

SENATOR HARRY REID: He talked about CBO saying that there would be $54 billion saved each year if we put caps on medical malpractice and put some restrictions — tort reform — $54 billion. Sounds like a lot of money, doesn’t it, Mr. President? The answer is yes. But remember, we’re talking about $2 trillion, $54 billion compared to $2 trillion. You can do the math. We can all do the math. It’s a very small percent.

HARRY REID: "He talked about CBO saying that there would be $54 billion saved each year if we put caps on medical malpractice and put some restrictions — tort reform — $54 billion. Sounds like a lot of money, doesnt it, Mr. President? The answer is yes. But remember, were talking about $2 trillion, $54 billion compared to $2 trillion. You can do the math. We can all do the math. Its a very small percent."

Run for the hills. Halloween's coming early, inspired by one lawmaker in particular. We can expect locked doors, dim back rooms and mysterious murmuring in the very near future, predicts Rick Scott, director of Conservatives for Patients' Rights, a grass-roots group. "You'd think we were in a haunted house. But it's Capitol Hill we're talking about here, now that the fate of health care reform is in the hands of Senate Majority LeaderHarry Reid," Mr. Scott tells Inside the Beltway.

It's become increasingly clear in recent weeks that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is in deep trouble in his re-election race next fall. A new independent poll conducted for the Las Vegas Review Journal shows Reid trailing two unknown opponents -- former state party chairwoman Sue Lowden and businessman Danny Tarkanian -- and just 38 percent of Nevada voters had a favorable opinion of their senator. At the heart of Reid's vulnerability is the disconnect between his role in Washington as the leader of Senate Democrats and his status as Nevada's senior senator. In Washington, Reid is tasked with carrying...

(CNSNews.com) -- A senior aide to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told CNSNews.com that it is “likely� that Reid will use H.R. 1586—a bill passed by the House in March to impose a 90-percent tax on bonuses paid to employees of certain bailed-out financial institutions—as a “shell� for enacting the final version of the Senate’s health care bill, which Reid is responsible for crafting.