Free Republic

"House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) (C) holds aloft the $700 billion financial bailout bill after she signed it, in an attempt to provide relief for the current financial and banking crisis, at the US Capitol in Washington, October 3, 2008. Also pictured are: Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) (Back row, L-R), Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC), Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD), Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) and Rep. John Larson (D-CT)."

Let's award a point of light to Matt Lauer. On this morning's Today, he called out Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) for calling for an end to the blame game . . . right after the congressman blamed John McCain for failing to rally his Arizona troops to vote for the bailout. But that didn't stop Clyburn from continuing to try to pin the tail on the elephant. JAMES CLYBURN: We promised 50% of our caucus; they promised 50% of their caucus, or their conference. We produced 60%, and they produced 33%. MATT LAUER: Yeah, but in fairness, Congressman Clyburn, the...

An angry and upset Rep. James Clyburn said Wednesday that his office has been deluged with nasty phone calls with racial overtones since his endorsement of Barack Obama a day earlier. Clyburn told FOX News Radio’s “Brian and the Judge” that the callers identified themselves as Hillary Clinton supporters. Clyburn, an African-American and the third ranking House Democrat, said a white intern in his office was so upset by the calls that she had to be consoled by other workers and left the office early. “We got more vitriolic, nasty phone calls, really racially tinged phone calls in my congressional...

If we don't wave the white flag fast enough in Iraq, we'll get stuck with a victory and nothing could set a worse precedent — at least for those like House Majority Whip James Clyburn, South Carolina Democrat.

WASHINGTON — Congressional Democratic leaders are aggressively strategizing a new offensive against the Bush administration's management of the Iraq war as more and more anti-war lawmakers publicly acknowledge successes ahead of a key White House progress report. Aware of the trouble Iraqi progress could mean for Democrats at home — House Whip James Clyburn recently said if the surge were successful, it would be "a real problem for us" — a revised set of talking points is being worked up by Democrats that declares the escalation of troops in Iraq has not been successful despite White House claims otherwise. That...

For the first time during 110th Congress, the Blue Dog Coalition — a 47-member grouping of self-described moderate and conservative Democrats — defied House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic leadership on a critical national security issue: Saturday night's vote on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), where 41 dissident Democrats, nearly all of them Blue Dogs, provided the margin of victory for President Bush on the issue of terrorist surveillance. Thanks to the Blue Dogs, the administration's commonsense proposal to clarify that FISA permits U.S. intelligence agencies to monitor telephone calls made by foreign terrorist suspects outside the United...

Dems Insist U.S. Deserves Better Than Bush By ELISABETH GOODRIDGE, Associated Press Writer 16 minutes ago Americans deserve better leadership than what the Bush administration offers, South Carolina Rep. James E. Clyburn said Saturday in the Democrats' weekly radio address. Clyburn, chairman of the House Democratic Faith Working Group and chairman-elect of the House Democratic Caucus, said recent legislation promoted by Republicans has done little to help the lives of many Americans. "In order to have an America that is strong at home and abroad, we must have a government that is as good as the American people," he said....

It was a historic moment for the Grand Old Party: At the 2000 Republican National Convention in Philadelphia, black conservatives took center stage, delivered speeches in prime time, raised their voices in a gospel choir and locked hands with the white men who, by an overwhelming majority, run the party. By the end of the convention, the future national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, and secretary of state, Colin L. Powell, had emerged as black conservative stars, and a concerted effort by Republicans "to invent new black leaders" -- as former House speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) once put it -- was...