Free Republic

The performance of Speaker Pelosi and the Democratic Party in the House of Representatives on Monday reminds us of Hamlet. Something is rotten there, but, like Hamlet, we are not sure exactly what, except that it is even worse than it looked. Was this a ploy to hand the presidency to Obama? Was this a trap to hang on Republican Congressmen? Was this a way to get back in new negotiations slush funds for ACORN and other atrocities Republicans had negotiated out of the bill? Probably all of the above. This was a setup that ended up costing investors twice...

ORLANDO, Fla., Sept. 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The White House Writers Group and West Wing Writers have come together from opposite sides of the political spectrum to host a bipartisan forum, America's Health Care At Risk: Finding Cure, on Sept. 17 and 18 at the Hyatt Regency Orlando International Hotel in Florida. Across the nation there is significant agreement that the health care system needs to be fixed and the next president -- no matter who takes office -- will have to approach Members of Congress and find champions on both sides of the aisle to enact change. With the upcoming...

Be careful not to assign too much scientific precision to polls. They aren't as accurate as portrayed. But several different surveys at roughly the same time that show similar results are useful guides. So three trends in recent polls must worry Sen. Barack Obama and encourage Sen. John McCain...

Serious question. Is this over? I mean there is no objective reason for a thinking adult to vote for Obama over McCain. Barry has all the earmarks of a flash in the pan, a guy who could be expected to lose in a landslide. Landslides don’t just happen on election day, they start with a trend leading to that result. A blind man can see this is a very bad trend for Obama. Soon-to-be landslide victims flail and insist right up until election day that they will win. They are then discarded on the ash heap of history’s losers with...

Karl Rove is so powerful, he is probably toying with the Libs by putting out these maps showing Obama anywhere near winning this thing. We all know he will draw upon all the powers of heaven and earth (or hell if you are a Dem) and put McPalin over the top in November. For now, though, he shows an interesting dynamic.

Of all the advantages Gov. Sarah Palin has brought to the GOP ticket, the most important may be that she has gotten into Barack Obama's head. How else to explain Sen. Obama's decision to go one-on-one against "Sarah Barracuda," captain of the Wasilla High state basketball champs? It's a matchup he'll lose. If Mr. Obama wants to win, he needs to remember he's running against John McCain for president, not Mrs. Palin for vice president. Michael Dukakis spent the last months of the 1988 campaign calling his opponent's running mate, Dan Quayle, a risky choice and even ran a TV...

Of all the advantages Gov. Sarah Palin has brought to the GOP ticket, the most important may be that she has gotten into Barack Obama's head. How else to explain Sen. Obama's decision to go one-on-one against "Sarah Barracuda," captain of the Wasilla High state basketball champs? It's a matchup he'll lose. If Mr. Obama wants to win, he needs to remember he's running against John McCain for president, not Mrs. Palin for vice president. In Mrs. Palin, Mr. Obama faces a political phenomenon who has altered the election's dynamics. Americans have rarely seen someone who immediately connects with large...

Will Barack Obama and John McCain's picks for their running mates affect the election? I asked some leading political science professors what research on this topic revealed. Their answer: Running mates usually don't matter, but this may be an unusual election. John Petrocik of the University of Missouri, Columbia told me his analysis of vice presidential choices between 1972 and 2004 showed they had an impact of "less than 1%" on the outcome of the election. "Running mates have a significant impact," said James E. Campbell of the State University of New York at Buffalo, "but only in their home...

.........While, we know that NASA is operating -- as it has been for fifty years -- on a carefully calculated, “timed release aspirin,” national security model -- dictated (in part) by the paranoid excuses framed by "the Brookings Report." Augmented -- this unique year -- by Karl Rove's converging campaign calculations .... So as to bring maximum political advantage, regarding this extraordinary new Reality, to ... John McCain.

Biden's Exaggerations - Inflating Obama's record will not resolve doubts. 08/28/2008 THE DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION exposed the central defect of Senator Barack Obama's candidacy: the absence of compelling evidence he is up to the job of president. The exposé comes courtesy of a bad habit of his running mate, Senator Joe Biden. When in doubt, Mr. Biden exaggerates. And in the past week, he did a lot. Voters expect candidates to embellish, but only so much. Go beyond acceptable stretching and a candidate may squander his most precious political possession: credibility. Mr. Obama may be on this perilous path. Last...

Republican strategist Karl Rove called Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) late last week and urged him to contact Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) to withdraw his name from vice-presidential consideration, according to three sources familiar with the conversation. Lieberman dismissed the request, these sources agreed. Lieberman “laughed at the suggestion and certainly did not call [McCain] on it,” said one source familiar with the details. “Rove called Lieberman,” recounted a second source. “Lieberman told him he would NOT make that call.” Rove did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Rove, President Bush’s former top campaign adviser and arguably the most...

What must Barack Obama and John McCain achieve at their conventions? Conventions are the best, most controlled opportunities left for the candidates. Only the debates come close in impact, but they are unpredictable and not susceptible to the choreography available at the conventions. Mr. McCain's handlers must achieve three things. First is a greater public awareness of the character that makes him worthy of the Oval Office. Mr. McCain's warrior ethic makes it difficult for him to share his interior life, though his conversation with Rick Warren did provide moving glimpses into it. To win, Mr. McCain will need to...

Rove: Obama should be ‘way ahead’ By Klaus Marre and Walter Alarkon Posted: 08/10/08 12:40 PM [ET] Republican strategist Karl Rove said Sunday the fact that Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama does not have a large lead in the race shows that there are “grave doubts” about the Illinois senator. “With a restive electorate, with an economy that's sort of chugging around, with a war in the background, at the end of eight years of Republican rule in the White House, Obama should be way ahead,” Rove, who engineered President Bush’s two election victories and whose name is synonymous with...

The Talk Shows Sunday, August 10th, 2008 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows: FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): Rick Davis, John McCain's campaign manager; Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill.; Amy Zantzinger, White House social secretary.MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.FACE THE NATION (CBS): Gov. Tim Kaine, D-Va., and Karl Rove, former deputy chief of staff to President Bush. THIS WEEK (ABC): Govs. Bill Richardson, D-N.M., and Bobby Jindal, R-La.LATE EDITION (CNN) : T. Boone Pickens, chairman of the energy investment fund BP Capital and creator of an alternative energy plan; Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and...

The trend of the tracking polls hasn't been good of late. Rasmussen, which is a quite reputable poll, has Obama and McCain tied today -- and with leaners (basically people who haven't made up their minds, but are forced to choose for the poll), McCain is up by one point. This is the first time that McCain has tied or beaten Obama in the poll, Obama has always been up. Not anymore: The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Monday shows the race for the White House is tied with Barack Obama and John McCain each attracting 44% of...

Judge says "It's about time," to Rove Arresters The four Iowans arrested last Friday for attempting to make a citizen's arrest of Karl Rove Retired Methodist minister, Chet Guinn, 80, and Des Moines Catholic Workers, Ed Bloomer, 61, Mona Shaw 57, and Kirk Brown, 25, were arrested at a Des Moines country club where Rove was appearing at a Republican Fundraiser. Shaw was the first called before Polk County Fifth Judicial District Associate Judge William Price. After entering her plea, the judge asked Shaw, "Mamn, what were you doing at the Wakonda Country Club?" "I was attempting to make a...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Ben Stein says he knows how Sen. John McCain can win in November: Karl Rove. Ben Stein tells CNN's Mark Preston that John McCain is running the "most pathetic campaign" he's ever seen. That's right, that Karl Rove. At a time when McCain is seeking to distance himself from President Bush, Stein argues McCain needs to enlist Bush's chief political guru in order to defeat Sen. Barack Obama. "I don't discount the possibility that some really smart person at the McCain campaign might go over to Karl Rove, and say 'We will offer you all the kingdoms...

The war of hot button words is revving up in the Presidential campaign. In John McCain’s newest ad today, the McCain camp calls Barack Obama, “the biggest celebrity in the world.” (VIDEO AT LINK) The word “celebrity” tested very negatively with voters, essentially linking Obama with Angelina Jolie and Madonna. “Celebrity” equals superficial for voters, people who are well known for being well known. This is the approach to advertising that gave us “Death Tax” and “Family Values.” It’s smart strategic political hardball. It is starting to look like the McCain campaign, as I have said before, is pursuing the...

House Panel: Karl Rove Is In Contempt Of Congress Ignores House Judiciary Committee Subpoena WASHINGTON (AP) ― A House panel Wednesday voted to cite former top White House aide Karl Rove for contempt of Congress as its Senate counterpart publicly pursued possible punishments for an array of alleged past and present Bush administration misdeeds. Voting along party lines, the House Judiciary Committee said that Rove had broke the law by failing to appear at a July 10 hearing on allegations of White House influence over the Justice Department, including whether Rove encouraged prosecutions against Democrats. The committee decision is only...

Picture the scene from the DUkes of Hazzard. Same theme music. Only instead of the sheriff chasing the Dukes' Dodge Charger, it is reporters from the National Enquirer chasing John Edwards all around the basement of the Beverly Hilton with the chase ending up in a restroom where the Breck Girl remained trapped for 15 minutes until rescued by hotel security. In case you haven't heard about this Edwards scandal, here is an excerpt from the National Enquirer STORY: Edwards went out of the hotel briefly with Rielle, they were observed by the NATIONAL ENQUIRER and then went back...

John McCain and Barack Obama have both changed positions in this campaign. That's OK. Voters understand that politicians can and, sometimes, should change their views. After all, voters do. Witness the wide swings in their answers to opinion polls. But before accepting the changes, voters typically ask themselves three questions: Does the candidate admit he's shifting? What's the new information that altered his thinking? Does the change seem reasonable and not calculating?

Karl Rove may not want to testify under oath before Congress, but he's more than willing to be grilled by another ferocious set: the nation's television reporters. A week after ignoring a congressional subpoena, the former White House aide turned Fox News analyst joined Fox News Executive Vice President John Moody, fellow campaign operative turned political pundit Howard Wolfson and Fox anchorman Chris Wallace before the liberal-skewing press corps at the Television Critics Association's summer press tour in Los Angeles. ~snip~ "I do talk to people in politics all across the country, some of whom are very active in the...

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif.—Mitt Romney failed to win the Republican presidential nomination because of inexperience and inconsistency, according to GOP political guru Karl Rove. Rove, who grew up in Utah and masterminded President George W. Bush's election and re-election campaigns, told those gathered at the Television Critics Association press tour that the former Massachusetts governor didn't understand what he was getting into. "Running for president is unlike any other political task that anybody has ever taken on," he said. "So running for governor of Massachusetts, while it prepares you to some degree for running for president, there's nothing like running for...

I need help in proving that this picture is photoshopped. A Virginia Democrat blogger is using it like it's an actual news photo. Can you help me prove it's a fake? Thanks.

Have any of you seen Karl Rove, former Deputy Chief of Staff to President Bush, on FOX news lately? He is a clever guy, isn't he? Indeed, quite brilliant in my eyes which makes me wonder why his name has such negative connotations, especially in the more liberal newspapers like the NY or LA Times. It seems the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee is trying to obtain information from Mr. Rove concerning the firing of several U.S. Attorneys by the President. Now, the way I understand it, the President has the right to fire any U.S. attorney. (This isn't the...

WASHINGTON - Karl Rove had never been so agreeable. The former chief strategist to President Bush was the only witness listed on the agenda for Thursday's meeting of the House Judiciary Committee, and he proved to be uncharacteristically contained. Rep. Linda Sanchez, chairman of the subcommittee holding the hearing, declared herself "extremely disappointed and deeply concerned" about Rove's behavior. Rove was silent. Sanchez spoke of his "role in the alleged politicization of the Justice Department" and his hand in "the unprecedented firing of nine U.S. attorneys in 2006." Rove offered no defense. "If such allegations were true," said Rep. Chris...

There's nothing better than being propelled into the weekend on a laugh, and Rep. John Conyers from Michigan is in a giving mood. Conyers has a piece at the Huffington Post entitled "Karl Rove, the White House, and the Rule of Law." The rule of law?That's right; a Conyers is actually pointing the finger at somebody else's ethics. Some members of Congress have no shame. The only way this could be topped would be for Amy Winehouse to write a HuffPo piece chastising Courtney Love's drug habit. John Conyers, with the two staffers who accused him of using taxpayer money...

Karl Rove, President Bush's longtime political guru, refused to obey an order to testify before a House Judiciary Committee hearing Thursday. Rove's lawyer asserted that Rove was "immune" from the subpoena the committee had issued, arguing that the committee could not compel him to testify due to "executive privilege." The panel is investigating allegations that Rove and his White House allies dismissed U.S. attorneys and prosecuted officials who they saw as political opponents. The panel subpoenaed Rove in May after his lawyer, Robert D. Luskin, made clear the former White House deputy chief of staff would not appear voluntarily. Luskin...

The House Judiciary Committee is not likely to vote on a contempt resolution against Karl Rove until late this month, according to the panel's chairman. Rove, the former White House deputy chief of staff and top political advisor to President Bush, refused to appear today before a subcommittee of the Judiciary Committee to testify on the "politicization" of the Justice Department under the current administration. Citing a claim of executive privilege by Bush, Rove did not show up for today's hearing despite a committee subpoena. Conyers and Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.), chairwoman of the Commercial and Administrative Law subcommittee, rejected...

Washington, D.C. - House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) threatened to charge former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove with contempt on Thursday after the controversial former presidential aide refused to comply with a subpoena. The panel is investigating alleged politically-motivated prosecutions by the Bush administration of nine federal attorneys in 2006 and former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman. Rove was charged by the Senate Judiciary Committee with contempt along with current White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten last year for failing to follow a subpoena about a related inquiry. He is scheduled to testify before the...

On the money front, how do Sens. Obama and McCain stack up? No contest, it seems. Since the campaign began, Mr. Obama has raised a staggering $295-plus million, versus Mr. McCain's almost $122 million. But that's misleading. Mr. Obama spent a lot to win the nomination. So how much cash did he and his rival have when the general election effectively began in June? As of May 31, Mr. Obama had $43.1 million on hand while Mr. McCain had $31.6 million – a significant but not overwhelming advantage ...There is also the cash raised by the Republican and Democratic National...

Many candidates have measured the Oval Office drapes prematurely. But Barack Obama is the first to redesign the presidential seal before the election. His seal featured an eagle emblazoned with his logo, and included a Latin version of his campaign slogan. This was an attempt by Sen. Obama to make himself appear more presidential. But most people saw in the seal something else – chutzpah – and he's stopped using it. Such arrogance – even self-centeredness – have featured often in the Obama campaign. [It's All About Obama] AP The presumptive nominee's presumptive "presidential" seal. Consider his treatment of Jeremiah...

Wonder if the Bush Administration realizes that it should be fighting back against the Democrats? Karl Rove realizes it too late. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgSl8pnarxM&feature=related So has anything changed in addressing this mistake?

Rep. Robert Wexler (D-Fla.), one of the most vocal opponents of the Bush administration on Capitol Hill, said Scott McClellan's book and testimony justify the beginning of impeachment hearings against Vice President Dick Cheney. During questioning of McClellan, Wexler asked the former White House press secretary if he believed Bush authorized the leaking of Valerie Plame Wilson's name. When McClellan said no, Wexler said this meant that Cheney must have been the source of the leak, meaning Cheney was seeking to retaliate against the wife of an administration critic. In Wexler's view, this would be enough to support the initation...

Getting to Know John McCain By KARL ROVE April 30, 2008 It came to me while I was having dinner with Doris Day. No, not that Doris Day. The Doris Day who is married to Col. Bud Day, Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, fighter pilot, Vietnam POW and roommate of John McCain at the Hanoi Hilton. As we ate near the Days' home in Florida recently, I heard things about Sen. McCain that were deeply moving and politically troubling. Moving because they told me things about him the American people need to know. And troubling because it is clear that...

ormer White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan writes in a surprisingly scathing memoir to be published next week that President Bush “veered terribly off course,” was not “open and forthright on Iraq,” and took a “permanent campaign approach” to governing at the expense of candor and competence. Among the most explosive revelations in the 341-page book, titled “What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington’s Culture of Deception” (Public Affairs, $27.95): —McClellan charges that Bush relied on “propaganda” to sell the war. —He says the White House press corps went too easy on the administration. —He admits that some...

A good deal of what is posted on FR is based on misreading of the facts or outright xenophobia. Anyone who speaks on this subject should have some facts and understanding of the issues and solutions. Karl Rove did this in December 2006. The You Tube presentation at CSPAN can be found: HERE.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Karl Rove, who had been one of President George W. Bush's top aides, was subpoenaed on Thursday to testify before a congressional panel investigating the administration's firing of nine federal prosecutors. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee chairman John Conyers issued the subpoena after months of failed efforts to get Rove to voluntarily testify under oath. The Judiciary Committee, like its Senate counterpart, has been investigating for more than a year the administration's dismissal of nine of the nation's 93 U.S. attorneys in 2006. Despite White House claims to the contrary, critics charge the firings were politically motivated,...

The House Judiciary Committee has subpoenaed former White House adviser Karl Rove as part of its inquiry into whether the Bush administration politically meddled at the Justice Department. Accusations of politics governing decisions at the agency led to the resignation of former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. The subpoena issued Thursday orders Rove to testify before the House panel on July 10. He is expected to face questions about the White House's role in firing nine U.S. attorneys in 2006 and the prosecution of former Gov. Don Siegelman of Alabama, a Democrat.

Somebody warm up Karl's Weather Machine! The Spork Weasels are twitchin! ++++++++++++++++++++++++ The enemy of my enemy is…? Senator Hillary Clinton — just like any other Democrat — has used comparing someone’s campaign tactics to Karl Rove as the ultimate political insult. But — in yet a new somersault in a campaign year when candidates are doing so many somersaults that they could win red ribbons in the Olympics — Clinton is citing an analysis by you-know-who as reason to stay in the Democratic nomination race: Hillary Clinton defended her reasoning for staying in the presidential race Monday afternoon by...

Presidential historian Sean Wilentz—who’s also a New Republic contributing editor, Bob Dylan enthusiast, and prominent Clinton backer—talked to MarketWatch about campaign coverage. And like many Clinton supporters these days, he didn't shower praise on CNN or MSNBC. [Wilentz] said the best coverage by far came from the Fox News Channel. Wilentz observed that Karl Rove, contributor to Fox News and architect of Bush's two successful presidential campaigns, among others, had sounded "very, very knowledgeable." "What it showed is that the reporting of politics doesn't have to be bad," Wilentz said. "If you respect your audience without a partisan imperative, then...

Until very recently Karl Rove was to most Democrats the Great Satan, the political mastermind of two outrageously stunning Republican presidential victories by a Texas goofball governor and, before that, the unfortunate upset ousting of a popular Democratic governor named Ann Richards, as well as the overall rejuvenation of the Lone Star state GOP in statewide offices. ...In recent months one of the worst things Sen. Hillary Clinton could say about her opponent, Sen. Barack Obama, was that he was taking moves out of the "Karl Rove playbook." Can you imagine?! "Shame on you, Barack Obama!" she said. Which, if...

Dan Abrams, apparently still smarting from the castigation he received in April from Karl Rove, just cannot let go. Despite the fact that the "high level" Republican operative, Jill Simpson, who accused Rove of orchestrating the prosecution of convicted Democrat former Alabama governor, Dan Siegelman, never actually met nor talked to Karl Rove and whose "high level" operative activities in her own words never rose above typical volunteer work, Abrams continues to wander into the swamp created by this much less than credible source. On Thursday, Abrams and Catherine Crier were salivating with glee on MSNBC's Verdict over the prospect that the House...

Congrats to all you DUmmies out in California who can now marry each other in that state. I was originally intending to DUFU one of the many jubilant DUmmie threads about the California Supreme Court overturning the ban on gay marriage but they mostly consisted of DUmmies just high-fiving each other with little thought about how this decision will help to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in many House and Senate races this November. Therefore, I took a trip to KOmmieland and found the KOmmies salivating at the prospect of the House possibly frogwalking Karl Rove. This...

<p>Some of the media elite have found that Karl Rove in his new role as a commentator is, to their apparent astonishment, a pretty good guy. Rove is now a FOX News contributor and also writes for the Wall Street Journal and Newsweek. The New York Times quotes Newsweek editor Jon Meacham as saying the former Bush political strategist is getting positive reviews from the staff.</p>

Tuesday's election results highlighted challenges for both Democrats and Republicans. Republicans received a hard shot in Mississippi. Greg Davis (for whom I campaigned and who was a well-qualified candidate) narrowly lost a special congressional election in a district President George W. Bush carried four years ago with 62% of the vote. Democrats pulled off the win by smartly nominating a conservative, Travis Childers, from a rural swing part of the district who disavowed Barack Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and hit Mr. Davis from the right. This blow to the GOP came after two other special congressional election losses...

Many in the Obama camp, having outfoxed the apparently not-so-formidable Clinton machine, can't seem to get the hang of winning gracefully. They feel a need to drive a stake in Hillary Clinton's reputation, then dance. If they were smart, they'd heap praise on Clinton and let her finish out the race, however she chooses to do so. That's sage advice, even though offered by Republican mastermind-turned-pundit Karl Rove. Treat Clinton shabbily, he says, and many of her supporters "will remember it by November." Nonetheless, Obamites are throwing victory parties over the impending defeat of a fellow Democrat who has thus...

The Pundit Analyzing Obama? Some TV Upstart Named Rove By JIM RUTENBERG and JACQUES STEINBERG WASHINGTON — Late Thursday night, Karl Rove, “the architect” of the last two Republican presidential victories, was on his new television perch at Fox News, offering free advice to Senator Barack Obama as he closed in on the Democratic nomination. Any move by Mr. Obama to declare victory before the last of the Democratic primaries in June, Mr. Rove said, would alienate Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s wing of the party. “That’s a mistake,” he said. “That just is rubbing the loser’s nose in it. And...

Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama each took a state Tuesday. But the result was a damaging loss for the woman who was once the overwhelming front-runner for the Democratic nomination. Here are some observations on the race: - Mr. Obama is now the prohibitive favorite. Tuesday night, he took at least 94 delegates to Mrs. Clinton's 75 and leads the former First Lady by 176 delegates in the AP tabulation. He has 1,840 of the 2,025 delegates needed to win. Mr. Obama needs only 185 – or 38% – of the 486 outstanding delegates (217 to be elected in...

Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama each took a state Tuesday. But the result was a damaging loss for the woman who was once the overwhelming front-runner for the Democratic nomination. Here are some observations on the race: - Mr. Obama is now the prohibitive favorite. Tuesday night, he took at least 94 delegates to Mrs. Clinton's 75 and leads the former First Lady by 176 delegates in the AP tabulation. He has 1,840 of the 2,025 delegates needed to win. Mr. Obama needs only 185 – or 38% – of the 486 outstanding delegates (217 to be elected in...