Free Republic

This Friday, November 15, may be a major turning point for the Obama Presidency. On Friday there will be a key vote on Chairman Fred Upton's bill, the Keep You Health Plan Act. It’s beginning to look as though a large number of House Democrats are going to break with the President and vote for the Upton bill. Ominously for the President, the House Democrat rebellion is matched by an even more visible desertion among Senate Democrats. When Senator Kay Hagan, a North Carolina Democrat, lost her ten-point advantage for reelection since the Obamacare website failed, she had a clear...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLQebqVQKcc The Senate, by not passing a budget, and by saying fund all or nothing, has taken away the House's power of the purse to defund courts or an other agency that goes beyond its power. If the House impeaches a judge, the current senate would neither try nor convict and remove from office. If the House abolished a court, or limited its jurisdiction, that law would never get through the senate. Every means by which the people can rein in a courts power would be halted by the US Senate and then by former Senator Barack Obama. Therefore, we...

Former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich fired back at conservative author and columnist Ann Coulter for remarks she made about him on “Hannity” Monday. -snip- “That’s kind of weird. I helped lead us to the first Republican majority in the House in 40 years. I helped develop with Bill Clinton the first four – the only four – balanced budgets in her lifetime. We helped pass welfare reform. I would’ve thought all those would have counted against the number of books she’s sold. But, you know, people have got to go out and say something to sell books and she’s...

The dance we are watching this weekend is a very important moment in modern American history with big implications for how the executive and the legislative branches interact in the future. The House Republicans have staked out a position that they can use their constitutional power of the purse to force the President to negotiate over key issues. President Obama and Senate Democratic Leader Reid believe they can break the House Republicans and force them to reopen the government and pass a debt ceiling hike with no negotiations and no conditions. Senate Republicans are split between a majority who want...

A new political action committee is hoping to convince former Speaker of the House and presidential candidate Newt Gingrich to run for the U.S. Senate in Virginia next year. Draft Newt PAC insists Gingrich, now a host of CNN’s Crossfire, is Republicans’ best hope for retaking the Senate seat currently held by Sen. Mark Warner (D., Va.), who is vying for his second term. “We want a credible challenger to Mark Warner, and no one could do what Newt could do to fight—and win,” said Andrew Hemingway, a former staffer on Gingrich’s 2012 presidential campaign who is leading the Draft...

Former Speaker and former presidential candidate Newt Gingrich took to Twitter to blast the Obama administration for its absurd shutdown actions. "DC Tourists frustrated by shutdown Smithsonian should visit Mount Vernon. Ladies of Mount Vernon have NEVER taken govt money. Still open" Gingrich and wife had paid a visit to Mount Vernon. And he noticed a little something on the bus turnaround. "The tour bus turnaround at Mount Vernon closed by Park Police. Zero maintenance required." A response from a lib: "Zero maintenance. However, if someone gets lost in there, a staff would be required. Are you really that damn...

(CNN) -- The worst possible outcome for the country from the impasse over the continuing resolution that would prevent a government shutdown would be for House Republicans to cave. This is a pivotal conflict that will define the relationship between Congress and the executive branch for the next three years. The country will be much better off if Congress does not abdicate its constitutional role and if the president cannot ignore that role. When President Barack Obama is willing to negotiate with Russian, Syrian and Iranian leaders but unwilling to negotiate with the U.S. House of Representatives, it is time...

When and if the Republicans fight on conservative principles, they win. Ah, but there is the rub. Newt Gingrich beat former House Speaker, Jim Wright, like a rented mule. He didn't let up. House Post Office scandal, using his position to sell blank books etc. Made a contract with America. Gingrich received a lot of grief from the naysayers but the end result was the Republicans took the House for the 1st time in 40 years. Kept the House until the Republicans sounded like Democrat lite, forgot about the pledge with America, and then lost the House. Bush the Elder...

The recent vote of House Republicans to cut $40 billion from the food stamp program reflects a deep-seated and insidious racial resentment toward Americans of color. This racial resentment rears its ugly head within the provisions for the bill that demand that non-employed participants in the program get a job, job training or do community service activities. Though the bill in its current form will most likely die in the Senate, the fact that Republicans would even pass it should concern us. Conservatives continue to lead under the aegis of a deliberate and willful ignorance about the long-term existence of...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: The other day also we had economic news not good about the widening gap between the rich and the poor. We had the news that the smarter are getting wealthier and the stupider are getting poorer -- I mean, it wasn't good -- and that the wealth gap was wider, much wider today between the top 1% and everybody else than five years ago when Obama took office. We have more details on this, and one of the fundamental aspects of the story we had was the median income. We pointed out the median income in the...

Former Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich on Sunday blasted President Barack Obama's diplomatic strategy with Russia President Vladimir Putin regarding Syria's use of chemical weapons, saying Obama is now "following from behind." "You have Putin playing chess and Obama playing, frankly, a very lucky game of tic-tac-toe," Gingrich said on CNN's "State of the Union." "Putin stepped in to maximize Russian influence in the Middle East. That is a strategically defeat for the United States." "We are now relying on the Russians," said Gingrich, now a host of CNN's 'Crossfire." We're now following from behind -- not leading from behind....

Americans shouldn't let Vladimir Putin's opinions get under their skin because the Russian president is a one-time KGB officer whose primary interest is nationalism, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Thursday. "While we have to deal with him as the president of Russia, we don't have to respect his views. We don't have to respect his opinions," said Gingrich, co-host of CNN's "Crossfire." "And frankly, we should laugh at him when he tries to lecture America about exceptionalism, because he ain't exceptional. He's just one more in a long tradition of dictators and thugs." Putin rattled some Americans, including high-profile...

Obamacare was sold on the promise of affordable, universal care with no increase in the debt. Oh, and you were going to keep your insurance. It is none of these things. Even Obamacare’s most ardent defenders (who actually bought the Congressional Budget Office hooey about the impact on the debt) are forced to recognize that Obamacare will leave 30 million Americans uncovered. Considering the taxes, increase in debt, dislocation and cost increases inflicted on the American people, it seems we are getting very little bang for billions of bucks. -------------------------------------------------------------------------snip---------------------------------- A market-based reform agenda could deliver much more positive results...

The Daily Caller feels compelled to present our first, and hopefully last, review of the new version of CNN’s vaunted ‘Crossfire.’ For Review #1, we will focus on the show’s Monday debut starring President Obama’s 2012 deputy campaign manager Stephanie Cutter, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, and guests Sens. Rand Paul and Bob Menendez. To watch this latest incarnation of Crossfire is to confront, head-on, the defining unspoken reality of human existence: bad people like Stephanie Cutter can climb, in defiance of taste and public demand, to a position of success. A loathsome creature like Stephanie Cutter, the roots jutting...

With a congressional vote on Syria looming, CNN can't wait to get "Crossfire" started again. The network says the daily debate program will begin Monday, Sept. 9 Newt Gingrich, S.E. Cupp, Stephanie Cutter and Van Jones are the new combatants on "Crossfire." The 30-minute show will air weekdays at 6:30 p.m. ET.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich urged Congress Tuesday to "vote no" on a military strike against Syria and instead begin debate on what he described as even bigger strategic challenges for the United States and the world. "The most powerful nation in the world does not need a three- or four-week debate about a limited, symbolic, tactical use of power," the Georgia Republican wrote Tuesday in an opinion piece for CNN, as he urged Congress to "vote no on a meaningless public relations use of military force against [Syrian President Bashar Assad]. "What we do need are three debates about...

News that the United States is considering a military strike on Syria in response to the Bashar al-Assad regime's suspected use of chemical weapons suggests we could soon see an American bombing campaign on the war-torn country. The atrocities that took place in Syria recently, such as those that have been taking place there for almost two years, are deplorable and inhuman. Before bombing Syria over the regime's latest crimes, however, we should stand back and ask, "And then what?"....

Speaking to you, Newt. I know you will be 70 years old, but I think of John Quincy Adams as a Senator. Why not consider running for Senator from Georgia when the opportunity arises?

Former U.S. House speaker Newt Gingrich told a meeting of the Republican National Committee that his party needs to move beyond its image of steadfast opposition to President Barack Obama and convince voters its goal is to improve the country. “We have to get beyond being anti-Obama and we have to convince people you can have hope in America,” Gingrich said on Wednesday. “What we have to do, in a sense, is be a party of optimism and a party of hope and show actual cases of how it can work.” Speaking at a Boston hotel adjacent to where Republican...

The GOP division over whether to defund ObamaCare can be summarized in two quotes: This, from Texas senator Ted Cruz: "We can de-fund Obamacare if Republican leaders who tell their constituents they're conservative stand up and act like they're conservative." And in opposition, Ramesh Ponnuru: "[I]f Republicans stay firm in this demand [to defund Obamacare], the result will be either a government shutdown or a partial shutdown combined with a debt default. Either would be highly unpopular, and each party would blame the other. The public, however, would almost certainly blame Republicans. And which blame, according to Ponnuru and those...