Free Republic

The willingness of MSNBC on-air commentators to engage in political hackery for the Democratic Party knows no boundaries - as indicated by the latest charged hurled at former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. Keith Olbermann, host of MSNBC's "Countdown," who once called conservative blogger Michelle Malkin, "big mashed up bag of meat with lipstick," almost on a nightly basis attacks Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., and has also regularly drubbed Palin, is now charging her with sexism. On his Nov. 2 broadcast, Olbermann accused Palin of forcing former GOP congressional candidate Dede Scozzafava out of the race for New York's 23rd Congressional...

New York beef manufacturer Fairbanks Farms has issued a voluntary recall of a little more than half a million pounds of ground beef. The recall, which affects states from Maine to North Carolina -- Maryland included -- comes after one person died in New Hampshire and people were sickened in other states after eating beef thought to be contaminated by the bacteria E.coli. The products, which include ground beef, meatloaf and meatball mix, carry sell-by dates from Sept. 19-28 and were sold under such brands as Trader Joe's Butcher Shop Fine Quality Meats, Giant Meatloaf & Meatball Mix and BJ's...

Hoffman's supporters stage big rallyDouglas L. Hoffman's first congressional campaign stop in Watertown had more campaign staff — three — than attendees. Three months later, the Conservative Party candidate in the 23rd Congressional District race was a bigger draw here than the vice president of the United States. Mr. Hoffman's raucous rally Monday at the Jefferson County Agricultural Society Exhibition Hall drew more than 300 and featured speeches by former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson and a soundtrack by country music star John Rich. Mr. Thompson, revered in conservative circles, wasted no time reminding the crowd of what was at stake...

I will vote here in Pennsylvania in spite of many lousy choices on my state and local ballot today, but I want to encourage people in other places to get out and vote. I am enthusiatically cheering on the Conservative Party candidate in New York, Doug Hoffman. A victory for Doug Hoffman today in New York 23 is a win for the Conservative Party, not the Republican Party. RNC friendly spinners may tell a different story on television tonight, but for a Conservative Party candidate to force out the Republican candidate and maybe get over 50 percent of the vote...

A last-minute poll of New York's suddenly significant 23rd District interim House race shows that with less than 12 hours before voting begins, the Conservative/Republican candidate Doug Hoffman has built a 5-point lead over Democrat Bill Owens. But the newfound allies of Hoffman and the Republican National Committee had best hold off on the champagne purchases. The undecided voters there have doubled to nearly 1 in 5, making the final hours volatile. snip The symbolism comes in two forms: It's seen as a microscopic referendum on the Obama-Biden spending agenda.

New York Republican congressional nominee Dede Scozzafava withdrew last weekend from the special election that will take place Tuesday and endorsed the Democrat, Bill Owens, in a race where a third party candidate, Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman, has become a major contender. Yes, you read that right. In one of the most Republican districts in New York, one that borders Canada, Scozzafava ran up against a mass revolt by mainstream Republicans who charged that her long list of liberal credentials made her a “RINO” or Republican In Name Only. The 23rd congressional district race is this year's only congressional...

While praising Democratic Congressional candidate William L. Owens as a man of values, Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. took shots at supporters of Mr. Owens’s opponent during a campaign appearance Monday in Watertown. Appearing at the North Side Improvement League on Mill Street, Mr. Biden claimed Conservative candidate Douglas L. Hoffman was “handpicked” by radio host Rush Limbaugh as successor to Army Secretary John M. McHugh. Mr. Biden said Mr. Hoffman’s views are consistent with those of Mr. Limbaugh, former House Majority Leader Dick Armey and former Alaska governor and vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, who he lumped together...

Native New Yorker Marie King loves the Big Apple and always will, but she had to head south with her 16-year-old son, Michael, to pursue her goal of owning a home.   King, 52, a retired NYPD detective and single mom, left her rental in the leafy Pelham Bay section of The Bronx to own her own place in St. Petersburg, Fla.  The Post reached out to ex-New Yorkers after an Empire Center for NY State Policy study found that a whopping 1.5 million residents abandoned the state from 2000 to 2008 -- most from New York City.King and other refugees...

There’s not much time left, but Vice President Joe Biden traveled to Watertown, N.Y., to try to build support for Democrat Bill Owens in the roller-coaster congressional contest in upstate New York. “We’re not asking you to switch your party,” Biden said in an appeal to centrist Republicans who supported Dede Scozzafava, the GOP candidate who withdrew from the race on Saturday amid flagging poll numbers and criticism from prominent conservatives for being too liberal. “We’re just saying, join us in teaching a lesson to absolutists who come and tell us that no dissent is permitted within their own party.”

Doug Hoffman for Congress   Election Countdown!     The most exciting election this year will be over in a little more than 24 hours! Every day has brought about new twists and turns, but tomorrow is when the rubber hits the road. We must turn out our vote!  Joe Biden was in Watertown telling his half empty room that it’s time to teach conservatives a lesson! [see story below] Apparently he doesn’t like it when we voice concern about the direction of our country.  Tomorrow let our voice be heard through the ballot box!  It is critical that...

The GOP is counting on a few wins tomorrow after four years of losing. And futures market traders seem to favor them. At the Intrade futures market, they sell contracts that depend on election outcomes. If a candidate wins, his contract pays $100. If he loses, it becomes worthless. In the weeks leading up to an election, contracts are bought and sold between market participants, and the going price offers an indication of how the market views the race. In 2004, Intrade participants correctly predicted every state's presidential outcome. In 2008, they predicted them all correctly except for Indiana, which...

If you suspect problems at the polls e-mail: Voterfraud@Foxnews.com ------- It is "very easy" to steal an election using absentee ballots, claims Jan Tyler, a former Denver Elections Commissioner who now runs the website National Election Reform Examiner. She said some people shoveling her driveway, for example, told her they knew that "six or seven absentee ballots were sent to dead people," and she fears the numbers across the country could be much larger than experts believe and that prosecutors do not take infractions seriously enough. Fox News has found ongoing allegations of absentee ballot fraud in at least a...

Election '09: The true colors of Republicans who act like Democrats and Democrats who act to silence real opposition became visible over the weekend. The principles of freedom are under siege on multiple fronts. You have to be pretty deeply immersed in the cesspool already to come up with a term like "tea party drag" to describe grass-roots activists who fear that America is descending into bankruptcy and depravity. Yet, that was how New York Times columnist Frank Rich this week described the right's refusal to lie down and play dead as the Democratic Party tries to turn the U.S....

New York Republicans got a rock in their trick-or-treat bags over the Halloween weekend, as Dede Scozzafava ripped off her million-dollar Republican mask and revealed herself to be a Democrat. It was never a very good disguise, but every previous attempt to peer beneath it was punished with stern lectures from Newt Gingrich and the rest of the party establishment. The bags of contributor money Republicans handed to the Scozzafava campaign would have been more usefully spent hiring detectives to trail ACORN operatives, and keep Democrat voter fraud down to manageable levels. The Scozzafava campaign is the latest dreadful mistake...

Should this be a SUPRISE? UPDATE: Well I take back everything I said. Scozzafava today threw her support to the Democratic candedate Owens. “I am supporting Bill Owens for Congress and urge you to do the same,” she said. “In Bill Owens, I see a sense of duty and integrity that will guide him beyond political partisanship. He will be an independent voice devoted to doing what is right for New York. Bill understands this district and its people, and when he represents us in Congress he will put our interests first.”

Biden Talks Lifeguarding, Global Warming, and GOP Extremism Before 200 Dems in NY-23 Watertown, N.Y. At rally for Democratic congressional candidate Bill Owens this morning, Vice President Joe Biden attacked conservative Doug Hoffman as the lackey of national conservatives, whom Biden blamed for causing this "God awful recession." It's hard to imagine Hoffman being able "to take issue with any issue Rush Limbaugh took. I'm being serious about this. I'm being deadly honest about it," Biden said. "I surely know what they're against, but I don't know what they're for," he said later of Republicans and Hoffman, "but I suspect...

I arrived here in Watertown, NY about an hour ago. There is lots of energy as the campaign enters the final stretch. Bob Adney, field director for Hoffman for Congress greeted me as I came in and immediately asked me to go to work at the phone bank. Here in Watertown they have over 40 phone lines humming. Starting this evening, John Rich and Fred and Jeri Thompson will be holding a rally here. I will update you all as it happens. While here I met a fellow named Robert Stacy McCain, you may have heard of him, and we...

Last week, Bill O’Reilly had me on The Factor to talk about the health care bills. He correctly pointed out that a public plan might obliterate private alternatives. But I was puzzled by the reason he gave: " A taxpayer funded company would have a huge advantage because profit motive is nonexistent." I understand the logic. Last quarter, insurance companies averaged a 2% profit... In theory, a non-profit government insurance company would be able sell insurance for 2% less... But that’s not how the economics work out in real life. The quest for profit actually lowers costs. In categories where...

A New York City imam accused of tipping off a suspected al Qaeda-trained militant that he was under investigation pleaded not guilty on Monday to lying to the FBI. Ahmad Wais Afzali was arrested in September as part of a probe in which federal prosecutors allege the prime suspect, Najibullah Zazi, was planning to set off bombs in the United States. Attorney General Eric Holder has called the purported Zazi plot one of the most serious security threats to the United States since the attacks of September 11, 2001, saying it could have killed "scores" of Americans had it been...

So Sarah Palin has started endorsing candidates, by boosting conservative Doug Hoffman for an upstate New York congressional seat in tomorrow’s elections. Maybe she should make that a regular practice. Endorsements matter, despite what the chattering heads say on cable news. And multiple Palin stamps of approval could be good for the recipients, the Republican Party, and ex-Governor Palin herself. Plus, the ads would be fantastic. Decoder can see one now: “Hi, I’m Sarah Palin, Brander of MavericksTM. I’ve taken time from my busy schedule here in Alaska because it’s important you know that [CANDIDATE NAME] is a maverick, just...

for a penny, in for a pound — or in for a robocall, as evidenced by Dede Scozzafava’s latest effort to support Democrat Bill Owens. which was released by Owens’ campaign. Script: “Hi, this is Dede Scozzafava calling on behalf of Bill Owens. And I wanted to let you know that I am supporting Bill for Congress. “Since beginning my campaign I have said that this election is not about me, it’s about the people of this district. It’s not in the cards for me to be your representative but I strongly believe Bill Owens is the only candidate who...

Response to Vice President Biden's Comments Today About My Position On Energy Independence Today at 10:12am As the vice president knows, I have always advocated an all-of-the-above approach to American energy independence. Among other things, my alternative energy goal for Alaska sits at 50 percent because Alaska reached more than 20 percent during my term in office. The Obama-Biden administration, on the other hand, recently announced a renewable goal of only 25 percent. However, domestic drilling should remain a top priority in order to meet America’s consumption and security needs. The vice president’s extreme opposition to domestic energy development goes...

Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., stumping here Monday for the Democratic candidate in a special House race that has attracted national attention, tried to capitalize on infighting among Republicans over the race by calling on moderate members of the party to "join us in teaching a lesson to those absolutists." "They may not have any room for moderate views in the Republican Party upstate anymore, but let me assure you: We have room," said Mr. Biden, said at a pre-Election Day rally for Democrat Bill Owens.

School nurses mistakenly gave the swine flu vaccine to two students who didn't sign up for it - including a Brooklyn girl with epilepsy who wound up in the hospital. "I was outraged," Naomi Troy, 26, told the Daily News after her 6-year-old daughter, Nikiyah Torres-Pierre, had a possible allergic reaction to the shot. Officials at Public School 335 in Crown Heights called an ambulance to take Nikiyah to SUNY Downstate Medical Center when she fell ill following the arm jab. "My stomach was hurting, and I was itching," Nikiyah said after she was released from the hospital. The snafu...

Click on photo to enlargeThe soon to be commissioned USS New York sails up the Hudson River approaching midtown Manhattan a few minutes after pausing near the World Trade Center. A detail rendered a 21-gun salute in remembrance of the 2,976 murdered on September 11, 2001 as 9/11 family members, first responders, and a honor guard gathered just west of Ground Zero.

Doug Hoffman, the third-party upstart now backed by the Republican Party, has pulled ahead in Tuesday's special House election in upstate New York, according to two polls conducted over the weekend. A Siena College poll conducted Nov. 1 concluded that Hoffman now leads Democrat Bill Owens 41 percent to 36 percent, after the two were essentially tied in a Siena poll released Saturday morning. That poll's margin of error is 4 percent... --snip-- A survey by Democratic-leaning Public Policy Polling pegs Hoffman's lead at 51 percent to 34 percent, with a margin of error of 2.3 percent. The PPP poll...

Many in the punditry, and especially the mainstream media, have been pushing polls that showed Palin’s favorability ratings dropping and suggesting her star may be fading. In a move that only Sarah Palin could pull off – endorsing a candidate outside her own party, and taking out the establishment candidate – she proved why she’s still around, and reminds us how she got here. In their relative shock following Palin’s endorsement, the national media seems to forget how Mrs. Palin became Governor of Alaska in the first place: not by defeating Democrats, but by systematically tearing down the Last Frontier’s...

The race in New York’s 23rd Congressional District highlights the concerns many Republican voters have about their party leaders. At a time when 73% of Republicans believe their party's representatives in Congress have lost touch with the GOP base, 11 county leaders in upstate New York picked a nominee for Congress who supported the Democratic president’s stimulus package, his health care reform plan and “card check” legislation designed to make union organizing easier. All three items are overwhelmingly opposed by Republican voters - and even by Republicans in Congress. The decision by county GOP leaders to nominate such a candidate...

With the withdrawal of Dede Scozzafava from contention in the special election in NY's 23rd Congressional District, we see a clear result of implementing Michael Steele's infamous 80/20 approach to candidate selection. Grassroots conservatives still hampered by their allegiance to the Republican Party need to consider the lessons to be drawn from the Republican party's disappearance from that race. Scozzafava was a candidate typical of the predilections of GOP Party bosses and the majority of its big money fundraisers. They believe that the Party's formula for political victory requires people who oppose or just give lip service to conservative...

Raleigh, N.C. – Doug Hoffman has a large lead in his bid to be elected the new Congressman from New York’s 23rd Congressional District. Hoffman is at 51% to 34% for Bill Owens and 13% for Dede Scozzafava in the poll conducted over the weekend. In a two way contest against Owens, Hoffman holds a 54- 38 advantage.

CNN) - Former Vice President Joe Biden challenged Republican voters in New York's 23rd congressional district to teach conservative "absolutists" a lesson in the special House election Tuesday by voting for the Democratic candidate in the race "We aren't asking you to switch your party," Biden said at a rally for Democrat Bill Owens in Watertown, New York Monday morning. "We are just saying join us in teaching a lesson to those absolutists who say no dissent is permitted within your own party."

Hoffman Leads Owens 41-36%; Undecided up to 18% Hoffman Leads in South; Owens Leads in East; Tied in West Favorability Ratings: Hoffman Up; Owens Slips; Biden Good with Dems Loudonville, NY. On the eve of Election Day, Conservative Doug Hoffman has opened up a five point lead over Democrat Bill Owens in the race for the 23rd Congressional District. Republican Assembly member Dede Scozzafava still gets six percent support, but since her decision to suspend her campaign and support Owens, the number of undecided voters has doubled from nine percent to 18 percent, according to a new Siena (College) Research...

All politics are NOT JUST LOCAL,but all levels of government is becoming more interconected to each other. Also a reflection of the growing ANGER out there in the American nation. All politics, are no longer local. With the coming of the information age, broadband internet and online credit card processing, we’ve entered into the blood sport of manipulating United States House and Senate races in far-away states and districts of which we have never been, nor will likely visit in the future. Is this a good thing? Whether going national is a valid technique to win local elections is not...

When you're an MSMer, you're an MSMer all the way--even when faced with facts that might make you like, well, ridiculous . . . Mike Allen, appearing on Morning Joe, has declared the NY-23rd race a "real toss-up" despite a new poll from a respected organization showing Doug Hoffman with a 17-point lead. The claim by Allen, Politico's chief political correspondent, was so absurd that, on the spot, host Joe Scarborough offered 3:1 odds to Allen and anyone else wanting to place a few kopeks on Dem Bill Owens.

During an appearance Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” program with host John King, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) demonstrated that he just doesn’t understand what happened in New York’s 23rd Congressional District over the weekend.

7 AM - Meet at World Financial Center Plaza (if you want to meet up, please freepmail me) 8 AM - 21 Gun Salute SALUTE TO NEW YORK CITY AND NEW YORK STATE... At approximately 8:00 a.m. on Monday, Nov. 2, the yet-to-be commissioned ship will come to a halt in the Hudson River. There, opposite the former World Trade Center site, USS NEW YORK (LPD-21) will dip her colors, fire a 21-gun salute to the people of her namesake city and state, and proceed to Pier 88 to be formally inducted into the Fleet five days later at a...

The USS New York was scheduled to sail up the Hudson River Monday. The $1 billion ship was built in Louisiana with about 7.5 tons of World Trade Center steel melted down and used in the bow. As part of its journey, the ship is scheduled to stop when it nears ground zero, where first responders, families of Sept. 11 victims and the public have been invited to watch a 21-gun salute. Rosaleen Tallon, whose firefighter brother Sean Tallon died in the attacks, planned to be among them. "I think it's a really nice tribute," she said, adding that her...

Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman was primed to win Tuesday’s special election both before and after Republican Dede Scozzafava dropped out, according to a new poll. The Public Policy Polling survey shows Hoffman leading the race by 17 points, 51-34, over Democrat Bill Owens with Scozzafava still in the race and taking 13 percent. In a straight head-to-head matchup with Owens, Hoffman’s lead held at 54-38. The poll was conducted over the weekend, during which time Scozzafava dropped out of the race Saturday and endorsed Owens on Sunday, but Hoffman led significantly at all stages. Scozzafava dropping out of the...

When you're an MSMer, you're an MSMer all the way--even when faced with facts that might make you like, well, ridiculous . . . Mike Allen, appearing on Morning Joe, has declared the NY-23rd race a "real toss-up" despite a new poll from a respected organization showing Doug Hoffman with a 17-point lead. The claim by Allen, Politico's chief political correspondent's, was so absurd that, on the spot, host Joe Scarborough offered 3:1 odds to Allen and anyone else wanting to place a few kopeks on Dem Bill Owens. View video here.

Officials admitted on Friday that a third student was mistakenly given the swine flu vaccine - an error the school nurses union blamed on the city. "Nurses are not getting the support they need," said Judith Arroyo, president of Local 436, District Council 37, adding that the union had warned of problems. "We don't like it when we're right, because usually when we're right someone does get hurt somewhere along the way." City officials countered that nurses have received "excellent support." "The department has been doing a tremendous job," said Dr. Jane Zucker, assistant commissioner of immunization. "Twenty-five hundred have...

It is being reported today that Dede Scozzafava is endorsing Democrat Bill Owens. In one fell swoop she proved her detractors right. Her actions also speak to the Republicans that made excuses for her such as Newt Gingrich; they were dead wrong. When Dede withdrew from the race on Saturday, many (including me) thought she was doing the right thing for Northern New York, and the Republican Party. Instead we have been presented with the quintessential example of what the label RINO means. "Scozzafava dropped out after Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman experienced a late-in-the-game surge. The move was expected...

No link. Just got tipped to it from a reliable source in New York. Dede Scozzafava must have recorded a call for Democrat Owens. Sounds like she's determined to pay the GOP back, but not for the wasted million-plus

'm writing about this for my USA Today column, but the Frank Rich hissy fit is a perfect example of the real story of the election. The story is not that the GOP is self-destructing, it is that the conventional wisdom is being shown to be ludicrous. For some time now Frank Rich, Sam Tanenhaus and countless others (including David Frum) have been arguing that the GOP is a rump party and the only way for it to survive is for it to embrace me-too Republicanism of one flavor or another. The story of all three major races (VA, NJ,...

Good news, but with lots of caveats. Here are some interesting facts from our unweighted numbers so far:-In a three way contest Doug Hoffman leads Bill Owens by 19 points. In a two way contest Hoffman leads Owens by 15 points. So the Dede Scozzafava withdrawal and endorsement will probably tighten the race some but not nearly enough.-58% of Republicans think that Scozzafava’s a liberal and that was obviously before her endorsement today.-The Rush Limbaugh effect- Hoffman has a 79 point lead with Rush listeners while Owens has a 6 point lead with people who don’t listen to the show....

Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman, who was embraced by the Republican Party after state Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava dropped out, leads Democrat Bill Owens in a two-way match-up 54 percent to 38 percent with 8 percent undecided, according to a Public Policy Polling survey conducted Oct. 31-Nov. 1. PPP predicts Hoffman will win a "resounding victory." The pollster had been in the midst of taking the pulse of the upstate New York House district where a three-way race was in progress with Republican Dede Scozzafava, Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman and Democrat Bill Owens when Scozzafava dropped out. In the three-way...

A video of the Doug song from the movie The Hangover. He should play it at his victory party. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxQelOBqs-Y&feature=related

Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY), who is in charge of new candidate recruitment for House Democrats, played a key role in getting Republican Dede Scozzafava to back Democrat Bill Owens -- just hours after she dropped out of the NY-23 race on Saturday, Dem sources tell me. Former state Democratic chairwoman June O'Neill, a friend of Scozzafava's who brokered the Owens endorsement, arranged for Israel, who was already in western New York, to have coffee with the moderate Republican at 4 p.m. yesterday at Gouverneur, N.Y. eatery near Scozzafava's home. Even though she had already spoken to Attorney General Andrew Cuomo...

Fearful that the party had almost no chance of winning the Nov. 3 New York special election after Republican nominee Dede Scozzafava abruptly announced Saturday that she was dropping out, high-ranking national Democrats immediately began working to secure her endorsement of Democrat Bill Owens, POLITICO has learned. On Sunday afternoon, their vigorous efforts paid off as Scozzafava bucked her own party and issued a statement supporting Owens over Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman, a coup for Democrats who recognized that their best remaining chance of winning the Republican-leaning seat on Tuesday was to swing disaffected Scozzafava supporters their way. By...

Doug Hoffman for Congress   Election Alert!!!!!!!!! 1 Day left   If you still see scary creatures in the 23rd Congressional district, it’s not because of Halloween. ACORN, the unions and Pelosi foot soldiers are flooding in to try and win this race. We need your help! Nothing can be left to chance!  Make time to volunteer at one of four critical district offices. We need our conservative army to help with phone calls, knocking on doors and driving people to the polls. We cannot let ACORN, the unions and Pelosi’s puppets win this! Come to one of these four critical...

Not long ago, Americans feared and ridiculed the police states cursing too many parts of the world. We worried that they might one day conquer us despite their poverty and general misery even as we mocked their totalitarian tactics — especially their “Papers, please” mentality.  Indeed, being forced to prove one’s identity to a bureaucrat on demand, having to carry and produce documents with personal information for his approval — or condemnation — seemed especially horrifying. One of our classic films, Casablanca, revolved around the deadly hassles of obtaining or forging such papers under the Nazis; episodes of Mission Impossible...