Free Republic

The Senate Democrats' #2 compares the American military to Nazis, Stalinists, and Pol Pot's killer, and the story never gets near to the cover of the Washington Post. Karl Rove makes a valid assertion about the behavior of liberals, backed by evidence, and the fake outrage of those Senate Democrats makes page 1, but in a story without the pointed reply of George Pataki which happens to pivot on Durbin's slander. At least the New York Times included a portion of the Pataki quote, which has now vanished from the original Newsday article. But there is no MSM bias, right?...

Democrats blocked another attempt Monday by the Senate to confirm John Bolton to become U.N. ambassador, delivering a second-straight setback to President Bush even as he left the door open to temporarily installing Bolton on his own. The Republican-run chamber fell six votes short of the 60 it needed to end Democratic delays that have prevented a roll call on confirming the tough-talking conservative. The vote was 54-38 in favor of ending the delays. The tally left Bush facing stark choices — most of which could leave him appearing weak at a time he is facing sagging poll numbers and...

We’ve received a lot of calls over the last few days regarding the procedures to be followed if, in fact, a vacancy on the Supreme Court of the United States takes place at the end of the term. As it stands right now, it appears that the Supreme Court term will end during the week of June 27th. It is conceivable if a vacancy takes place, it could be announced the last day of the term. It is also probable that the White House would make an announcement as to the appointment of the replacement within 48 hours. There is...

I constantly hear liberals decry the policies of George W. Bush, using catch phrases like “out of the mainstream” and “dangerously irresponsible” to describe them. Apparently, if you repeat something often enough, using the same carefully crafted terminology, and applying to it with the same condescending tone each time, it magically becomes the truth... at least in the minds of leftists. And, of course, the primary policy target of left-wingers in Congress remains the war in Iraq, even though nearly all of them supported it initially. As recent polls show support for the war waning, liberals all over the country...

It was still pitch black outside on that February day when Maria Juega's phone rang shortly after 5 a.m. The caller was a stranger, her voice nearly hysterical. She told Juega that someone was knocking on the door and yelling "policia." That door, Juega learned, stood between the "policia" and seven illegal immigrants. If the caller opened the door, like so many others around New Jersey had done in the past year, she would see the home swarmed by immigration agents, and her friends and relatives hauled away in handcuffs and deported.

With the Senate scheduled to seek a vote on the president's nomination of John Bolton today, Democrats are threatening a last minute parliamentary maneuver to block the vote. Yesterday Senator Dodd, a Democrat from Connecticut urged his colleagues to vote against the closing of debate on the floor of the Senate until the State Department provided him and his colleagues with outstanding requests for intelligence on a speech Mr. Bolton was blocked from giving on Syrian proliferation. Mr. Dodd also renewed a request from his party for the names Mr. Bolton requested of American officials in National Security Agency intelligence...

A Little Brief on the "Hillary Issue": 1. Hillary wants to be President, Nothing Less. 2. Hillary needs to keep her Senate seat to be a large voice in the 2008 election. 3. Hillary needs to demonstrate her ability to win an election in today's political climate. Her senate re-election will, in part, determine in her national electibility in the public's mind. 4. We should defeat her in NY. 5. Jeanine Pirro is likely to run as a Moderate Republican to defeat her. 6. "Pirro 2006" in NY. Spread the Word. ;-) ANNOUNCEMENT: http://cbsnewyork.com/topstories/topstoriesny_story_143111337.html May 23, 2005 5:06 pm US/Eastern...

In the afterglow of the bipartisan accord announced Monday night to avert a Senate showdown on changing the filibuster rule, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist emphasized Tuesday that he wasn’t a party to the deal and would quickly try to implement the rule change if Democrats resumed use of the filibuster to derail President Bush’s judicial nominees. Frist’s proposal, which he calls “the constitutional option,” and which his foes call “the nuclear option” would lower the threshold for ending Senate debate on a judicial nominee from 60 to 51. Monday night’s bipartisan deal prevented a vote on Frist’s proposal, as...

As the foliage bursts forth into its spring magnificence, the vernal quietude up on Capitol Hill--never too peaceful in any season--will be further rent this week by howls of protest, sniveled cries of injustice and the general despair of the defeated. And that’s just the Washington press corps. First up after the Highway Bill, Bill Frist is expected to schedule a Senate vote on the nomination of John Bolton as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Bolton, the left’s bogeyman of the month, survived the Democratic wringer and was reported out of the Foreign Relations Committee even after a few...

The saga of obstructionism that is the entirety of the Democrat agenda on Capitol Hill may well turn a new corner soon when Senator Bill Frist (R-Tenn) stops the unprecedented filibuster by Democrats of President Bush’s judicial nominees. "It is time for 100 senators to decide the issue of fair up-or-down votes for judicial nominees," a statement read from Frist‘s office. The statement also announced that two nominees, Priscilla Owen and Janice Rogers Brown, would be the ‘focus’ of their attention. Since these two well qualified women have been termed ‘conservative’ the Democrats have decided they should not get a...

Democrats are bickering again. It seems that one Democrat, Rep. Robert Wexler (D-FL) has decided not to be an obstructionist member of the party of NO and offer something constructive to the discussion of saving Social Security. In fact, it seems that Rep. Wexler will be having a press conference on Monday to announce his plan for saving Social Security. I commend Mr. Wexler for being the first Democrat to step out and put forth a thought that is more extensive than the word NO on this matter. He has even gone so far as to urge fellow Democrats to...

By Kalani Leifer Opinions Columnist Friday, May 13, 2005 last updated May 12, 2005 7:58 PM In the spirit of one of Stanford's most enduring and productive traditions, White Plaza has once again become the stage for political demonstration. Don't worry, though, you won't find anything controversial like mock same-sex marriages or miniature anti-abortion cemeteries. And while the present display of youthful involvement is being staged by a partisan organization -- the Stanford Democrats -- it should by all means be a bipartisan endeavor. One of the U.S. Senate's own most enduring and productive traditions, the filibuster, is in danger...

Dear Senate Majority Leader Frist: I would respectfully ask that you pull your caucus together and suggest that it vote to adjourn the current sesssion of the Senate. After weeks of slander and inuendo against John Bolton, because he dares to not be bullied by an arrogant State Department bureaucracy (who think they, not the president, makes our foreign policy) we now have the specter of Barabara Boxer putting the 'non-constitutional, anti-democratic, anti-representative government Senators "hold" on Mr. Bolton's nomination. It is clear that neither you nor a sufficient portion of your caucus have the ability to achieve the legitimate...

Sen. Joe Biden, in his laborious monologue to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee concerning the appointment of John Bolton as ambassador to the United Nations, denied he and other Democrats were on a witchhunt against Bolton. Granted. The fight isn't about Bolton but President Bush. Their primary purpose is not to smear Bolton, though that's a sacrifice they're willing to make; it's to thwart the president's foreign policy, with which they radically disagree. It's to prevent him from exercising his constitutional authority to appoint qualified and respectable individuals to represent him in various departments of government. Would someone please tell...

Op-Ed Columnist   A Turning Tide for Bolton   By DAVID BROOKS   Published: May 12, 2005 Usually the bug dies. When a presidential nominee is treated like an ant under a magnifying glass under the noonday sun, when he has the full scrutiny of the media and Congressional investigators focused upon him, he usually gets incinerated. But over the past two weeks John Bolton's confirmation prospects have gotten stronger. What happened? On April 19, Bolton's nomination was knocked off-track by Senators Chris Dodd and Joe Biden at a Foreign Relations Committee hearing. They made powerful presentations against Bolton, which...

Democrats learned obstruction from the masters: the GOP WASHINGTON — The stakes in politics are about to get a lot higher. The partisan battles in the coming weeks — on judges, Social Security and Tom DeLay — are part of a larger struggle in which Republicans are seeking to establish themselves as the dominant party in American politics. Essential to their quest is persuading Democrats, or at least a significant number in their ranks, to accept long-term minority status. The current acrimony in politics is incomprehensible unless it is understood as the inevitable next act of a long-term struggle. Its...

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist plans for Texas Supreme Court Justice Priscilla Owen to be the judicial nomination on which he uses the "nuclear option" against Democratic filibusters later this month, according to Republicans familiar with his plans. Justice Owen, first nominated to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals four years ago yesterday, has often been seen as the most likely nominee to be pushed though. And when Mr. Frist, Tennessee Republican, made his final offer to Democrats last month to avoid a showdown, he mentioned only one nominee: Justice Owen. The Republican sources, both on and off Capitol...

On Thursday, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is scheduled to vote on President Bush's nomination of John Bolton to be ambassador to the United Nations. But that is now in doubt, as Sen. Joseph Biden, the panel's ranking Democrat, warns that Democrats might seek another delay in voting on this nomination that was originally scheduled for a vote three weeks ago. The pretext for the Biden complaint is that the State Department hasn't provided evidence of how Mr. Bolton used intelligence information in his speeches. Although Sen. John Kerry, another member of the Foreign Relations Committtee's anti-Bolton bloc, could not...

A Sermon by a Pseudo-ReverendIn the beginning, there was FDR. In his “infinite” wisdom, FDR created a program called Social Security. And liberals saw that it was good. And behold, FDR set up Social Security as a "temporary" government program, in which a 2% Social Security tax (divided equally between the taxpayer and their employer) would be paid to the government. And it came to pass that FDR promised Americans that the 2% tax would never increase, and the maximum wage to be taxed would remain $3,000 until the end of time. In looking to the future, FDR prophesied that...

The unholy alliance of leftist groups seeking to keep John Bolton from winning Senate confirmation to be the new U.S. ambassador consists of Democrats, globalist worshippers at the altar of the sacred United Nations, a motley crew of demented liberals huddling in the sanctuary of MoveOn.org, and a nest of bureaucratic termites eating away at the innards of the CIA and the Department of State. Democrat senators are leading the charge against Bolton, aided by the one-worlders and the members of the deranged left, all employing the kind of distorted rhetoric which is their stock in trade, but the ammunition...