Free Republic

So what are your reps saying when you call to complain? Tried Tom Coburns office and the phone has been taken off the hook

The hearing itself was unusual, as questions about the department's ammunition purchases until recently had bubbled largely under the radar -- on blogs and in the occasional news article. But as the Department of Homeland Security found itself publicly defending the purchases, lawmakers gradually showed more interest in the issue. Democratic Rep. John Tierney, D-Mass., at the opening of the hearing, ridiculed the concerns as "conspiracy theories" which have "no place" in the committee room. But Republicans said the purchases raise "serious" questions about waste and accountability. Chaffetz, who chairs one of the House oversight subcommittees holding the hearing Thursday,...

Mitt Romney may be dropping behind Newt Gingrich in the latest polls in Iowa (and seeing his lead narrow in New Hampshire), but he’s bagging a few endorsements from California Congresmen. Republican Reps Jerry Lewis, R-Redlands, Ken Calvert, R-Corona and Brian Bilbray, R-Carlsbad, announced their Mitt-devotion Tuesday, as Romney makes a West Coast fundraising swing that stops in Burlingame Wednesday. Although Mitt has promised media avails “almost” every day, as we noted, “almost” is apparently the eighth day of the week in California. That continues Mitt’s Whitmanian avoidance of media whose employer’s name doesn’t rhyme with “cox.” The trio of...

Red Reps 7 here; [caption id="attachment_5755" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Hansen Clarke"][/caption] Freshman Congressman Hansen Clarke (D-MI) has a close working relationship with one of the U.S.'s most extreme Marxist-Leninist organizations - the pro North Korean Workers World Party. A former chief of staff to Michigan's pro Marxist congressman John Conyers, Hansen Clarke seems to be following in his former mentor's political footsteps. In 2008 Hansen Clarke worked closely with Detroit leaders of the Workers World Party on the house foreclosures issue. Clarke drafted and sponsored SB 1306 with long time W.W.P. collaborator Reverend Ed Rowe of Central United Methodist Church, a...

Red Reps 2 here; Mark Miller No State Senator bears more responsibility for the recent events in Madison, Wisconsin than Mark Miller. As Democrat minority leader, Mark Miller led a a boycott of all 14 Democrat State Senators. The group all bailed to neighboring Illinois on February 17, denying Republicans a quorum in the Wisconsin State Senate, so they could not pass Governor Scott Walker's controversial "Budget Repair Bill". Even before thousands of socialists and labor unionists descended on the State Capital, Miller reportedly worked with Madison mayor Dave Ciesliewicz in an attempt to persuade the Secretary of State to...

Long time Latino and Democratic Party activist Edwin Vargas, Jr. has announced a bid for the Hartford Connecticut mayoralty. One of several announced candidates for the November election, Vargas, who currently serves on Hartford's planning and zoning commission, must be considered a strong contender. Vargas' activist roots go back to 1971 when Hartford Connecticut received an influx of 30 Puerto Rican university students, who came to the city to teach and study - many, including Edwin Vargas, were active members of the pro Cuban, and staunchly Marxist-Leninist Puerto Rican Socialist Party.

President Barack Obama is taking his popular wife with him to three campaign stops in the pivotal swing state of Ohio Sunday, but a new Associated Press Poll shows that may be too little, too late with just over two weeks remaining before critical congressional elections. The survey found that the coalition of voters that swept Obama into the White House just two years ago — aching for change after the eight-year presidency of Republican George W. Bush — has crumbled. SNIP The Associated Press-Knowledge Networks survey found that one-fourth of those who voted for Obama two years ago are...

It's hard to put into a box just who is supporting Dede Scozzafava in New York's 23rd special election and who is supporting Doug Hoffman in the same. At first, I thought it was the so called establishment supporting Scozzafava and those on the outside looking in supporting Hoffman. Yet, how do you explain the likes of Rick Santorum and Michelle Bachmann supporting Hoffman? I thought it was the conservatives in support of Hoffman and party loyalists in support of Scozzafava? How do you explain Newt Gingrich supporting Scozzafava?

John wrote about the "great escape" by Democratic members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. It consisted of that group leaving a hearing, via the back door, after Republican Darrell Issa made clear that he planned to subpoena Bank of America for documents relted to Countrywide's infamous "Friends of Angelo" VIP mortgage program. Democratic Senators Chris Dodd and Kent Conrad were, of course, among Angelos "friends."

I am now completely tired of the health care debate. I haven't heard anything new since the break and all I hear now is a bunch of politicians rehashing the same talking points they've been hitting for the better part of a year. That's what we had with both addresses. The president again promised that with health insurance reform we'd lower costs, cover everyone, cover everything, give more choice, and make sure nothing stops anyone from getting insurance. I'm surprised he hasn't claimed it would lead to world peace. Frankly, if you believe it can do everything and cost nothing...

Right now, there's a closed room in the Capitol. That room includes Harry Reid, Chris Dodd, Max Baucus, Kathleen Sebelius, Rahm Emanuel and a handful of other lawmakers. That's it. That group will decide what the final Senate bill will look like. What are they discussing right now? No one outside that group knows. What deals are being made? No one outside that group knows. As Orrin Hatch said yesterday, the last nine months of debate is ultimately useless. That's because that debate will have no effect on what the final bill will look like. Instead, the final bill will...

That's the word from this Politico piece. We will be a headache for anyone who believes the Constitution of the United States … isn’t to be protected,” said Dick Armey, chairman of the anti-tax and limited government advocacy group FreedomWorks, which helped plan and promote the tea parties, town hall protests and the September ‘Taxpayer March’ in Washington. “If you can’t take it seriously, we will look for places of other employment for you.” “We’re not a partisan organization, and I think many Republicans are disappointed we are not,” added Armey, a former GOP congressman.

The president used this weekly address, like many recently, to focus on "health insurance reform". If there's a common theme in this address, it's the amount of information that the president misconstrued. First the president touted the Baucus bill now about to get out of the Senate Finance Committee. The president said the CBO analyzed the Baucus bill and concluded that: it wouldn't add to the deficit, would cover millions, and cut billions in fraud and waste. Only the first is entirely accurate. While the Baucus bill would in fact cover millions it would still leave almost half currently uninsured...

We all know that President Obama has a Republican problem, namely the 200 or so Republican members of Congress who refuse to go along with his health care reform plans. However, I think he might also be developing a republican problem. Namely, I think he is having trouble keeping his ego within the boundaries of an office that fundamentally reflects the republican quality of this country.

The new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll asked respondents whether they would prefer to see next year's elections result in a Congress controlled by Democrats or a Congress controlled by Republicans. The result: 48 percent say they would prefer Democrats in control, and 45 percent say Republicans. That three-point Democratic lead is down from seven points lead in July and nine points in April.

It appears the public disagreed with my assessment of the president's speech. I found little redeeming in it however both the President's personal popularity and the popularity of his health care reform bill have gotten a small bounce. The most recent evidence is Rasmussen showing an up trend for both health care reform and the president's popularity.

President Barack Obama is on the warpath over myths and distortions about health care reform, but he’s spreading one of his own: that there’s any chance of genuinely bipartisan health care legislation reaching his desk this fall.

President Barack Obama said he is confident Congress will pass "a good health care bill," as months of rancor over reforming the nation's health care system seemed to be easing Sunday, with the White House playing down an immediate role for a government insurance option.

I generally don't like those that are holier than thou. As the saying goes, "people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones" or, "those without sin should cast the first stone". Most often, those that make judgments about others are likely far from perfect themselves. I generally try and not make judgments about others. That's because I have plenty of my own problems. I've had plenty of financial struggles, professional struggles, and I've done plenty I'm not proud of. The only time I make moral judgments is on the issue of corruption. That's because often at my own expense...

Joe Biden delivered a speech yesterday in which he made this, shall I say, laughable quote. President Joe Biden on Thursday said the government's sweeping stimulus effort "is in fact working" despite steady Republican criticism and public skepticism. "The recovery act has played a significant role in changing the trajectory of our economy, and changing the conversation in this country," Biden said. "Instead of talking about the beginning of a depression, we are talking about the end of a recession." Nearly 200 days into the effort, Biden delivered an upbeat report card about the $787 billion rescue effort that President...