Free Republic

WASHINGTON — When it comes to combating global warming, Sen. Lindsey Graham is right where he loves to be — ahead of the curve, in the mix on a major issue, at the table for high-level, bipartisan talks behind closed doors. Graham, a South Carolina Republican, is working with Democratic Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts and independent Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut to craft a climate change bill. They face the dual challenge of overcoming widespread GOP opposition and withstanding relentless attacks by Big Oil and allied energy interests. "Our goal is to create a vision that not only will...

Billionaire gubernatorial hopeful Meg Whitman gave away just $125,000 of her charitable foundation's $46 million in assets in its first year of operation — and tax records show the bulk of the money went to a surprising place. The Griffith R. Harsh IV and Margaret C. Whitman Charitable Foundation in 2007 contributed $100,000 to the Environmental Defense Fund, which is now at odds with Whitman over water policy. The foundation also invested $3 million in hedge funds based in the Cayman Islands — a Caribbean tax haven that's been the subject of political controversy. ... But it's the $100,000 to...

Tough-as-nails former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina kicked off her U.S. Senate campaign this week with defiant words for a ruthless opponent - her cancer. "Let me start with the most obvious question: What's with the hair?" she asked a crowd in Orange County, motioning to the graying buzz cut that replaced her auburn wigs of recent months."I'm happy to tell you that having been through surgery and chemotherapy and radiation, breast cancer is officially behind me. I feel absolutely great and I am raring to go."In California, where politics and drama are wedded, the Republican candidate's public embrace of a...

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist says he is not flip-flopping when it comes to support of the federal stimulus package championed by Democrats, saying his comments earlier this week to CNN’s Wolf Blitzer were more about the actual stimulus legislation passed by Congress, and not the effort itself. “I think the question posed to me was, ‘Did you endorse this specific bill?’” Crist told reporters Friday after speaking to the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices policy institute in Tampa. “And I said, ‘No, I didn’t,’ but the concept I thought, and still believe, was important, necessary and it helped...

WASHINGTON -- House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., both sons of the segregated South, grew up in parts of South Carolina that were much farther apart than the mere 175 miles between them. Thursday, the two men - a black Democrat and a white Republican - will share an honor that the Jim Crow laws of their youth would have prohibited. The Columbia Urban League will present to Clyburn and Graham its annual Whitney M. Young Award in recognition of their efforts to advance race relations in South Carolina.

TOP 10 LINDSEY GRAHAM QUOTES 10) "It's not about how to get back to fiscal discipline or how you relate to the U.N. It's how you relate to Americans who tell you to go to hell politically." 9) "The green economy is coming." 8) "If I make [McCain's] day better by being someone he can talk to, confide in, have a good laugh with, I am honored." 7) "Glenn Beck is not aligned with any party as far as I can tell. He's aligned with cynicism." 6) "We're not going to build this party around libertarian ideas." 5) "Raising money...

The White House didn't do its erstwhile stimulus ally Charlie Crist much good on Thursday. Asked about Crist's contention that he never endorsed the stimulus bill, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Crist was behind the package. "I think his words at that event speak for themselves," Gibbs said. "I think he was very supportive of the legislation and supportive of the benefits it would have and has had for the state of Florida." One has to wonder how anxious centrist Republicans will be to get behind Democratic initiatives now that the White House has thrown one of few...

Carly Fiorina (R) on Thursday announced the endorsements of eight Republican senators for her just-launched California Senate campaign. After primary opponent Chuck DeVore annonced the backing of Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) this week, Fiorina fought back with Sens. Tom Coburn (Okla.), Susan Collins (Maine), Lindsey Graham (S.C.), Jon Kyl (Ariz.), John McCain (Ariz.), Mitch McConnell (Ky.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Olympia Snowe (Maine).

Only a few months ago, Representative Mark Kirk voted for Cap and Tax… er, I mean Cap and Trade. Conservatives and Republicans in general lit into Kirk with a vengeance. Then he started running for the Senate and at a subsequent September 5 campaign stop he reversed himself and decided he wouldn't support Cap and Trade. Kirk is not a strong pro-life supporter, he is bad on the Second Amendment, Kirk is only middling on free trade, and he has drifted back and forth on sometimes support for Obama's left-wing, big spending agenda in Washington… though he is sometimes good...

Now that we sit her in incredulity as Doug Hoffman wanders off into the sunset, maybe it's a good time to take a moment and think about what just happened. Modern politics is not won with torches and pitchforks from half way across the country which is what was attempted here. No, Scozzafava should never have been handed the nomination but it was an isolated, freakish situation brought on by the sudden departure of the incumbent and exasperated by everyday political insider dealing. To claim that it was an example of how GOP politics work everyday is hyperbole by those...

Of all of the ridiculously asinine statements of political ineptitude ever to be uttered by anyone holding political office Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine thoughtlessly confessed why she and other RINO’s keep the Republican Party in the minority. (see story) In a quip that was supposed to be in response to Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s statement, that [M]any Republicans were "mad" at Snowe for working with the Democratic majority on health care -- and suggested there might be a backlash against her is she had more "deviations" from conservative GOP orthodoxy Snowe lashed back that she is a life-long Republican...

Newt said it was difficult to go against the 11 local officials who picked Dede.Says anyone who is angry with him has a right to feel that way.

WASHINGTON – It was a big election night for Republicans overall. But their lone disappointment – the loss of a New York congressional seat in a crossfire between moderates and conservatives – could portend struggles next year for GOP leaders. Channeling the Tea Party-inspired energy is a particular headache for Dallas Rep. Pete Sessions, whose costly effort to keep the New York seat was a casualty of the civil war. "There's a huge revolt going on in the country against the political establishment," said former Virginia congressman Tom Davis, who once held the challenging political job that Sessions now has...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- Gov. Charlie Crist is saying he did not endorse the $787 billion federal stimulus bill, a statement that might confuse some voters. Crist appeared with President Barak Obama in February to support the bill, asked Florida members of Congress to vote for it and previously told The Associated Press that he would have voted for it if he had been in the Senate. But when the Republican governor talked about the bill Wednesday on CNN, he said he didn't endorse it. Crist told CNN he understood that the bill was going to pass and wanted to...

Here is video of Newt Gingrich on Sean Hannity's show "explaining" why he endorsed Scozzafava and saying that he "deeply regrets" she was chosen by the 11 local county chairs. When asked what he would say to Conservatives that are angry at him Newt answered "they have every right to be angry, I don't blame them," he went on to say "I think she was the wrong nominee and I think it was a terrible position." (Video)

Conservatives who are excited about Republican victories in last night's elections should read this article in the Politico and remember that the GOP has a long way to go before it has any credibility as a small government party. The piece takes a close look at the House select committee on earmark reform, which Republican leaders created among much fanfare after the Nov. 2008 election to combat pork barrel spending projects. Yet the committee still hasn't delivered a report on earmark spending that was supposed to be completed in February, and more tellingly, eight out of the 10 members of...

Even as a Senate global-warming bill remained in limbo with Democrats refusing to delay a committee vote until an economic analysis was completed, hopes rose for a potential bipartisan compromise. The Senate, meanwhile, appears to be moving away from the bill, authored by Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., which would require a 20 percent reduction in carbon emissions by 2020 and would have the government sell the right to emit carbon dioxide. Even as Boxer conducted an unusual one-sided hearing on her bill in the Environment and Public Works Committee, Kerry, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. and...

The morning after Republicans lost an upstate New York House seat, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) warned that conservative activists will bring destruction to the Republican Party if they drive out moderate candidates across the country. “To those people who are pursuing purity, you’ll become a club not a party,” Graham told POLITICO in the Capitol Wednesday. “Those people who are trying to embrace conservatism in a thoughtful way that fits the region and the state and the district are going to do well. Conservativism is an asset. Blind ideology is not.” Graham, who has sparred with his party’s right wing...

Even before a Senate committee could begin marking up the "Kerry-Boxer" climate bill, Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) himself announced a new "track" of negotiations over climate policy that makes his original bill look somewhat irrelevant. Kerry, appearing at the U.S. Capitol with Sens. Lindsay O. Graham (R-S.C.) and Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.), said the three legislators would work with business groups and the White House to forge a compromise climate measure that could get 60 votes in the Senate. These negotiations would be separate from the work that six different Senate committees are doing on climate legislation, including the...

Who do you think is the most likely GOP Contender in 2012 of this group?Scroll down a bit... on the right side.

Illinois Rep. Mark Kirk penned a memo to Republican poobah Fred Malek hoping to secure an endorsement from former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin for his Senate candidacy, according to a copy of the memo obtained by the Fix. After noting that Palin will be in Chicago later this month to appear on "Oprah", Kirk writes that "the Chicago media will focus on one key issue: Does Gov[ernor] Palin oppose Congressman Mark Kirk's bid to take the Obama Senate seat for the Republicans?" Kirk goes on to write that he is hoping for something "quick and decisive" from Palin about the...

At a meeting of Washington conservatives this morning, House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, expressed pride over GOP success in last night's election. But questions about NY-23 remain -- so I asked him whether there was an effort to get New York Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava, the GOP nominee in that race, to endorse Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman. "There was a huge effort," he replied.  When asked about rumors that the New York Republican Party picked Scozzafava because of the advice of Washington insiders who felt she would be a more electable candidate, Boehner rolled his eyes. "We told them...

NRCC Dear Supporter, I wanted to take a moment to thank you for your continued support and provide you with a short synopsis of what last night means. Obviously, Virginia and New Jersey now have Republican Governors, but what else can we derive from last night's results in those states and across the country? Below is a short synopsis, but if you would like to read our full memo on what the Virginia results mean, please click here. In VA-02, Democrat Rep. Nye's seat, Governor-elect Bob McDonnell garnered 61.9% of the vote, winning by an impressive 23.8%. Nye is the...

Former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-Mass.) on Wednesday promoted a round of Republican victories in last night's elections in a letter to supporters. The 2012 presidential hopeful plugged the triumphs of Republican gubernatorial candidates Bob McDonnell (Va.) and Chris Christie (N.J.), emphasizing that his political action committee's endorsement and campaign work for the two candidates. "It's exhilarating to wake up to headlines of conservative victories in the battleground elections in Virginia and New Jersey," Romney wrote. "The American people have sent a very strong message to the liberals in Washington, DC that big government is not the answer, and that conservatism...

Can they pick them, or not? Boy, those 11 county chairmen who picked Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava to run for Congress on the Republican ticket in New York’s 23rd Congressional District in the special election to succeed Rep. John McHugh have an eye for a winner. Seeking a candidate for a center-right district near the Canadian border, they picked someone well to the left of some centrist Democrats, with none of the flair or pizazz that makes parties willing to tolerate mavericks. She excited no one and repelled the conservatives, whom the chairmen accused of splitting the party. She was, they...

In last year's campaign, the one true thing Obama said to his critics was, "The political ground is changing under your feet." But what is not sufficiently recognized is that is going on again, right now, in the opposite direction. That is what yesterday's elections showed. And what yesterday's political earthquake revealed about the landscape is that the biggest miscalculation going on right now is that the Republicans underestimate their own strength. As a result, they may fail to take maximum advantage of the political tsunami that is coming in 2010, just building to what is to come in 2012....

Dede Scozzafava won't even commit to how long she'll support House Minority Leader John Boehner for speaker. Faced with persistent questions from John McCormack, a conservative young reporter from the Weekly Standard, aimed at discerning her predilection for pulling an Arlen Specter, Scozzafava called the cops. Her press secretary later released an e-mail exchange with McCormack they thought would vindicate their position, only to find that even Daily Kos agrees with the Standard on this dust-up. This prompted a virtual stampede of conservative bloggers and activists to come forward and demand that Scozzafava drop out of the race. It has...

I awoke this morning to the news of yesterdays election results - and was pleasantly surprised to see that we had won in New Jersey as well as Virginia. Our victory in NY-23 has been delayed until 2010. Today would be a great day for all of us to contact our "friendly" GOP HQ, and send a shot across their bow. The message: - Nominate conservatives or become obsolete. - We will withhold funds and support if they nominate RINOS in 2010 and 2012 - We will go third party or independant where necessary to assure a defeat for ALL...

Is Bill O'Reilly the new moderate voice of America's right? That would seem to be the case after Bill O' took on Rush Limbaugh, the fire-eating grand poobah of everything right-wing. O'Reilly took exception to Limbaugh's claim that President Obama was trying to deliberately destroy the economy. In an interview with Fox News, Limbaugh said Obama represented the most "radical leadership" in the history of the country, and that the economy was "under siege" by Obama. Limbaugh also said Obama had "not done one thing to revitalize the economy." In response, Bill O' asked the logical question — but one...

First returns, Clinton Co: Owens 103 Scozzafava 8 Hoffman 340

You Tube video of RNC Chair Mike Steele on Larry King saying "GOP Win Not A Referendum On Obama"

Snowe to TPaw: GOP should "borrow" my approach Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) is sending a don't-tread-on-me message to Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty -- dismissing his claim that party moderates need to obey the conservative base -- and suggested her critics "borrow" from her middle-of-the-road model. Snowe, often the target of the Republican right flank, turned the argument back on the possible 2012 contender -- saying "litmus tests" of Republican candidates will guarantee the party's position as a two-House minority. Pawlenty, speaking early Monday on MSNBC, said many Republicans were "mad" at Snowe for working with the Democratic majority on health...

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg exits a voting booth in New York November 3, 2009. Mayor Bloomberg appeared headed to victory over Democrat Bill Thompson after engineering a rules change to allow him to run for a third term and spending millions of his own money on his campaign. As of last month, the billionaire mayor had spent $85 million to Thompson's $6 million.

Not too much to say about this one that the artwork doesn't already. Bye bye Dede. Don't worry you can run as a democrat, I think you'll feel better being true to who you are. For the whole series of Zero dollar bills, go here: " Flickr Archive of Zero Bills"

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: How about Dede Scozzafava? You know what? Dede Scozzafava has just screwed every RINO in the country by showing everybody who they are. It's what I say about radio, people say, "Rush, does it matter AM, FM?" No, no. Content, content, content, content. Content determines what people will listen to, and in politics, principle, principle, principle. Moderates by definition have no principles. They're wishy washy. A typical moderate is Lindsey Grahamnesty. A typical moderate. They're all over the place. They go with the flow. They think of themselves first. They are not guided by principle at all,...

Gov. Schwarzenegger stops by an event honoring Willie Brown and the room erupts in heckling, profanity, and slurs against Arnold...who of course goes out of his way to distance himself from the Republican Party immediately but it does no good as gay activists in the crowd let him have it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WORDNqxl7E

Lindsey Graham's behavior is so outrageous and arrogant that he must be planning on making his exit from the Senate by his next election. There have been ads on South Carolina radio supporting his recent initiatives to impose ruinous energy taxes (cap n trade) on US citizens. This radio ad was funded by the Truman Project, which turns out to be a Center for American Progress (John Podesta) effort, which is just a front for Van Jones style Marxism. So Graham has well and truly gone over to the Dark Side.

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.

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...

Senator Lieberman’s threat to filibuster the health-care bill isn’t a betrayal of the Democratic Party, says Meghan McCain—it’s a sign of courage. And we need more of it. BY MEGHAN MCCAIN A few weeks ago, I gave a speech at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and one of the questions I was asked was: Aside from your father, who are your favorite senators and politicians? Without hesitation, I said that I admire South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham and Connecticut’s Joe Lieberman. Now before my fellow Republicans start panicking at my fondness for two independent, moderate, and dare I say maverick...

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...

For the third straight month, the number of Americans identifying themselves as Democrats inched up while the number of Republicans fell slightly. In October, 37.8% of American adults considered themselves Democrats. That’s up three-tenths of a point from September and a full-percentage point since July. While President Obama’s party has been regaining ground since bottoming out in July, the number of Democrats nationwide remains lower than in any month from December 2008 through June 2009. (See the History of Party Trends from January 2004 to the present.) Still, there are more Democrats than Republicans. A total of 31.9% now claim...

The conservative coup in upstate New York did much more than lay bare the power of conservative activists: It exposed how little control GOP officials hold over this surging and formidable political movement. In the wake of conservatives’ role in forcing liberal Republican Dede Scozzafava out of Tuesday’s special election in New York’s 23rd District, GOP officials are trying to make it seem as if they are helping to stoke the passion — and can harness it to upend President Barack Obama and Democrats. They didn’t — and they can’t. Many of the activists who helped knock out Scozzafava told...

...“Did I say I was happy?’’ said Sessions when asked about the race. The GOP has no control over other parties, or independent groups such as the Club for Growth, and can’t do anything except support Scozzafava, Sessions said. ...Lincoln Chafee, a former moderate GOP senator now running as an independent for governor of Rhode Island, said his former party has moved so far to the right that he doesn’t see any room in it for New England moderates. “If you ask me, I’d recommend they run as independents,’’ he said.

Any number of pundits claim that we have now passed the worst of the recession. Green shoots of recovery are supposedly popping up all around the country, and the economy is expected to resume growing soon at an annual rate of 3% to 4%. Many of these are the same people who insisted that the economy would continue growing last year, even while it was clear that we were already in the beginning stages of a recession. A false recovery is under way. I am reminded of the outlook in 1930, when the experts were certain that the worst of...

Former McCain strategist is about to lose his health insurance. BY PHILIP RUCKER If history had taken a different course, Doug Holtz-Eakin would be inside the McCain White House driving the Republican president's domestic agenda, including health-care reform. But now, one year after Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) lost the presidential election, the man who was by McCain's side as the campaign's top health-care guru remains unemployed -- and his COBRA health coverage is running out. Irony of ironies, it gets worse. Holtz-Eakin, who is about to start shopping for insurance on the individual market, is 51. And he has one...

A third-party conservative, Doug Hoffman, won support across the GOP Sunday in his race for a House seat in upstate New York, after the Republican nominee pulled out over the weekend. (snip) Many Republicans say they see independents who only a year ago were voting Democratic shifting to conservative candidates amid continuing unease about the economy and disenchantment over government spending and Democratic plans for health care and environmental regulation. (snip) "This is a weather vane for a year from now," said Rob Ryan, a spokesman for Mr. Hoffman. (snip) The intraparty tensions in upstate New York are on display...

'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,...

NOVEMBER 2, 2009 GOP Set to Propose Its Own Health Bill By GREG HITT WASHINGTON -- Republicans are preparing an alternative health-care bill to Democratic legislation, House Republican Leader John Boehner said, marking a shift in strategy as the full House is set to begin debate on the issue this week. Mr. Boehner said Sunday the Republican bill would extend health-insurance coverage to "millions" of Americans but wouldn't try to match the scope of the House Democratic bill unveiled last week. The Democratic legislation, if passed, is estimated to expand coverage to more than 30 million Americans now without insurance....

Republican Dede Scozzafava announced Saturday that she is suspending her campaign in the Nov. 3 House special election in New York, a dramatic development that increases the GOP's chances of winning the contentious and closely-watched race. "In recent days, polls have indicated that my chances of winning this election are not as strong as we would like them to be. The reality that I've come to accept is that in today's political arena, you must be able to back up your message with money—and as I've been outspent on both sides, I've been unable to effectively address many of the...