Free Republic

Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman, locked in an increasingly tight and bitter election contest with Democrat Al Franken, said Friday that his campaign would halt negative advertising in a race recently dominated by it. Coleman, a Republican, said the unstable economy demands that the race focus on issues. He said he would also ask independent groups advertising on his behalf to pull negative ads, although by law they are not required to do so. "I decided I was not all that interested in returning to Washington for another six years based on the judgment of voters that I was not as...

With the deluge of threads being posted, and slated to increase greatly as the election heats up, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE .. especially if it's a news/breaking thread ... add the appropriate keywords to your posting form. So, if someone's looking for the latest string of "Obama" or "Sarah Palin" articles, let's say, they just click on that particular keyword at the top of the page, and those articles containing the keyword will come up chronologically. Thank you! Popular keyword options at the top of the main page: ~~~~ *110th *2008 *2008polls *ayers *bailout *barackobama *biden *bo *democrat *democrats *demron *economy...

Wayne Gilchrest, the nine-term Republican congressman who represents Maryland's Eastern Shore and parts of Anne Arundel County, has had it, and he's ready to talk. He's had it with his own party, which he says "has become more narrow, more self-serving, more centered around 'I want, I want, I want.' " He's finished with his party's presidential candidate, John McCain, who Gilchrest says "recites memorized pieces of information in a narrow way, whereas Barack Obama is constantly evaluating information, using his judgment. One guy just recites what's in front of him, and the other has initiative and reason and prudence...

***EXPRESS YOUR ANGER*** FREEP These 65 Republican Congressmen These Republicans need to hear from you and the best way to do it ... is by phone. "The House of Representatives is currently experiencing an extraordinarily high amount of email traffic. The Write Your Representative function is therefore intermittently available. While we realize communicating to your Members of Congress is critical, we suggest attempting to do so at a later time, when demand is not so high. System engineers are working to resolve this issue and we appreciate your patience." Most of their e-mails are backed up since the start...

Senator Norm Coleman says he'll vote for a $700 billion financial industry bailout, arguing that Congress has no choice but to act.

WASHINGTON -- Former Republican Rep. Joe Schwarz, who railed against an anti-tax group's role in his unsuccessful 2006 primary, endorsed Democrat Mark Schauer on Tuesday because the organization targeted the congressional challenger. Schwarz told The Associated Press in an interview that he decided to endorse Schauer over Republican Rep. Tim Walberg in the south-central Michigan congressional district because the anti-tax Club for Growth began running ads critical of Schauer's positions on taxes.... Schauer, the state Senate's Democratic leader, supported tax increases in 2007 to balance the state budget and backed Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm's proposed 2 percent sales tax on...

The Open Society Institute, a private foundation controlled by liberal billionaire and political activist George Soros, received more than $30 million from U.S. government agencies between 1998 and 2003. Last year, Soros donated at least $20 million of his own money to such liberal groups as Moveon.org, in a failed attempt to block the re-election of President George W. Bush. Tax records the Open Society Institute (OSI) is required to file with the Internal Revenue Service list "FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AGENCIES" as "Contributors" of amounts between $4.6 million and $8.9 million over a six year period: * 1998 - $4,611,617 *...

One of the challenges of the week for Chicago is finding a way to control the news cycle without the candidate. Today's answer: "Republicans for Obama." The most surprising name out there so far is probably that of former Iowa Rep. Jim Leach, a prominent figure in a battleground state. Also, former Sen. Linc Chafee, and Douglas Kmiec. There's still room for some higher-profile, more current figures -- an apostate of the profile of Joe Lieberman. The leading candidate for that slot still seems to be Chuck Hagel.

[The Lincoln Club of Orange County is threatening to pull its financial support for Republicans in the House and Senate if they do not replace their leaders.] The grumbling. The head shaking. The anger.Congressional Republican leaders clearly have no idea what we, their fellow GOP members (and financial backers), say to one another when we get together, yet for years one refrain has been constant: our extreme discontent over how the former GOP majority blew it on spending. Budget earmarks, which jumped by 285% between 1994 and 2005 as their cost soared by 60%, stand as the perfect symbol of...

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- When House Republican leaders left Washington for their Fourth of July break, they felt good about outwitting the Democratic majority. The feeling was not reciprocated 3,000 miles away, where conservative California Republican activists were drafting an ultimatum. The Lincoln Club of Orange County is telling GOP leaders of both the House and Senate that it is too late to repent. They must go -- or else lose big money. The message: "Come Nov. 5, should the current GOP leadership in either house survive to lead in a new Congress, the Lincoln Club of Orange County will review...

Today, the Club for Growth Political Action Committee endorses Alaska Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell in his bid to unseat Republican Rep. Don Young in the state's August primary. The reason for the endorsement is simple. Mr. Parnell is a solid conservative who led the fight for lower taxes and spending in the state legislature, and joined Gov. Sarah Palin in pushing for reform in the state. The man he is hoping to replace isn't economically conservative in the least. Mr. Young is actually a poster child for what has gone wrong with the Republican Party in Washington. Over his 35...

Without a doubt, the Republican primary for California's Fourth Congressional District was the highest profile legislative race taking place in yesterday's statewide elections in California. Whether you look at how the race shaped up locally, or how it was covered Inside The Beltway, the battle between conservative State Senator Tom McClintock and moderate former U.S. Representative Doug Ose was truly looked to as an election-day indicator of where the heart and soul of the GOP was, and whether Republicans want to see change in direction that their party has taken in the United States Capitol. Despite the massive financial advantage...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has now abandoned his goal of fixing the problem that led to his historic election in 2003. With the revised budget proposal he released Wednesday, the governor has effectively conceded that California's era of perpetual budget deficits will not end on his watch. --snip-- His trouble started early, when he proposed spending cuts that were politically unpalatable while failing to follow through on a fundamental, top-to-bottom rethinking of the way the state does business. When the economy briefly surged and brought in billions of dollars in unexpected tax revenue, Schwarzenegger lost his zeal for fiscal discipline and...

Tuesday's election results highlighted challenges for both Democrats and Republicans. Republicans received a hard shot in Mississippi. Greg Davis (for whom I campaigned and who was a well-qualified candidate) narrowly lost a special congressional election in a district President George W. Bush carried four years ago with 62% of the vote. Democrats pulled off the win by smartly nominating a conservative, Travis Childers, from a rural swing part of the district who disavowed Barack Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and hit Mr. Davis from the right. This blow to the GOP came after two other special congressional election losses...

Lot's of very glum faces among House GOP members this morning as they emerged from their weekly closed-door session. The political situation is not good, and they aren't even trying to deny it. Rep. Tom Davis stomped on the concrete floor of the Capitol basement when asked by reporters about Republican fortunes at the moment. "This is the floor," he said, by way of explanation. "We're below the floor." Inside the meeting, Davis had just presented his colleagues with what he said was a 20-page memo outlining his prescription for a way out of this mess. He did not offer...

AND NOW . . . amidst billowing clouds of fragrant, aromatic first- and second-hand premium cigar smoke. . . it is time for . . . that harmless, lovable little fuzz ball, the highly-trained broadcast specialist, having more fun than a human being should be allowed to have, from behind the golden EIB microphone, firmly ensconced in the prestigious Attila-the-Hun chair at the Limbaugh Institute of Advanced Conservative Studies, with talent on loan from G-d, at the cutting-edge of societal evolution, with half his brain tied behind his back — just to make it fair, the all-knowing, all-caring, all-sensing, all-feeling,...

WASHINGTON – Sen. John McCain called Monday for reductions in carbon emissions and criticized the Bush administration for failing to lead the fight against climate change. "We have many advantages in the fight against global warming, but time is not one of them. … We stand warned by serious and credible scientists across the world that time is short and the dangers are great," the Arizona Republican said in a speech delivered at a wind-energy facility in Portland, Ore. "The most relevant question is whether our own government is equal to the challenge." McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, proposed...

PHOENIX (AP) - Republican presidential hopeful John McCain says the focus on illegal immigration during the Republican primary season harmed his party's image among Hispanics. Speaking to reporters in Phoenix on Cinco de Mayo, McCain said that Hispanic citizens want America's borders secured and illegal immigrants to be treated humanely. He says low-income Hispanic citizens are vulnerable to losing their jobs to the lower wages accepted by illegal immigrants. On the subject of broader immigration policies, McCain says local governments would not have to take on immigration problems had the federal government overhauled the country's immigration policies. McCain spoke at...

The John McCain campaign celebrated Cinco de Mayo today by launching a Spanish-language version of its website–and announcing that McCain will speak at the annual conference of the National Council of La Raza (that’s “The Race”). The campaign justifies his appearance by framing it as a gesture of inclusiveness and outreach that is “part of his commitment to talking with all Americans.” Yes, they see it as an act of tolerance to legitimize the militantly open-borders, anti-immigration enforcement, ethnic nationalists who call themselves “The Race.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Republican Main Street Partnership today praised Rhode Island Senator Lincoln Chafee (R-RI) for his decision to vote against Judge Samuel Alito's nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court and blasted his critics for "playing politics" with the Senator's decision. Senator Chafee showed incredible courage by weighing long and hard Judge Alito's outstanding legal qualifications and judicial philosophy against Chafee's own principles (...)

April 01, 2008 B'rer McCain and the Briar Patch By Clarice Feldman In the classic Song of the South the wily rabbit begs the fox not to throw him into the briar patch knowing (what the fox doesn't) that he can easily escape the bushes' thorns and jump off to freedom, and that the fox will certainly do what he has begged him not to do. I loathe the co-called Campaign Finance Reform Act sponsored jointly by Senators McCain and Feingold after an unethical, if not illegal, largely sub rosa campaign by the tax exempt Pew Foundation. To me the...

By now, most McCain haters will have already skipped down to the comments section to post their expletives and tell me how it’s a free country and they have a 1st Amendment right, etc. to yammer on and on about how bad McCain sucks, totally missing the point of my post, again. But I’m here to tell you, in this free country, that in my opinion, you should SHUT YOUR STINKIN TRAP! To all you ingrates, rageaholics, and self-absorbed punks, WE KNOW YOU HATE MCCAIN. You can give yourself a rest now and stop posting on every single thread the...

Thank you. It's good to be back in Meridian. As you might know, I was once a flight instructor here at the air field named for my grandfather during my long past and misspent youth. And it's always good to be in Mississippi, which you could call my ancestral home. Generations of McCains were born and raised in Carroll County, on land that had been in our family since 1848. The last McCain to live on the property, which the family called Teoc, was my grandfather's brother, Joe McCain. I spent a couple summers here as a young boy, and...

Numerous conservatives throughout the country have called me to say that while they may have supported candidates other than John McCain for the Republican nomination, they would now like to campaign for the Arizonan -- if for no other reason than the thought of “President Obama” or “President Clinton 44” gives them nightmares! The stumbling block for them is that John McCain, so far, is not sending out signals that he welcomes conservatives who were not with him from the start. In his recent trip to the Middle East, the certain GOP nominee was accompanied by Sens. Lindsay Graham (R.-SC)...

Calling state government dysfunctional, a bipartisan group launched a reform effort Wednesday that it said would be backed by its own political action committee. The group, called California Forward, will push for passage of a proposed November ballot initiative supported by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to take away the Legislature's power to draw political districts and give it instead to an independent panel. Advocates say this will help moderates get elected. The reform group also plans to address the state budgeting process. Leon Panetta, a former Democratic congressman from Monterey and chief of staff to former President Bill Clinton, is leading...

LOS ANGELES - Republican John McCain on Wednesday called anew for the United States to work more collegially with democratic allies and live up to its duties as a world leader, drawing a sharp contrast to the past eight years under President Bush. "Our great power does not mean we can do whatever we want whenever we want, nor should we assume we have all the wisdom and knowledge necessary to succeed," the likely presidential nominee said in a speech to the Los Angeles World Affairs Council. "We need to listen to the views and respect the collective will of...

John McCain’s campaign got its first opportunity to show how seriously it wants to avoid getting into the identity-politics meltdown in the Democratic primary. The campaign suspended Soren Dayton, a former blogger now working for McCain, for sending the link to a YouTube regarding Barack Obama and Jeremiah Wright over a Twitter message: An aide to John McCain was suspended from the campaign today for blasting out an inflammatory video that raises questions about Barack Obama’s patriotism.Soren Dayton, who works in McCain’s political department, sent out the YouTube link of “Is Obama Wright?” on twitter at 12:31 today with the...

Worst Ultra Liberal Pro-Illegals Republican U.S. Congress Members In Order, Grade F and D, with ranking % - Best =100%, and Footnote Comments <> Most are John McCain Campaign Key Members, Endorsers, and Supporters March 18, 2008 Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), F-, 4%, (E) (E1) (1)Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-FL), F-, 4%, (E) (E1) (2)Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL), F, 7%, (E), (E1) (3)Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), F, 15%, (P) (A)Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN), F, 15%Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE), D-, 18%, (A) (5)Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), D, 23%, (C) (K) (A x 2)Sen. Mel Martinez (R-FL), D, 25%, (N) (A x 2)...

Americans and Europeans share a common goal – to build an enduring peace based on free­dom. Our democracies today are strong and vibrant. Together we can tackle the diverse challenges we face, whether radical religious fanatics who use terror as their weapon of choice, the disturbing turn towards autocracy in Russia or the looming threats of climate change and the degradation of our planet. But the key word is “together”. We need to renew and revitalise our democratic solidarity. We need to strengthen our transatlantic alliance as the core of a new global compact – a League of Democracies –...

MIAMI (FBW) – Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush could barely contain his amusement at the Democrat Party’s Florida and Michigan delegate dilemma in its tightly contested presidential race, saying it’s “ironic beyond belief” that the party which accused him and other Republicans of suppressing the vote in the 2000 Florida presidential election re-count now “got themselves in a hole” of “their own doing.” “My thoughts are filled with irony that every vote should count,” Bush said with a broad smile. “I mean this brings back memories of hyperbole and anger, mock anger …. It was a political circus for several...

WASHINGTON - Sen. John McCain suggested Friday that the trans-Atlantic alliance join with democracies around the world to forge “a New Global Order of peace” that would last throughout the 21st century. The Republican candidate for the U.S. presidency said the process should begin at the alliance's April summit meeting in Bucharest, Romania. Stepping up the NATO commitment to Afghanistan is one priority, he said, but that must lead to greater change around the world. McCain expressed his views in a statement distributed by his campaign on the occasion of the 44th annual Munich Conference on Security Policy in Germany....

It’s not the kind of endorsement that a Republican presidential candidate should welcome. But former Clinton State Department official and alleged Russian dupe Strobe Talbott says that Senator John McCain and Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are all “moderate pragmatists” in foreign policy “with the demonstrated ability to reach across party lines.” This is “good news,” says Talbott, who is an advocate of world government. Can our media stop talking about race, sex and gender long enough to examine whether the American people will be given a choice or an echo on foreign policy issues this November?...

As a substitute amendment, the House GOP offered a budget yesterday that, if it had passed, would have replaced the tax-hiking, big-spending Democratic budget. However, 38 Republicans joined the Democrats in voting against it. It failed, 157-263. This is a very enlightening vote. These 38 Republicans voted against their own party on the one bill that establishes all of the discretionary spending for a full fiscal year. In other words, it wouldn't be unfair to say that this budget defines what it means to be an economic conservative. And yet, these 38 Republicans voted against it....

It’s not the kind of endorsement that a Republican presidential candidate should welcome. But former Clinton State Department official and alleged Russian dupe Strobe Talbott says that Senator John McCain and Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are all “moderate pragmatists” in foreign policy “with the demonstrated ability to reach across party lines.” This is “good news,” says Talbott, who is an advocate of world government. Can our media stop talking about race, sex and gender long enough to examine whether the American people will be given a choice or an echo on foreign policy issues this November?...

An investigative author says George Soros used Sen. John McCain to push for limits on issue advertising by grassroots groups because he was upset over the cataclysmic failure of Hillarycare, the all-encompassing government health care program proposed during Bill Clinton's first term as president. The author, Richard Poe, told WND that Soros later funded the senator's Reform Institute because of their work together on the McCain-Feingold Act. "Money paid to the Reform Institute rewarded McCain for pushing the McCain-Feingold Act, a law which restricts the ability of grassroots groups to advertise on television, while allowing major media free rein to...

Candidate's Reform Institute also accepted funds from Teresa Kerry As Sen. John McCain assumes the GOP front-runner mantle, his long-standing, but little-noticed association with left-wing donors such as George Soros and Teresa Heinz Kerry is receiving new attention among his Republican critics. In 2001, McCain founded the Alexandria, Va.-based Reform Institute as a vehicle to receive funding from George Soros' Open Society Institute and Teresa Heinz Kerry's Tides Foundation and several other prominent non-profit organizations. McCain used the institute to promote his political agenda and provide compensation to key campaign operatives between elections. In 2006, the Arizona senator was forced...

I arrived at CPAC this morning around 10:30, the first thing I noticed was several buses from out of town with young McCain supporters taking talking points from old persons. As I milled around for nearly 2 hours, even did a segement with G.Gordon Liddy. McCain's supports roved the floor after Vice President Cheney's Speech, trying to sale McCain as "A true Conservative and a vote against McCain means a lost of appointments to the federal bench and a chance to work with open minded Democrats!" several operatives tried a number of times to sale me on this point and...

<p>Senator John McCain's Reform Institute has suffered some bad press recently due to its involvement in an influence-peddling scandal with Cablevision. As usual, however, mainstream media have failed to go to the root of the matter.</p> <p>Founded on June 26, 2001, McCain's Reform Institute for Campaign and Election Issues has long served as a nerve center for the so-called "campaign finance reform"movement - a movement which has done nothing to clean up campaign finance, but has done a great deal to empower federal judges and government bureaucrats to regulate political speech, in defiance of the Bill of Rights.</p>

Presidential candidate John McCain's sweeping victories on Super Tuesday revealed what could be a post-partisanship era in politics. Republican voters across the country turned away from the party's more conservative candidates and selected the Arizona senator again and again in primary contests from New York to California. The ultraconservative radio talk show hosts, bloggers and newspaper columnists simply didn't resonate with the party's majority members - the soccer moms and NASCAR dads who never attend precinct meetings, but showed up on election day. Whether those high-profile opinion givers like it or not, McCain is their man. Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz.,...

When CQ first covered the Bradley Smith interview that started the blogswarm on the FEC and the BCRA this week, I noted several unusual relationships between the donors and the institute, all hinging on Richard Davis, RI's president and John McCain's campaign manager. Since Davis also acts as McCain's chief political advisor, I found it odd that the RI -- which pays Davis a $110,000 "consulting fee" annually instead of a salary as its president -- received money from donors such as the sources that follow below. Bear in mind, please, that foundations don't just line up to hand out...

LOS ANGELES - California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger endorsed Sen. John McCain in the Republican presidential race on Thursday, praising him as an "extraordinary leader" who can reach across the political aisle to get things done. At a news conference, Schwarzenegger said McCain has the national security credentials to do the job, and is a "crusader against wasteful spending." Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani also attended the event, one day after he dropped out of the race and threw his support behind his longtime friend. McCain is counting on both men — Schwarzenegger in California and Giuliani in New York...

Sacramento, CA (LifeNews.com) -- California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is coming under fire today from pro-life advocates there because of his desire to weaken the Republican Party's pro-life stance. He is asking for a new state Republican platform that removes any mention of abortion. Schwarzenegger says he prefers to focus other political issues where Republicans have more consensus, even though recent polls show Republicans are pro-life by more than a three-to-one margin.The current state platform calls for the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court case that ushered in an era of virtually unlimited abortions.The governor is calling himself...

THE WASHINGTON TIMES - The Republican Party must temper its emphasis on moral issues like abortion and same-sex "marriage" if the party is to regain seats lost during the 2006 congressional elections, a new poll says. Fifty-three percent of Republicans say the party "has spent too much time focusing on moral issues such as abortion and gay marriage and should instead be spending time focusing on economic issues such as taxes and government spending." "The results of this poll confirm what we have long believed — that what holds the GOP together is a belief in core economic principles," said...

The name might be more wishful thinking than practical politics, but a group of Republican business leaders calling themselves the New Majority are hoping to reshape the GOP to give it a stronger role in state and local politics. Launched in Orange County seven years ago, the group raised more than $8 million - more than any other contributor - for the effort to recall Gov. Gray Davis and replace him with Arnold Schwarzenegger, who also is a New Majority member. Since then, the group has expanded to Los Angeles County and now has about 90 members in the area....

Iraq: A delegation of wobbly Republicans visited the White House, reportedly to deliver tough talk to President Bush about Iraq. Too bad they're not tough enough to tell their constituents about what's at stake. The big "revelation" out of Tuesday's meeting with 11 GOP congressmen — a factoid that was supposed to stun first the president, then the public — was Rep. Tom Davis' assertion that in a part of his suburban Washington congressional district the president's approval rating was a mere 5%. "What's Plan B?" is what Davis of Virginia told reporters the congressmen asked the president and his...

TIM RUSSERT, NBC NIGHTLY NEWS: Brian, all eyes on the Republican party. How long will they support the president's position on the Iraq War? Yesterday may have been a defining, pivotal moment. At two-thirty in the afternoon, in the private quarters of the White House, the Solarium Room, eleven Republican congressmen had a private meeting with the president, the secretary of defense, the secretary of state, the chief political advisor Karl Rove, and the White House Press Secretary Tony Snow, and others. This delegation was headed by Mark Kirk of Illinois and Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania. It was, in the...

Almost two-thirds of California residents believe President George W. Bush is untruthful and only 23 percent approve of his job performance, according to a new poll released today from San Jose State University. In contrast to the president, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's approval rating is at a near-record high of 62 percent, according to the poll, conducted by the Survey and Policy Research Institute at SJSU. Schwarzenegger is winning approval from liberal and moderate Californians while still maintaining a 64 percent approval rating among conservatives, according to the survey results. While California's presidential primary is 10 months away, the poll results...

Republican Rep. Jim Walsh of New York, who holds a ranking appropriations post, has sided with Democrats on 14 of the 16 biggest votes this year. Remarkably, GOP leaders don't seem to care. In one of the most significant strategic and tactical shifts of the new Congress, moderate Republicans such as Walsh are getting little pushback from their conservative leaders for voting with Democrats on major bills. In fact, 39 House Republicans have been with Democrats on 60 percent or more of major votes, according to a voting analysis by The Politico. Welcome to life in the minority for the...

Dear Friend: Thank you for responding to our survey. I do not support President Bush’s proposed troop surge in Iraq and voted for the House resolution that recommended against his action. The United States should increase the responsibilities of the elected Iraqi government to solve its own problems, while reducing the number of American combat troops sent overseas. I did not come to this conclusion lightly. The long-term security of our country depends on the United States not being defeated in the Middle East. To prevent a collapse of democracy, tolerance and our supporters in that region, we should...

Castle Coble Tom Davis Duncan English (PA) Gilchrest Inglis (SC) Johnson (IL) Jones (NC) Keller Kirt LaTourette Paul Petri Ramstad Upton Walsh (NY)