Free Republic

This week the Senate grinches stole Christmas. The Obama Nation is getting Obamacare. It’s easy to blame the sixty Democrats, as the Wall Street Journal does, for "the worse bill ever." It solemnly declares: "These 60 Democrats are creating a future of epic increases in spending, taxes and command--and control regulation." True enough. But what's the root cause of this permanent disaster? Sorry, friends, but it’s not the Democrats, nor the American people who elected them. The real culprits are two Republicans who ran the show the previous eight years: George W. Bush and his "master political strategist" Karl Rove....

Probably not, but their candidate recruitment so far has been stellar. Democrats began the year as masters of the political universe, winning the White House and increasing their majorities in Congress. But the year is ending badly for them. Their top initiative, health care, is deeply unpopular. Congress's approval rating is 26%, Speaker Nancy Pelosi's is 28%, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's is an anemic 14%. Political currents are running against the party of Barack Obama. Democrats now trail Republicans by four points in Gallup's generic ballot poll. In 1994, the year the GOP took control of Congress, it...

<p>IF YOU ENJOYED the election crisis of 2000, you’re going to love what Democrat leaders are cooking up for November.</p> <p>"George Soros has purchased the Democratic Party," charges Republican National Committee spokeswoman Christine Iverson. (2) Some might dismiss Miss Iverson's comment as hyberbole. However, Soros' massive soft-money contributions have indisputably given him power over Democrat strategy.</p>

Here is video of Karl Rove reacting to Obama's jobs speech this morning...(Video)Karl Rove said "this was a President who was more concerned with his job security than the job security of Americans."

President Barack Obama's speech on Tuesday night deserves to be cheered. Over the objections of his vice president and despite opposition from his political base, the president is sending an additional 30,000 troops to Afghanistan to fight terrorists. But praise for Mr. Obama's decision needs to be qualified. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, had said he could use as many as 40,000 troops, a figure he arrived at after carefully evaluating what would be needed to accomplish the mission Mr. Obama assigned him in June. Mr. Obama hopes NATO can make up the difference between troops...

-- snip --Mr. Obama's spending choices are dragging congressional Democrats into ugly electoral territory where many are likely to meet a brutal fate next fall.

Democratic leaders angrily demanded a retraction from White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove yesterday after he accused liberals of responding with restraint and timidity to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, but White House and Republican officials rallied to his defense and rebuffed calls for an apology. [snip] Rove's remarks were reported in yesterday's New York Times and in wire service reports, and by yesterday morning they had quickly exploded into the latest political battle between the parties. In his speech, Rove said no issue better illustrated the philosophical difference between liberals and conservatives than national security....

[T]he narrative Obama White House officials are writing about themselves is that they are uncompromising, ungracious, and ready to run roughshod over popular opinion. They have mastered the Chicago way of politics: reward friends, punish enemies, and jam the opposition. Voters have a tendency to quickly grow tired of pugnacious governance. That's only the beginning of Mr. Axelrod's problems. If the 2010 midterms are nationalized, they will be a referendum on Mr. Obama's increasingly unpopular policies. For example, in the newest Gallup survey released on Monday, only 29% say they'd advise their congressman to vote for the health-care bill. This...

Even a five-point shift would mean big Democratic losses in 2010. Tuesday's elections should put a scare into red state Democrats—and a few blue state ones, too. Barack Obama was said to have redrawn the electoral map by winning Virginia last year with 53% of the vote. On Tuesday, Republican Bob McDonnell flipped the state back to the GOP, winning his election for governor with 59% of the vote. Mr. Obama carried New Jersey easily last year with 57% of the vote. This year, despite being outspent 3-to-1, Republican Chris Christie ousted Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine there by 49% to...

He says that probability is by no means greater than 50%, though. Draw your own conclusions.

In an interview with CNN's John King on Sunday, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said President Obama is now asking tough questions about Afghanistan "that have never been asked on the civilian side, the political side, the military side and the strategic side." It was a not so subtle dig at Mr. Obama's predecessor and was meant to distract from the White House's mishandling of the war. The Bush administration did in fact conduct a top-to-bottom strategic review of Afghanistan in 2008. That review was provoked by two developments...

Here is video of Karl Rove and Terry McAuliffe debating the White House strategy of attacking Fox News. Rove said he believes Obama's White House is dominated by "Chicago-style politics." If they don't like what a reporter says, they "keep score" and seek to get back at them. McAuliffe said "people are annoyed" that "Fox" did not broadcast Obama's speech on Health Care to the nation. Actually, Fox News carried Obama's speech - it was the Fox Entertainment network that did not. Rove said it is "over the top" for the White House to refer to Fox News as "the...

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to spend several hours with Karl Rove, the “master political strategist” of the Bush administration . . . where he defended the Bush agenda in a raucous debate . . . . I wondered if Rove would appear introspective, slightly humbled by the demise of the Republican Party in the most recent elections and the litany of disastrous big government policies he and his boss engineered over the past eight year that led to the lowest public approval rating in history. No one expected Rove to confess error. But like most conservatives, conservative...

Wait until the voters figure out how Congress is proposing to pay for reform. Now that the Senate Finance Committee has voted for the health-care bill drafted by Montana Democratic Sen. Max Baucus, negotiations over the real bill can begin in Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's cozy Capitol hideaway. It won't be easy. Democrats now face a central problem for any governing party: How to pass a major piece of legislation when there are a lot of sharply different ideas about what should be in it. Trying to reconcile what Democrats in the House prefer with what Democrats in the...

Gallup says independents now favor Republicans by nine points. assing health-care reform could be harmful to the health of congressional Democrats. Just look at how President Barack Obama's standing has fallen as he has pushed for reform. According to Fox News surveys, the number of independents who oppose health-care reform hit 57% at the end of September, up from 33% in July. Independents are generally a quarter of the vote in off-year congressional elections.

Karl Rove’s Twitter account was suspended? Yes, indeed. Although the account is now up and running, Rove’s gang has a call into Twitter Headquarters to find out what exactly happened. Rove's office told POLITICO: "On Monday evening around 8:20 PM Karl Rove's Twitter account (@karlrove) was temporarily suspended due to unknown reasons. We submitted a support request to Twitter and the account was promptly restored. Karl Rove complies fully with the rules outlined in the Twitter Terms of Service and despite several phone calls to the Twitter corporate office, we've been unable to determine what caused the temporary shut down."

About 3.5 minutes into the video.

October 05, 2009 Categories: Florida Rove donated to Rubio NBC News’ Chuck Todd has the scoop that Karl Rove is supporting Marco Rubio, the conservative challenger to Gov. Charlie Crist, in the Republican primary for the Senate in Florida – at least with his money. Rove donated $1,000 to Rubio's campaign -- a sign of support for the underdog as he goes up against the governor, who holds a significant fundraising advantage. NBC's First Read also concludes that the donation as a sign of where former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush's true loyalties lie: Many believe this is Jeb's way of...

The video in question, a showdown match between Juan Williams and Karl Rove. Past the popcorn around! It started innocently enough. Karl Rove explains it’s not the Olympic fiasco that is hurting Obama … it’s not even this month’s unemployment rate, it’s Obama’s overall handling of the economy. Juan steps in it when he accuses Rove and the Bush administration of doing nothing to stop the financial meltdown and that’s when Rove explodes. Let the games begin!

Here is video of Karl Rove absolutely schooling Juan Williams (sitting in for Bill O'Reilly) when Williams made the mistake tonight of accusing President Bush and his administration of "doing nothing" to reign in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to avoid a Housing Meltdown. That's all it took. Rove proceeded to lay out the facts that the Bush Administration tried to get legislation to regulate the mortgage lenders, but were blocked by Democrats, including then Senator Barack Obama.

George Bush succeeded in Iraq by talking to his generals regularly. So our top commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, has told CBS's "60 Minutes" that he has spoken with President Barack Obama only once since June. This is a troubling revelation. Right now, our commander in chief is preparing to make one of the most important decisions of his presidency—whether to commit additional troops to win the war in Afghanistan. Being detached or incurious about what our commanders are experiencing makes it hard to craft a winning strategy.

Bismarck, N.D. - BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Former White House political adviser Karl Rove says he has an appreciation for all things Norse. Except lutefisk. "Any food that's key element is lye takes an acquired taste," Rove said of the dried cod dish that is reconstituted by soaking it in the alkaline solution. Lutefisk aside, the top strategist for former President George W. Bush said Tuesday that his Scandinavian roots run deep. His stepfather was of Norwegian ancestry, he said. "I have a brother, uncle and great-uncle named Olaf," Rove said. Rove is to North Dakota to be inducted into...

Rove is adopted, so it isn't clear whether he is of Scandinavian descent. But he said his adoptive father, Louis, was of Norwegian ancestry and used to read to him literature from Iceland and Norway as a child. Louis Rove died in 2004.

(Sorry all. Meant to post this last night but had some technical difficulties.) Karl Rove in San Francisco? Even he seemed a bit...awed? Bewildered? Bemused? Nonetheless, Bush's Brain was the rock star attraction at a dinner Thursday night at The Ritz-Carlton to kick off the debut of the Heritage Foundation's new San Francisco Bay branch. (For the past couple of years, the premier conservative thinktank has been establishing outposts around the country to stoke the grassroots brush fires all year-round. And anybody who lives in the Bay Area knows that there's a lot of closeted conservatives here. Why do you...

The Richard Scrushy vehicle auction will go ahead as planned today. The former HealthSouth Corp. chief executive’s 19 valuable vehicles will be sold at noon at Weil Wrecker Service, 3400 Second Ave. South, in Birmingham. The jailed former corporate titan tried Wednesday to get the auction postponed. His lawyers argued at a hearing in Jefferson County Circuit Court that the auction was improperly advertised and is being held at an improper place. Judge Allwin Horn rejected both arguments. That means high-dollar cars will be up for sale to the highest bidder. The collection includes a Rolls-Royce, two Porsche sports cars,...

It sounded to White House advisers like a good idea. Put President Barack Obama on five Sunday morning talk shows. This would focus attention on health care, re-establish momentum, and show off Mr. Obama's passion, intelligence, and persuasive abilities. It didn't work. Mr. Obama made a classic mistake of politicians on a downward-bending arc. He jumps out in front of the cameras without having something fresh to offer.

Facing the increasing likelihood of losses in the 2010 midterm congressional and gubernatorial elections, President Obama and his fellow Democrats are returning to a tried-and-true campaign strategy — run against former President George W. Bush. In speech after speech since taking office, Mr. Obama has pointed back to the problems he inherited from the Bush administration when he took office. And earlier this month, Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine catalogued a slew of perceived Bush failures to the delight of supporters. Already, Democratic gubernatorial candidates in Virginia and New Jersey are testing the strategy — so far, however, unsuccessfully....

On Friday, I was at DePauw University in Indiana debating former Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean. It was two days after Barack Obama's big speech before a joint session of Congress and Mr. Dean is a strong advocate for his party's agenda and a medical doctor, so I expected him to defend the president's idea of adding a "trigger" to health-care reform to ease its passage and thereby guarantee a government takeover of our health-care system. But Mr. Dean turned out to be tougher on triggers than I was. He called them a "terrible" idea. It's now becoming clear...

The president is changing the political landscape, but not in the way he intends. On Friday, I was at DePauw University in Indiana debating former Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean. It was two days after Barack Obama's big speech before a joint session of Congress and Mr. Dean is a strong advocate for his party's agenda and a medical doctor, so I expected him to defend the president's idea of adding a "trigger" to health-care reform to ease its passage and thereby guarantee a government takeover of our health-care system. But Mr. Dean turned out to be tougher on...

Red-state Democrats are being asked to risk their seats. Millions of Americans watched President Barack Obama's speech last night to a joint session of Congress. Much of it was familiar, having been delivered in at least 111 speeches, town halls, radio addresses and other appearances on health care. But his most revealing remarks on the topic came on Monday, at a Labor Day union picnic in Cincinnati.

Several prominent Republicans penned a letter to President Obama, praising him on Afghanistan and asking for more troops. Signatories include Karl Rove, Sarah Palin, John Podhoretz, Amb. Ryan Crocker, Paul Bremer, Bill Kristol, Randy Scheunemann, Jennifer Rubin, Dan Senor, et al. It's certainly a case of strange bedfellows. Liberals are moving increasingly against the war in Afghanistan, and American public opinion has indicated a frustration and impatience with the eight-year-old war. This letter is further evidence, as we've written in First Read, that on the war in Afghanistan, this Democratic president is in the odd position of REPUBLICANS being his...

100% of proceeds from this auction will benefit the Ride 2 Recovery program whose mission is to improve the health and wellness of wounded warriors by providing a life changing experience that can impact their lives forever. He just posted on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/karlrove?ref=nf I'm participating in a charity auction to benefit wounded warriors. Bid on a private lunch for three (3) with me at Bobby Van's Steakhouse in Washington, D.C. 100% of proceeds from this auction will benefit the Ride 2 Recovery program whose... mission is to improve the health and wellness of wounded warriors by providing a life changing...

August was the worst month of Barack Obama's presidency. And he seems to know it--he is now planning to deliver a speech to a joint session of Congress 232 days into his administration in a desperate attempt to save his biggest domestic priority, overhauling health care. He has already had the budget-busting $787 billion stimulus package, a budget that doubles the national debt in five years, an earmark-laden appropriations bill that boosted domestic spending nearly 8%, and a cap-and-trade energy tax that limped through the House with dozens of Democratic defections (and which has stalled in the Senate). These achievements...

Karl Rove was on Hannity last night and he did his bit "By the Numbers" and I found it very telling to see that Obama has had a press conference 50% of his days in office. If anyone has a link to these numbers, I would appreciate it, and Thanks!

For more than two years, House Judiciary Committee Democrats and the New York Times editorial board have argued that I personally arranged for Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman to be prosecuted in 2004 for corruption and ordered the removal of eight U.S. attorneys in 2006 for failing to investigate Democrats. The Washington Post editorial board also echoed this last charge. The Times and the Post have published a combined 18 editorials on these issues, which were also catnip to House Judiciary Committee Democrats. Politico's Ryan Grimm reported last year overhearing the Committee's chairman, John Conyers of Michigan, tell two others, "We're...

GREENCASTLE -- Two heavyweights on the national political scene -- Howard Dean, who recently completed a four-year term as chairman of the Democratic National Committee, and Karl Rove, the former chief political adviser to President George W. Bush -- are coming to DePauw University on Sept. 11. In a Timothy and Sharon Ubben Lecture, the two men will engage in a debate on "America in 2009: Challenges and Opportunities." The program will take place at 7:30 p.m. in Kresge Auditorium of the Green Center for the Performing Arts (605 S. College Avenue). Like all Ubben Lectures, the program is free...

August 13, 2009 - In the wake of producing an abortion-themed episode FOX has decided not to air [Click here for details], Family Guy is going to take a trip over to the conservative side for another upcoming installment. The Hollywood Reporter's James Hibberd reveals that some big Republican names -- including talk show host Rush Limbaugh and Bush administration key player Karl Rove -- will be guest starring on the animated series. The episode involves the liberal Brian becoming bored and frustrated with Barack Obama in office, feeling he has nothing to complain about. His solution? Become a Republican...

Talk show host Rush Limbaugh, former Bush strategist Karl Rove and other famous Republicans will play themselves on Fox's left-leaning "Family Guy" next season. Karl rove In an episode being produced for next season, the Griffins' liberal dog, Brian, gets bored and frustrated because he feels he no longer has anything to complain about with Barack Obama in the White House. So Brian becomes a Republican and starts listening to Rush Limbaugh (who, apparently, also sings a song). "'Family Guy' tends to be very liberal because it's written by liberals," creator Seth MacFarlane said. "So we thought let's give the...

WASHINGTON — Thousands of pages of internal e-mail and once-secret Congressional testimony showed Tuesday that Karl Rove and other senior aides in the Bush White House played an earlier and more active role than was previously known in the 2006 firings of a number of United States attorneys. Aides to former President George W. Bush have asserted that the Justice Department took the lead in the dismissals, which set off a political firestorm that lasted months. Mr. Rove played down his role in the firings in a recent interview and in closed testimony last month before Congressional investigators. But the...

`WASHINGTON -- House Democrats turned over to federal prosecutors thousands of investigative documents Tuesday, alleging they are evidence of impropriety by Karl Rove and other Bush White House officials in the controversial 2006 firing of nine U.S. attorneys. It remains far from certain whether the 5,400 pages of emails and other documents released Tuesday contain information that would help prosecutors bring criminal charges against Mr. Rove, who served as former President George W. Bush's political adviser, or against any other former Bush officials.

Polling and focus groups have led the president astray on his top priority. Americans are now seeing the damage that polls and focus groups can inflict on White House decision-making. President Barack Obama is no longer shaping the public dialogue on health-care reform. Instead, he is losing control of his agenda and resorting to rhetorical tricks and evasions. Every administration has to take into account public opinion. Without doing so, Abraham Lincoln said, little can be achieved. But too much polling doesn’t raise presidential vision. It narrows and pulls it down. Substituting a weekly dose of opinion surveys for thoughtful...

The president resorts to the politics of fear. On the campaign trail last year, Barack Obama promised to end the “politics of fear and cynicism.” Yet he is now trying to sell his health-care proposals on fear. At his news conference last week, he said “Reform is about every American who has ever feared that they may lose their coverage, or lose their job. . . . If we do not reform health care, your premiums and out-of-pocket costs will continue to skyrocket. If we do not act, 14,000 Americans will continue to lose their health insurance every single day....

Polls are turning against President Barack Obama’s health-care plan. The political calendar is, too. On Monday, the Washington Post/ABC poll reported that 49% of Americans approve of his handling of health care while 44% disapprove. What many people missed is that those who strongly disapprove of the president’s approach on health care now outnumber those who strongly approve by 33% to 25%. That presages further decline. Already, 49% of independents disapprove of the president’s approach, up from 30% in April, a staggering shift in 11 weeks. Mr. Obama is also slipping on the economy. Those who strongly disapprove now outnumber...

So what's a president to do when the promises he made about his economic stimulus program fail to materialize? If you're Barack Obama, you redefine your goals and act as if America won't remember what you said originally. That's a neat trick if you can get away with it, but Mr. Obama won't. His words are a matter of public record and he will be held to them. When it came to the stimulus package, the president and his administration promised, in the words of National Economic Director Larry Summers, "You'll see the effects begin almost immediately." Now it's clear...

Here is video of Karl Rove analyzing day one of the confirmations hearings for Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court. Rove says Sotomayor subscribes to what is called "Legal Realism" - a judicial philosophy that says what is important is not what the framers of the Constitution intended, but "outcomes." . . . . . (Watch Video)

In February, President Barack Obama signed a $787 billion stimulus bill while making lavish promises about the results. He pledged that "a new wave of innovation, activity and construction will be unleashed all across America." He also said the stimulus would "save or create up to four million jobs." Vice President Joe Biden said the massive federal spending plan would "drop-kick" the economy out of the recession.

So why should we trust him with health care? In February, President Barack Obama signed a $787 billion stimulus bill while making lavish promises about the results. He pledged that "a new wave of innovation, activity and construction will be unleashed all across America." He also said the stimulus would "save or create up to four million jobs." Vice President Joe Biden said the massive federal spending plan would "drop-kick" the economy out of the recession. But the unemployment rate today is 9.5% -- nearly 20% higher than the Obama White House said it would be with the stimulus in...

Rove Deposed? READ Federalist 47! The Democrats continue to mutate the design of our Constitution, first by asking for more subpoena powers (S. 836) and now are acting as a law enforcement body. Federalist 47 specifically cites such moves as the “very definition of tyranny.” From Federalist 47:“One of the principal objections inculcated by the more respectable adversaries to the Constitution, is its supposed violation of the political maxim, that the legislative, executive, and judiciary departments ought to be separate and distinct. In the structure of the federal government, no regard, it is said, seems to have been paid to...

WASHINGTON - Former Bush White House official Karl Rove was questioned by House Judiciary Committee lawyers Tuesday on any role he may have played in politically motivated firings of U.S. attorneys.

Here is video in two parts of Karl Rove and Mike Huckabee on Fox News Sunday, July 5, 2009, reacting to Gov. Sarah Palin's Resignation as Alaska Governor. They were also joined by Alaska Lt. Gov. Parnell, who will become Governor when Palin leaves office on July 26. Rove believes Palin has hurt herself with the resignation, and Huckabee thinks it is a very risky move. Huckabee believes she has now opened herself to the attack that if she can't handle the political attacks as Governor and stick it out, how could she handle the Presidency? . . . ....