Free Republic

Polls closed in Connecticut at 8 p.m. as voters cast ballots in the state's primary elections Tuesday. The Associated Press delcared Linda McMahon the winner of the GOP Senate race over Chris Shays about 40 minutes after the polls closed. Elections officials said turnout appears to be on track to hit 25 percent to 30 percent as Republicans and Democrats picked their candidates for the November general election. Hotly contested races for the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives dominate Tuesday's ballots. Many polling places saw a slow stream of voters. Secretary of the State's office spokesman Av Harris said...

Christopher Shays of Connecticut found it puzzling: over time, his friend Attorney General Richard Blumenthal kept revising how he talked about his military service during the Vietnam War. Mr. Shays, a conscientious objector who avoided the Vietnam War, has his own theory about Mr. Blumenthal’s evolving descriptions of his service: “I think that it was a way that he quickly bonded with people I am sure he admired and respected.” When Paul Kingman, a Navy veteran who lost feeling in his feet after chemotherapy, called Mr. Blumenthal’s office in 2007, he was trying to get a hearing for disability payments...

May 18, 2010 Colleague Says Blumenthal Claims Grew Gradually By MICHAEL BARBARO and DAVID M. HALBFINGER Former Representative Christopher Shays of Connecticut found it puzzling: over time, his friend Attorney General Richard Blumenthal kept revising how he talked about his military service during the Vietnam War. At first, in the 1980s, he was humble. He played it down, Mr. Shays recalled, characterizing it as humdrum desk work. Over the last few years, however, more sweeping claims crept into Mr. Blumenthal’s descriptions, he said: that Mr. Blumenthal had served in Vietnam and had felt the sting of an ungrateful nation as...

Define R.I.N.O.: A Republican In Name Only. Examples of the type of Republican covered under this definition are: Rep. Mark Kirk [R-IL] Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen [R-FL] Rep. Michael Ferguson [R-NJ] Rep. Christopher Shays [R-CT] Rep. Michael Castle [R-DE] These five supposed Republican are nothing more than jackasses in elephant's clothing. Rep. Mark Kirk has introduced a bill, H.R. 6257: Assault Weapons Ban Reauthorization Act of 2008, which would "reinstate the Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act."

Hartford - Locked in a tough re-election campaign in a district that overwhelmingly supports Barack Obama, Connecticut Rep. Christopher Shays has joined some fellow Republicans in publicly voicing frustration with John McCain's presidential campaign. Shays told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the Republican nominee's campaign has gone too negative against Obama, and has muted his message of being an independent thinker with the best ideas and experience needed to solve the nation's problems. Several other notable Republicans, including former Secretary of State Colin Powell, have made statements similar to Shays' comments in recent weeks. Some prominent Republicans, including former...

HARTFORD, Conn. - Locked in a tough re-election campaign in a district that overwhelmingly supports Barack Obama, Connecticut Rep. Christopher Shays has joined some fellow Republicans in publicly voicing frustration with John McCain's presidential campaign. Shays told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the Republican nominee's campaign has gone too negative against Obama, and has muted his message of being an independent thinker with the best ideas and experience needed to solve the nation's problems. With the tone of the campaign and Obama's lead in the polls, McCain will have a difficult time winning the presidency, Shays said, although he...

During the, "Turmoil in the Financial Markets, Panel 1, hearings on AIG," Rep Chris Shays followed up his comments yesterday about Democrats refusal to investigate Fannie and Freddie, calling them the, "Toxic Twins," which should be the center of the investigation, not an afterthought. "We can't wait until Halloween to investigate these two failed monsters," he said. He also goes into detail on the accounting fraud and money Raines made while CEO. Link is C-SPAN video of Shays' remarks.

Yesterday during a meeting of the House Committee Oversight and Government Reform, Review of Lehman Brothers Finances, Panel 1, Congressman Christopher Shays blasted Congress for their role in the Financial meltdown and blasted Waxman and the Democrats for not investigating Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the role they played in starting the Crisis. He then lists all the Republican attempts to reform FM/FM that were blocked by Democrats. Skip ahead to 2:09 (near the end) to hear his remarks

WASHINGTON — - A Connecticut congressman took his turn Wednesday in an unusual piece of political guerrilla theater taking place on one of the most prominent stages in the country: the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives. Rep. Chris Shays, the lone New England Republican in the House, stood in the chamber of the recessed Congress — where the lights are low and microphones are off until the session resumes in September — and demanded that the Democratic majority come back to the Capitol and allow a debate on energy policy. More specifically, Shays and several other Republicans who...

Why Bush really demoted Richard Clarke by Jack Cashill This is the fourth in a six-part series detailing the risks to American national security if Barack Obama (or Hillary Clinton) should ever choose to let Richard Clarke back into government. Clarke is currently one of Obama’s top national security advisors. “When George Bush came into office, though he kept Clarke on at the White House, he stripped him of his cabinet level rank.” So lamented Leslie Stahl during the March 2004 60 Minutes profile that would make Richard Clarke ace crowd surfer in the intellectual mosh pit of the anti-war...

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays is in line to be chairman of a big House committee. But, he said yesterday, if his turn comes and he's denied that chance -- he's leaving Congress. "I'm 61 years old; I've been in Congress 20 years," he said, talking quickly and emotionally during a brief interview. "If I have to fight to become chairman of a committee, given the job I've done, I need to move on." ..... Shays said if it is clear that he won't get one of these top posts, he either won't run for Congress in 2008 or,...

On Thursday afternoon, Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.) got into a loud, angry dispute with a U.S. Capitol Police officer at the security checkpoint inside the entrance of the West Side of the Capitol. On Friday, Shays, a veteran lawmaker, offered a public apology for the incident, and said that he wants to meet with the officer personally to reiterate how sorry he is. Shays reportedly grabbed the officer during the dispute over whether the officer should allow a group of tourists to enter the building, said several sources. Tourists are not allowed to use the West Front entrance, but Shays...

WASHINGTON - The rancorous debate over disgraced ex-Rep. Mark Foley hit a new low yesterday when a GOP congressman said indiscretions with a male page were nothing compared to Sen. Ted Kennedy's Chappaquiddick incident. Rep. Chris Shays (R-Conn.) was trying to defend GOP House Speaker Dennis Hastert when he took aim at the Massachusetts Democrat. "I know the speaker didn't go over a bridge and leave a young person in the water, and then have a press conference the next day," Shays told The Hartford Courant. "Dennis Hastert didn't kill anybody," he added. Kennedy was driving on the exclusive island...

Rep. Chris Shays, a Republican facing a tough challenge from an anti-war Democrat, on Wednesday called for Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld to resign. The Connecticut lawmaker also accused officials at the Defense Department of withholding information about the Iraq war from Congress. "I am losing faith in how we are fighting this war," Shays, a longtime supporter of the conflict, said in an interview. "I believe we have to motivate the Iraqis to do more." Shays said defense officials stopped cooperating with his congressional subcommittee after he proposed setting a timeline for troop withdrawals. Shays, who had previously opposed...

An Advocate/Greenwich Time poll shows incumbent U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Bridgeport, has a 4 percent lead over Democratic challenger Diane Farrell among likely voters in the hotly contested 4th Congressional District race. The poll, conducted by the University of Connecticut's Center for Survey Research and Analysis, shows 44 percent of likely voters support Shays while 40 percent support Farrell. Sixteen percent of likely voters polled in the 17 municipalities that comprise lower Fairfield County's 4th district said they remain undecided.

Zoologist Darren Naish has written a thoughtful essay on “Are Sumatran Rhinos Really Living Fossil?” His blog is in response to my comments on the “living fossil” issue, discussed here. I disagree with Naish’s restrictive parameters, of course, as I see this more an issue of educational semantics influenced by zoology, not ruled by it. Darren Naish’s approach is worthy of your attention and he has every right to his very informed point of view. Needless to say, in this case, I was employing the “living fossil” definition that this rhino species is “a living species/clade with many ‘primitive’ characteristics...

The Talk Shows Sunday, September 3rd, 2006 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows: FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C., and Arlen Specter, R-Pa.; Washington Redskins coach Joe Gibbs.MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., and his Democratic challenger, state treasurer Robert Casey. FACE THE NATION (CBS): Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean; Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. THIS WEEK (ABC): Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del.; Sen. Lincoln Chafee, R-R.I., and his primary challenger, Cranston Mayor Stephen Laffey; actress and animal rights activist Bo Derek. LATE EDITION (CNN) : Rep. Christopher Shays,...

Preview and Analysis of the Weekend Talk Shows for 9/2 and 9/3/06It's Labor Day weekend!  The press can now concentrate (without feeling silly) on the Fall elections.  Who cares if there's actual news that might affect the future of human existence, let alone the fortunes of the United States and all Americans?  They get to report on the horse race!Meet The Press starts off the Sunday shows in my area, so I'll talk about them first.  Lil' Timmah is back and he's got a signature MTP event - live debates.  He'll get to sit upright to ask questions of Casey...

NORWALK — U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays says he has built a 19-year career in Congress finding bipartisan solutions. But with conservatives at the helm of the Republican majority and Democrats closing ranks in their bid to wrest control of the House of Representatives, what is a moderate Republican to do?Earlier this summer, Shays, R-4, said he resorted to threatening his party's leadership as he sought to bring expanded federal funding for stem cell research to a vote. "Basically, we said that if they didn't provide a vote, then they were going to have trouble getting other legislation passed," said Shays,...

WASHINGTON — Since U.S. forces attacked in 2003, Rep. Christopher Shays, a moderate Republican from Connecticut's liberal 4th District, has been a stalwart defender of the Iraq war. "I've been carrying the bucket when it comes to the war," Shays said in September. But facing an antiwar Democratic opponent in a tough midterm election race, Shays is starting to express reservations. In a telephone interview Friday after he returned from his 14th trip to Iraq, Shays said that he believed the U.S. should consider setting a timetable for the withdrawal of its troops, and that he planned to hold congressional...