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On his radio program this afternoon, Rush Limbaugh said that Christie's endorsment of Romney is proof that the GOP establishment is "desperate" for Romney to be the Republican nominee. "They're doing everything they can to make sure -- you know, Bachmann, Santorum, they're not in the top tier now, but they want to make sure they stay there." Limbaugh said, "Perry is the only genuine conservative threat to Romney, and this is an effort to take him out." Limbaugh added that "the thinking" on Herman Cain is that he does not have enough organization or money to compete with Romney....

"There is simply no way that Republicans will nominate the man who passed Obamacare's prototype," a veteran Republican political operative told me earlier this year. But that's exactly what the Republican Party looks likely to do -- nominate former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. This seemed impossible a few months ago because of the similarities between Obama's health care law and Romney's health care law in Massachusetts. Obamacare was the catalyst for the GOP electoral victory in 2010. The law's individual mandate was the prime offense motivating the conservative base. Legal challenges to the mandate became flash points, and the mandate's...

DENVER (AP) - Republican and Democratic lawmakers are challenging Colorado's strict and tax & spending limits in federal court. The Denver Post reported that the suit would be filed Monday. Among those challenging the Taxpayers Bill of Rights - or TABOR - are Democratic Rep. Andy Kerr of Lakewood and former Republican state Sen. Norma Anderson. TABOR requires lawmakers to ask voters to raise taxes. It also limits the amount of tax revenue the state can keep and spend. The suit alleges that it violates the U.S. Constitution's guarantee of a small-R "republican" government where elected representatives make decisions on...

Mitt Romney, speaking in New Hampshire on Saturday night for the first time since the midterms, plans a direct attack on President Barack Obama and what Romney has been calling “the Obama Misery Index.” Romney, in the unofficial kickoff of his Granite State campaign, will be keynoting the Carroll County Republican Lincoln-Reagan Day Dinner. “Senator Obama campaigned hard in New Hampshire but he apparently didn’t like what he saw,” Romney says in prepared remarks. “He certainly didn’t learn from it. Instead of lowering taxes, he raised them. He wrapped businesses in red tape, he grew government, he borrowed trillions of...

Now that the House Democrats have rammed ObamaCare down the throats of the nation by a vote of 219-212, the situation is indeed bleak. But Conservatives and Tea Partiers despondent over the fact that liberal Democrats just passed a massive encroachment on our liberties over their massive protests should take hope. James Madison saw this coming, and his forethought will give opponents of ObamaCare one last shot at killing it. In Federalist #10, Madison wrote "Enlightened statesmen will not always be at the helm." (Boy, did he ever get THAT right.) Knowing that the nation's future leaders would include usurpers...

With House Democrats’ arms in slings and careers in tatters, the House voted to pass Obamacare last night by a vote of 219-212. The only bipartisanship involved was the vote against the bill, with 34 Democrats siding with Republicans. The Senate-passed health care bill now moves directly to the White House where President Obama will sign it into law . This bill still includes the Cornhusker Kickback, the Louisiana Purchase, Gator Aid, $500 billion in tax hikes and nearly that amount in cuts to Medicare -- all of the elements originally passed by the Senate. As soon as Obama’s signature...

The U.S. Senate voted Wednesday to extend a host of soon-to-expire elements of last year's economic stimulus measure, including help for the jobless and money to help financially strapped states pay for health care for the poor. The 62-36 vote came over protests from conservatives who say the bill adds too much to the $12.5 trillion national debt. Six Republicans joined all but one Democrat in voting for the bill. The plight of the jobless and the political power of an annual package of tax breaks powered the measure through the Senate, even though it would add more than $130...

WASHINGTON — The effort to end a Senate standoff over unemployment benefits and health coverage for the jobless escalated on Tuesday morning as Senator Susan Collins, the moderate Republican from Maine, became the latest lawmaker, and the first Republican, to try to override the objection of Senator Jim Bunning, Republican of Kentucky. The White House, meanwhile, called Mr. Bunning’s actions “irrational.” Ms. Collins, who took the floor shortly after the Senate convened, said her effort was being made on “behalf of numerous members of the Republican caucus who have expressed concerns to me.” “There are 500 Mainers whose benefits expired...

Washington White House spokesman Robert Gibbs on Tuesday stepped up the war of words that the Obama administration has been directing at Sen. Jim Bunning (R) of Kentucky, saying at a morning meeting with reporters, “I don’t know how you negotiate with the irrational.” Since this past Thursday, Senator Bunning, who is not running for reelection, has been blocking an extension of unemployment and health benefits for jobless workers. He did it again Tuesday morning, objecting to a request by fellow a Republican, Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, to extend the expired benefits for 30 days. Mr. Gibbs has acknowledged...

The title of Mitt Romney's new book, "No Apology: The Case for American Greatness," is a not-so-subtle jab at the visits President Obama made overseas when he first took office, derided by the Right as the "American Apology Tour." Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has published a new book, "No Apology: the Case for American... Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has published a new book, "No Apology: the Case for American Greatness," which sets the stage for a second presidential run in 2012. He is shown here as he addresses a forum of the Foreign Policy Initiative at the W...

Many members of the GOP missed the bigger significance of last week's Obama health care summit. In a manner unique in American history, a president claimed the authority to chair Congress, dictating items of legislation and belittling the democratic opposition. America separated from that system over two hundred years ago as tea plunged into Boston harbor. That's not the way things are done in America. President Obama must be restrained, or the beleaguered Constitution will be reduced to mere tissue paper. President Obama exceeds his constitutional authority on a near-weekly basis. Just two weeks ago, President Obama made the chilling...

The old axiom, "Consider the source," is as important today as it ever was. It's far more important, actually. Because with the prominence of conglomerate corporations, front groups, and shadowy funding sources, it is often nearly impossible to take anything or anyone at face value. Uncovering the genuine source of a public person's opinions, whether in politics, media or business, has become an enterprise for conscientious sleuthing. It simply isn't something most working people have time to do. While most conservatives with a bent towards curiosity are pretty up to speed on the vast shadow influence which George Soros has...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is facing a new conundrum as the swell of voices calling for the removal of House Ways & Means Chairman Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) begins to build. Sources on the Hill tell HUMAN EVENTS that the latest problem involves the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) and their objection to Rangel’s ouster as the first member of their caucus to hold the chairmanship of the very powerful tax writing committee. To complicate matters, one source says the CBC is pressuring Pelosi to give the slot to another CBC member, Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.). The main problem with that...

After seven long hours at Blair House, the only thing clear is that a government system of healthcare costs about 14% more than a private system. Democrats made it clear yesterday that they are going to stick with their highly-unpopular “comprehensive” approach and attempt to shove through the government takeover of health care using reconciliation. The over seven and a half hour staged press event was designed to provide political cover in the form of an appearance of outreach to Republicans. A resolution of issues was never intended. I spoke with Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.), top Republican on the House...

Obama exaggerated. Boehner lied. Reid was incorrect. Ryan is wrong. An army of partisan fact checkers bombarded the media through seven hours of the health care summit with such deep thoughts — replete with cherry-picked data — confirming the adage that there’s lies, damn lies and statistics. Some of the jabs were dead on, but some were merely meant to back up partisan talking points. Still, there were plenty of factually challenged statements. With a nod to Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley’s statement that the Congressional Budget Office is “God” in his book — the media deify CBO figures as...

Tomorrow, for the 37th time, conservatives will gather in Washington to discuss, debate, and forge new solutions at the Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC. For those who may be tempted to despair about the state of the limited government, pro-market and pro-family movement, a little history is in order. In 1975, then-Governor Ronald Reagan inspired a dispirited conservative movement to revolution at CPAC. In a message that resonates to this day, President Reagan proclaimed, “Our people look for a cause to believe in,” and then asked: “Is it a third party we need, or is it a new and...

One year ago today President Obama signed into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the Democrats’ $1.3 trillion so-called “stimulus” bill. In conjunction with signing, the White House released detailed projections -- broken down by State and Congressional district -- of all the new jobs this massive spending bill would create (or save). By the administration’s own standards, the “stimulus” spending orgy has failed miserably. House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) gave his own assessment. “Over the last year, as job losses have continued to mount, the Obama Administration has doubled down on discredited ‘stimulus’ spin,” Boehner said. “The...

Boxoffice is arguably more straightforward to report than TV ratings. You have this weekly Top 10 list of returns, you compare each movie to the other movies. TV ratings are a murky swamp where one network's hit is another network's flop and context is not just a factor, but often the entire story. Yet one respect in which boxoffice reporting is pretty odd -- emphasizing ticket grosses yet rarely mentioning ticket sales. That would be like always reporting how many ad dollars sold off "Lost" and not mentioning the number of viewers that actually watched the show. With everybody reporting...

Centrist Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) on Saturday urged President Barack Obama to call for a freeze in discretionary spending in his State of the Union address next week. Bayh's comments come as Congress and the White House are grappling with ways to bring down the record federal budget deficit. "The president could say in his State of the Union address, I'm going to include in my budget a freeze on discretionary spending, I'm drawing a line in the sand, and I'm going to use my veto pen to enforce that," Bayh said on Bloomberg's "Political Capital." Pressed by host Al...

Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd said today that Democrats may need to take more than a month off from the health care debate to regroup, saying it is up to President Obama to lead the way. Dodd is the first congressional Democratic leader to suggest such an extended break, signaling that Democrats’ may be much further from a workable endgame strategy than they have suggested in the days since Republican Scott Brown won the Massachusetts Senate seat and ended the Democrats’ 60-vote majority. The comments are sure to raise questions about whether Democrats are giving up on reform. A month-long break...