Free Republic

“The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. government can’t pay its own bills. ... I therefore intend to oppose the effort to increase America’s debt limit.” -- 3/16/2006 Floor speech in the Senate First, we learned that the federal budget deficit could reach nearly half a trillion dollars next year. Eight years after we had a record surplus, we’re now faced with record deficits. This mortgaging of our children’s future is a direct result of the Bush Administration’s dangerously failed fiscal...

I swear, you just can’t make this stuff up. Responding to a question at his town-hall meeting today that expressed frustration at the slow process in the debt-ceiling negotiations, Barack Obama put the blame on voters for the divided government. If Democrats had the town all to themselves, Obama says, he’d be able to spend more time this summer with his daughters: CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE VIDEO Say, didn’t Democrats have the town to themselves in 2010? Didn’t they have an opportunity to raise the debt ceiling at that time, and pass a budget for FY2011 as well? In...

Real Clear Politics Reports: "...[W]'re going to have a vote tomorrow. I'm not going to wait until Saturday. We're going to have a vote tomorrow. I feel confident that this legislation will be disposed of one way or the other...." Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) said on the Senate floor. Reid said he would allow debate of the bill that passed in the House earlier this week. A vote is scheduled for Friday. http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2011/07/21/harry_reid_cap_cap_and_balance_worst_piece_of_legislation_ever.html Sen. Jim DeMint has a list of 22 Democratic or Independant Senators who have expressed support for a balanced budget. These folks need to get A LOT...

At one point I thought it could be attributed to an unusual degree of cynicism, but now I wonder if it goes deeper than that. What I have in mind is President Obama’s obsession with portraying himself as our moral superior. Virtually every time he speaks these days, we are treated to another journey through what William Makepeace Thackeray aptly dubbed Vanity Fair. For example, if you listened to the president’s news conference today, a theme we are by now wearily familiar with was repeated with numbing repetition: Obama, according to Obama, is quite simply better, much better, than those...