Free Republic

Awful. That’s the best one can say about the November employment report. The headline — that unemployment jumped to 9.8 percent — is not really the bad news. If and when the economy does catch fire, droves of discouraged workers will flood back into the labor market and the rate will easily exceed 10 percent. So a rising unemployment rate is not really the main concern. No, the main concern is that there were only 50,000 private-sector jobs created, not nearly enough to make a dent in the employment woes. And that was the bright spot. For blue-collar workers —...

This latest poll shows more slippage in public opinion on Obama and health reform. This revealing map shows that the Democrat leadership is largely out of touch with the plain folks who their Blue Dog brethren must listen to. Disaster is about to strike the Democrat Party, and it's gonna be a lot of fun to watch.

Because of my many years as a conservative in elected office, I have been asked by others, "how did we get in this mess we are in?" The great author Robert Louis Stevenson wisely said, "Sooner or later in life, we all sit down to a banquet of consequences." That's what's happening now, we're at the banquet. Here is a brief synopsis of how it happened. Many Americans believe that the core religious values, which founded and sustained this nation, have not only been sadly neglected but also forgotten. In so doing, the public is finding out what political ignorance...

Hillary Clinton has drawn a sharp rebuke from the left after giving a speech urging Democratic Party solidarity - a move seen by many as a sell-out of the party's liberal wing. The senator from New York unexpectedly found herself under attack for her speech at the centrist Democratic Leadership Council's annual convention in Columbus, Ohio, in which she called for a truce among the party's quarreling factions, and for accepting the leadership of a DLC-sponsored effort to develop a new policy agenda for the party. "The reaction highlighted the dilemma Democratic politicians face trying to satisfy energized activists on...

AUSTIN - The Texas Democratic Party won't buy its Austin headquarters building anytime soon, after spending the allotted $250,000 on political campaigns and other expenses. The money was set aside in 2003 to buy the building the party now rents. Chairman Charles Soechting said he made a "command decision" to tap the funds for legislative campaigns, a bus tour of the Rio Grande Valley, modernized voting records, staff pay raises and furniture. The money was left to the party by Martha Hughes, of Dallas, who died at 91 in 1999. The party's former finance vice chairman, Hilbert Ocanas, of San...

Rep. Paul Ryan (R.-Wis.) was asked at a CATO conference in Washington yesterday whether he had persuaded any Democrats to back his plan to rescue Social Security from its financial troubles. Under his legislation (HR 4851), no new taxes would be needed to pay for "transition costs," participation in the new system would be voluntary and individuals would be allowed to divert a portion of their payroll tax into a mutual fund. A questioner from the audience, stressing his own Democratic credentials, said he believed Ryan's plan should attract members of his own party and wondered whether the Wisconsin lawmaker...

Rep. Paul Ryan (R.-Wis.) was asked at a CATO conference in Washington yesterday whether he had persuaded any Democrats to back his plan to rescue Social Security from its financial troubles. Under his legislation (HR 4851), no new taxes would be needed to pay for "transition costs," participation in the new system would be voluntary and individuals would be allowed to divert a portion of their payroll tax into a mutual fund. A questioner from the audience, stressing his own Democratic credentials, said he believed Ryan's plan should attract members of his own party and wondered whether the Wisconsin lawmaker...

Conservatives hope to win another key election next week — when House Democrats meet on Thursday to pick a replacement for retiring minority leader Dick Gephardt. That's because Nancy Pelosi of California is putting her name forward as Gephardt's successor. She's currently the Democratic whip, which is her party's second-ranking post in the House. She's also an anti-New Democrat leftist who is about as deeply out of touch with ordinary Americans as any member of her party. Best of all, it looks like she's going to win.But first, a word about Dick Gephardt: He will not realize his dream...