Free Republic

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Monday endorsed former Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman Tom Perez in his bid for Maryland governor, calling him the candidate with “the best opportunity to flip the state” blue in 2022. “Maryland has an opportunity to flip from red to blue and the most qualified person to do just that is my friend Tom Perez,” Pelosi said in a video announcing the endorsement. “Please join me in supporting him as our next governor of Maryland.” In the video, Pelosi touted Perez’s work on voting and civil rights issues during his time leading the Justice...

The House gave the final stamp of approval Wednesday to a sweeping tax reform package, handing President Trump his first major legislative victory and most Americans a tax cut starting next year. In a 224-201 vote, Congress sent the $1.5 trillion package to Trump’s desk. The biggest rewrite of the federal tax code since the Reagan administration will usher in steep rate cuts for American companies, double the deduction millions of families claim on their annual returns and make a host of other changes taking effect in a matter of weeks.

With this announcement representative Paul Ryan is openly announcing his intention to destroy the conservative elements within the republican party. And yet again, its doubtful anyone will try to stop him. The president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Tom Donohue, recently announced his intentions to eliminate opposition to their progressive big government positions and destroy fiscal conservatives (Tea Party). Tom Donohue demands: ♦ approval of the TPP trade deal, ♦ continuation of ObamaCare, ♦ comprehensive immigration reform to include amnesty, and ♦ federal education Common Core education standards. Previously we explained how deep the tentacles of the CoC reach...

Experienced negotiators, and poker players, always look for the opponent’s “tell” -- that one little blink or tic that helps them see through the opponent’s deception to reveal what the opponent is really thinking or what cards he really holds. For those Republicans who thought Obama was actually serious about avoiding the government’s “fiscal cliff,” he just blinked and revealed his cards – and they show a hand that Democrats have held before and know how to play to entice Republicans into making a sucker bet. What Obama said to reveal his hand was that Congress should pass his tax...

Newt 27% Mitt 25% Paul 7% Bachmann 6% Perry 5% Santorum 4% Huntsman 2%

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia is leading former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in the Republican presidential race by 20 points—41 percent to 21 percent--among self-professed conservatives, according to a new Gallup poll released Thursday. By contrast, Romney is leading Gingrich by 10 points—27 percent to 17 percent—among self-professed liberals and moderates in the poll. The poll, conducted Dec. 5-11, surveyed 1,665 Republicans and Republican-leaning independents who are registered voters. Among all poll respondents, Gingrich led Romney 33 percent to 23 percent, with Rep. Ron Paul of Texas at 9 percent, Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota at 6 percent,...

GOP presidential contender Mitt Romney’s decision to campaign negatively in Iowa appears to have backfired, with a new Newsmax-InsiderAdvantage poll showing the former Massachusetts governor plummeting to fourth place in the Hawkeye State -- a swift decline that pollster Matt Towery describes as “imploding.” Romney’s lead in New Hampshire is evaporating as well, Towery adds. The InsiderAdvantage survey of 517 registered likely Iowa caucus-goers shows former House Speaker Newt Gingrich the leading choice of 27 percent of Iowa Republicans. He is followed by Texas Rep. Ron Paul at 17 percent, Texas Gov. Rick Perry at 13 percent, Romney at 12...

Newt Gingrich is having an impressive national polling surge. His chances of grabbing the GOP presidential nomination have spiked up to over 30 percent at Intrade this week, and the media is full of stories about whether it’s time to start taking him seriously. Here’s my advice: don’t. None of the recent polling means he’s going to win the Republican nomination, nor does it even mean that he’s going to have a serious shot at it. Newt is still the same wildly unelectable candidate he was five minutes ago, and the polls that say otherwise are no better indicator of...

The folks at Club for Growth has white papers on all the GOP candidates summarizing their public records and does a pretty objective job. Looking at Newt's I really was struck by how conservative Newt's actual voting record was (which of course was mischaracterized by Jennifer Rubin, who I think must have been offered a post in a Romney administration. How else do you explain her going full spittle in support of Romney and anti-Newt?)., with most of the worrisome aspects of his record coming from speeches AFTER he left public office. This is pretty much the exact opposite of...

...Since Gingrich had taken control in January 1995, Republicans in the House had held together. Focused on fulfilling the Contract with America, they passed a flurry of legislation, which kept them occupied — and their divisions concealed — for the first two years. By July 1997, however, the contract was finished, and conservatives, particularly those elected in the Revolution of ’94, were growing frustrated with Gingrich’s leadership. The speaker was disorganized. “He knew nothing about running meetings and nothing about driving an agenda,” DeLay writes in his memoir, No Retreat, No Surrender. He was erratic. “On Monday, we would say...

Multiple media outlets are reporting that University of Colorado football coach Dan Hawkins will be fired today. Hawkins has been on the hot seat since last year. The cries for his ouster grew louder following the biggest collapse in school history Saturday when the Buffaloes blew a 28-point lead at Kansas with less than 12 minutes left and lost 52-45.

Gibbs: By next Sunday, healthcare reform will be 'law of the land' By Walter Alarkon - 03/14/10 09:59 AM ET White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said the healthcare bill will pass by next weekend. "We'll have the votes when the House votes, I think, within the next week," Gibbs said on "Fox News Sunday." Gibbs added that those on next week's Sunday talk shows "will be talking about healthcare not as a presidential proposal but I think as the law of the land." President Barack Obama will look to campaign on the new healthcare law in midterm elections, Gibbs...

WASHINGTON -- A major new national opinion survey of 1,608 American voters released this week shows that only 42 percent would support the U.S. invasion of Iran to stop its nuclear program. Nearly half -- 47 percent -- of U.S. voters would oppose such a move and 11 percent are unsure. The survey was conducted by the Washington-based Opinion Research Corporation for the nonprofit and nonpartisan Results For America, which is a project of the Civil Society Institute. The survey comes amid media reports that the United States was contemplating military actions against Iran's nuclear sites. President George Bush told...

On July 2, I wed my lovely bride, hellinahandcart. Please celebrate with us.

About an hour ago I saw a motorcade of 4 buses, and about 100 police in cars and on motorcycles, driving fast east on Braddock Road in Fairfax Virginia just west of Washington DC. The police all had their flashers on and it was quite a spectacular site. Does anybody know what is going on? I live her and have never seen anything quite like this, even in DC where I work sometimes.