Free Republic

As I mentioned yesterday, the medical device tax that went into effect last January is just one of the many insidious job-killing measures contained within ObamaCare, but it is an especially terrible one. The 2.3 percent excise tax is meant to raise a handsome $30 billion to pay for ObamaCare over the next decade, except that, added bonus: It’s going to stifle innovation and competition in an industry that provides all manner of life-saving medical devices, from MRIs to pacemakers to blood tubes. And this hasn’t just been a Republican refrain, by the way. Thursday night, the Senate voted overwhelmingly...

The chairman of Ron Paul’s 2012 presidential campaign is refusing to answer questions about allegations the campaign paid for endorsements before the Iowa caucuses last year. Jesse Benton, a longtime Paul aide who is now campaign manager for Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell, has not replied to requests for comment after an audio recording surfaced whereby an Iowa state senator, Kent Sorenson, admitted he had received a $30,000 check from high-level Paul campaign official, accepting the money in exchange for switching his support from Michele Bachmann to Ron Paul. Sorenson also said that Benton was aware of the transaction

Station WHAS in Kentucky recorded Senator McConnel reciting RINO philosophy: If you thought it was a good idea for the federal government to go in this direction, I'd say the odds are still on your side, because it's a lot harder to undo something than it is to stop it in the first place. I imagine the Senator felt the temper and heat of American Conservatism, for within a few hours he crawfished out of that quagmire as best he could. In an interview with Breitbart, McConnel tried to wash away the stain of RINO contamination and capitulation. I have...

Conservatives believe Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) used a weekend trip to woo star GOP freshmen away from the Tea Party. McConnell took Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) and Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) on a high-powered weekend trip to Afghanistan and Pakistan that is being seen as a ploy by the leader to secure allies for forthcoming legislative battles. The visit gave the freshmen firsthand access to world leaders and Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, as well as plenty of quality time with their party leader in the Senate. The...

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has no comment on a passage in former President George W. Bush’s recently released book that led a local newspaper to criticize McConnell for excessive partisanship. In his new memoir, “Decision Points,” Bush writes that McConnell came to the Oval Office in September 2006, with the midterm elections fast approaching. McConnell told Bush that his unpopularity was going to cost the GOP control of Congress, the 43rd president writes in the book. When Bush asked for McConnell’s advice, the Kentucky senator told Bush he should withdraw some troops from Iraq, according to the memoir. “He...

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Sunday said Senate Republicans are reserving their right to filibuster the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. McConnell acknowledged on CBS’s "Face that Nation" his own past stance against filibustering judges, but he said Democrats paved the way for a possible Sotomayor filibuster by filibustering appeals court nominee Miguel Estrada during the Bush administration. “I have consistently opposed filibustering judges – did it during the Clinton years – but I lost that fight,” McConnell said. “The Senate will filibuster judges. That precedent was established – ironically enough – on a...

At a time when free speech issues are rife at the University of Louisville, a preeminent attorney specializing in First Amendment rights recently spoke on campus. On March 1, Floyd Abrams discussed some of the largest cases he has worked on as an attorney. Best known as co-counsel in the Pentagon Papers case, Abrams primarily discussed his latest role working with Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., prosecuting the McCain-Feingold bill that intends to reform campaign finance. According to Abrams, the bill disallows any group from running television advertisements that refer to political candidates within 60 days of an election, 30 days...