Free Republic

POLITICO’s Andy Barr reported earlier that Meg Stapleton, spokesperson and top adviser to Sarah Palin resigned to spend more time with family. Now CNN’s Peter Hamby follows up on the news and writes how not only did McCain campaign staffers and Palin insiders grumble about Stapleton’s handling of Palin, but also journalists. Members of the political press corps have also long been frustrated with Stapleton, who was the primary conduit between Palin and members of the media since the end of the 2008 presidential race, but rarely responded to phone calls or e-mails. When Stapleton did, they were often terse...

Scott Brown says he's a different kind of Republican, a centrist willing to work with Senate Democrats to fix health care and the ailing economy. But his independent bent is likely to be sorely tested in a bitterly divided Senate where party loyalty is often at a premium. "If he wants to have a future in Massachusetts politics, Brown has to live up to being a New England Republican - fiscally conservative, socially moderate, independent-minded," said Dante Scala, a University of New Hampshire political science professor. "Is Obama going to try to craft some room for himself in the center?"...

The Boston Phoenix revealed a disturbing piece of information about the 2004 special election which sent GOP'er Scott Brown to the Massachusetts legislature. The article is about the conscience clause debate in the state, which embroiled not only Mr. Brown but also his daughters. After attacking Mr. Brown for introducing a bill with a conscience clause amendment as pay back to the Catholic Church for backing him in his 2004 election, the Phoenix gives a piece of information from an unnamed Democratic source about how dirty the 2004 special election for the state Senate appears to have been.(bolding is mine)...

People in Massachusetts are understandably frustrated. Next week's special election comes in the midst of a too-long Senate debate on health care, showcasing much of what is offensive about the rules of the Senate. The fact that a final bill hasn't even emerged has left many people ready to toss away the whole thing. Stir in the anxiety that comes with a still-faltering economy, and voters are angry.

C-SPAN CEO Brian Lamb accused President Obama of using his network as a "political football" during the presidential campaign, citing the president's broken pledge to televise health care reform negotiations on the nonpartisan channel which is devoted to covering Washington. Lamb, speaking on liberal host Bill Press' radio show Wednesday, said Obama had "no right" to assume C-SPAN would cover the talks in the first place. And while he said his network would naturally want to cover the negotiations in full anyway, Lamb expressed disappointment that the White House has not lived up to that commitment. He said the "only...

Since ACORN’s crass corruption came into sharp focus a few weeks ago, Andrew Breitbart has not only been part and parcel of cracking ACORN’s nuts, but he has also been pointing out the ludicrous lack of reporting on ACORN’s asininities by what used to be the mainstream media. Breitbart, via the ACORN controversy, has shown the “mainstream” to be everything but conventional and more akin to an irrelevant, unwatched drip of ideological flotsam that’s entirely in the septic tank for the lunatic left. The Daily Show’s John Stewart—hardly a right-winger—also pointed out this willful ACORN media blindness this past month,...

I will clearly appeal this mockery of justice. Judge Land was totally dishonest and misstated and misrepresented 99% of what was written in the pleadings and what transpired during the hearings. He broke and violated each and every rule in the book: his own local rules, clear precedents, rule of law and Constitution in order to appease this Kenyan dictator and his regime. Will the Circuit Court of Appeals be less corrupt, remains to be seen. We have seen total dereliction of duties by so many in the Federal government, nothing will surprise me.

Obama cites new data in making case for health care overhaul, pushes plan at Minneapolis rally

Intensity matters in politics and, at times, is more important than approval. It may be, and the ratings certainly suggested this was the case, that the television viewing public preferred Jay Leno to David Letterman when choosing which late-night talk show to watch. From a political standpoint, however, it would do a candidate for elective office little good at the polls to announce he was a "Leno person" or to denounce Letterman. Preference in late-night talk show hosts is simply not an issue on which people vote. On the other hand there are issues which, while they matter little to...