Free Republic

Back in July 2003, President Bush, in response to a question about stepped up attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq, famously and defiantly declared, “Bring ‘em on!” Oh, how that tune has changed. Defense Secretary Robert Gates - using the old tactic of releasing controversial news just before the weekend in the hope of minimizing press coverage - announced Friday afternoon that “he will advise President Bush to replace Marine Corps Gen. Peter Pace as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (this fall), fearing that a contentious renomination hearing in the Senate would focus too heavily on six years...

Democratic former U.S. Rep. Nick Lampson filed papers with the Federal Election Commission Tuesday to challenge House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land, in next year's election. He has scheduled a Washington fund-raiser Thursday, turning an unrelated trip into a campaign kickoff. "It truly got ahead of me," said Lampson, of Beaumont. "I wasn't ready for it to break in the way it broke. But I certainly feel like I'm the one that is far and away prepared to move forward." Sugar Land lawyer Richard Morrison, a Democrat who lost to DeLay in November, said Monday he wouldn't try for...