Free Republic

Polls show bailout madness serious threat to GOP incumbents. BY DREW ZAHN Crowds have long protested Congress with rally cries of "Throw the bums out," and if recent polls tabulating tea party furor over government spending translate to votes in 2010, angry Americans may make good on their mantra. Polls released by Rasmussen Reports this week demonstrate that – at least within the Republican Party – sitting incumbents who vote for increased government, taxes and federal bailouts risk voter backlash in the next election. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., for example, is one of only three Republicans in Congress to vote...

AMERICANS ARE STUPID! (text) I’m coming around to the idea that the bulk of the American people are basically stupid, stupid, stupid! Why? How else can we explain how Congress, which has a 9% approval rating, gets reelected about 95% of the time? Do we ever “throw the bums out”? Listen to these stats:Senate: As of 2008, of 100 Senators, 39 (39%) reelected for 18 yrs or more, 4 over 40 years! House: As of 2008, of 435 members, 143 (33%) reelected for 14 yrs or more, 5 over 36 years! And the longer these guys are in office, the...

...other additions the Democrats are asking to the administration package, according to a draft of the plan ... -- Judges could rewrite mortgages to lower bankrupt homeowners' monthly payments.

FINAL ROLL CALL: 46-53. RINOS: Graham (R-SC), Gregg (R-NH), Hagel (R-NE), Kyl (R-AZ), Lott (R-MS), Lugar (R-IN), Martinez (R-FL),McCain (R-AZ), Snowe (R-ME), and Specter (R-PA). Hats off to the Dems who voted agains this crap: Bayh (D-IN), Bingaman (D-NM), Brown (D-OH), Byrd (D-WV), Dorgan (D-ND), Harkin (D-IA), Landrieu (D-LA), McCaskill (D-MO), Nelson (D-NE), Pryor (D-AR), Rockefeller (D-WV), Sanders (I-VT), Stabenow (D-MI), Tester (D-MT) and Webb (D-VA). It should be noted that the following Republicans switched their vote for “Yea” to “Na” from the bill earlier in the week. They include: Bennett (R-UT), Bond (R-MO), Brownback (R-KS), Burr (R-NC), Coleman (R-MN),...

The issue of illegal immigration has been a red-hot topic in my hometown community of Newport Beach/Costa Mesa, Orange County, Southern California. Sincere and heart-felt arguments have been made on both sides of the issue. However, many of those who write letters to the local paper in support of illegal immigration make it sound like Costa Mesa is the only place in the nation whose people favor the enforcement of our immigration laws. They suggest that those elected officials supporting these laws are just a small local band guilty of meanness, bigotry, and racism. Nothing could be further from the...

May 30, 2007 -- It may be possible to boost memory with a plant compound called epicatechin, which is found in foods and drinks including blueberries, grapes, tea, and cocoa. That's according to a study published in The Journal of Neuroscience. The researchers included Fred Gage, PhD, of the genetics lab at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, Calif. In a series of lab tests, Gage's team studied epicatechin, which is a type of antioxidant called a flavonol, in female mice. Some of the mice drank or ate water or chow laced with epicatechin and ran on...

The court-authorized search of the Congressional office of Representative William Jefferson by federal agents was as unprecedented in the 217-year history of Congress as it was alarming to lawmakers of both parties. Critics instantly suggested that Congressman Jefferson, the Louisiana Democrat suspected of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes, should have been spared the raid under some broad interpretation of the Constitution's separation of executive and legislative powers. Fuming lawmakers claim that the Constitution's Speech and Debate Clause — which protects a lawmaker from politically motivated criminal harassment in the course of official business — should extend to...

'Earthquake in Pennsylvania' By Brad Bumsted and Debra Erdley TRIBUNE-REVIEW Wednesday, May 17, 2006 Angry taxpayers on Tuesday tossed out the two Republican Senate leaders who helped engineer last year's legislative pay raise, an issue that apparently cost 13 House members their jobs, too.

Not long ago, Canada's Conservative Party looked to be irretrievably on the ropes. Today, the Conservative Leader, Stephen Harper, will become the country's next Prime Minister. How did this happen? Basically, Canadian voters got tired of the corruption, pork-barreling, and smugness of the entrenched Liberal Party. Meanwhile, here in the United States, it's the entrenched Republicans, who control all three branches of government, who are facing these problems. Corruption? We've got the Abramoff scandal. It may not amount to as much as Democrats hope, but it's not good, and there are probably more scandals waiting in the wings. (There always...

If JimRob, etc. approve this is the Live Thread for the Canadian General Election, on January 23rd, 2005. We have a while to go before the returns start coming in, but I thought the thread needed to get up and running.

House GOP leaders have decided to drop an Arctic oil drilling proposal from a budget bill.

The Senate voted yesterday against fulfilling its pledge from last year to hire 2,000 more Border Patrol agents and fund 8,000 new detention beds for illegal aliens in fiscal 2006, as some potential presidential candidates weighed in on border security and illegal immigration. [snip] Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, New York Democrat, who had made a splash recently with comments about cracking down on illegal immigration, voted against both amendments, as did Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, the 2004 Democratic nominee, and Democratic Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware, who has said he plans to run. Mrs. Clinton's office didn't...

Texas Freepers, It looks like we have one last chance to stop the payroll tax issue. It is time for a Texas Tax Revolt!!!! (Make a phone call. E-Mails will just fall by the wayside) As you have already heard in the news, the State Senate's version has a payroll tax in it. And unlike the House version, which makes the payroll tax "optional (we all know that just opens the door to make is full time), the Senate version looks to be mandated. The following e-mail was sent to me, and it reminded me of something that every Texan...

Tony Snow just finished an interview with Trent Lott. Senator Lott wanted to respond to an article in Roll Call to the effect that he had crafted a deal to dump certain judges to guarantee others an up-or-down vote on the Senate floor. According to an account (I didn't hear the interview), Lott called the report "exaggerated," adding that he has worked with Ben Nelson "from time to time" on a deal, but that the proposed deal "isn't much of a deal at all." Lott also stated that he won't accept criticism from Republicans for working with Democratic senators because...

"What kind of democracy is that?" Mr. Schwarzenegger asked in his State of the State address. He noted that the current system allows special interests to dominate low-turnout party primaries, which thus favor rigidly ideological candidates in both parties. He vowed to repair this "rigged" system even though many incumbents in his own party don't want to put their own seats at risk. ... In tackling redistricting, Mr. Schwarzenegger faces a daunting political challenge. Five times in the past, voters have rejected redistricting reform, including similar commissions. Former Assembly Speaker Willie Brown boasted in the 1980s about his ability to...

<p>Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee fiercely denounced staffers in their own party yesterday for secretly accessing computer files of their Democratic colleagues.</p> <p>Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican and member of the Judiciary Committee, said that acquiring the Democratic memos was "an unethical or illegal wrong."</p>

<p>Hundreds of people angered by the repeal of a law allowing undocumented immigrants to apply for driver's licenses took to the streets of cities around the state Friday to kick off a daylong boycott.</p> <p>The protest came in response to the Legislature's action last week and as part of an effort to highlight the economic contribution of California's Hispanic community, the nation's largest. The protest was planned to coincide with the feast of the Virgin of Guadalupe.</p>