Free Republic

On the May 16 "Media Mash" segment for Fox News Channel's Hannity program, NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell hit the nail on the head, predicting that the media would quickly shift into the "Move On!" mode as they would start attacking Republicans as scandal-obsessed. Sure enough, a week later when the Media Research Center president returned for another Mash segment [watch the video embed below the page break], he had plenty of fresh material from the networks to illustrate how the liberal media are doing precisely that. After watching a montage of journalists complaining that Republicans may be guilty of "overreach"...

Dems accuse GOP of 'making up scandals out of thin air' By Cameron Joseph - 05/24/13 12:05 PM ET The Democratic National Committee is accusing the GOP of "making up so-called 'scandals' out of thin air." In an email to supporters, DNC Spokesman Brad Woodhouse writes that Republicans' accusations of scandal aren't legitimate — a claim that's sure to draw howls from the right. "Getting in President Obama's way has been the top priority for Republicans in Congress since day one. But now they've gone too far. They've been caught red-handed making up so-called 'scandals' out of thin air to...

A long-simmering feud between establishment Republicans and Tea Partyers broke into full view Thursday, with Sen. John McCain accusing younger colleagues of overplaying their hands and tempting Democrats to change Senate rules that protect the minority party. Tactics for dealing with the government’s budget and debt became the latest quarrel In a string of them between McCain —sometimes joined by....

During friendly questioning from Rep. Hank “I fear that Guam will capsize!” Johnson in Congress last week, Attorney General Eric Holder offered the following statement. In regard to potential prosecution of the press for the disclosure of material. This is not something I’ve ever been involved in, heard of, or would think would be wise policy. He made that statement before the facts about the sweep on Fox News’ James Rosen were known. Since then, it’s come to light that Holder himself approved the subpoena that, among other things, named Rosen as a criminal co-conspirator.

Via Greg Hengler, this testimony to the Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice may be even more chilling than some of the testimony at Kermit Gosnell’s trial. In part, that&http://media.hotair.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/abortion-levantino.jpg#8217;s because former abortionist Dr. Anthony Levantino describes the “normal� process of later-term abortions, and not just the supposedly outlier practices of Gosnell and his co-defendants. Levantino, speaking in support of a bill to ban all abortions after 20 weeks offered by Rep. Trent Franks in response to the exposure of the Gosnell case and others like it, dispassionately describes how abortionists tear fetuses apart limb from limb in such...

It seems like only yesterday that IRS Director of Exempt Organizations Lois Lerner was claiming she knew nothing about the dastardly work of those shadowy "low-level employees in the Cincinnati office" - who somehow remain shadowy to this day, despite having been blamed for the worst abuse-of-power scandal in living memory. The Incompetence Defense beloved of this administration, and so effective with a media that would never accept it from a Republican official, was deployed with gusto. Lerner was shocked, shocked, to discover gambling against Tea Party groups going on at Rick's Tax Exempt Organizations Cafe American. But now National...

Starting in the fall of 2010, ten leading Democrats - including Max Baucus, Chuck Schumer, and Al Franken - wrote the IRS demanding that the agency crack down on conservative groups. 500 conservative and Christian groups were illegally targeted by the Obama IRS starting in 2010. For twenty-seven months the Obama IRS refused to approve any Tea Party applications for tax-exempt status while at the same time the Obama IRS approved dozens of progressive applications. Now these same top Democrats are feigning outrage.

House Speaker John A. Boehner on Thursday flatly ruled out chances of the House passing the Senate’s immigration bill, saying his chamber will debate its own bill instead. Mr. Boehner and his top GOP lieutenants issued a joint statement that seemed designed to tamp down some of the momentum behind the Senaate bill, which emerged from a Senate committee on a bipartisan 13-5 vote earlier this week, and to stake out a House GOP position

Lois Lerner, the Internal Revenue Service’s embattled director of Exempt Organizations, could be held in contempt of court and jailed for refusing to testify before Congress, civil-rights lawyer Alan Dershowitz says. "She's in trouble. She can be held in contempt," Dershowitz told "the Steve Malzberg Show" on Newsmax TV. "Congress . . . can actually hold you in contempt and put you in the Congressional jail." Lerner, grilled Wednesday on the IRS' targeting of conservative organizations, invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination — but not before insisting "I have done nothing wrong." Her brief statement of innocence has opened...

I received an insightful email from reader Karen Sacandy: Dear Professor Jacobson: I’m among your many grateful readers, but at this time, the Democrats are like Thomas Crown in the flick, “The Thomas Crown Affair,” who created a distraction over here, while over there, he was stealing a multimillion dollar painting. But in this case, it’s a total transformation of the American people, by immigration law changes to aid and abet the non-enforcement we’ve had for decades. All these abuses of power converging at this time are almost COMPLETELY distracting everyone who could bring pressure to bear to prevent the...

On Tuesday, KY Sen. Rand Paul launched a spirited defense of Apple, whose tax strategies were subject to a hearing of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. "I frankly think the committee should apologize to Apple," Paul said. Paul went on to accuse the committee of "bullying" one of America's greatest companies, prompting Sen. John McCain to quickly defend the inquiry and say that Paul's remarks were "frankly, offensive."

Minnesota U.S. Sen. Al Franken leads all potential GOP opponents by comfortable double-digit margins, according to a Public Policy Polling survey released Tuesday. Among those tested by the Democratic polling firm was U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, who he leads 55-38, a 17 point margin. Franken leads conservative talk show host Jason Lewis by the same 17 point margin (54-37), as well as state Sen. Julianne Ortman (52-35). Narrowing the gap slightly against the first-term senator were businessman Mike McFadden and Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek, who came within 15 points apiece (both at 51-36). Sen. Julie Rosen trailed by 16...

9:30am (ET) LIVE: HOUSE OVERSIGHT CMTE. HEARS ABOUT IRS AND CONSERVATIVE ORGANIZATIONS http://www.c-span.org/Live-Video/C-SPAN3/

All Democrats on the committee, along with Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and gang of eight Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), voted in favor of the bill, which will now go to the Senate floor. The crowd in the room erupted into applause when the final vote tally was read, rising to their feet and chanting "Yes we can!" then "Si se puede!"

Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) backed down from a previous promise his spokeswoman made to Breitbart News that he would consider voting in favor of amendments to the Senate's immigration bill that would close a loophole allowing illegal immigrants immediate access to state and local welfare.

BREAKING: Just moments ago, to the nauseating La Raza audience chants of "Sí Se Puede"....The Senate Judiciary Committee PASSED the final, amended 'Gang of Eight' amnesty bill to the full Senate. The vote was 13-5, with all Democrats, plus disgraceful traitors Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Jeff Flake (R-AZ) joining them in handing IMMEDIATE amnesty for 20+ millions illegal aliens, plus full welfare and ObamaCare coverage, with absolutely NO border security triggers. This is a shameful day for the U.S Senate.ALL conservative activists are are urged to IMMEDIATELY CALL THEIR SENATORS and DEMAND they oppose this disgrace: ***CALL...

Coburn is sticking to his fiscally conservative principles, even after a twister killed at least 24 of his constituents On Tuesday morning, emergency responders began dealing with the aftermath of a tornado that killed at least 24 people in Moore, Okla., and injured at least 140 more. The White House has announced that "the administration and FEMA stand ready to provide all available assistance in response to the severe weather." However, one of the state's two Republican senators, Tom Coburn, wants to put a stipulation on that offer: No federal aid without corresponding federal budget cuts.

During Tuesday's Senate hearings into the widening IRS scandal, Senator Ron Wyden (OR-D) suggested that the conservative groups, targeted for paralyzing IRS harassment and leaks to the left-wing media, had it coming. (snip) (from John Harwood) Sen Wyden: If political groups don't want hassles from government, they shouldn't go to government asking for tax-exempt status.

Since Hillary Clinton last came up to Capitol Hill, we’ve learned senior State Department officials sought to scrub references to terrorism from the infamous Benghazi talking points to insulate Foggy Bottom from political criticism — citing concerns of their “building’s leadership” to justify the demands. The rising temperature of the scandal means it’s possible that Hillary could be asked to return and testify again. If she comes back, she had better be prepared, says House Oversight and Government Reform chairman Darrell Issa. “We are interviewing lots of people, most of them under oath,” Issa says, describing the “methodical” approach his...

Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee are focused on wooing two conservative Republican senators they consider crucial to expanding support for immigration reform beyond the Gang of Eight and maximizing pressure on the House. Some Democrats believe they have a shot of securing the support of Sen. John Cornyn (Texas), the Senate’s second-ranking Republican, who offered encouraging words early on in the Judiciary panel’s markup of the legislation. But Democrats say they’ll first need to win backing from Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), whom they consider key to getting Cornyn, as well as other Republicans outside the Gang of Eight, on...

“I’m offended by a government who convenes a hearing to bully an American success story.”

Hillary Clinton admitted in testimony that terrorists used weapons from Libya in the attack gas plant attack in Algeria. Now, more Benghazi whistle-blowers are reportedly ready to testify on Obama’s missiles to Al-Qaeda program.

If the GOP doesn't go after, fight and win these battles with bama, they are going to lose all their donors. It was clear by a call to Rush that donations will dry up if the GOP doesn't shut down the criminal enterprise known as obama...... But do they realize how serious this is

While many Americans were tuned into news coverage of the massive damage from tornadoes ravaging the state of Oklahoma, Rhode Island Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse took to the Senate floor to rail against his Republican colleagues for denying the theory of anthropogenic global warming. Whitehouse spent 15 minutes chastising GOP senators and justified his remarks by alluding to states that seek federal assistance in the wake of natural disasters. “So, you may have a question for me,” Whitehouse said. “Why do you care? Why do you, Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat of Rhode Island, care if we Republicans run off the climate...

<p>The International Monetary Fund on Monday said the United States was getting carried away with a government austerity drive, offering some of the institution's bluntest criticism yet of Washington's rush to cut its budget deficit.</p> <p>Despite high unemployment, Washington is on track to slash its budget shortfall this year by the most in nearly a half century.</p>

A few weeks back, the Tea Party was little more than a relic of political history, and its former superstars such as Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann were lost in a sea of irrelevance. Now the Obama administration has gotten the Tea Party started again. The trio of scandals that are rocking Washington smack of the exact kind of government overreach and abuse of power that fueled the movement in the beginning. Suddenly, Tea Party darling and likely presidential hopeful Rand Paul is selling out speaking events from Iowa to New Hampshire, and PalinÂ’s tweets are making headlines again. The...

A hot microphone caught Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) coordinating which way members of the “Gang of Eight” who serve on the Senate Judiciary Committee would vote on immigration bill amendments, Breitbart News has learned. “Do our Republicans have a pass on this one if they want?” the microphone caught Schumer saying.

A new poll found that Americans by a large margin believe that Congress is not overreacting to the burgeoning scandals plaguing the Obama administration. A CNN/ORC poll found that 54 percent of Americans don't believe that Congress is overreacting to the IRS scrutiny of conservative groups, while 42 percent said that it is. By an even larger margin, 59 percent to 37 percent, respondents said Congress is making the right moves on the administration's actions regarding the Benghazi terror attack. The poll came as White House senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer made the round of Sunday talk shows, defending President Barack...

Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz was born in Canada but is qualified to become president should he mount a campaign in 2016 or beyond. Cruz was born in Calgary, and his father is from Cuba. But the Republican senator’s mother is from the first state of Delaware, which appears to settle the issue. Government officials didn’t exactly have to scramble for the information amid speculation the firebrand freshman senator was contemplating a presidential run and might be ineligible, considering similar questions about President Obama’s birth prompted the Congressional Research Office to compile a 2009 report to try to resolve the...

More than 2 acres, 9 bedrooms, 15 bathrooms, a pool, and a spa . . .

As just heard live on WLS radio in Chicago in phone inverview. Illinois Dem. Congressman Danny Davis says he has no problem with a special prosecutor being named to investigate IRS-Gate.

President Barack Obama comes out of what was arguably the worst week of his presidency with his approval rating holding steady, according to a new national poll. But a CNN/ORC International survey released Sunday morning also indicates that congressional Republicans are not overplaying their hand when it comes to their reaction to the three controversies that have consumed the nation's capital over the past week and a half. And the poll finds that a majority of Americans take all three issues seriously. According to the survey, which was conducted Friday and Saturday, 53% of Americans say they approve of the...

Fewer groups sught recognition as 501 (c)(4) social welfare organizations that year than in 2009, according to the Treasury Department. ...

The American people have lost faith in U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., and he must be replaced, a top GOP senator said Sunday. “I lost confidence in the attorney general a long time ago over his cover-up of the Fast and Furious investigation,” said Sen. John Cornyn, Texas Republican, referencing Mr. Holder’s role in the infamous gunrunning scheme that went awry and cost the life of a U.S. Border Patrol agent. Calls for Mr. Holder’s ouster have grown louder since it was revealed the Justice Department gathered telephone records for at least 20 Associated Press editors and reporters...

Some things don't stack up. On Monday, Politico headlined that Speaker John Boehner was fixated with the bubbling Benghazi scandal. In fact, Politico termed the speaker's fixation as "big." So why is Boehner dragging his feet on empanelling a special (or select) committee to tackle the Benghazi disaster? Why is the speaker standing pat on last week's statement that House standing committees are getting the investigative job done? Most everyone has Boehner's snapshot: cautious by nature, a Washingtonized pol who'd rather play than fight. But, as Politico contends, the speaker is invested in the growing Benghazi controversy. Politico outlined the...

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder is set to testify before the House Judiciary Committee about the Justice Department's gathering of Associated Press phone records. Committee chairman Bob Goodlatte says he expects committee members Wednesday to ask pointed questions about the Justice Department's secret seizure and examination of two months of telephone records of reporters and editors for The Associated (AP). Goodlatte says Congress and the American people expect answers and accountability. On Tuesday Holder defended the Justice Department's seizure as part of a probe into what he called a grave national security leak that put the American people at risk....

A new poll taken for a gun rights group confirms that Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., is in for a tough re-election in 2014.

Yesterday, Barack Obama tried to get ahead of the IRS scandal by promising a full investigation into the policy of targeting the administration’s opponents for extra scrutiny and harassment when applying for tax-exempt status for their groups. Color House Oversight chair Darrell Issa … unimpressed. Appearing on CBS News this morning, Issa told Charlie Rose that there is no way the House will allow the executive branch to conduct the only investigation into the systematic targeting of conservatives:CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE VIDEO House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) on Tuesday blasted President Obama for suggesting the administration could...

Republican Sen. Dean Heller (Nev.) is preparing legislation to prevent the Internal Revenue Service from hiring new agents to implement ObamaCare in light of the agency's targeting of conservative groups. The scandal has prompted fears that the IRS is incapable of neutrally enforcing major provisions of the healthcare reform law, including its individual mandate to buy insurance. "It is necessary that both Congress and the Department of Health and Human Services [HHS] look closely at the money given to the IRS through the healthcare law," Heller wrote to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on Tuesday.

Fiscal hawk Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) is known primarily for attacking reckless and duplicate spending programs in an effort to get our nation's budgetary woes under control through spending cuts. However, in the NFL and other professional sports leagues, he may have found some serious revenue enhancements. The Republican senator is hoping to go after the tax exempt status of the NFL and other leagues currently classified as "non-profits." The NHL and PGA would also fall into this category. Coburn estimates that re-classifying the NFL would bring in as much as $91 million per year in additional revenue. This is...

How many Americans have heard of Extortion 17? Extortion 17 was the call sign for the Chinook helicopter shot down in Afghanistan on the night of August 6, 2011. Killed in that crash were 25 special ops forces, including 15 members of Seal Team 6, 5 national Guard troops and 8 Afghans. Today, the families of the military killed in that crash held a press conference to lay out the coverup by Obama and the military that has gone on since that crash. The video of the press conference can be found here I watched the live stream of the...

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) said the House will investigate the IRS after the agency admitted to and apologized on Friday for targeting Tea Party and conservative groups during the 2012 election. "The IRS cannot target or intimidate any individual or organization based on their political beliefs," Cantor said on Friday. "The House will investigate this matter." Lois Lerner, the chief IRS official responsible for tax-exempt organizations, said the the IRS targeted groups that had the words "Tea Party" or "Patriots" in their names and that doing so was "wrong."

Former Vice President Dick Cheney told reporters on Thursday the investigation into the White House’s handling of the attack on an American consulate in Benghazi has only just begun. He said that House Republican should continue their pursuit of answers relating to the administration’s decision making in the wake of that attack. “I think Hillary [Clinton] should be subpoenaed if necessary,” said Cheney. RELATED: White House Defends Hillary Clinton, Blasts Republicans’ ‘Attempts To Politicize’ Benghazi Cheney told Fox News reporters that he thinks the former Secretary of State may have to be called to testify again before congressional investigators. Cheney...

Mark Mardell, the BBC's North American editor, issued a mea culpa of sorts today after Jonathan Karl at ABC News dropped his bombshell that proves beyond any doubt that the Obama Administration lied about its involvement in editing the CIA's talking points surrounding the September 11 attack on our consulate in Libya. In a piece titled, "After Benghazi revelations, heads will roll," Mardell writes, "In the interests of full disclosure I have to say I have not in the past been persuaded that allegations of a cover-up were a big deal." He adds, "It seemed to me a partisan attack...

The evangelical "Pray for Reform: 92 Days of Prayer and Action to Pass Immigration Reform" campaign called on Congress in a press call on Wednesday to pass meaningful legislation in the next 92 days, throwing further support behind the current momentum in Congress to finally pass a immigration reform bill. The Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, explained in the press call that the number 92 is significant for evangelicals because the Hebrew word for immigration is mentioned 92 times in the Old Testament. "This number represents the biblical call to welcome the stranger. I'm...

Thanks to House Republicans, Americans finally got to hear from the State Department officials the Obama administration never wanted to testify. They are now called “whistleblowers,” but that’s only because their accounts of what really happened in Libya on Sept. 11, 2012, were buried by the administration, apparently in the furtherance of Democrats’ election-year imperatives.Soon after the testimony, Democratic office-holders took to the airwaves and the internet to assure liberal loyalists that there was nothing really “new” here. Republicans, by contrast, trumpeted the accounts of Gregory Hicks, Eric Nordstrom, and Mark Thompson before the House Oversight Committee as proof that...

They summoned a whistleblower to Capitol Hill, but instead they got a virtuoso storyteller. Gregory Hicks, the No. 2 U.S. diplomat in Libya the night Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed, was to be the star witness for Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), the man leading the probe of the Obama administration’s handling of the attack on the diplomatic outpost in Benghazi. But despite Issa’s incautious promise that the hearing’s revelations would be “damaging” to Hillary Rodham Clinton, Hicks didn’t lay a glove on the former secretary of state Wednesday. Rather, he held lawmakers from both parties rapt...

The Scandal In Libya: Testimony by the Benghazi whistle-blowers presents clear evidence of shameful political manipulation of the truth seven weeks before an election and a willingness to let four Americans die to maintain a campaign narrative. What difference at this point does the truth about Benghazi make? In an emotional opening statement at Wednesday's hearing of the House Oversight Committee, Eric Nordstrom, a regional security officer of the U.S. Mission to Libya from September 2011 to July 2012, answered that question with voice cracking and a simple declarative sentence: "It matters to the friends and family of Ambassador Stevens,...

. . . . . . The office of Sen. Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas, sent out a press release Wednesday pushing five amendments he filed to the bill, which generally tightens enforcement and provides a path to legal status for undocumented immigrants. Cruz’s amendments seek to further tighten border security, streamline the legal immigration process, deny public benefits to those here illegally, reform the high-skilled worker visa program and prohibit a path to citizenship for the undocumented. . . . . . . In a press release, America’s Voice, a leading national group that advocates for more lenient...

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans who insist the Obama administration is covering up information about last year's deadly assault in Libya say their goal is to get answers. Rep. Darrell Issa, chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said Wednesday that the three State Department witnesses at the hearing deserve to be heard.The Sept. 11 attack at the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, killed U.S. ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans.