Free Republic

Forget the war in Iraq, the war on terror, or any other war against which Connecticut citizens are said to have voted by defeating Joe Lieberman and nominating Ned Lamont for the U.S. Senate. The operative war for American citizens is something closer to home -- a war of independence from the bickering partisans who have made political life in America a childish and tedious exercise.

WATERBURY, Conn. --U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman accused his Democratic rival of not fully understanding the threat terrorists pose to homeland security while making his first appearance on the campaign trail since launching his independent bid for re-election. Lieberman seized on the terror arrests in Britain Thursday during a stop at a Waterbury pizza joint. "I want to make sure that I satisfy my responsibilities and use my seniority in the Senate to make the future of the families of Connecticut safer than it would otherwise be. I don't think that Ned Lamont gets that and that's a serious difference between...

California is ripe for the taking by state Treasurer Phil Angelides, his senior campaign managers said Wednesday, largely because he's a Democrat. While not a news flash given the state's history, the fact that Democrats hold a big registration edge over Republicans -- 43 percent to 34 percent -- illustrates one of the key problems facing Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in the upcoming election. Angelides' camp believes that while the governor enjoys support among some Democrats now, by the time ballots are cast in November, the base will remain loyal. They also believe that the opposite will occur with the...

WASHINGTON — The number of people filing initial claims for U.S. unemployment benefits fell by 7,000 last week to the lowest level in six weeks, according to a government report on Thursday which signaled stable conditions in the labor market. New claims for state jobless benefits fell to 298,000 in the week ended July 22 from an upwardly revised 305,000 new applications in the previous week, the Labor Department said. Click here to visit FOXBusiness.com's Economy Center. Economists polled by Reuters were expecting claims to rise to 310,000 from an initially reported 304,000 claims in the July 15 week. A...

'Fragging" is a battlefield phenomenon in which an enlisted man throws a fragmentation grenade into the tent of an unpopular commander as he sleeps... Some disgruntled grass-roots conservative voters seem to be practicing the same kind of thinking. But cutting off America's nose to spite Republican leaders' faces is a dangerous game to be playing with so much at stake in the global war on terror. A Democratic takeover of, say, the House of Representatives should not be seen as a purgative leading to the greater ideological purity of the Republican Party. As we have pointed out before, a Democratic...

U.S. Senate candidate Katherine Harris talks with supporters at the Martin County Republican headquarters in Stuart on Monday morning. The informal meet-and-greet was one of several of Harris' campaign stops on the Treasure Coast Darrell Orman, senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Stuart, prays with Harris at Martin County Republican headquarters in Stuart on Monday morning. Lightning-rod political figure Katherine Harris made two Treasure Coast appearances Monday to her Republican party faithful as part of an effort to boost grass-roots support in an uphill battle against incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson. Harris spoke at Republican headquarters in Port St....

Republicans are once again making the fight against terrorism a campaign cornerstone. So far, Democrats have not been as engaging. President Bush says Democrats want to "wave the white flag of surrender" in Iraq. Vice President Dick Cheney accuses the opposition party's leaders of "defeatism" in the global war on terrorism. And House Republican leader John A. Boehner of Ohio charges Democrats who applauded last week's Supreme Court ruling on detainees with advocating "special privileges for terrorists." Ever since the Sept. 11 attacks, Republicans have made an uncompromising stance against terrorism a cornerstone of their campaigns. It helped the GOP...

The fight for control of the House is getting more ink than the battle for control of the Senate, but several recent shifts in individual Senate races merit attention. All year, talk about the Democrats' chances of taking the Senate has focused on the five most endangered Republican incumbents. They are, roughly in order of vulnerability, Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, Conrad Burns of Montana, Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, Mike DeWine of Ohio, and Jim Talent of Missouri. The discussions then turn to the second tier of vulnerable Republicans, speculating whether Democrats can perhaps pick up a sixth seat (the...

Last week John Kerry revealed his plan to "redeploy" U.S. forces from Iraq. This plan is different from fellow Defeaticrat Jack Murtha's plan to "redeploy" U.S. forces from Iraq to Okinawa, which Congressman Murtha seems to think is in the general neighborhood of Iraq. Iraq's in the Middle East, Okinawa's in the Far East: C'mon, how far can it be to get from the Far to the Middle? After all, the distance between the farthest fringe of the kook left and the center of the Democratic Party seems to be closing up every week. Anyway, Sen. Kerry doesn't want to...

Next week is a big one for Senator Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island: He must decide whether he's going to run for re-election as a Republican or as an independent. The deadline is 4 pm on Wednesday — almost exactly a week from right now. If Chafee doesn't believe he can win the GOP primary against challenger Steven Laffey, he may decide to forgo the whole thing and create a three-way race between himself, Laffey, and presumptive Democratic nominee Sheldon Whitehouse. This would create an interesting dilemma for Elizabeth Dole and the NRSC, which has already pumped a lot of...

snip... But in today’s Democratic Party it’s the mainstream that gets marginalized. Forty years ago, George Aiken recommended that in Vietnam America “declare victory and go home.” Today, the likes of Jack Murtha, John Kerry and Ted Kennedy have come up with their own ingenious improvement: declare defeat and go home. Having voted for the war before he voted against it, Senator Kerry has now effortlessly re-twisted his pretzel of a spine: Last week, he voted to lose Iraq even though we’re winning it. Even if there’s no civil war, even if the insurgency’s leader is dead and his network...

"I was up there in the cockpit of that airplane coming into Baghdad," the President told the press corps assembled on the White House lawn after his dash into and out of the war zone last week. "It was an unbelievable, unbelievable feeling." In fact, George W. Bush's body language—let's call it the full jaunty—was reminiscent of his last, infamous cockpit trip, onto the deck of the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln in May 2003 to announce the "end" of major combat operations in Iraq, beneath a mission accomplished sign. His public language is more cautious than it used to be, but...

The door has been left wide open for Democrats to take over Congress, but they haven’t been able to walk through it. President Bush’s polls have been low, events in Iraq until recently have been discouraging, Republican scandals have been in the air, and the GOP has become the party of earmarks and spending. Pundits have expected the Democrats to nationalize the elections with a strong message to counter these Republican failings, but so far they have totally failed. Not that the Democrats don’t have a message. They appear to be calling for immediate withdrawal from Iraq, higher taxes, a...

Calling the Iraq invasion a just and necessary part of a larger war on terror, White House adviser Karl Rove asked the country to stand with the president and the troops until the United States earns "complete and total victory over the terrorists." Rove said that victory in the war on terror would require patience, resolve and sacrifice. It would be folly to pull the troops out immediately, he said, in an address to a crowd of 500 at a Republican fundraiser in Manchester. Bush, Rove said, has demonstrated himself to be a man of integrity, purpose and clarity of...

Even as the nation’s best-known governor refuses to say whether he will oppose a new oil tax contained in a November ballot initiative, several leading conservatives steadfastly stand by him. “The Democrats of Sacramento represent a tax-and-spend agenda that is not likely to change,” wrote the GOP’s “great right hope” of ‘02, Bill Simon Jr., in the latest American Spectator. “The governor could go a long way if he represented a stark contrast to that agenda. People like candidates with a vision, and Schwarzenegger has a reform-minded one.” On the balance, Arnold’s been a great governor,” Scott Baugh, former GOP...

don't know about you, but I see a dearth of leadership in America. Where are the Ronald Reagans? Are there any on the horizon? Well, I think I have spotted one. Ken Blackwell (Photo: pbs.org) His name is Kenneth Blackwell and he is running for governor of Ohio on the Republican ticket. It's going to be a tough year for Blackwell, given the extent to which his party has alienated the American people. Even worse, in his own state, the GOP organization has been mired in breathtaking scandal. But emerging from the ashes is a courageous, principled leader with a...

Hey Freeps! Recently there has been local discussion within my county committee regarding our opposistion to Hillary Clinton this year. Some of Howard Mills' (he ran against Schumer last year)supporters would like to see former Congressman Ben Gilman run against Hillary this year. Our reasons for wanting Gilman are two fold - 1) He is a Washington DC figure, that would remind voters of Hillary Clinton's national stature and 2) He could assist the state party in curbing Dem gains in upstate NY. Ben Gilman's entrence into this race would cause Hillary Clinton to take posistions on issues that are...

Several weeks ago, in an interview for the liberal blog, Daily Kos, Democrat Congressman Brad Miller (from my state of North Carolina) revealed one aspect of the Democrats’ upcoming agenda in the event they are successful in recapturing the House this fall. “The Democrats on the House Science Committee are collecting stories of the intimidation or censoring of scientists. We’re building a case for hearings by the Committee, which may be unrealistic to expect under the current majority, or to be ready for hearings next year if Democrats gain the majority in November.” After reading the Miller interview, I wrote...

Karl Marx isn’t dead. He is alive and well and living in the Democrat Party. As Pravda masquerading as your Washington Post intones in its lead article of May 7th, “The quest for ways to reduce inequality begins with taxation.” Ah! The Democrat (read Socialist) Post is at it again and you won’t believe their rationale. They assert that new taxes must be imposed on the rich because America is doing so well the wealthy are making more than ever and paying a larger share of taxes on income(20% of taxpayers pay 84% of the income taxes and the top...

Rove Is Using Threat of Loss to Stir G.O.P. By JIM RUTENBERG WASHINGTON, May 5 — To anyone who doubts the stakes for the White House in this year's midterm Congressional elections, consider that Representative John Conyers Jr. of Michigan, the Democrat who would become chairman of the Judiciary Committee if his party recaptured the House, has called for an inquiry into the possible impeachment of President Bush over the war in Iraq. Or listen to Senator Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, who would run the Senate Judiciary Committee if the Democrats took the Senate. Mr. Leahy vowed in a...