Free Republic

It looks like someone has gotten me on the DCCC e-mailing list and I get a daily SPAMMING from them. I have decided to reply in kind and counter-SPAM them. Today, My counter-SPAM message is to Paul Begala. Mr. Begala, So, when Congressman Joe Wilson told truth to power you call him a clown. And calling his statement "Classy"? Spare me. Apparently you Democrats can dish it out, but you sure can not take it. Stop whining. Quit sounding like a gaggle of spoiled kindergardeners denied their icecream. Your party complains more in a week than President Bush did in...

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Longtime Democratic strategist Paul Begala hammered former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin on Friday — calling her "flaky and an intellectual lightweight." Begala was asked on CNN's "The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer" to respond to a Politico story in which former House Speaker Newt Gingrich outlined several ways for Palin to repair her image. Although Begala called Gingrich "a brilliant political strategist," he said giving advice to Palin is an exercise in futility. "Here's the problem," said Begala, a CNN contributor. "He is trying to treat her like a serious person. She is not. OK? She is...

Stacy Porter, 29, can’t remember a time when she didn’t suffer from crippling, relentless migraines before having the surgery that changed her life eight years ago.“I was diagnosed with migraines when I was 2 years old,” the New Philadelphia, Ohio, marketing executive tells WebMD. “I had about 15 days a month of severe migraine pain.” Her symptoms included throbbing pain in her temples, nausea, and sensitivity to light so severe she remembers wearing sunglasses to more than one final exam in high school and college. None of the drugs used to prevent migraines helped, so her only relief came from...

South Carolina GOP Gov. Mark Sanford’s disappearing act is reviving an often-whispered, if rarely written, question about presidential hopefuls: Just how strange is too strange? It takes a unique person to run for the White House, but the dividing line between endearingly quirky and just downright odd can often separate winners from losers. Sanford’s solo stroll on the Appalachian Trail falls short of the character questions raised by changing your name and fudging your age (Gary Hart) or accusing an incumbent president’s campaign of trying to disrupt your daughter’s wedding (Ross Perot). But is the straight-laced Republican base ready for...

That’s right, Republicans. Listen to former Vice President Cheney. While President Bush has exited stage right and refused to comment on his successor’s service, former Vice President Dick Cheney has shown no such reticence. That is fine with me. First, because I think the hoary old chestnut about former officeholders not criticizing their successors is more mythical than real. And, second, because the more the country sees former Vice President Cheney, the more they realize why they love President Obama. Former Vice President Cheney (that “former” part never gets old, does it?) has some excellent advice for the Republicans: don’t...

Clintonista Paul Begala says all you unpatriotic, wimpy, whiney Americans out there should just shut up and pay your taxes. "Why are they out there whining with this Tea Party thing? Just a bunch of wimpy, whiney, weasels who don't love their country and don't want to support - there are guys at Walter Reed who gave their legs for my country, and they're whining because they have to write a check?" the political consultant who worked in Bill Clinton's White House told Don Imus.

Clintonista Paul Begala says all you unpatriotic, wimpy, whiney Americans out there should just shut up and pay your taxes."Why are they out there whining with this Tea Party thing? Just a bunch of wimpy, whiney, weasels who don't love their country and don't want to support - there are guys at Walter Reed who gave their legs for my country, and they're whining because they have to write a check?" the political consultant who worked in Bill Clinton's White House told Don Imus.Begala's rant came after the Center for American Progress Action Fund blog, Think Progress, trashed the tea parties, calling them political...

Sure, there were more clever signs at Tax Day tea parties around the country. Some were clutched by indebted children. Others made "pox on both (political party) houses" statements. And there were the required bailout bashes. But no sign I spotted at any Lipton-lobbing rant fest summed up the nationwide sentiment like the one I saw on Fox News' "Hannity" program Wednesday night from Atlanta. The poster scribe could have condemned any other media formerly known as mainstream. He (or a brash she) could have written "MSNBC Sucks," but what's so bold about stating the obvious? He could have scratched...

CNN) -- Happy Patriots' Day. April 15 is the one day a year when our country asks something of us -- or at least the vast majority of us. So why are a bunch of Fox News clowns and right-wing cranks hosting "tea parties" all over the country? The Boston Tea Party, in case the clods at Fox didn't know it, protested "taxation without representation." Note the second word: without. The goofballs tossing tea bags today have representation. They voted in the election; they lost.

A new effort to pay off Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign debt includes a chance to “spend a day with Bill Clinton” as one of the prizes for contributing as little as $5 online. And talking heads stroke their chins about the “American Idol”-ization of American politics, but now it’s literally the case: Another prize is a trip for two to the show’s season finale. Here’s the e-mail, sent by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee: “From James Carville … “I knew it was going to take an extraordinary effort to help pay off Hillary Clinton's campaign debt. But...

The nation sighs in resignation: Blame for catty partisan talk handed out on both sides from Newt Gingrich, Paul Begala.

WASHINGTON -- "Rush is the bloated face and drug-addled voice of the Republican Party," Paul Begala is quoted as saying in the Washington Post. Begala is asseverating on Rush Limbaugh, the most popular radio commentator in the country, but alas one who disagrees with Begala. I think it speaks volumes about Begala's obliviousness that he would bring up physical traits in attempting to make some political point. Has he beheld himself in a mirror lately? Even friends know him as "The Skull," owing to his cadaverous countenance. You may only have seen him on television. I have had the gruesome...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina took umbrage at my writing that his approach to the economic crisis is to do nothing. I'll deal with his "ideas" in a moment, but first let me make a modest proposal: If Republican politicians are so deeply opposed to President Obama's economic recovery plan, they should refuse to take the money. After all, if you think all that federal spending is damaging, there are easy ways to reduce it: Don't take federal money.

Since last week's Politico story about the regular phone calls between former Clinton White House'ers Rahm Emanuel, George Stephanopoulos, Paul Begala and James Carville, several conservative outlets have raised the question of a conflict of interest. Media Research President Brent Bozell has been one of the most vocal critics (Rush Limbaugh's callers also jammed the ABC News phone lines). Bozell, who makes a claim not part of the Politico story that these are "strategy phone calls," requested ABC respond to the story on Newsbusters and in an open letter. "With each passing day, ABC's failure to speak to and about...

Sounds like the wounds from the Clinton years haven’t healed yet. Tame stuff by the normal standards of left-wing commentary on Limbaugh, but still jarring given how seamlessly he transitions from his kind opening words for Michael Steele. Normal people have to build up to a shot this nasty; for Begala, I guess, it’s just background noise in his mind. But then, that’s why CNN pays him.

Power, Politics, Gossip On Daily CallD.C.’s Prevailing Take On Politics Often Hatched On Conference Call Including Carville, Emanuel, Stephanopoulos And Begala (The Politico) The conversations don’t begin with hello. They don’t end with goodbye. Most often they pick up with a low, drawling voice uttering something between a sentence and a grunt. “Wahzgoanawn?” For those not accustomed to hearing James Carville when he is trying to enunciate more clearly for television, that translates to: “What’s going on?” So begins another morning in what may count as Washington’s longest-running conversation - a street-corner bull session between four old friends who suddenly...

Paul Begala refers to Rep. Rahm Emanuel’s style as a “cross between a hemorrhoid and a toothache.” His stint as chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has been notable for his clashes with DNC Chairman Howard Dean over strategy, resources, and the direction of the party. A former aide to President Clinton, he was known as “Rahm-bo” among friend and foe alike. Schooled in the rough and tumble of Chicago politics, he was a senior adviser to Richard Daley’s successful 1989 mayoral bid Friends and enemies agree that the key to Emanuel’s success is his legendary intensity. There’s the...

In this election night interview with Chris Matthews, Tom speaks about Pete Olson beating Nick “SorosBoy” Lampson in his old House district (Texas CD-22). He also states that Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats will further destroy the economy with their increased seats and power in the U.S. House of Representatives. - FlA VIDEO - - 11.04.08-SFG: Will Pelosi "run circles" around Obama? - So says one expert on congressional power, former Republican House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Texas, a.k.a. "The Hammer." DeLay told MSNBC tonight that, with Democrats expected double-digit gains in the House, “Pelosi will be the most...

A recent video from the officially nonpartisan ACORN intended to show how much clout ACORN has on Capitol Hill doesn't feature a single Republican lawmaker. The video called “ACORN Grassroots Democracy Campaign,” available on YouTube, showcases a parade of Capitol Hill Democrats as its allies. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLCSnbN1lRI Shown are Senators Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Robert P. Casey Jr. (D-Pennsylvania), and Representatives Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), Donna Edwards (D-Maryland), Barney Frank (D-Massachusetts), and Brad Miller (D-North Carolina). The video also shows strategist Paul Begala flashing his creepy smile while praising ACORN for its focus on "meat and potatoes" issues. For more on...

First there was David Gergen tonight who said, "It's too early to declare it over because Barack Obama is black." Yes, he thinks the "Bradley Effect" could cost Obama 5 to 6 points. James Carville then chimed in and subtly hinted at massive riots if Obama loses going into the election ahead in the opinion polls. Then Paul Begala piled on calling Sarah Palin's attacks on Obama "dangerous." He had the nerve to cite the AP calling her attacks "racially tinged" saying "That's the AP, not a Demcrat." Begala then said Palin's praise of small town America hints at racism,...

Since the mid-1980s, there’s been almost no attention paid to John McCain’s long-ago association with a controversial group implicated in a secretive plot to supply arms to Nicaraguan militia groups during the Iran-Contra affair. But now, with the Republican presidential candidate stepping up his negative blitz against Democratic opponent Barack Obama, some Democrats are hoping that the group – the U.S. Council for World Freedom, and its founder, John Singlaub – will become for McCain what Bill Ayers has become for Obama: a fleeting past association used as ammunition for political broadsides. Over past few days, a handful of Obama allies...

Democratic surrogates say they've been given the go-ahead from the Obama campaign to mention John McCain's associations with S&L kingpin Charles Keating and other historically tarnished creatures when asked about Obama's connection to ex-Weatherman William Ayers. A senior Democrat who has had contact with Obama's high command points to Democratic strategist Paul Begala's comments on this morning's Meet the Press. Begala noted that McCain once "sat on the board of a very right wing organization," the U.S. Council for World Freedom, led by a retired Army Maj. General named John Singlaub. The Anti-Defamation League allegedly called the CWF's parent organization...

If John McCain and Sarah Palin were to say the moon was made of green cheese, we can be certain that Barack Obama and Joe Biden would pounce on it, and point out it's actually made of rock. And you just know the headline in the paper the next day would read: "CANDIDATES CLASH ON LUNAR LANDSCAPE." Why doesn't somebody call Neil Armstrong? He's been there. Or go to the Smithsonian and open the glass case that contains a piece of the moon. The moon is a rock. That's a fact, Jack. Facts are indeed stubborn things, but the McCain-Palin...

Now that both conventions are over, Labor Day is behind us and the kids are back in school, let's take a look at how the last 56 days of the fall campaign may shape up: What to look for from John McCain I still think McCain's choice of Gov. Sarah Palin was insane from a governing point of view, but she has clearly energized the conservative base of the GOP -- folks who have always been leery of McCain. Her selection and the relentlessly negative convention have fired up McCain's base. The party of Reagan -- sunny optimism, criticism offered...

Paul Begala in characteristic nastiness giving McCain an "F" for his pick of Palin: "When you're 72 and you have had four bouts with cancer, you ought to choose a qualified VP." Possibly someone should remind him of ZERO experience-man Obama's 'safety-net' Biden.... having a much more life threatening health issue in his aneurysm history...the sort of precarious health pre-condition that could take him out with NO WARNING. And then we'd have the no-executive experience Obie foundering ALL ALONE.

Huh Paul, I remember when a sitting President(Clinton) who got his rocks off with an intern was perfectly alright with you and not reckless.

John McCain needs what Kinky Friedman calls "a checkup from the neck up." In choosing Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to be his running mate he is not thinking "outside the box," as some have said. More like out of his mind.

Republicans are saying Democratic strategist Paul Begala went “over the line” when, in a fundraising appeal, he called the attendees of a GOP fundraiser “dirtbags.” Begala, who worked for Bill Clinton in the White House, discussed the annual Republican President’s Dinner in an e-mail to supporters that seeks to raise funds for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC). “You should have seen the joint: wall to wall fat-cats. The limos were lined up around the block. If you’d stood in the middle of the ballroom and yelled, ‘Hey dirtbag!’ a thousand necks would have snapped around,” Begala wrote. The strategist...

Somehow I got on the DCCC mailing list and get stuff from them frequently. Occasionally, it's amusing enough to share with everybody. This one is the funniest I've seen for a long time. Dear (Past Your Eyes), I'll tell you this right out of the box. We're gonna have more fun than Rush Limbaugh in an all-night pharmacy! When we Democrats meet at the Democratic Convention in Denver, it will be a gathering of thousands of activists, just itching for change. And believe me, we're going to put the party back into the Democratic Party. A week later, when the...

YOU DON'T NEED A WEATHERMAN TO KNOW WHICH CANDIDATE BLOWSApril 23, 2008 The key problem for Hillary's campaign is that normal people reel back in horror at her association with the Clinton administration. (Which is why, as her supporter, I refer to her as simply "Hillary.") If Hillary could run exclusively on her record since becoming a senator from New York, she'd be a relatively moderate Democrat who hates the loony left -- as we found out this week when a tape of Hillary denouncing Moveon.org surfaced. Think Joe Biden in a pantsuit. But because of her unfortunate marriage, Hillary...

Paul Begala: "Hillary's gonna quit when monkeys fly out of my butt."

Dear Past Your Eyes, Before he was driven out of town on corruption charges, they used to call Tom DeLay "the Hammer." Well, lo and behold, it turns out the Hammer has a sensitive side -- and we've apparently hurt his feelings. Not long ago, I emailed to alert you that DeLay and other hard-right reactionaries had formed the Coalition for a Conservative Majority with plans to put "boots on the ground" in all 50 states to combat the "liberal agenda." In DeLay's twisted view, my telling the truth about him and his plans is practicing "the politics of personal...

<p>MANCHESTER, N.H. - It’s back to the future at Hillary Clinton’s campaign as some of the top advisers to former President Clinton are set to join to Hillary’s faltering campaign as early as tomorrow.Senior Clinton sources tell Fox that Hillary intends to bring in as top day-to-day advisers James Carville and Paul Begala.</p>

Just in case you thought there was a limit to the vulgarity of Paul Begala . . . Bill Clinton's former adviser was a guest on the Situation Room this aftern0on on CNN. Talk turned to the strategy Republicans should adopt in upcoming special elections. WOLF BLITZER: How much of a lightning rod -- you're an expert on this subject -- will Hillary Clinton be for Republicans out there, cause they're already, in some of these special elections that are coming up, they're already pointed to her to try to help Republican candidates? View video here.

CNNÂ’s "from the Left" commentator Paul Begala apparently doesnÂ’t want people to forget that Rush Limbaugh dealt with OxyContin addiction. During a panel discussion of Rudy Giuliani and the possible factor of his family life in his presidential bid, Begala attacked the GOP, accusing that the party "has made a practice of going after peopleÂ’s families," and then singled out Limbaugh for doing this (though Limbaugh has never officially worked for the Republicans). "Not just attacking Bill Clinton, we remember Rush Limbaugh attacking Chelsea Clinton. Maybe it was just the OxyContin talking." Nine months ago, Begala slammed Limbaugh as the...

Thank you Paul Begala. America is at war. Just in the last few months Islamic fascists tried to climb on American jetliners in London and blow them up over the Atlantic. They are killing Americans on the streets of Iraq and Afghanistan, killing Jews in Israel, bombing and murdering their way through swaths of countries separated by half the globe. They have struck New York (twice) Washington DC, Pennsylvania, Madrid, London, Bali, Tel Aviv, Riyadh, Amman, Nairobi and Beirut among other places. And you, Mr. Begala, have now bluntly stated the core fear of the once proud Democratic Party: Fox...

O'Reilly had both Carville and Begala on his show, told them both "You're stupid" and that they should stay away from the far Left Kool-Aid drinker websites.

by Mark Finkelstein September 26, 2006 - 07:54 Since one of the main issues at hand was Fox News' alleged bias, you would have thought NBC would have assembled a more 'fair & balanced' panel than James Carville and liberal sidekick Paul Begala. But just when you thought Meredith Vieira was going to lead a one-sided seance, she actually hit the liberal duo with two tough questions. Carville provided the opening, ill-advisedly claiming that "not one 'assertation' of fact" by Clinton during his FNC interview has been challenged. Guess what, James? We've got some serious 'assertatin' goin' on over he-ah,...

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has turned to two of the masterminds behind her husband's 1992 presidential victory _ James Carville and Paul Begala _ to raise money needed to keep her in the Senate and possibly help finance a White House run of her own. A spokesman for Clinton's likely GOP Senate race opponent, former Yonkers Mayor John Spencer, sought to portray the development in a potentially favorable light. "To bring in Carville and Begala at this early stage shows the panic behind the scenes of Senator Clinton's campaign," said Christian Winthrop. Polls have shown Clinton far ahead of Spencer....

Dear Friend, Election Day is eight months away, but the Republican attack machine is going after Hillary Clinton big-time. We cannot sit on the sidelines. It's time to get serious. Time to stand up for what we believe in and who we believe in. Time to stand up for Hillary the same way she has always stood up for us. I need you to commit now to support Hillary's 2006 re-election fight. Two weeks ago her GOP opponent met with the White House and was told that he had their full support. You and I know what that means -...

This is a partial transcript from "The O'Reilly Factor," January 25, 2006, that has been edited for clarity.

Did anyone see Carville and Begala on The O'Blowhard Factor tonight? Carville and Begala looked to be playing nice with Bill just sell their new book. (I think it's called "Take It Back") Otherwise, O'Reilly spanked them when he called them out on several tactics the Dems use, such as Bush bashing and rehashing the past saying that only forward thinking and ideas would work for the Democrats if they want to get back in power. Also Bill said their book was heavily foot-noted with extreme leftists and these are exactly the types of people who will keep the Dems...

George Soros is an exacting  taskmaster. In return for his money, he demands productivity. What he requires of employees and business associates in the investment world, Soros also demands from the political operatives he funds. “Mr. Soros isn't just writing checks and watching,” notes Wall Street Journalreporter Jeanne Cummings. “He is also imposing a business model on the notoriously unruly world of politics. He demands objective evidence of progress, and assigned an aide to monitor the groups he supports. He studies private polls to track the impact of an anti-Bush advertising campaign, and he is delivering his money in installments,...

Political strategist James Carville believes the Democratic Party "has a disease" that must be rectified – and soon – if the party has a chance of gaining back the White House or the Congress.In an exclusive interview with NewsMax, Carville is touting his latest book, co-authored by CNN's Paul Begala, entitled "Take It Back: Our Party, Our Country, Our Future." Both are savvy strategists who helped Bill Clinton win his come-from-behind victory that brought him from Little Rock to the White House in 1992. Later the pair were architects of Clinton's successful 1996 re-election. Today, they have changed roles from...

by Mark Finkelstein January 11, 2006 - 07:52 As we detailed here, on yesterday's Today show Matt Lauer yesterday blurted out in the midst of an interview "let's face it, [Alito] is an ultra-conservative." If that weren't slur enough in the liberal mindset, Dem strategist James Carville continued the assault on this morning's Today, accusing Alito of being: "completely enamored and impressed with power." Carville and consulting sidekick Paul Begala were in to chew the fat with Katie Couric over the Alito hearings and the pair's new book, "Take it Back," their prescription for reforming the Democrat party and the...

I'm not the biggest Hannity fan, but what he just did to Paul Begala was a work of art. Begala started off with his "Bush is a liar" rhetoric, and Hannity read him a bunch of quotes, to which Begala said were lies, lies, lies. Then, Hannity told him the truth, that all the quotes came from John Kerry, not George Bush. Begala was caught so read handed, that he actually said that Kerry's mistake was in believing Bush's lies. Then he tried to attack Hannity for inviting him on his show and lying to him. I have to give...

BLITZER: Do you think she's [Cindy Sheehan] going too far in politicizing her own personal tragedy? BEGALA: No, she has a perfect right. She has absolute moral authority. She is a Gold Star mother. She gave her son's life for her country. And she is the most position, most pristine position to speak about these things. I think the conservative activists that Bay talked about are overplaying this in a terrible way. They could be having a legitimate debate over America's role in Iraq. Some people think we should do more, some less. It's an honest debate. Instead, they're attacking...

To Counter the moveOn.org slogan Loose Lips, Pink Slips: Fire Karl Rove http://political.moveon.org/firerove/poster.html?id=5876-3060111-CfB6MXVGqO7VmIRBl2I9Nw&t=6 I came up with this Loose lips Great Screams KEEP DEAN!!! Why not post it everywhere? it is not trademarked and I give you permission to use it !! or click here http://photos21.flickr.com/32337277_ad63af3c89_o.gif

Arianna Huffington, Lawrence O’Donnell and others on this post have done a terrific job of staying on top of every new fact in the Plame-CIA leak case. I, however, want to go beyond the facts and engage in a little conjecture: George W. Bush will pardon Karl Rove.I know I’m getting WAY ahead of the facts, but this thing has the smell of a serious legal problem for the Bush Administration. From the outside, Mr. Fitzgerald does not look like a prosecutor who sees wrongdoing but believes it falls short of criminal conduct, like, say, Joe DiGenova did when he...

Arianna Huffington, Lawrence O'Donnell and others on this post have done a terrific job of staying on top of every new fact in the Plame-CIA leak case. I, however, want to go beyond the facts and engage in a little conjecture: George W. Bush will pardon Karl Rove. I know I'm getting WAY ahead of the facts, but this thing has the smell of a serious legal problem for the Bush Administration.