Free Republic

House Democratic leaders and protesters waving McCain signs had a war of words Tuesday at a press event outside an old train station. The demonstrators interrupted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi with chants of “Drill here! Drill now!” Pelosi paused and asked the group, “Right here?” Seeming to enjoy the back and forth, she followed with another question: “Can we drill your brains?” She went on to refer to the protesters, who continued to chant sporadically, as “handmaidens of Big Oil.” Arguing that increased offshore drilling would reduce gas prices by only a couple of pennies a decade from now, she...

The U. S. House of Representatives is admired and revered around the world. It is often referred to as the most deliberative body in the world, the ‘People’s House’. At the end of each legislative day, every member of the House has the privilege and right to take to the well or podium and ratify with action and validate with deed one of the core dreams of our founding fathers: freedom of speech. Each member may speak for up to five minutes on the topic of their choosing, representing their constituents in the most unadulterated, pure manner -- unfiltered First...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called President Bush "a total failure" on Thursday, among the California Democrat's harshest assessments to date of the president."God bless him, bless his heart, president of the United States -- a total failure, losing all credibility with the American people on the economy, on the war, on energy, you name the subject," Pelosi told CNN's Wolf Blitzer in an exclusive interview. The comments came two days after the president sharply criticized Congress over what he described as relative inaction over the course of the legislative term. At the White House on Wednesday, Bush noted that there...

The percentage of voters who give Congress good or excellent ratings has fallen to single digits for the first time in Rasmussen Reports tracking history. This month, just 9% say Congress is doing a good or excellent job. Most voters (52%) say Congress is doing a poor job, which ties the record high in that dubious category. Last month, 11% of voters gave the legislature good or excellent ratings. Congress has not received higher than a 15% approval rating since the beginning of 2008. The percentage of Democrats who give Congress positive ratings fell from 17% last month to 13%...

The speaker of the House made it clear to me and more than forty of my colleagues yesterday that a bill by Rep. Mike Pence (R.-Ind.) to outlaw the “Fairness Doctrine” (which a liberal administration could use to silence Rush Limbaugh, other radio talk show hosts and much of the new alternative media) would not see the light of day in Congress during ’08. In ruling out a vote on Pence’s proposed Broadcaster's Freedom Act, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D.-CA.) also signaled her strong support for revival of the “Fairness Doctrine” -- which would require radio station owners to provide equal...

"One blog, Free Republic.com, posted a report that said Frost attended a private school where tuition was $20,000 a year, that the family lives in an area where one home recently sold for nearly $500,000, and that a photo and "shows what appears to be a recent remodeling job with granite counter tops and glass-front cabinets.""

Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barbara Boxer say Oklahoma Sen. James Inhofe "needs to have his hearing checked" if he thinks he heard them talking about a "legislative fix" to curb conservative talk radio. Inhofe, a Republican, said Thursday on John Ziegler's evening radio show on KFI in L.A. that he overheard Clinton, D-N.Y., and Boxer, D-Calif., saying they want legislation to control conservative radio talk shows. "I was going over to vote the other day and I was walking with two very liberal gals that didn’t pay any attention to me being with them. They were outraged by something you...

Are Democrats Above the Law? Yesterday, the AP reported that all charges had been dropped against Phillip Thompson, an aide to Senator Jim Webb who was arrested on March 26, 2007 after Capitol Police spotted a loaded pistol and two loaded magazines during a routine X-Ray scan of Senator Webb’s briefcase at the entrance to the Russell Senate office building. District of Columbia law prohibits carrying a handgun or concealed weapon without a license. U. S. Attorney Jeff Taylor announced that “…we do not believe that the essential elements of the crime of carrying a pistol without a license can...

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that she raised the issue of Saudi Arabia's lack of female politicians with Saudi government officials on the last stop of her Mideast tour. Pelosi, the first woman House speaker, said she had not discussed King Abdullah's recent criticism of the U.S. occupation of Iraq, focusing instead on praise for the king's Mideast peace initiative, and efforts to quell conflicts in Somalia and Darfur. She met with the king Wednesday and with several members of the Shura Council, an unelected advisory assembly named by the king, on Thursday. Asked...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Jeff in Chicago, nice to have you with us, sir. CALLER: Rush, it is an honor. RUSH: Thank you, sir. CALLER: Does Nancy Pelosi not understand what the Constitution specifically defines as her role as an elected official? RUSH: She totally understands it. CALLER: She is in the legislative branch, not the executive, and a lot of things that she is beginning to do encroaches upon the executive branch. RUSH: Well... (sigh) CALLER: But my main question is this though. She is almost like her own drug. The more she does, the more she's going to attempt...

The controversy over the firing of eight U.S. attorneys for reasons that may or may not have been political has reached the high-drama stage, with Congress approving subpoenas and President Bush daring the legislative body to carry them out. But a study by two communications professors that suggests the Bush Justice Department is seven times more likely to investigate Democrats than Republicans may point to a much larger scandal.The professors, John Cragan, of Illinois State University, and Donald Shields, of the University of Missouri-St. Louis, looked at news reports of 375 elected officials between 2001 and 2006 and concluded the...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The White House on Thursday defended House Speaker Nancy Pelosi against Republican criticism that her desire to fly in an Air Force transport plane is an extravagance. "This is a silly story and I think it's been unfair to the speaker," White House spokesman Tony Snow said.

For more than a year, the affair between San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and the wife of his good friend and campaign manager, Alex Tourk, was a bomb that those around the mayor knew would one day go off. But it wasn't until last week that the fuse was finally lit, by Tourk's wife herself. After this week's explosion, people close to the mayor, Tourk and Ruby Rippey-Tourk, revealed what had gone on behind the scenes. We're told the affair didn't last long -- the mayor has privately said to friends that there were only a couple of encounters. Rumors...

New House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (news, bio, voting record) is snuffing out one of Congress' enduring prerogatives, still cherished by some lawmakers — the right to smoke near the floor of the House. Pelosi, D-Calif., announced Wednesday that effective immediately, House members would no longer be able to light up in the ornate Speaker's Lobby off the House floor where lawmakers mingle during votes. The room is often hazy with smoke, as it was Tuesday night as the House voted on anti-terror legislation; Minority Leader John Boehner (news, bio, voting record), R-Ohio, often has cigarette in hand, for example. "The...

The First Hundred Hours have begun. (Lest anyone wonder why they aren’t already over, new Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi meant congressional working hours, not real hours.) We’ve seen Pelosi show exactly how much her own wonderfulness needs to be celebrated—and her grandiose tendency to think of herself as Mangog-like living embodiment of all the glories and splendors of her entire gender. But what of the Democrat’s 100 Hours agenda, past celebrating Pelosi-hood? It's not worth the cannoli with which it was launched. The ethics reform stuff deserves at least a half-hearted cheer, if only because it’s nice to...

More than 1,000 people gathered yesterday at Ocean Beach in San Francisco to spell out the message "IMPEACH!" "America is a great country," said event organizer Brad Newsham. "But President Bush has betrayed our faith. He misled us into a disastrous war, and is trampling on our Constitution. He has to go. Now. I hope Nancy Pelosi is listening today." Ocean Beach is located in the congressional district of Pelosi, the new speaker of the House. (Story continues below)

Pelosi: 43% Have Favorable Opinion of New House Speaker rasmussenreports.com 38 minutes ago Forty-three percent (43%) of Americans have a favorable opinion concerning the nation's new Speaker of the House. The first woman to serve in that role, Nancy Pelosi (D) earns favorable reviews from 45% of women and 41% of men. A Rasmussen Reports survey of 800 Likely Voters found that, overall, 39% have an unfavorable opinion of the Speaker. Those numbers reflect a significant improvement for Pelosi since November. At that time, just 24% had a favorably opinion of her while 40% held an unfavorable view. Pelosi's predecessor,...

Did we really vote for this? God help us.

Pelosi Visits Hometown on Victory Tour Jan 05 4:00 PM US/Eastern By KRISTEN WYATT Associated Press Writer BALTIMORE (AP) -- Newly elected House Speaker Nancy Pelosi took a victory lap Friday through Baltimore, the blue-collar city where she grew up and learned politics from her father, who was mayor in the 1940s and 50s. Pelosi, surrounded by family members, laid a bouquet of white roses beside a statue of her father, former Mayor Thomas D'Alesandro Jr., in the downtown business district. "It is with great emotion that I come to this spot because I used to visit here every time...

After careful deliberation, the 9/11 commission concluded that continuity in the leadership of the congressional intelligence committees doesn’t matter. It thought bipartisanship should be avoided on the committees if at all possible and recommended that personal pique and racial politics trump substantive considerations. Actually, of course, the commission said none of those things, and on continuity, said the opposite. The sum total of the Democratic consensus on national security, judging by the bare-bones platform the party ran on this fall, is implementing the remaining unimplemented recommendations of the 9/11 commission. But House Majority Leader-elect Nancy Pelosi could flout the spirit...

Leading Bush critic at home calls Chavez a "thug" Thu Sep 21, 2006 12:43 PM ET WASHINGTON (Reuters) - One of President George W. Bush's fiercest political opponents at home took his side on Thursday, calling Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez a "thug" for his remark that Bush is like the devil. "Hugo Chavez fancies himself a modern day Simon Bolivar but all he is an everyday thug," House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi said at a news conference, referring to Chavez' comments in a U.N. General Assembly speech on Wednesday. "Hugo Chavez abused the privilege that he had, speaking at the...

Why am i banned every time I sign up here? I don't understand. I don't break any rules. I am nice. This hurts my feelings. it's not right.