Free Republic

“Employees at bicycle shops have green jobs,” economist Diana Furchtgott-Roth points out in a Capital Research Center study. “So do workers at antique dealers, at the Salvation Army used clothing recycling centers, and at used record stores, because used items count as recycled goods.” Furchtgott-Roth testified at a congressional hearing in June that examined the definition of “green jobs.” “As a witness at the hearing, I explained that, because the white paper cup placed before me on the table had a ‘Power to Save Energy’ logo, employees who produced it had green jobs,” she recalls. “The product met the BLS...

<p>Say again, neutral.</p> <p>As Ronald Reagan might say, there he went again.</p> <p>What was Jeb Bush neutral about?</p> <p>The choice between liberal Charlie Crist and conservative Marco Rubio for the Republican nomination for United States Senator from Florida.</p> <p>Oh, he finally came around. After then-Governor Crist endorsed the Obama stimulus, this was a bridge too far even for former Governor Bush.</p>

Former Florida governor Jeb Bush met Monday with a group of his former staffers at the J. W. Marriott hotel on Pennsylvania Avenue, just steps from the White House. Bush, a potential 2016 presidential contender, spent an hour in the hotel’s Cannon room, reminiscing and entertaining questions about his political future. In an interview with NRO, Bush did not rule out a presidential run. “I am here to catch up with folks and promote education reform,” he said, smiling. When asked again whether he will issue a Sherman-type statement about his future, Bush remained coy. “We have an alumni group...

Former senior aides to Mitt Romney have hit back at the 'craven hypocrites' in the Republican party who just days before the election were clamouring for jobs in a Romney administration and are now belittling him. 'There were one or two well-known figures who were late committing to support him, were the most eager to curry favour when it looked like we would win and are now out there trashing the governor. (snip) But the other senior adviser, who declined to be named when criticising senior Republicans, singled out Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and Newt Gingrich as among those...

The Hill is reporting that supporters of Jeb Bush are claiming he’s already considering a presidential run. Jeb Bush, brother and son of former Bush presidents, is said to be mulling a presidential run in 2016, according to the New York Times. The Times cites Bush supporters and friends in its report that the former Florida governor is “weighing financial and family considerations” for a future run. Though Bush remains popular in Florida and has garnered national attention with his support for immigration and education reform, there is lingering concern that the persistent unpopularity of the last Bush to hold...

The Obama administration announced with little fanfare Thanksgiving eve plans to lock up nine million acres of land for the endangered Northern Spotted Owl. The plan would double the amount of public forest lands proposed by the Bush administration for the owl’s habitat in Oregon, Washington and Northern California, and is expected to severely limit commercial activities like logging. Rep. Doc Hastings (R-Wash.), chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, said he is concerned the plan will cost taxpayers millions of dollars. “Expanding the Northern Spotted Owl’s critical habitat will further endanger the timber industry, the thousands of jobs that...

Citi's commodities team believes Iraqi oil production is set to explode in the coming years, causing prices to turn downward.In a massive survey helmed by analyst Edward Morse, Citi's team projects Brent crude to fall to $99 next year.One of the main reasons: Iraq's oil production is poised to reach heights never seen in its history — neither prior to America's 2003 invasion nor in Iraq's '80s heyday.This would be the world's second huge energy boom, with the US being the other big story. Citi Importantly, the current Iraq trajectory is based on post-invasion dynamics.For instance, a second development at...

Former U.S. first lady Barbara Bush said on Thursday that she's ready to move beyond this year's campaign season, in comments that came at an Austin conference the week after President Barack Obama's re-election. "I'm tired now of the elections," Bush, who had endorsed Republican Mitt Romney, said at a forum on America's first ladies. "People spoke. Move on, get on with it. I want to do other things and not to be ugly." Bush, sporting a double strand of her signature pearls, joined former first lady Laura Bush on a panel for the Enduring Legacies of America's First Ladies...

I think I owe an apology to George W. Bush. William F. Buckley once noted that he was 19 when the Cold War began at the Yalta conference. The year the Berlin Wall came down, he became a senior citizen. In other words, he explained, anti-Communism was a defining feature of conservatism his entire adult life. Domestically, meanwhile, the Right was largely a “leave me alone coalition”: religious and traditional conservatives, overtaxed businessmen, Western libertarians, and others fed up with government social engineering and economic folly. The foreign-policy battle against tyrannical statism abroad only buttressed the domestic antagonism toward well-intentioned...

Former Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, Mitt Romney's top Hispanic surrogate, is calling for the Republican Party to "modernize" and embrace comprehensive immigration reform in order to survive as a national party. "We need to modernize. Modernization includes diversity. Obviously, immigration reform is part of that process of diversity," he told The Hill on Tuesday. "We are the party of growth, of business, of entrepreneurship, of innovation. We cannot continue to be that without an effective immigration policy." Gutierrez, who chaired Romney's Hispanic Steering Committee during the GOP nominee's presidential campaign, blames Romney's rightward primary shift on immigration for his loss....

Liberals do not grasp the distinction between Ronald Reagan and (either) George Bush. This blind spot creates a massive confusion and hazard to their ambitions. Obama defeated neither the Reagan Narrative nor Team Reagan. Team Bush appropriated, and then marginalized, both. Obama beat Team Bush, not Team Reagan. The implications are huge. There was a touchy relationship between President Reagan and his Vice President George H.W. Bush. They were rivals during the primaries. Bush attacked the Reagan economic agenda as “voodoo economics.” Bush served faithfully as VP for eight years but Reagan and Bush never warmed to one another. There...

WASHINGTON — President Bush signed the biggest rewrite of U.S. bankruptcy law in a quarter century on Wednesday, making it harder for debt-ridden Americans to wipe out their obligations. “Bankruptcy should always be a last resort in our legal system,” Bush said. “If someone does not pay his or her debts the rest of society ends up paying them.” Many debtors will have to work out repayment plans instead of having their obligations erased in bankruptcy court under the law, which will go into effect in six months. The 500-page legislation won final congressional approval last week after being pushed...

George P. Bush, a nephew of former President George W. Bush and son of one-time Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, has made a campaign filing in Texas that is required of candidates planning to run for state office, an official said Thursday night. The younger Bush, a Fort Worth resident, filed a campaign treasurer appointment Wednesday, a requirement for someone to become a candidate under campaign finance law, Tim Sorrells, general counsel for the Texas Ethics Commission, told The Associated Press. Sorrells said the report does not specify what office Bush might seek, if any, and he had no other details...

This time around, all the major voter consolidation processes appear to have worked to the advantage of Mr Barack Obama. Eight years earlier, those processes had favoured Mr George Bush Right after President Barack Obama won his second term, there were the obvious questions about the wider implications of his mandate. At one level, these questions were lazy and misleading. In election after election, political pundits —and this writer is not excluded —faithfully identify long-term trends only to find that there is no long-term trend. That comment may sound facetious and overstated but, nevertheless, cannot be dismissed. Take Mr Obama’s...

For the last two days I've been hearing conservatives decry "the death of the conservative movement" or "the end of the Republican Party," as well as a lot of other hyperbolic nonsense. Believe me: this happens every time a Democrat gets elected. And it happens every time a Republican gets elected on the other side. Passion is a great thing, but don't buy into all the crap. You lost an election; it happens and it's part of politics. What you should be thinking about is *how* you lost the election and how to win the next one. To figure that...

I'm amazed that the president got away with blaming Bush for so long. In one respect I agree with him. The reason why Romney lost tonight is Bush's fault. Bush knew in 2006 that his VP Dick Cheney would not run for president. There would be no heir apparent. He handed over the process to the GOP, who promptly tried to push Rudy McRomney onto the electorate. Rudy was dispensed with, way too liberal. McCain was given his chance... yikes, what a crappy candidate. And then Romney was given his chance. All of them were losers. And it's all Bush's...

The one thing that seemed obvious to me in this election is that Romney had the distinct disadvantage of having to campaign in the shadow of George W. Bush's legacy. Republicans, having allowed Democrats to define Bush's legacy as a failure, have to carry the weight of that legacy. Perhaps the only way to fix this is to go back and embrace the Bush legacy and correct the record. So long as Obama can blame Bush, it will be difficult to go back to some of Bush's policies that worked, because they've all been tainted by the Democrats as failures.

The fact of the matter the exit polls show about 50% of people still blame Bush for economy. It's been four years but half the American people are too stupid to understand. It is Nazi Germany, repeat a lie over and over again and people believe it. Obama says it Pravada repeats it. The problem is Republicans need to stand up for Bush's tax policy and explain it did not cause the crisis. Everyone runs away which just further pushes that narrative. THink of the idiotic question from Candy Crowley, about what if he was Bush.

Staten Island residents angered by slow Sandy response | Video ... 1 hour ago – Residents of Staten Island, New York, express anger at the slow pace of emergency response efforts to their community after superstorm Sandy ...

Obama: I'm Bill Clinton, he's George W.By DONOVAN SLACK | 11/1/12 10:52 PM EDT President Obama didn't mention George W. Bush by name, but he didn't have to. At a campaign rally in Boulder, Colo., on Thursday, he sought to meld GOP challenger Mitt Romney with the former president. And himself with the more popular former president Bill Clinton. Obama outlined his owns beliefs about shared sacrifice, a strong middle class, affordable health care and a dignified retirement, then added, "For eight years we actually had a president who shared those beliefs and his name was Bill Clinton."