Free Republic

Dan Pfeiffer’s fingerprints are all over the White House’s strategy of not negotiating with congressional Republicans over the government shutdown and debt ceiling. The senior adviser to President Obama has been plotting the White House’s every move, and is described by some within the administration as the “relentless guardian” of Obama’s no-negotiations stance. “He’s been the most ferocious on that principle,” one senior administration official said. “He was quite adamant and relentless about this. And on the face of it, it’s not an easy argument to make.” Even before the shutdown began on Oct. 1, Republicans had turned their fire...

Meaning Romney Was Also An Idiot For Not Noticing ... Sometime before Election Day, before the debates, people already knew Stuart Stevens and his team were in over their heads. From the utter fiasco of Romney’s convention speech, which he stripped down to a thin gruel of bland forgettable pablum (and of course, stripped of any mention of America’s servicemen and women abroad), throwing aside Bush’s micro-targetting programmed wholesale, allowing his Hollywood aspirations to make him give the prime speaking slot at the RNC to Clint Eastwood (without any vetting) instead of people who would humanize his candidate, I just...

GOV. BOBBY JINDAL (R-LOUISIANA): My recommendation to the president is it's time to stop campaigning. It is time to actually do the job here in Washington D.C. In our second term, for example, last year, we passed one of the most sweeping educational reform laws in the country, giving real choice to our kids, putting right teachers in the classroom. We're forming our tenure laws, letting the dollars follow the child. This year, like my colleague, we're proposing tax, significant tax reform. We've got different ideas about that. We're trying to get rid of the income tax in Louisiana. My...

While at the same time comparing the Republicans to Opie! When I say that a comparison can be made between the Obama administration and Islamic extremists and terrorists let me be perfectly clear! In no way am I saying this relative to anything having to do with the Obama administration vis a vis the killing of innocent human beings! I do however say it in the context of the ability to listen to words, spoken or written, and then be faced with the prospect of having to successfully decipher the true meaning behind those words. Put another way, it's the...

Been going door-to-door for Romney for the past three Saturdays in central Virginia. A lot more Obama signs cropped up this week, even though we are in Falwell country. Yikes! In one house there was a group of women inside who informed us they would not vote for Romney...one of them yelled, "women's rights!" After we left two of them got in their car and followed us for awhile, trying to intimidate us. Good thing my partner was carrying. Another lady informed us she "loves Obama" because her main concern is the economy and he is her go-to man to...

Yesterday I continued my sandwich board campaign at the Staten Island Ferry Terminal in my hometown. I have been there, mostly with another retired cop and fellow Marine, on Mondays and Fridays, for the past 6 weeks, wearing a sandwich board with various messages. Over the weeks I have been surprised to draw thumbs up smiles and “thank you” from Black females. Black females have often stopped and patiently read every word on our boards. They read statistics on unemployment, the January 2009 price of gas compared to today’s and the “Are you better off now” question among many other...

Imagine sitting at your kitchen table with a group of family and friends trying to figure out what you can do to save yourselves from an enemy who is coming your way from just two towns over. Wouldn’t you do ANYTHING you could to save yourself and your family? What would you do; what would you give from what you had left to defeat an approaching enemy? Would you hold back ANYTHING? VOTING IS NOT ENOUGH! There’s no one in our country that can’t do something. Here are some suggestions of how to fight back. Set up a table wherever...

DENVER (AP) — The manager of a Denver Chipotle restaurant has become an Internet celebrity thanks to the wide-eyed pose he struck alongside Mitt Romney when the Republican presidential candidate stopped by for lunch. Marty Arps, 20, posed for a group photo with Romney and Chipotle employees Tuesday afternoon. Arps is seen making a wide-eyed expression while pointing at Romney. ...Romney seemed unaware of Arps' pose and the mood was jovial, said AP photographer Charles Dharapak, who snapped the picture. "It didn't seem awkward. Everyone was having a good time," Dharapak said. .....Arps told The Daily he doesn't know yet...

Taxpayers spent $1.4 billion dollars on everything from staffing, housing, flying and entertaining President Obama and his family last year, according to the author of a new book on taxpayer-funded presidential perks.In comparison, British taxpayers spent just $57.8 million on the royal family.Author Robert Keith Gray writes in “Presidential Perks Gone Royal” that Obama isn’t the only president to have taken advantage of the expensive trappings of his office. But the amount of money spent on the first family, he argues, has risen tremendously under the Obama administration and needs to be reined in.Keep reading...

A tea party group’s political message on a billboard here has unified local Democrats and Republicans, generating bipartisan criticism. The heads of the two parties here even used similar language in blasting the sign. “I say I’m appalled,” said Dale Stickel, head of the Elkhart County Republican Party. “I think it’s appalling,” said Shari Mellin, head of the Elkhart County Democratic Party. The message in question, from We the People of Marshall and Fulton Counties, a tea party group, appears on a billboard at the busy intersection of Nappanee Street and John Weaver Parkway, where Nappanee curves into Bristol Street....

 Barack Obama will turn 51 years old on August 4th, 2012.  The President’s campaign is not missing the opportunity to let Americans know this.  On many social, news and online media sites one will find peculiar ads declaring “Happy Birthday Barrack” and asking you to “Sign the Card.”  Here is what you get when you sign the card.A simple click through takes you to a landing page that asks for some personal information in order to “Join Michelle” in  celebrating the day of our Presidents birth.  The card features an antiquated picture of the President and his then elementary school aged children, singing...

Imagine if a Republican candidate claimed, confidently, that she was part Native American. Imagine if she had actually used that identity to have herself listed as a minority at Harvard, qualifying her for special treatment and celebration as proof of how diverse and progressive her department is. Imagine if, many years later, it turned out that her claims to Native heritage were dubious and, when pressed for proof, she offered her “high cheekbones.” Oh, and she once contributed a recipe to a Native American cookbook called “Pow Wow Chow” (that may even have been plagiarised).

A Green Bay Wisconsin television reporter asked President Barack Obama why he didn’t help out the unions in the Wisconsin recall. ABC News reported that Obama didn’t visit the state because, the president said, “the truth of the matter is that as President of the United States, I have a lot of responsibilities.” So, what kept the president so busy . . .

It's not unusual for President Obama to criticize his Republican predecessors from time to time, but this morning, he targeted his scorn not at George W. Bush or Ronald Reagan, but ... Rutherford B. Hayes. As Politico reported: Speaking about the need to develop new sources of American energy in Largo, Md., Obama used our 19th president as a failure of forward-thinking leadership. "One of my predecessors, President Rutherford B. Hayes, reportedly said about the telephone: 'It’s a great invention but who would ever want to use one?'" Obama said. "That's why he's not on Mt. Rushmore."

Arizona Senator John McCain, the man who lost to Barack Obama after trying to pull the "my friends" card on both his opponent and the media, is expressing concern about the negative tone of the GOP primary race. Former Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) said Sunday he’s worried the negative tone in the GOP campaigns could help President Obama win a second term in the White House. “I think there's reason to be concerned about it,� said McCain on ABC’s This Week. "I've been in very tough campaigns. I don't think I've seen one that was as personal...

Des Moines, Iowa (AP) -- The military is investigating an Army reservist who took the stage at a political event for Ron Paul and expressed his support for the Republican presidential candidate. At a Paul rally on Tuesday night in Iowa, Cpl. Jesse Thorsen stood at a podium wearing his military fatigues and said the congressman's foreign policy was "hands down better than any other candidate's."

This just keeps getting better and better for the Virginia GOP, doesn’t it? Via Ballot Access News, first we get the Attorney General for Virginia pointing out that the requirements for ballot access are far too restrictive: _____________________________________________________ I would throw out for consideration that we should lower our requirements to 100 legitimate signatures per congressional district. Let’s face it, absent a serious write-in challenge from some other candidate, Virginia won’t be nearly as ‘fought over’ as it should be in the midst of such a wide open nomination contest. Our own laws have reduced our relevance. Sad. _____________________________________________________ …and...

Rick Perry shrugged off his fellow southern state governor, South Carolina's Nikki Haley, deciding to back rival Mitt Romney, in an interview with CNN's John King. "That’s one vote, I’ll be real honest with you, I’ve got a medal of honor recipient Jim Livingston, who endorsed me on the deck of the Yorktown last week, and you know, no offense but I like those guys that have that type of long-time record of endorsements," said Perry, according to POLITICO's Emily Schultheis. "I greatly respect Gov. Haley, but if I had to pick between the two, love having those veterans stand...

Newt Gingrich’s campaign released a list of 55 supporters in Iowa today, but the announcement is filled with errors and inaccuracies. Along with several misspellings, the campaign claims State Senator David Johnson from Osceola County is one of 14 elected officials who endorsed Gingrich. “That’s not correct,” Johnson tells TheIowaRepublican.com. “I have not endorsed Speaker Gingrich. I think there is confusion on that campaign.” The Gingrich campaign press release also misspelled Osceola County as “Osceloa County”. Johnson says the Gingrich campaign reached out to him, but he made it clear his allegiance lies with Texas governor Rick Perry. “It’s interesting...

...Yes, that’s actually Ron Paul’s website asking you to donate to his campaign. It appears someone has bought the rickperry.com domain name and set up a redirect to ronpaul2012.com. If you’re looking for information on how to donate to Rick Perry’s presidential campaign you’d want to go to rickperry.org. .....Also, a warning to Newt Gingrich’s campaign: newtgingrich.com is currently for sale. His campaign, located at newt.org, might want to look into that.

...The trouble for Gingrich is that Cain isn’t doing what Perry is and hanging on. Cain maintained his Real Clear Politics Average high-point of 26 percent, essentially tied with Mitt Romney, for only two weeks. And he may go front frontrunner to hash mark in less than a month. Gingrich would have been better off if Cain’s candidacy would have slowly withered. Gingrich wants to be in a two-way race with Romney and to have only to appear more conservative and more consistent than Romney. Gingrich might survive daily releases of new skeletons from his past...[snip]....But only if juxtaposed as...

...The much-hyped Lincoln/Douglas style debate never came close to resembling the Lincoln/Douglas style … Or a debate, for that matter … It did expose Herman Cain’s inability to answer tough questions. Cain was asked about Medicare. He sat there for several seconds with a deer in the headlights look, before finally submitting with “You go first, Newt”. Translation: “I have no idea what you’re asking me. Let’s hears Newt’s answer so I can copy it.” … Cain deferred to Newt again later in the debate when he couldn’t answer a question. Gingrich was respectful in choosing not to dismantle Cain,...

The front page of the Sunday Des Moines Register depicted a caricature of the presidential candidates raking leaves..... The subtitle below the artwork read, “After top trio, other candidates struggle to rake in votes.” It’s a good thing for them that it’s imposable for any candidate to “rake in votes” at this moment in the race. While the First-in-the-Nation caucuses loom large, they are still 63 days away. A more appropriate graphic may have been a rollercoaster.... Herman Cain leads the latest Iowa Poll with 23 percent. Rick Perry led a late August Rasmussen Poll with 29 percent. Mitt Romney...

.....“Governor Perry has always released his tax returns and Mitt Romney and the other candidates should do the same.” If history is any indication, watch for Perry to push that theme hard, and for Romney to remain firm in his decision to keep his returns private. “We’ll take a look at the question of releasing tax returns during the next tax filing season,” says Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul about the Perry campaign’s request. By then, of course, the primary campaign could be effectively over. Perry communications director Ray Sullivan responds: “Governor Perry made a decision a long time ago in...

Everyone knows why Texas Gov. Rick Perry wants to skip some of the coming Republican presidential debates. He's a lousy debater, and the biggest single factor in his fall from front-runner to back-in-the-pack has been his poor performance in a number of high-profile debates. That said, Perry has a point when he suggests there are just too many debates scheduled in the rapidly dwindling number of days before voters go to the polls in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and other key primary states. There are at least a dozen GOP debates scheduled between Nov. 9 and the Florida primary...

Numerous preemptive obituaries are being written for Governor Rick Perry’s campaign. These efforts are premature because they fail to understand and appreciate the fickle winds of political fortune. Governor Perry has substantial political assets that make him a potent candidate and that will give him another chance to prove himself to Republican voters. Each candidate brings their own set of positives and negatives to the game: Mitt Romney has money to burn, establishment support, business experience, and passable debating skills. He also has a record far to the left of the majority of Republicans, a history of changing his position...

Rick Perry, who made clear during his Bill O'Reilly interview last night that he finds the debate formats geared toward promoting a fight, is going to the No. 9 one after that - but is a question mark for some of the glut of face-offs after that. Perry spokesman Mark Miner said the issue is using time wisely, and noted their campaign is not alone in that. "I think all the campaigns are expressing frustration right now," Miner told POLITICO. "We said we would do Michigan but the primaries are around the corner and you have to use your time...

Rick Perry went into Tuesday night’s debate looking to rattle Mitt Romney — and it worked. Perry’s been under fire for his own immigration record, and resurrecting the 2007 report that Romney had hired illegal workers helped him blunt the advantage Romney had been able to get on the issue as Perry looks to recover from his collapse in the polls. Plus, according to a Perry source, there was an added bonus: by going after Romney personally — the accusation has to do with Romney’s own house — they saw the potential to make Romney react the hardest. And despite...

Barack Obama is campaigning for both his jobs bill and his re-election on a three-day bus tour beginning Monday through North Carolina and Virginia, two southern states crucial for his chances in next November's election. ... on a $1.1 million bus purchased by the Secret Service... The effect is a campaign-style trip that allows the president to engage in a little retail politics, while also garnering the national media coverage typically afforded only to a sitting president.

Mitt Romney's campaign just announced its third-quarter fundraising number: $14.2 million, which is about what early reports had indicated. That's a solid quarter, but the number that stands out is the $14.7 million Romney reportedly had in the bank at the end of September. That's less than the $15 million Rick Perry's campaign says it will report having in reserve. Continue Reading The difference is small and could be really minimal, depending on how the two campaigns are rounding. But it's still notable given that Romney had a four-month head start. Romney's burn rate has also increased since last quarter....

Rick Perry may be taking a break from the campaign trail today, but he's getting his message out loud and clear in a new web video. Released ahead of tomorrow night's Republican presidential debate in New Hampshire, the ad slams rival Willard M. Romney over "Romneycare" and his frequent flip-flopping — a line of attack spearheaded by Tim Pawlenty. A piece of trail trivia: You might recognize that slick cinematic-style from the now defunct T-Paw campaign. That's because Perry's team snatched up the same filmmaker guy. The lush visuals carry over to this ad, titled "Romney’s Remedy." Just to give...

AttackWatch, the new Obama campaign site, confirms just how inept and out of touch this president is. You have to hand it to the Obama administration when it comes to consistency: Its players are singularly skilled when it comes to refusing to learn from their own failures. [snip] As I follow #attackwatch in my Twitter application on Thursday morning, I can't keep up with the updates. A new tweet hits about every two seconds, almost all of them obviously by people who are not just opposed to the administration's Goebbels-like activities, but who are effectively turning AttackWatch into the biggest...

Show up at a Rick Perry campaign event, whether a book signing in New Orleans, a prayer rally in Houston or a speech to enthusiastic Republican faithful in South Carolina, and you may notice a hulking, gray-haired man standing on the fringes of the crowd. He rarely gives interviews these days and is not yet well-known outside political circles. Yet, Dave Carney is, without question, the most important person in Perry's presidential quest outside of the candidate himself. Almost every presidential election cycle, the spotlight illuminates a campaign guru whose tactical acumen seemingly propels his client to heights unreachable alone....

...But Republicans in Iowa and South Carolina — which hold contests bookending New Hampshire's primary — question whether Romney is doing enough to stay competitive in those states. "He's obviously has the national appeal, the fundraising apparatus. He certainly would be a formidable candidate if he makes it through the primary. But I'm not sure he thinks he can win South Carolina," said Rep. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), who is hosting a series of town hall meetings for Republican presidential contenders. Romney hasn't appeared at one of the town halls, but is working toward setting up a date with Scott. "I...

-- “By comparison, President George W. Bush had held 88 fundraisers and President Clinton, 76, at this point in their first terms.” --“ While Obama hit the road to raise money for endangered House and Senate Democrats in 2010 congressional elections, he has appeared at 37 fundraisers this year to benefit his own campaign, according to Doherty's tally. That's more than three times the 11 fundraisers George W. Bush held for his own campaign at this point in his first term.”

Sarah talks about GOP race to the White House At 16:38 into the interview Greta VanSusteren asks Sarah Palin about entering the race -- any closer, why going to Iowa?? Sarah Palin talks about her next appearance at an inaugural tea party event in Iowa Sept 3rd and how she plans to continue doing a lot of traveling. Greta asks again, with some exasperation, saying this is "an awful tease" and you're driving the media mad, so would she please give a little hint (paraphrasing). Sarah Palin said she's still contemplating whether to jump in or not and then told...

The Press Room at Ames. With the media out in such force, there's a danger of an event being overplayed. Photo: Toby HarndenThe results are in..... 1. Michele Bachmann is now in the top tier of candidates, which comprises Mitt Romney, Rick Perry and the Minnesota congresswoman. Let’s not get carried away – in some respects this was the situation a week ago...A lot of the significance attached to Ames is because there were so many journalists here. So a little perspective is needed on the significance of the 16,892 ballots cast. 2. Outside the top three, it is hard...

Texas Gov. Rick Perry is exploring a run for president in a behind-the-scenes effort to set up a shadow campaign that stretches from Austin to New Hampshire to Miami. Perry’s potential bid is more of a whisper campaign than a presidential campaign at the moment, but he’s aggressively courting fundraisers and political consultants – even if they’re allied with other candidates. [snip] This week, Perry is meeting with delegations from Tennessee, Georgia and Arkansas and has recently travelled to California and Aspen, Colo. in well-publicized visits that are all preludes to a nationwide campaign. Perry has already fired up rank-and-file...

Let's return the bored Obama wind up toy to the the box where he came from.

Many of us have noticed how progressive journalists use the word 'unexpectedly'. They do it month after month. Al Reuters has an article from last week that uses this word. Yet again, after all this time. What these are, are campaign advertisements. From the media, to Obama.(most of us know this instinctively) It's a fair question to ask. And if enough of us ask it, maybe we could find out just how much the media donates to it's preferred candidates.

The White House visitor logs reveal a lot of things. For example, there are a heckuva lot of people that like to bowl at the White House lanes. Also, Richard Trumka had an Oval Office meeting with the president on October 4th, two days after the unions’ “One Nation Working Together” event. Who knew a representative of the middle class was such a “high roller,” as my grandfather used to say. The logs also reveal three “POTUS” meetings with Organizing for America, the community organizing arm of the Democratic National Committee. OFA of course had previously been Obama for America,...

Washington (CNSNews.com) – President Barack Obama’s commitment to providing some legal status for illegal aliens is reflected in the time he has spent focusing on the country’s immigration laws in recent weeks, the White House said one day before the president is set to deliver a national address on immigration from El Paso, Texas. In recent weeks, Obama met with current and former elected officials, business leaders and Hollywood celebrities – all whom agreed with his position on the matter – to promote comprehensive immigration reform. Proponents call the proposal a “pathway to citizenship” for the roughly 12 million...

Obama: Washington should cut back like average families doBy Andrew Restuccia - 02/12/11 06:00 AM ET President Obama said Saturday that his upcoming budget will force Washington to “live within our means” at a time when American families are having to make difficult economic decisions every day. In his weekly address, Obama outlined his fiscal year 2012 budget request, which he will send to Congress on Monday. Obama’s budget comes as Republicans in Congress are railing against government spending. House Republicans just unveiled a bill to fund the government for the rest of the fiscal year that, at the prodding...

First lady Michelle Obama said Wednesday she's willing to do whatever it takes to help President Obama win reelection in 2012. Michelle Obama, who's promoting the one-year anniversary of her "Let's Move" initiative, said she would relish the opportunity to get out on the campaign trail for the grind required to win another term for the president. "I will do whatever I'm asked to do," she said on NBC's "Today" show. The first lady has spoken previously of the active role she would likely play in reelection, perhaps a testament to the strong draw she enjoys with female voters, a...

For too long Americans have been set one against the other, it is a side affect of a free market society. How can profits be maximized, how can I get the work done for the lowest possible costs. This continually sets one group against the other, especially in the blue collar sectors of America. It has become a part of the American Business model, whether it was indentured servants, slaves picking cotton, sharecroppers, the industrious people that built the railroads or todays migrant workers. As long as we remain divided, fighting for the scraps that America has to offer it...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – President Barack Obama accused Republicans on Friday of peddling discredited "snake oil ideas" about the U.S. economy as he tried to win votes for struggling Democrats in a battle for control of the Senate. Obama campaigned in Los Angeles for veteran California Senator Barbara Boxer, who faces a tough challenge from Carly Fiorina, the former chief executive of Hewlett-Packard. The president then headed to Nevada to stump for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who is in a fight for his political life. "This is a choice between the policies that got us into this mess and...

The Political Class is our enemy. It wants a “Great day,” but that’s not what we want. We can’t be satisfied with a “great day.” “Great days” are the victories the Political Class craves because to them elections are a series of games – “Sometimes you win sometimes, I win. Let’s go get a beer now that this is over.” To us this is saving the very life of our country, the life or death of America. To the Political Class this is a muscle flexing contest. All of them see us as “true believer suckers.” We have to stay...

Fear and loathing in the American body politic is not confined to the anti-tax Tea Party. Across the spectrum of the Democratic party, every hue is feeling it too. With a fortnight to go to the midterms, moderate "Blue Dog" Democrats are in big trouble. The party's left-wing "Yellow Dogs" are up in arms about being taken for granted by the White House "hippy bashers". Even black bloggers are warning President Barack Obama they won't be "pimped" for him. Gone was the red-faced, finger-wagging Bill... More at Telegraph.co.UK

The President of the United States will be making a stop in Albuquerque’s South Valley Tuesday. He’ll arrive the night before spending some time visiting with veteran Andrew Cavalier at his South Valley homes backyard.