Free Republic

While the presidential horserace will consume much of the political media’s attention over the next year, muted Running Mate Match Game speculation is already underway. One figure that generates a disproportionate amount of discussion on this front is Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). Despite a series of public demurrals, Rubio-for-VP buzz is unlikely to dissipate any time soon. In Rubio, Republicans have a gifted politician, a very effective communicator, and someone who has earned near-universal admiration among conservatives. He also hails from a critical swing state, and could almost single-handedly put a coveted and growing demographic into play, virtually overnight. Rubio...

Somali officials confirmed today that Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, al Qaeda's leader in East Africa and a senior Shabaab commander, was killed at a Somali military checkpoint in Mogadishu earlier this week. Fazul is one of the most wanted terrorists in East Africa for his role in attacks on US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania as well as his role within Shabaab. Somalia's minister of information confirmed Fazul's death, according to The Associated Press. "We've compared the pictures of the body to his old pictures," he said. "They are the same. It is confirmed. He is the man and he is...

Building Access Reminder: Visitors wishing to enter the Capitol will only be allowed to enter through the King Street entrance. Visitors without appointments may need to wait in line until visitors already inside the building leave the Capitol to make room for new visitors. These procedures have been in effect at the Capitol since this morning. --Capitol Police

As part of an effort to figure out what the Republican House SHOULD be doing now, I’ve looked up our current budget (or at least the one that was proposed) and figured out what could be eliminated to get the deficit down to $0. Here is our revenue Budget Estimates Classification Full Fiscal Year Budget Receipts 1,031,926 Individual Income Taxes Corporation Income Taxes 280,396 Social Insurance and Retirement Receipts: Employment and General Retirement (Off-Budget) 661,919 Employment and General Retirement (On-Budget) 195,771 Unemployment Insurance 54,422 Other Retirement 4,276 Excise Taxes 75,799 Estate and Gift Taxes 25,076 Customs Duties 26,632 Miscellaneous Receipts...

Former GOP Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania said Sunday that the House reconciliation bill designed to fix shortcomings in the Senate’s healthcare reform legislation cannot legally be considered by the Senate, because it would impact Social Security revenues and therefore is not eligible for the reconciliation procedure. Santorum also says Democratic leaders were well aware of this fact, but effectively “sandbagged” their members in the House in order to push healthcare reform through Congress. Reconciliation is designed to pass healthcare reform without bringing it back before the Senate for approval. Sen. Scott Brown’s election in Massachusetts means Democrats no longer...

Senators seen ditching cap and trade in new bill Photo 5:12pm EST By Russell Blinch WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Three senators are seeking to radically overhaul stalled climate legislation by proposing to dump broad cap-and-trade provisions and take a sector by sector approach to cutting greenhouse gas emissions, a White House official and leading U.S. newspaper reported. Despite strong doubts a climate bill is possible in this election year, Senator John Kerry, a 2004 Democratic presidential nominee, vowed last week to press ahead with a compromise climate bill that he said would win broad support. The new bipartisan bill could target...

As the Massachusetts blame game unfolds, the president’s unpopular health bill leads the list. But the substantive provisions of the bill were just part of the problem. Perhaps more important, voters were appalled by how the deal unfolded. Consider the pre-election giveaway to the labor unions. Negotiators agreed to exempt union contracts until 2018 from the tax on so-called Cadillac health-insurance plans. That backroom bargain not only outraged the voters, it also violated the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution, requiring the federal government to extend equal protection of the laws to all U.S. persons. Of course, not all voters...

Kerry: 'Dead wrong' to write obituary on climate change bill By Alexander Bolton - 02/10/10 09:54 AM ET Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) says those who think climate change legislation is dead for the year are “dead wrong.” Those who think blizzards and record snow falls in Washington will make it tough to move a global warming bill are guilty of "inside the beltway" thinking, Kerry said. "The inside-the-Beltway conventional wisdom that this issue has stalled is dead wrong," Kerry said in a statement e-mailed to The Hill. "This is not and never has been a partisan issue, and Senators Graham,...

Rep. John Boehner (R-OH): "It's going to be very difficult to have bipartisan conversations with regard to a 2,700 page health care bill that the Democrat majority in the House and the Democrat majority in the Senate can’t pass."

WASHINGTON (AP) - After insisting for a year that failure was not an option, President Barack Obama is now acknowledging his health care overhaul may die in Congress. His tone at a Democratic National Committee fundraiser Thursday night verged at times on defeatist. Even while saying he still wanted to get the job done, Obama bowed to new political realities. Democrats no longer command a filibuster-proof Senate majority, and voters and lawmakers are far more concerned with jobs and the economy than with enacting sweeping and expensive changes to the health system. "I think it's very important for us to...

RUSH: Every Republican in Washington ought to be running to the nearest microphone and proclaiming Obama's budget is dead on arrival, just as the Democrats did every year to George W. Bush and to George H. W. Bush before that. It is an abomination. From Power Line, posted yesterday: "Today the Obama administration unveiled its budget for FY 2011. Obama said, 'Our government is deeply in debt after what can only be described as a decade of profligacy,'" but we have established that as recently as 2007, the budget deficit was only $164 billion, 176. And now it's a trillion...

Nancy Pelosi may have been all smiles on Saturday, but the difficulties encountered in her full-court press on the ObamaCare bill will only get worse, the AP reports this morning. The AP declares the public option dead, thanks to skeptical Democrats, and Joe Lieberman pledges to stop the bill from coming to the floor with one included. The LA Times concurs: House approval of legislation Saturday — even if Democrats can move it no further — was an accomplishment that has eluded presidents for decades. But the close vote and the exertions it took to secure a majority were laden...

WASHINGTON - The glow from a health care triumph faded quickly for President Barack Obama on Sunday as Democrats realized the bill they fought so hard to pass in the House has nowhere to go in the Senate. .................. The problem is that the Senate won't run with it. The government health insurance plan included in the House bill is unacceptable to a few Democratic moderates who hold the balance of power in the Senate.

It was always clear that the real health-care battle would be in the Senate. But what would have been shocking eight months ago is to hear that it would take until November for the Democrats to pass a bill even in the House. It would have been even more shocking to have heard that, even after a full-court-press by the White House, the bill would pass by only five votes — meaning that if just three of the 435 members had changed their minds, it would have changed the bill's fate. And it would have been shocking to have heard...

(CBS) Senator Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said the health care bill passed last night by the House of Representatives is "dead on arrival to the Senate." Graham argued that the House bill was "written for liberals, by liberals. "Just look at how it passed; it passed 220 to 215. It passed by two votes. You had [39] Democrats vote against the bill," Graham told "Face the Nation" host Bob Schieffer Sunday. He also admitted that if it were to come down to it, he would join his independent colleague Senator Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., in filibustering a bill including the so-called public...

House Minority Leader John Boehner (R.-Ohio) said today that the health-care plan that President Barack Obama is pushing in Congress is now dead and will not pass. Boehner made the observation in an interview this morning on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” where he appeared after President Obama. “There’s been no bipartisan conversation on Capitol Hill about health care,” Boehner said in an interview with "Meet the Press" host David Gregory. “At some point when these big government plans fail—and they will, the Congress will not pass this—it’s really time for the president to hit the reset button, just stop all...

Doctors pronounce death when their patient ceases brain activity and in that sense, I suppose we could say the GOP in California died years ago. But, in this bizarre world of politics technical death has a whole other half-life. We know dead people often vote and brain-dead legislators do too! No surprise there. And these brain dead politicians are frequently re-elected! We also know that dead beats live off your tax dollars. Yes, the dead are prolific partakers in California politics. If you consider these folks often join forces with those I call mouth-breathers, (they resemble the walking dead) then...

Do you think homosexuality is a choice? Oh, no. I don’t think I’ve ever really subscribed to that view, that you can turn it on and off like a water tap. Um, you know, I think that there’s a whole lot that goes into the makeup of an individual that, uh, you just can’t simply say, oh, like, “Tomorrow morning I’m gonna stop being gay.” It’s like saying, “Tomorrow morning I’m gonna stop being black.” So your feeling would be that people are born one way or another. I mean, I think that’s the prevailing view at this point, and...

it's on live now.

Assembly Speaker Karen Bass said Thursday that she "could not imagine" that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger would veto the Democrats' budget plan.

President-elect Barack Obama is moving swiftly to appoint homosexual activists to positions within his administration. Politico.com reports that 10 national homosexual organizations are working with the Obama transition team to get more openly homosexual people appointed to the incoming administration. Obama's transition team has also reportedly named at least seven openly homosexual people to transition panels assigned to review federal departments and agencies. Three of the seven homosexuals on transition panels have held high-level positions in the Clinton administration. Matt Barber, director of cultural affairs with Liberty Counsel and Liberty Alliance Action, says Obama is keeping his promises to the...

Senior U.S. and Pakistani officials tell NBC News that Wednesday’s Predator attack on a village in northwest Pakistan was not insignificant, that a “high-value target … an Arab” was among those killed. U.S. officials believe the unnamed target was planning attacks outside Pakistan, “so we nailed him,” in the words of one.

Hillary Rodham Clinton began her presidential quest armed with talent, tenacity, fame, money, connections and a team that knew how to win. Many people believed her victory in the Democratic nomination battle was a sure thing. Her ultimate failing may have been in believing it, too. Clinton had one big problem out of the gate: 40 percent or more of Americans said they'd never vote for her. She was too polarizing. It's love her or hate her. Clinton powered through that hurdle in state after state, showing grit that earned her the valuable political currency of being merely admired. White...

From the very beginning, the premise and the promise of Barack Obama’s campaign was that it would transcend race. And last autumn the Obama team also knew this was the only way it could win. The Clinton brand among black voters was so strong, so unbreakable, so resilient a force that even the first credible black candidate for the presidency remained stuck 20-30% behind Hillary Clinton among African-American voters. She was, after all, the wife of the “first black president”, as the author Toni Morrison called Bill. She had almost all the black political establishment behind her. Her husband, from...

There is a lot of talk that Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton is now fated to lose the Democratic nomination and should pull out of the race. We believe it is her right to stay in the fight and challenge Senator Barack Obama as long as she has the desire and the means to do so. That is the essence of the democratic process. But we believe just as strongly that Mrs. Clinton will be making a terrible mistake — for herself, her party and for the nation — if she continues to press her candidacy through negative campaigning with disturbing...

Senator Barack Obama surged ahead of his rival, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, in the count of superdelegates on Friday, the first time since the outset of the race that Mrs. Clinton has lost the lead in one of her few remaining trump cards. Mr. Obama racked up seven endorsements in the last 24 hours from superdelegates, the Democratic Party insiders who are granted autonomy to support whomever they wish at the convention in August. One, a New Jersey congressman, switched his allegiance away from Mrs. Clinton, allowing the Illinois senator to pull ahead of his opponent, according to the latest...

Primary turnout and recent surveys show conservative "values" voters have abandoned the Republican Party. Illustrating a dramatic about face from past elections, a recent study shows that if the election were held today, 40% of all evangelical Christian voters would choose the Democratic candidate and just 29% would choose the Republican candidate. The remaining 28% are undecided, saying they would make their selection without respect to party affiliation. A Barna Group release titled: Born Again Voters No Longer Favor Republican Candidates cites figures that spell doom for the Republican Party, given that "in the past couple of elections, the born...

The State Senate must approve the measure next, which isn't a sure thing. Senate President Don Perata, D-Oakland, wants to know first whether the gargantuan health care package would adversely affect the state's budget, which already is projected to be $14 billion in the red for fiscal 2008-09. Sen. Perata, on a Bay Area radio station Tuesday, said "I think [the plan is]DOA. I haven't found anybody yet … that can make any sense of it." He said he will not allow a vote until 2008. The saving grace is that the legislation amounts only to political grandstanding if voters...

The state Assembly on Monday approved the first phase of a $14.4-billion plan to extend medical insurance to nearly all residents, giving Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and his Democratic allies their first victory in a risky yearlong campaign to overhaul California's healthcare system. The measure, negotiated by Schwarzenegger and Assembly Speaker Fabian Nuñez (D-Los Angeles), would require almost everyone in California to have insurance starting in 2010. It would provide subsidies and tax credits for those who would have trouble paying their share of the premiums. The authors estimate that it would bring medical coverage to 3.6 million Californians, including 800,000...

SACRAMENTO - The state Assembly this afternoon approved a sweeping health care reform plan that would extend health insurance to more than two-thirds of the state's uninsured and create new protections for people anxious about keeping their coverage because of a pre-existing health condition. The plan, which faces uncertain prospects in the Senate and then must be approved by voters before taking effect, would create a new requirement that individuals carry insurance or potentially be fined. Employers would have to offer coverage or pay a percentage of revenues into a state health pool. The proposal would also impose taxes on...

Governor Schwarzenegger and legislative leaders have declared this the year for health care reform. They’re working hard to put something on the 2008 ballot for voter approval. But as we turn the calendar to December, these elected leaders have yet to reach an agreement on what “reform” should look like. Furthermore, striking a legislative deal would be the easy part. It will be much harder to get voters to ratify any agreement. Various versions of health care reform have been on the California ballot eight times in the past fifteen years, and been rejected every time. Defeated proposals include sweeping...

November 20, 2007 Is Fred Dead or Just Resting?TOM BEVAN In early October I argued there was a disconnect between the way the pundits and voters viewed Fred Thompson's candidacy. Sitting here six weeks later, however, evidence continues to pour in that Thompson has completely underwhelmed the Republican electorate. It seems like every other day a new poll comes out in a key early state showing Fred losing ground - sometimes significant ground. Indeed, if you take a look at groups that have conducted at least two surveys since early September (when Thompson officially entered the race and began...

US President George W Bush faces a showdown with Congress after it passed a new version of a bill on child health insurance he has already vetoed. The Democrat-controlled upper-house Senate passed the bill by 64-30 votes after it was approved by the House of Representatives last week. But the bill failed to muster enough votes in the lower house to override a new presidential veto. Mr Bush rejects the plan because it seeks to raise tobacco taxes. He has argued the legislation takes the programme beyond its original purpose of insuring children from low-income families. The White House has...

WASHINGTON - The Democrats' plan to bring U.S. troops home from Iraq next year responds to voters' demand for change, New Hampshire Rep. Paul Hodes (news, bio, voting record) said Saturday. Hodes and other House Democrats on Friday pushed through a rebuke of President Bush and the war in Iraq. Bush promised a veto of the spending bill, which demands combat operations end before September 2008 — and perhaps earlier. "With our vote this week, we're helping our troops, protecting our veterans, and fighting to end the waste, fraud and abuse," said Hodes, delivering the Democrats' weekly radio address. "After...

US House panel sets 2008 troop pullout from Iraq 15 Mar 2007 18:09:45 GMT Source: Reuters By Richard Cowan WASHINGTON, March 15 (Reuters) - A Democratic plan to withdraw all U.S. combat troops from Iraq by Sept. 1, 2008, was approved by a key committee of the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday. On a mostly partisan 36-28 vote, the House Appropriations Committee approved a $124.1 billion emergency spending bill, including around $100 billion to continue fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But the bill, which could be debated in the full House as early as next week, would set...

Rep. Ron Paul: Running to Win in 2008Dave EberhartWednesday, Jan. 31, 2007 WASHINGTON -- Libertarians and conservatives alike, frustrated by their early options among the so-called 2008 front-runners, may turn to a familiar face in pursuit of the White House: Rep. Ron Paul.Paul, R-Texas, has been a fervent advocate of limited constitutional government, low taxes, free markets, and a return to sound monetary policies based on commodity-backed currency. He's now considering taking his no-nonsense show on the road in an under-the-radar run for the White House... (full article at http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2007/1/30/151713.shtml?s=po) ANNOUNCINGThe formation of the Great Ron Paul Ping List (GRPPL)on...

WASHINGTON - Comedian Al Franken has decided to run for the Senate in Minnesota in 2008, a senior Democratic official from Minnesota said Wednesday.

The federal judge who overturned the Bush administration’s Roadless Rule declared Wednesday that energy companies can’t set up their drill rigs on any undeveloped oil and gas lease issued since 2001 within a roadless area. U.S. Magistrate Judge Elizabeth D. LaPorte ruled in September that President Bill Clinton’s 2001 Roadless Rule be reinstated, protecting 4.4 million acres of roadless areas in Colorado national forests and more than 58 million acres nationwide. Her ruling Wednesday prevents the U.S. Forest Service from approving or allowing any surface disturbance of a mineral lease issued after Jan. 12, 2001, on which drilling or development...

Zune launched this week and, as predicted, it easily jumped to the number one spot in one of the most critical market metrics. How can this happen? How can a company known for practices that should dominate this metric fall so far behind its Redmond rival? Sometimes it’s about focus and commitment and a never ending desire to maximize critical metrics like third party studies. Sometimes it about executive integrity and the ability to present a product in the most favorable light in the face of all information to the contrary to overcome all objections in getting a product to...

This afternoon President George W. Bush announced that he has nominated Orange County Superior Court Judge James E. Rogan to a seat on the United States District Court for the Central Valley. Rogan, of course, is a superstar on the Republican side of the aisle. While originally a Democrat, Rogan found his heart and soul in the Grand ol' Party of Abraham Lincoln. He has had a storied career -- as a successful gang murder prosecutor, a judge up in Los Angeles County, GOP Majority Leader (yes, we had one of those once!) of the California State Assembly, a Member...

Sen. John McCain will formally open his 2008 presidential exploratory committee by tomorrow a.m., an adviser said today. The committee already a website and it will stream live the two speeches McCain delivers tomorrow before conservatives in Washington. First, he addresses the Federalist Society. Later, he speaks to GOPAC.

Rudolph Giuliani has repeatedly extended the hand of friendship to Christian conservatives in recent months. But a leading member of a think tank closely associated with the former Mayor has just delivered a powerful jab to the face of the same constituency. Mr. Giuliani, long viewed with suspicion by the religious right because of his pro-choice, pro-civil-union positions, went so far as to campaign for former Christian Coalition leader Ralph Reed back in May. The move was widely seen as an attempt to curry favor with a voting bloc that will play a crucial role in electing the Republican Presidential...

A bipartisan group of prominent political strategists on Tuesday announced an Internet information venture designed to interact with America's opinion leaders and serve as an antidote to the right-left clash that typifies political discourse on the Web. The site, called Hotsoup.com, will debut in October and will be edited by Ron Fournier, former chief political writer for The Associated Press. Hotsoup is the brainchild of some of the best-known practitioners of partisan politics in Washington, including Matthew Dowd, chief strategist for the Bush-Cheney campaign in 2004, and Joe Lockhart, former White House press secretary under President Clinton and a senior...

RUSH: All right. This is hilarious: (story) "The long-fought Senate immigration bill that opponents say grants amnesty to 10 million illegal aliens is unconstitutional and appears headed for certain demise, Senate Republicans now say." Here is why, "A key feature of the Senate bill is that it would make illegals pay back taxes before applying for citizenship, a requirement that supporters say will raise billions of dollars in the next decade. There's just one problem: The U.S. Constitution specifically prohibits revenue-raising legislation [taxes, tax cuts, what have you, has to come from the House] from originating in the Senate. 'All...

Thomas Autry is a former Marine corporal, but he doesn't consider himself a brave man for fighting off five assailants, one of whom died. The soft-spoken Autry was somber Tuesday afternoon, less than 24 hours after he was attacked late Memorial Day while walking home from work at a Midtown Atlanta restaurant. "I'm sorry this whole thing happened. I hate this world has gotten to the point where it is predatory," said a shaken Autry, speaking briefly to reporters from behind the screen door of his Atlanta apartment. Police say Autry, 36, acted in self-defense when he stabbed 17-year-old Amy...

U.S. Senate leaders clear path for immigration bill Thu May 11, 2006 12:32 PM ET WASHINGTON, May 11 (Reuters) - Republican and Democratic Senate leaders agreed on Thursday on a plan to revive a bill that would give millions of illegal immigrants a chance to earn U.S. citizenship. The sweeping immigration overhaul, which has triggered rallies by millions of immigrants and their supporters across the country, is expected to be considered by the Senate next week. Despite the agreement between Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, the outcome of the legislation remains in doubt....

An Irresponsible President Deficits? Let the next White House worry. SHEER COINCIDENCE: Last Monday, the Social Security and Medicare trustees released their annual depressing report. On Tuesday, congressional negotiators handed President Bush a "victory" -- his assessment -- in agreeing to extend his capital gains and dividend tax cuts. Mr. Bush and his fellow tax-cuts-above-all proponents would like you to believe that the two events are unrelated. But taken together they underscore the terrible fiscal predicament that Mr. Bush has chosen to bequeath to his successor. According to the new estimates, the Social Security trust fund will be depleted in...

Breaking....

The New York State Conservative Party's Executive Committee Monday unanimously endorsed former Yonkers Mayor John Spencer to be the Conservative Party's 2006 nominee against liberal Democrat Hillary Clinton. "John Spencer's message of conservative common sense has captured the enthusiastic support of Conservative Party members across the state," said Conservative Party State Chairman Michael Long. "This vote by the Executive Committee recognizes Spencer's powerful support." Spencer's endorsement came at the Conservative Party's annual political action conference in Albany. The full Conservative Party State Committee will vote on its formal endorsement of Spencer at its nominating convention.