Free Republic

No matter what anyone in the DNC or RNC says, support for Obamacare is serious poison for a campaign. Forget the “scientific” surveys showing substantial support for Barack Obama’s monster among rank and file Democrats. The fiery plummet of Allyson Schwartz’s campaign to win the Democrat nomination for governor of Pennsylvania is proof that they are wrong. Standing with Obamacare is killing her. A November 2013 Public Policy Polling survey found the Obamacare supporting Schwartz with a...

Opinions about Obamacare are improving even in congressional districts held by Republicans, according to a new poll. But opponents of the Affordable Care Act in those districts still outnumber those in favor of the law. The poll may draw fire from Republicans since it was conducted by a Democratic firm, Democracy Corps. The firm did not comment about how Republicans might view the results, and a representative said there would be a call to discuss the poll Monday afternoon. But attitudes about President Barack Obama’s signature health law are changing, according to the poll, which was shared in advance with...

President Obama's approval rating remains ominously weak among the constituencies that could tip the battle for control of the Senate in November, the latest Allstate/National Journal Heartland Monitor Poll has found. In the latest poll, Obama also faces a formidable intensity gap that could foreshadow turnout challenges for Democrats: The share of adults who strongly disapprove of his performance (39 percent) is nearly double that of those who strongly approve (21 percent).

To many Democrats, ObamaCare is a four-letter word. Most Democrats in competitive elections are seeking to avoid the topic, opting not to tout the controversial law on their campaign websites. In a review of battleground races, The Hill found that out of 50 Democratic candidates with active campaign websites, only 11 mention the healthcare law by name, either as "ObamaCare," "Affordable Care Act," or "ACA." Fourteen more mention the law, but not its name, and half the candidates omit it entirely from their websites. President Obama has trumpeted that more than 8 million people have enrolled in ACA-related plans. Meanwhile,...

Thirty-seven percent (37%) of Likely U.S. Voters now fear the federal government, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Forty-seven percent (47%) do not, but another 17% are not sure. Perhaps in part that’s because 54% consider the federal government today a threat to individual liberty rather than a protector. Just 22% see the government as a protector of individual rights, and that’s down from 30% last November. Slightly more (24%) are now undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.) As recently as December 2012, voters were evenly divided on this question: 45% said the federal government...

A Phoenix woman accused of throwing a shoe at Hillary Rodham Clinton during a speech in Las Vegas remains in federal custody after pleading not guilty to two criminal charges. Alison Ernst, 36, entered the pleas to misdemeanor counts of trespassing and violence against a person during her arraignment late Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas. U.S. Magistrate Judge Cam Ferenbach then granted the government's request to keep Ernst in federal custody, saying she was a flight risk and danger to the community. Ferenbach raised concerns about Ernst's residency status and mental health condition.

Over seven in 10 Obama voters, and 55 percent of Democrats, regret voting for President Obama's reelection in 2012, according to a new Economist/YouGov.com poll. Conducted to test the media hype about a comeback by 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, the new poll found voters still uninspired by Romney, but also deeply dissatisfied with Obama who has so far failed to capitalize on his victory over 15 months ago. The poll asked those who voted for Obama's reelection a simple question: “Do you regret voting for Barack Obama?” — Overall, 71 percent said yes, 26 percent no. — 80...

An analysis of public records by the National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) has found more than $20 million in federal stimulus funds benefitting real estate projects financially tied to Joseph Shepard, husband of Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill. Earlier this month, the Associated Press published an analysis , stating, "businesses affiliated with the husband of Senator Claire McCaskill have received almost $40 million in federal subsidies for low-income housing developments during her first five years in office..." The NLPC analysis released today showed more than $20 million in financial benefits from the federal stimulus law to real estate projects associated...

Game Changer? The federal government paid nearly $40 million dollars to Claire McCaskill’s husband’s businesses her first five years in office as Missouri Senator. During that time McCaskill has had influence over federal policy that has directly affected her family’s income. Missouri royalty - The rest of the country has suffered but Claire McCaskill and her husband Joseph Shepard have done very well these past five years. There are renewed calls for Democrat McCaskill to release her tax returns. ABC3040 reported: Businesses affiliated with the husband of Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill have received almost $40 million in federal subsidies for...

NEW YORK — The mystery of where a dirty Democratic fundraiser got the money to lead a lavish lifestyle, fund political campaigns and post a $2 million bond to get out of jail appears to have a Woodstock connection, according to a report published in Wednesday's Wall Street Journal. The newspaper reports that a company run by Norman Hsu, who donated nearly $2 million to Democratic candidates since 2004 — including presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Clinton — recently received $40 million from a Madison Avenue investment fund run by Joel Rosenman, one of the creators of the fabled Woodstock rock...

April 23, 2014, 6:43 PM ET Hillary Clinton Again Calls Benghazi ‘Biggest Regret’ as Secretary of State BOSTON – Hillary Clinton reiterated Wednesday that her darkest time as secretary of state was the deadly 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. Mrs. Clinton, in a speech to more than 3,000 people at a women’s leadership conference here, called the attack and loss of lives “very, very painful” and “certainly the biggest regret that I have as secretary of state.” She noted that she had taken responsibility for security at the diplomatic outpost, where Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three...

Liberal heads begin to explode in 5..4…3…2…1During an interview this past Friday with CBN’s David Brody, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) stressed that gay marriage could put our 1st Amendment protections at risk.“If you look at other nations that have gone down the road towards gay marriage, that’s the next step of where it gets enforced.“It gets enforced against Christian pastors who decline to perform gay marriages, who speak out and preach biblical truths on marriage and that has been defined elsewhere as hate speech — as inconsistent with the enlightened view of government.“I think there is no doubt that...

Breakups are rough — regrets, pain and bitter memories. As Republicans in the House block immigration reform time after time, American Latinos get the message: It's over, don't call me. Have a good life.Incapable of producing even one GOP vote in favor of the Democrats' last-ditch gamble at forcing an open vote of the House, the message to Latinos is crystalline. Whatever goodwill the clutch of pro-immigration reform House Republicans won in the last year since the Senate passed its bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform bill has now evaporated. ADVERTISEMENT What remains are the weekly flip-flops by Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio),...

Jeb Bush: ‘I’m thinking about running for president’ By Cristina Corbin Published April 23, 2014 FoxNews.com Jeb Bush said Wednesday he's "thinking about running for president," in his most direct statement yet about a possible 2016 run. The former Florida governor spoke at a Catholic school benefit in New York Wednesday morning. He previously has said he'll make a decision on whether to run for president before the end of this year, making clear that he was considering the possibility. But his comments on Wednesday appeared to be more direct. Asked what his "immediate plans" were, he said, according to...

Does David Brooks even pretend to be a conservative anymore? Can we finally acknowledge that this man isn’t even remotely interested in what motivates outside the Beltway - or even inside the Beltway - conservatives? Here’s what Brooks had to say in a recent interview with Jeffrey Goldberg in the Atlantic: [Sarah Palin] represents a fatal cancer to the Republican party. When I first started in journalism, I worked at the National Review for Bill Buckley. And Buckley famously said he’d rather be ruled by the first 2,000 names in the Boston phone book than by the Harvard faculty. But...

<p>"Rep. Paul Ryan and the Wall Street Journal are for throwing in the towel. Legalize them all and start them on the path to citizenship.</p> <p>A full and final capitulation. Let’s get it over with.</p> <p>To understand why and how the Republican Party lost Middle America, and faces demographic death, we need to go back to Bush I.</p>

Thursday, February 20, 2014 One Election Away from Losing Our Freedom Posted by Daniel Greenfield @ the Sultan Knish blog Putin's little fingers in the Ukraine, Cuban agents in Venezuela and the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt all remind us how uniquely vulnerable democracy is totalitarianism. In the United States, cities aren't burning and streets aren't filling up with bloodied bodies, but the government of phone and pen also shows us that we are always one election away from losing our freedom. When a political system becomes polarized between the forces of freedom and the forces of totalitarianism, then the forces...

A devastating new poll finds that Independent voters overwhelmingly back candidates who oppose Obamacare by a 25% margin (54% to 29%). The Fox News poll, released on Monday, also found that the general electorate backs anti-Obamacare candidates by 14% (53% to 39%). Nearly one in five voters (19%) said a congressional candidate's position on Obamacare will be the "single most important factor" driving their voting decision. A full 51% of those polled said 20 years from now Obamacare will be seen as "one of the worst" things President Barack Obama did as president, a sentiment with which even one in...

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday urged the wealthy across the Americas to pay their "fair share" of taxes in order to eliminate poverty and promote economic opportunity for all. In a policy speech in the Ecuadoran capital, Clinton said her appeal to overhaul tax systems did not amount to "class warfare" and was instead a recognition that the "winner-take-all-approach" was a drag on progress.

April 21, 2014 2:45 PM Dem Congressman on Obamacare: The Worst Is Yet to Come, It's 'Going to Hit the Fan' By Andrew Johnson Massachusetts representative Stephen Lynch isn’t just worried about the negative impact Obamacare will have on his party’s performance this fall — he also thinks its worst effects on our health-care system are still to come. Lynch, who voted against the Affordable Care Act in 2010, warned that the situation is “going to hit the fan” when the law’s delayed provisions go into effect down the road. “There are parts of Obamacare, or the Affordable Care Act,...