Free Republic

Pelosi tells C-SPAN: 'There has never been a more open process' By Eric Zimmermann and Michael O'Brien - 01/05/10 03:29 PM ET House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) defended Congress' work on a healthcare bill Tuesday saying the process has displayed historic transparency as C-SPAN mounted an effort to open negotiations to TV cameras. C-SPAN wrote a letter to congressional leaders today asking that TV cameras be allowed to film negotiations to reconcile the House and Senate bills. Pelosi said Congress had been transparent throughout the process. "There has never been a more open process for any piece of legislation," Pelosi...

President Obama: No more 'finger-pointing' By: Josh Gerstein and Carol E. Lee January 5, 2010 03:30 AM EST President Barack Obama will deliver a stern warning to his appointees at a meeting Tuesday afternoon that he won’t tolerate efforts by the CIA, the State Department and others to shift blame for the recent intelligence foul-up to other parts of the government, said spokesman Robert Gibbs. “We are going to move beyond agency finger-pointing,” Gibbs told reporters. “The president will not find acceptable a response where everybody gets in a circle and points at someone else. The American people won’t accept...

Republican candidates start the year by opening a nine-point lead over Democrats, the GOP's biggest in several years, in the latest edition of the Generic Congressional Ballot. The new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that 44% would vote for their district’s Republican congressional candidate while 35% would opt for his or her Democratic opponent.

....Normally only a tiny fraction of Americans choose to donate to candidates or political causes. Yet many government employee unions enjoy the power to compel virtually all of their members into supporting the unions’ advocacy, regardless of how the individual worker feels about that agenda....

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) will air out a long pass on Thursday when she drops more than $100K on a single ad during what will likely be one of the most-watched events in TX this year. Hutchison will spend the money on a 30-second spot when Texas meets Alabama for the College Football national championship. It will cost far more than an average TV spot -- in fact, in some districts, the amount Hutchison will spend on the single hit would be enough to run ads for a week. The ad will run during pregame festivities in Austin and...

AUSTIN – When he first took office as governor, Rick Perry acknowledged, "I'm not George Bush." And in the decade that followed, he has sought to prove it. As the 10-year incumbent, Perry is the dominant force in the campaign that formally began Monday, and in Texas politics in general. And one way he got there was by studiously separating himself from George W. Bush. If Bush reflects the rise of the Republican Party in Texas, Perry represents its political dominance and recent populist shift. "There's no doubt that psychologically, Perry has tried to step away from the shadow of...

2010 Situation Grows More Difficult for Democrats By LIZ SIDOTI January 3, 2010 To minimize expected losses in next fall's election, President Barack Obama's party is testing a line of attack that resurrects George W. Bush as a boogeyman and castigates Republicans as cozy with Wall Street. Four House Democrats from swing districts have recently chosen not to seek re-election, bringing to 11 the number of retirements that could leave Democratic-held seats vulnerable to Republicans. More Democratic retirements are expected. Over the holiday break, another Democrat, freshman Rep. Parker Griffith of Alabama, defected to the GOP. "I can no longer...

Link: http://politics.theatlantic.com/2010/01/predictions_2012_the_gop_nomination.php Predictions 2012: The GOP Nomination

Thank goodness our Homeland Security people are on the job after the EunuchBomber botched attack on Christmas Day. We certainly don’t want to have independent war correspondents passing through our airports without revealing their annual income: Got arrested at the Seattle airport for refusing to say how much money I make. (The uniformed ones say I was not “arrested”, but they definitely handcuffed me.) Their videos and audios should show that I was polite, but simply refused questions that had nothing to do with national security. Port authority police eventually came — they were professionals — and rescued me from...

The 2010 election year appears challenging for many elected Democratic senators from politically competitive states, with President Obama and the congressional Democratic majority challenged to persuade the public to back their expansive policy agenda. And you can add an extra degree of difficulty for Colorado’s Michael Bennet , who will face voters less than two years after he was appointed to fill a Senate vacancy. Bennet — who was plucked from relative political obscurity and is still not well-known throughout the state — has mediocre poll numbers and some determined would-be Republican challengers. These factors have prompted CQ Politics to...

CQ Politics is changing the race ratings of two contests in southwestern Ohio to reflect more favorable political circumstances for Republicans Steve Chabot, a former congressman seeking to reclaim his seat, and Jean Schmidt , who’s running for a third full term in the adjacent 2nd District. CQ Politics is shifting Ohio’s 1st district to Tossup from Leans Democratic, meaning that there is no early favorite in a 2010 matchup between Chabot and Democratic Rep. Steve Driehaus , who in 2008 ended Chabot’s quest for an eighth term in a banner Democratic year. The 2010 race should be very competitive,...

Is Glenn Beck right about Obama's eligibility not being a valid issue? Yes, Beck is finally right about something Yes, Beck is driving mainstream credibility Yes, the birthers are obviously unhinged and off base Yes, and he's right that this issue is providing cover to the Obama administration Yes, Beck is always right Yes I don't know, but his opinion has given me reason to reconsider my views No, I love Beck and usually agree with him, but he's just plain wrong on this one No, that's what living and working in New York will do to you No, but...

Kenyan police say they have deported a Jamaican-born Muslim cleric notorious for preaching racial hatred but have declined to say where he has gone. Abdullah al-Faisal had been sent to a "friendly neighbouring country" despite trouble finding a country to take him, a police spokesman told the BBC. But a Muslim group later insisted Faisal was still in Nairobi. Kenyan officials have said Faisal was being deported because of his "terrorist history". He has served four years in a UK prison after being convicted of soliciting the murder of Jews and Hindus. But the authorities have since given mixed signals...

Florida Republican Party chairman Jim Greer announced his resignation on a conference call with reporters Tuesday, accusing his conservative critics of being purists who are "shredding and tearing the fabric" of the GOP. For months, Greer has been assailed by GOP activists accuse him of mismanaging party finances and favoring Gov. Charlie Crist in his Senate primary bid against Marco Rubio, the more conservative former House Speaker. Greer said his opponents want to "burn the house down and destroy the Republican Party." "I am not a purist," he said in describing his vision for the party. "I have never been...

The National Republican Congressional Committee on Tuesday pushed back against Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele for expressing doubt that the House GOP can retake the majority in 2010. Steele, the controversial head of the RNC, told Fox News' Sean Hannity during a Monday interview that House Republicans are likely to make "nice pickups" this November but said he was doubtful they would regain control. Democrats won the House majority in 2006 and grew their margins in 2008. "Not this year," Steele said of a GOP takeover. But Ken Spain, communications director for the NRCC, said the campaign committee is...

Disgraced state Sen. Anthony D. Galluccio’s toothpaste defense went down the drain yesterday, brushed off by a skeptical judge who jailed him for a year for violating his probation after pleading guilty to a hit-and-run. Galluccio, 42, was led away in handcuffs after Judge Matthew J. Nestor refused to buy the Cambridge Democrat’s claim that the Breathalyzer installed in his home was set off by toothpaste containing alcohol. “I didn’t think the toothpaste defense was really going to fly,” said Timothy Cruz, the Plymouth district attorney who prosecuted Galluccio. Galluccio set off the Breathalyzer as soon as it was hooked...

Published in the Ramona Sentinel, Alpine Sun and East County Herald It has been almost one year since I first walked on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives as your elected Member of Congress. It was an experience that has stayed with me every day since, whether I am voting on legislation or speaking with constituents at public meetings or other venues. In each of these situations, I am reminded of that first day and the responsibility to ensure the majority viewpoint of our community is well represented. Many of you are aware of the challenges facing our...

Florida state Rep. Kurt Kelly (R) filed the paperwork Tuesday for a campaign to take on Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.), joining a wide, though not particularly prominent, field of Republicans vying for the chance to knock off the liberal firebrand. Kelly, whose district covers part of Grayson's 8th district, has been eyeing the race since the fall, but was waiting to see how the field shaped up. "I am grateful and excited about the encouragement and support that I have received district wide," Kelly said in a statement, noting early endorsements from local state Reps. Stephen Precourt and Eric Eisnaugle,...

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) said Tuesday that he'll decide whether to run for president in 2012 sometime after this fall's midterm elections. Romney, a 2008 Republican candidate for president and rumored 2012 contender, told Fox News in an interview to air Wednesday that he and his wife would give thought to a second presidential bid in a few years. "It's always a possibility, and you keep the options open, but, you concentrate on the task ahead, for me that's trying to get some good people elected in 2010," said Romney during a "Fox and Friends" appearance. "And, I...

President Barack Obama will visit Lorain County outside Cleveland on Jan. 22 to talk about his administration’s work to create jobs. The White House said the president will meet with Ohio workers, executives and small business owners as part of his White House to Main Street Tour. He’ll be soliciting ideas for growing the economy and replacing the more than 7 million U.S. jobs lost since the recession began in December 2007.