Free Republic

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The realization that voters who live 15 minutes outside this city are completely disconnected from people who work and govern here has finally hit. At least it is resonating with the brains who must run the campaigns to retain the largest congressional majority ever held by a political party; the jury is still out with the Obama administration. “It’s bad. No, let me rephrase that – it’s toxic for any incumbent, especially for one that has a ‘D’ after their name,” one in-the-loop Democratic strategist admitted over coffee within the shadow of the Capitol. He’s not predicting...

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday it was "unfortunate" that American Christians are suspected of smuggling children out of quake-hit Haiti even if their intentions were good. Haitian prosecutors are due to decide Thursday whether to charge the 10 Christians, who have been held by authorities there since they attempted to sneak a group of 33 children out of the country. "Trafficking of human beings, particularly of children is a problem across the world," Clinton said after holding talks in Washington on Wednesday about the problem of trafficking in persons worldwide. "The Haitian nation acted to protect children...

Sarah Palin has been using her political action committee to buy up thousands of copies of her book, "Going Rogue," in order to mail copies of the memoir to her donors, newly filed campaign records show.The former Alaska governor and 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate had her political organization spend more than $63,000 on what her reports describe as "books for fundraising donor fulfillment." The payments went to Harper Collins, her publisher, and in some instances to HSP Direct, a Virginia-based direct mail fundraising firm that serves a number of well-known conservative politicians and pundits. Sarah PAC spent another $8,000...

Amid the media frenzy over Tiger Woods and Bengals receiver Chris Henry, a key aspect of both stories slipped through the cracks: Like millions of other men, Woods and Henry were -- allegedly at least -- the victims of domestic violence perpetrated by their wives or girlfriends. Beyond its brutal physical and psychological costs, domestic violence against men exacts a cruel economic toll at the personal, societal and national levels. For the most part, the media, authorities and average citizens see domestic violence as a crime that is committed by men and victimizes women. Consequently, funding to combat the problem...

United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton loses a shoe as she arrives at Elysee Palace in Paris, France on January 29, 2010 - as she met with President Nicolas Sarkozy. A very Cinderella like scene, Secretary Clinton and President Sarkozy seemed to have a good sense of humor about it. Both politicians laughed together at the top of the stairs - very cute. Check out more photos of Secretary Clinton's 'Cinderella' scene in Paris, France below.

If memory serves, Hillarycare wasn't the only factor in the dim debacle of '94. Do ya'll remember the house bank and the house post office scandals? Back then, any member of the legislature could go to the post office and buy a 30 cent stamp with a 25K campaign contribution check, and get the change in cash. Then, they would go to the bank, deposite it, and then immediately withdraw it again. If they happened to be currently overdrawn by less than 100K, the transaction didn't even cost anything. And that cash was just as fresh as if just come...

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton(L), seen here being greeted by French President Nicolas Sarkozy at the Elysee Palace, arrived in Paris on Friday for talks on European security, after France rejoined NATO's military command last year. France's President Nicolas Sarkozy (2nd L) speaks with his Foreign Affairs Minister Bernard Kouchner (2nd R) after a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the Elysee Palace in Paris January 29, 2010.

Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, has complained of the tiring natue of her job and said she will step back from the role before the end of Barack Obama's presidency. Mrs Clinton said she would not serve a full eight years if President Barack Obama is re-elected in 2012. There has been speculation in America that Mrs Clinton could resign to run for the governor's post in New York but she said she wanted to retire to writing and teaching. The former First Lady, who has spent two decades in the national spotlight and narrowly lost her own...

When President Barack Obama asked New York Sen. Hillary Clinton to join his cabinet as secretary of state, the move was widely praised. Clinton, his principal rival for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, added a measure of gravitas to his team of advisers and would, it was suggested, help unite the president's party at a time the Republicans appeared to be on the verge of complete collapse. At the time, comparisons were made to Abraham Lincoln. Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin recounts in her book Team of Rivals how the 16th president of the United States invited others who held leadership...

Photos Show Mrs. Clinton After a Long Flight RUSH: I know that Mrs. Clinton's in Afghanistan now. I just saw some pictures. It's not pretty. The AP has run a series of pictures of Mrs. Clinton arriving -- now I understand this -- after a long flight from somewhere. I don't know how long the leg was. But remember I got in all kinds of trouble during the primary before Operation Chaos by correctly pointing out that a number of Americans would not want to watch a 60-plus-year-old woman age in office. I caught hell for that 'cause, you know,...

That's how Laura Rozen reads this exchange with Tavis Smiley: TAVIS SMILEY: Finally, there’s already speculation about whether or not Secretary Clinton is going to do this for the full first time, and whether or not she has any interest if asked to stay on to do it for eight years? You see how tough the job is, can you imagine yourself doing all four years and, if asked, doing it for another four years? HILLARY CLINTON: No, I really can’t. I mean, it is just… TAVIS SMILEY: No to what? All four or eight? HILLARY CLINTON: The whole, the...

"U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrives at Stansted Airport in Stansted, England, Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2010. Clinton arrived in Britain ahead of a major conference on Afghanistan, scheduled for Jan. 28, which will be co-hosted by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Afghan President Karzai and United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon."

"There Is Only The Fight" An Analysis Of The Alinsky Model Hillary D. Rodham 2 May 1969 Excerpts: *snip*

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sharply rebuked foreign critics of the American response to Haiti's earthquake and said the impoverished nation has welcomed US troops."I deeply resent those who attack our country, the generosity of our people and the leadership of our president in trying to respond to historically disastrous conditions after the earthquake," Clinton said.

Enclosed are some excerpts from Senator John McCain's letter that he E-Mailed to his followers today. I'm pleased to see someone on Capital Hill who is standing up to Obama and the Democrats and their outrageous wasteful spending..... "My Friend, I have spent much of my career fighting against wasteful spending in Washington. I'm not afraid to speak out when I see taxpayer dollars wasted. And in all my years in public office, I have never seen spending as out of control as it is under the current Democratic leadership. Our national debt has reached an all-time high of $12.4...

Supreme Court Appears Divided Over Hillary Clinton Movie in Campaign Finance CaseTony Mauro Legal Times March 25, 2009 The Supreme Court's weakened support for the McCain-Feingold campaign law seemed to slip further Tuesday as the justices debated whether an anti-Hillary Clinton movie released during the 2008 presidential campaign should be regulated as a campaign advertisement or protected under the First Amendment. Justices seemed divided about the complex issue during oral argument in the case Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (pdf), brought by a conservative group that produced "Hillary: The Movie" while she was a candidate for president. The movie...

Note: Contact info deleted by me. # Note: The following text is a quote: Secretary Napolitano Designates 11 New Countries as Eligible for H-2a and H-2b Nonimmigrant Visa Programs Release Date: January 22, 2010 For Immediate Release Office of the Press Secretary Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano this week designated 11 new countries as eligible to participate in the H-2A and H-2B nonimmigrant visa programs, which allow U.S. employers to bring foreign nationals to the United States to fill temporary or seasonal jobs for which U.S. workers are not available. The 11 newly designated countries—Croatia, Ecuador, Ethiopia,...

Will the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision destroy American democracy? You might think so given the responses of its critics. The Citizens United decision, far from signaling the fall of the republic, strengthens the First Amendment and freedom of speech. Let's start with the facts of the case. Citizens United, a nonprofit political advocacy group, produced a film called "Hillary: The Movie" about the current Secretary of State, who at the time was a presidential candidate. The movie did not reflect well on Ms. Clinton but did not explicitly advocate her defeat in the 2008 presidential contest. Citizens United planned...

By now you’ve heard: Scott Brown, the Lt. Colonel of the Army National Guard, has just been elected to the United States Senate. Oh, also, he posed nude in Cosmo in 1982. And now that this campaign is over, I have to wonder – where was the outrage? I have yet to find any. But had a woman candidate done the same, it would have cost her the election. No female politician could hope to make it out of a scandal like that. Michelle Obama faces daily scrutiny from the media on every one of her wardrobe choices. It’s a...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has lifted a U.S. ban on a planned visit by a leading European Muslim critic of the Iraq war, in a move rights groups hailed as a victory for civil liberties. Clinton signed orders which ended the ban on Professor Tariq Ramadan of Oxford University, who was barred due to alleged terrorism ties which he denies, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said on Wednesday.

How can you be effective as the President of the United States when the whole world now knows that it was your own Secretary of State who, back during the campaign, put out those rumors that you’d been a drug dealer in college? That’s the quandary created for our Chief Magistrate by the revelations in Mark Halperin and John Heileman’s new book, Game Change. Written like a roman a clef, the book contains all the political smut you’ve been dying to read: John Edwards’ cheatin’ heart, Elizabeth Edwards’ star turn as Lady Macbeth, Cindy and John McCain’s fights (surprise: John...

Hillary Clinton to go to Haiti on Saturday15 Jan 2010 23:00:54 GMT Source: Reuters WASHINGTON, Jan 15 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will fly to Haiti on Saturday to get a firsthand look at the earthquake relief effort as well as to help evacuate some Americans caught up in the disaster. Clinton, who cut short a trip to the Asia-Pacific region after Tuesday's quake, said on Friday she and U.S. Agency for International Development Director Rajiv Shah would meet Haitian President Rene Preval as well as U.S. relief workers. "We will also be conveying very directly and...

As I write, we don't know the extent of the damage wrought by the earthquake that rocked the coast of Haiti on Tuesday. But a tragic number of people have been killed or injured, and early estimates indicate that nearly 3 million people -- almost a third of Haiti's population-- may need aid, making this one of the great humanitarian emergencies in the history of the Americas. I met with U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday and with other key U.N. leaders to discuss Haiti's immediate and long-term needs. Those who are still alive under the rubble must be...

"Would it be constitutional for the government to legislate compulsory calisthenics for all Americans? If not, why not? If it would be, in what sense does the nation still have constitutional, meaning limited, government?""Supporters of the mandate say Congress can impose the legislation...

In a roundtable discussion with the Post's Anne Kornblut, author of 'Notes from the Cracked Ceiling: Hillary Clinton, Sarah Palin and what it will take for a woman to win, former White House press secretary Dee Dee Myers and syndicated newspaper columnist Kathleen Parker discuss their reactions to the selection of Alaska governor Sarah Palin as the Republican vice presidential nominee...

I thought Bill was the US Envoy to Haiti.

Huffington Post reporter Mayhill Fowler reveals today that she intentionally ignored reporting former President Bill Clinton's adulterous relationship with an unnamed mistress during his wife Hillary's campaign for the 2008 Democratic party presidential nomonation.Fowler writes she knew the state of the Clintons' marriage had national security implications as she notes that Democratic voters were falsely comforted thinking the former two-term president would be by Hillary's side in bed at the White House when the "3 a.m." phone call came. But that was not enough for her to report the truth so the voters could decide for themselves. Huffington Post, the...

Game over: The Clintons stand alone By: Ben Smith January 11, 2010 06:05 PM EST A new book is out with a highly critical but unsourced portrait of Hillary Clinton. This familiar occurrence — it’s happened too many times to count over the years — has usually been greeted with an equally familiar response: A fast and furious counterattack from the Clinton inner circle. What’s notable about the highly publicized release of “Game Change,” however, is the virtual silence from the Clinton camp. The lack of public outrage seems to mark the sputtering end of what was once known as...

From The New York Daily News Bill Clinton helped sink his wife’s chances for an endorsement from Ted Kennedy by belittling Barack Obama as nothing but a race-based candidate. “A few years ago, this guy would have been getting us coffee,” the former president told the liberal lion from Massachusetts, according to the gossipy new campaign book, “Game Change.”The book says Kennedy was deeply offended and recounted the conversation to friends with fury. After Kennedy sided with Obama, Clinton reportedly griped, “the only reason you are endorsing him is because he’s black. Let’s just be clear.”

Here’s the latest piece of scum to float to the surface… A book published today by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin The Race of a Lifetime reveals that Hillary Clinton accused Obama of cheating during their historic 2008 campaign race. This is a pretty serious charge. Let’s see if the US media covers it. Founding Bloggers discovered this nugget from the Times Online report today: Hillary Clinton is depicted — and quoted — as foul-mouthed and consumed with anger over what she saw as the media’s kid-gloved treatment of Mr Obama. She was convinced that he had cheated at the...

<p>Sen. Charles Schumer "betrayed" Hillary Rodham Clinton by working with other senators to make sure a Democrat would win the White House in 2008 -- actively recruiting Barack Obama to run as an alternative to his New York colleague, an explosive new book claims.</p>

One of the enduring mysteries of the 2008 campaign was what got Ted Kennedy so mad at Bill Clinton. The former president's entreaties, at some point, backfired, and the explanation has never quite emerged. I've finally gotten my hands on a copy of Game Change, in which John Heliemann and Mark Halperin report: [A]s Hillary bungled Caroline, Bill’s handling of Ted was even worse. The day after Iowa, he phoned Kennedy and pressed for an endorsement, making the case for his wife. But Bill then went on, belittling Obama in a manner that deeply offended Kennedy. Recounting the conversation later...

Sen. Charles Schumer played both sides of the fence in the lead up to the 2008 presidential primaries -- actively recruiting Barack Obama to run as an alternative to Hillary Clinton even as he signaled that "home-state decorum" would prohibit him from publicly opposing his fellow senator if she decided to run, an explosive new book claims. And Clinton had no idea that Schumer and her other Senate colleagues were actively plotting her downfall -- learning months later, when it hit her like a ton of bricks, according to Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the...

[A]s Hillary bungled Caroline, Bill’s handling of Ted was even worse. The day after Iowa, he phoned Kennedy and pressed for an endorsement, making the case for his wife. But Bill then went on, belittling Obama in a manner that deeply offended Kennedy. Recounting the conversation later to a friend, Teddy fumed that Clinton had said, A few years ago, this guy would have been getting us coffee.

Why Sen. Kennedy was offended about his conversation with Bill Clinton: (Page 218): "Recounting the conversation later to a friend, Teddy fumed that Clinton had said, A few years ago this guy would have been getting us coffee." Clinton senior strategist Mark Penn boasted to his staff how many times he managed to say "cocaine" on that famous Hardball segment. (Page 163.) Hillary Clinton was initially pleased when her New Hampshire campaign chairman, Billy Shaheen, mentioned Obama's previous use of drugs: (Page 161):

Teddy's anger One of the enduring mysteries of the 2008 campaign was what got Ted Kennedy so mad at Bill Clinton. The former president's entreaties, at some point, backfired, and the explanation has never quite emerged. I've finally gotten my hands on a copy of Game Change, in which Heliemann and Halperin report: [A]s Hillary bungled Caroline, Bill’s handling of Ted was even worse. The day after Iowa, he phoned Kennedy and pressed for an endorsement, making the case for his wife. But Bill then went on, belittling Obama in a manner that deeply offended Kennedy. Recounting the conversation later...

A preview of the new play "HOPE-The Obama Musical Story," was staged in Offenbach, Germany this week, and judging by these photos and video, it looks like a rollicking good show. The Broadway-style political biopic is sung in English, and all the major characters from the 2008 presidential race make an appearance, including (clockwise from top left) a scantily clad former Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin, a gospel-crooning Rev. Jeremiah Wright, former Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), and former Democratic candidate Barack Obama (D-Ill.) along with his wife, Michelle. Even Michelle Obama's mother, Marian Robinson, has her own number.(continued)

The Obama administration will share control over U.S. foreign aid with recipient countries, ending Washington's longtime policy of "dictating" to those nations how to spend the money, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Wednesday. The administration also will move toward an investment-based approach to rewarding aid, with rigorous political and economic criteria, she said. "We are adopting a model of development based on partnership, not patronage," Mrs. Clinton said in a speech at a Washington think tank. "In the past, we have sometimes dictated solutions from afar, often missing our mark on the ground. Our new approach is to...

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made an impassioned appeal Wednesday for greater US international development aid, saying it was vital to US and global security at a time of growing extremist threats. Development is a "strategic, economic and moral imperative," the top US diplomat said in a speech at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington. "We cannot stop terrorism or defeat the ideologies of violent extremism when hundreds of millions of young people see a future with no jobs, no hope, and no way ever to catch up to the developed world," she said....

Sarah Palin almost nudged feminist's beloved Hillary out of the first place spot in the Gallup's recent Woman of the Year poll. The buzz from women who can't bring themselves to acknowledge Palin's self-made success is spiteful and loud, especially on the internet. Why is that? With the help of her husband, former President Bill Clinton, Hillary catapulted her career from a small city, small state Arkansas attorney to a failed run for president, finally settling for her present position as Obama's Secretary of Defense. Hillary has one daughter and a marriage that has seen more than its share of...

HOW COLD IS IT???

Here is video of Shannon Bream (filling in for Greta Van Susteren) and Byron York discussing a new Gallup Poll which shows Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin are virtually tied for being America's "Most Admired Woman." Interestingly, Sarah Palin was most admired by both Republicans AND Independents. Oprah Winfrey was third, and Michelle Obama came in fourth. It is also interesting to note, York pointed out when Laura Bush was First Lady, she was the most admired woman during the first year of Bush's Presidency. Michelle comes in fourth at the end of Obama's first year, and even came in...

They’re both steely, gutsy women, admired by some and loathed by others. And when the Gallup poll asked Americans to name, without prompting, which woman they admire most, Hillary Rodham Clinton beat Sarah Palin – barely. Mrs. Clinton won “most admired woman” for the 14th time since 1993, the year she became first lady, and has continued to win most of the time as a New York senator and now Secretary of State. She took the prize with 16 percent. Former Alaska Governor Palin, who debuted on the Top 10 list last year at No. 2, came in second again...

The State Department is planning to significantly increase the amount of information in its now-famous Visa VIPER cables as part of the impending administration review on the security failures surrounding underwear bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a State Department official tells The Cable. All departments are required to submit their recommendations to the White House Thursday and the administration is expected to collate the information over the weekend to present to President Obama when he gets back to town, although some conclusions are already leaking out. But from State's perspective, the key issue remains its handling of information given to the...

The liberal media is finally realizing Sarah Palin is a serious candidate and a major political force. We would normally expect ridicule from the LA Times, as they were one of the main collaborators in selling America the deception ‘Obama smart - Palin dumb’ but no longer. It naturally helps when Obama continues to show America he is completely incompetent as Sarah Palin keeps surprising (and disappointing) the Left that she is very very capable.

The White House should send a search party to track down Hillary Clinton. America’s foreign policy chief has been missing from the world stage for several days, and has become as elusive as the Scarlet Pimpernel at the height of the French Revolution. I wrote earlier in the year that Clinton had become the invisible Secretary of State, and her current absence certainly reinforces that impression. One would have thought that with a potential revolution on the streets of Tehran, and with scenes of horrific and savage brutality against protesters by the Iranian regime, that Washington’s official voice on international...

Washington (CNN) – Secretary of State Hillary Clinton kicked off her Christmas vacation Tuesday with some secret holiday diplomacy, the State Department said Friday. On the way to her home in New York from Washington, Assistant Secretary PJ Crowley told reporters Clinton stopped at the North Pole "for an important bilateral meeting with a well-known international figure." Crowley declined to say who the meeting was with, but a senior State Department official told CNN the tete-a-tete was with none other than the leader the North Pole himself, Santa Claus. "During the meeting, in a formal de marche, sung to the...

The US State Department on Monday said there was "insufficient" evidence to revoke the visa of a Nigerian charged with trying to blow up a US-bound jetliner, even though his father had raised concerns about him. The State Department said the father of 23-year-old Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab had gone to the US embassy in Abuja on November 19 to raise concerns about his son. The embassy relayed those concerns the following day in a diplomatic cable to the State Department and the National Counterterrorism Center, which coordinates intelligence among various government agencies, said State Department spokesman Ian Kelly. But Kelly...

Wow, for the first time in my life I agree with Hillary Clinton. On a visit to Pakistan, a little while ago, she noted that she found it hard to believe that nobody in the Pakistani government knew where all Qaeda was, or if they didn't know where they were, that they could not find them if they really wanted to. Excerpt- "Hilary Clinton chastised Pakistan yesterday for not making enough effort to seize senior al-Qaeda leaders who she said were hiding in the lawless tribal region bordering Afghanistan. 'I find it hard to believe that nobody in your government...

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's approval ratings are soaring. Sarah Palin is now a best-selling author. From this vantage point, it almost seems obvious: the United States is going to elect a woman president. Someday soon. Right? It would be easy, in the gauzy view of history, to forget how ugly the contest became for the two women who broke new ground in the 2008 presidential campaign. Remember Clinton's sagging eyes, splashed across the Drudge Report, as Rush Limbaugh asked whether the country would want to watch a woman grow old in office? Remember the collective gasp as the...