Free Republic

Here is video of an ABC News "Nightline" Interview President Obama did with correspondent Jake Tapper. Tapper asked Obama about the amendment to the House Health Care Bill that would prevent abortions being paid for. Obama said "this is a Health Care Bill, not an abortion bill." Obama also said that visiting Dover to honor the remains of servicemen and women who have been killed in action has a huge impact on him as he considers what to do going forward in Afghanistan. . . . (VIDEO)

NBC's "The Biggest Loser" is at the White House tonight. This is not a joke.

From this morning’s gaggle in White House press secretary Robert Gibbs’ office: Tapper: It’s escaped none of our notice that the White House has decided in the last few weeks to declare one of our sister organizations “not a news organization” and to tell the rest of us not to treat them like a news organization. Can you explain why it’s appropriate for the White House to decide that a news organization is not one – (Crosstalk) Gibbs: Jake, we render, we render an opinion based on some of their coverage and the fairness that, the fairness of that coverage....

Jake Tapper has distinguished himself within the White House press corps as someone consistently willing to pose probing questions to the president and his aides. But on today's Good Morning America, ABC's chief White House correspondent used a particularly unflattering metaphor for Rep. Joe Wilson and his decision to go on Fox News to defend himself. As a clip of Rep. Wilson on last night's Sean Hannity show rolled . . . JAKE TAPPER: Although Wilson apologized to the White House for his lack of civility, he quickly took to the limelight of conservative media like a moth to a...

Jake Tapper, reporting on Twitter a few hours ago:A source close to Jones re: 2002 doc: “Jones didn’t participate in and wasn’t part of this march at all..."..."He spent a very brief time on the board of the magazine War Times.” Says no other connections to Truther movement other than petition. about 3 hours ago from webTapper is referencing the Rense.com document from January 2002.Gateway Pundit broke the news about Rense.com this morning with a report that posited that Jones was an organizer of the 9/11 Truther march listed on the page.This writer took an alternate view that Jones was...

Here is video of Jake Tapper reporting on the future of a "public option" remaining in the Democrats' Health Care bill. The White House has sent out mixed signals over the weekend over whether they view the public option as a must to remain in the bill. But Obama is receiving pressure from Congressional Democrats, as well as other party leaders to keep the public option in the bill. . . . . (Watch Video)

Here is video of ABC's Jake Tapper questioning White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs about the use of "Nazi imagery" on both sides in the Government Health Care debate. He specifically mentioned Democrats who have referred to anti-ObamaCare protesters as "brownshirts" and accused them of bringing "Nazi swastikas" to events, despite the fact there is no proof whatsoever to that effect. Tapper also mentioned Rush Limbaugh having compared some of the tactics being used by Obama to the things Hitler did in the 1930's and 1940's. In fairness, Limbaugh had compared some of the propaganda and urging citizens to "snitch"...

This from Jake Tappers Abc Blog at 9:36p.m. Eastern time. Seven blue dog Democrats on the committee have said they can't vote for the Health Care bill in its current form. Some of these 7 met with Obama today at the White House for 2 1/2 hours,....This is bad news for Obama's Health Care Bill...story from Abcnewsblog

ABC News' Jake Tapper and Sunlen Miller report: The other day we heard a comment from a White House aide that never would have been uttered during the primaries or general election campaign. During a conference call in preparation for President Obama's trip to Cairo, Egypt, where he will address the Muslim world, deputy National Security Adviser for Strategic Communications Denis McDonough said "the President himself experienced Islam on three continents before he was able to -- or before he's been able to visit, really, the heart of the Islamic world -- you know, growing up in Indonesia, having a...

First President in US History to Have Voted to Filibuster a Supreme Court Nominee Now Hopes for Clean Process May 30, 2009 1:08 PM President Obama's expressed hope today in his weekly address "that we can avoid the political posturing and ideological brinksmanship that has bogged down this (Supreme Court nomination) process, and Congress, in the past" runs against another historical first for the 44th president: his unique role in history as the first US President to have ever voted to filibuster a Supreme Court nominee. So while there is little indication Republicans intend to filibuster President Obama's nominee for...

"We began by passing a Recovery Act that has already saved or created over 150,000 jobs and provided a tax cut to 95% of all working families," the president said Wednesday night. We wondered where the president got that from, given that the Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that more than 1.3 million jobs were lost in February and March, with dismal April numbers to come. We were told by a White House official that the Council of Economic Advisers estimated the effect of the stimulus bill on employment in two ways: One was to prorate the original quarterly estimates...

Surely one of the worst jobs in Washington is that of cleaning up after the Human Gaffe Machine, AKA Joe Biden . . . On shovel duty today at the White House, press secretary Robert Gibbs made a laughingstock of himself as he asserted what Biden “meant to say” regarding swine flu. The press corps didn’t merely titter at Gibbs’ travails. They outright laughed in his face at the press sec’s tortured attempt at vice-presidential revisionism. View video here.

ABC's Jake Tapper questioned Gibbs why the Obama administration was making a large deal over saving $100 million in his proposed budget when the administration pooh-poohed $8 billion in an appropriations bill several weeks ago. (see video by following link)

The Bush administration got excoriated by the Left for its expansive use of the state-secrets doctrine. Barack Obama and other Democratic presidential hopefuls pounded Bush for its use. In fact, that was one of the principal components of Hope and Change — a shift away from secrecy and back to the “rule of law,” although no one has shown how Bush actually broke any laws in the first place. Apparently, Obama agrees, and as Jake Tapper reports, has decided to expand the Bush practice on state secrets:

On 'State Secrets,' Meet Barack W. Obama April 10, 2009 9:20 AM In February, President Obama's Justice Department quietly argued in a San Francisco court that it was maintaining the same position as President Bush's Justice Department on a case involving detainees trying to sue a private company for its role in their (allegedly) extraordinary renditions. The Obama administration pushed the status quo administration argument by invoking the "state secrets" argument, also a Bush-era fave. "It is the policy of this administration to invoke the state secrets privilege only when necessary and in the most appropriate cases," said DOJ spox...

Jake Tapper isn’t the easiest guy to interview. After all, when your interview subject is a competent journalist, he or she already knows all the tricks of the trade — the subtle flatteries, the ever-so-slightly leading questions — so Tapper isn’t about to say any more than he has to about his personal politics or what goes on behind the scenes of his job as ABC News White House correspondent. Or it’s possible Tapper doesn’t want to talk about these things because he’s one of the last remaining journalists in America who take the responsibilities of their jobs seriously, and...

Is President Barack Obama's administration showing hints it is losing confidence in Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner? CNBC's Larry Kudlow said the signs are suggesting as much. The host of "The Kudlow Report" said in an appearance with CNBC On-Air Editor Charlie Gasparino on his March 17 broadcast that a statement put out earlier today by the administration, and placed at the top of the Drudge Report, hinted this was the beginning of the end for Geithner. "You know, statements out of the blue - statements like this are what I call a real bad leading indicator that Geithner's time, days...

ABC's Jake Tapper is one of the few White House Press reporters who have not been swigging down the Presidential cool aid. He asks the questions that we want to know. Take the case of the AIG executive bonuses. Yesterday all hell broke loose when the news began to filter out a about the major green given out to AIG executives because of contractual obligations. Since the federal treasury has been forking over our tax dollars to AIG every few weeks since the first bailout, the questions arises, why didn't anyone know about the contractual bonuses before last week? Jake...

Somewhere Ron Ziegler is laughing . . . Pres. Nixon’s feisty late press secretary would have to tip his hat to Robert Gibbs for the brazen stonewall he put up today to Jake Tapper’s line of questioning on what the Obama administration knew about the AIG bonuses and when they knew it. Tapper’s basic point was this: instead of trying to stop the bonuses now, when the administration is in a relatively weak bargaining position, why didn’t the administration demand that the bonuses be killed as a condition for the granting of the latest billions in bailout money given to...

Last evening’s Fox News Watch included an homage to Sam Donaldson on the occasion of his retirement. Asked if there were reporters currently on the scene like Donaldson, panelist Jane Hall responded: “we don’t see a lot of them. Some people think Jake Tapper has been pretty aggressive.” Tapper, ABC’s chief White House correspondent, has given recent evidence that he is among that rare breed of MSMer willing to report inconvenient facts about the Obama administration. As Jennifer Rubin at Commentary’s Contentions blog has observed, it looks like Tapper is the only MSM outlet to have reported this story: "Brian...

ABC News has learned that the Obama administration will begin the process of releasing a prisoner from the Detainee Center at Guantanamo Bay next week, perhaps as early as Monday. Binyam Mohamed, a 30-year-old Ethiopian and legal resident of the UK, will be transferred into British custody, government officials told ABC News. The British will fly Mohamed back to England. The British government has signaled it intends to subject Mohamed to surveillance, but he is not expected to be arrested. British authorities have long expressed concern that any evidence against Mohamed would be inadmissible because of alleged torture against him...

Is it Jake Tapper or Jake Scrapper? I am beginning to think the later as amongst the Obamagobbed media, ABC News' senior White House correspondent Tapper is emerging as the man ever ready with the pointed question for Obama and his administration. We may even call Tapper the Sam Donaldson of the Obama era. We all remember the many long years when Sam Donaldson would stand before Republican presidents (oh, and Clinton, too) and their press secretaries and, in that accusing monotone, ask the the most pointed question of the day, don't we? Of course, we also remember the less...

Here is video of ABC News' Jake Tapper nailing White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs to the wall today on President Obama's statement yesterday, directly contradicted by Caterpillar's CEO, that passage of the Stimulus Plan would lead Caterpillar to rehire laid off workers. He also asked Gibbs what it says about Obama that no Caterpillar workers lobbied Rep. Aaron Schock to vote for the Stimulus Bill despite Obama putting him on the spot yesterday to do so in front of the workers. In both cases, Gibbs refused to really address the questions. Jake Tapper is showing himself to be a...

ABC's tenacious reporter is already proving to be the new star of the White House press pack. Last night’s prime-time presidential address may have been like prom to the White House press corps, but every high-schooler knows that reputations are made in the schoolyard. And for the freshman class of 44, the first skirmish happened last Thursday in the White House briefing room between presidential Press Secretary Robert Gibbs and ABC’s Jake Tapper. Tapper, the network’s ambitious, telegenic Senior White House Correspondent, has made a name for himself as a tough questioner, but last Thursday, Tapper’s tenacity didn’t just get...

Here is video of White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs getting irritated with ABC News Reporter Jake Tapper. Tapper was pressing Gibbs on making documents available on whether Obama nominees have paid taxes. Gibbs was flippant with Tapper and eventually completely ignored a second question asked by Tapper. It's still early, but it seems to me that Robert Gibbs is a total bust as Press Secretary. He is very poor at the give and take with the press corps on camera. He made a fool of himself today, and showed himself to be as thin-skinned as the President he serves....

ABC News has learned that on Friday, President Obama will likely order the Department of Defense's Military Commission to withdraw charges against terrorist suspect Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri. The charges may later be reinstated in a military commission or pursued in a civilian court. Al-Nashiri will remain in custody. The announcement will not be made until after President Obama meets with the families of victims of terrorist attacks on 9/11 and on the U.S.S. Cole, where he will assure them that this step is not being done to be lenient towards al-Nashiri. The move is being done to stop the continued...

My item of earlier this afternoon notwithstanding, not everyone at ABC is in the Obama tank. During the course of the campaign, Jake Tapper distinguished himself among his MSM colleagues by asking tough questions regarding candidate Obama. He did so both on the air, and notably in postings at his Political Punch blog. Recently named ABC’s Senior White House Correspondent, Tapper has served notice that he hasn’t lost his fastball. Readers will recall my item of yesterday describing how CBS’s Early Show weekend anchors apparently thought it was a good idea to have themselves posterized in the iconic Obama style...

...As Obama entered the room it was absent of the regular fanfare of cheering and clapping. The diners were polite; staying seated at their respective tables and waited for the President-elect to come to them to stand up...

And, it should be pointed out, Mr. Obama has a relationship with Mr. Blagojevich, having not only endorsed Blagojevich in 2002 and 2006, but having served as a top adviser to the Illinois governor in his first 2002 run for the state house. That 2002 endorsement came at the same time that Axelrod had such serious concerns about whether Blagojevich was ready for governing he refused to work for his one-time client. According to Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., Mr. Obama's incoming White House chief of staff, Emanuel, then-state senator Obama, a third Blagojevich aide, and Blagojevich's campaign co-chair, David Wilhelm,...

"Obviously like the rest of the people of Illinois I am saddened and sobered by the news that came out of the US attorney's office today," said President-elect Obama this afternoon in Chicago, speaking of the criminal complaint against Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich for corruption. "But as this is a ongoing investigation involving the governor I don't think it would be appropriate for me to comment on the issue at this time." Asked what contact he'd had with the governor's office about his replacement in the Senate, President-elect Obama today said "I had no contact with the governor or his...

The justices of the U.S. Supreme Court will tomorrow discuss whether or not it should take up the case of Leo C. Donofrio, Applicant, v. Nina Mitchell Wells, New Jersey Secretary of State, a case that challenges the citizenship of President-elect Obama. After the Justices meet -- and assuredly decline to hear the matter -- the anti-Obama activists supporting the case will hold a vigil near the steps of the highest Court in the land. The theory -- which is without evidence -- is that Mr. Obama's birth certificate is faked, and that he was not born in Hawaii but...

In case you care… "For nine months, I kept quiet," Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan said today at Mosque Maryam in Chicago, "because I saw that the good words that I spoke about this beautiful young man" -- President-elect Obama -- "at our Saviours' Day convention and the way they were misused. I decided it would be better for me to just be quiet rather than be drawn into the controversy that was swirling around his pastor, Father Pfleger, and others." "I feel freer today to say the things that are in my heart," said the controversial religious leader....

This evening in Miami, Sen. Barack Obama taped an interview with Ellen DeGeneres for a piece that will air tomorrow on her show -- a surprise appearance. I regret to inform you that he did, indeed, dance.

A civil suit was filed against Mutual Bank Corporation this week regarding the Rezko-Obama land deal that has called the Democratic candidate so many headaches. Kenneth J. Conner filed a $4.2 million suit against his former employer this week in Cook County Civil Court (see the suit HERE) alleging the bank was engaged in systematic fraud. Conner used to perform real estate review and analysis for the bank and he says that in June 2005 Amrish Mahajam, the president and CEO of Mutual, approved a loan to Rita Malki Rezko so she could purchase a 9,090 square foot vacant parcel...

With the news that the McCain campaign is launching a full assault on Obama's associates, preparedness, and judgment in a TV ad campaign to start Wednesday -- as detailed in this morning's Washington Post -- the Obama campaign is planning a pre-emptive assault on the TV airwaves to start Monday. Gov. Sarah Palin got the ball rolling this morning, going after Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., for his association with Professor William Ayers, a former member of the radical group the Weather Underground, saying Obama "is someone who sees America it seems as being so imperfect, imperfect enough that he’s palling...

UPDATE at end of post: the can has already been opened!Without question, ABC's Jake Tapper is one of the few members of the mainstream media who's actually willing to publish less than favorable reports about Barack Obama.In a "Political Punch" blog posting Saturday about new revelations involving indicted fundraiser Tony Rezko, Tapper deliciously summed up a Washington Post piece as claiming that "Sen. John McCain's campaign...is about to open up a can of whoop-ass on Obama with a focus on his personal associations." I kid you not (emphasis added, photo courtesy ABC): Story Continues Below Ad ↓ The Chicago Sun-Times...

The Senate Finance Committee has published a summary of some of the additions to the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act. There are many provisions in the bill that will directly benefit millions of Americans -- what's called the "AMT patch," for instance, which will protect 20 million middle class Americans from seeing a tax increase in 2009. Or tax deductions for tuition, and for teacher expenses. Corporations will see extensions of popular tax cuts -- for research and development, or renewable energies. But there's also some other stuff. My colleague Z. Bryon Wolf points out that it bears mentioning that all...

Saturday afternoon so as to prevent leaks, as members of Congress and the Bush administration rolled up their sleeves to try to hammer out a compromise bill. The BlackBerries, with Post-It notes identifying their owners, vibrated away in a small trash can, and later were spread out on a table for later retrieval, as their owners tried to help their bosses resolve the legislative logjam in one of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's offices on the second floor of the U.S. Capitol building. House Republicans, who had not been meaningfully involved in the process until Thursday, when they announced they would...

President Bush and Republican presidential hopeful Sen. John McCain pleaded with GOP members of the House to end their party rebellion and quickly approve a Wall Street bailout plan.

ABC News has learned that President Bush called Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., this evening and invited him to participate in a meeting about the Wall Street bailout bill tomorrow afternoon in Washington, DC, with other congressional leaders, including Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. Obama accepted the president's invitation, a source tells ABC News. The invitation comes at an interesting time. The President has not been in the middle of negotiations with Congress, leaving that task to his Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. McCain earlier today announced he was suspending his campaign -- and his participation in the first presidential debate Friday night...

Sen. Barack Obama better not mess with his running mate Joe Biden's guns...or else. In an out-of-nowhere attempt to re-assure a southwestern Virginia labor crowd about gun owners' rights, Biden -- who regularly scores "F" ratings from the National Rifle Association -- warned Obama that if "he tries to fool with my Beretta, he’s got a problem."

Earlier this week, the campaign of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., seized upon a column in the New York Post that described Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., as having urged Iraqi leaders in a private meeting to delay coming to an agreement with the Bush administration on the status of U.S. troops. "Obama has tried in private to persuade Iraqi leaders to delay an agreement on a drawdown of the American military presence," Post columnist Amir Taheri wrote, quoting Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, who told the Post that Obama, during his meeting with Iraqi leaders in July, "asked why we were...

"Two years ago, I warned that the oversight of Fannie and Freddie was terrible, that we were facing a crisis because of it, or certainly serious problems," Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., told CBS this morning. "The influence that Fannie and Freddie had in the inside the Beltway, old boy network, which led to this kind of corruption is unacceptable and I warned about it a couple of years ago.” How does this claim of foresight square with this interview that McCain gave to the Keene (NH) Sentinel, discussing the subprime mortgage crisis, in December 2007? Q: “Well the dimension of...

Jake Tapper catches up with Obama's gun problem, and correctly notes that Obama's bizarre, rambling answer on guns to a friendly Pennsylvania audience on Friday September 5th has "ricocheted around the country," but Jake doesn't tell you why. In a nutshell: Obama concluded his curiously defensive answer that day with a hypothetical: ---------------- "The bottom line is this. If you’ve got a rifle, you’ve got a shotgun, you’ve got a gun in your house, I’m not taking it away. Alright? So they can keep on talking about it but this is just not true. And by the way, here’s another...

GOLDEN, COLO. -- "We're going to make everything more open," Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said here yesterday, "and more accountable, and more attractive to those who want to serve." Good government groups have told me that in general, when it comes to transparency issues, they're very happy with both candidates on the top of the ticket. Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Barack Obama, D-Ill., are both seen as "reformers" by these groups. Sure, there have been glitches here and there (Obama's broken promises on public financing comes to mind) but in general they see both men as allies. Enter Gov...

Assuredly McCain isn't comfortable talking about this -- and the McCain campaign discouraged me from writing about this -- but the reason the aged Arizonan doesn't use a computer or send email is because of his war wounds. I realize some of the nastier liberals in the blogosphere will see this as McCain once again "playing the POW card," but it's simply a fact: typing on a regular keyboard for any sustained period of time bothers McCain physically. He can type, he occasionally does type, but in general the injuries he sustained as a POW -- ones that make it...

Well, who is it? I am surprised that the brave, independent-thinking members of the Fourth Estate haven’t given full rein to the terrier instinct on this question. Obviously, someone inside the Obama campaign is out to sabotage The Chosen One’s credibility and, just as obviously, the journalistic profession speaks with a single voice when it comes to favoring The Obama over every other candidate. So where are the investigative reporters when we–or, rather, when they–need ‘em? Wouldn’t the cause of electing Obama come hell or high water be better served by suspending inquiries in to Todd Palin’s 1986 DUI citations...

In his best-selling autobiography, "Dreams From My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance," presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., writes movingly about his high school best friend, whom he calls "Ray." Ray's real name is Keith Kakugawa. And Kakugawa's life could not have veered more starkly from that of his old friend, the presidential candidate. Kakugawa is currently homeless in Los Angeles, sleeping in the beat-up Mazda of his friend Jason Myles. He has been in and out of prison for the past few decades, mostly on charges related to cocaine possession and dealing. "To be honest with you,...

Fighting a Different Alaska Republican, Alaska Dems Credit Palin with Killing Bridge to Nowhere September 08, 2008 4:38 PM Conservative bloggers point out that in their campaign against Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, Alaska Democrats gave credit to Gov. Palin for helping to kill the Bridge to Nowhere. “Gov. Sarah Palin said the $398 million bridge was $329 million short of full funding, and only $36 million in federal funds were set aside for it," the Democrats say. "She said it was clear Congress had little interest in spending any more money for it and that the state had higher priorities."...

Says Diddy: "Attention John McCain, attention John McCain, my name is Diddy…I had to check in with you to tell you that you are bugging the f--- out. I don't even understand what planet you're on right now.! This is the job to be the leader of the free world. "Ok," Diddy continues, "No disrespect. I love you. I want you to live to be 110, but things happen. What if, God forbid, you got a running mate, you become president -- Alaska? Alaska? Alaska? Alaska? Come on, man. I don’t know if there's any black people in Alaska. "John,...