Free Republic

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing Importance, unless suspended in their Operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them. ---Thomas Jefferson, The United States Declaration of Independence. Oops! So what happened to all that discrimination and violation of civil rights that the Arizona immigration law was supposed to cause? Apparently the federal government decided it was so lacking that they didn't include it in their lawsuit against the Arizona law. Jake Tapper of ABC News notes the distinct lack of a discrimination charge...

Each week brings a new reminder of the mega mistake ABC News is about to make bringing in Christiane Amanpour as the host of “This Week.” Jake Tapper should have been the first choice and is demonstrarting weekly that he is the ideal choice. He keeps the show moving and is equally tough on representatives of both sides of the political spectrum. From a business standpoint, this past Sunday’s Tapper-hosted “This Week” was up 6% over a year ago in the 25-54 demographic all these shows chase. Tapper’s edition also was up a percentage point in overall audience from a...

Here is video from yesterday of Mediaite’s Tommy Christopher following BP CEO Tony Hayward and asking him if he knows what “the Government can do to you” if they do not comply with requirements being imposed on them. Hayward just ignored him and other reporters’ questions as he walked away from the White House. It is interesting to note that at the end of the video, you can see ABC News’ White House Correspondent Jake Tapper hollering after Hayward, “How’s that relative trickle going?”

TAPPER: Do you -- does the administration have an opinion on those in Wall Street who say that these -- this action you're proposing with derivatives would cost them hundreds of millions, if not a billion, dollars to take those steps? GIBBS: Well, look, again, I think that we have to figure out a way, and the president believes that bringing activities like this out of the dark and into an exchange that's regulated is a commonsense step that prevents the potential for a set of risky decisions to be made that -- that no one but taxpayers bear responsibility...

Some cross-network love for Jake Tapper on Morning Joe today, as MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski expressed respect for ABC’s Jake Tapper, and disappointment that ABC News had not chosen him as permanent host of its Sunday talk show, This Week. Instead of elevating its home-grown talent, ABC has brought in Christiane Amanpour, late of CNN, to fill the vacancy created by George Stephanopoulos’ move to Good Morning America. Joe and Mika made their comments after rolling tape of Tapper asking Bill Clinton, in an interview aired yesterday, whether he should have been considered to fill the impending Supreme...

Jake Tapper gets visit by Chinese official while interviewing a student at Shanghai Town Hall, the official "commanded" them to stop the interview...(Video)

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: