Free Republic

Did we all get suckered last week by the governor's office and the state Legislature on pension "reform"? Within a 72-hour period, Gov. Jerry Brown released sketchy details, the 60-page bill was posted on the Internet, a committee hearing was held and the Legislature approved it. We scrambled to decipher the highly technical and complex language. The Legislature and governor's office put out summaries that were incomplete and misleading. Outside experts had no opportunity for input. It was an outrageous charade. A missing word here, an added clause there -- it didn't take much to change the meaning and effect....

WASHINGTON, August 29, 2012 — Enough of the nonsense. Enough of the outright lies and distortions. Here are the facts: * Cardinal Timothy Dolan will give the closing prayer at the Democratic Convention, just as he is doing at the Republican Convention. * There will be no Muslim prayer led by any radical Islamists at the Democratic Convention. Read more: No Muslim prayers at Democratic Convention, but Cardinal Dolan will give closing prayer | Washington Times Communities (more at link) http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/ad-lib/2012/aug/29/no-muslim-prayers-democratic-convention-cardinal-d/

“We’re not going to let our campaign be dictated by fact-checkers,” says Neil Newhouse, a Romney pollster. A half dozen fact-checking organizations and websites have refuted Romney’s claims that Obama removed the work requirement from the welfare law and will cut Medicare benefits by $216 billion. Last Sunday’s New York Times even reported on its front page that Romney has been “falsely charging” President Obama with removing the work requirement. Those are strong words from the venerable Times. Yet Romney is still making the false charge. Ads containing it continue to be aired. Presumably the Romney campaign continues its false...

(CNSNews.com) - The long-awaited inspector general's report on the Justice Department's botched gun-running scheme is finished, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said on Wednesday. But along with that news comes more questions: Issa and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) are demanding to know why a top ATF official involved in Operation Fast and Furious remains on paid leave from ATF -- while simultaneously drawing a six-figure salary from J.P. Morgan, a major investment bank.

Nancy Cordes, CBS: As you know, your opponent recently accused you of waging a campaign filled with anger and hate. You told Entertainment Tonight that anyone who attends your rallies can see that they are not angry or hate-filled affairs. But in recent weeks, your campaign has suggested repeatedly - without proof - that Mr. Romney might be hiding something in his tax returns. They have suggested that Mr. Romney might be a felon for the way that he handed over power of Bain Capital. And your campaign and the White House have declined to condemn an ad by one...

The President of the United States finally deigned to take a few questions from the White House press corps this afternoon, making a surprise appearance in the briefing room.  His primary goal seemed to be to jump on the large and growing condemnation bandwagon of Rep. Todd Akin, following the Senate candidate's indefensible comments on rape.  (He should get in line; prominent conservatives are beginning to ask Akin to leave the race, and the NRSC is reportedly applying similar pressure).  My two biggest take-aways from the presser: (1) This quote: "In terms of the economy...[pause, audible sigh]."  He then launched...

Lies During Fourth Year “I am told that Governor Romney’s new running mate, Paul Ryan, might be around Iowa the next few days,” he said while in Council Bluffs, Iowa. “He is one of the leaders of Congress standing in the way. So if you happen to see Congressman Ryan, tell him how important this farm bill is to Iowa and our rural communities.” House passed bill on August 2, 2012 (Paul Ryan voted yes) The American automobile industry has come roaring back…So now I want to say what we did with the auto industry, we can do it in...

Democrats say voters need look no further than California's $91 billion general fund budget to see how dramatically they have cut. That spending total is 11 percent below the state's pre-recession peak. But the number can be misleading. While California has cut education and services for the poor, budget writers also have relied on creative revenue streams and accounting maneuvers to move programs off the general fund books rather than cut them. That has made comparisons difficult and, experts say, contributed to state bookkeeping disparities that have emerged in recent weeks. "We've been through a period of extreme financial difficulty...

n 1972 Sen. Joseph Biden, the Democrat nominee for vice President, lost his wife and young daughter in a car accident. Losing your family in an auto accident is a gut wrenching tragedy, to be sure. No one underestimates that and no ever blamed Mrs. Biden for the accident. Right up there with despicable things one human can do to another, is falsely accusing the innocent of a crime. “Bearing false witness” is even in the 10 commandments, but Mr. Biden’s feigned Catholicism doesn’t let that stop him. Last night CBS Inside Edition reports, “In a striking moment in December...

When we were kids, we saw the damage a twisted truth or unfounded rumor can do to another person. As adults, we have a duty to uncover the truth through contemplation and evaluation. When we fail to examine “facts” as they are presented, we become the audience in a farce is played-out before our eyes. An example of facts-as-farce is happening now. Harry Reid accuses Romney of going ten years without paying taxes. This fact is actually true because during the first ten years of Romney's life he did not pay taxes and lived with his parents. But Reid's statement...

I was cleaning out the Ryan family refrigerator and freezer. I looked into the back of the freezer and there was this round thing covered with newspaper. Slowly I pulled back the newspaper and … it was a frozen head! With a scary expression on its face! As far as I knew I was alone in the kitchen but I turned around and Paul Ryan was standing there, sharpening a butcher knife, looking at me like he was possessed! (Cue the music from The Shining)

Self-absorbed New York Times columnist David Brooks is famous for his insipid belief that Barack Obama's pant crease meant that he'd be "a very good president," now it looks as though the Washington Post has decided to join him in sartorial absurdity by dispatching reporter Katherine Boyle to write a 700-word piece pondering the meaning of Paul Ryan's suit size. Is this the beginning of a desperate attempt to Palinize the new GOP vice presidential nominee? It's too soon to tell but whatever the case, it is truly amazing to see Boyle ponder the larger significance of the suit that...

Since Obama's campaign has degenerated to nothing but lie, after lie, after lie why don't we just begin to make up stories just to demonstrate how craven this man is? If we float just as phony, made-up stories as the Obama campaign, no one will believe anything attributed to him. This man has no morals, none whatsoever. This man is a street thug in a $1,000 suit. Nothing more. Shame on those Americans who voted for him the first time. But I cannot think of a word to describe those who will do so a second time.

There are many different ways to talk about Paul Ryan's Roadmap, but maybe the most useful is to imagine how his budget affects your budget. How much more money would you keep under his broad tax plan? How much more would you have to save to pay for health care. And for the low-income, whom -- as we'll see -- bear the brunt of Ryan's cuts: How alone would they be in Ryan's America?

Young voters are abandoning social issues and focusing on fiscal ones, the New York Times informs us in a hopeful voice. They present scant evidence for this contention, ignoring data from the General Social Survey showing that young voters—who through the 70′s, 80′s, and 90′s were the most pro-choice cohort—became the most pro-life cohort around the year 2000 (even more pro-life than senior citizens). This difference in opinion is massively amplified by an “intensity gap” between pro-life and pro-choice young people. A 2012 NARAL survey found that 51 percent of pro-life voters age 30 or younger feel abortion is a...

After the massacre in Tucson that saw six murdered and U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., and 12 others wounded, President Obama gave a speech at the memorial where he called for raising the tone in politics. To honor the memory of those killed and wounded the president said: The loss of these wonderful people should make every one of us strive to be better in our private lives -- to be better friends and neighbors, co-workers and parents. And if, as has been discussed in recent days, their deaths help usher in more civility in our public discourse, let's remember...

Serious question: is there anything—anything!—Debbie Wasserman-Schultz won't say to promote Barack Obama? On Fox News Sunday, interviewed by guest host John Roberts, the Chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee somehow managed to keep a straight face as she brazenly claimed: "I have no idea of the political affiliation of folks who are associated" with Priorities USA, the Super PAC that ran the ad essentially blaming Mitt Romney for a woman's cancer death. But as is undoubtedly well known to Wasserman-Schultz, Priorities USA is run by Bill Burton—the former White House Deputy Press Secretary. View the video here.

The real goal of the Obama campaign is to rob Romney of an aura of competence; to disqualify him in the minds of voters by making them believe Romney isn't up to the job of being president. After all, voters will ask themselves consciously and subconsciously, if you can't run a presidential campaign, how can you run the federal government and the military? The tools by which the Obama campaign and the media are using to trip up Romney's campaign and to undermine his competence are, however, these relentless attacks on his wealth, Bain, and taxes. And it's just a...

Yesterday, Democrat Tim Kaine asked his Republican opponent to join him in taking a “balanced” approach to avoiding the looming sequestration cuts. Unfortunately Tim Kaine seems to suffer amnesia on his attempt to implement the same kind of “balanced” approach while he served as Virginia’s Governor. Such an approach included billions of dollars in new and higher taxes. Kaine called on George Allen to “set aside his Pledge,” and work for a “responsible path forward.” Translated, what Tim Kaine means is that he’s asking Allen to break his written commitment to Virginia taxpayers and join with him in an approach...

Oops? President Barack Obama's re-election campaign washed its hands Wednesday of an independent group's vicious (and misleading) ad effectively blaming Mitt Romney for the death of a laid-off steelworker's wife from cancer. Campaign officials flatly denied any knowledge of the facts in the case—but it turns out the widower told the same story on an Obama campaign conference call in mid-May. (The Obama campaign responded late in the day: See update below).