Free Republic

PHOENIX - Gov. Janet Napolitano said Friday she might veto the state's entire $8.2 billion budget over a dispute with the Republican-controlled Legislature on funding to teach English. A veto would force the Legislature, which adjourned about 1:15 Friday morning after 123 days, to return in a special session. Napolitano said the budget deal negotiated with the GOP leadership a week earlier included an "understanding" that Republicans "would sit down and negotiate a Flores resolution with the Democrats." That refers to a 14-year-old lawsuit in which a federal judge ruled Arizona was not meeting its legal obligation to provide adequate...

Gov. Janet Napolitano defended her immigration record Wednesday amid criticism of several recent vetoes and increasing expectations the GOP will paint her as weak on border issues in next year's election. Last year, Napolitano opposed Proposition 200, which denies welfare benefits to illegals and was approved by voters. She also favors allowing illegal immigrants to receive state driver's licenses. This year the Democrat has vetoed several conservative immigration-related bills this year including measures: * Requiring federal, state or tribal identification to be presented in order to receive government services. * Tightening up identification requirements for prospective voters. * Making English...

By Michael Marizco ARIZONA DAILY STAR Seven members of a "significant" migrant smuggling ring that operated in Tucson and Mammoth were arrested by federal agents Monday. The seven people arrested are part of a larger group that moved hundreds of people across the Arizona border to states as far away as Florida. The organization used at least four Tucson homes to stash people, and used Western Union to collect a fee from family members of the illegal border crossers it smuggled across. The migrant smugglers admitted to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents that they collected $430,000 in wire transfers,...

Marilyn Quayle is talking to top Arizona Republicans regarding a possible run for governor next year, sources tell The Business Journal. Mrs. Quayle -- an attorney and the wife of former vice president Dan Quayle -- has had recent meetings with Republican congressional members and top party leaders regarding a challenge to incumbent Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano. Top state and national Republicans and some of their business allies are heavily recruiting Quayle or Surgeon General Richard Carmona for a run against Napolitano. Quayle and Carmona are considered the GOP's best shots at knocking off Napolitano next year. Several other top...

The chatter regarding a possible Marilyn Quayle bid for Arizona governor next year is heating up as Republicans look to unseat Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano. Some top Republicans are trying to get the wife of former vice president Dan Quayle to take on Napolitano. Speculation regarding a possible Quayle run increased in the past couple of days with former governor Fife Symington announcing he would not run against Napolitano next year. Symington specifically mentioned Quayle as a top challenger for Napolitano. That has fueled talk that Quayle is seriously considering a run and that Republicans may be clearing the primary...

KERRY'S 'SHOOT QUAYLE' REMARK TREATED WITH KID GLOVES Sen, Jesse Helms(R.) has certainly received relentless savaging from the media for his tart remark that President Bill Clinton had better have a "bodyguard" if he visits military installations in the senator's home state of North Carolina. But the same media barely noticed the comment of Sen. John Kerry (D.-Mass.) back in 1988--shortly after George Bush was elected President--that "The Secret Service is under orders that if Bush is shot, to shoot Quayle." (For more on the media treatment of Helms, see page 3.) Unlike the Helms jibe, Kerry's was a one-day...

We wish this Presidential election had nothing at all to do with Vietnam. There were good people who served and good people who didn't, good people who supported the war and good people who protested it. What happened really shouldn't be an issue more than 30 years later unless you lie about it. So why do the Democrats keep bringing Vietnam up, and to their own detriment? John Kerry, for starters, has made his four-month service in that country the centerpiece of his campaign. But just last week his staff was forced to admit the Senator had been inaccurate, to...

It's tempting to compare Sen. John Edwards with former Vice President Dan Quayle. But that would be unfair -- to Dan Quayle. Sixteen years ago, a presidential candidate picked a 41-year-old senator from a medium sized state to be his vice presidential candidate. The media response was swift. "Try to imagine Dan Quayle as President of the United States," wrote columnist Anthony Lewis in The New York Times . "No one seriously argues that he is especially qualified by experience or character or talent to take over the presidency." Why is that, Mr. Lewis? "Sen. Quayle is-to put it more...

Within hours of George H.W. Bush selecting Dan Quale for VP, the media had a "deer in the headlights" picture on the front page of every newspaper and the Dems managed to paint this unknown as "stupid". The time is RIGHT NOW, TODAY, to establish who John Edwards is. He's a slick trial lawyer who made millions by taking it from you in higher medical insurance. And there are a few other attacks as well. Edwards could be the "future" of the Democratic party if Hillary! doesn't become the dominant player. The image of Edwards MUST be established TODAY! Or...

Anybody notice that Dan Quayle has started to raise his public profile? Do you think he's looking at '08? He does have a Bush connection, after all. Further, he LOOKS more statesman like these days.

Dem presidential candidate John Kerry lashed out at President Bush over self-deprecating jokes made at this year's Radio and Television Correspondents' Dinner. But Kerry himself has had trouble with pushing the humor envelope. "Somebody told me the other day that the Secret Service has orders that if George Bush is shot, they're to shoot Quayle," Kerry joked in 1988. The Massachusetts Democrat then said, "There isn't any press here, is there?" END

Sen. John Kerry got to be the leading candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination through a series of embarrassing verbal gaffes by his major opponent, Howard Dean. But Kerry has made his share of mistakes in the past. One that may come back to haunt him – particularly as he begins considering vice presidential candidates – is the one he told about Dan Quayle on Nov. 16, 1988. "Somebody told me the other day that the Secret Service has orders that if George Bush is shot, they're to shoot Quayle," he said. "There isn't any press here, is there?" After...

Can you imagine — can you imagine — if Quayle had said that his favorite New Testament book was Job? Can you imagine? Of course you can. For the past, oh, 15 years, I've had many occasions to say, "If Dan Quayle had said that . . ." I suppose that I, and other Quayle-defenders, will be saying it for the rest of our lives. We said it when Al Gore talked about a leopard changing its stripes, and when he interpreted E pluribus unum to mean "Out of one, many." We have had several occasions to say it during...

Some political failures just can’t seem to stay away from Washington. It’s like a magnet for power hungry fat cats. This is true for ex-democratic Vice-Presidents. Walter Mondale lost in 1984 and Gore lost in 2000. Why can’t they take the same road as Dan Quayle? At least Mr. Quayle was smart enough to know he didn’t have a chance. It’s apparent they couldn’t do their jobs as Vice-President, so why did they think that Americans could trust them as The President? Both failed attempts have led them to crawl back to the DNC for another chance. Although they were...

Bergen: Quayle Was Right About MurphyJul 11, 6:56 AM (ET)By The Associated Press PASADENA, Calif. (AP) - Turns out actress Candice Bergen really did agree with Dan Quayle. Ten years ago, then-Vice President Quayle criticized Bergen's "Murphy Brown" TV character for "mocking the importance of fathers by bearing a child alone and calling it just another 'lifestyle choice.'" "I never have really said much about the whole episode, which was endless," Bergen said Tuesday. "But his speech was a perfectly intelligent speech about fathers not being dispensable and nobody agreed with that more than I did." In May, Quayle touted...

Former Vice President Dan Quayle says claims that he threatened to have a former New Zealand politician "liquidated" were "absolute utter nonsense," while the man who made the allegation has repeated them - and says he will provide evidence in due course. Left-wing former Prime Minister David Lange earlier this week told New Zealand TV that he was told Quayle, who was vice president under President George H.W. Bush made the threat during a meeting with the Australian cabinet in 1989. Lange said the threat had been made in the context of the massive pressure under which his government was...