Free Republic

Politically wounded presumptive nominee staggering in the desert of her email scandal.Hillary is politically wounded by her never-ending email scandal, which keeps sucking the life out of her favorability ratings, and has Democrats panicked with fear: “I’m not sure they completely understand the credibility they are losing, by the second,” said one Democratic strategist, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “At some point this goes from being something you can rationalize away to something that becomes political cancer. And we are getting pretty close to the cancer stage, because this is starting to get ridiculous.” “Look, this is a...

Matt Rhoades has made a name for himself in the Republican ranks, serving as Mitt Romney's campaign manager and the research director for George W. Bush's 2004 campaign before that. As the race for the White House heats up, Chris sits down with Rhoades to discuss his latest venture, heading up the conservative opposition research group "America Rising," as our Power Player of the Week.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) failed to congratulate or even acknowledge Dave Brat in his concession speech last night. Neither did Cantor offer Brat his support in November's general election against his Democratic opponent, or call Brat to concede the race, according to Brat. "Cantor's concession speech did not mention Dave once," Brat's campaign manager Zach Werrell noted to Breitbart News.

Megan McCardle, writing in The Daily Beast, wrote today in an article entitled 'No, Democrats Did Not Just Want to "Count All the Votes" in the 2000 Election': 'Ironically, I suspect that if Gore had simply unilaterally requested a statewide manual recount, or the Florida Supreme Court had forced one upon him, the United States Supreme Court would have probably stayed out of it. But they didn’t, and as they say, the rest is history.' And, it still wouldn’t have made any difference. For all of the rending of garments by Al Gore and the rest of the Left and...

Former vice president Al Gore is calling for an end to the Electoral College — the system that cost him the presidency in 2000. Gore said that many voters who live outside the dozen or so battleground states are cheated by the system that allocates delegates from the state level on a winner-take-all basis. He called for presidential elections to be determined by the popular vote.

Al Gore 'Mostly at Peace These Days with Losing the Presidency in 2000' Some weeks Mr. Gore heads to San Francisco, where he has a luxury apartment at the St. Regis tower, to work on venture capital projects or visit his new girlfriend. And some nights he checks into the Regency in New York,

Bill Daley was never a great fit inside the West Wing. He had an even rockier relationship with key Hill Democrats, especially Harry Reid, so the tears aren’t exactly flowing today — even though most White House staffers bear no personal animosity to Daley. (Here’s my initial story on the friction, including anger at Daley among junior White House staffers.) Seven quick observations, culled from White House staffers, former Obama administration officials and other Democrats, in the wake of Daley’s sudden departure: 1. Daley’s departure really did stun Obama, who didn’t have a successor immediately in mind (Apart from Lew,...

POLITICO's Ginger Gibson reports: Newt Gingrich still won't congratulate Mitt Romney for winning the Iowa caucuses. At a news conference in Concord, N.H., Gingrich was asked by CBS correspondent Dean Reynolds why he congratulated Rick Santorum but not Romney. Gingrich stared at the reporter and raised his eyebrows in silence, eventually drawing laughter from some of the reporters. "Because I know you would be a man of great professionalism, I know that's a rhetorical question. And a good one," Gingrich said. During his speech in Des Moines last night, Gingrich visibly seethed at mention of Romney, who along with his...

My last blog focused on Bill Clinton’s vegan diet; and now, Al Gore is telling us not to eat meat. It seems that whole 1994 White House administration is telling us that we need to start with meat—or the lack of it—when it comes to health. Vice President Al Gore said consuming meat contributes greatly to global warming, and he recommended people cut back on the amount of meat in the diet in order to help reduce the environmental impact. Gore didn’t say he himself gave up eating meat or that veganism is the way to go, but he said...

The Green Bay Packers beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 31-25, to win Super Bowl XLV in a game that went down to the final minute.

Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman (I) will not seek a fifth term in 2012, according two Democratic sources familiar with the decision. Lieberman's office did not offer any comment on his plans, saying only that he would make an announcement tomorrow in Stamford, Connecticut. "The Senator's remarks tomorrow will stand on their own," said a Lieberman spokeswoman. Lieberman will be the second Democratic senator to make public his plans to leave the chamber in the past 24 hours. On Tuesday morning, North Dakota Sen. Kent Conrad said he would not seek a a fifth term in 2012. On the Republican side,...

The passions that swirled around Bush v. Gore, the Supreme Court case that ended 10 years ago Sunday, dissipated quickly. And remarkably little damage was done by the institutional collisions that resulted when control of the nation's supreme political office turned on 537 votes out of 5,963,110 cast in Florida. Many controversies concerned whether particular votes could be said to have been cast properly. Chads are those bits of paper that, when a ballot is properly cast by puncturing spots next to candidates' names, are separated from the ballot. In Florida, there were "dimpled" chads that were merely dented and...

Dean tells AP Obama must reclaim progressive baseBy Beth Fouhy, Associated Press Tue Nov 30, 2:47 pm ET NEW YORK – Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean has a message for President Barack Obama: Reclaim progressive voters or risk both re-election and the future of the Democratic Party for years to come. **SNIP** He dismissed Obama's efforts to court conservatives as "a waste of time" even as the president was meeting with Republican congressional leaders at the White House for the first time since the midterm elections. Dean noted that Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell has vowed to make Obama a...

A day after President Obama got what he called a "shellacking" in the midterm elections, he took full responsibility for the outcome that turned over the House to the Republicans. Pundits will spend the next few days poring over the numbers. But judging from the questions reporters asked at the news conference, the defeat is being cast as a clear message from voters that Obama is going in the wrong direction.(snip)For the last two years, the electorate has been subjected to lies about Obama's religion, his heritage and his agenda. These deliberate falsehoods were designed to scare the bejeezus out...

In 2004, the Republican master strategist Karl Rove led weekly sessions at his Washington residence where he planned the re-election of President George W. Bush. In April, Mr. Rove summoned several of the important players behind Mr. Bush’s ascendance to his home once again, this time to draw up plans to push a Republican resurgence. The landscape has changed, with Mr. Rove at times clashing with potent new Tea Party-style activists, some of whom view him as a face of the old party establishment they want to upend. Already a prominent presence as an analyst on Fox News Channel and...

In 2004, the Republican master strategist Karl Rove led weekly sessions at his Washington residence where, over big plates of his butter-smothered “eggies” and bacon slabs, he planned the re-election of President George W. Bush — and what he hoped would be lasting Republican dominion over Democrats.

Lisa Murkowski supporters are urging people to come out tonight for what’s being called a “campaign kick off,” although her campaign manager isn’t ready to say that she’s decided to run. Bonnie Jack, who was a Murkowski campaign elections observer for the count of absentee votes, sent out an email this morning. “Join us at the Kick-off of Senator Lisa's campaign -- with a theme of "write in her name in and fill in the oval." "Denai'na Convention Center, third floor and hopefully out on the sunny deck, 5 pm. Bring your family including children, friends and business associates. We...

Sources at the Christine O’Donnell victory party revealed to The Freedomist that in December of last year Karl Rove met with Tea Party leaders in Dover, Delaware trying to get them to cut a “deal” in which they would leave Mike Castle alone and NOT support O’Donnell. The Freedomist has also learned that Rove was allegedly acting as an operative, although in what capacity it is not known, even as he is playing the role of a political analyst on Fox New in a fair and balanced way.

Coakley staffers won’t allow “biased” reporter inside their office, claiming private property and civil rights, “which we still have despite nazis like you.” Well played, “Progressives.” Video is typical of Union Thuggery. Only thing they didn't do was hit a woman. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gs3QbmkYH8&feature=player_embedded

I ignored the phony (aired on YouTube and nowhere else) Obama birth conspiracy ad that finally got some cult success last week. But I generally keep an eye on Jason “Molotov” Mitchell, the 29-year old conspiracist video artist who cut that ad. This week he interviews Alan Keyes, the laughable kook who lost by 43 points (the biggest partisan landslide in Illinois history) to Obama in the 2004 Senate race. A week after this election, Keyes (who ran as the America’s Independent Party candidate in several states) sued for Obama’s birth certificate, and Molotov sat him down to chew it...