Free Republic

War Strategy: When Bush and Petraeus proposed the surge in Iraq, Democrats demanded that the general testify before Congress. So why has the Senate blocked a similar invitation to our commander in Afghanistan? Those with memories longer than the 24-hour news cycle recall that in the dark days of the Iraq War, David Petraeus was summoned to Washington to explain the surge strategy that would eventually lead to victory in Iraq. Democrats hoped for a show trial. MoveOn.org took out a full-page ad in the New York Times labeling the commanding general of our efforts in Iraq "General Betray-us." Then...

Policymaking: If the stimulus isn't working, perhaps it's because it was largely written by a collection of leftist interest groups called the Apollo Alliance that counts among its directors a co-founder of the Weather Underground.The Labor Department reported Friday that 42 states lost more jobs than they gained in August, and that 14 plus Washington, D.C., reported unemployment rates of 10% or more. Michigan's rate rose to 15.2%, highest in the nation. Nevada, represented by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, is second with 13.2%. California, home of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, is tied for fourth with Oregon at 12.2%. Clearly,...

Politics: The senator who called the president a liar and never apologized may have worn out his welcome in his home state. Harry Reid may be riding the liberal agenda into political oblivion.In 2004, Republicans defeated Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle largely on the theme that he neglected his home state in favor of national party interests. The GOP is hoping that in 2010 lightning will strike a second time, and Nevada polls indicate it may be more than wishful thinking. In 1998, Reid beat John Ensign by a hair-thin 428 votes. Ensign would go on to win Nevada's other...

Leadership: Scores of congressmen and women are trying to hide from their constituents this August recess as the revolt over ObamaCare continues. If you haven't seen him or her lately, you might try your refrigerator.IBD Exclusive Series: Government-Run Healthcare: A Prescription For FailureIt's amazing how frightened of the community the party of the great community organizer has become now that the community has organized itself against his attempt to impose socialized medicine on the country. They cheered when he told them to get in the faces of their opponents. Now they won't show their faces, period. Senate Majority Whip Dick...

Health Insurance: Driven by focus groups, the administration and Congress rail against insurance companies to get ObamaCare passed. So why have they been protecting the insurance companies from real competition?In a recent stop in North Carolina, President Obama told the crowd that our existing health care system "works well for the insurance industry, but it doesn't always work well for you." This shift from discussing what's in his plan to fighting the insurance bogeyman is no accident. In June, Joel Benenson, the president's chief pollster, told the Economic Club of Canada, where health care is a public scandal, that the...

Cap-And-Trade: The administration likes to defend bad policies with analogies to the post office. New studies from a business group and the administration itself confirm that cap-and-trade belongs in the dead-letter bin.Along with Energy Secretary Steven Chu, Rep. Ed Markey likens the cost of the Waxman-Markey cap-and trade bill to "about a postage stamp a day," based on estimates made by the Congressional Budget Office and the EPA. But as we and others have shown, they arrive at this magical number in part by ignoring the hit on gross domestic product and employment that will occur. As Garret Vaughan, economist...

Security Breaches: Scooter Libby went to prison for the "outing" of a desk-jockey CIA agent. He forgot conversations. Pelosi forgets briefings. And the outing of our entire intelligence apparatus by Democrats is OK. Remember the thrilling days of yesteryear and the alleged outing of the already known CIA officer Valerie Plame? We were told then that the Vanity Fair cover girl's 15 minutes of fame jeopardized our national security even if everybody already knew who she was. "Scooter" Libby went to prison because his memory of events and who said what to whom regarding Plame differed from the recollections of...

IBD Exclusive Series: Government-Run Healthcare: A Prescription For Failure Discourse: At a town hall last week in Dallas, an elderly "mob" with "manufactured" outrage questioned AARP's support for nationalized health care, asking: "Do you work for us or do we work for you?"There were no swastika-wearing grannies at Tuesday's meeting, as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi might claim. Nor were they "taking their cues from talk show hosts, Internet rumor-mongers . . . and insurance rackets," as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has said. But they were mad as hell at the perception that AARP was selling them out in the...

Pelosi doesn't gaurantee Blue Dog provisions By Mike Soraghan Posted: 07/31/09 06:35 PM [ET] Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) indicated Friday that some of the most hard-fought provisions of the healthcare bill, including parts meant to appease conservative Democrats, could change by the time the final measure reaches the House floor. Pelosi's remarks came as the House Energy and Commerce Committee hammed out the final details of the bill, including a deal with Blue Dog Democrats and a tax to pay for the legislation. Three committees have worked intensively on the bill, and assuming passage by the Energy and Commerce Committee...

Congress: In exchange for a vague promise of cuts in the cost of health care "reform," a few fiscally conservative Democrats agree to release the bill to a September floor vote. Have the pit bulls become Chihuahuas?Apparently even a Blue Dog Democrat will stop growling if you toss him a big enough bone. Four of the seven who helped keep the House bill bottled up in the Energy and Commerce Committee — Mike Ross of Arkansas, Baron Hill of Indiana, Zack Space of Ohio and Bart Gordon of Tennessee — agreed to vote the bill out of committee in exchange...

As we've discussed before, everything that happens, anywhere in the world is now being described a "a defeat for George Bush." Two such "defeats for George Bush" came to light this past week - and I'm not even counting West Virginia's loss to Pittsburgh which helped vault LSU and Ohio State into the BCS title game in January. First came the news that John Murtha (D-Pa) who has been mentor to, and ally of, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Ca) had changed his mind on Iraq. For years Murtha has been among the most outspoken critics of the war in Iraq. According...

There is quite a lot of interesting, but wild, speculation running around the blog-o-sphere, progressive circles and just plain dinner conversation these days about whether BushCo will allow a peaceful and constitutional transfer of Executive power in the ’08 elections. Unless or until George Bush appears on our TV boxes one night, wearing a dark blue suit, white shirt and red tie with his hands sweatily clasped in a desperate death grip on top of his desk in the Oval Office, telling us that some catastrophic event, whether man-made or natural, has just occurred somewhere, and he must, for the...

Pelosi: Radio attacks on boy unfair By DAVID ESPO, AP Special Correspondent 53 minutes ago Seeking support for a vetoed children's health insurance bill, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi charged Tuesday that "hate radio has made a vicious attack" on a 12-year-old Baltimore boy who receives coverage through the program. Pelosi said the allegations were "beneath the dignity of the debate" that surrounds the legislation. Democrats hope to enact the measure over Bush's opposition, and a House vote scheduled for Thursday. A two-thirds vote in both houses of Congress is required to override a veto, and supporters of the measure appear...

As if the flap over Nancy Pelosi’s private military jet were not enough … the supposedly environmentally-conscious Speaker of the House is taking a chauffeur-driven, gas-guzzling behemoth Chevrolet Tahoe to tomorrow’s Congressional Global Warming Hearing! Tomorrow morning, Speaker Nancy Pelosi will step out of her Georgetown home and into a government-owned black Chevy Tahoe sport-utility vehicle. That gas-guzzling truck will take her directly to the Rayburn House Office Building – where she will be the lead witness on a global warming hearing held by Science and Technology Committee. Pelosi’s vehicle is also exempt from federal gasoline taxes. Rep. Pelosi voted...

Number of killed unborn Americans by Liberals is much bigger then number of American soldiers killed in all wars. That is why Liberals are a Terrorists. They are cruel, without mercy and any human or ethical values. Conservative Americans made big mistake that they allowed these evil demons to control US government. They did not come to resolve any problems, but they came to create more problems because they are a terrorists. Only blood can satisfy them because these are a demons with unclean spirits and they will punish all American Patriots for making their best efforts to protect this...

Liberals have been clucking non-stop since election night at the prospects of what Democrat victory means to their radical causes. In first recruiting, then funding, faith-friendly, conservative, and in a couple of instances even born-again candidates -- the Democrat party captured needed numbers to swipe leadership posts. The strategy proved extremely effective. Nancy Pelosi will bring San Fran values to the Beltway debate, and Kennedy, Kerry, and Clinton will clamor to be first in line. But how did she get there? In many instances - by taking advantage of terrible Republicans - and their own criminal wrong doing. But the...

The Democrats seem to have taken over the House. That means that, regardless how the cliff-hanger races in the Senate turn out, the key question is whether the Republican leaders will shed their arrogance and understand that they need to listen to the American people. Even if recounts and razor-thin margins deliver the Senate into Republican hands by the narrowest of margins, 2006 is a major defeat for the GOP and only a fool would deny it. In Iraq, obviously, America is delivering a message that if we keep shedding blood to battle for democracy in Iraq, the GOP will...

A total withdrawal from Iraq would play into the hands of the jihadist terrorists. As Osama bin Laden’s deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, made clear shortly after 9/11 in his book “Knights Under the Prophet’s Banner,” Al Qaeda’s most important short-term strategic goal is to seize control of a state, or part of a state, somewhere in the Muslim world. “Confronting the enemies of Islam and launching jihad against them require a Muslim authority, established on a Muslim land,” he wrote. “Without achieving this goal our actions will mean nothing.” Such a jihadist state would be the ideal launching pad for future...

When U.S. President Harry S. Truman signed the Presidential Succession Act of 1947, the "man from Independence" surely did so with the best interests of the American people in mind. But the feisty thirty-third President of the U.S. could not have imagined the potential impact of that act 60 years later. The bill signed by President Truman revised the order for succession to the presidency. Under the revised law, the U.S. Speaker of the House is in line for succession to the presidency, after the vice president. No one anticipates that either George Bush or Dick Cheney will die...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 18, 2006 CONTACT: Brendan Daly/Jennifer Crider 202-226-7616 Pelosi: It’s Time for a Change, Not Republican Business as Usual Washington, D.C. – House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi released the following statement today in response to a story in The Hillreporting that House Republicans feel “there would be little need for reassessments or rehabilitation if they retained control of the House in the 110th Congress.” Specifically, Congressman Tom Davis (R-VA) said: “If we hold it together, I don’t think you will see any change at all.” “Ethical and legal scandals have plagued the Republican-run Congress – from the...