Free Republic

Via Tapper, a palate-cleansing Kinsleyan gaffe from Susan Collins confirming that everyone in America, from the checkout counter to the Senate, is on the same page vis-a-vis Silky. The exchange starts at 2:00. Meanwhile, Radar picks through the latest tidbits from the Enquirer (print edition only) and floats a familiar theory about who their super-secret source might be. Exit quotation: “Of course I love you. Don’t worry, we’ll get through this.”

WASHINGTON, (AP) -- Will he or won't he? Vice President Dick Cheney is one of the nation's most prominent Republicans, but there are doubts about whether he will attend the GOP convention. ... Separately, at least five Republican senators have decided to skip the GOP convention. Sens. Gordon Smith of Oregon, Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina and Susan Collins of Maine all face tough re-election campaigns. Two others, Wayne Allard of Colorado and Larry Craig of Idaho, are retiring.

There are RINOs (Republicans In Name Only) and then there are RINOs who call themselves Republicans for Environmental Protection. Founded in 1995, REP seeks to save the planet through decidedly un-Republican, big-government socialism. It also annually hands out its "Greenest Republican in Congress" award. This year's co-winner is Rep. Christopher Shays, RINO-4th District, who by sheer coincidence is on REP's "Honorary Board of Distinguished Republicans," along with co-winner Sen. Susan Collins, RINO-Maine. On REP's 0-100 scorecard, Rep. Shays scored 103 for promoting policies that are responsible for today's record energy prices and much more. Out of the other side of...

The Senate rejected calls from both parties' presidential candidates to take an election-year break from pork-barrel spending as a Democratic-run Congress passed budget plans that would torpedo hundreds of billions of dollars in tax cuts won by President Bush. John McCain, the GOP nominee-to-be, couldn't attract even a majority of Senate Republicans to vote with him Thursday night behind the earmark moratorium touted by party conservatives as a way to restore the GOP's credibility with voters. It failed on a 71-29 vote. Only three Democrats joined with Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama in voting for it. The underlying House...

Senator Collins has worked hard for the people of Maine, but now far-left extremists have decided to attack her. MoveOn.org has made Maine its #1 target MoveOn.org has sent more money to her opponent than all of the presidential candidates combined, over $365,000 already. MoveOn and their allies have run 9 attack ads against her, including one featuring children dressed in military fatigues, forced to crawl under barbed wire.

It is often said that the best way to find out how a candidate would act in office if elected, is to see who he/she surrounds himself with. Money is another factor, what people and industries are backing the candidate. These answers should be an indicator of what to expect. Who is behind the man should gauge what kind of man he is. The great Richard Viguerie tells the story of how he and other conservatives had a “seat at the table” of the presidential campaigns of Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan for. His thinking was if Conservatives aren’t at...

Internal documents obtained by The Examiner shine new light on MoveOn.org’s “General Betray Us” ad and raise fresh questions about the far-left advocacy group’s misleading statements on the issue and its relationship with Google, a major donor to its political action committee.The documents show how MoveOn.org used dubious claims of trademark infringement and threats of litigation to silence critics of its recent controversial full-page ad in The New York Times attacking Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. general in Iraq, which appeared the day he was testifying before Congress on the war effort. Among those critics was Sen. Susan...

They won't let me post the link, because it's THE DAILY KOS!!! But it's a poll done for the Democrats, so this is really bad news. If the 2008 election for U.S. Senate were held today, would you to reelect Susan Collins, would you consider voting for another candidate, or would you vote to replace Collins? Reelect 55 Consider 20 Replace 21 If 2008 election for U.S. Senate were held today, for whom would you vote for if the choices were between Tom Allen, the Democrat, and Susan Collins, the Republican? Collins (R) 56 Allen (D) 33

WASHINGTON- Internet giant Google has banned advertisements critical of MoveOn.org, the far-left advocacy group that caused a national uproar last month when it received preferential treatment from The New York Times for its “General Betray Us” message. The ads banned by Google were placed by a firm working for Republican Sen. Susan Collins’ re-election campaign. Collins is seeking her third term. Earlier this week, Google told Lance Dutson, president of Maine Coast Designs, that the ads he placed for Collins had been removed and would not be allowed to resume because they violated Google’s trademark policy. Google’s Web site states,...

Whether it’s comparisons between the United States and the Soviet Union or George Bush and Saddam Hussein, the far left has always specialized in false moral equivalence.In the latest example of this, Daily Kos proprietor Markos Moulitsas has been trying to shift the spotlight that’s now being shined on the numerous vulgar and hateful remarks for which his site is famous over to conservative sites, implying that the right is just as full of hate as his followers.Trouble is, that’s just not the case. As NewsBusters pointed out earlier, left-wing blogs and their commenters are much more likely to use...

Senator Susan Collins ignored thousands of letters delivered to her office beseeching her to allow gays in the military, and polls suggesting that as many as 79 percent of Americans believe gays should be able to serve openly in the armed forces. And though her office was barely cajoled into issuing a bland two-sentence statement for a Phoenix story three months ago (see “Ducking the Question,” by Tony Giampetruzzi, May 11), she’s starting to sing with the choir now, crediting a gay retired admiral from Maine who recently sat down with her to tell her his thoughts on “Don’t Ask,...

WASHINGTON -- Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins has teamed up with a Democratic colleague in drafting legislation to force a halt to U.S. combat missions in Iraq. Collins and Ben Nelson of Nebraska said their binding amendment to the defense policy bill would order the U.S. mission to focus on training the Iraqi security forces, targeting al-Qaida members and protecting Iraq's borders. The Maine senator said her goal is "to redefine the mission and set the stage for a significant but gradual drawdown of our troops next year."

WASHINGTON (AP) — Last fall, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., came to Connecticut to help Democratic Senate candidate Ned Lamont in his bid to unseat veteran Sen. Joe Lieberman. Lamont is now returning the favor. He and the Massachusetts Democrat are teaming up to target Republican senators they say are blocking efforts to end the Iraq war. Lamont, a political novice whose anti-war views fueled his summer primary win over Lieberman, sent out a fundraising pitch on Friday to about 3 million people on Kerry’s national e-mail list. "Last year, Connecticut Democrats heard my call for an end to the war...

WASHINGTON - Congressional Republicans pushed back Monday against President Bush's decision to deploy additional troops in Iraq, some voicing opposition while others called for the administration and Iraqi government to be held accountable. In the Senate, three GOP lawmakers joined one Democrat in unveiling nonbinding legislation expressing disagreement with Bush's plan and urging him to "consider all options and alternatives" to the planned increase of 21,500 troops. In the House, members of the leadership drafted a series of what they called "strategic benchmarks," and said the White House should submit monthly reports to Congress measuring progress toward meeting them. The...

Senator Susan Collins introduced legislation on Aug. 3 to help crack down on illegal sales of tobacco to children by banning the shipment of cigarettes and other tobacco products through the U.S. mail. Specifically, the bill would add cigarettes and smokeless tobacco to the U.S. Postal Service's list of restricted, non-mailable products. A first violation of mailing such a product would be liable for a civil penalty of up to $5,000 or 10 times the estimated retail value of the tobacco products, including all federal, state, and local taxes, whichever is highest. Civil penalties of up to $100,000 would...

If John Kerry becomes President he will find himself on the horns of a dilemma - which close friend to ditch when he chooses a new Secretary of State. According to today's Washington Post, Kerry would pick his national security team within a few weeks after winning the White House and two of his closest friends, Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.) or Richard Holbrooke reportedly want the job of running the State Department.

The Talk Shows Sunday, March 5th, 2006 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows: FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Michael Brown, former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency; National Weather Service Director David Johnson.MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Pace; former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., and former Rep. Jack Kemp, R-N.Y., co-chairmen of the Council on Foreign Relations' task force on U.S. policy toward Russia. FACE THE NATION (CBS): Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind.; Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa. THIS WEEK (ABC): Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine; Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif.;...

Journal Editorial Report (Paul Gigot) - FNC show page Meme: Iran is the real problem and we can't win in Iraq because we haven't "taken care" of themBush made a very important foreign policy trip - did anyone notice? Topics: Is Iran outsmarting the U.S. in the fight for the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people? (per FNC web page)Is Iran waging war against Americans in Iraq? (per Opinion Journal web page)President Bush makes history abroad, but is dogged by controversy at home (per FNC web page)A debate over President Bush's South Asia trip and his nuclear deal with...

If Sen. John McCain runs for president in 2008, fellow Republican Susan Collins of Maine will serve as one of his Senate advisors. A spokesman for Sen. Collins confirmed that McCain asked her if she would be one of his advisors if he decides to seek the White House. The spokesman, Kevin Kelley, said Collins told McCain that he would. The Arizona senator is regarded as a likely potential candidate for the Republican nomination.

Collins, a Republican, said Alito has excellent qualifications and has received the highest possible recommendation from the American Bar Association. She said she was impressed with testimony on Alito's behalf during his confirmation hearing from seven of his colleagues on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Maine's other U.S. senator, Olympia Snowe, was still weighing the nomination and has not announced her decision, said spokeswoman Antonia Ferrier.

Senator Susan Collins of Maine has announced her intention to vote for Alito. Collins was one of three Republicans whom some saw as possible votes against Alito. The other two — who haven't yet announced their positions — are Collins's colleague from Maine, Olympia Snowe, and Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island. One other Republican who is expected to vote yes, Senator Stevens, apparently also hasn't announced his position.

PORTLAND, Maine -- U.S. Sen. Susan Collins and two of her Senate colleagues are headed to Antarctica to meet with leading researchers studying climate change. Collins left Washington Tuesday for what will be an eight-day visit to McMurdo Station. She's joined by fellow Republicans John McCain of Arizona and John Sununu of New Hampshire. <snip>

Senate hearings on the nomination of Judge Samuel Alito to the U. S. Supreme Court will not begin until Jan. 9, but the campaign both for and against him has already begun in Maine. Television ads from interest groups are being shown in this state. The targets are Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, two moderate Republicans who cannot be counted on as automatic votes either in support of or opposed to Alito. The commercials are designed to persuade Mainers to pressure the senators to sway their votes. Conservative organizations are paying for ads supporting Judge Alito's nomination. Groups concerned...

Republicans in the Gang of 14 As a reminder, these are the Republicans who explicitly rejected the use of the filibuster against judicial nominations except in "extraordinary circumstances." Lincoln Chafee (Rhode Island) 202-224-2921 Susan Collins (Maine) 202-224-2523 Mike DeWine (Ohio) 202-224-2315 Lindsey Graham (South Carolina) 202-224-5972 John McCain (Arizona) 202-224-2235 John Warner (Virginia) 202-224-2023 Olympia Snowe (Maine) 202-224-5344 Call them and make sure they know that Samuel Alito is not an "extraordinary circumstance."

We suppose NARAL Pro-Choice America has to do something with the funds it's raised for an anticipated battle over President Bush's Supreme Court nominee, but it may find that the vicious national TV ad that starts airing today may backfire. The ad practically screams: We're so desperate to find something to pin on John Roberts that we're not above making things up. The ad focuses on a friend-of-the-court brief then-deputy Solicitor General Roberts filed in 1991 in the Supreme Court case Bray v. Alexandria Women's Health Clinic. It accuses Judge Roberts of siding with "violent fringe groups and a convicted...

AUGUSTA - A Hampden state senator staged a losing one-woman debate Wednesday night in an attempt to convince the Maine Senate that parents should be consulted before abortions are performed on their minor children. Following the lead of the Maine House, which rejected LD 1575 Tuesday, the Senate voted 21-14 against the measure which included a fiscal note of $241,000 for court-related expenses associated with any resulting judicial review and appeal of a minor's court-approved abortion. Sen. Debra D. Plowman, R-Hampden, told her seatmates that "as a woman and a mother," she would want to know if one of her...

The filibuster isn't a noble institution, it's a tactic - and one with a checkered past, at that. Liberals decried it in the 1960s when segregationist Southern Democrats used it to thwart the will of the majority to block civil rights legislation. But at least that tawdry application of the filibuster was consistent with its purpose in the United States Senate as a procedure to force legislative compromise.

Conditions were perfect for a showdown in the Senate over the judicial appointment process. Democrats had managed to convince half the population that the filibuster is some sort of constitutional right endowed by our Creator, and that Bill Frist and those evil Republicans were fixin’ to “nuke” the constitution by ending the misuse of the filibuster, used here only to block the confirmation of qualified nominees on the sole basis of the DNC litmus test. Too bad this half of the population has never read the constitution. A shame they don’t know that their litmus test is a litmus test....

9 Republicans Who Will Make or Break the Constitutional Option Vote

WASHINGTON - Seven Republican senators will determine the outcome of a showdown this week between the president and Congress — and a minority within it — over who is going to shape the federal courts. Barring any unforeseen developments, these are the lawmakers in the make-or-break position when it comes to deciding whether to allow a Senate minority to block a president's nominees for the federal bench. The senators are Susan Collins of Maine, Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, John Warner of Virginia, Mike DeWine of Ohio, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and John Sununu of New Hampshire....

Fading into the background Let us pause a moment to recall that Congress busies itself with matters other than Terri Schiavo's feeding tube. Some of them, in fact, affect quite a lot of people. One vote you might have missed last week said a lot about what the next couple of years will be like on Capitol Hill. The vote involved the fundamental question of how Congress balances tax cuts against spending. During the Senate's annual budget debate, which sets guidelines for the year's spending bills, some senators pushed a measure to require that any new tax cuts be...

By CLARKE CANFIELD, Associated Press Sen. Susan Collins said Thursday that she is largely satisfied with the Army's effort to provide armor for Humvees in Iraq, but that more needs to be done to ensure that trucks and other vehicles have protection as well. Collins said in an interview with The Associated Press that she was frustrated by what she saw as the Defense Department's lack of planning and slow response to concerns about the lack of protective armor for vehicles and soldiers in Iraq. Collins said she is encouraged by Army Gen. George Casey's order that soldiers in Iraq...

WASHINGTON, March 16 - The Senate endorsed oil-drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge today, giving President Bush and others who favor exploration of the Alaska wilderness a major victory. The 51-to-49 vote was in favor of a budget resolution that assumes revenues of some $5 billion from drilling fees over the next decade, with the federal government and the state of Alaska to split the money. While this afternoon's vote is not the final word on the issue, it nevertheless made drilling in the wilds of Alaska - an idea favored by the oil industry for decades and fiercely...

Senator Susan Collins of Maine alerts the enemy to US Troop movements.Advertiser Democrat of Norway, Maine by John Governale GREATER OXFORD HILLS - Oxford Hills families of 133d Engineer Guardsmen are thrilled and appalled. The are thrilled, of course, because their soldiers are coming home. But many families here are disturbed and upset that Senator Susan Collins announced Monday on national television specifically which days the unit would be in the air, even specifying that the first group would fly "Wednesday afternoon." A spokesperson from the senator's press office, however, said that Senator Collins had been given the information by...

If Chief Justice William Rehnquist retires next year, President Bush likely won't face a tough battle over his successor. So reports the New York Times, citing consultant Howard Wolfson and "other Democrats." The Times attributes this to the Democrats' desire to soften their image as pro-abortion zealots. The court has a 6-3 majority in favor of Roe v. Wade, and Chief Justice Rehnquist is among the dissenters. Why should the Democrats spend political capital merely to run up the score? Anyway, this is a battle the Democrats would almost certainly lose. With only 45 senators..., they would need the support...

Many 9/11 Families Opposed to Collins' Bill By Peter Gadiel Dec 13, 2004, 08:57 Editor, Sen. Collins persists in claiming that her intelligence reform bill passed because of "the overwhelming support of family members of 9-11 victims." Our organization, 9/11 Families for a Secure America wants to tell the people of Maine that her claim is false. The members of 9/11 FSA, all of whom are relatives of 9/11 victims, represent the families of 300 of those victims. We vociferously opposed the Collins bill in numerous Capitol Hill press conferences, a fact which cannot have escaped Sen. Collins notice. To...

The intel-reform bill may not make us safer, but Congress averted a disaster. The sky isn't falling after all. Congressional leaders have reached a deal on reforming the intelligence community. Sen. Susan Collins has come around to Rep. Duncan Hunter's position on protecting the military chain of command. This deal not only props up the sky but also protects Congress from feeling it'll have blood on its hands should al Qaeda pull off another deadly attack inside the United States. What's more the we must do something crowd can go home now. Congress is doing what the 9/11 Commission wanted....

...Kerry accused the Bush administration of failing adequately to police the six million cargo containers flowing into the country each year.... This absurdity, in fact, conceals one of the great, low-budget successes of the war on terrorism. A rule was instituted overnight requiring shippers to deliver an electronic manifest of every container to U.S. Customs 24 hours before it's loaded aboard a ship in a foreign port. The info is fed through a classified, rule-based screening program to identify "high-risk" cargos, shippers or handlers, with the targeted containers undergoing X-ray or physical search before loading.... All this was done... for...

Senator Susan Collins of Maine is shepherding through the Senate the most sweeping reform of the intelligence community in more than 50 years. North Carolina Senator Elizabeth Dole has been busy shaping the defense appropriations bill and making the case for the war in Iraq on the Senate floor. Maine Senator Olympia Snowe and Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas got their plan to beef up air-cargo security passed while Senator Lisa Murkowski champions the need to protect the nation's energy security. All of this has escaped the feminists' notice because these women senators share the stigma of being Republican....

...After intense work, Sens. Joe Lieberman, John McCain and Susan Collins have introduced comprehensive legislation that differs on only a few matters with the Commission recommendations. The Senate leadership has pursued the same bipartisan course that enabled the Commission's five Democrats and five Republicans to achieve unanimity on comprehensive and decisive findings and reform recommendations. The House is following suit with somewhat different legislation and there is no reason now why differences cannot be resolved in a Senate-House Conference and a landmark bill presented to the president before the election recess. This accomplishment, to paraphrase Mark Twain, will gratify our...

Tuesday, August 17, 2004 The real national zoo Posted: August 17, 20041:00 a.m. Eastern By Mychal Massie © 2004 WorldNetDaily.com The Cleveland Metropark Zoo has two, as does the Los Angeles Zoo. Wild animal parks tend to have more, as does the San Diego Wild Animal Park, which is home to over 35. And while America's only national zoo has none at present, the Republican side of the government in the city in which it rests has plenty. The difference is the rhinoceroses found in our nation's zoos walk on four legs, mostly mind their own business, are not easily influenced (and...

Collins, Snowe help stall energy measure By BART JANSEN, Portland Press Herald Writer Copyright © 2003 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc. WASHINGTON — Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins were among a half-dozen Republicans who refused Friday to limit debate on energy legislation, a move that threatens to kill a top priority of President Bush and the Republican congressional leadership. But after the Senate vote that allowed limitless debate, neither side declared the bill dead. Democrats and the handful of Republicans who supported the filibuster said spending projects and other legislation could convince wavering lawmakers to switch their votes. "The auction...

WASHINGTON, D.C., Oct. 10 (CSM) - Critics on Capitol Hill are taking a hard look at several lucrative U.S. contracts to rebuild war-damaged Iraq (news - web sites). When Susan Collins was just a staffer in the United States Senate, she used to worry about fat government contracts being awarded in secret. Now Collins is a US Senator--and she can finally do something about it. Senator Collins is drawing a bead on contracts in Iraq, where the US has begun pouring in billions of dollars to repair war damage and rebuild the country. There are charges in the press that...

The Right should not be joining the Left in the blacklisting of MCI. Candidates and groups on the left have long made attacks on corporate America a staple of their populist appeals. Whether it is Jesse Jackson shaking down corporations for minority contracts, Ralph Nader blasting big business on environmental issues, or the perennial management-labor disputes, the battle between the left and business interests remains at the forefront of American politics. What is new, however, is conservatives taking up the cause. Washington Post columnist James Glassman, former U.S. Congressman and MSNBC commentator Joe Scarborough, and Citizens Against Government Waste, all...

Nine members of the Senate's committees on Armed Services and Intelligence will travel to Iraq and the surrounding region next week to assess U.S. operations amid concerns of growing Iraqi resistance to the occupation. Sen. John Warner, a Virginia Republican who chairs the Armed Services Committee, in a statement on Thursday, said the trip will focus on U.S. military and reconstruction missions after the war that ousted Saddam Hussein. It is to include the threats forces are facing from Iraqi resistance and the ongoing search for weapons of mass destruction. Also going on the trip are Intelligence Committee Chairman Pat...

WASHINGTON — Thousands of Maine families with low or moderate incomes won't qualify for the $400 child tax credit that more-affluent families will receive under the tax cut signed by President Bush. Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe and congressional Democrats criticized Republican congressional leaders Thursday for refusing to make low-wage earners eligible for the increased child tax credit. In the tax-cut compromise struck by negotiators in a House-Senate conference committee, the increased credit was made available only to families that earned enough to pay taxes. In Maine, that means the parents of an estimated 40,000 children won't benefit from the credit....

In a key step toward unravelling the secret history of the Cold War, the U. S. Senate last week released 50-year-old executive hearings on subversion and internal security matters conducted by Sen. Joe McCarthy (R.-Wis.). Running to more than 4,000 pages, these hearings are crammed with backstage data on a host of once-torrid issues—including controversial McCarthy sessions on the Voice of America, United States Information Agency libraries, State Department personnel, and the Army Signal Corps installation at Fort Monmouth, N.J., to name a few. The last is of special interest as it was the prelude to the famous Army-McCarthy fracas...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A moderate Republican senator who holds a crucial swing vote for President Bush's $726 billion tax cut package on Tuesday questioned whether Congress should act on it before any potential war with Iraq. "I'm beginning to question whether we should wait until after the war with Iraq, evaluate the economy, evaluate our spending needs and priorities, and then decide whether or not an economic growth plan makes sense," Sen. Susan Collins of Maine told reporters. She is one of a group of moderate Senate Republicans and Democrats, worried about the impact of Bush's tax cut on long-term...