Free Republic

Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) said Wednesday on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” that he would consider a 2024 presidential run during an interview from NBC’s “Meet the Press” that will air Sunday. Anchor Kristen Welker said, “Let’s talk about your future, because obviously you are facing a big decision. Can you take us inside your thinking right now? Are you seriously contemplating a run for the White House?” Manchin said, “Here’s is what i’m seriously contemplating. I’ve said this clearly, people say, are you going to run? I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure, and immobilize the...

Impeachment is already backfiring on the Democrats even before the full House votes on two articles of impeachment. A Democratic member of Congress is preparing to switch parties, joining Republicans amid the Democrat-led impeachment effort that has put dozens of moderate Democrats in a tough position with their Trump-supporting constituents.  Representative Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey has been in talks with top advisors for President Trump, according to The New York Times. Mr. Van Drew is concerned about losing his seat in the Democratic primary or in the 2020 general election. Van Drew's district is a traditionally Republican district...

With a seriously unpopular Republican president and congressional Republicans desperately attempting to pass an even more unpopular health-care bill only to fall flat on their faces, Democrats are anticipating big pickups in the 2018 midterms. And to increase their odds, they're trying to revive a group once left for dead: The conservative Blue Dog Democrats. Nearly wiped out in the 2010 and 2014 Republican victories, the few remaining members of this caucus are working closely with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee to recruit and fundraise for 2018 candidates. These people are the absolute last ones the Democrats need. Not only...

A West Virginia state senator leaves the Democratic party.In West Virginia, a fed-up Democratic state senator is changing parties — and hoping to represent his state in Congress. State senator Evan Jenkins is done with President Obama’s vision for America. “The Obama agenda has become crystal clear,” he says, pointing to the president’s support for “immigration reform that includes amnesty provisions” as well as “his limitations on our constitutional rights relating to gun ownership,” “his environmental agenda, which spells the end of coal and coal jobs,” and “the government takeover of health care.” “Those are issues and positions that I...

Former Republican Rep. Tom Davis told The Hill newspaper: “The middle is getting squeezed,” but his comment vastly understates the crisis in the capital. Activists in both parties have declared war on moderates. The ideological gap between the two parties is widening rapidly. Paralysis is pervasive. Political scientist Keith Poole of the University of Georgia, who studies voting patterns, told the National Journal: “We are clearly as conflicted as we’ve been since 1905. The parties are, I think, completely dysfunctional and incapable of acting on major policy.” The National Journal reports that as recently as 1999, more than half of...

Just when the Blue Dogs thought it couldn’t get any worse, it did.Two years after the 2010 midterm elections decimated their ranks, the coalition of conservative Democrats is poised to get pummeled again in November — moving the Blue Dogs dangerously close to extinction.Of the 24 remaining Blue Dogs, five are not seeking reelection. More than a half-dozen others are facing treacherous contests in which their reelection hopes are in jeopardy.It’s a rough time to occupy the right wing of the Democratic Party.“It’s a tough environment out there,” said former Alabama Rep. Bud Cramer, a longtime member of the House...

Just when the Blue Dogs thought it couldn’t get any worse, it did. Two years after the 2010 midterm elections decimated their ranks, the coalition of conservative Democrats is poised to get pummeled again in November — moving the Blue Dogs dangerously close to extinction. Of the 24 remaining Blue Dogs, five are not seeking reelection. More than a half-dozen others are facing treacherous contests in which their reelection hopes are in jeopardy. It’s a rough time to occupy the right wing of the Democratic Party. “It’s a tough environment out there,” said former Alabama Rep. Bud Cramer, a longtime...

A rare breed just got rarer. Rep. Heath Shuler of North Carolina, one of the few remaining white Southern Democrats in the House, has announced he will retire rather than run in what was expected to his toughest race yet. Shuler is a leader of the so-called Blue Dog Democrats, a shrinking coalition of moderates who were known for, among other things, causing headaches for Nancy Pelosi during her years as speaker. Shuler launched a doomed bid against the California Democrat for the minority leader post in 2010. He got 43 votes. The Heisman Trophy runner-up and former Washington Redskins...

If Republicans want to push even more Democrats out of Congress next year, one Democrat has suggested a strategy to succeed. The Hill reports that Blue Dog Democrats have begun to worry that Republicans will win the 2012 debate by backing a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution, especially with an electorate so skeptical of government spending. Rep. Henry Cuellar recommends that Democrats come up with their own BBA plan, and quickly: Democrats in Congress are urging their party leaders to get behind a balanced-budget amendment (BBA), fearing that Republicans will use the issue as a political weapon in 2012....

It is well known that the Senate Democrats are on the ropes in 2012.  They are forced to defend 23 seats with many of them being highly vulnerable or open as a result of retirement.  In an attempt to ensconce their true radical ideology from their constituents, a group of 18 Democrat Senators have announce the formation of a new 'moderate' caucus for the 112th Congress.  In case any of you were wondering how there are 18 moderate Democrats when not a single one dissented from leadership on major bills, you are not missing anything.  Take a look at the...

Meet Ashley Bell, a young man who looked to have a bright future in the Democratic Party.  Now he looks for a brighter future — as a Republican.  The former national president of College Democrats of America has joined an exodus of moderates and conservatives from the Democratic Party in the South after the midterm elections: For Democrats, Ashley Bell was the kind of comer that a party builds a future on: A young African American lawyer, he served as president of the College Democrats of America, advised presidential candidateJohn Edwards and spoke at the 2004 Democratic National Convention in...

When Obamacare passed Congress in 2010, 39 so called ‘Blue Dog’ House Democrats voted against the bill. Only 13 of which survived re-election in the 2010 Mid-Terms. When the 112th Congress voted on repealing Obamacare (HR.2), only Rep. Dan Boren (OK-2), Rep. Mike McIntyre (NC-7), and Rep. Mike Ross (AR-4) voted to repeal. The remaining 10 instead voted instead to keep Obamacare intact.

Thankfully, the Republican controlled House just passed the repeal of Obamacare by a 245-189 margin.  Three Democrats; Mike Ross (AR), Dan Boren (OK), and Mike McIntyre (NC), joined every Republican in support of repeal.  This means that 10 of the remaining 13 Democrats who voted against Obama Care to win reelection last year, showed their true colors by opposing repeal. Here are the ten Democrat turncoats: Ben Chandler ( Ky.), John Barrow ( Ga.) Heath Schuler ( N.C.), Larry Kissell ( N.C.), Stephen Lynch ( Mass.), Jason Altmire ( Pa.), Tim Holden ( Pa.), Collin Peterson ( Minn), Dan Lipinski...

Well, it appears that nothing has changed for the decimated Blue Dog coalition of self professed moderates.  They have always launched their rebellion against the leadership in highly symbolic ways, while acquiescing to them like lap dogs when it really counted.  Nothing has changed in this congress. 19 Democrats voted for someone other than Nancy Pelosi for Speaker: Jason Altmire of Pennsylvania, John Barrow of Georgia, Sanford Bishop of Georgia, Dan Boren of Oklahoma, Jim Cooper of Tennessee, Dennis Cardoza of California, Jim Costa of California, Joe Donnelly of Indiana, Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona, Tim Holden of Pennsylvania, Ron Kind...

We knew that it wouldn't take too long for Joe Manchin to shed his conservative camouflage and leave it behind in the Mountain state.  Well, it turns out that he has gone all in for the job killing, socialist agenda on his first day in the Senate.  After voting to make anti gun, cap and trade supporting Harry Reid Majority Leader, Manchin voted with Reid on two other measures yesterday.  He voted for the job killing FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (S. 510) and the Paycheck Fairness Act(S. 3772). We already detailed some of the egregious provisions of the food...

Bill Maher made his fame because he has the ability to argue nonsensical arguments while getting dolts to agree and applaud, makes another outlandish statement. Case in point Bill attempts to argue two points. First Blue Dog Democrats, who were voted in by Conservatives in Conservative districts only because Blue Dogs presented themselves as Conservatives, were voted out in the midterm elections because the Blue Dogs distanced themselves from the president. Huh? Wouldn’t distancing themselves from president Soetoro help Blue Dogs because of Conservative and Independent backlash against the Liberal president and his Liberal policies? Second Maher argues the Conservative...

You don’t send scores of your faithful blithely off the electoral precipice without consequences.Last January, in the thick of the Obamacare debate, nervous Blue Dog Democrats met with Obama and communicated their unease. They specifically brought up Clinton’s electoral backlash in 1994, caused – to some degree – by Clinton’s failed effort to do exactly what Obama was having them do now: pass a healthcare plan. According to retiring democratic Rep Marion Berry, as reported in ADG (subscription only, but here’s a good link from Politico to get the general gist), Obama dismissed their concerns, claiming his popularity would...

Democrats hope to stem GOP tide in Mississippi After election slap, party plots to regain its relevance Calls to "take back America" preceded last week's remodeling of the congressional makeup, and Mississippi residents can expect to hear a similar refrain during the 2011 statewide and legislative races -- this time from a different political party. Jamie Franks, chairman of the Mississippi Democratic Party, said part of the Democrats' strategy to win offices next year will include reminding voters that Republicans have been leading the state for the last eight years. Nearly all the statewide offices, including the governor's office, are...

The white Southern Democrat...is sliding nearer to extinction. ...The carnage...was...brutal in the Deep South, where...one white Democrat survived across Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina. SNIP "Right now in most of Dixie it is culturally unacceptable to be a Democrat...," said Dave...Saunders, a campaign strategist... SNIP Democrats...lost at least 19 Southern House members and...senator Blanche Lincoln...the most conservative Democrats...four-term Rep. Jim Marshall of Georgia and 10-term Rep. Gene Taylor of Mississippi couldn't withstand the wave. It also snared ...veterans...John Spratt of South Carolina,... 14-term chairman of the House Budget Committee, and 14-term Rep. Rick Boucher of Virginia. When the...

BOISE, Idaho -- In an upset win in one of the most unusual House races in the country, underdog Republican Raul Labrador has won Idaho's 1st congressional district over the favored incumbent, Blue Dog Democrat Rep. Walt Minnick. At 12:55 a.m., Minnick conceded on Twitter. The Associated Press in Boise called the race for Labrador minutes later. In a statement Wednesday, Minnick said he phoned Labrador and "wished him every success... I, in particular hope he can be successful in working with the administration and his colleagues of both parties in the exceedingly important task ahead of putting our country...