Free Republic

At least not now I wonder if the return of unified Republican government means we’re going to start re-running all the same arguments we had a decade ago. If Valerie Plame comes out of the woodwork I’m really going to be irritated. But we’re talking about earmarks again, if only because House Republicans seem to miss the little buggers an awful lot, and maybe they figured now that they have all the power again, it’s time to go back to shoveling piles of federal money into their districts like they did in the good old days. Good for them, that...

And we have a suggestion for the haters I think this is probably going to go like every Paul Ryan post. I’m going to urge you to kick back and take a powder on the hate, and you’re going to ignore me and breathe fire in the comments section. It’s good that we had this talk. But I’m going to try anyway, for two simple reasons. One, like it or not (and I know a lot of you don’t), he just got unanimously re-nominated by the Republican majority (which probably means re-elected) for another term as House Speaker:

Last week, the House Republicans were plunged into disarray when House Majority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), the presumptive favorite, withdrew from the speakership race. It seemed he was already facing a troubled road to succeed out-going Speaker John Boehner, given that the House Freedom Caucus–a 40-member block–was going to vote for Rep. Daniel Webster (R-FL) for the top spot; McCarthy had reportedly refused to give in to their demands. That, coupled with the possibility of relying on Democrats for his victory, along with his comments about the House Select Committee on Benghazi–he said it was sinking Hillary’s poll numbers–crippled...

The Conservatives4Palin blog noted on Sunday that former Alaska governor and presidential candidate Sarah Palin has arranged for SarahPac to provide funding to the reelection campaigns of Republican House members who opposed re-electing John Boehner as House Speaker. As the New York Times reported at the time, Boehner suffered the embarrassment of having 25 members of his caucus vote to deny him a new term as speaker. The Republican majority in the House was large enough to have Boehner reelected by a comfortable margin in any case

What is it with this party? Senate Democrats have really personified the “you shall not pass” war cry for anything abortion-related as of late. First, they’re filibustering what was an extremely bipartisan bill to combat human trafficking until their staffs missed the non-controversial Hyde Amendment language, which was added as a rider (standard operating procedure for most spending bills) to the law. Democrats knew this language was going to be in the law because Republicans told them months in advance. Heck, Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s (D-MN) aide found the language, but failed to inform the senator before the bill went to the judiciary committee...

About 30 House Republicans will meet Monday evening to establish the bylaws of a new caucus animated by two principles: First, rank-and-file Republicans must pressure leadership to enact a more conservative agenda. And second, this pressure should never involve frantic scurrying on the House floor.

Vetoes and the threats thereof are about to become regular features in Washington, DC, and President Obama appears to be taking a few warm-up tosses in advance of the Republican takeover of Congress. Last week, the president said he'd reject a bipartisan deal on tax extenders -- on which Harry Reid was a chief negotiator -- because it "exclude[s] a pair of Obama's top priorities."  That deal blew up anyway, as a result of Obama's controversial executive action on immigration.  Now the White House is vowing to veto a spending bill that funds all of the government, but blocks Obama's sweeping amnesty fiat. From yesterday's briefing:...

2014 – April 5: “Mom. I am not going to make it through the night. There are hit men in the cell with me and they told me they are going to kill me. Whatever you do, do not come down to ask questions or investigate because they are going to kill you, too. Change your bank accounts and go underground. Your life is in danger.” 2014 - April 14: “Mom. I tried to kill myself because the guards and the inmates were going to rape, torture and eventually execute me for information.” 2014 - May 1: “Mom. I have...

I was reading a political blog the other day when my computer screen suddenly went dark. On came the burning question: "Who Would Make a Better Speaker of the House: John Boehner or Trey Gowdy?" Great. Just the sort of speculation that Republicans need in order to take our eyes off the burning issues of the day, and maybe even start a fight in the GOP ranks on an ill-timed matter. Well, it wouldn’t be the first time. snipBut this is hardly the time to suggest that John Boehner is an incompetent leader. After all, he is in the process...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican leaders in the House of Representatives on Tuesday caved in to demands by President Barack Obama and agreed to advance legislation raising Washington's borrowing authority without conditions.

You can imagine the derision that would have flowed from the liberal “mainstream media” if George W. Bush had referred to the United States as well as its European allies as “developing countries.” [Snip] And one of the interesting things that we don’t talk about enough is the contrast between what’s happened in the United States and what’s happened in a lot of other developing countries, Europe in particular. It´s pretty rare where we have the chance to look at two policy approaches and follow them over several years and see which one worked. And the fact is

The Republican-held House of Representatives has passed Paul Ryan's FY 2014 budget, as well as the final version of a "continuing resolution" that will fund the federal government through the end of the current fiscal year.  The latter item locked into place the reduced spending baseline established by the sequester.  It does not defund Obamacare, although the GOP FY 2014 budget does.  As I wrote earlier, the House rejected a trio of Democratic alternative budgets yesterday, including the Senate Democrats' offering -- which raises taxes by $1.5 trillion, increases overall spending, adds $7 trillion in new deficits and never balances....

The 2012 presidential campaign is over, but not for President Obama. The community organizer turned Senator turned president, who ran on hope and change in 2008 and its antipode character assassination in 2012, has no intention of putting politics behind him. Rather, he is seeking to wage a total war against the Republicans for their political immiseration. Total war is a two-pronged approach to battle: first, mobilizing the entire population for the war effort; and second, targeting the entire enemy population, not just its military. Examples from World War Two include German submarine attacks on merchant ships and passenger ships,...

Despite Democrats' intransigent, no-way-no-how screeching about John Boehner's "Plan B," House Republican leaders are pressing forward with the option behind the scenes.  Those efforts received an important boost today when Grover Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform released a statement affirming that the potential plan would not violate the group's oft-cited tax pledge:   ATR has consistently maintained that individual Members of Congress make a pledge to their constituents to oppose and vote against tax increases. The House this week will vote on a tax bill. This legislation—popularly known as “Plan B”--permanently prevents a tax increase on families making less than $1...

At this stage of the fiscal cliff pseudo negotiations, do the American people have any idea what the Republicans stand for other than to protect the wealthy and cut Medicare and Social Security to harm the sick and aged? People constantly invoke Ronald Reagan, but one thing is certain and very relevant: If Reagan were on the national stage today, the public would not be confused about what the Republican Party stands for and why it matters. The GOP is having difficulty even consolidating around a central message, much less selling it to the public. There is no excuse for...

Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) may have finally gone too far betraying conservatives. This past week, he removed three conservative Republican Congressmen from their committee positions in retaliation for not voting for his compromises on the budget with Democrats – compromises that led us to the current “fiscal cliff.” Rep. David Schweikert (R-AZ) was removed from the Financial Services Committee, and Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-KS) and Rep. Justin Amash (R-MI) were removed from the Budget Committee. All three were elected with strong Tea Party support. An aide to GOP leadership said they were removed for “not being team...

The White House has been hyping its #My2K Twitter hashtag in an attempt to galvanize supporters to contact their Congressional representatives to demand action to avert the fiscal cliff.  The administration estimates that unless Congress moves, the average family's tax bill will jump by more than $2,000, starting on the first of January.  The implication, of course, is that Republicans are once again standing in the way of resolving this problem.  Show of hands -- as the media breathlessly follows every minor twist and turn of these negotiations, how many of you have seen this fact reported?   .@barackobama's #My2K shenanigans ignore...

As we move closer to November, Congress definitely isn't growing any more popular. Gallup's latest nationwide poll reveals that just 10% of Americans actually approve of the job that the 112th Congress is doing. That's the lowest percentage in the history of Gallup polling on the subject. This is actually the second time Congress sunk that low just this year, as it also hit that mark in February. No doubt, this new poll provides fresh ammunition for critics of the current Congress. While those critics range across the ideological and political spectrum, the loudest among them by far are Democrats....

House Republicans are planning to introduce legislation Tuesday that will force major changes at the United Nations, an organization that the bill’s author has called a “stew of corruption, mismanagement and negligence.” The bill, by Republican House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, would require the UN adopt a voluntary budget model, in which countries selectively choose which UN agencies to fund. The bill is expected to be introduced on Tuesday, and will also end funding for Palestinian refugees and limit the use of U.S. funds only to projects directly outlined by Congress. An aide familiar with the legislation told...

When John Boehner was a Freshman in Congress, he was one of the "Gang of seven" that took on the House Banking Scandal, that implicated both Democrats and Republicans, and the House Post Office Scandal that implicated and eventually led to the conviction of Democrat Dan Rostenkowski. Looking back on his involvement with the Gang of Seven, he has said "I think showing the American people that there are people willing to take a principled stand in Washington is a very good thing." Ever since the tea party phenomenon began in early spring of 2009, it has been diminished, maligned...