Rachel Maddow’s Reason For Being Duped by Satire Website: It’s Conservatives Fault

-By Warner Todd Huston

Remember when you were a kid and you got caught doing something you shouldn’t have been doing? Remember when you were confronted with your wrong doing that your first response was to blame everyone else? Well, that is very common for a child… or for a liberal, apparently. At least it is for MSNBC’s left-wing demagogue Rachel Maddow, anyway.

Earlier this week, Maddow featured some important news about Sarah Palin. Palin, Maddow breathlessly told us, was being urged to support the launch of a military attack on Egypt as it boiled over in turmoil. Maddow was indignant that the Christian website called ChristWire.org was telling Palin to “forcibly” support “an American-led invasion of Egypt to protect our interest in North Africa.” This was an outrage, Maddow insisted. It was proof that Christians and conservatives were dangerous lunatics she hinted.

But there was one problem with Maddow’s “analysis”: ChristWire.org is a satire site, not a serious, advocacy site. Maddow was taken by satire but treated it as serious news from a site offering serious policy recommendations.
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Rachel Maddow’s Reason For Being Duped by Satire Website: It’s Conservatives Fault”


Jim DeMint…. A Squish?

-By Warner Todd Huston

David Weigel’s recent Slate piece on Jim DeMint (R, SC) is a perfect example of a gentle leftwing undertone sprinkled into a story like seasoning salt in order to gently spin a story to negatively effect conservatives, or at the very least to artificially heighten tensions in order to make it seem as if conservatives are at each other’s throats.

Weigel’s Slate piece was a report on the first ever meeting of the Senate’s Tea Party Caucus headed up by Senator Jim DeMint and Weigel was bound and determined to make the meeting into some sort of conservative slugfest where all parties were taking each other on in a cage match to top even the World Wrestling Federation’s best brawls.

Mr. Weigel started out with an account of DeMint’s encounter with Tea Party activist Lisa Miller from Alexandria, Virginia. Miller was insisting that DeMint balance the budget but opposed any constitutional amendment to require it. DeMint, on the other hand, was adamant that it would take a constitutional amendment to balance the budget because regardless that congress always has had the tools to balance the budget anytime they wish — as Miller pointed out – he maintains that congress does not have the “institutional discipline” to do so.
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Jim DeMint…. A Squish?”


GOP Honors Reagan’s 100th With New Website

Happy 100th Birthday President Reagan

This Sunday, February 6th, marks the 100th Anniversary of the birth of Ronald Reagan, our 40th President, and a towering, visionary figure in the history of the Republican Party, the United States and the free world.

The Republican National Committee is celebrating this milestone with a special website devoted to President Reagan. The website will feature video tributes to The Gipper throughout the week from Republicans leading up to his birthday. I hope you will join in the Centennial Celebration by signing our birthday card to President Reagan and joining the conversation about keeping his legacy alive using the Twitter hashtag #Reagan100.

GOP On Twitter: http://twitter.com/RNC


The Twitter List of GOP Freshman in Congress

-By Warner Todd Huston

Want to know what all the GOP freshmen in the House of Representatives and the Senate are twittering about? Well, with this list you can tune into the Twitter feed of each of them and find out what is going on minute by minute.

Well, OK, not exactly minute-by-minute but at least week-by-week. Not all of them are using their Twitter to its full potential. A very few of these fellows have barley touched their Twitter feed at all, some don’t even seem to have one. Most of them, however, have fully populated their feed with Tweets and seem to understand that this is a great outreach tool. If the new reps that haven’t used it know what’s good for them they’ll get their feeds moving with some news.

It is also interesting to note that some newly elected folks have not yet separated their campaign Twitter feed from their feed as elected congressmen which might be a violation of election law. I have every new GOP senator and representative listed but where no feed is noted below I couldn’t find one for that member of congress. (And if anyone knows if I am missing one, please contact me so I can update the list)

I’ve put them all in a Twitter Follow List, too, at my gopfreshman Twitter List.

Senate

Arkansas: John Boozman http://twitter.com/JohnBoozman

Florida: Marco Rubio http://twitter.com/SenRubioPress

Indiana: Dan Coats http://twitter.com/SenDanCoats

Kansas: Jerry Moran http://twitter.com/JerryMoran

Kentucky: Rand Paul http://twitter.com/SenRandPaul

Missouri: Roy Blunt http://twitter.com/RoyBlunt
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The Twitter List of GOP Freshman in Congress”


Yank the Dipstick… Sheriff Dupnik Recall Effort Begins in Pima County

-By Warner Todd Huston

I was wondering how long this would take, but apparently my wait is over. A recall petition to oust Clarence Dupnik, the partisan, leaky-mouthed Sherif of Pima County, Arizona, is finally underway. Dipstick… er, I mean Dupnik, is now infamous for instantly blaming Fox News, Sarah Palin, the Tea Party and all conservatives for the actions of deranged killer Jared Loughner in Tucson. Even before the first facts were known, Dipstick was speculating along his hateful, partisan line that it was the right that was responsible for the crime.

Now his big fat mouth has finally gotten him in trouble. The Pima County Tea Party is planning a Dump Dupnik rally for Jan. 28th.
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Yank the Dipstick… Sheriff Dupnik Recall Effort Begins in Pima County”


An ‘Open Letter to the DuPage County GOP’ Protesting Sen. Scott Brown Visit?

-By Warner Todd Huston

Here is an interesting note from Frank Napolitano of the DuPage Conservatives. Apparently, the DuPage Conservatives are none too happy that a mushy-middleman like Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown is coming to speak to the conservative heart of collar counties.

I’d certainly agree with Mr. Napolitano that Scott Brown is in no way a conservative. I can’t imagine anyone mistaking him as one, either. He’s no more conservative than, say, oh, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney happens to be. I guess the main difference between Brown and Romney is that Brown admits to being a mushy-middleman whereas Romney is one, but won’t admit it. But… well… back to the subject…

Mr. Napolitano is wondering why Brown is speaking before an otherwise pretty conservative area of our fair state? I have to say, I wonder the same thing.
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An ‘Open Letter to the DuPage County GOP’ Protesting Sen. Scott Brown Visit?”


Roskam: Votes Have Been Cast‏

From Congressman Peter Roskam (Ill., 6th District)…

Last night the House of Representatives passed the Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act, 245 – 189. The “yea” votes included every House Republican and three Democrats. Read more about the vote from the Wall Street Journal by clicking HERE.

This is a victory for all Americans who believe that lowering health care costs and easing taxpayers’ burdens are critical to a sustainable health care system and economic prosperity in our country. However, the work is far from over – we still need to provide real solutions to meet those objectives.
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Roskam: Votes Have Been Cast‏”


Roskam Votes To Rescue Economy From Job-Destroying Healthcare Bill

From the office of Congressman Peter Roskam (Ill., 6th Dist.)…

Rep. Peter Roskam: “[Americans] understand that what has to happen is that businesses have to be able to thrive, and to hire, and to grow and be dynamic. If we repeal this and replace this with the type of thoughtful healthcare initiative that is going to be forthcoming, I think we will do a world of service to everybody that we’re trying to help, and that is to change this economy so that people want to hire again.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Tonight, the House of Representatives voted 245 – 189 to pass H.R. 2, repealing the Democrats job-destroying Healthcare bill. Earlier today, Congressman Peter Roskam (R-IL), the Chief Deputy Whip of the House Republican Majority, released the following video of him speaking on the House floor, and in his office, in favor of repealing the healthcare bill:

“I’m Congressman Peter Roskam, and I’m in my office here in the United States Capitol getting ready to go upstairs to the House floor.

“It’s a historic day in Washington D.C. It’s a day that is a reflection of all of the work, all of the energy and all of the speaking out that’s happened for the past year essentially. Without question the American public have said, ‘we don’t want this healthcare law jammed down our throats because it’s having an adverse impact on job creation, it’s making healthcare costs go up – let’s drop this thing.’
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Roskam Votes To Rescue Economy From Job-Destroying Healthcare Bill”


Congressman Joe Walsh (8th District) Townhall Meeting

From the office of Congressman Joe Walsh (8th District)…

Congressman Walsh of Illinois’ 8th District will be holding an open to the public town hall Wednesday night, January 12th from 7-8:30pm in Wauconda, IL. Walsh will discuss his first week in Congress, the upcoming House agenda, and the events in Arizona over the weekend. Walsh looks forward to answering constituent questions on these and any topics.

“What happened in Arizona Saturday was tragic. I’d like to honor Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords by doing what she loves to do and what I love to do, which is meeting with and speaking with my constituents” said Walsh.

All are welcome. The town hall will be held at the Wauconda Township Hall, located at 505 W. Bonner Road from 7-8:30pm Wednesday night.


Illinois: Our Last Chance to Stop the Highest Taxes in the World‏

From the Chicago Tea Party…

We can stop it…….

The Democrats don’t have the votes yet to pass their economy crushing, job killing, freedom stealing 75% tax increase. Governor Quinn, House Speaker Madigan and Senate President Cullerton came to an agreement last week on the proposed tax increase, but they’ve been unsuccessful in convincing enough Democrat members of the House and Senate to support this man caused disaster. Here’s what has taxpayers and businesses across Illinois looking up moving companies:

  • Your personal state income taxes will go up by 75%, increasing to 5.25% of your income.
  • State corporate tax rates will increase to 10.9%, making the taxes on Illinois businesses the highest in the industrial world.
  • Cigarette taxes will go up by $1 to $1.98 per pack. Even if you’re not a smoker, this will cause more people to cross the border into Indiana, Wisconsin & Missouri to buy their cigarettes (and other products while they’re there), costing the state more revenue. Keep in mind that Chicago is the state’s largest border city.

We have a structural budget gap in Illinois. The total budget gap is running at a staggering 40%, but the solution is not raising taxes by 75%. The only approach we can count on to solve Illinois’ budget crisis is to stop spending. We need to tell our representatives that we want them to vote NO to tax increases, NO to more spending, NO to more borrowing and NO to new government programs.

Representatives you should target
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Illinois: Our Last Chance to Stop the Highest Taxes in the World‏”


GOP Leaders Respond to Arizona Crime

-By Warner Todd Huston

Over the weekend many of the leaders in the Republican Party responded to this criminal action perpetrated against a fellow member of Congress on Saturday. It is important that their words be heard because of the din of the Old Media and the Democrats is so loud as to have drowned out the sorrow that the GOP leaders exhibited over this incident.

For instance, from his home base in Shelbyville, Kentucky Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell had these words to say about the crime in Arizona:

“We are all still shaken by the shooting that took place in Tucson on Saturday, and we are thinking especially today about the six people whose lives were taken so senselessly. So I would again like to extend my heartfelt sympathy to all the families of those who died.

“Congresswoman Giffords is in critical condition but doctors are optimistic. Many others are out of critical condition and are recovering. I hope everyone will join me in praying for their recovery.

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GOP Leaders Respond to Arizona Crime”


Even As Arizona Shooting Story Unfolds, Some Media Already Blaming Tea Party/Sarah Palin

-By Warner Todd Huston

Even as the early, sketchy details of the shooting incident in Arizona were still emerging some members of the left-leaning media were already trying to tie the killer to Tea Party activism in general and Sarah Palin in particular.

Andrew Sullivan of the Atlantic.com was early to attempt to link lunatic killer Jared Loughner to the Tea Party, but he wasn’t the only one. The Washington Post’s Sandhya Somashekhar immediately attempted to color the story as an example of the “militant rhetoric” of the Tea Party movement and Sarah Palin.

Liberals on Saturday blamed the tea party movement’s sometimes militant rhetoric — for example, former Alaska governor Sarah Palin’s advice to her supporters via Twitter, “Don’t Retreat, Instead – RELOAD,” or Nevada Senate candidate Sharron Angle (R) advocating “second-amendment remedies” for some of the nation’s problems. Palin had also posted a U.S. map depicting crosshairs over the states where she hoped to oust Democratic incumbents. That map no longer appears on the Web site of her political action committee.

Additionally, within minutes of the attack, hard left-winger Paul Krugman of the New York Times asserted that the reason Giffords was shot was because her seat was not turned over to Republicans. Despite that no political motive was at all known, Krugman immediately asserted that it was the fault of the Tea Party and Sarah Palin.
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Even As Arizona Shooting Story Unfolds, Some Media Already Blaming Tea Party/Sarah Palin”


GOP’s Speaker-To-Be Boehner Already Bowing to Democrats in House?

-By Warner Todd Huston

Think of this scenario: Your party has been swept into office with the biggest majority in generations. The majority of Americans think the country is on the verge of emergency and want things fixed pronto. And you are poised to become the next Speaker of the House. So what do you do? A). Steel your party for the hard and fast work to come, or B). Announce you are handing power over to the losing side, the one responsible for most of the recent destruction of the country the voters are upset about?

Well, if you are the Republican’s John Boehner, presumptive Speaker of the House, apparently it’s “B” because John Boehner is announcing that he intends to hand unprecedented power to the left with new House rules as soon as he takes the speaker’s gavel. Have Republicans learned nothing?

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Boehner intends to implement a power-sharing policy that will give the minority party more power than its ever had in the House. Why would he do this? God only knows.
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GOP’s Speaker-To-Be Boehner Already Bowing to Democrats in House?”


Adam Kinzinger Noted as One of 10 Conservatives Who’ll Define 2011

Slate has pointed out Adam Kinzinger (11th District) as one on the ten conservatives that will define the conservative movement for 2011.

Kinzinger has a lot of eyes upon him. Here is what Slate said of our Congressman-Elect from the 11th District.

Adam Kinzinger, U.S. representative from Illinois

It’s hard to predict which of the GOP’s dozens of House freshmen will make an impression. The new class includes not one but two car dealers who started running out of anger at “cash for clunkers.” New Republican women like Kristi Noem, Jaime Herrara, and Vicky Hartzler will produce all the “Mama Grizzly” spreads that editors could possibly want. But it’s Kinzinger–32, Iraq veteran, from Obama’s home state–who scored one of the most lopsided defeats of an incumbent in 2010, who joined Tim Scott (one of two black Republicans in the new House) in helping write the new Congress’ rules, and who’s got a seat on the energy and commerce committee, soon to become a grisly battlefield between environmentalists and climate-change skeptics.

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Adam Kinzinger Noted as One of 10 Conservatives Who’ll Define 2011″


On Joshua Holland’s ‘9 Conservative Lies’

-By Ken Marrero

Public debate is critical to the American political experience. Organizations and politicians take their message to voters, highlight strengths and weaknesses of the issues and submit their solutions. On election day, we see who the People choose.

Integral to the process, yet seldom mentioned, is for each party to be honest and operate in good faith. They must make arguments and quote statistics they believe to be true. They must not misrepresent their opponents or deceive participants. They may later be found wrong, but they may not intentionally deceive. This post is necessarily one of the longest I’ve written. I thought it better to address each point well than to gloss over one or more dismissively.

Joshua Holland, Progressive author and editor and Senior Writer at Alternet, recently wrote “The 9 Biggest Conservative Lies about Taxes and Public Spending.” It should serve as a model of how not to conduct the public debate necessary to arrive at good decisions for our nation. Holland doesn’t seem interested in debate. At times, he is less than truthful himself while outing Conservatives as liars. And he is mostly wrong. Let’s look at Holland’s points.
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On Joshua Holland’s ‘9 Conservative Lies’”


Shocking: Dave Weigel Doesn’t Get Sarah Palin

-By Warner Todd Huston

Like most leftists, former Washington Post blogger David Weigel just doesn’t get Sarah Palin. Weigel took a look at the year-end contributions from the Political Action Committees (PACs) sponsored by Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin and what he saw there baffled him. While Weigel thought he understood the “strategy” of Romney’s donations, he admitted that he just couldn’t understand Palin’s.

Weigel took a look at the Federal Elections Commission’s emerging reporting records of the two GOP player’s campaign donations. Weigel figured that Romney was doling out his campaign donations in key areas and to key candidates, all obviously meant to help his likely run for the GOP nomination for president in 2012. So Weigel thought Ronmey had a discernible “strategy” in his PAC donations.
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Shocking: Dave Weigel Doesn’t Get Sarah Palin”


Why Won’t MSNBCs Ed Schultz Interview Republicans? Cuz he is ‘Sick of ‘Em,’ of Course

-By Warner Todd Huston

It’s funny how lefties always consider themselves the more “logical,” the more civilized,” and more “adult” side of the argument. Why, they just want to have an adult debate to explain how correct their ideas are, right? Well, they might unless they work for MSNBC, apparently. Especially if they’re Ed Schultz. Ed Schultz, you see, doesn’t want a debate at all. In fact he refuses to even talk to the other side. We don’t have to surmise this to be true, either. He said so.

Just prior to Christmas, Schultz told his radio audience that he doesn’t have “righties” on his TV show because he’s “sick of ’em.”

You do not see Republican senators on The Ed Show on MSNBC. I don’t want ‘em! I don’t want ‘em and I’m getting sick of righties on my show anyway. I’m getting sick, I mean, we might have 2011, there might not be any freakin’ righties. I’m sick of ‘em!

Not long afterward he expanded on that theme in a way that might seem to be muddying the waters.
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Why Won’t MSNBCs Ed Schultz Interview Republicans? Cuz he is ‘Sick of ‘Em,’ of Course”


Teachers Union Prez Lewis With Heartland Institute’s Behrend on Chicago’s Fox

-By Warner Todd Huston

Illinois state government is discussing ideas of education reform and it is assumed that a vote on a plan of one kind or another might occur in the state capitol in Springfield as early as January. Fox Chicago had Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis and the Heartland Institute’s Bruno Behrend on the show to discuss the issue. (Dec. 17, 2010)

FOX Chicago Sunday: Karen Lewis & Bruno Behrend: MyFoxCHICAGO.com

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Teachers Union Prez Lewis With Heartland Institute’s Behrend on Chicago’s Fox”


New GOP Staffers Instructed on How to Cite Constitutional Justification

-By Warner Todd Huston

Someone sent me the text of an info packet being given to GOP staffers in a series of training sessions on how they are to comply with a requirement to cite exactly where in the Constitution is the justification for the legislation they and their member are writing during the upcoming 112th Congress.

We’ve heard that Boehner might institute this rule to force all legislators to justify their new laws by citing the clause that gives them the power to write the law. Let’s hope that this idea doesn’t die still born and that it becomes a new and long-lasting part of how our lawmakers write legislation.

Take a look at these guidelines. I like the idea…
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New GOP Staffers Instructed on How to Cite Constitutional Justification”


Strong Coalition Urges House Republicans to Create Anti-Appropriations Committee

-By Warner Todd Huston

President of Americans for Tax Reform (ATR.org), Grover Norquist, wrote about having an “anti-appropriations committee back in June n the American Spectator.

Norquist talked of Democrats, Republicans and “the appropriators” in congress and proposed an idea to take the starch out of the appropriator’s assumed sense of entitlement to spend our money with abandon.

Hearkening back to the board that identified needless spending during WWII, spending congress then cut from the budget, Norquist suggested a similar board today that would look over the budget and decide in a non-partisan way what was worth the spending and what should be cut.
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Strong Coalition Urges House Republicans to Create Anti-Appropriations Committee”


Congressman-Elect Walsh to Sit on Three Committees

From the office of Congressman-Elect Joe Walsh (8th District)…

Washington, DC. – Congressman-elect Joe Walsh (R, Illinois-8) will be a busy man during committee time in the 112th Congress that begins in January. The Republican Steering Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives has assigned Walsh to three committees: Homeland Security, Small Business, and Oversight and Government Reform.

“I am proud to accept these positions, and I thank the Steering Committee for entrusting me with these responsibilities. I believe that these committees will allow me to advocate for the issues that I campaigned on and those issues which are important to my constituents in the eighth district,” Walsh said.
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Congressman-Elect Walsh to Sit on Three Committees”


The 11 Republicans on the Powerful House Ways and Means Committee

-By Warner Todd Huston

Veteran fiscal conservative Congressman Peter Roskam (R, IL) has announced the names of the 10 Republicans that are joining him on the House Ways and Means Committee, the powerful committee that has jurisdiction over taxes, trade, and programs such as Social Security and Medicare.

Peter Roskam is the Representative for the 6th Illinois Congressional District which is situated just west of Chicago. He is about to begin his third term in Congress and will advance to the position of Chief Deputy Whip in the 112th Congress. Roskam ranks fourth in the House GOP leadership. His American Conservative Union (ACU) ranking is 97.33 percent.

Two freshmen Representatives will be taking their place on this powerful committee.
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The 11 Republicans on the Powerful House Ways and Means Committee”


(Video) Townhall Meeting With Mark Kirk and Randy Hultgren, Saint Charles, Illinois

-By Warner Todd Huston

On Dec. 11, 2010, I attended a townhall meeting held in the 14th Congressional District featuring Congressman-elect Randy Hultgren and newly minted Senator Mark Kirk. The event was held in the theater of a local high school in Saint Charles, Illinois.

The afternoon started out with an address by Senator Mark Kirk who already was sworn in for an interim term and will be starting his first full term as senator in January. After Kirk finished his opening remarks, Mr. Hultgren spoke and then there was some time for questions for the audience.

Kirk spoke for a strong defense, he spoke for fiscal responsibility and he spoke against the DREAM Act. For his part, Mr. Hultgren didn’t have much to say past his recently successful campaign talking points. But that is to be expected since he has not yet been to Washington to be involved in the issues in our nation’s capitol. Hultgren won’t take office until Jan. 5. Both men strongly spoke in favor of repealing Obamacare.

I have video of both men’s comments. I took the video with my hand-held Flip cam so it may be a bit shaky here and there. (And on the Kirk video I had to set the camera down for half a minute to turn my phone off as I got a call in the middle of his remarks. I thought I had turned it off, but obviously forgot to do so! So my apologies there.)

Here is the video of the two gentleman’s remarks…
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(Video) Townhall Meeting With Mark Kirk and Randy Hultgren, Saint Charles, Illinois”


Why Is Free Republic’s Jim Robinson Attacking Conservative Bloggers?

Is Free Republic Down? It should be.

(Note:To show how irrelevant Free Republic has become, on the day of Donald Trump’s inauguration the site was booted off line for the entire day. The ENTIRE day. One of the most important days for the center right movement and Free Republic was no where to be seen during the day’s events. What a joke.)

-By Warner Todd Huston

I hate it when conservatives attack each other, I have to say. The latest example of suicidal intra-conservative attacks is coming from Jim Robinson, the owner of the famed righty message board Free Republic. Sadly, Mr. Robinson has launched a campaign to harass and ultimately ban from his board all right leaning bloggers that try to post their items there.

Over the last three months or so what many Freepers thought was a self appointed band of FR-police began appearing and attacking posts by bloggers. Several screen names have been used to attempt to harass bloggers into quitting the board. The campaign has been successful in several circumstances, driving some bloggers to quit the board. In other cases, when the campaign wasn’t successful in driving the blogger to quit, Robinson himself has stepped in to ban the bloggers from posting on FR.

The sad thing is that none of these bloggers have been attacked and/or banned for the topics of their posts. All of these bloggers are good conservatives, none holding views which conservatives find antithetical to their ideology. These posters are not being attacked for what they posted but are being attacked for posting at all.
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Why Is Free Republic’s Jim Robinson Attacking Conservative Bloggers?”


Rep. Randy Hultgren Townhall Meeting Sat. Dec. 11

From the office of Rep. Randy Hultgren (14th District)…

These past few weeks have been focused on the economy and impending tax hikes that go into effect on January 1st.

Please join Senator Mark Kirk and myself for a town hall meeting TOMORROW, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 11th from 12:00-1:30 p.m. at the Norris Dellora Cultural Arts Center.

1040 Dunham Road, St. Charles, Illinois (CLICK HERE FOR A MAP)

I hope to see you tomorrow and I look forward to talking soon.


Pensions Troubles Getting Some Attention

-By Warner Todd Huston

Michael Corkery of the Wall Street Journal reports that congressional Republicans are finally paying a bit of attention to the coming pension bomb that is about to explode in nearly every state in the union, causing further damage to our economy and our state budgets. House Republicans are making moves to prevent bailouts of state pension funds.

Currently the federal government does not have too much influence over state pension funds. But with moves by some Democrats to change that so that the federal government can bailout their union supporters in the states, Republicans are looking to head off further federal involvement in the state’s floundering pension funds. (For more on Democrats trying to bailout state pensions see my earlier reports, here and here, among others.)

One of these moves is an attempt to force states to report more honestly on their pension problems before they are allowed to sell tax-free bonds.
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Pensions Troubles Getting Some Attention”


Obama Happy As Hell About That Tax Deal With GOP

This just in, President Obama was thrilled to announce the deal he made with the Republicans to further cement Bush’s legacy tax rates.

Why, just look at the giddy happiness with which he made the announcement…


SB600: Litmus Test for Party Reform (By Cedra Crenshaw)

-By Warner Todd Huston

In the 2010 midterms, Cedra Crenshaw made a splash as a great independent Republican candidate for the Illinois State Senate (43rd District). She was quickly confronted with the power of the Democratic Machine and made all too well aware of the limitations of the Illinois Republican Party.

Cedra recently wrote a great piece on SB600, a bill that would allow Republican voters to vote in their own leadership on the Illinois Republican State Committee (currently, insiders appoint these members and voters have no choice).
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SB600: Litmus Test for Party Reform (By Cedra Crenshaw)”


Why has Media Not Played up Republicans Taking Obama’s Senate Seat?

-By Warner Todd Huston

Wouldn’t you think it would be a big deal if a Republican president lost his senate seat to a Democrat only 2 short years after he was elected to the highest office in the land? I mean, don’t you think the media would think that a Republican president losing his own former office to the opposing party would be a story they wouldn’t be able to resist?

Yet with the election of Republican Mark Kirk, here we have a Republican taking the former senate seat of a Democrat president only two years in office (and only two years after a Democrat landslide at that) and the media has been practically nonchalant about the whole turnover of that seat to the opposition party.

Just think about this for a moment. Barack Obama resigned his senate seat in Illinois, the bluest of blue states, when he was elected president in a Democrat landslide that seemed to engulf the whole country. It was so tremendous a landslide that many pundits in the chattering classes at the time thought that it was the beginning of a permanent Democrat majority.

A scant two years later, that bluest of blue senate seats went to the Republicans who themselves won a landslide of epic proportions wholly reversing Obama’s great wave election.
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Why has Media Not Played up Republicans Taking Obama’s Senate Seat?”


What They’re Saying About Rep. Roskam’s New Leadership Post

From the Office of Rep. Peter Roskam (R, IL, 6th Distirct)…

Here is what they are saying on the various news outlets about Roskam’s appointment to Chief Deputy Whip. Also, enjoy the mashup video of the Chicago TV coverage below.

Crain’s Chicago Business

“Rep. Peter Roskam was named chief deputy majority whip of the incoming GOP-controlled House on Monday. The Wheaton Republican will rank fourth among House Republican leaders, giving Illinois a voice at the upper levels of the party’s hierarchy.”

“Mr. Roskam is positioned to be a go-between with the White House for the House GOP leadership. He and President Barack Obama served together in the Illinois Senate and collaborated in Springfield on issues such as death penalty reform.”
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What They’re Saying About Rep. Roskam’s New Leadership Post”