Senate Dems Reach 60 Vote Threshold on Health Bill

Democratic leaders secure the support of Sen. Ben Nelson to provide the 60th and deciding vote for sweeping health care legislation in the Senate, capping a year of struggle and a final burst of deadline bargaining on President Barack Obama's top domestic priority.

Coburn: Nelson Agreement with Leaders 'Threw Unborn Babies under the Bus'

A number of Republican senators attacked an agreement reached between Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) and Senate Democratic leaders Saturday, saying it would lead to the eventual reversal of more than 30 years of federal law banning abortion funding.

McConnell Not Backing Down on Health Overhaul as Votes Loom

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) blasted Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) Friday morning for speeding a major healthcare overhaul through the upper chamber before Christmas.

Final Senate Healthcare Bill Released by Reid in Drive for 60

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has unveiled a final version of his healthcare reform legislation containing a plethora of changes designed to lock down the 60 votes he needs to pass the

historic legislation on Christmas Eve.

Misusing Knowledge to Expand Government Power

by Michael Barone

Knowledge is becoming more specialized and more dispersed, while government power is becoming more concentrated," writes economist Arnold Kling in his new book, "Unchecked and Unbalanced." "This discrepancy creates the potential for government to become increasingly erratic and, as a result, less satisfying to individuals.

Joe Lieberman Says No to Medicare Buy-In

Sen. Joe Lieberman told Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid Sunday that he couldn't support a new Medicare proposal floated as a compromise to the public option, a development that complicates the bill's path towards passage before the end of the year.

The Poll Republican Establishment Types Would Prefer You Ignore

by Erick Erickson

What are we told about conservatives by the Republican establishment? Let's see: they need to be seen and not heard, they are hurting us with independents, their philosophy is outmoded, they stand for nothing but "no," and if we move right the voters will reject us.

The Very Necessary Republican Civil War

by Erick Erickson

Yesterday, in an interview with the St. Petersburg Times, I said in 2010 one of my big targets is the GOP establishment. Yep. It's being characterized as a civil war. I prefer to think of it as a coup. It is time for the grassroots to take back the party. If a fight is necessary, I'm game for that.

Queen Bee Hutchison Always Wants Her Cake and Eat It Too

by hogan

Known in Senate circles as the Senator who must have her way - even if it means a few tears in the leader's office - Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) is the queen of wanting to have it both ways. She wants to run for Governor of Texas without giving up her Senate seat. She wanted to move up Senate leadership without taking a risk to run. She wants to be the "conservative" in the primary, and the candidate with "broad appeal" in the general election. She wants to be pro-choice and pro-life. This leaves one scratching his head a bit.

Celebs to Kids: America Stinks!

by Drew Zahn

Hollywood celebrities and education gurus have teamed together to distribute to schools across the country a dramatic new curriculum that casts American history as an epic march of victims seeking to shrug off the shackles of the warmongering, racist, capitalist, imperialist United States.

Conservatives Grab for Tea Party Cash

Conservative leaders are eager to turn Tea Party anger into election-year cash - and to do that, they're launching a flurry of new political action committees aimed at collecting small-dollar donations from newly engaged anti-tax, anti-spending activists.

Global Warming: They Will Never Be Convinced

by Bruce Bialosky

The release of some 3,000 emails hacked from the Climate Research Unit at East Anglia University illuminates the true intent of those in the forefront of one of the most complex scientific and political issues of our times: "Global Warming" (or, if you prefer, "Climate Change").

Manhattan Declaration Reveals Mainstream Values

by Janice Shaw Crouse

The recently-released Manhattan Declaration, a nearly 5,000 word document, explains how throughout history, Christians have steadfastly, persistently held to certain fundamental truths of their faith; these truths are not political, nor are they ideals newly imagined by bigots wanting to suppress other people.

Polls Show Dems Might Lose Obama, Biden Senate Seats

by Donald Lambro

President Obama and Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. won't be on the midterm ballot next year, but their former Senate seats will be, and both races are now either tossups or leaning Republican in high-visibility contests.

Great Myths of the Great Depression (Part II)

by Wes Riddle

Politics not only makes for strange bedfellows, it can make it hard to tell who's wrapped up in sheets next to you. Contrary to the popular myth about Herbert Hoover being this laissez-faire capitalist and Franklin Delano Roosevelt saving the day with New Deal socialism, Hoover actually started interventionist policies that Roosevelt continued and intensified.

LF 9: The Religion of Government

by andyd

When I came to the above sentence, it occurred to me that the same could be said for many of the most prominent liberal / progressive / statist politicians in today's world.  "Man-made global warming" is obviously one of the religions of today's Democratic Party.  If Abortion isn't the most sacred of the faiths, it's really far up there.  But Jonah Goldberg points out the truth of the matter is that Hillary Clinton and others are true religious believers in the power of Government as a religion or a faith.

Despite Claiming Otherwise, the NRSC Endorses Carly Fiorina

by Erick Erickson

I realize we're playing adolescent word games with the NRSC when it comes to Carly Fiorina. Just last week, John Cornyn said the NRSC would not be endorsing anyone, including Carly Fiorina.

A Bomb Goes Off in Florida

by Erick Erickson

Last night in Washington, close to one hundred leaders of the conservative movement gathered in a townhouse just down from the United States Capitol to hear Senator Jim DeMint and Florida Speaker Marco Rubio at a Senate Conservatives Fund fundraiser for Marco Rubio.

Less Health Care for More Money

by Ann Coulter

The New York Times' Nicholas Kristof recently wrote a column about John Brodniak of Oregon, who developed a cavernous hemangioma, causing him great pain as blood leaks into his brain.

Senate Democrats Subvert the Rules of Order

by Erick Erickson

We can only hope the Senate Republicans learned their lesson today. As so many of us have tried to tell Mitch McConnell for weeks and weeks and weeks, the Senate GOP must throw everything they can at killing the health care bill. Instead, we have seen the Senate Republicans working collaboratively with the Democrats on a series of messaging amendments that no one has paid attention to.

Amid Rumbling Discontent, Dems Head for the Exits

by Michael Barone

While Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid scrambles to assemble 60 Democratic votes for health care legislation that, according to the realclearpolitics.com average of recent polls, is opposed by a 53 percent to 38 percent margin, several Democratic members of the House are scrambling for the exits on what is starting to look like a sinking ship.

Welcome to the Democratic Party's Civil War

by Michelle Malkin

Seems like only yesterday the Washington establishment had proclaimed the death of the GOP. Pundits churned out public autopsy reports faster than the L.A. County Medical Examiner. Liberals gloated over the supposedly irreparable fissures between right-wing populists and Beltway Republican elites. Conservatism, we were told, was suffering brain death and heart failure. My, how quickly things -- ahem -- change.

Conservative Republican Participation

by Morton C. Blackwell

Events of the past year should persuade every serious conservative that the Republican Party is the only practical party vehicle for us. For a year now, we have seen how much damage the left would do to America if they get their way.

For the Good of the GOP, Will Charlie Crist Drop Out?

by Erick Erickson

The first survey in the Florida Senate race was 54-8 in Charlie Crist's favor. When Rubio broke into the mid-teens, Charlie Crist's campaign said that for the good of the GOP, Rubio needed to withdraw.

The War on Christians and Jews

by Gary Bauer

At a time of year when faith is celebrated by most Americans, it may surprise some to learn that many students of faith and history believe we are living in a post-Christian age. It is not apparent at the local malls now so festively decorated, but it can be seen in some telltale cultural indicators. One of those is the number of attacks on people of faith, particularly Jews.

For Franken, No More Mr. Funny Guy

In the past month, Al Franken, the junior Democratic senator from Minnesota has publicly slugged it out with a GOP senator, privately rebuked another one and on Thursday took the unusual step of shutting down on the Senate floor a longtime member of his party's caucus: Sen. Joe Lieberman.