Nancy Pelosi: Get Back to Work!

Members of the Republican Party in both the House and the Senate are formally requesting that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-NY) "get back to work" after her controversial diplomatic excursion to the Middle East. The interesting thing about this request, aside from its overall hilarity in the grand scheme of things, is the use of the phase "Global War on Terror" which the Democrats have been phasing out. However, regardless of semantics, you have to realize the partisan nature of this development. Republicans want the American People to remember that while Nancy Pelosi was out playing Secretary of State, she was ignoring her post where a critical bill to fund the troops sat idle.

For more developing coverage, visit the fine folks at the Drudge Report.

Dear Speaker Pelosi:

We are writing to urge you to call the House back into session immediately so that Congress can finish its work on the emergency legislation to fund the Global War on Terrorism. This funding request has been pending since February 5, but your leadership team chose to leave town for more than two weeks rather than completing this bill. As a result, our troops have been put at risk.

We are especially troubled by the House's failure to appoint conferees. The Senate appointed conferees on March 29, moments after passing its bill, but the House never did so despite passing the bill a week earlier. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told the Senate that he hoped the House-Senate conference would begin on March 30. That hoped-for progress has been thwarted by your failure to act.

It should go without saying that our military leaders are in the best position to know the needs of our troops, and they have left no doubt that this funding is needed urgently. General Peter Schoomaker, United States Army Chief of Staff, has written that, "without approval of the supplemental funds in April, we will be forced to take increasingly draconian measures which will impact Army readiness and impose hardships on our Soldiers and their families." Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has also emphasized the dangers of delay: "This kind of disruption to key programs will have a genuinely adverse effect on the readiness of the Army and the quality of life for soldiers and their families."

Our troops need this funding, and they need it soon. The Senate is in session and ready to work. We respectfully request that you cancel the remainder of your break, call the House back into session, appoint conferees promptly, and work in good faith to pass a clean supplemental funding bill that the President can sign as soon as possible. Every day we don't fund our troops is a day their ability to fight this war is weakened.

Credit for this story goes to the Drudge Report.

Hillary is Dem Frontrunner: Time Poll

According to a survey conducted by Time Magazine in which 1,026 registered voters were polled, Hillary Clinton (D-NY), is 19 points ahead of Senator Barack Obama (D-IL). These results prove to be interesting especially after the media splash Obama has made.

Despite the buzz generated by Senator Barack Obama entering the race, the survey found that Senator Clinton would beat him for the Democratic nomination by a margin of 40% to 21%. Senator John Edwards is a distant third with 11%. Obama clearly suffers a disadvantage in profile among likely voters, with only 51% indicating that they knew enough about him to form an opinion, compared with 94% saying the same of Hillary Clinton. In Obama's favor, however, is his far lower negative ratings. While 58% of voters familiar with Hillary Clinton have a positive view of her, 41% give her negative marks, for a net favorability score of +17. By contrast, Obama's net favorability score is +47. On the Republican side, Giuliani has a net favorability rating of +68, with only 14% having a negative view of him. McCain's net favorability score is +45.

What Will Kill Republicans in 08

Republicans are in trouble. A series of scandals and a highly controversial war weigh heavy on the American mind and the media loves making sure it sticks, especially if it comes to screwing over the Republican party. The Dems have had their fair share of scandal and an ass-load of hypocrisy but the media tends to throw that on the one day news cycle. However, it is not the media that will kill Republicans in 08 as much as it is themselves. Right now, I am tired of the same Evangelical good Ole' boy. I want someone who is willing to compromise and forgo their preconceived notions in order to serve the greater good. Senator John McCain and Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, are, in my mind, the last hopes of the Republican party. They are the most potentially electable candidates except for one thing, they are not conservative enough to secure the nomination. Although McCain has been working hard to alter his image to challenge that fact there's no denying his past. Also, Mr. Giuliani's pro-gun control, pro-choice and pro-gay marriage stance, probably will not bode well for him when it comes to the Caucasus and primaries. For it is the party faithful who vote there and the party faithful are the ultra conservatives, so far off to the right in fact that if they Earth were flat they probably would have fallen right off it. The party needs to show that is open to new ideas. For right now that is what people want. New ideas. Americans are coming to the realization that the old ideas aren't working and someone who seems to embody a progressive spirit would be a breath of fresh air for the Republican Party, and for that matter the nation. As Avril Levine once sang, "I'm a hazard to myself, don't let me get me."

Hill Matters

Republicans are rushing to get their agenda moving before the Democrats officially take Congress.

WASHINGTON - The last days of Republican congressional rule are shaping up to be symbolic and brief, with GOP leaders hawking an abortion restriction with no chance of becoming law, loading up tax breaks with unrelated matters and dumping an unfinished budget on Democrats.