Free Republic

Martha Stewart on Sarah Palin: "Very Boring" Don't ask domestic diva Martha Stewart to break bread with, buy a book from, or listen to a speech by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. Palin is pushing her book with a presidential campaign-style bus tour of so-called "Red" states and Republican-leaning cities. She may be on magazine covers and Fox News, fut Stewart has apparently tuned out the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee and self-styled "hockey mom." "I wouldn't watch her if you paid me," Stewart told a TV interviewer on Monday. Why not? "She's very boring to me," Stewart replied. "She's...

In town to give a talk on civility, I was surrounded by women who wondered what I thought of Sarah Palin's Newsweek cover. "Why aren't women coming to her defense?" they asked. "Why are the media being so rough on Sarah?" Having been enjoying a self-imposed moratorium on all things Palin, declining numerous interviews to discuss her latest self-promotional tour, I was surprised by the questions. My thoughts lately have drifted toward the sense that, though Palin is very much a celebrity, she's no longer running for public office, at least officially. Ergo, radar gets a rest. As for her...

Levi Johnston, the estranged father of Sarah Palin's grandson, told CBS in an interview that -- among other things -- Palin had joked about her son Trig, who has Down's Syndrome. Palin has released this statement through her spokesperson Meg Stapleton, which appears to refer to Levi's agreement to pose for Playgirl magazine: We have purposefully ignored the mean spirited, malicious and untrue attacks on our family. We, like many, are appalled at the inflammatory statements being made or implied. Trig is our 'blessed little angel' who knows it and is lovingly called that every day of his life. Even...

A teenage girl was raped four times by a gang who took pictures of the abuse on their mobile phones. The 16-year-old victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was attacked in the attic room of a house in Rochdale on 28 May 2008. The girl's mother called her mobile phone after noticing she was missing from their home, only to hear the cries of her daughter on the end of the line. Her four attackers, aged 17 to 20, pleaded guilty at Bolton Crown Court. The girl had gone to the house after being called on her mobile....

Leaping through the air, claws outstretched these cats appear locked in mortal combat. But rather than a deathly duel over a mouse or territory, this acrobatic pair are simply play-fighting. Dubbed the 'ninja cats' after the Japanese feudal warriors, the sparring pair are in fact Muffi and his friend Tiger.

The increasingly nasty fight between South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford and Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer escalated further this week with charges from a legislative ally of Bauer that Sanford and his supporters are spreading malicious rumors that Bauer — a Republican like Sanford — is gay. GOP state Sen. Jake Knotts made the charge in a letter to state legislators Wednesday that was obtained by POLITICO. In an interview in June with The State newspaper, Bauer voluntarily brought up the subject of his sexual orientation. Asked if he was gay, he responded: “One word, two letters. No.” But the rumor...

There's been a big fuss this week because Michelle Obama wore shorts. She's worn shorts before — to walk the dog, do stuff around the White House. But the photos of her wearing them in that iconic descending-from-Air-Force-One-onto-the-tarmac setting proved too much for the media. Obamas? Check. Summer news doldrums? Check. Controversy? Close enough. It was a story. * * * But the truth is there was a conflict. It is within each of us. While nobody would make Mrs. O wear couture in Arizona in August, the truth is, she just didn't look particularly good in shorts. Her arms...

Meghan McCain told Michelle Malkin Tuesday that she would not "shut up" and that the Republican Party should be more inclusive of moderates like herself. The attack by McCain, the Republican daughter of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), against conservative Malkin is the latest battle in this year's public war of the Republican women pundits. The latest name-calling started on Friday when, according to McCain, "Malkin was asked which conservative political figure or commentator needs to shut up. Guess who her answer was? Yeah, that's right -- yours truly." McCain seemingly was first made aware of Malkin's comments by a follower...

The Daily Beast's Meghan McCain on why the far-right pundit, who says McCain needs to shut up, won’t be getting her wish—and why telling moderates to get out of the party is bad for the GOP. BY MEGHAN MCCAIN Michelle Malkin, the conservative pundit and author of the recent book Culture of Corruption: Obama and His Team of Tax Cheats, Crooks, and Cronies, was asked during a live chat on Politico’s The Arena on Friday which conservative political figure or commentator needs to shut up. Guess who her answer was? Yeah, that’s right—yours truly. So Michelle Malkin successfully rounds out...

Last year, America fell in love with Michelle and Barack Obama. Why? Because they were chic. Iconic photos of a sunglassed Sen. Obama deplaning in a trim suit with a narrow tie blowing in the wind thrilled a nation of Snuggied schlubs. We swooned at Michelle Obama's adorable shift dresses and casual flip. They were like Jack and Jackie Kennedy, minus the pills and the Brahmin accents! But since they moved into the White House, the once impeccably attired couple has encountered a series of troubling missteps. The new First Lady wore a weird toilet paper toga to the Inaugural...

My dear late father used to say that whenever a person's reaction is disproportionate to the stimulus, something else is at work. Keith Olbermann's "Worsting" of Ann Coulter on last night's Countdown [video] is a good illustration of the principle. Olbermann ostensibly awarded Ann his "Worst Person" for what was, after all, a rather mild swipe at Rachel Maddow, a tongue-in-cheek reference to her "raw sex appeal." So what had really gotten under Olby's skin? What caused him to refer to Ann as "putrid and evil"? Reference to the Coulter column in question reveals this paragraph, that Olbermann pointedly omitted...

...they were upset that their 14-month-old brother Trig, who has Down Syndrome, was "mocked and ridiculed by some pretty mean spirited adults." I'd like to know the names of those mean-spirited adults who mocked and ridiculed her special needs child. I don't believe it for a second. I think what she is talking about is that she was criticized for the way she dealt with her pregnancy with Trig and her caregiving of him after his birth. Remember, Sarah Palin is a right-wing, evangelical Christian for whom "family values" and the role of the mother are paramount. Many right-wing Christians...

In the latest Austrialian FHM when asked who a "monster should eat" in discusing the horror movie "The Unborn", actress Odette Yustman responded, "in real life?" the interviewer then said "yes", the Actress replied "Sarah Palin". If you see a movie being advertised with Odette Yustman, just say no!

The governor has spent much of her public life in high-pitched feuds—but taking on late night’s prince shows a complete lack of political sophistication. Top 10 lists about Sarah Palin's attack on David Letterman are already being written but really there is only one reason Palin should relent—she’s not a good enough politician to play. Palin has spent much of her public life in feuds with the state legislature, with her ex-brother-in-law, with John McCain’s staff, with Levi Johnston’s family. An early fight with the chairman of Alaska’s Oil & Gas Commission paved the way to the governor’s office. She...

iefer Sutherland rose to Brooke Shields's defense early Tuesday morning in Downtown Manhattan – though she didn't particularly request it, and the interloper allegedly suffered a broken nose from the 24 star, according to reports. "There was an incident that occurred at 2 a.m. at 99 Prince [Street]," a NYPD spokesperson tells PEOPLE. "It's all under investigation by the police department … People will come in sometime this afternoon [to be questioned]. New York's Daily News reports that Proenza Schouler women's wear designer Jack McCollough – a friend of Shields's – interrupted her and Sutherland while they were speaking outside...

You know my feelings about Sarah Palin. I was all for her at the beginning of her run as John McCain's VP pick. But then, I discovered what an utter ignoramus, lightweight, and ideologically spineless person she was (she ain't the conservative people claim she is, and she just hasn't a clue on most of it). On top of that, we all discovered how this absentee parent put her blind ambitions way ahead of her own family and now has a baby mama daughter to show for it, not to mention a baby daddy who argues back and forth with...

From John Ziegler, creator of the documentary Media Malpractice: How Obama Got Elected and Palin Was Targeted. On April 15th, the once upon a time prestigious (and apparently now openly a political leftist propaganda tool, akin to the Nobel Prize given to Paul Krugmann -not elevating leftist quacks, but rather tarnishing once noble institutions) USC Annenberg School for Communication will be presenting CBS Evening News anchor Katie Couric with the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Television Journalism. Now, for there to even be such a thing as an prize for Excellence in Television Journalism, in an age where a...

The father of Sarah Palin’s grandchild accused the Alaska governor on Wednesday of lying about him and his family. Levi Johnston said during an interview on CBS’s “Early Show” that he moved into the governor’s house a few weeks before Bristol Palin gave birth to their child. Palin’s camp has denied the claim, but Johnston insisted the governor is not telling the truth. “They said I didn't live there,” he said. “I was like, 'OK, well, whatever you want to call it. I had my stuff there.'” Asked if the Palin was lying about him, Johnston simply said: “Yes.” Palin...

PORT ST. LUCIE — A 28-year-old man was arrested after claiming to be an illegal alien and running naked down Southwest Bermel Avenue, according to a police report released Monday. Roberto Carlos, of the 1500 block of Southwest Bermel Avenue, faces an indecent exposure charge in connection with the Saturday night incident. Carlos, who was suspected of being intoxicated, told police he and his boyfriend were drinking beers and started arguing. Police suggested Carlos leave for the evening. “Roberto stated he wanted to go to jail because he is an illegal alien and wanted to go back to Mexico,” the...

Recent earthquake activity in Alaska provided “CBS Early Show” co-hosts with a ready-made metaphor for a segment on the personal lives of some of the those surrounding Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. But their quake turned out to be barely a ripple. Hosts Harry Smith and Maggie Rodriguez couldn’t contain their smirks as they introduced the piece. “There's been an earthquake rumbling outside Anchorage, but there is some other rumblings, as well, near Wasilla,” Smith snickered. “Oh, indeed,” Rodriguez chimed in with her eyebrows raised. “Sarah Palin says that she is focused on one thing, governing Alaska. But it has been...

She knew? You betcha, says the baby daddy of Sarah Palin's grandson. The Alaska governor most likely was aware before her daughter, Bristol, became pregnant that the teenager and her hockey hunk boyfriend were having sex, Levi Johnston said in a bombshell new interview. "I'm pretty sure she probably knew. Moms are pretty smart," said Johnston, 18, the father of the governor's first grandchild, in an interview that will air Monday on "The Tyra Banks Show." Johnston said he and Bristol Palin practiced safe sex "most of the time."

Conservative pundit Laura Ingraham weighed in on the flap over the weight of Sen. John McCain's daughter - blaming "the Obama attack dogs" for trying to manufacture a feud. "Let the record show I never called Meghan McCain fat - she isn't," Ingrahm said on FoxNews Wednesday night. "It's another left-wing attempt to silence any criticism of the liberal agenda."

(CNN) -- Laura Ingraham is calling Meghan McCain a "useful idiot" and a "flavor of the month" — the latest salvo in the war of words between the conservative radio host and the daughter of former Republican presidential candidate John McCain.

In a battle of blonde conservatism, a war of words seems to be heating up. Meghan McCain, daughter of the former presidential candidate and his wife Cindy, writes about politics and pop culture via her blog for TheDailyBeast.com. She recently turned her keyboard on Ann Coulter, the acid-tongued conservative commentator, calling Coulter the "poster woman for the most extreme side of the Republican Party." McCain admitted she's been a Republican for less than a year, but said she's "drawn to GOP ideals" and wants to fight for the party's resurgence. She also wrote that she is not "suggesting" she should...

<p>Last week, Ingraham mocked McCain on her radio show after the daughter of former GOP presidential nominee John McCain urged Republicans to seek compromise with Democrats. Ingraham called McCain “a Valley Girl gone awry” and a “plus-sized model.”</p> <p>McCain, who writes about politics and her personal life for The Daily Beast, went on The View on Monday to fight back.</p>

NEW YORK – Three people were arrested and six others hurt Saturday after bedlam broke out while they waited to audition for "America's Next Top Model," police said. Police didn't know what prompted the chaos involving hundreds of people outside the Park Central New York hotel in Manhattan. The panic left the street outside the hotel littered with shoes and clothing, according to news reports. "It was pretty scary," Jessica Paravati told WNYW-TV. She said she was caught up in a stampede after waiting on line overnight, hoping for a shot at stardom on the reality show. Two women and...

Meghan McCain responds to Laura Ingraham’s attack on her weight: Why is this topic still a socially accepted prejudice—and why in the world would a woman raise it? BY MEGHAN MCCAINRecently my not-size-0 body has come under fire again by the conservative pundit Laura Ingraham. On her radio show recently, she sarcastically commented that I was “too plus-sized to be a cast member on the television show The Real World” and needled me about my weight with a comment about Barbie's 50th anniversary. Instead of intellectually debating our ideological differences about the future of the Republican Party, Ingraham resorted to...

Meghan McCain has been making lots of enemies within the Republican Party. And Laura Ingraham certainly counts as one of them. McCain, the 24-year-old daughter of former presidential candidate John McCain, grabbed headlines this week for taking on conservative author Ann Coulter, who McCain described as "offensive." She kept up the attacks in a discussion with Rachel Maddow, when she intimated that Coulter’s comments make it difficult for the Republicans to court younger voters. Well, none of this pleases radio host Laura Ingraham, who yesterday employed a Valley-girl voice to describe the 24-year-old McCain as "plus-sized." Here’s the transcript, via...

Chris Matthews is still bombastic after all these years. But I prefer Rachel Maddow's reasoned, analytical style to Matthews' glibness. It boils down to a matter of whether you prefer the old-school, in-your-face delivery of Matthews or the new breed, personified by the even keel of Maddow. While flipping the channels immediately after President Obama's speech on the economy Tuesday night, I marveled at how General Electric's MSNBC could manage to pair two such different analysts on the same show. Let's face it. Any time Keith Olbermann, himself no stranger to preening on television, comes across as the voice of...

Women are less tolerant of each other than men are, according to a new study which may explain why some women prefer to have a male boss.The research, published in the US journal Psychological Science, found that women formed a negative view of their peers much quicker than men did. The team from Emmanuel College in Boston asked male and female college students to rate their room-mates under different scenarios. When asked to judge how they would rate their room-mates if they carried out a single fictional act of negative behaviour, after they had been otherwise completely trustworthy, women were...

Gov. Rod Blagojevich telling tales and starting to name names during an interview on WLS-AM this morning. Blago: There’s a prominent legislative leader, OK, you know, who was going to work with us on a couple of issues. But, you know, this is very common, he has a little laundry list of stuff he wants, and among these things—this is how the system in Springfield works, where a bunch of these lawmakers go down to Springfield, nobody even knows who they are, they’re away from their families, it’s a whole different world down there, a bunch of them are cheating...

"You guys know your president right? You know the one with the big ears. Yeah, wait a minute, he ain't my president, he might be yours. I tell you that woman he had singing for him, singing my song, she gonna get her a** whipped. The great Beyonce! Now like I said, she ain't mine. I can't stand Beyonce! She had no business up there singing. Singing on a big ole, big ole president day and going be singing my song that I've been singing forever." – 71-year-old Blues legend Etta James dogged both President Barack Obama and singer Beyonce...

Duff vs. Dunaway may turn out to be more exciting than the Bonnie and Clyde remake. Former Disney queen Hilary Duff is set to tackle Faye Dunaway's legendary role of Bonnie Parker, one-half of crime's notorious duo, in The Story of Bonnie and Clyde — news that did not sit well with Dunaway. "Couldn't they at least cast a real actress?" Dunaway reportedly scoffed last week.

The Palin Derangement Syndrome (PDS) on the radical left is getting worse. A blogger on the LimeLife.com site is now attacking Gov. Palin for wearing glasses. She didn’t quite call her “four eyes,” but used the slightly more snarky “spectacled one” to describe the former vice presidential nominee and governor of America’s 50th state. Those Leftist writers are so sophisticated. What are they going to do next? Trip retarded kids who are crossing the street? The blog posting breathlessly stated, “Sarah Palin will never be relegated to memory - probably because she never goes away. The spectacled one is back...

The two women members of 1970s hit group ABBA have rejected long-standing rumors that they are bitter enemies. In a rare joint interview published Friday, Agnetha Faltskog, 58, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad, 63, took a chance to set the record straight. "A lot has been written about how Agnetha and I fought and quarreled with each other. There is absolutely no truth in that," Lyngstad was quoted as saying by tabloid Aftonbladet. "Of course we competed, but to good effect." Lyngstad and Faltskog formed ABBA together with male members Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus. The band has sold more than 370...

I just heard it on Sean Hanniy

Media Has Fit as Palin Takes to Airwaves Throughout the 2008 presidential campaign, vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin became the #1 target of the media. Her straight-forward, no-nonsense approach was just a little too "rustic" for them, and she was criticized relentlessly. Whether it was her family, her knowledge of issues, her experience, or her wardrobe, nothing was off limits for the media who were foaming at the mouth to get Barack Obama elected. Now, Sarah Palin is speaking out. In a series of interviews, she addresses her time as the vice presidential nominee and takes the media to task....

The women of “The View” are seething over the show’s main guest Monday — conservative pundit Ann Coulter. “Why are you such a b----?” is the question co-host Joy Behar wants to ask Coulter, she said at an event for the New York Times Arts & Leisure Weekend.Co-host/comedian Whoopi Goldberg took a low blow at Coulter — literally.“Are you blond on the top and on the bottom?” Goldberg sarcastically said of the question she’d pose to Coulter.Coulter is on the ABC talk-show to promote her controversial new book “Guilty: Liberal ‘Victims’ and Their Assault on America,” whose second chapter focuses...

One battle ends, another begins. His job done, President Bush will abandon the major press spotlight in 10 days. Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's match in the media arena has just begun; journalists and pundits continue to bash her, and the Gov. has struck back in a new video. Link mentions Susan B. Anthony List.

Uber conservative political commentator and author, Ann Coulter, is drumming up controversy among the masses with her new book Guilty: Liberal Victims and Their Assault on America. The gist of her book? Liberals "playing victim" when she believes them to be the actual "victimizers." With anything Coulter has her hand in, this latest installment is sure to get tempers flaring, especially among single mothers. Monday night Coulter appeared on Fox News Channel's Hannity & Colmes. Tuesday morning Coulter made a controversial appearance on NBC's Today Show (after her originally scheduled appearance was cancelled.) In both appearances, Coulter's lastest stabs at...

Appearing in the timeslot of the fourth hour of Tuesday's "Today" show that Ann Coulter was originally booked to appear on, celebrity blogger/author Perez Hilton addressed the Coulter bumping controversy directly, as he challenged the conservative author: "Ann Coulter, if you’re watching, bite me!" "Today" co-hosts Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb then acknowledged that Coulter was, in fact, scheduled to promote her book at that time but may be invited back on Wednesday's show. Gifford expressed disappointment that Coulter and Hilton weren't on together, saying it would have been "good television," which prompted Hilton to respond: "She's not very...

It appears Obamamania has not only infiltrated British newspapers, but so has Palin Derangement Syndrome...even in the fashion section. Is there any safe place a person can go these days without being told Michelle Obama is "a goddess [who] stepped onto the world stage and made it her own...married to someone who is, frankly, a sex god," or that Sarah Palin is the "worst dressed" woman in the world "who may have spent $150,000 on six suits but still resembled a hopelessly sexless, up [sic] hockey mom who buys all her clothes from Wal-Mart?"

One is black, the other is Arab, both are beautiful - and they are wearing down Nicolas Sarkozy. The French are mesmerized by media coverage of the debonair French president's quandary over Human Rights Minister Rama Yade and Justice Minister Rachida Dati, two headstrong icons of his rainbow Cabinet. "Super Sarko" prides himself on being the ultimate alpha male but he has become putty in the hands of the pretty young pols, tolerating incompetence that would probably have a man dismissed. Both are in disgrace but they are staying in their jobs for now, despite rumors of a reshuffle. The...

Palin's secret? Victoria's Secret is on her latest list of shops

A busty blond model who has graced the covers of dozens of romance novels created real-life melodrama at her soon-to-be ex-husband's fraud trial when she got into a catfight with his new girlfriend and allegedly threatened to cause a ruckus in the courtroom.

A California-based conservative group that hammered Democratic Sen. Barack Obama during the presidential election is launching a string of commercials this week praising Gov. Sarah Palin. Designed to counter what the group calls attacks on Palin -- a potential presidential candidate in 2012 -- by "media elites," the ads begin airing in Alaska today. But Palin's critics have been just as busy. A group spearheaded by local left-leaning bloggers says the governor still has to answer for the findings of an abuse-of-power investigation finished during the campaign, and are pressing lawmakers to take action next session. The group, Alaskans for...

Sarah Palin represents a huge historic leap forward for women.(snip)But Sarah Palin can come across as utterly unready to lead the world — or even find the world on a map — and that doesn’t reflect poorly on the rest of us.It only means that she doesn’t have enough mind grapes or thoughtsicles, as Tracy Morgan refers to brain droppings on “30 Rock,” to be president soon.

Violet Blue knows exactly why Prop. 8 passed, and it's distasteful -- Yes, the family-packed Proposition 8 protest last Friday night, with estimates of between 15,000 and 25,000 marchers, was quite peaceful. Unless you saw the look on 8-foot-tall Miss Trannyshack 2007 Pollo Del Mar's face. She looked like she was about to slam a size 15 open-toed high heel into the back of some Mormon's head. No one - and I mean NO ONE - is taking her bridal registry away.Last week, San Franciscans, Californians, and the rest of the country was pretty much shocked when Proposition 8 ("Eliminates...

Tina Fey appeared right when I needed her, just when all seemed bleak. The NYPD was reporting another murdered child and the latest casualty reports from Afghanistan included a New Yorker who was a particularly nice guy. That made me think of two other fine men I know in Afghanistan, as well as two buddies in Iraq. Then my lawyer friend Eddie Hayes called to say that the economy seemed to be headed for the Greater Depression. "The guys who are supposed to be getting us out of this are the same guys who got us into it in the...