Free Republic

Morgan implied fast food eatery was linked to organized crimeWhile he may take no prisoners in the courtroom, high-profile Orlando attorney and Florida’s so-called “pot daddy” John Morgan is making amends -- with Arby’s. To settle the internet beef between him and the fast food chain, Morgan got decked out in matching meat sweats and filmed an apology video outside his vacation home in Maui. The feud started a few weeks ago when Morgan posted one of his popular #Johnin60secs videos where he regularly muses on topics like getting recognized at the grocery store despite wearing a mask because he...

For decades, Illinois House speaker Michael Madigan dominated the state’s political system, corrupting it to his own ends. What should we make of his ouster? The Chicago machine turned out some of the most notorious names in American public corruption, including Anton Cermak, Richard J. Daley, and Ed Kelly. The machine also turned out Mike Madigan, who ruled over Illinois politics for 50 years, 36 of which he spent calling the shots as House speaker. Most people thought Madigan would only leave office in handcuffs or a casket. Most people were wrong. For the first time since 1970, “the Velvet...

Donald Trump may be off to the worst start in presidential history, but recent polls and election results show Democrats are even more unpopular than he is. What’s wrong with the Democrats? Recently I ran into a Democratic operative who was adamant that his dispirited party’s stock is rising. It’s looking good, for example, that with all Trump’s troubles, the donkey party finally will win enough seats in special elections this fall to take control of our state’s Legislature from the Republicans. “If Democrats can’t win this year,” he vowed, “we should be abolished as a political party.” Might not...

Today's Schedule: 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM (EST) Call to Order: The Honorable Antonio R. Villaraigosa (Chair of the 2012 Democratic National Convention Committee; Mayor of Los Angeles, California) Invocation: Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie, 10th Episcopal District (First Woman Elected Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church) The Honorable Luis V. Gutierrez (Member of the US House of Representatives, Illinois) The Honorable Diana DeGette (Member of the US House of Representatives, Colorado) The Honorable John A. Pérez (Speaker and Member of the California State Assembly) The Honorable Thomas M. Menino (Mayor of Boston, Massachusetts) The Honorable Judy Chu (Member of...

Democratic National Committee gets new logo, slogan By: James Hohmann September 15, 2010 03:27 PM EDT Eager to bridge a daunting enthusiasm gap, Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine recited a list of President Barack Obama’s accomplishments Wednesday to an auditorium packed with George Washington University College Democrats. It came as he unveiled a new web site, a new logo and a new slogan for his party: “Change That Matters.” As he went down a longer list, Kaine spoke passionately of how Democrats delivered an economic stimulus (he would only call it “the Recovery Act”) and “the Affordable Care Act”...

CHICAGO — Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn says he expects Scott Lee Cohen ultimately will have to step down as the Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor over charges that he once abused his girlfriend. Quinn called Thursday for Cohen to answer all questions about his 2005 arrest for domestic battery. But Quinn says he thinks Cohen will end up dropping out of the race.

Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards said if he wasn’t elected president, the population of African-American males is likely to either wind up in prison or dead. At an MTV/MySpace.com forum Thursday, Edwards responded to a question about inner-city kids partaking in violence by saying there was no “silver bullet” to fight the problem. “We start with the president of the United States saying to America, ‘we cannot build enough prisons to solve this problem. And the idea that we can keep incarcerating and keep incarcerating — pretty soon we’re not going to have a young African-American male population in America....

Should anyone want to win the November election? (snipped endless paragraphs of useless verbiage...) Still, there are reasons why the Democrats might be better off denying Republicans the defeat they crave in November. For the Democrats to win the House this year would offer the unappealing prospect of responsibility without power. With a slim majority in the next Congress, Democrats wouldn't be able to accomplish anything significant. The party would still lack the votes to pass health-care reform or to repeal the Bush tax cuts. But with control of even one chamber by one vote, the failure to act on...

Rep. Jan Schakowsky and Rep. Rahm Emanuel are leading a drive to pressure House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) to cancel Wednesday's address to Congress by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki because he condemned Israeli attacks on Lebanon -- putting him at odds with U.S. policy. Emanuel and Schakowsky, both Illinois Democrats with party leadership positions, were circulating a letter Monday among colleagues stating "with mounting evidence that the Iraqi leadership's goals are not in the best interests of the United States -- nor the Middle East -- Prime Minister Maliki's address is inappropriate. "We are unaware of any prior...

There they go again. The Republican National Committee, the right-wing noise machine and their spear carriers in the mainstream media, have been in attack mode over the last few weeks. This time their target is Rep. John Conyers, the distinguished senior Democrat who will become chairman of the House Judiciary Committee if Democrats win the House back this fall. With the president and the DeLay Congress about as popular as big oil CEOs, the RNC is desperate to demonize Democrats. So they cooked up a campaign claiming that if Democrats win the House, Conyers is geared up to impeach the...

Peter Beinart is an advocate of liberal -- not ''progressive'' -- nostalgia. He wants to turn the clock back to 1947 at Washington's Willard Hotel. Beinart, who was born in 1971, is editor at large of the liberal New Republic magazine and disdains the label ''progressive'' as a rejection of liberalism's useable past of anti-totalitarianism. An intellectual archaeologist, he excavates that vanished intellectual tradition and sends it into battle in his new book, The Good Fight: Why Liberals -- and Only Liberals -- Can Win the War on Terror and Make America Great Again. It expresses Beinart's understanding of liberalism...

Conference Call Information for DNC's National Organizing Kickoff Below is the information for the conference calls. Calls will take place at three separate times throughout the evening. Please dial the one that best fits your party: With Governor Howard Dean 7:30 PM EST Dial in: (651) 291-1170 Participant Access Code: 804167 With Governor Howard Dean 9:45 PM EST Dial in: (651) 291-3245 Participant Access Code: 804179 If neither of these calls fit into your meeting schedule, Tom McMahon, Executive Director of the DNC will host a call at 6:30 PM Eastern: With Executive Director Tom McMahon 6:30 PM EST Dial-in:...

WASHINGTON -- No buttons, signs or unusual dress will distinguish the protesters from the thousands who will line the inaugural parade route next month, but at a set time, they say they will demonstrate against President Bush -- by turning their backs on the chief executive. Coupled with the widely expected pomp and pageantry of a presidential inauguration are demonstrations by protesters angered by Bush's policies, in particular the war in Iraq. Getting ready for Jan. 20, 2005, various groups are using Web sites, e-mails, fliers and word of mouth to urge thousands of demonstrators to gather in the nation's...

Twenty-one Member [sic] of Congress, led by Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich (D-OH), sent a letter to Secretary of State Colin Powell today in support of United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan. The letter states: We are writing to express our support of United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who has recently been under attack by some American lawmakers for the U.N’s Oil-for-Food program scandal occurring under his watch. Such an attack on the second-term Secretary-General and Nobel Peace laureate is disgraceful and premature. There has been no hint of impropriety on the part of the Secretary-General, who on numerous occasions has proven...

COLUMBUS, Ohio - As it has done for 200 years, Ohio's delegation to the Electoral College (news - web sites) is to meet Monday to cast ballots for president and vice president — but this time, there are demands that the electors wait until after a recount. A demonstration was held Sunday as about 100 people gathered outside the Ohio Statehouse to protest the delegation's vote. The Electoral College's vote in the Ohio Senate chamber is expected to be accompanied by demonstrations outside the Capitol sponsored by groups who don't accept that President Bush (news - web sites) won the...

For Some, the Race Remains Far From Over 47 minutes ago By Sam Howe Verhovek Times Staff Writer COLUMBUS, Ohio — Clifford Arnebeck won't let it go. He can't let it go. Not, he says, while America refuses to recognize that John F. Kerry was elected president Nov. 2. Arnebeck, a Democratic lawyer here and co-chairman of a self-styled national populist alliance, is petitioning the state's highest court to throw out official results that favor President Bush and instead hand Ohio's 20 electoral votes — and thus the White House — to Kerry. Or, at least, order a revote. The...