Free Republic

Amidst the various twists and turns of our nation’s negotiation with Iran on a nuclear deal, one thing is clear: the American people are skeptical. Americans know that a nuclear Iran is a threat to every nation. Our concern is not just Iran in possession of a nuclear bomb; we all know that the leadership of Iran continues to threaten its neighbors and the World. Iran is the world’s largest state-sponsor of terrorism and there is little doubt that if they had nuclear weapons, they could transfer those weapons or nuclear material to their global terror proxies. This week, the...

Watching Hillary Clinton reach out and touch ordinary Americans is excruciating. In working a crowd of regular folks, Hillary is fingernails on the blackboard in a pantsuit. It is difficult to imagine anyone more out of touch with their own affect, movement, and connection to the people around them. She is unable to talk, touch, listen or smile in a natural manner. She doesn't seem to know what to do with her hands, where to direct her eyes, her scope of awareness is restricted. A blind person with a stick would be better than Hillary Clinton at reading people around...

It’s one thing for Hillary Clinton to lift Granny Warren’s applause lines, but now she’s speaking with a forked tongue about her grandparents, just like the fake Indian does.You know how Fauxcahontas says she’s an Indian because her grandma told her she had “high cheekbones”? And how her parents had to elope because her paternal grandparents were angry that their son was marrying a “breed”? (Funny, the newlyweds had a big wedding party in their hometown right after they got married in the biggest church in the next town over.)Now Hillary is out in Iowa making it up about her...

This was a big week for the political press. That means it was also a good week for highlighting how the world of the political elite is so out of touch with the world of everyday Americans. The excitement for the pundits was launched by the announcement that former Secretary of State, senator and first lady Hillary Clinton is doing what was expected and running for president. This enabled breathless commentary about whether driving cross-country in a van and eating a burrito will present Secretary Clinton in a more positive light. Everyday Americans, on the other hand, recognized that nothing...

Two relatively recent photos of Barack Obama with foreign leaders reveal much about his deep-dyed leftism. The first features President Obama and democratically elected Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, leader of one of America's most loyal friends. Obama looks strained. His face is stiff, and his eyes are veiled. The second is a snap of Obama at the recent Summit of the Americas in Panama. He's seated with "President" Raul Castro, leader of a bitter enemy, who has never received a single free vote. Obama is grinning, his eyes dancing with pleasure. In contrast to the bitterness with which Obama addresses...

When the word “appeasement” was first identified with the foreign policy of a nation, it was on purpose. Now a term of derision generally applied to political leaders who seem to be clueless about apparent danger, it was never really a “bad” word until it became forever identified with foreign policy failures in Great Britain under the premiership of Neville Chamberlain. The word itself simply means to pacify or soothe. Most of us understand that there is a measure of this required for peaceful and civilized living and discourse. But when appeasement met Adolf Hitler, it was manipulated, twisted, scorned...

So far, of the declared candidates for president, the only one who voted for the Iraq War is the Democrat. I recently made that observation on Twitter and the response was instructive. I will refrain from reprinting the more piquant language from Hillary Clinton's supporters, but one common theme was that I am a fool. Sens. Ted Cruz, Rand Paul and Marco Rubio weren't in the Senate for the Iraq war vote, many shrieked. Well, exactly. In case you haven't been paying attention, you might be interested to know that the Iraq War was not popular, especially among Democrats. If...

Radical activists in the gay community have put pedal to the metal to force gay acceptance from Christians -- making not only their position but also their tactics anti-Christian. They are deliberately targeting the Christian wedding industry -- the cakemakers, the caterers, the quaint bed-and-breakfast owners, and the like. They are headhunting Christians who refuse their business on moral grounds by slapping them with lawsuits or "human rights" complaints. Fascists would appreciate these tactics. Everyone witnessed the national shaming and death threats that came to Memories Pizza in Walkerton, Indiana, because the owners declined to cater a gay "wedding" --...

Presidents are inevitably shaped by the circumstances in which they campaign for -- and come into -- office. In 1932, Franklin Roosevelt called for "bold, persistent experimentation" and followed through once in office. Had Roosevelt run in another year, or had there been no Great Depression, he would have campaigned and governed differently. The same can be said, to varying degrees, of the presidents who won open-seat contests since, John Kennedy, Richard Nixon, the two George Bushes and Barack Obama, and of those who unseated incumbents, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton. The Republicans who have announced their candidacies...

Obama’s Israel Support Means Standing with Boycotters and Terror SupportersPosted By Ronn Torossian On April 17, 2015 @ 12:15 am In Daily Mailer,FrontPage | No Comments The media crows about Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appealing to Americans across all political lines about the danger of the Iran deal – a deal which Israelis across the political spectrum maintain is a mistake.  Apparently, democracy matters – except when it comes to Israel.Along these lines, just released data from White House visitor logs [1] unveils the fact that Israel’s Ambassador, Ron Dermer is persona non grata at the White House.   That...

Hillary sat at a table, Iowans around her, making the case for what most of us would call amnesty for illegal aliens. She cited her grandparents. As she has many times before, she said they were immigrants. All of them. She told stirring stories of how hard they worked and how they found their place in America. It was all very moving. The problem is, it didn’t happen to be true. And within hours of her saying so, a reporter was able to prove her claim false. How? Census records. In the era of Internet genealogy, once obscure and unreachable...

All in all, a pretty fun week for conservatives. Marco Rubio made a classy and inspiring entrance into a Republican field that is already impressive and energizing, and sure to become even more so. Meanwhile, the most powerful woman in American history dropped in with a campaign debut that ranged from underwhelming to comically inept. Or so it appears to those of us who have no intention of voting for her. Make no mistake, I have enjoyed the absurdity of the incognito Chipotle moment, the inexplicable road trip in the stupidly labeled “Scooby” van, the easy-to-mock fawning of the reporters...

Back in 1979, Ronald Reagan first announced his intentions to run for office by releasing a video. That is how it was done back then. It was not really that much of a surprise that you would use yesterday's campaign tactic to declare your intentions last week. Then you got in a van for a road trip. The press called it "spontaneous." Some members of the press reported your travel as you personally driving to Iowa from New York. Except, Madam Yesterday, you admitted you had not driven yourself anywhere since 1996. Your cars are sedans and chauffeured; your planes...

Illustration by Sarah Rodgers/ The Daily BeastWhile the rest of the GOP field plays nice, Scott Walker is very much on the attack—and he’s not making many friends in the process. In the waning days of the 2014 elections, Chris Christie arrived in Ohio to campaign for his fellow Republican John Kasich. At a rally for over 700 people in the town of Independence, the Ohio governor said of his New Jersey counterpart that, “among all the governors, he’s my best friend.” The audience let out a collective “awww.” The two were shown the next day on the front of...

.......As Brendan Nyhan at the New York Times explained in February, this sort of thing is called “issue-trespassing,” where one party attempts to co-opt an advantage of the other by pretending to care about something nobody thinks they care about. In this case, the GOP seemed to be admitting that their reputation as the party of the 1 percent wasn’t helpful to their cause, so they decided to try to shift the blame to President Obama. Nyhan points out that data suggests this rarely ever works, because people rely on party stereotypes no matter how hard those parties try to...

THUMBS DOWN to the vandals who defaced the Borden gravesite in historic Oak Grove Cemetery. The plot, which contains the graves of Lizzie Borden, her slain father A.J., and stepmother, Abigail, as well as Lizzie’s sister, Emma, was marked with graffiti police belief to have been “tagged” by skateboarders. The crime took place on Sunday, the same day “The Lizzie Borden Chronicles” miniseries premiered on Lifetime. “It just irks me … not just when it’s Lizzie Borden, but anyone,” said Oak Grover Cemetery Director Tony Eaton. We share the sentiment and hope the perpetrators are brought to justice and make...

President Obama's recent statement saying that requiring Iran to recognize Israel would not be part of the agreement with Iran did not surprise Israelis, many of whom feel that the more he tries to assuage their fears, the more they have to worry about. As president of the United States, his first commitment is to the welfare of his country, but it would not have been out of place for him to demand that Iran publicly declare it would not destroy Israel, one of America's closest allies.Obama is clearly aware of Israel's concerns, promising the United States would "be there"...

We live in a constitutional republic in which our elected officials are bound by the constraints of the Constitution, which means they don't have a license to do whatever they please, even if they think it would be best for the country. That President Barack Obama so flagrantly violates this enshrined legal principle and much of his Democratic Party supports him in doing so is why so many other people are outraged and, at times, fear for their country. Under past presidents in my lifetime (I was born after FDR), Republican and Democratic, we have not had to live in...

When asked in February what his proudest accomplishment was as a leading figure in the Obama administration, former White House advisor David Axelrod replied by touting the administration’s record on ethics. “I’m proud of the fact that basically you’ve had an administration that’s been in place for six years in which there hasn’t been a major scandal,” he said. To this, conservatives laughed. There is a difference between being scandal-free and deftly navigating the media environment to ensure that no individual controversy shatters the foundations of the public’s trust in the president. While the administration’s political team has been able...

RUSH: The New York Times -- let me get to this later, too. But I just want to tease you with it. They have a column here by Thomas B. Edsall. Now, that name might ring a bell. Thomas B. Edsall used to write at the Washington Post. Be "Warshington," for those of you in Rio Linda. And after leaving the Washington Post and now writing opinion pieces now and then for the New York Times, he has been involved in, I think, the Obama campaign somehow. Not a direct paid participant, but there's been a linkage there. Anyway, he's...