Free Republic

McCain calls Hayworth a "pig." He desperately defends his flip-flops and record of voting for the billion dollar pork TARP bailouts which included $150 billion in earmarks, co-sponsoring amnesty with Ted Kennedy and cap and trade legislation with Joe Lieberman, and voting against tax cuts twice. Hayworth easily proves that he is much more conservative than McCain on the very things McCain has been attacking him on – pork and earmarks. In their second, and likely final, Senate primary debate, JD Hayworth again easily defeated John McCain. McCain avoided discussing real issues, where he has a record of flip-flopping in...

Last month, Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., introduced a bill that might -- we're not really sure -- give the president the authority to shut down all or portions of the Internet in the event of an emergency. It's not a new idea. Sens. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., and Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, proposed the same thing last year, and some argue that the president can already do something like this. If this or a similar bill ever passes, the details will change considerably and repeatedly. So let's talk about the idea of an Internet kill switch in general. It's a bad one....

Agency head complained of 'free ride' for online news readers Federal Trade Commission (FTC) leaders are attempting to distance themselves from controversial proposals published in a May 24 working paper on "reinventing" the media. The report presents a suite of options through which government could step in and supposedly rescue journalism, most notably by imposing taxes. A fee could be levied on websites such as the Drudge Report that link to the best news of the day, or a tax could be imposed on consumer electronics such as iPads, laptops and Kindles. Funds collected would be redistributed to traditional media...

In justifying its broad moratorium on deepwater drilling, the Obama administration emphasized that the measure was recommended by an Interior Department report prepared in consultation with scientists and industry experts. The May 27 report to President Barack Obama said the experts "peer reviewed" its recommendations, including the six-month moratorium and 22 safety measures. But eight of the 15 members of the review panel are charging that the administration misrepresented their position by suggesting they supported a blanket moratorium that they actually oppose. Their criticism, and the administration's response, are evidence that the six-month stoppage is based on politics rather than...

And on the 38th day he spoke. At long last President Barack Obama held a full-dress news conference - his first in 10 months - and finally answered questions about the disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. It was his mission to reassure residents of the Gulf region particularly that “from the moment this disaster began, the federal government has been in charge of the response effort . . . that BP is operating at our direction.”

Kirsten Gillibrand, New York's junior senator, doesn't just flip-flop on is sues as convenient -- she also revises her past. Voters, beware: Gillibrand is a chameleon on plaid, a woman who has and will do anything, say anything, forget anything, spin anything to get elected. Her 180-degree reversals on gun control, gay marriage and immigration -- making her one of the most liberal members of the Senate -- are old news. But that's far from the only way she remakes herself, as we discuss in our new book, "2010: Take Back America." Start with her habit of censoring her own...

Nuclear doctrine consists of thinking the unthinkable. It involves making threats and promising retaliation that is cruel and destructive beyond imagining. But it has its purpose: to prevent war in the first place. During the Cold War, we let the Russians know that if they dared use their huge conventional military advantage and invaded Western Europe, they risked massive U.S. nuclear retaliation. Goodbye Moscow. Was this credible? Would we have done it? Who knows? No one's ever been there. A nuclear posture is just that — a declaratory policy designed to make the other guy think twice. Our policies did....

We know about the angry outbursts against (mainly Democratic) lawmakers as Congress finished work recently on health care reform legislation. We know that protesters spat on at least one black member of Congress, yelled the “n” word at another and used homophobic slurs against a third. We know lawmakers’ home offices have suffered smashed and bullet-riddled windows.

An article by a conservative named Cliff Kincaid, who serves as editor of the Accuracy in Media (AIM) Report, provides a perfect example of how different libertarians are from conservatives and, well, for that matter, how there ain't a dime's worth of difference, when it comes to individual freedom, between conservatives and liberals. The article concerns the drug war and is entitled, "Dopey Conservatives for Dope." Ardently defending the continuation of the drug war, despite some 35 years of manifest failure, Kincaid takes fellow conservatives to task who are finally joining libertarians in calling for an end to the drug...

Would Obama dare tell Russian to make goodwill gestures toward the attackers? As Jews worldwide prepared for Seder night, the Russian capital was rocked by twin blasts that left 39 dead and scores wounded, some of them critically. Muslim terrorists in the Caucuses apparently blew themselves up during the morning rush hours with the aim of killing as many passersby as possible. Yesterday, two more explosions were detonated in Kizlyar, near the Dagestan-Chechnya border. As crowds gathered after the first car bomb went off, another was triggered to hit onlookers and rescuers. We in Israel are unfortunately no strangers to...

The path to the sweeping health care act signed by President Barack Obama Tuesday was long, convoluted and fractious. The product is massive and complicated. But the premise behind the Affordable Health Care for America Act is simple. As the president noted during the signing ceremony in the East Room at the White House: "Everybody should have some basic security when it comes to their health." They should, and a nation as bountiful as ours should make sure that everybody does. The act signed Tuesday is imperfect, but it provides vital benefits to tens of millions of Americans. The bill...

What became quickly obvious while watching President Obama’s recent interview about healthcare reform with Bret Baier on FOX is that we’re still not getting straight answers about the proposed reforms — and this after a year of healthcare being the No. 1 priority at the Obama White House. On something even as elementary as making the exact legislation available to the public and to legislators in a timely manner prior to voting, we got more hype than candor from Mr. Obama. Said Obama, regarding the timing of the vote on restructuring one-sixth of the U.S. economy, “I hope it’s going...

The current American federal deficit (as of March 2010) is about $30,000 per person -- including children, the sick, crippled, homeless, and retired. For people who work, the deficit amounts to $60,000 each. Government debt grew by a sickening $5,000 per head last year (2009). And it's scheduled to grow by slightly more this year (2010). The current national debt ceiling is 14.3 trillion dollars, or one full year of America's income. Now this is an evil almost beyond compare. Whatever government "investments" this amount represents, and however many irresponsible Big Businesses were recently rescued by it, and however much...

The special relationship is over. We gave America years of unwavering support after September 11. And now we see how Barack Obama’s administration repays us. First, Obama declared that America was “neutral” over the sovereignty of the Falklands, ignoring the clear wishes of the islands’ population. And, second, his Assistant Secretary of State, Philip Crowley, snubbed Britain by failing to use their proper name and instead calling them the “Malvinas”. I don’t know where Obama learned about diplomacy, but his stinks. I’m normally pro-American, but Mr Obama’s seeming support for Argentinian aggressors, who have no legitimate claim over the Falklands,...

About 40 years ago, a social movement arose to destroy the establishment. The people we loosely call the New Left wanted to take on The Man, return power to the people, upend the elites and lead a revolution. Today, another social movement has arisen. The people we loosely call the Tea Partiers also want to destroy the establishment. They also want to take on The Man, return power to the people, upend the elites and lead a revolution. There are many differences between the New Left and the Tea Partiers. One was on the left, the other is on the...

Welfare State: A major newspaper looks at the data and finds that Americans have become more dependent on government than at any time since the Depression. Something's gone terribly wrong in our country. We Americans pride ourselves on our independence. Our nation's founding document even uses that in its title — the Declaration of Independence. But this spirit is fading with each new year, each new state and federal program, each new unkeepable promise made to a growing throng of citizens looking to government — not their own abilities, savvy, learning and hard work — to get by in life....

Get out the defibrillator quick: CNN is dying. What other conclusion can be drawn from the Nielsen ratings from February, which showed the once dominant news network finishing in fifth place for the first time ever- and now trailing CNBC and Headline News as well as its main competitors, FOX and MSNBC? The numbers are, as you can imagine, pretty stark. Wolf Blitzer's show, The Situation Room, was down 44% in total viewers in February. Campbell Brown, Larry King, and Anderson Cooper all posted their lowest ratings ever in February among total viewers, declining 50%, 55%, and 59%, respectively. The...

Last week, the House approved another increase in the national debt ceiling. This means the government can borrow $1.9 trillion more to stay afloat and avoid default. It has been little more than a year since the last debt limit increase, and graphs showing the debt limit over time show a steep, almost vertical trend. It is not likely to be very long before this new ceiling is met and the government is back on the brink between default and borrowing us further into oblivion. Congressional leaders and the administration acknowledge that the debt limit will need to be increased...

In his speech at a Denver fundraiser yesterday, President Obama repeated what has become a key talking point for Democrats -- that the Senate "doesn't get anything done" and the reason for that is that some Republicans, who "don't believe in government," are happy to block the administration's initiatives because blocking government initiatives is "consistent with their philosophy." Here's what the president said: Look, something you got to understand -- for those who don't believe in government, those who don't believe that we have obligations to each other, it's a lot easier task. If you can gum up the works,...

What is it with the hopelessly unfunny who share the last name Lopez? Just a few weeks ago Jennifer Lopez tried to get her Hollywood A-Ticket out or NowheresVille punched by calling Sarah Palin a "bitch." Which obviously makes sense on some level. The easiest way to enhance your resume with the Hollywood Frat Boys is to lash out at anything conservative -- especially our favorite self-made Governor and mother of five. But look at George Lopez; he's so desperate to be loved he's stealing jokes from ... J-Lo? And look at the left as a whole. They're so frustrated...