Free Republic

After more than 200 years of contributing pretty much nothing to American democracy other than some inspired ice cream and a buffer against Canadian aggression, Vermont has apparently decided that once a decade it should send out some scrappy, leftist presidential candidate who will take it to the elitist Democratic establishment. This time it’s Bernie Sanders’s turn. In an interview with CNBC’s John Harwood this week, Sanders assailed the party’s presumed nominee, Hillary Clinton, for having accumulated the kind of wealth that can “isolate you from the reality of the world.” He said she probably spent hundreds of dollars on...

Alexandra Svokos was six years old, growing up in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, when she became a Hillary Clinton fan. It was 1998, and Clinton had published Dear Socks, Dear Buddy, a collection of children's letters addressed to the first family's pets. Svokos became so obsessed with the book, she recalls, that she wrote her own letter—not to Socks the cat or Buddy the Labrador, but to Clinton herself. When she got a reply on official White House stationery with the first lady's signature, Svokos was thrilled. Clinton was an early feminist icon for many women of Svokos's generation—long before...

A national evangelical Christian leader has written that his fellow believers should vote for Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton, because she will radically reduce the abortion rate. Hillary, in whose campaign abortion industry lobbyists play a conspicuous role, favors abortion-on-demand throughout pregnancy. Yet Tony Campolo believes a second Clinton presidency will halve the number of abortions nationwide. “Hillary Clinton is one of the few candidates on the political stage who has a plan for cutting the abortion rate in America by at least 50 percent,” Campolo, a sociology professor emeritus at Eastern University, wrote in a debate on Religion News...

Chelsea Clinton is opening up about life in the public eye, being a new mother and whether or not she would like to see her own mother become president in a new interview. Clinton, whose mother Hillary is expected to formally announce her presidential campaign this Sunday, said it is time the United States had a female leader. 'One of our core values in this country is that we are the land of equal opportunity, but when equal hasn't yet included gender, there is a fundamental challenge there that, I believe, having our first woman president—whenever that is—will help resolve,'...

Hillary’s old Ready for Hillary logo, an H connected by bunting, was on the bland side. But it was less awful than her new arrow H. Most candidates post-Obama are stepping up where logos are concerned, both Ted Cruz and Rand Paul are using flame logos, though Ted wears it better, Marco Rubio has an understated United States over the i that doesn’t look too bad, though both Paul and Rubio look like they’re starting a web design firm rather than a presidential campaign. Hillary’s though completely misses the point. It’s dated, crude and ugly. The exact opposite of the...

What happens to supporters of Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren if she doesn’t run for president in 2016? Do they join up with Vermont Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, or former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, both of whom are considering bids as liberal insurgents? Unfortunately for progressives spoiling for a fight against all-but-declared frontrunner Hillary Clinton, most Warren supporters seem to be ready to support Clinton, at least at the moment. That’s one takeaway from the new NBC News/Marist poll, which removed Warren from its survey of the three early presidential states, citing the senator’s frequent insistence that she’s not running for...

The 2016 campaign has acquired an unexpected storyline in its early stages: All Madam President’s Men. As Hillary Clinton begins to staff her nascent presidential campaign, a paradox has emerged. When she ran in 2008, she played down her potential to make history as the first woman to be president, but her campaign was run by a woman and dominated at the top levels by women. This time, Clinton is properly emphasizing her path-breaking role, but she’s relying on the old-boy network — in large part by taking over President Obama’s heavily male campaign apparatus. Her campaign chairman: John Podesta....

At a time when many potential 2016 presidential contenders appear to be starting the ignition of their campaigns, Hillary Clinton has pressed the brake pedal. Or so it seems. Clinton’s calendar, which was jam-packed throughout most of last year with paid speeches, award ceremonies, fundraisers, book tour stops, campaign appearances and official Clinton Foundation business, is now virtually empty. Over the past six weeks, the likely Democratic presidential candidate has made just two public appearances -- both on the same day, and both in Canada. She doesn’t have another event scheduled until late next month. Although Clinton still insists she...