Free Republic

This past inauguration day, the cold weather was the least of the problem. The bigger problem was the realization that America is slowly falling apart. The second inauguration attracted the worst undergrowth of American society, and they all descended on the nation's Capitol. God gave us the great gift of humanity. Why would some humans choose to devolve to the insect class? After eight hours of rubbing shoulders with the repugnant, foul protestors, I had to take two showers to purge myself of the contamination. It was like entering a well-used Port-a-Potty but never exiting. There was no fresh air...

DollyCali Inauguration 2005 Thoughts n PixWednesday PMWashington Plaza HotelFReeper Social Being late is not anyone’s favorite role. But we were late. Travel companion Vicki from Oklahoma & I (from Ohio) had driven in (thru sleet & snow In ohio & across the turnpike with much of same) to arrive in DC area to see the small fall had about paralyzed the city. I was pretty fatigued as I drove into the DC area after 10 hours of awful-weather driving. My travel pal slept the whole way as she had just driven 18 hours to get to our meeting place....

A slide show featuring the guests and events from W2 Free Republic Ball is being developed from contributing attendees. The contributors page will show your screen name unless you want to remain anonymous or want to give your real name. I think I have most of them but in case you have already posted your images and have not contacted me, reply here and I will copy to the W2 Slide Show collection. Also let me know if you will be posting in the future so you are not left out.

Finally got my inaugeration pics up. I'll post them when I have time to write the whole story. This was my intro to FR. Was walking around, getting the taunts of the great unwashed, when I saw these fellows holding up very arge and very supportive signs. So I HAD to go over to them and say hi.

Jones with Tony Orlando at the Bush inaugural photo: Diane Jenkins Wait, I can't resist some more '70s-related mania: I recently wrote that the original cowboy from the VILLAGE PEOPLE, openly gay RANDY JONES, had agreed to perform at the Bush inaugural festivities, and some people were angrier than I was when disco died. Well, here's Randy's post-show reply: "I was able to stand in front of more than 1,000 Republicans, speak of my husband of almost 21 years, WILL GREGA, and still have them waving their arms and forming the letters of YMCA just like little kids. It...

I attended the W2 Ball and unfortunately left my camera. I was wondering if anyone found a Minolta "box" camera. I don't really care about the camera, but I had some really adorable photos of my one year old daughter in it. If you found a camera, or even if you sympathize, please post here. Thank you!!!

WASHINGTON -- It may have taken place 10 days ago, but the presidential inauguration with its pageantry and dignity jostling the protests, excesses and overkill is and will remain fresh in the memory of everyone who was there. But those among us, some veterans of nine inaugurals, were shocked and disgusted by a new phenomenon: the Sore Losers Club. There was no doubt that Al Gore, the former vice president and former presidential contender, is the club's leader. He found a black hole in which to again hide from the reality of voter rejection. Another card-carrying member of the club...

Dear President Bush: If as you stated in your inaugural address, “the policy of the United Sates is to seek and support the growth of the democratic movements and institutions in each nation and culture”, it should be more so in each state and territory under the American flag. But, how can you be joyous that the Congress and the Executive are committed to the expansion of democratic participation of the American citizens that happen to be Puerto Rican by origin or ethnicity [in the mainland], while at the same time half of us, four million that live on the...

HILLARY LEANS IN TO HER husband, teeth clenched in a polite smile: "Bill! I swear, you are so predictable. Stop ogling that woman in the black beret! It's Karl's wife, for heaven's sake."The Inaugural Luncheon is underway in the Capitol's Statuary Hall, and the table assignments are offering a world-class opportunity for my favorite pastime, which is to make up dialogue for people I can see but not hear. Fifty of the highest-ranking government officials are assembled with 200 of their nearest and dearest for a post-speech nosh. The press has been offered access to the Statuary Hall balcony, overlooking...

Krauthammer Consulted on Inaugural, Then Praised It By Dave Astor Published: January 26, 2005 12:05 PM ET NEW YORK Liberal watchdog group Media Matters for America says columnist Charles Krauthammer praised President Bush's Jan. 20 inauguration speech on TV without disclosing his role consulting on the speech. Krauthammer's syndicate responded this morning. When Krauthammer was among a group of people invited to the White House Jan. 10, "he did not get the sense that this was an exercise in speech preparation," Alan Shearer, editorial director/general manager of the Washington Post Writers Group, told E&P. "If he had, he would very...

Where Woodrow Wilson was going to make the world safe for democracy, George W. Bush is going him one better. President Bush is going to make the whole world democratic. As he declared in his Inaugural Address, our "great objective" is "ending tyranny" on earth. And how does the president propose to achieve it? So, it is the policy of the United States to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world. The president is here asserting a unilateral American right to interfere...

Many are saying that the administration is pulling back on the president's inaugural address, in which George W. Bush declared his "ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world." Don't believe it. Bush may adjust his tactics, but his strategy is still to go straight ahead. Of course, much of the commentary in the usual-suspect mainstream media was hostile. Of course, the foreign reaction was even more hostile. But what took the White House by surprise was a blast from a strong supporter, Peggy Noonan. Her Wall Street Journal piece, entitled "Way Too Much God," took Bush to task for...

If you haven't heard the president's second inaugural speech, or at least read the transcribed version of it by now, chances are you're not very interested in American politics. Either that or you have a very short attention span, and just haven't managed to get through its roughly 2,300 words without being distracted by something else.

Need all prayers recited on Inauguration Day for an ill friend who missed telecast.

wasn't supposed to be here. I was supposed to be at a ball, a genuine inaugural ball with tuxedos and presidential-seal-emblazoned square napkins and succulent miniature crab cakes. Regrettably, we're a liberal magazine and, consequently, many of us are less than perfectly organized (although, at TNR, some of us prefer to think of ourselves as neo-disorganized)--and, well, I failed to honor certain press-credentialing deadlines. Now, instead, I would be covering "counter-inaugural events." As a result, last night I was sitting in a low-budget church on G Street in downtown Washington listening to speakers at an International Socialist Organization-sponsored gathering...

Intermediate Draft, seeking FReeper input. South Boston Phoenix Special Report “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” (Edmund Burke) GW Bush dared to invoke the 'G' word, 'God', three times in his 2005 Inaugural Speech. The most talked-about reaction came from Peggy Noonan. The irony is how low the Bush Administration has sunk in order to not look 'overly'-Christian: 1. In his speech, the President, OUR President, spoke well of the Koran, the religion with scriptures that demand the killing of any infidels too weak to retaliate and too 'proud' to submit...

In the hands of a world-class rhetorician — Lincoln, FDR, Reagan — George Bush's soaring Second Inaugural would be vividly understood as the world-class dissertation that it was. Subsequent readings (for the speech reads far better than his delivery of it) verify that rarely has a President — has anyone — expatiated with profounder eloquence on the ennobling cause of liberty. The President termed liberty "the honorable achievement of our Fathers" and now "the calling of our time." He postulated that "no one is fit to be a master, and no one deserves to be a slave." And so: It...

GEORGE W. BUSH IS a strong, clear-minded president--one of the strongest and clearest-minded we have ever had. Why can't a great president give a great speech?The president's second inaugural address was fine and generous, a big speech with sweeping views in all directions, a speech Americans can be proud of. But the language did not always rise to the level of the ideas. There were many good phrases, a few superb ones, and a brilliant ending. There were also weak phrases, a few unclear ones, and one absolute stinker. On the whole it was very good. It should have been...

The President, First Lady and their parents relaxed at the White House today. Former President GHW Bush visited the press corps on duty in the WH press briefing room. QUOTE OF THE DAY: This week, Washington has been marked by pomp and circumstance. In a free nation, these ceremonies are more than pageantry. They underscore that public office is a public trust. America's elected leaders derive their authority from the consent of the American people, whom we serve. This is a high privilege, and that privilege carries a serious responsibility: to confront problems now, instead of passing them on to...

This inauguration marks the seventh out of the past 10 in which a Republican president parades down Pennsylvania Avenue. At the Capitol, the procession's starting point, Republicans hold a 10-seat majority in the Senate and a solid grasp, for the 10th year in a row, on the House. The majority of governors, including those of the four largest states, are Republican, and the GOP controls most state legislatures. Most significantly, Americans, by a 3-to-2 margin, identify themselves as conservatives rather than liberals. Over the past quarter-century, U.S. politics has changed dramatically. Republicans, conservatives and free-market advocates have moved from the fringes to center...