Free Republic

The passing of President Gerald Ford is a reminder that the Republican Party was once led by political moderates who have now been replaced by members of the radical right (read that as "neocons") and evangelicals. Ford, who had served as House Republican leader, vice president and president, understood that politics is the art of compromise. He had many friends on the opposite side of the political aisle who heartily supported his nomination to be Richard M. Nixon's vice president when Spiro Agnew was forced to step down in 1973 amid bribery allegations. That doesn't mean Ford was not a...

Fearless White House correspondent Helen Thomas has covered nine presidents, and says Bush is undoubtedly the worst. It was the talk of the blogosphere: As part of Stephen Colbert's eviscerating roast of President Bush at the annual White House Correspondents' Association Dinner in April -- wonkish Washington's equivalent of the Oscars -- he showed a hilarious video that was supposedly an "audition" for the job of White House press secretary. His costar in the satiric short: none other than the octogenarian doyenne of White House correspondents, Helen Thomas. Using actual TV footage of the White House press corps, Colbert (of...

President Bush today again avoided taking a question from White House doyenne Helen Thomas during his 45-minute press conference, even though he took questions from every reporter around her front-row, center seat. "He's a coward," Thomas said afterward. "He's supposed to be this macho guy. He'll take on Osama bin Laden, but he won't take me on." Thomas, who worked as the UPI White House reporter for 57 years and is now a columnist, raised her hand every time the president was concluding an answer to a reporter's question, but he never called on her. Thomas, who worked as the...