Free Republic

The two Republicans who didn’t vote: Jeff Flake (AZ) and John Sullivan (OK). Here’s why: Flake had a “family conflict” (his daughter is reportedly in a beauty pageant in Alabama tomorrow) and Sullivan is undergoing alcohol treatment. FYI - Dem. Rep. Patrick Kennedy was pulled out of rehab to cast his vote.

Moments after Sarah Palin had finished her barnstorming acceptance speech to the Republican Convention, the media spinning began: sure, she can use a teleprompter or read a speech written by a gifted speechwriter like Matthew Scully. Big deal. So could anybody. Two facts make me uniquely qualified to comment on these claims. First, I used to be a speechwriter for Margaret Thatcher. Second, as editor of National Review I hired Matt Scully to be assistant editor and introduced him to the world of conservative opinion journalism. But the truth about speechwriting is strictly bipartisan. There are cases of politicians simply...

U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe and Rep. John Sullivan officially endorsed Republican Fred Thompson for president on Wednesday. Thompson's presidential campaign made the announcement for the two Oklahoma Republicans. Inhofe had gone public with his support of Thompson last June, even before the attorney-turned-actor-turned-politician had entered the race. Sullivan confirmed his endorsement Wednesday. "I am proud to support Senator Thompson," he said in a written statement. "He is a backer of fiscally responsible spending, positive immigration reform and correcting our nation's broken health-care system." Inhofe cited Thompson's leadership and proven record of supporting conservative values. "As Americans get to know Fred...

From the time Mayor Richard Daley took office, dozens of city department managers gathered before elections at the plumbers' union hall or other sites to get campaign marching orders from top mayoral aides, a former Daley loyalist testified Monday in the City Hall corruption trial. Donald Tomczak, a longtime Water Department official and veteran political operative, said he then would summon his top deputies to his office in the Jardine Filtration Plant to tell them which candidates would get help from hundreds of blue-collar city water workers. After elections, Daley aide Robert Sorich fielded requests for promotions from the political...

Why Did the AFL-CIO Self-Destruct? The 96th Convention of the American Federation of Musicians — a unit of the AFL-CIO — gathered in Las Vegas July 17-20. I wasn’t there; but I have seen the write-up of the public meetings described in International Musician, the flagship periodical of the AFM. I wanted to “file a report” on these proceedings. So in the interest of full disclosure, I need to give some background here. My husband has been a member of the AFM since he was 16 years old; but then he’s a fulltime working musician, and having a union card...

Any day now the cartoonists will start drawing Gerry Adams, the president of Sinn Fein, his sidekick Martin McGuinness, and their gruesome accomplices in the Provisional IRA as the Addams Family -- all fangs, claws, pointed ears, and butcher's knives. In the space of a few weeks, the reputation of Adams has sunk from "the Nelson Mandela of Ireland" to that of the mouthpiece of the local Murder Incorporated. Even Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) crosses the road when Gerry approaches, and Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) remembers a previous engagement that will force him to cancel his speech at the next...

Lord, Keep our Troops forever in Your care Give them victory over the enemy... Grant them a safe and swift return... Bless those who mourn the lost. . FReepers from the Foxhole join in prayer for all those serving their country at this time. .................................................................. .................... ........................................... . U.S. Military History, Current Events and Veterans Issues Where Duty, Honor and Countryare acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated. . . Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their...

Colin Powell left office with the jeers of his liberal friends and admirers ringing in his ears. In an unusually vicious New York Times editorial titled "Good Soldier Powell," the retiring secretary of state was told that he would be remembered solely for having given false information to the U.N. Security Council about Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction. It seems an odd assertion from a newspaper that had, after all, published the very same claims on its front page long before Powell spoke. If Powell is culpable for relaying false information, the Times is presumably even more culpable for...