Free Republic

NEW YORK In an interview for this Sunday's edition of The New York Times Magazine, famed novelist/essayist Gore Vidal appears to question Sen. John McCain's account of being imprisoned by the North Vietnamese during the Vietnam war. Asked what he thinks of McCain, Vidal calls him a "disaster," then tells Deborah Solomon, "Who started this rumor that he was a war hero? Where does that come from, aside from himself? About his suffering in the prison war camp?" Solomon replies: "Everyone knows he was a prisoner of war in North Vietnam." To which Vidal responds: "That’s what he tells us."...

Sounding like an impeachment obsessed left-wing blogger Jack Cafferty asked on CNN.com "Why won’t Congress consider impeaching Pres. Bush?" Cafferty is not the only cable news personality talking about impeachment. On Tuesday's episode of "Countdown with Keith Olbermann, " the host theorized that perhaps the impeachment trial of Bill Clinton were in some way done to immunize George W. Bush. Here's a partial transcript:

Controversial actor Rupert Everett has accused British soldiers risking their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan of being "whining wimps", it emerged today. --snip-- And comparing troops from now and then he said: “In Burton's day they were itching to get into the fray. “Now it is the opposite. They are always whining about the dangers of being killed. Oh my God, they are such wimps now! "The whole point of being in the Army is wanting to get killed, wanting to test yourself to the limits. Now you have to fly 15,000ft above the war zone to avoid getting hit....

The American people have heard President George W. Bush and his spokespersons say many times that the U.S. government does not engage in torture. Whether Bush was believed or not is another story -- especially in light of the photographic evidence of the abuse of prisoners in Abu Ghraib, the prison near Baghdad. It’s understood that many of the photos are too sadistically graphic to be made public. Still, the official U.S. denials of torture continued until earlier this month when Bush acknowledged in an interview with ABC-TV that he knew about and approved “enhanced interrogation” of detainees, including “waterboarding”...

A salute is due Adm. William Fallon, who tried to prevent a wider war with Iran. After serving one year as commander of U.S. Central Command, Fallon has resigned, saying he was quitting because his differences with official U.S. policy had become a “distraction.” But there is a widespread perception that he was pushed out by the neo-conservatives among President George W. Bush’s aides, especially Vice President Dick Cheney, because of Fallon’s reluctance to go along with the administration’s hawkish moves toward Iran. Cheney, who took five consecutive draft deferments to stay out of the Vietnam war, does not mind...

A Conversation with Journalism Legend Helen Thomas March 2, 2008, 2:00 PM Central Library Auditorium Often called "The First Lady of the Press," veteran White House reporter, author and Hearst Newspapers columnist Helen Thomas looks back as an eyewitness to history and delves into her story when she sits for a conversation with Arlington Public Library Director Diane Kresh. This event is in recognition of National Women's History Month. A book signing will follow the remarks.

Albright: Bush is the worst President in American history Sunday, January 13, 2008 - 01:30 PM LONDON, ( SANA) _ Former American Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has described the American President George Bush as " one of the worst presidents in the American history." That came in her book published at the beginning of this week. Albright, in her book, which the London-based al-Hayat newspaper issued excerpts from it yesterday, put some advices in front of the next American President who enters the White House in Jan, 21 2009. She said: " The most important priorities for the next...

He is 91 and still cranks out his National Public Radio commentaries on an IBM typewriter. He eschews the Internet, openly disdains some bloggers and dismisses the whole "citizen journalism" idea. But don't accuse Daniel Schorr, a disciple of Edward R. Murrow and dean of NPR pundits, of being hopelessly out of touch. If anything, Schorr has been prescient when it comes to news analysis. His new book, "Come to Think of It" ($24.95, Viking, 382 pages), a collection of Schorr's radio commentaries from the past 17 years, shows that he often has been ahead of the cultural and political...

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...

Jane Fonda, Gloria Steinem and Rosie O'Donnell are backing a new leftwing radio network that plans to appeal to women listeners and counter what the dominance of conservative talk radio that their network says is "dominated by a male point of view." The new talk radio network is called GreenStone and will be officially launched on September 12, 2006. Its Web site describes it as "a clear alternative to the polarizing, highly political talk commonly heard on AM radio." Unstated but clear is that GreenStone is at war with Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, Michael Savage and dozens of other hosts...

Feminist Greer slams Steve's antics By Fiona Hudson in London September 06, 2006 01:00am Article from: The Daily Telegraph AS glowing tributes and praise for Steve Irwin filled newspapers and television screens around the world, fellow Australian Germaine Greer launched a distasteful tirade on the much-loved Crocodile Hunter yesterday. Most London papers carried sympathetic news articles, features, columns and obituaries mirroring the disbelief felt in Australia. But Greer launched a scathing attack on Irwin, declaring "the animal world has finally taken its revenge". In her column in The Guardian newspaper, Greer said the wildlife warrior displayed the "sort of self-delusion...

[Poetry and flowery garbage edited out]...My point in reminding us of these lingering wounds of war that refuse to be healed is to ask that we take reasoned care to protect ourselves from the ultimate affliction of war -- that we should let it make us so insensitive to verbal venom that Americans begin, self-destructively, to hate and mistrust one another. That happened to us, tragically, in the bitterly prolonged Vietnam conflict. Americans mistrusted, protested, hated and insulted other Americans for simply disagreeing with them. [Coop note: Who did that, Jimmy?] Today, our self-appointed jihadist enemies could do the United...

Rice is in way over her head Friday, August 11, 2006 By HELEN THOMAS HEARST NEWSPAPERS WASHINGTON -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has flunked her first foreign policy crisis in the Middle East. She went to the turbulent region last month in the early days of the war that began when Hezbollah forces in Lebanon crossed into Israel and kidnapped two Israeli soldiers. Rice had orders from President Bush to oppose any immediate cease-fire, which was hardly the proper policy by the United States if it wanted to end the suffering among Israelis and Lebanese. Rice apparently was dispatched...

Although he stepped down as CBS anchor 25 years ago, Walter Cronkite's legacy continues today. CC Stereo

http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/life/20060725/d_mediamix25.art.htm

WASHINGTON -- President Bush has two and a half years in the White House to rescue his legacy from the quagmire of the Iraq war and a dismal record in domestic affairs. Bush is doing what his predecessors have done in similar predicaments: He's trying to pull himself out of the hole by tapping new advisers, such as his announcement Wednesday that Fox News commentator Tony Snow will be the new White House press secretary. Such moves have sometimes helped troubled administrations but they are not usually transforming in a dramatic way. A clear sign of alarm in Republican ranks...

President George W. Bush is piously opposed to leaks -- unless he's the person doing the leaking. The president has now acknowledged that he authorized the leak of a classified October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq to bolster his case for the invasion of Iraq. In retrospect, the administration now says much of the information in the top secret report was faulty. But that's another story. Before Bush declassified the report, it included caveats and dubious assumptions that should have given him pause. But they were conveniently ignored in his rush to go to war. White House press secretary...

Former U.S. Sen. George McGovern, in a speech last week at Chadron State College, was sharply critical of the war in Iraq, the Bush administration and the recent decision to ban nearly all abortions in his home state of South Dakota. The 83-year-old McGovern spoke and answered questions for about 90 minutes, then, for about 30 minutes, autographed copies of several of the 10 books he has written. Speaking on the abortion issue in South Dakota, McGovern said he has about the same disrespect for "a male-dominated Legislature that passes a law banning abortions as he does for a congress...

From Real Time with Bill Maher last night: DAN SENOR: For three decades we’ve been told by the foreign policy establishment that people in the Arab world don’t want the right to vote, they don’t want to live in a free society— HELEN THOMAS: They’ve never been told that. SENOR:—and, and we’ve been consistently told that, just like we were told about the Russians, just like we were told about the Chinese and the fact is, when we’ve given the Afghanis the vote— THOMAS: They don’t want to be invaded; they don’t want to be killed. [applause] SENOR: Ok. But...