Free Republic

A few weeks ago the new president of the Florida Democratic Party, Sally Boynton Brown, caught some flak when she told a group of progressives that changes in store for the party include messaging that makes a conscious appeal to emotion, and rigorous script testing, likely through soft polling and focus groups. The problem as many progressives see it is that after losing so much ground, message resurfacing is not the change we need. There is an urgent need to transform the party, to regain relevancy—and that doesn’t come with message tweaks more commonly associated with failed Centrist strategizing. Lucky...

NEW YORK (AP) — A fiery Massachusetts U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren warned Friday that President Donald Trump and his Republican allies are preparing to deliver "a knockout blow" to the nation's middle-class. The liberal icon delivered the comments to a packed theater in the heart of Manhattan's Times Square. It was the final scheduled stop in a book tour that featured a half-dozen appearances nationwide over the last two months. She read from the book, "This Fight is Our Fight: The Battle to Save America's Middle Class," before exciting the overwhelmingly liberal crowd with aggressive rhetoric that demonstrated her appeal...

Months after campaigning for Hillary Clinton, Trayvon Martin’s mother is considering running for office herself, Miami news sources reported. “The only thing I can do is try,” Sybrina Fulton told Miami ABC affiliate WPLG. “And, I am not afraid to try.” Fulton spent part of 2016 campaigning for Clinton. In an op-ed she penned for CNN, Fulton explained she endorsed the former first lady because Clinton emphasized the Black Lives Matter movement and backed gun control efforts. George Zimmerman, a former neighborhood watchman, killed Martin, Fulton’s 17-year-old son, five years ago in Sanford, Fla. A Florida jury later acquitted Zimmerman,...

The hospital where Rep. Steve Scalise is recovering after being shot during practice for a congressional baseball game says the congressman remains in critical condition and will require several more operations. MedStar Washington Hospital Center is also providing a more detailed description of Scalise's wounds. The hospital says he was shot in the left hip, after which "the bullet travelled across his pelvis, fracturing bones, injuring internal organs and causing severe bleeding."(continued)

Responding to Wednesday morning's shooting in Alexandria, Va., President Trump offered a reassuring message to the American people. He paid homage to the police officers who risked their lives to save those at the baseball practice. "Our brave Capitol Police perform a challenging job with incredible skill. And their sacrifice makes democracy possible." Trump recognized Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., as an individual, as well as a Congressman. "Congressman Scalise is a friend, and a very good friend. And he's a patriot and a fighter." And Trump called on Americans to respect those in public service. "Always remember those who serve...

The man suspected of opening fire on Republican members of the congressional baseball team early Wednesday morning was distraught over the election of President Trump and traveled to Washington in recent weeks to protest, his brother said on Wednesday. The suspect, James Thomas Hodgkinson, 66, of Belleville, Ill., died in a Washington hospital after a shootout with the police. “I know he wasn’t happy with the way things were going, the election results and stuff,” his brother, Michael Hodgkinson, said in a telephone interview shortly after he received the news on Wednesday. He added that he was not close to...

The Republican party is giving away a dinner with President Donald Trump in Washington, D.C. "You have the opportunity to be flown out to D.C., meet President Trump, and have your picture taken with him so you can remember this moment forever," the contest entry form notes. The contest is a fundraiser for the Trump Make America Great Again committee. You can make a donation of any amount to enter, or as noted in the fine print, by filling out your entry form here with no monetary contribution required. Deadline for entry is June 25 at 11:59 p.m. ET. The...

Al D’Amato was once widely known as “Sen. Pothole” for focusing on local issues. Kirsten Gillibrand is earning a different nickname: Sen. Potty-mouth. In recent months, leading Democrats from national chairman Tom Perez on down have been unleashing f-bombs, s-bombs and everything in between as they try to rally their party to “resist.” And New York’s junior senator seems to be leading the charge. “If we are not helping people, we should go the f - - k home,” Gillibrand told the Personal Democracy Forum at NYU last Friday. Of President Trump, she asked: “Has he kept his promises? F - - k no.” Indeed, she...

Hell hath no fury like a woman who won the popular vote yet lost the biggest prize of all: a historic presidency The Democratic 2016 presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton, has been making some rounds, at June graduations, women's global forums and some such. She makes jokes about walking in the woods and wishing she had flown from the White House. A growing chorus of opinion has sprung up saying she should go gentle into that good night, coming from corners like Vanity Fair and USA Today. On the contrary. Let's hear from Clinton every day, every move, every outrageous statement...

A New York City congressman said on the House floor that "every racist in America voted for Donald Trump." Hakeem Jeffries (D), who represents East New York and Coney Island, said "so many folks dripping in hatred flocked to his candidacy." "Why would people that worship at the altar of white supremacy [be] drawn to Donald Trump's campaign?" he asked.....

The party's most reliable voters are older black women. So why do some journalists suggest otherwise? The New York Times on Sunday, in a story titled “Democrats in Split-Screen: The Base Wants It All. The Party Wants to Win,” described a “growing tension between the party’s ascendant militant wing and Democrats competing in conservative-leaning terrain.” The reporters, Alexander Burns and Jonathan Martin, cited Senator Bernie Sanders as a leader of the former group and Georgia congressional candidate Jon Ossoff as representative of the latter. At one point, the piece referenced “tension between Mr. Ossoff’s message and the appetites of the...

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Gov. Scott Walker said Monday that when President Donald Trump comes to Wisconsin, he will see that people outside of Washington "still like his policies." Walker spoke on the Mike Gallagher radio show about a fundraiser Trump is hosting for Walker in Milwaukee on Tuesday night. Trump is also touring a technical college with Walker in the Milwaukee area. The fundraiser comes as Walker prepares for an expected re-election run in 2018. Walker didn't initially endorse Trump, but came around after he secured the Republican nomination. Trump carried Wisconsin by less than a percentage point.....

Why are so many people so angry at her? You've seen the headlines, begging Joe Biden to just give it up and get out of our faces already. "Dems want Joe Biden to leave spotlight," says The Hill. "Dear Joe Biden, please stop talking about 2016," says a USA Today columnist. "Joe Biden is back. Should Democrats be worried?" asks The New Republic. "Can Joe Biden please go quietly into the night?" asks a column in Vanity Fair. A Daily News columnist begins his missive with, "Hey, Joe Biden, shut the f--- up and go away already." Folks sure do...

It was great entertainment, but for all the hype, the Senate Intelligence Committee hearings that featured former FBI Director James Comey failed to deliver a knockout punch. You are not going to get another “All the President’s Men” out of this story. At least not yet. The facts are not there. Yes, Russia meddled in the presidential election, and yes, President Trump wanted Comey to drop the investigation into former national security adviser Michael Flynn’s contacts with Russian officials. But so far, there is no silver bullet that will bring the president down. As tempting as it is for the...

Bernie Sanders' permanent "political revolution" rolled into Chicago on Saturday night, as the Vermont senator called on progressive activists gathered here to beat back President Donald Trump's agenda while remaking the Democratic Party. Speaking to a crowd of buzzing supporters in former President Barack Obama's adopted hometown, Sanders ripped Trump's "incredible hypocrisy" and called the President a demagogue who makes "even a very conservative president like George W. Bush" appealing in comparison. But it was his unsparing assessment of the party whose nomination he sought in 2016 that set off an audience of nearly 4,000 mostly dedicated "Berniecrats." "I am...

Once again, national tension has been raised through volatile stances promoting political violence. Acts like Kathy Griffin’s “artistic expression” that looked like run-of-the-mill ISIS propaganda. One where she’s holding a decapitated Donald Trump head. An attempt to revive her D-list comedic career that ultimately wound up beheading it. It’s not even “if this were (insert person), everyone would flip” anymore. Of course they would and rightfully so. An attack on the head of our nation, no matter who, makes us appear globally weak. This stunt followed President Trump executing numerous meetings in an intense 7-day first foreign trip. The perception...

Key Democratic Party donor Tom Steyer is calling on lawmakers to begin an impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump, saying that already, the facts "exceed standards for presidential impeachment for obstruction of justice" drafted against Presidents Richard Nixon in 1974 and Bill Clinton in 1998. In his letter to Congress, published through Medium, Friday, Steyer, whose superPAC NextGen Climate Action spent about $100 million in the 2016 election, said the "clear and undisputed" facts being exposed call for an "immediate impeachment inqury" by the House.....

6,000 tourists visit the White House Tourist Center every day. As the seat of the executive branch of the U.S. Federal Government, it is not hard to understand why 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is such a popular attraction. However, very few of those 6,000 tourists get to see the West Wing, but last month four lucky Alabamians took the tour of a lifetime through the nucleus of the President’s home. Riley Roby, the husband of Rep. Martha Roby, invited Donna Horne, Chairman of Pike County’s Republican Party; Elaine Ridenour, Secretary of the Alabama Republican Party; and Sue Neuwien, Second Congressional District...

President Trump said Friday he is "100 percent" willing to testify under oath about his interactions with James Comey in order to dispute the fired FBI director’s claims. “One hundred percent,” Trump said when asked if he would give a sworn statement to Robert Mueller, the special counsel leading the investigation into Russia’s election interference. "I would be glad to tell him exactly what I told you,” the president said during a press conference in the White House Rose Garden.....

Everything Trump has done, from cancelling business regulations to changes in trade, taxes, and health care, has been characterized as undertaken for the good for the economy. When Trump pulled out of the Paris climate accord, reporters clamored to know if he still believed climate change is a hoax. The reason they received no answer is because withdrawal from the pact was, according to the White House, a case of Trump prioritizing American jobs. Americans have always rated the economy as an important election issue. They may not approve of Trump’s tweeting, but they are going to like the size...