Free Republic

They put a gun to our heads. They ate Crap Sandwich 2.0. Washington’s pork-stuffed panic mob forked over $700billion/$850billion/$1 trillion-plus of our money over to the Chicken Littles, who handed it over to Foxy Loxy at the Treasury Department. And now? And now, they tell us it’s not enough. It’s never enough.

First, I would like to see all the Sarah doubters and detractors in the Beltway/Manhattan corridor eat their words. Eat them. Sarah Palin is the real deal. Five weeks on the campaign trail, thrust onto the national stage, she rocked tonight’s debate. She was warm, fresh, funny, confident, energetic, personable, relentless, and on message. She roasted Obama’s flip-flops on the surge and tea-with-dictators declarations, dinged Biden’s bash-Bush rhetoric, challenged the blame-America defeatism of the Left, and exuded the sunny optimism that energized the base in the first place. McCain has not done many things right. But Sarah Palin proved tonight...

“From the first day, Palin presented herself as shooting a bear in the morning, field dressing it, cooking up the breakfast, diapering the babies, passing legislation in the afternoon, cleaning the house, satisfying her husband, etc., etc., etc. And it’s just not true,” she wrote in an e-mail interview. “It’s hard to be an average working mom, really hard. And when women who are privileged present as though they have it all together, it’s offensive to black women.” She said, “black women are not easily confused by false claims to feminism. When women like Palin lay claims to ‘representing’ average...

Hill sources buzzing. A Senate bailout vote is scheduled tomorrow at 9pm Eastern. No bill details seen yet. How it will go down…There will be up to 6 roll call votes on the following items: (1)Motion to concur on the House message, H.R. 2095, Rail Safety; (2)a Dorgan amendment relating to H.R. 7081, the U.S. - India Nuclear agreement; (3)a Bingaman amendment relating to H.R. 7081, the U.S. - India Nuclear agreement; (4)passage of H.R. 7081, the U.S. - India Nuclear agreement; (5)a Dodd amendment to H.R. 1424, relating to the bailout package; and (6)passage of H.R. 1424, the bailout....

Don’t look now, but stocks are down a whopping 1 percent in Germany and are flat in Britain and France. U.S. markets are poised to open higher. Most Asian stock markets are holding up well too. The Shanghai Composite closed down just 0.2 percent; the Hang Seng closed up 0.8 percent; Bombay’s BSE 30 closed finished the day up 2.1 percent. Flashback: “The US stock market could suffer a devastating crash with shares losing a third of their value this week if Hank Paulson’s financial bailout plan fails, US Treasury officials have warned.”

I’ve seen and heard the anecdotes about McDonald’s franchises getting denied credit spread everywhere over the past week. Stop pounding the panic button. Don’t blame the bailout flame-out. Memo to the McChicken Littles: The sky is not falling because we refused to fork over $700 billion to failing banks. The inconvenient truth: Bank of America said it is not freezing any current or new lines of credit to McDonald’s Corp. franchise owners, despite reports citing an internal memo from the fast-food giant advising franchisees of the contrary. Bank spokesman Larry DiRita said the Charlotte-based bank will continue to honor its...

Reader Mike in Seattle sends the latest manifestation of Palin Derangement Syndrome: Abort Palin street graffiti. He writes: Michelle, I live in Seattle’s Greenwood neighborhood, just north of the Woodland Park Zoo. Below is a sprayed-on stencil graffiti I discovered at Greenwood Ave. N and N. 71st Street. Ironic that a mother who wouldn’t abort her disabled child is attacked next to the curve cutout to be used by people in wheelchairs. I haven’t seen any others in the neighborhood, although it’s likely there are some. Since Greenwood is considered a “nice” middle-class neighborhood, this hints of the hatred Palin...

Today’s stock market drop is a record point drop, but does not even crack the top 10 single-day percentage drops in American history. Let’s stop pounding the panic buttons. *** On FNC right now, Neil Cavuto emphasizes that lending is going on and puts a damper on Heather Nauert’s panic-button heaving about credit-freeze anecdotes. Are there businesses getting turned down for loans? Yes. Here’s a novel thought: Maybe banks are finally learning they shouldn’t fork over money to bad risks. *** Reader Jamie e-mails this link to a history of US stock market crashes and adds: I like that the...

I listened in on a phone conference this evening with anti-bailout conservatives, congressional staffers, and other Hill insiders. With only one exception, the groups and individuals on the call all opposed the bailout in its current form. They also concurred that this deal is worse than the one Paulson proposed — on constitutional, policy, and fiscal grounds. Phone calls to congressional offices continue to show overwhelming public opposition to the massive, unprecedented government giveaway. Nevertheless, GOP House Minority Leader John Boehner and the House Republican leadership have thrown in the towel. Make room for them on the couch with Gingrich...

The House website is down. I’ve uploaded the most recent bailout draft bill right here:

I’ve just given the draft bailout bill a first read (link here; there’s apparently a more recent draft posted at the House Financial Services cmte website, but it’s currently inaccessible). There’s a lot of b.s. stuffed in it (more to come), but let’s start with one section that warrants your attention– Section 115 (c). It appears that Hank Paulson and the cackling Democrats have written in a provision that codifies the short-circuiting of the democratic process: (c) FAST TRACK CONSIDERATION.— (1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, the Secretary may not exercise any authority to make purchases under...

I’m giving it to McCain — and you know I’m a tough grader on him. He was slow out of the gate — a broken record on earmarks and spending — but Obama failed to turn the bailout debacle against him. McCain hit his stride in the second half, schooling Obama on counterinsurgency, Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, and Russia. McCain made no major soundbite-able gaffes. It was more a matter of a few missed opportunities for McCain than the commission of any major errors. Major omission of the night from McCain: Did he say a single word in defense of...

Kill the bailout: Illegal immigration and the mortgage mess By Michelle Malkin  •  September 24, 2008 07:49 AM My syndicated column today tackles the bailout angle no one wants to talk about: Open borders and the home loan debacle. You’ve heard a lot about Fannie/Freddie and the minority lending shakedowns, but you haven’t heard most commentators/analysts on either the left or the right talk about the massive illegal alien mortgage racket — a topic I’ve reported on for the past five years. That’s because fault lies at the feet of the crime-enabling banking industry and the ethnic lobbyists and the illegal alien-enabling...

Reid tries to sneak oil shale ban back into legislation By Michelle Malkin  •  September 25, 2008 11:47 AM Sen. Jim DeMint’s office reports just now that Harry Reid is trying to sneak the oil shale ban — backed by House Democrats — back into legislation under cover of the bailout frenzy.Details: We’ve just been alerted that despite House Democrats relenting on extending bans on offshore drilling and oil shale in the continuing resolution (CR) appropriations bill, Democrat Senate Leader Harry Reid has decided to sneak an extension of the oil shale ban through as Congress fights over the financial bailout. Oil...

My syndicated column today tackles the bailout angle no one wants to talk about: Open borders and the home loan debacle. You’ve heard a lot about Fannie/Freddie and the minority lending shakedowns, but you haven’t heard most commentators/analysts on either the left or the right talk about the massive illegal alien mortgage racket — a topic I’ve reported on for the past five years. That’s because fault lies at the feet of the crime-enabling banking industry and the ethnic lobbyists and the illegal alien-enabling Bush administration. They screwed us. Now, they want us to fork over a trillion dollars. Screw...

The Mother of All Bailouts has many fathers. As panicked politicians prepare to fork over $1 trillion in taxpayer funding to rescue the financial industry, they've fingered regulation, deregulation, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the Community Reinvestment Act, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, both Bushes, greedy banks, greedy borrowers, greedy short-sellers and minority home ownership mau-mauers (can't call 'em greedy, that would be racist) for blame. But there's one giant paternal elephant in the room that has slipped notice: how illegal immigration, crime-enabling banks and open-borders Bush policies fueled the mortgage crisis. It's no coincidence that most of the areas hardest...

Kill the bailout: Phones ringing off the hook; student loans, car debt added to proposal By Michelle Malkin • September 23, 2008 10:27 PM We don’t have to have this trillion-dollar bailout shoved down our throats. You can make a difference. Phones are ringing off the hook. Peter Viles at L.A.Land: A key quote in this morning’s Senate hearing about the Paulson bailout is worth repeating. This comes from Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat: “Like my colleagues, my phones have been ringing off the hook. The sentiment from Ohioans about this proposal is universally negative.” Not “overwhelmingly negative.”...

I just thought you Michelle followers would like to know.

Warning: If your neighbor’s got an “Obama ‘08” bumper sticker or lawn sign, you might want to double-check your door locks at night. The One has commanded his Purveyors of Change to go forth and proselytize to the unbelievers. And they’re not going to be knocking gently like Avon Ladies. Barack Obama, you see, is done fixing souls. It’s time to crack heads. Prodded by panicked Democrats to take off his white gloves, he issued a Call to Strong Arm to his legions of angry followers on Wednesday. Hope is out. Hellfire is in. Now, the same analysts who tut-tutted...

Have you ever heard Hollywood liberals talk about suspected Islamic jihadists the way they talk about suspected Republican “book-banners”? The September 11 terrorist attacks didn’t turn celebrity leftists into hawks. But the minute they started reading false rumors about Sarah Palin restricting unfettered access to Daddy’s Roommate and Heather Has Two Mommies in her hometown library, Tinseltown’s docile doves became militant warmongers. Actor Matt Damon, parroting left-wing Internet lies about Sarah Palin censoring novels while mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, took a defiant stand against the “terrifying possibility” of a McCain-Palin victory. “We can’t have” book-banning, he inveighed.

Have you ever heard Hollywood liberals talk about suspected Islamic jihadists the way they talk about suspected Republican "book-banners"? The September 11 terrorist attacks didn't turn celebrity leftists into hawks. But the minute they started reading false rumors about Sarah Palin restricting unfettered access to "Daddy's Roommate" and "Heather Has Two Mommies" in her hometown library, Tinseltown's docile doves became militant warmongers. Actor Matt Damon, parroting left-wing Internet lies about Sarah Palin censoring novels while mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, took a defiant stand against the "terrifying possibility" of a McCain-Palin victory. "We can't have" book-banning, he inveighed. And now we...

Just heard sad news. Los Angeles TV newsman and talk radio legend George Putnam has died. He was 94. George showed me great kindness, championing my book Invasion and inviting me on his show frequently to talk about immigration enforcement and national security when few outside the border states cared. He penned a weekly online column right up until the last few months of his life. He had a rich, full, colorful career. He was a gentleman and a patriot. And I was glad and grateful to know him. Once, during a live radio interview, my then-two-year-old daughter woke up...

You know, I was going to call it a night. And then I saw the story about John McCain’s appearance at the 9/11 Columbia University forum earlier this evening. Every time you grit your teeth and defend this guy, he pulls something like this. Hey, Maverick: Way to throw Sarah Palin, Rudy Giuliani, and your strategists who had the sense to seize on Obama’s abysmal, ineffectual record as a Chicago rabble-rouser under the bus! Criiiiiikey: Barack Obama and John McCain attempted to set their differences aside Thursday night, if only for a moment, as they encouraged Americans to volunteer in...

Let's talk Mommy Wars, double standards and the media elite. Last Friday, Howard Gutman, a member of the Obama campaign's National Finance Committee, attacked Sarah Palin's ability to be a good parent and have a high-powered public life at the same time. In a finger-wagging appearance on the Laura Ingraham radio show, Obama's operative scolded the Republican mother of five children for not putting her professional career on hold. "Your responsibility is to put your family first," Gutman lectured as he singled out Palin's Down Syndrome baby and pregnant teenage daughter. "The proper attack is not that a woman shouldn't...

The bogus Sarah Palin Banned Books List By Michelle Malkin  •  September 6, 2008 12:01 AM Photoshop: David LundePalin Derangement Syndrome strikes again. This time it’s hysterical librarians and their readers on the Internet disseminating a bogus list of books Gov. Sarah Palin supposedly banned in 1996. Looks like some of these library people failed reading comprehension. Take a look at the list below and you’ll find books Gov. Palin supposedly tried to ban…that hadn’t even been published yet. Example: The Harry Potter books, the first of which wasn’t published until 1998.The smear merchants who continue to circulate the list also...

Keep it up, folks. Us Weekly is feeling the heat. And now, they are pleading with readers to stick with them. Reader Susanna sent the following protest e-mail: During tense political times, it’s always nice to open up US Weekly and lose myself in some mindless gossip and fashion news. So imagine my DISGUST when I saw this week’s US Weekly cover: a revolting, sensationalist, bottom-feeding, partisan attack on mother and career woman Sarah Palin. You know, I’ve been rolling my eyes at your adoring coverage of Barack Obama, but I’ve put up with it in order to be...

The future of conservatism is bright. All those liberal Republicans who were arguing that the GOP needed to “rebrand” itself and move leftward are now crying in their coffee. Arlen Specter is feeling lonely. Break out the world’s smallest violin. I’m verklempt. Bloomberg News: At a Tuesday reception for moderate Republicans, Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter hushed the cocktail chatter when he began ticking off a long list of like- minded lawmakers who no longer hold office. “Today, we’re in a phone booth,” Specter said. To conservatives at the Republican National Convention this week, John McCain’s choice of running mate Sarah...

There's something about outspoken conservative women that drives the left mad. It's a peculiar pathology I've reported on for more than 15 years, both as a witness and a target. Thus, the onset of Palin Derangement Syndrome in the media, Democratic circles and the cesspools of the blogosphere came as no surprise. They just can't help themselves. Liberals hold a special animus for constituencies they deem traitors. Minorities who identify as social and economic conservatives have left the plantation and sold out their people. Women who put an "R" by their name have abandoned their ovaries and betrayed their gender....

There's something about outspoken conservative women that drives the Left mad. It's a peculiar pathology I've reported on for more than 15 years, both as a witness and a target. Thus, the onset of Palin Derangement Syndrome in the media, Democratic circles and the cesspools of the blogosphere came as no surprise. They just can't help themselves. Liberals hold a special animus for constituencies they deem traitors. Minorities who identify as social and economic conservatives have left the plantation and sold out their people. Women who put an "R" by their name have abandoned their ovaries and betrayed their gender....

Reader Monica M. sent me a link to the Democratic Underground’s latest thread for commenters to come up with nicknames and posters to slime GOP Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin — and then to “spread [them] all over the ‘net.” There are now nearly 100 filthy, hate-filled responses and counting. Among the “nicer” entries: “Cruella,” “Gidget,” “Governor Jesus Camp,” “VPILF,” “Fertilla the Huntress,” “Iditabroad,” and “KILLER PYSCHO FUNDIE BITCH FROM HELL!!” The link should have come with a blood pressure warning. These people make Palin-bashing prenatal care expert Alan Colmes look like a saint. Peer with me further into the liberal...

We noted the nutroots’ deepening Palin Derangement Syndrome over the weekend, topped by a diarist at the Daily Kos who’s been spreading disgusting, bottom-of-the-barrel rumors — picked up by the excitable and shameless Andrew Sullivan — about Gov. Sarah Palin’s youngest child and attacking one of Palin’s daughters as the mother of Trig. The Free Republic fights back with photos of a very pregnant Gov. Palin in late February. I linked to an April blog post from an airline passenger who met the pregnant governor on a flight from Fairbanks. It is unbelievably surreal that this dirtbag Kossack rumor has...

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Exposed. [F]ormer Joyce Foundation board member Barack Obama has secured yet another faux Second Amendment supporter in “lifelong Republican” Tony Dean, a long-time host of hunting and fishing television shows in South Dakota. Dean told the Dallas News he’s switching parties to head a Sportsmen for Obama group. A “lifelong Republican” that is “switching parties to head a Sportsmen for Obama group”? This is an interesting claim, given that Dean was mentioned by the Rapid City Journal in 2003 as a “possible Democratic candidate for Congress” who endorsed Democrat Senator Tim Johnson for reelection just a year earlier. Dean’s efforts...

Fox News Channel isn't always getting fair and balanced treatment from protesters at the Democratic National Convention this week in Denver. In at least two instances this week, Fox News -- which is often accused of conservative leanings despite its "Fair and Balanced" claim -- was under siege by DNC protesters. On Sunday, Fox reporter Griff Jenkins was doing a live shot of what he described as a 1,000-person antiwar protest march, when things went awry. In the shot, which is still getting heavy play on YouTube.com, Jenkins attempts to ask some of the marchers what they were protesting. He...

In this exclusive Pajamas TV video… Michelle Malkin is under attack by self-described anarchists yelling “Kill Michelle Malkin” in front of the Denver Mint. (NOTE: We are providing more or less raw footage here for timeliness. The Malkin incident does not appear for several minutes; please be patient. Pajamas Media will provide a more carefully edited high definition version of this incident soon.)

Watch this video and you will be convinced that there is no bigger thug on the planet than Alex Jones. You can clearly see in this VIDEO Alex Jones stirring up a mob who scream "KILL MICHELLE MALKIN!!!" This is a Pajamas Media TV video that starts off on a humorous note about the loons trying to levitate the Denver Mint. However at about the 2:45 mark things get ugly. Very ugly with Jones' ugly face contorted with hate as he stirs up the crowd. This could very easily have erupted into violence. So where were the Denver police?...

After they surrounded Michelle and the shouts of “kill Michelle Malkin” started, it looked like it would be desirable to intervene, so I moved between them. Miss Alex didn’t like it. He shouted at me; when that wasn’t fun, he shoulder butted me and screamed at me to keep my hands off him. When we moved away, he blindsided me with what felt like an elbow across the kidneys. If you watch the video, you’ll see that throughout, his camera guy was more or less up in my face.....

In this exclusive Pajamas TV video… Michelle Malkin is under attack by self-described anarchists yelling “Kill Michelle Malkin” in front of the Denver Mint...

There’s much more to the story of Obama’s amended campaign finance reports than what Obama and the Obamedia will tell you. I will fill you in on what’s missing in a moment. What we have here, essentially, is Obama using a non-profit group called Citizens Services Inc. as a front to funnel payments to ACORN for campaign advance work. Obama officials say it’s no big deal. Nothing to see here. Move along. But where there’s left-wing laundering smoke, there’s fire. CSI has been the subject of a little-noticed complaint to the FEC by a Democrat who smelled something rotten going...

My syndicated column today delves into the Democrat Party platform and exposes how untold amounts of taxpayer funding would be steered to militant, George Soros-backed left-wing groups. Welcome to Barack Obama’s “Social Investment Fund Network.” Follow the money. That goes for both presidential candidates who carry the Soros taint. Ugh. --snip-- The Democrat Party platform is like a bag of pork rinds. You never know what high-fat liberal government morsel you’re gonna get. Buried in the 94-page document is a noble-sounding proposal to create a “Social Investment Fund Network.” The program would provide federal money to “social entrepreneurs and leading...

Pentagon Makes Fighting Extremism Top Priority Seven years after the Sept. 11 attacks, the Pentagon on Thursday officially named "the long war" against global extremism as its top priority and pledged to avert any conventional military threat from China or Russia through dialogue. The Defense Department, in a new national defense strategy, also emphasized the need to subordinate military operations to "soft power" initiatives to undermine Islamist militancy by promoting economic, political and social development in vulnerable corners of the world. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he hoped the change would help establish permanent institutional support for counterinsurgency skills...

Well, I have a headache after listening to the new rap song, “Kill Bill O’Reilly.” How out of date are the rappers who composed this masterpiece? They saw fit to include me in their broadside despite the fact that I quit the show 10 months ago.

Michelle Malkin notes that unhinged Leftists are blaming her "hate" for the murder of the Arkansas Democratic Party chairman, and that this isn't the first time they have done this sort of thing. What does this have to do with jihad? Everything. Just as Leftists consistently try to portray conservatives as purveying "hate," so also do jihadists and their allies insist that any honest discussion of the jihad ideology and Islamic supremacism is "hateful." The advocates of the "Fairness Doctrine," which would restore the hegemony of the politically correct Left over the airwaves, are numerous. And so also are the...

Bitter Half Alert: Here she goes again. But don’t you dare breathe a negative word about what she says on the campaign trail, because she’s just a “civilian” whom you should lay off of–and if you don’t you’re a racist, wife-beating brute! MichelleO, MichelleO, MichelleO: Michelle Obama mixed a story about how her husband, the Democratic presidential candidate asked her out, with a solemn assessment of U.S. economic and social conditions during a visit to the Denver area Wednesday. Obama spoke before a crowd of about 150 that paid from $1,000 to $10,000 apiece at a private fundraising dinner at...

Texas' Defending the American Dream summit will include topics for bloggers. Move over, Netroots Nation: The conservatives are coming. As an estimated 3,000 people, mostly liberal bloggers and online activists, convene in Austin next week, the Texas chapter of Americans for Prosperity, a grassroots organization that champions limited government and free markets, has added for the first time a new-media emphasis to its traditional Defending the American Dream state summit. "We're not trying to go toe-to-toe with Netroots," said Peggy Venable, Texas director of Americans for Prosperity, noting that the conservative meeting might be one-tenth the size of the Netroots...

They did it! High school students fighting anti-military bigotry in the Bay Area collected 13,600 signatures and submitted them to save the JROTC program in San Francisco. (I blogged about their signature-gathering efforts last month here.) Keep the counterinsurgency going.

July 09, 2008, 0:00 a.m. La Raza Facts15 things you should know. By Michelle Malkin Only in America could critics of a group called “The Race� be labeled racists. Such is the triumph of left-wing identity chauvinists, whose aggressive activists and supine abettors have succeeded in redefining all opposition as “hate.� Both Barack Obama and John McCain will speak this week in San Diego at the annual conference of the National Council of La Raza, the Latino organization whose name is Spanish for, yes, “The Race.� Can you imagine Obama and McCain paying homage to a group of white...

Telethon Breaks Records, Troops to Receive Largest Care Package Delivery in History Written by Melanie Morgan    Friday, 27 June 2008 The telethon exceeded my wildest expectations. I thought that if we were really lucky, really good, caught some major breaks -we might raise $400,000- tops. Instead, the final tally on the electronic tote board was $1,055,719. In reality, the total far exceeds the final number. The response was so overwhelming that our website could not keep up with the orders. When all is said and done, I am guessing that Move America Forward will have collected about  1.2...

Free Republic Friends Move America Forward and Michelle Malkin have teamed together to host the first ever Internet telethon for our troops.Entitled, From the Frontlines, the eight-hour extravaganza will be V-cast live on UStream.The goal is to send the most number of care packages at one time to our troops fighting the war on terror.The all-star line-up of guests includes Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, Jackie Mason, Ann Coulter as well as veterans and Gold Star parents including Marcus Luttrell and Joe and Jan Johnson.Michelle Malkin wrote about From the Frontlines today:I’ll be in beautiful Mountain View, CA all...

Yet another U.S. Marine, Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, had charges dropped Tuesday in the so-called Haditha massacre — bringing the total number of Marines who've been cleared or won case dismissals in the Iraq War incident to seven. "Undue command influence" on the prosecution led to the outcome in Chessani's case. Bottom line: That's zero for seven for military prosecutors, with one trial left to go. I repeat: Haditha prosecution goes 0-7. But you won't see that headline in the same Armageddon-sized font the New York Times used repeatedly when the story first broke. The Times, Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa.,...