Free Republic

What does Ted Kennedy’s endorsement of Barack Obama really mean? In addition to seriously boosting Obama’s chances for the Democratic nomination by anointing him as the generational heir to John F. Kennedy, there’s something else that’s just as important for the body politic: Ted Kennedy, Barack Obama, and the voters of South Carolina may have personally tolled the death knell for the Clintons’ reprehensible politics of personal destruction. It’s about time. For more than 30 years, no one has been able to stop Bill and Hillary Clinton from routinely acting on their shared base instinct: to annihilate anyone who gets...

Barack Obama used his victory in South Carolina to change the dialogue with the Clintons in the presidential race. He has taken Hillary’s and Bill’s attempt to use the race issue and replied with a clever move. He has basically called their bluff. And Ted Kennedy’s endorsement of Obama has ratified the Illinois Senator’s strategy and candidacy. So far, to summarize: Move One was when Obama arrived as a new candidate. Move two was Hillary’s comeback that she is more experienced. Move three was when Obama pivoted off her experience message and said he was the voice of change. Move...

As American banks go hat in hand to foreign financial institutions and governments, begging for capital to help them get out of the mess into which their subprime loans have landed them, the question arises as to whether the United States should permit nations like China, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.) and the banks they control to acquire part ownership of our leading banks. The presidential candidates discussed this issue in their Nevada debate and Hillary was asked about it in an interview with Neil Cavuto on the Fox Business Network yesterday. She replied that she would not...

The amazing victories by Obama and Huckabee in Iowa are truly historic. They demonstrate the impact and viability of a message of change in both parties. In the Democratic Party, Obama, winning in a totally white state, shows that racism is gone as a factor in American politics. On the Republican side, Huckabee’s win shows how a truly compassionate conservative can win by harvesting voters who want the message of concern for the poor and for values to prevail. But what of Hillary? She’s down but she’s not out. Hillary Clinton, in the first really contested election of her own...

I am informed that Dick Morris and Newt Gingrich are helping Huckabee behind the scenes. Morris has been everywhere today promoting Huckabee.

THE amazing victories by Barack Obama and Mike Huckabee in Iowa last night are truly historic. They demonstrate the impact and viability of a message of change in both parties. On the Democratic side, Obama - by winning in a totally white state - shows that racism is gone as a factor in American politics. On the Republican side, Huckabee's win shows how a truly compassionate conservative can win by harvesting voters who want the message of concern for the poor and for values to prevail. But what of Hillary Clinton? She's down but not out. In the first really...

Mike Huckabee, the evangelical pastor emerging as a strong Republican contender for the White House, is being advised by a former Bill Clinton aide with a history of sexual scandal. As the backlash against Mr Huckabee's increasingly confident campaign gathered pace yesterday, his staff admitted that he has regular telephone brain-storming sessions with Dick Morris, a consultant seen by some as the epitome of the cynical Washington political operative. Mr Huckabee, like Mr Clinton a former governor of Arkansas, recently described Mr Morris as "one of the smartest political minds in the business". The two men have known each other...

Politico has the story, and it makes sense with the glowing stories that Dick Morris... writes about Mike Huckabee and the cheap shots he likes to regularly take at a couple of other candidates. Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee has been holding private conversations with Dick Morris, according to aides, a longstanding relationship that is raising new questions as Huckabee’s campaign begins to take off. Morris’ most prominent calling card has been with Bill Clinton — for two decades, starting in 1977, as his most influential (if sometimes erratic) political adviser ... But the Arkansas connection the controversial consultant and...

Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee has been holding private conversations with Dick Morris, according to aides, a longstanding relationship that is raising new questions as Huckabee’s campaign begins to take off. Morris’ most prominent calling card has been with Bill Clinton — for two decades, starting in 1977, as his most influential (if sometimes erratic) political adviser and for the past decade as one of his most persistent (if sometimes erratic) public critics. But the Arkansas connection the controversial consultant and commentator established through Clinton also brought Huckabee onto his client roster, beginning in 1993 when he advised the Republican’s...

<p>If you happen to see the Bill Clinton five minute TV ad for Hillary in which he introduces the commercial by saying that he wants to share some things we may not know about Hillary's background . . . beware . .</p>

FNC Under Wolf Blitzer's gentle questioning, Hillary was able to avert another debate meltdown in the Nevada Democratic debate held last night, November 15. Asked about driver's licenses for illegal immigrants, a compliant, even subservient, Blitzer accepted Hillary's one word answer, “No,” with no follow up. Had a better journalist been asking the questions — like Tim Russert — he would have followed up the bland negation with probing questions about why she is yet again flip flopping on the issue

What if the current polls in Iowa are the final result? What if Romney wins in Iowa and then comes in first again in New Hampshire? What if Giuliani stumbles badly in Iowa and finishes fourth? What if Huckabee surges and finishes second in Iowa? What if Fred Thompson makes an unimpressive third-place finish there? And, on the Democratic side, what if Hillary only narrowly beats Obama in the first caucus state? With two months to go before the Iowa caucus, everything can change, and probably will, but it is worth speculating on what the impact will be if things...

It’s easy to see the disguises that the Democratic Party is planning to don for Halloween. While we can only speculate on the taxes they are planning to increase — everything would be a safe bet — it is becoming clear how they will dress the tax increases up to make the radical change they will, in fact, represent seem moderate and reasonable, even necessary to protect the “middle class.” Of course, this will take place not this year but in 2009, after they have elected Hillary as president and as many as 58 Democratic senators (possible takeaways in Minnesota,...

Famed civil rights lawyer Morris Dees is increasingly focused now on Latino immigrant worker rights. Dees, best-known for legal battles against the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist organizations and hate groups, spoke with University of Nebraska-Lincoln law students over noon pizza last week. “Human rights begins close to home,” he reminded them. The issue is “liberty and justice for all,” he told them. Latino workers, as well as other immigrants, come to the United States primarily for jobs, Dees said, sometimes migrating here because failed U.S. policies adversely affected conditions in their own countries. If there was a...

I know that Freepers reading this will have diferring opinions on who is the best candidate for the Republican nomination. Personally I like Mike Huckabee, however, I believe that any of the so-called "lower tier" candidates would be better than those the pseudo-inteligentsia are telling us are the "top-tier". I am disgusted with those "conservatives" in the media who think they can just coronate the Republican nominee by repeatedly telling their viewers who they are going to vote for. Below is a link to the "vlog" I made last night regarding my opinion on what a Rudy Giuliani nomination would...

The onetime ultimate D.C insider, Dick Morris recently brandished the allegation that Fred Thompson is awkward in answering questions. What a hoot coming from the guy that Chris Matthews kicked off the air and out of the Hardball studio -- probably the only guy ever to receive such treatment from Matthews -- for defaming Catholicism. But aside from the pot calling the kettle black issue, Morris accidentally put his finger on the thing that middle Americans get about Thompson which beltway insiders don't: substance over image and the difference between the two. Morris finds fault with Thompson because: * He...

Democrats may hold up to 57 U.S. Senate seats after the 2008 election — almost enough to block a Republican filibuster and likely enough to assure passage of most of the Democratic program. Last week was a bad one for the GOP. Longtime Sens. John Warner, R-Va., and Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., announced that they wouldn't seek re-election in '08, joining Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., in voluntary retirement. Add to that Sen. Larry Craig's, R-Idaho involuntary retirement. Republicans may well lose the Warner seat. Sen. George Allen lost in '06 to Democrat Jim Webb in Virginia. The most likely Democratic candidate,...

If women are from Venus and men are from Mars, the former valuing peace and the latter reveling in war, Hillary Rodham Clinton is a lot more like Mars than Venus. She loves war.

DICK MORRIS' ANALYSIS OF BILL CLINTON'S BIO ABOUT HILLARY----- BILL CLINTON LEAVES TRUTH OUT OF HILLARY'S BIOGRAPHY See Bill's "commercial" at: www.hillaryclinton.com Check out Bill Clinton's syrupy five minute ad for Hillary. He introduces the commercial by saying that he wants to share some things we may not know about Hillary's background. His version of her biography is about as reliable as if it appeared in Pravda! So, since I was there for most of their presidency and know them better than just about anyone, I wanted to make a few corrections; Bill says: Hillary never wanted to run for...

Calling him a "senior Taliban commander," The New York Times reported on Wednesday that Abdullah Mehsud blew himself up at his hide-out in the town of Zhob in southwestern Baluchistan Province in Pakistan, rather than surrender to government forces. But what was he doing commanding Taliban troops in the first place? Mehsud had been captured by American forces in northern Afghanistan in December 2001 and sent to the Guantanamo Detention Center. The reason he was able to resume his duties as a Taliban commander is because we released him from Guantanamo in March 2004. The Times reported that "upon his...

For those who are too obtuse to understand Sen. Hillary Clinton's simple and clear position on Iraq, the following is an attempt to summarize it: She voted in the Senate for H.J. Res. 114, the "Authorization of the Use of Military Force Against Iraq," in October 2002. But now she wants to repeal it. Why? Because, according to Hillary, President Bush misinterpreted the "Authorization of the Use of Military Force Against Iraq" resolution to mean that the use of military force against Iraq had been authorized by Congress. At the time of her vote, she stated that her vote for...

anti-Semitic riots in Brooklyn's Crown Heights section erupted after 7-year old Gavin Cato, a black child, was accidentally killed by an out-of-control car driven by a Hasidic Jew. Within three hours, a black mob had hunted down and killed an innocent rabbinical student, Yankel Rosenbaum. Sharpton fanned the flames of racial hatred by publicly announcing that it was not merely a car accident that had killed Gavin Cato, but rather "the social accident of apartheid." He organized angry demonstrations and challenged local Jews -- who he derisively called "diamond merchants" -- to "pin their yarmulkes back and come over to...

Soon it will be time for Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) to face a moment of truth and decide whether he is going to lead the anti-war movement or cave in under administration pressure. As House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) move toward an accommodation with the White House over funding for the war in Iraq, they are also moving toward a civil war within their own party. If Pelosi and Reid agree to give Bush a new bill providing funding for the war without a deadline for troop withdrawal, they will redeem their party’s...

The Clintons are back on war footing, and Harold Ickes is back at the center of things. Ickes is technically a volunteer for the campaign known as Hillary for President. His title, carefully chosen in a world with intricate internal politics, is "Adviser to the Campaign Manager." "I jokingly refer to myself as the Assistant Sanitation Commissioner," ... But Ickes, 67, is a legendary figure in Democratic politics, a pedigreed political street fighter known for both his loyalty and his abiding grudges. The son of a key adviser to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, he came up in New York City's...

We spend about 33% of our gross domestic product on state, local and federal government. Britain spends about 39 or 40%. France spends 48%, Germany 51%, Sweden 55%. And Hillary would like us to move into the high 40s and the low 50s. And she’d like that to fund free higher education, free healthcare, free daycare, free extra nutrition, more food stamps, more welfare; the whole bit. And if you think that those are good goals, and if you think that’s the way to achieve it, support her. Because she really will do that. It’s really what she wants to...

Nineteen states or more, with half of America’s population, are moving to hold their presidential nominating primaries on Feb. 5, 2008, a mere three weeks after the Iowa caucuses and two weeks after the New Hampshire primary. In effect, we will now have a national primary and the presidential nominating season will last only three weeks from start to finish. The effect of this gigantic sea change will be that whoever is the frontrunner in each party by the fall of 2007 will be virtually certain to win the nomination because only the frontrunner can possibly hope to amass enough...

The nominees for the 2008 presidential race will be selected in 2007. The tempo of the new political process, driven by 24-hour cable news, Internet bloggers, conservative talk radio, and liberal NPR is so rapid that the nomination race cannot exist in stasis waiting for Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire and South Carolina to get around to holding their votes in early 2008. Well before they open their caucuses or polling places, this nomination, in each party, will have been decided by the national media coverage during 2007.

Morris: Hillary will be ‘worst president we’ve ever seen’ Dick Morris is no fan of Sen. Hillary Clinton, having spent much of the past decade writing and speaking out against her. And he took his always-quotable opinions to the offices of Americans for Tax Reform Wednesday at a breakfast sponsored by The American Spectator. Dick’s greatest hits: » Although Barack Obama is an “exciting phenomenon,” he is the equivalent of “political stem cells: You can make him into any tissue you want.” » “It is in the national interest that, if there is a Democratic president, that it not be...

It's getting to the point where the conservative - dominant - wing of the Republican Party needs to take out a want ad in the newspaper or post a listing on Craigslist.com to find a candidate for president. In the field taking shape before our eyes, none of the top four contenders is likely to satisfy their delicate palates - made more arrogant and discerning by decades of victories.

In reading Senator Barack Obama’s #1 bestseller, The Audacity of Hope, one begins to wonder whether he is another cynical politician or just a helplessly naïve neophyte. After a few chapters, one actually has the audacity to hope that it is his inexperience — and nothing sinister — that accounts for his sometimes silly and often misleading narrative. Anyone who is that naive should not be a U.S. Senator, much less the president. Obama is a uniquely charismatic candidate who has catapulted into second place among democratic primary voters, forcing Hillary Clinton to hastily abandon her coy pretense that she...

Should Sen. Hillary Clinton be elected to the presidency in 2008, she won't use her married name of Clinton, but rather, her maiden name of Rodham.That according to Dick Morris, a former adviser to President Bill Clinton who is now a political columnist. "She would not be another President Clinton. She would be President Rodham. I'll bet you that if she wins, that's what she has people call her," Morris told Fox News host John Gibson today on "The Big Story." "I'll bet anybody in the country that when she gets elected, that's what she's gonna want to be called....

For all of the dire warnings and pre-election commotion about the impact of a Democratic majority in Congress, the fact is that — now that it is upon us — it can do little or nothing but harass the administration. There is no real danger of any legislative action emerging from this Congress. Yes, the president has a veto the Democrats cannot override, but nothing will ever make it as far as the desk at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., are just spinning their wheels. In the Senate, there is...

Conservatives are fed up. Rumblings in the ranks about the growth of the federal government, new entitlement spending and lack of a coherent immigration policy are taken as a sign that many conservatives may just opt out of the coming election. Some conservatives have gone so far as to suggest that it might be a good thing if Democrats took over the wheels of government, just to show those darn tax and spend Republicans that we're unhappy with their leadership. In essence, go stand in the corner for the next two years and let that be a lesson to you.

Dick Morris is at it again. Just on Fox, he believes the Dems will take both houses, creating "hell in wheels for Bush and his cabinet," who will, he predicts, spend the next two years under indictment and subpoena. His take is that the Repub base that elected Bush twice will largely sit this one out and those that do vote are more evenly split betweeen Dem and Repub. He also predicts Hillary will win in 08 by "having grown the numerator." In his words, there were 19 million single women in 2000, most of whom did not vote. By...

In a curious way, the former Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) scandal will be to the Republican congressional leadership what the Monica Lewinsky imbroglio was to the Clinton presidency. After all the boring scandals — Whitewater, Hillary’s investments, Paula Jones, Travelgate, the FBI files, the Rose Law Firm’s billing records — the Lewinsky scandal seared into everyone’s consciousness. Those who failed to read the many volumes of Whitewater documents published by The Wall Street Journal or who despaired of following the paper trail that led to the Travel Office firings could easily grasp the simple facts of Clinton’s dalliance with Monica....

The attack by Bill Clinton and his allies on the upcoming ABC miniseries "The Path to 9/11" is "outrageous," charges former Clinton aide Dick Morris. As NewsMax has reported, Bill Clinton through his surrogates have demanded that ABC "correct all errors" in the docudrama or pull it from the air, charging that it is a "fictitious rewriting of history" regarding President Clinton's handling of the terrorist threat. But Morris claims that Clinton's national security adviser, Sandy Berger, and the president himself "were both responsible for failing to catch or kill bin Laden on several different occasions." Morris has served Clinton...

[snip] As we made our trek to the small Muslim community of Walthomstow in East London, I hoped we could do something worthwhile. I wasn’t looking for something material — a big interview to break a story. I was hoping to get into the heart of the Muslim community, to find out what went wrong, to hear from the mouths of the imams themselves, and perhaps bridge some communication gaps. Would they unequivocally denounce terrorism? Would they say bad foreign policy justifies the killing of the innocent? It would be a talk from one religious person to another — a...

Representatives of an east London mosque used by several of the terror suspects reacted angrily yesterday to what they called a "sick stunt" by Rupert Murdoch's Fox News channel. Mohammed Shoyaib, the imam of the Musjid-e-Umer mosque in Walthamstow, complained that he and other elders were tricked by a representative from the cable channel, a priest who said he was working for the Vatican and wanted to talk peace. "He introduced himself as priest working in Rome," said Mr Shoyaib. "Then he said he was working for peace in the world, that all faiths should work together for peace...

Ten years ago, on April 18, 1996, Israel attacked Hezbollah in Lebanon for 16 days in an operation called Grapes of Wrath. The global condemnation of Israel was fierce, especially when it bombed a U.N. refugee camp, killing 107 people, an attack that Tel Aviv said was a mistake. At the time, the United States did nothing to stop the tide from turning against Israel and President Clinton said, “I think it is important that we do everything we can to bring an end to the violence.”In private, Clinton seethed at the Israeli attack, saying he had discussed with Israeli...

A Casa Divided By Jenni Vinson Trejo July 8, 2006 The 2006 Presidential election in Mexico has come and gone. In March of this year, I wrote an editorial entitled, “The Why Of It All”, about how this election in Mexico was affecting America. We had a vested interest in watching out for who would be our neighbor’s next leader since one of the candidates, Andrés Manuel López Obrador is a staunch Communist. I asserted then that Lopez-Obrador is allied and supported by Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Fidel Castro of Cuba. Having Lopez-Obrador win the Presidency in Mexico could...

If Democrats win back the Congress in the 2006 midterm elections, they could make President Bush's last two years in office so miserable it would be impossible for any Republican to win the 2008 presidential election - thus ensuring that Hillary Clinton becomes president. So says Dick Morris, the only political strategist to engineer a successful presidential reelection campaign for Democrats since the days of FDR. If the GOP doesn't reconnect with the American people on key issues like border enforcement, "they will lose the House and they will lose the Senate," Morris told ABC Radio's Sean Hannity on Thursday....

GEORGE W. Bush is a one- term president now serving deep into his second term. Like his father, he shot his bolt during his first four years. Unlike his dad, he was able to persuade America to keep him around for another term. But he seems destined to spend the remainder of his tenure, à la Nixon, "twisting slowly in the wind." Bush has truly become the Republican equivalent of President Jimmy Carter, out of control, dropping in popularity, unable to resume command. He barely skated through 2004 using the issue of terrorism. But his very success in preventing further...

The Clintons pass in the night Written in conjunction with Eileen McGann Bill and Hillary Clinton are the first couple to appear simultaneously and independently on the national political stage. They are using their special circumstances as a convenient shield for one another, fulfilling, at once, Hillary’s dream of no accountability and Bill’s of being able to take both sides of an issue. Did Hillary know that Bill was pardoning the FALN terrorists to help her win Puerto Rican votes in New York? Oh, she was opposed to the pardon. Did Hillary find out that Bill was granting pardons to...

Comments in Middle East border on bizarre... Bill Clinton (in Qatar) called the cartoon depictions of Muhammad published by the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten last fall "totally outrageous cartoons against Islam," ... In fact, the cartoons are pretty tame stuff -- the Islamic prophet is not shown as dirty, drooling, shaped like an animal or engaged in any unsavory acts, all standard for cartoon depictions of Jews in the modern Arab press. Mr. Clinton is entitled to his opinion, of course, though one wonders why he would want to gin up more hostility toward the West with an inflammatory characterization of...

That is the message from Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.). Don’t wait for legislation or ethics rulings, just follow his example and voluntarily announce that you and your staff will not accept gifts, meals or travel from lobbyists or groups with interests before Congress.As Lieberman says, “It’s time to try to set some examples here.”Lieberman, the most ethical member of the Senate (this is not damning with faint praise!), is setting up the only way to avoid fallout from the Jack Abramoff scandal and get clean for election day.The lobbyist scandal is penetrating deeply into the public consciousness. Only the House...

Bear hunt begins with at least 54 kills, tempers high By JOHN CURRAN The Associated Press VERNON, N.J. - Braving freezing cold and irate animal rights activists, camouflage-clad bear hunters hit the fields and forests here Monday, taking aim at a species whose recovery in New Jersey has gone from conservation success to emerging public safety threat. Black bears have rebounded from near-extinction to become familiar sights across the nation's most densely populated state - rummaging through trash, menacing people and scampering through yards. With residents' complaints mounting, New Jersey's second bear hunt in 35 years was approved as a...

President Rice? PRESIDENT RICE ? Dick Morris looks at 2008 prospects. Q&A by Kathryn Jean Lopez The next presidential election is Condi vs. Hillary, as far as Dick Morris is concerned. And if it is, it doesn't look good for Senator Clinton. He writes up the 2008 election in his new book, Condi vs. Hillary : The Next Great Presidential Race, written with his wife, Eileen McGann. NRO Editor Kathryn Lopez recently talked with Morris about the political prospects to come. Kathryn Jean Lopez: Is there really no one among the entire Democratic party who could give Hillary Clinton some...

Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2005 7:12 a.m. EDT Dick Morris: Condi's the GOP's Next Eisenhower Top political strategist Dick Morris said Tuesday that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice could win the GOP's 2008 presidential nod much the same way Gen. Dwight Eisenhower did in 1952. "I think what's going to happen is that all over the country - people who see [Condi's] qualifications or are entranced by the job she's doing as Secretary of State and who are scared to death of the other one [Hillary], are going to get together and set up Condi clubs in their localities," Morris told...

The left may have the last laugh on this one. The massive liberal backlash against the moderate center of the Democratic Party and the growing unease at Sen. Clinton's support for the war the grassroots hate will do much to shape the evolution of the 2008 presidential contest. But the denouement might come sooner. This leaderless left may well find a candidate to field against Hillary in next year's Democratic senatorial primary. It might be an Elizabeth Holtzman or Mark Green — or someone further from the mainstream, like Norm Siegel. As soon as the left gets the point that...