Free Republic

An ailing woman who slipped a Secret Service cordon to touch the hem of President Barack Obama’s trousers before yesterday’s health care townhall meeting in New Hampshire has received a full pardon from the president, the White House said today. Secret Service agents took the unnamed Granite State resident into custody after her fingertips grazed the fringe of Mr. Obama’s left pant, in what she later said was an attempt to get care for a chronic blood discharge she has suffered for 12 years, but for which she has failed to seek treatment due to worries that emergency room staff...

Artist Shepard Fairey, whose iconic HOPE campaign poster of Barack Obama was a global sensation, is back with a new image that both questions and deifies the President. Appearing on the cover of the Aug. 20 Rolling Stone, the portrait depicts Obama with a brow knit in determination, surrounded by a halo of stars. "Will he take bold action or compromise too easily?" asks a headline enshrining the President's head. Fairey said it wasn't meant to be a halo. Rather, the picture he worked from showed Obama standing in front of the presidential seal, he said. "It's one thing to...

The mystery messiah who was supposed to unite the nation and the world has managed to divide the nation more than at any time since the Civil War, and he’s just getting started! Two years into blocking all access to his birth, adoption, college and passport records, Barack Obama is finally running out of room to run from his top secret past. Both “birthers” (aka constitutionalists) and “anti-birthers” (aka Marxist Obama minions and constitutional illiterates) number in the millions and the debate between them is beyond extreme, it’s downright vicious, working its way towards violent. Unable to defend with any...

THE EVIDENCE IS HERE: This document contains over 60 pages of evidence and analysis proving Barack Obama’s use of a little-known and highly deceptive and manipulative form of “hack” hypnosis on millions of unaware Americans, and reveals what only a few psychologists and hypnosis/NLP experts know.

The Barack Backlash: How Obama's Presidency Has Gone From Deity To Doubtful MAX HASTINGS 01st August 2009 On Thursday night, the most powerful man on earth spent 55 minutes of his priceless time simply sharing a beer with a police officer from Cambridge, Massachusetts, and a Harvard professor. This minutely orchestrated media event was designed to rescue Barack Obama from the most idiotic, yet nonetheless damaging, row of his presidency. The American people are convulsed, not with laughter, because the story touches the obsessive issue of racism. It began a fortnight ago, when Professor Louis Gates locked himself out of...

JACKSON, Miss. -- A man who is accused of posting online threats to assassinate President Barack Obama says he’s competent to stand trial. Steven Joseph Christopher testified in federal court Monday that he’s the messiah but said that he never had plans or the ability to hurt Obama. Christopher, of Wisconsin, was arrested in January by the Secret Service in Brookhaven and was charged with threatening to assassinate Obama for what he claimed was "the country's own good," according to federal prosecutors. A news release said Christopher made the threats Jan. 11 and 15 on the Web site www.alien-earth.org. The...

IN JANUARY 2007 Mike Huckabee, a former governor of Arkansas, said he was running for president to revive “our national soul”. He was not alone in taking an expansive view of presidential responsibilities. With the exception of Ron Paul, all the serious candidates waxed grandiloquent about their aims. John McCain said he modelled himself on Teddy Roosevelt, a man who “nourished the soul of a great nation”. Hillary Clinton lamented that America had no goals, and offered to supply some. And let us not forget the man they all sought to replace, George Bush, who promised, among other things, to...

If Barack Obama disappoints his supporters, they will have only themselves to blame. In January 2007 Mike Huckabee, a former governor of Arkansas, said he was running for president to revive “our national soul”. He was not alone in taking an expansive view of presidential responsibilities. With the exception of Ron Paul, all the serious candidates waxed grandiloquent about their aims. John McCain said he modelled himself on Teddy Roosevelt, a man who “nourished the soul of a great nation”. Hillary Clinton lamented that America had no goals, and offered to supply some. And let us not forget the man...

Reading books by the opposition is generally an educational yet unpleasant endeavor. Devouring Renegade: The Making of a President was no exception to this rule. Its deliberate (self-?)deception proved both annoying and painful, but revealed much about the mindset of mainstream media members. Of course, its author, Richard Wolffe, no longer hustles from a reporter’s perch at Newsweek because since April he has officially spun tales for the benefit of a public relations firm instead. Like many others ensconced in the journalistic milieu, Wolffe reflexively attempts to deceive his audience regarding the nature of his own political bias. He is...

The End of Obamania On his overseas trip, the president was met with a lot less cheering and a lot more tough talk. Doyle McManus July 12, 2009 Barack Obama has fallen back to Earth. When he ran for president, Obama said his election would be "the moment the rise of the oceans began to slow." And when he made his first big foreign trip in April, he was hailed by adoring crowds -- and almost-as-adoring politicians -- in Britain, Germany, France and the Czech Republic. But last week, in Russia and Italy, Obamania was little more than a pleasant...

Barack Obama has fallen back to Earth. When he ran for president, Obama said his election would be "the moment the rise of the oceans began to slow." And when he made his first big foreign trip in April, he was hailed by adoring crowds -- and almost-as-adoring politicians -- in Britain, Germany, France and the Czech Republic. But last week, in Russia and Italy, Obamania was little more than a pleasant memory. Yes, his international polling numbers are still high, but the president encountered hardly any adulation in the streets of Moscow or anywhere else. Instead, Russian strongman Vladimir...

The difference between radical Muslims and liberal American Jews is that the former seek to become martyrs, while the latter aspire to become victims. In an ironic twist of fate, radical Muslims and liberal American Jews were made for each other. This ideological symbiosis is sufficient to give pause to the presence of intelligent design. But like all things that seem to emanate from a higher power, there is a paradoxical twist. It is not themselves that liberal American Jews want to sacrifice on the altar of victimhood; it is their Israeli brethren. Barack Hussein Obama received nearly eighty percent...

You should have seen the celebrations here when Obama was elected. People are really hoping that he's going to come up with something. He has African roots and an instinct for Africa that he's shown by going to Kenya before. He'll come to Africa more than any other US president. What worries me is that there is still corruption in our governments. It's not easy to put money in and be sure that it will get to the poorest of the poor. It ends up being used by the ministers. I would love Obama to say this is his major...

I don't get to the lower level of Washington's Union Station much, but today I passed through and saw "My Obama Shop" — that's the actual name of an entire store devoted to all things Obama. My phone takes lousy pictures, but a blogger at Cato has a photo. Obviously there's a market for this sort of thing (I'm assuming it's not a government-owned business, at least for now) is a way there never would be for "My Bob Dole Shop" or "My John McCain Shop," but it's still kind of creepy. In fact, the very fact that there is...

One of the most damaging forces in the study of history in recent years has been revisionism. Revisionist historians have painted Thomas Jefferson as a slave owner who took liberties with his property. Revisionists have tried to make slavery the primary cause of the Civil War. Revisionists have done their damage to figures in the ancient world, as well, with none taking the brunt quite so squarely as Alexander. In his interview with Hannity on Wednesday, Forbes was discussing his most recent book and gave his take on the oft-misunderstood conqueror, calling Alexander one who was given to passions that...

As the summer begins, White House watchers have spotted a new look by President Obama: The Evil Eye! Staffers have joked about the menacing glance, which comes when the president meets with world leaders who are not aligned with his progressive view. White House photographers have captured the "evil eye" in recent weeks, during sessions with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Colombia's Alvaro Uribev. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi got hit with the commander's malocchio last week in the Oval office. And at least one White House reporter has been on the receiving end of the daggers during a press...

So, as it turns out, U.S. President Barack Obama is not "God" when it comes to dealing with the Islamic world, after all. This, contrary to that gushingly inane description of him by Newsweek editor-at-large Evan Thomas, following Obama's June 4 speech in Cairo, seeking reconciliation with Muslims. Unfortunately, just eight days after giving that speech, Obama was confronted by Iran's deadly crushing of citizen protests over an election now widely seen both inside and outside Iran as hopelessly corrupt. This would be the same Iran Obama had just finished telling the world in Cairo he was prepared to work...

For much of the Bush administration, the media splashed stories of neoconservative conspiracies and cabals. Exposés about mostly Jewish liberals-turned-conservatives charged that they were adherents of the philosopher Leo Strauss and embraced the Platonic notion of the “noble lie.” In his Republic, Plato outlined an elaborate, ranked utopia, a good city (“Kallipolis”) run by a sort of benign natural selection. The philosopher-kings sat atop hierarchies in which occupations were assigned for the citizenry. To justify arbitrary selections, the rulers would make up “noble lies” about divine edicts, making clear that the occupations chosen for lesser folk were god-given. Once the...

So, as it turns out, U.S. President Barack Obama is not "God" when it comes to dealing with the Islamic world after all. This, contrary to that gushingly inane description of him by Newsweek editor-at-large Evan Thomas, following Obama's June 4 speech in Cairo, seeking reconciliation with Muslims. Unfortunately, just eight days after giving that speech, Obama was confronted by Iran's deadly crushing of citizen protests over an election now widely seen both inside and outside Iran as hopelessly corrupt. This would be the same Iran Obama had just finished telling the world in Cairo he was prepared to work...

That's what I was thinking about when I was reading this column by Obama supporter, Michael Crowley. Crowley lays out a very strong case for why things are in trouble. Then, he says not to worry. Only, the way in which Obama will succeed seems something akin to magic. First, Crowley lays out why Obama maybe on the brink of serious problems.

The reader might be warned that reading this San Francisco Chronicle Father's Day piece serves as a most perfect emetic. In fact, it's a wonder that writer Jennifer Weiss could type with all those stars in her eyes. Her Father's Day adulation of Obama is so over-the-top that Obama suddenly becomes the "father of our country," and is determined to have "super-dad status." The most offensive part of this piece is, of course, the aforementioned assigning to Obama of the role of "father of our country." There is only one father of our country and that is George Washington, war...

A while back, I heard Obama bragging about his first few months in the White House. When he claimed he had done as much in that period as any president in history, my initial thought was that for the first time in his life he was being modest. Frankly, I think he’s done more, much more, and I only wish that some of it had been good for America. He’s taken over car companies, banks and lending institutions. He’s printed so much currency that he’s the envy of counterfeiters and con men everywhere. He’s buried the nation in so much...

Telegraph reporter Stephanie Gutmann describes her reaction to Barack Obama’s appearance in Berlin: “After it was over I picked up the phone and called a friend back home. ‘It’s worse than we thought,’ I told him. ‘The guy’s actually crazy.’” Guttman was talking about candidate Obama’s agenda as he presented it that day, in which he promised to take on the terrorists in Afghanistan, take on the drug dealers, rebuild Afghanistan, eliminate the building nuclear threat, secure all loose nukes, decrease arsenals from another era, form a new global partnership that will end terror networks, redistribute wealth, save the planet,...

Introducing Howard Dean, on Wednesday night's "Hardball," Chris Matthews indirectly compared Barack Obama to Jesus Christ as he introduced the former head of the DNC and 2004 presidential candidate as "the man who really laid out the path for Barack Obama. He was the St. John the Baptist...leading for that fellow." In the Christian faith St. John the Baptist is considered to be the precursor to Jesus Christ, so in Matthews' metaphor of Democratic presidential politics that would have to make Obama, Jesus. For his part Dean, justifiably, appeared uncomfortable with the comparison, as he appreciated Matthews' promise to "not...

NEW YORK - Monica Weeks has met many men, but at age 51 she says she still hasn't found her "Barack." Among Weeks and her friends, President Barack Obama's name has become shorthand for a black man with integrity, character and spirituality, one who loves and values his wife and makes his family a priority — in other words, the kind of man that many black women had despaired of finding. Weeks said probably every single woman she knows is looking for her "Barack." "He absolutely makes me think it's attainable," said Weeks, a divorced mom in Somerset, N.J. "For...

MSNBC's Chris Matthews interviewed former DNC chairman Howard Dean about President Obama's health care plan. Matthews credits Dean for finding Barack Obama. Matthews told Dean he is like John the Baptist. Jesus Christ was a follow of John the Baptist and was baptized by him.

The common, everyday act of swatting a bug is something that happens countless times a day at picnics and ball games across the country, especially during the summer, but when Barack Obama was caught on tape by CNBC's cameras doing it, the fawning liberal press couldn't contain their excitement. All three broadcast network morning shows, on Wednesday, praised the presidential kill as they were impressed by the "ninja" Obama's "precision," and "cat-like quickness."[audio available here] On NBC's "Today" show substitute-host David Gregory opened the show declaring: "You just have to appreciate the, the concentration and the precision! Just a few...

Rush keeps saying that eventually this country will grow tired of 0bama, when is this going to happen? I knew this administratioin was as bad as advertised, in fact it is worse. When is this nightmare going to end?

Excuse my mastery of the obvious, but I have to believe the greatest obstacle to America's return to policy sanity is the electorate's cultish adoration of Barack Obama. If it weren't for this disturbing phenomenon -- not to discount a healthy dose of blind partisanship -- it is inconceivable that the majority of people would tolerate Obama's dismantling of America's free market system, his returning America to a pre-9/11 mindset against terrorists, his increasing usurpations of power, and his corrupt ties and practices, from the public funding of ACORN to the summary dismissal of the case against the Black Panthers...

When Gerard Baker a year ago wrote in the Times of London that Barack Obama had "Ventured Forth to Bring Light to the World," it was widely acknowledged to be a clever satire, but this past week we have broken new ground in divinity politics. Forget the comparisons to our Slain Prince (John F. Kennedy), to our Good Father (Franklin D. Roosevelt), and even to Abraham Lincoln, the closest thing to a martyred saint that Americans have in our secular lexicon. These are mere mortals. According to those who should know--Chris Matthews of MSNBC, and Evan Thomas of the New...

When President Obama returned from his first European trip, I observed that while over there he had been "acting the philosopher-king who hovers above the fray mediating" between America and the world. Now that Obama has returned from his "Muslim world" pilgrimage, even the left agrees. "Obama's standing above the country, above -- above the world. He's sort of God," Newsweek's Evan Thomas said to a concurring Chris Matthews, reflecting on Obama's lofty perception of himself as the great transcender. -SNIP- For all of his philosophy, the philosopher-king protests too much. Obama undoubtedly thinks he is demonstrating historical magnanimity with...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: What do Obama and God have in common? Neither has a birth certificate. How do they differ? God does not think he's Obama. And there's another difference between God and Obama, and that is that liberals love Obama. BREAK TRANSCRIPT RUSH: We have some more differences for you here between President Obama and God. God asks for only 10% of your money. God gives you freedom to live your life as you choose. God's plan to save us is actually written down for people to read. BREAK TRANSCRIPT RUSH: We have some more differences for you here...

"Oddball" with Chris Matthews really lived up to its name - the sarcastic, pejorative name I call it - when he and Newsweek's Evan Thomas decided to take a moment to, while reviewing Obama's Cairo speech, reflect upon his (His?) divinity above us all....

[Evan Thomas:] "...he [Obama] has a very different job from Reagan was all about America and you [Chris Matthews] talked about it. Obama is 'we are above all that now.' We're not just parochial. We stand for something. I mean in a way, Obama's standing above the country, above the world, he's sort of God."

UNBELIEVABLE!

“In a way Obama is standing above the country, above the world. He’s sort of GOD. He’s going to bring all different sides together.” - Newsweek editor Evan Thomas

PARIS: The US first family took a long ramble through Paris' iconic Pompidou modern art museum Sunday as President Barack Obama stole a few hours for private time at the end of a breakneck diplomatic visit. The president and his family received a hero's welcome during their brief weekend stop in Paris, touring some of the city's top attractions. "They visited the museum from top to bottom, they saw it all," said a spokeswoman for the landmark glass-and-steel art space wrapped in colored pipes. "It was very relaxed, very unofficial and very very family," she added, quoting the head of...

PARIS (AP) — People gawked and cameras clicked as the Obamas cut a wide figure through the French capital even while confined to a presidential motorcade. It was more personal for the few kept not so distant — the restaurant owner who "saw God," the chauffeur reveling in a "magnificent mission."

EVAN THOMAS: Well, we were the good guys in 1984, it felt that way. It hasn’t felt that way in recent years. So Obama’s had, really, a different task We’re seen too often as the bad guys. And he – he has a very different job from – Reagan was all about America, and you talked about it. Obama is ‘we are above that now.’ We’re not just parochial, we’re not just chauvinistic, we’re not just provincial. We stand for something – I mean in a way Obama’s standing above the country, above – above the world, he’s sort of...

Newsweek editor Evan Thomas brought adulation over President Obama’s Cairo speech to a whole new level on Friday, declaring on MSNBC: "I mean in a way Obama’s standing above the country, above – above the world, he’s sort of God." Thomas, appearing on Hardball with Chris Matthews, was reacting to a preceding monologue in which Matthews praised Obama’s speech: "I think the President's speech yesterday was the reason we Americans elected him. It was grand. It was positive. Hopeful...But what I liked about the President's speech in Cairo was that it showed a complete humility...The question now is whether the...

Newsweek editor Evan Thomas brought adulation over President Obama’s Cairo speech to a whole new level on Friday, declaring on MSNBC: "I mean in a way Obama’s standing above the country, above – above the world, he’s sort of God." Thomas, appearing on Hardball with Chris Matthews, was reacting to a preceding monologue in which Matthews praised Obama’s speech: "I think the President's speech yesterday was the reason we Americans elected him. It was grand. It was positive. Hopeful...But what I liked about the President's speech in Cairo was that it showed a complete humility...The question now is whether the...

Newsweek editor Evan Thomas brought adulation over President Obama’s Cairo speech to a whole new level on Friday, declaring on MSNBC: "I mean in a way Obama’s standing above the country, above – above the world, he’s sort of God."

The audience responded to Obama's fine rhetoric and frequent quotations from the Koran with repeated applause. At the end as he stood on the stage and waved, a group of Egyptian students in the balcony rhythmically began chanting, “He's our man! He's our man!” When Obama spoke about democracy during the speech, one man in the audience shouted, “We love you!” But the audience also responded well to Obama's specifics, including a statement opposing Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian West Bank—an unusually strong display of criticism of America's ally, given that it was delivered from the heart of an...

The Obama Infatuation By Robert J. Samuelson June 1, 2009 The Obama infatuation is a great unreported story of our time. Has any recent president basked in so much favorable media coverage? Well, maybe John Kennedy for a moment, but no president since. On the whole, this is not healthy for America. Our political system works best when a president faces checks on his power. But the main checks on Obama are modest. They come from congressional Democrats, who largely share his goals if not always his means. The leaderless and confused Republicans don't provide effective opposition. And the press...

The Obama infatuation is a great unreported story of our time. Has any recent president basked in so much favorable media coverage? Well, maybe John Kennedy for a moment; but no president since. On the whole, this is not healthy for America. Our political system works best when a president faces checks on his power. But the main checks on Obama are modest. They come from congressional Democrats, who largely share his goals if not always his means. The press — on domestic, if not foreign, policy — has so far largely abdicated its role as skeptical observer. Obama has...

Barack Obama spoke at the National Archives last Thursday on the war on terror (not that he used that term). After paying tribute to the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, and before turning to a defense of his policies, the President of the United States said: I stand here today as someone whose own life was made possible by these documents. My father came to our shores in search of the promise that they offered. My mother made me rise before dawn to learn of their truth when I lived as a child in a...

The painter who created the controversial "Obama as Christ" painting is back. Artist Michael D'Antuono, who apologized for offending people and withdrew his original painting, titled "The Truth," from a scheduled NYC showing on President Obama's 100th day in office, has just unveiled a new Obama painting (larger version below the fold). However, D'Antuono was a bit disingenuous in the explanation of his surprise that people were offended by his first Obama painting as you can see in this press release: Artist Michael D'Antuono Responds To 'Truth' Critics With Second Obama PaintingNEW YORK, May 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Michael D'Antuono, the...

The convergence of several stories I've been reading over the past few days is triggering a reaction in me which I find singularly unpleasant. First, we have Nancy Pelosi - a Catholic - pushing for massive spending on contraception as part of the Democratic stimulus plan.  This morning, Deal wrote about  the 18 Catholic Senators who did not support the restoration of the Mexico City Policy.  Also today, the story emerges that Cardinal Mahony is under investigation for fraud regarding his handling of the sex abuse crisis in his diocese.  (Whatever the outcome of this, one could argue that...

Associated Press photo of Pres. Barack Obama, May 6, 2009. http://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb-staff/2009/05/08/weekend-captionfest

"May I change the subject," said a prominent Washington theologian at a recent dinner. The conversation had been high-minded -- religion, philosophy, the nature of evil. "I'd like to talk about Michelle Obama's arms," he said. He is a big fan of those arms. We then began a discussion about the significance of the first lady's arms. Actually, it turned out to be equally serious. Michelle Obama's arms, we determined, were transformational. Her arms are representative of a new kind of woman: young, strong, vigorous, intelligent, accomplished, sexual, powerful, embracing and, most of all, loving. Today is Mother's Day. Today...