Free Republic

Here is what President Obama said about Springsteen: Finally, we honor the quiet kid from Jersey ... who grew up to become the rock 'n' roll laureate of a generation. For in the life of our country only a handful of people have tapped the full power of music to tell the real American story -- with honesty; from the heart; and one of those people is Bruce Springsteen... It's no wonder that his tours are not so much concerts, but communions. There's a place for everybody -- the sense that no matter who you are or what you do,...

Pencils and notebooks resembling President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign ads have been sold in at least one Columbia school and other public schools, causing the company that distributes the materials to travel around the state yanking the supplies out of machines. “Don’t be mad at us,” said Greg Jones, a sales representative with Pencil Wholesale. “It was a total accident.” Pencil Wholesale distributes supplies to six Columbia schools: Parkade Elementary, Cedar Ridge Elementary, Paxton Keeley Elementary, Mill Creek Elementary, Smithton Middle School and Hickman High School, said Linda Quinley, the district’s chief financial officer. At Mill Creek, at least one...

Chinese artist Liu Bolin warms his hands as his sculpture "Burning Man Obama" is tested at a workshop in Beijing A man wears basketball sneakers with an image of US President Barack Obama and the words "change" and "yes we can" along a street in Beijing Fridge magnets are seen at a shop in Beijing, including one of Chinese president Hu Jintao and some with the "Oba Mao" design by Liu Mingjie, in which he superimposed the face of Barack Obama over that of Chairman Mao The owner of a shop in Beijing shows a card sold at his...

http://www.southparkstudios.com/episodes/251890

Where have all those Obamenthusiasts who were so visible in 2008 been hiding this year? In this New Republic article Lydia DePillis seems to think that the problem is that Organizing For America has been run as a top-down organization, rather than as a bottom-up movement, giving the folks out there no sense of ownership. She asks, “Can a grassroots organization run in the top-down style of a political machine really accomplish much—let alone change the terms of debate on any given issue?” I think there’s something more going on here. Many Obamenthusiasts were thrilled by the idea of putting...

14-hour trip to Copenhagen on Air Force One: $1.4 million President Barack Hussein Obama getting knocked down a few pegs by the IOC: Priceless People might be miffed by the cost on the Obamas’ failed Olympic bid? The way I see it, it’s the best money the U.S. taxpayer’s spent in the past nine months!

The coffee was still brewing when Chris Ann Cleland got her first reminder of the day that voting for Barack Obama might have been a mistake. The Prince William County real estate agent was sitting at a long wooden table covered with paperwork. Her clients, a young couple who had brought their 2-week-old baby, were finalizing a short sale on a townhouse that they were anxious to unload, even if it meant ruining their credit, because they had maxed out their credit cards trying to make the payments. For Cleland, it was another example -- one of many this day...

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 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...

The Obama administration plans to kill a controversial Bush administration spy satellite program at the Department of Homeland Security, according to officials familiar with the decision. The program came under fire from its inception two years ago. Democratic lawmakers said it would lead to domestic spying. The program would have provided federal, state and local officials with extensive access to spy-satellite imagery — but no eavesdropping capabilities— to assist with emergency response and other domestic-security needs, such as identifying where ports or border areas are vulnerable to terrorism.

Demonstrating what the media is calling “skills beyond those of any previous American president,” President Barack Obama swatted a fly during a recent press conference. Lest anyone present miss the significance of the deed, Obama himself pronounced it “impressive.” On the Today Show (NBC), substitute-host David Gregory praised the President’s “super-human concentration and precision,” and added, “there’s no way that a President McCain could’ve done this. America’s voters obviously chose wisely last November.” On The Early Show (CBS), Chris Wragge mused that Obama “must have had some ninja training.” Wragge speculated that the President’s reluctance to reveal this background to...

Here is the second installment of the “Weekly Roar” by reader LoudLion. (With some two shekels from me. Hey, it’s my blog—my prerogative!) One hundred days; that is where we all stand in the toppling of the United States government as we know it. The days of Representative Democracy are quickly coming to an end. The man on the street enamored with himself for proving he is not racist for voting a black man in as president will help set the course of race relations in the country back to the days of pre-Martin Luther King, Jr. When the citizens...

Latreasa Goodman of Fort Pierce, Florida called the 911 emergency number when a local McDonalds restaurant was unable to fill her order for McNuggets because they had run out. “Them refusing to give me my ‘nuggets’ isn’t the change I voted for last November,” Goodman complained. “It’s racist. Obama’s the president now. I have rights that ‘whitey’ can’t deny me. The police are supposed to enforce my rights.” Goodman ended up disappointed when police responding to her call not only didn’t force the restaurant to give her the McNuggets, but, instead, cited her for abusing the 911 phone line. A...

..... Q: What did you think of Obama's prime-time speech and press conference? The choices were: "Thumbs up," "Thumbs up," and "I didn't watch." .....

I came into work today and could not believe the new Obama phenomenon. A girl has a bottle of "Obama Water" sitting on her desk. I am the only conservative in my office. I quietly walked over and told her when they make the toilet paper. let me know.

On January 23, Joy Behar, who apparently was once a comedian of some kind and now is in politics--sort of like Al Franken--appeared on the Larry King show on CNN. The Gay Patriot caught it and commented, but didn't have access to the transcript. It's up now, here, and it illustrates pretty well what we're up against in the world of entertainment. (I assume someone out there must think Behar is entertaining.) KING: OK, is this administration going to be hard for the comics to have fun with? BEHAR: Yes. And all I can say is thank you for Joe...

All of you readers have had this odd experience. Just remember a bit. Someone you know, even know well, whom you thought was reasonably conservative, if perhaps at least a centrist, who would have welcomed a McCain “moderate” campaign, rather than a hard-core conservative candidacy, suddenly, without warning in a conversation, perhaps over the phone, confesses that he was voting for Obama!And he was not just voting for Obama, but doing so in almost teen-aged hysterical fashion. I’m not talking of a Colin Powell phenomenon, but someone who had no political interests or career concerns, or need for psychological remissions...

Celebs letting Obama know he is not alone in his fight for what's right. The video appears on the left margin on the MSN.com web page.

The liberals who voted Obama into office really are dumb. They think Obama came to them in a peanut butter cookie and told them to sell it on ebay to keep funding change. Excerpt: "Aaron Cather was baking cookies on Monday January 19th, 2009 (exactly 19 hours before inauguration -- coincidence???) when Obama presented himself to Aaron, and the world, in peanut butter cookie form for the first time! This is the cookie in which Barack Obama came to Aaron, after Aaron subconsciously inspired it to take shape in dough as the likeness of the President himself, so that we...

MELANIE PHILLIPS: Sorry to be a party pooper, but I can't share this swooning Obama hysteria Has everyone lost their marbles? The inauguration of President Obama is being treated like the Second Coming. The coverage is so gushing we might all drown. Of course it’s a great thing that America, with its history of slavery and segregation still a shockingly recent memory, now has a black President; the palpable joy of African-Americans is entirely understandable and deeply touching. And there’s no doubt that Obama is a highly charismatic and attractive personality. But what’s more than a wee bit troubling is...

Presidential autographs may go for $6K By: Carol E. Lee January 18, 2009 06:15 PM EST When Barack Obama stepped into the Oval Office with his presidential brethren recently, he had already agreed to take part in one of this exclusive fraternity’s secret traditions: autographing a limited number of copies of the photograph that captured the moment. The former, current and future presidents’ pact — to create only 250 copies of the photograph with all of their signatures — upped the ante on an image that was a keepsake before it was even taken. Early estimates value the signed pictures...

Obama-Man, Obama-Man, does whatever a spider can. Marvel Comics says it plans to print a second and third round of its latest "Spider-Man" comic book after the issue, which features President-elect Barack Obama, sold out in record numbers Wednesday -- just hours after hitting stands. The company expects it to be the industry's best-selling comic in over a decade.

Timmy Woods, whose women’s handbags have been featured in the “Sex and the City” TV series and movie is now marketing an “Obama bag.” The O-shaped bag resembles the Obama campaign logo and is studded with red, white and blue crystals on a beaded strap. The handbag will be available for $5,000 starting January 20th. Woods touted the bag as “an aid to Obama’s economic stimulus package.” “A woman who buys this stylish handbag will be pumping spending into the nation’s economy in a totally environmentally friendly way,” Woods advertised. “Once she has it she will want to show it...

The seemingly miraculous rise of Barack Obama to the US presidency has inspired a widespread religious-like devotion. A recent Reuters survey gleaned some revealing insights into the thinking of many Americans. “Look, he was born in a stable,” claimed Ivy Green, a respondent from Fresno, California. “And Kenya’s not that far from Bethlehem. Who else do we know of that started so low yet rose so high?” “Jesus came to Jerusalem riding an ass,” observed Mark Gulliver, a respondent from Ames, Iowa. “Well, the ass is the symbol of the Democratic Party. Since Barack rode the Democratic Party to Washington,...

The publishing industry is betting on Barack Obama like no president in decades. Since Election Day alone, more than half a dozen book deals have been signed to exploit Obamania. Two dozen books in the works range from the serious to the silly. There are retrospective ticktocks on how Obama won office and prospective looks at his first year in the White House. There is a biography on Obama’s father, a compilation of essays on Obama and race, and others tilting toward the celebratory with photographic montages. There are children’s books, of course, and a style guide on Michelle Obama,...

I can't believe this is serious. "His confident smile and kind eyes are an inspiration to us all" Wha-ah-ah? Check it out here.

An effort is afoot to have November 4 declared a national holiday. “A man from humble beginnings, born in a stable in Kenya, schooled in a madras in Indonesia, honed by the mean streets of Chicago, and has lifted himself and this nation to an ecstasy of hope for fundamental change, deserves the recognition of a national holiday in his honor,” said Reverend Ed Nauseam, chairman of the “Obama Holiday Committee.” “Only one other man has accomplished as much in so short a period of time and He has a national holiday every December 25. Justice demands as much for...

Though he hasn’t yet been elected president, the Democratic National Committee has called for the minting of coins with presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama’s image on them. Traditionally, no living person has ever appeared on U.S. money of any kind. The proposed break with precedent is being labeled “educational.” “Many people in this country don’t know who is president,” DNC chairman Howard Dean said. “By having the president’s face and name on our coins we will have a daily instruction on who is ruling this nation.”

Almost every day I read yet another smear or piece of vitriolic spite against Sarah Palin which grossly misrepresents what she has actually said or simply bursts with what can only be described as hysterical hatred towards her. The Newsbusters blog has provided the evidence of how ABC News edited the transcript of its interview of Sarah Palin by Charles Gibson to create the misleading impression that she was an ignorant warmonger wholly out of her depth. The unedited transcript of that interview shows the truth to be quite different. Now, Conservativehome has drawn attention to remarks made by David...

Sorry sight last night, post-Palin speech, seeing the Fourth Estaters pooh-pooh Republican charges that the media are pro-Obama. But perception is reality in politics, and according to a new SurveyUSA poll, this limited to Washington State registered voters, folks believe the press is pressing for the Democrat candidate. When asked "Is the media rooting for Barack Obama? Rooting for John McCain? Or trying its best to be fair to both?" 52% said "for Obama," 8% said "for McCain," 35% said "being fair to both." Interesting: 28% of Democrats, 28% of liberals, and 42% of moderates chose "for Obama." It would...

Something's going on. Or some things. A new CNN/Opinion Research poll out Wednesday shows that despite nine solid days of blanket media coverage from overseas with Barack Obama cheered by adoring throngs of Germans and parlez-vousing with the French, making a three-point shot in the Middle East and standing outside No. 10 Downing Street, the freshman Illinois Democratic presidential nominee to be Senator Barack Obama of Illinois stayed static in the polls despite his well-covered long foreign tripsenator is stuck right where he was in the polls before he left.

WASHINGTON – The Republican National Committee (RNC) today launched a new Web Site, titled “Obama Audacity Watch.” From Obama’s fond memories of “when I was a United States Senator” to his short-lived “presidential” seal, the Web site tracks his audacious comments. The Web site features news and video clips, and will be continually updated through Election Day. To view the RNC’s new Web site “Obama Audacity Watch,” click here. To learn more about Barack Obama, visit: www.MeetBarackObama.com.

Democratic presidential hopeful, Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill.), took his campaign east over the weekend. The three major television networks (ABC, CBS and NBC) accompanied him to “document this historic occasion.” Obama characterized the move as a bid “to reach out to all of the 57 states and bring them the same message of hope and redemption that I have shared with the three dozen or so states within the continental United States.” “This is definitely thinking ‘outside-the-box,’” gushed ABC News anchor Charles Gibson. “Lesser men may be content to be president of America. Senator Obama has a real chance to...

In his pre-campaign book, "The Audacity of Hope," Barack Obama proclaims, "I find comfort in the fact that the longer I'm in politics the less nourishing popularity becomes, that a striving for rank and fame seems to betray a poverty of ambition, and that I am answerable mainly to the steady gaze of my own conscience." Some might think this odd testimony from a young and inexperienced freshman senator on the cusp of seeking the highest rank, and the most famous position, in the world. It's a bit like a parish priest saying he's happy with his modest lot in...

Some European officials, speaking under conditions of anonymity, are expressing concerns that Senator Obama may become the next U.S. president. “It’s not that we don’t like Obama on a personal level,” said one source. “He is a lot like us, but that is a cause for worry. We have always counted on America. America saved us from Hitler. America deterred the Red Army from marching into Western Europe. America was there to ward off the bullies who picked on us.” “Maybe having a gauche ‘cowboy America’ to rely on is a crutch we don’t really want to part with,” said...

Democratic presidential contender Illinois Senator Barack Obama assailed Republican presidential candidate Arizona Senator John McCain's energy plans as "gimmicks." “Senator McCain wants to fill your tank with gasoline,” Obama mocked. “I want to fill your heart with hope for a better, cleaner world.” The Illinois senator claimed that high fuel prices “have given us a ‘window-of-opportunity’ to change the way we live. Senator McCain would us throw away this opportunity by taking actions that enable us to continue our addiction to the ways of the past—driving our cars wherever and whenever we want, cranking up the air conditioning in our...

We know from the mainstream media that Barack Obama can walk on water, but I now realize that he's quite the multitasker as well. "Is Senator Obama’s Campaign Booking CNN?" asks Greta Van Susteren on her "On the Record" Web site. Looks like it. According to Greta: I debated whether to tell you this or not…but I did promise behind the scenes information here on GretaWire….so here it is…yesterday at 9:00am I personally booked Reverend Sharpton to appear ON THE RECORD at 10pm eastern to discuss Don Imus. At 8:12pm, less than 2 hours before we were to begin our...

Democratic presidential candidate Senator Obama charged that his Republican rival, Senator McCain, “is engaged in a ‘time-worn’ and insidiously subtle racist campaign against me.” Obama said he bases his accusation on logic and observation. “The Republicans have no winning issues,” Obama claimed. “Polls consistently show the voters disapprove of the same old Republican economic and foreign policies. If they have no winning issues, logically, all that’s left is a smear campaign focused on race.” “Evidence of this ancient strategy is already there for those who look for it,” Obama contended. “Senator McCain has yet to congratulate me for becoming the...

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, Senator Obama brushed aside criticism of his appropriation of a modified Presidential Seal in his campaign appearances, calling it “a transitional form of the seal. I’m not too happy with the eagle, it’s an aggressive bird. And the arrows are terrible symbolism. But I felt it would be too traumatic to try to change it all at once.” Obama’s seal includes the same bald eagle clutching an olive branch and arrows in its talons, but in place of the stars-and-stripes shield in the center of the eagle’s body, is the campaign’s trademark “O.” Instead of saying...

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, Senator Obama said one of his top priorities will be to crack down on consumer credit. “Too many people are over-spending and over-borrowing,” Obama said. “They are using funds they don’t have to buy things they don’t need. Meanwhile, vital government programs are starved for resources.” Under Obama’s proposal, individuals would have to get government permission to obtain a credit card. “We will save Americans from running up debts and force them to be more careful on how they spend their share of the country’s resources,” Obama vowed. Obama drew a distinction between himself and his...

Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean called the campaign tactics of presumptive Republican presidential nominee Senator John McCain (Ariz.) “sleazy.” “I know this is a harsh accusation, but let’s look at the facts,” Dean urged. “First and foremost, McCain admits that he’s running against Senator Obama. This sets a starkly negative tone to his campaign. It’s as if he saying that Obama is an inferior option for America. To me, calling an African-American candidate inferior smacks of racism.” “And need I point out that McCain has been openly critical of Obama’s positions on the economy and the war,” Dean went...

The launching of a TV ad touting Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) for president, sparked outrage from the Obama campaign. “At a time when the nation should be uniting, Senator McCain persists in stirring up opposition,” Obama complained. “I will concede that Senator McCain has served this nation honorably. We are grateful, but it’s time to move on to our new destiny. I invite the Senator to join our campaign for change.” Others in the Obama camp were less gracious—attributing McCain’s continued opposition to an Obama presidency as “racism, pure and simple.” Supporters of Senator McCain’s bid for the office were...

January 20, 2009 "I thank you and the world thanks you, for choosing love over hate, hope over fear, and diplomacy over warfare. Today we finally begin the work of caring for our sick, giving jobs to the jobless, cooling our fevered planet, lowering the ocean levels, making the blind see, the lame walk..." August 18, 2009 "As a nation we offer our sincere condolences to the people of South Korea and Japan. As you know, the North Korean leadership signed a legally binding document to curtail all future missle launches which specifically included those with live warheads. That is...

Presidential contender Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill.) rejected rival Senator John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) suggestion that the two of them make a joint visit to Iraq to assess the situation. “Anyone who wants to be president has got to have a first-hand view of the situation on the ground in Iraq,” McCain said. “Visiting the area, talking to the commanders, troops and Iraqi leaders is essential to understanding what’s going on.” McCain’s currently planned trip would be his 8th since the war began in 2003. Obama went to Iraq once, in 2006, and pronounced it a “a grievous mistake in which I...

I think Obama has jumped the shark, and it has nothing to do with any election results and everything to do with how his online following has reached a point of "lowest common denominator." As more people follow any trend or "next cool thing" it inevitably hits a peak of popularity and the silliness of it all becomes apparent. Here is the evolution of the pictures that made it to the top of the front page on a site full of Obama fans: Originally submitted as "Coolest" - Originally submitted as "Cooler" - Originally submitted as "Coolest-est" - And thanks...

How do you overcome an emotional phenomenon with rationality? By now most of us have seen the news stories describing the Cult of Obama, or Obamania. People cry when he speaks. Despite holding signs that say “Stand for Change” his speeches are interrupted by women fainting and falling to the ground. (Wordsmith has photos and video). Hillary Clinton, the once annointed Queen of the Democrat Party has done everything in her power to overcome that flood of raw emotion and remind people that it takes a President, not a good speechmaker, to get the job done. Hillary: Talk is Cheap...

Hillary Clinton’s campaign is pulling out of Wisconsin a day early according to press reports: Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton has scaled back her Wisconsin campaign schedule by a full day, and is now planning to leave the state after Monday morning instead of Tuesday morning. The move suggests the campaign does not think it can overtake rival Barack Obama here. Obama has already campaigned in the state Tuesday night, Wednesday, Friday, and today. He also has single events planned for Sunday (Kaukauna) and Monday (Beloit). While the two have exchanged hard-hitting TV ads here, Obama began airing ads a week...

As delightful as it is to criticize politicians for being self-serving do-nothings, the field of Democratic presidential contenders offers some solid choices. Finding flaws among the top three has turned into a science, with Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards (less so) dissected daily like frogs in a biology class. So when people stoop so low as to criticize and deconstruct Trinity United Church of Christ, Obama's South Side church, all that's left in their tired analysis on the cultural relevance and style of worship is a bunch of nothing. This Trinity-bashing has to stop. Last year, right-wing bloggers...

January 10, 2008, 5:00 a.m. Rebranding America?Obamania dreaming. By Andrew Stuttaford New Hampshire has gone and done what New Hampshire has gone and done, but it won't be long before Obamania picks up speed again. As it does, so will the idea, compelling, thrilling, and thoroughly misleading, that an election victory by the junior senator from Illinois will win over that large portion of the world that has, so runs the story, been alienated by the wicked George W. Bush, but which still, even now, wants to love America. Writing over at “The First Post,� just before the Iowa...