Free Republic

Politico keeps posting ridiculous columns by both Democrats and Republicans who charge that the Clinton scandals are either (1) nonexistent or (2) all politically harmless. Joe Conason, a leftist author who's been dismissing every Clinton scandal for decades in books with titles like "The Hunting of the President," is at it again. This time he's produced "The Fake Clinton Scandals Are Back: The right's newest crusade has an old fake villain." Conason should be easily dismissed by the editors for criminal ignorance -- or downright deception. One can downplay things like Benghazi. One cannot deny they are scandals -- or...

this forum is becoming a mouthpiece for cruz.

Early-state Democrats are evenly divided over whether Hillary Clinton’s campaign should be worried about recent polls showing her highest unfavorability ratings in years. Exactly 50 percent say there’s cause for concern while the other 50 percent saw no reason for alarm. [Snip] “Twenty-plus Republicans beating her up, Elizabeth Warren talking about the working man issues that terrify her, a couple of candidates like Bernie [Sanders] and Martin [O’Malley] to fill in her policy blanks and a media that feels stiffed by her lack of access, so all we can focus on is emails and the notorious Clinton Foundation and newly...

Many have theorized on here that Rove was working to undermine Walker. As it turns out, his Super Pac is in talks with Walkers campaign. This is from the article in the NY Times. 2013. A fund-raising advisory group formed by Crossroads after Mr. Barbour’s departure failed to accomplish much. More recently, Carl Forti, the longtime Crossroads political director who simultaneously worked on the pro-Romney super PAC Restore our Future, in 2012, is said by four people with direct knowledge of the discussions to have been in talks with at least one 2016 campaign — that of Gov. Scott Walker...

I'm not among those Republicans who have “evolved” on the issue of gay rights. I didn’t need to. I’ve always been attracted to the GOP message of more freedom and less government, but thought it hypocritical and counter to the core of our philosophy that Republicans would not apply those tenets to gay rights. But of course I was often the black sheep in campaign meetings during the 1990s and 2000s. There goes McKinnon again. Taking up for the gays. Although “gay” wasn’t the word that was used back the

Can we all stop pretending that there’s any real suspense in this presidential race?As the children’s book says: Voters, it’s time to “Go the [expletive] to sleep.” You can turn off Fox, MSNBC, and CNN; you can close Twitter; you can sign off your crazy uncle’s Facebook feed. I am going to tell you, right now, what the political landscape of the future looks like so you don’t waste your time over the next year listening to a parade of pundits or watching those ridiculous primary debates. The 2016 election is going to come down to Hillary vs. Jeb, of...

Hours before the Senate’s PATRIOT Act standoff hit its peak this month, Republican leaders thought they had Rand Paul figured out. He would object, rail on the matter on the Senate floor — and then let at least a temporary extension through. “I don’t agree with Sen. Paul on this issue, but I think he’s been a constructive guy,” Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn of Texas said just before the week-long recess. A day later with the clock past midnight and the Senate in a standstill largely because of Paul’s objections, Cornyn wasn’t nearly as generous. “I’m a little surprised,”...

Rand Paul plans to force the expiration of the PATRIOT Act Sunday by refusing to allow Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to expedite debate on a key surveillance bill. In a statement to POLITICO Saturday, Paul warned that he would not consent to any efforts to pass either an extension of current law or the USA Freedom Act, a reform bill passed overwhelmingly by the House earlier this month.

On Saturday, Chuck C. Johnson invited his Twitter followers to send some money his way so that he could focus on his latest project: “taking out” the civil rights activist DeRay Mckesson. Johnson is a 26-year-old California man who has been described as “Twitter’s most infamous right-wing troll” (Mother Jones), a “digital Darth Vader” (Politico), “your least favorite person” (the Washington Post), and “mood slime” (the New York Times). He is best known for outing the subject at the center of the discredited Rolling Stone UVA story, publishing the home addresses of New York Times Ferguson reporters Julie Bosman and...

Former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee will officially enter the presidential race on June 3, a source with knowledge of his plans told POLITICO. He’ll make the announcement in a speech he’s scheduled to deliver next Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. at the George Mason Center for Politics & Foreign Relations in Arlington, Virginia. Following the announcement, Chafee will travel to New Hampshire on June 4 for a previously scheduled event with local Democrats in Grafton County.

Failed Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain decried former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) for entering a presidential race he is unlikely to win. The former Godfather’s Pizza CEO tweeted about Santorum’s “doomed presidential bid” and lobbed another bomb at ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, mocking Santorum for making his announcement in an interview with the “pretend journalist.” (Stephanopolous’ standing among Republicans has fallen considerably since POLITICO reported that he had given $75,000 to the Clinton Foundation.) The tweet linked to a blog post published by columnist Robert Laurie on the Cain TV website on Thursday, questioning “why every GOP throwback candidate feels they...

Politico reported Wednesday on a controversial statement made by Republican Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker in a piece entitled “Scott Walker on mandatory ultrasounds: ‘It’s just a cool thing out there.'” The only problem? Walker never said that. In an interview with radio host Dana Loesch, Walker defended a law he signed that required an ultrasound be performed before an abortion. But the context makes clear that ultrasounds were a “cool thing,” not mandatory ultrasounds before an abortions. In particular, he made his statement during a discussion of people who keep ultrasounds of their own children:

Two weeks ago, conservatives were calling for George Stephanopoulos to recuse himself from all coverage of the 2016 presidential campaign, on the grounds that the ABC News anchor had failed to inform viewers of his financial donations to the Clinton Foundation. Three days after that controversy broke, Stephanopoulos hosted an exclusive interview with Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Then, on Wednesday, he landed an even bigger exclusive: Rick Santorum, the former Republican senator from Pennsylvania, would be announcing his bid for the presidency. Stephanopoulos also landed the first interview with Santorum, which will take place this afternoon. The McConnell...

Actress Rose McGowan offered an apology — of sorts — this week after sharing what appeared to be an inflammatory quote from Texas Sen. Ted Cruz on Josh Duggar’s departure from the Family Research Council last Friday. Duggar’s resignation followed his acknowledgement of reports that he sexually molested younger children as a teenager, including his own sisters. Story Continued Below “While there may have been an age difference, Josh Duggar’s transgressions are far less an affront to God than what gays do with each other - Ted Cruz, 5/22/15,” read the text next to the photo of Duggar and Cruz...

[subtitle: New law bans Soviet street names, statues and other reminders of communist past, as some question priorities.] In a country where at least 4,000 localities had a main thoroughfare named after Lenin, outlawing remnants of the Soviet era like street names and statues was bound to cause problems... The phenomenon is so common now that it has its own name -- "Leninopad" or "Lenin-fall," a phrase that echoes the Ukrainian word for snowfall...

The ABC News spox who slow-walked The Washington Free Beacon’s request for comment on ABC's Stephanopoulos’ undisclosed donations to the Clinton Foundation also worked in the Clinton admin. Heather Riley -- spox for ABC News programs helmed by Stephanopoulous, “GMA” and “This Week” -- worked in the White House press office 1997-2000, according to LinkedIn, and is a member of the Facebook group “Clinton Admin Alumni.” Fox reports The Free Beacon contacted ABC News on the afternoon of May 13 to request comment. “I was just forwarded your email about George. I’m going to send you something,” Riley emailed TFB...

In the wake of the ongoing controversy surrounding ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos and his failure to disclose $75,000 worth of donations to the Clinton Foundation, and now news of his $105-million contract with the network, Politico decided to tout the “frugal habits of his wife” actress Ali Wentworth. Author Kate Glassman Bennett writes that “as word spread of the beleaguered Good Morning America anchor’s exorbitant take — following on criticism of his $75,000 of ill-conceived donations to the Clinton Foundation — certain circles back here in Washington were twittering about the frugal habits of his wife.” Despite being a multimillionaire,...

ABC's Stephanopoulos never really left Clinton-land — and it didn’t bother his ABC News bosses....he had daily phone contact with high-powered Democrats at the same time he anchored ABC's “This Week,” soon to host “GMA.” Politico reports Stephanopoulos was in a “round-robin phone chat” w/ Democrat honchos in which political strategy was “quite likely....being hatched”.... Stephanpolous said he "learned a lot." Ex-Clinton staffer, now an ABC spox, Heather Riley, insisted it “wasn’t true then, and it isn’t true now” but acknowledged: “... he talks to his friends once in a while....”

You need to tell me what’s wrong with this trade agreement, not one that was passed 25 years ago,” a frustrated President Barack Obama recently complained about criticisms of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP). He’s right. The public criticisms of the TPP have been vague. That’s by design—anyone who has read the text of the agreement could be jailed for disclosing its contents. I’ve actually read the TPP text provided to the government’s own advisors, and I’ve given the president an earful about how this trade deal will damage this nation. But I can’t share my criticisms with you. I...

Hillary Clinton and the State Department on Tuesday insisted they are not slow-walking the public release of her emails during her time as secretary of state, while a federal judge ordered up a plan for a rolling release of the hotly anticipated documents. “Nobody has a bigger interest in getting them released than I do,” Clinton said to reporters in a rare instance of fielding press questions on the campaign trail. The 55,000 pages of emails have become the source of much heartburn, speculation and bureaucratic man-hours since news emerged earlier this year that Clinton used a private email...