Free Republic

Our first president, George Washington, served in the military over a span of 30 years. Widely respected, he was chosen as delegate to the Continental Congress, and then as general of the Continental Army. In merely six years, and against all odds, he defeated the world’s dominant imperial power and brought America her independence. Our second president, John Adams, was also a delegate to the Continental Congress. He was willing to sacrifice his family life to serve his country in Philadelphia, where he was on the drafting committee of the Declaration of Independence, and in Europe, where he lobbied the...

Here is complete video of the 60 Minutes interview segment with President-elect Barack Obama on his plans as he prepares to assume the Presidency of the United States. . . . (Watch Video)

When liberals, especially card-carrying members of that oxymoronicus maximus called the “liberal intelligentsia,” couldn’t contain their sarcastic guffaws while mocking Sarah Palin as “inexperienced,” I thought, “What the hell, why take those hypocritical Goliaths seriously when they will lie any lie, deny any principle, betray any friend, or sell out any (formerly beloved) grandmother if it means advancing the dogmas of the Liberal Church.” But when some conservatives began criticizing Governor Palin as an unqualified vice-presidential candidate for lacking attributes observed only in “experienced” public servants, I realized that the current spell of atmospheric warming is responsible for a lot...

(KSL News) Former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney says he probably won't make another run for the nation's highest office. According to Politico.com, Romney said, "I think it's quite unlikely that I would run for office again. …I gave this my best effort. My experience in politics is that the window opens rarely. It opened for me. I stepped through it, got on the stage and did my darnedest to win the nomination. John McCain was successful and I was not." The Web site says Romney told Dennis Roddy of the Pittsburg-Post Gazette that he'd prefer to contribute outside electoral...

One would expect that I would be devastated at Barack Obama's election — as devastated as liberals were at the reelection of George W. Bush in 2004. I am not — yet. Here are some reasons why: 1. Republicans won the election of 2004, an election that was more important to the future of America and the world than was this election. Had Sen. John Kerry won in 2004, America would have left Iraq in defeat and Islamists would have won their greatest victory ever. Millions of young Muslims would likely have seen in Islamic jihadism humanity's future and signed...

So with Obama taking office in 2009, don your Nostradamus cloak and post your prediction for quotes from Obama over the next four years. Here are mine: "... no, I said I would TRY to give voters a ... uh ... middle class tax cut ... uh ... but this is all semantics. What we promised was to .... uh ... provide relief and our ... uh ... proposals to improve the environment, provide universal health care, uh, reduce greenhouse gases will ..." " ... well uh look we all uh know about Joe, but I want to ensure the...

Earlier this year, 12,000 people in San Francisco signed a petition in support of a proposition on a local ballot to rename an Oceanside sewage plant after George W. Bush... This is the price Mr. Bush is paying for trying to work with both Democrats and Republicans. During his 2004 victory speech, the president reached out to voters who supported his opponent, Kerry, and said, "Today, I want to speak to every person who voted for my opponent. To make this nation stronger and better, I will need your support, and I will work to earn it. I will do...

From the avenue in Atlanta where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was born to a giant lakefront rally in Chicago, Americans black and white celebrated Barack Obama's election with tears, the honking of horns, screams of joy, arms lifted skyward - and memories of civil rights struggles past. Tens of thousands of people who had crowded into Grant Park in Chicago to await Obama's arrival erupted in cheers and jubilantly waved American flags as the TV news announced the llinois senator had been elected the first black president. The Rev. Jesse Jackson, who had made two White House bids...

Why I Will Vote for John McCain by Deal W. Hudson 11/03/08 My support this election for John McCain has been no secret, as regular readers know. But while I've offered my reasons here and there, I've never put them all together in a single piece. I try to do that now. Some of my case for McCain comes from agreeing with positions he holds, and some of it comes in reaction to what I fear Barack Obama might do if elected. All of it is important in explaining why I will vote for John McCain on Tuesday. Obama promises,...

There are a number of solidly blue large states that will drive up the tally of Obama's popular vote support. California, New York, and Illinois are examples of states that should easily go to Obama by huge margins. But winning one state by a big margin in an all or nothing state doesn't mean any more in the Presidential contest than winning that state by one single vote. We are a nation that decides Presidents by an electoral college system that is based on building a coalition of states that results in at least 270 electoral college votes. Any combination...

In two previous postings, here and here, I have discussed six reasons why Sen. John McCain should emerge victorious in tomorrow's race for the White House. To recap, they are media bias, oversampling of Democrats by most polling organizations, Obama campaign smugness, his long list of criminal and radical associates, the center-right majority of America's voters and the uncounted millions of PUMAs hiding under cover, coiled like a spring to attack their prey. There are more. McCain has cut deeply into Obama's once seemingly insurmountable lead on the question of which candidate is better able to turn the economy around:...

In another indication of what's in store for America if he succeeds in his attempt to steal the election just as he stole the Democratic nomination, Barack H. Obama showed his contempt for freedom of the press by removing reporters from three newspapers from his campaign plane. Coincidentally, all three newspapers this week announced their endorsement of John McCain for President. We don't at this moment know if the plane was in the air when the reporters were dismissed. Barack Obama, like his cousin Raila Odinga, dictator of Kenya, read the rest here

'My Heart and My Values Didn't Change' In Bush, Loyalists See a Good and Steadfast Man Who Has Gotten a Bad Rap By Dan Eggen Washington Post Staff Writer Sunday, November 2, 2008; A03 On a cold, gray morning a week before Election Day, President Bush briefly emerged from the White House for an unannounced visit to the headquarters of the Republican National Committee in Southeast Washington. Outside the RNC building, Bush continued to face record-low approval ratings and a presidential campaign focused on his failings. But inside an overflowing conference room, he was greeted with roaring applause as he...

McCain Cuts Obama's Lead Again Saturday, November 1, 2008 8:24 AM WASHINGTON – Democrat Barack Obama's lead over Republican rival John McCain dipped slightly to 5 points with three days left in the race for the White House, according to a Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll released on Saturday. Obama leads McCain by 49 percent to 44 percent among likely voters in the three-day national tracking poll, down from a 7-point advantage on Friday. The telephone poll has a margin of error of 2.9 percentage points. McCain, who made solid gains in Friday's single day of polling, sliced Obama's lead among independents from...

McCain Shredding Obama's Lead Friday, October 31, 2008 8:04 AM By: Dick Morris & Eileen McGann Iraq isn't the only place where the surge seems to be working. John McCain's gains over the last five days are remaking the political landscape as Election Day approaches. The double-digit leads Barack Obama held last week have evaporated, as all three of the top tracking polls (the most current and reliable measurements out there) show McCain hot on Obama's heels. Zogby had Obama ahead by 12 points last week — now it's down to 4. His margin in the Rasmussen poll has dropped...

Subject: New Presidential Candidate... It's someone we know! Hi, There's an effort to elect an unknown random person as President... and it's someone we know! Watch this online video about the surprising new nominee: http://www.tsgnet.com/pres.php?id=380002&altf=Ezob&altl=Dispnf Jot back a note to let me know what you think!

In the past year I have hazarded a number of political predictions, some of which (like the prediction that in a McCain-Obama matchup the Iraq war would play for the Republicans) panned out, and some of which (like the prediction that Hillary Clinton would easily win the Democratic nomination) didn’t. Now I would like to enter these treacherous waters again and venture another prediction: within a year of the day he leaves office, and no matter who succeeds him, George W. Bush will be a popular public figure, regarded with affection and a little nostalgia even by those who voted...

Quoted from Article II, Section 1: "The Congress may determine the time of choosing the electors, and the day on which they shall give their votes; which day shall be the same throughout the United States. " Ok... I know, some parts of the process have been amended... but, I don't see anywhere that the requirement that we ALL vote on the same day has been over-ruled. How is this being so widely allowed now? Personally... I don't think it's a good thing to have people voting 2 months early.. before any debates.

OFF TO THE RACES Are We Due For Another Momentum Shift? McCain Has Turned The Campaign Narrative Around, But There's Plenty Of Time For It To Change Again Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2008 by Charlie Cook It has been almost two weeks since the conclusion of the Republican National Convention. It's now clear that while Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois got a bounce out of the Democratic gathering in Denver, Sen. John McCain of Arizona -- or maybe I should say his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin -- got a bigger one out of the GOP event in St. Paul,...

Battleground Update: The Red States Get Redder, The Blue States Get Purpler Andrew Romano One week ago today, I launched Stumper's general-election coverage with an in-depth look at where the "Race for the White House" stood in the wake of the Democratic and Republican nominating conventions. While the national polls had swung about 9 points in John McCain's direction since the Democrats left Denver, the Real Clear Politics electoral map still tilted every so slightly toward Barack Obama, 273 to 265. But the Illinois senator's slim lead was hardly set in stone--as I noted at the time. "No battleground state...

What if the impossible happens and Obama loses the election? Among Democrats, expect a rash of rage, depression, angst and finger-pointing at the media. It’s three a.m. on Oct. 31 and a frantic broker awakens you. He’s advising making substantial investments that day in the stocks of Lilly, Pfizer and other manufacturers of anti-depressants, as well as high-end booze, say Grey Goose vodka and Hillary Clinton’s whiskey of choice, Chivas Regal. The calculations buzzing through your head are not insignificant. Barack Obama holds a two-point lead over John McCain in the Gallup poll for the Nov. 4 presidential election, and...

The Big 'What If' The hopes of black America ride on his shoulders. But the outcome's way up in the air. By Randall Kennedy Sunday, September 14, 2008; Page B01 I am a black man born in 1954, the year of Brown v. Board of Education. Fleeing the abuses of Jim Crow, my parents moved from South Carolina to Washington, D.C., later that decade. Tales of racial oppression and racial resistance were staples of conversation in our household. My father often spoke of watching Thurgood Marshall argue the case ( Rice v. Elmore) that invalidated the rule permitting only whites...

Obama's woes have nothing to do with 'lipstick' Howard Fineman on the candidate's pride, strategy and stump speak ANALYSIS By Howard Fineman WASHINGTON - No, Barack Obama was not making fun of Sarah Palin when he talked about some Republican putting “lipstick on a pig.” He was trying to be colloquial, and John McCain’s campaign knew as much – even as it was going theatrically ballistic. That’s not to say that Obama hasn’t made mistakes. In fact, he’s made – and is making – a lot.

September 10, 2008 Op-Ed Columnist From the Gut By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN If John McCain can win this election race with a 50-pound ball called “George W. Bush” wrapped around one ankle and a 50-pound ball called “The U.S. Economy” wrapped around the other, then he deserves to represent America in the next Olympics in any race he wants — swimming, cycling or track — I don’t care how old he is. He would be the Michael Phelps of politics. I confess, I watch politics from afar, but here’s what I’ve been feeling for a while: Whoever slipped that Valium...

Senator John S. McCain LIVE this morning, Sept. 9th, with Chris Plante on "The Chris Plante Radio Show", 630 WMAL, Washington, D.C. LISTEN LIVE: http://www.630wmal.com/Article.asp?id=453473 http://radiotime.com/program/p_61017/Chris_Plante.aspx CALL CHRIS AT: 888 630 9625 (888 630 WMAL) or #630 on your AT&T Wireless cell phone for a free call.

Press Release - For Immediate Release: - 09/04/08 SERVICE OF LAWSUIT CHALLENGING SENATOR OBAMA’S RIGHT TO BE A CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT BECAUSE HE DOES NOT MEET THE QUALIFICATIONS HAS BEEN COMPLETED Contact information at the end of this press release. Documents filed with the court and a copy of this press release can be downloaded at the end of this press release. (Lafayette Hill, Pennsylvania – 09/04/08) - Philip J. Berg, Esquire, the Attorney who filed suit against Barack H. Obama challenging Senator Obama’s eligibility to serve as President of the United States, has received confirmation from his Process Service...

One of the dirty little secrets of the abortion business is that some babies survive efforts to kill them in utero and are born alive. In the past these abortion survivors have been callously thrown into trash cans, where they died of suffocation or dehydration. Nancy Creger, a former nurse from Atlanta and a longtime friend of PRI’s, was the first to uncover the practice in the early eighties. She discovered that 14 infants had been born alive and subsequently “allowed” to die in Atlanta’s notorious “abortion-only” Midtown Hospital in the early 1980’s. Creger was horrified by the information, writing...

I am sitting here livid and invigorated like I have never been in my 16 years of paying attention to politics. I can't but sit here and think that the MSM and the DNC just fell right into the biggest political storm since the Reagan Revolution hit the scene. Not saying Palin is another Reagan, but that her very candidacy, her very presence on the ticket has sent tidal waves through out the political world that those on the right will be motivated from for years to come. It wasn't but a mere month ago that a certain malaise had...

The current narrative of the Bush Presidency is that it is a failure (believed by 107 of 109 historians surveyed) and that George W. Bush is the worst President in history (believed by 61% of those surveyed historians). Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said, "The president already has the mark of the American people -- he's the worst president we ever had." That's one narrative. I have another.

PHILADELPHIA - A Lafayette Hill attorney filed a lawsuit in federal court Thursday challenging Sen. Barack Obama's claim to United States citizenship. The action seeks to remove the Democratic candidate from the November ballot. To be eligible to serve as U.S. president, a person must be born in this country. According to Obama's birth certificate, which his campaign posted on its Internet site in June to quell rumors that he is foreign born, the Illinois senator was born in Hawaii on Aug. 6, 1961. On Thursday, Philip Berg filed a temporary restraining order in federal court to bar Obama from...

A prominent Philadelphia attorney and Hillary Clinton supporter filed suit this afternoon in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania against Illinois Sen. Barack Obama and the Democratic National Committee. The action seeks an injunction preventing the senator from continuing his candidacy and a court order enjoining the DNC from nominating him next week, all on grounds that Sen. Obama is constitutionally ineligible to run for and hold the office of President of the United States. Phillip Berg, the filing attorney, is a former gubernatorial and senatorial candidate, former chair of the Democratic Party in Montgomery (PA)...

McCain Forgetting the First Rule of Fight Club By Salena Zito An old political adage says, "He who sets the debate wins the election." If the presidential election was held tomorrow, it would be hello President Barack Obama because, so far, John McCain is handing him a victory. McCain is better than the campaign he has run so far. Most people admit that McCain is an inspirational figure - even Obama has admitted that - so why isn't McCain telling voters where he wants to lead them? Instead, his campaign is all about his opponent. "He himself is reinforcing that...

Some of you may have been surprised that even after visiting Iraq Obama still talks about our accomplishments there in somewhat disparaging terms. As senator McCain aptly put it: “Senator Obama said that the strategy of the surge would not succeed. He said it was doomed to fail. He said there would be an increase in sectarian violence. He still, to this day, has said that the surge is not succeeding.” http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/mccain-keeps-up-iraq-attack-on-obama/ A very critical linchpin in Obama’s political platform has been his unequivocal opposition to the invasion of Iraq -- pejoratively referred to by the left as “Bush ’s...

As a faithful Catholic, if you are contemplating a vote for Sen. Obama, you are morally bound to consider whether or not Sen. McCain advocates intrinsic moral evils — that is, life-destroying violations of the inherent dignity of the human person — on par with Obama's support for legalized abortion. Unless you can demonstrate at least a moral equivalence between the policies of the two candidates with regard to such intrinsic evils, then you cannot, with a clear conscience, vote for the pro-abortion candidate. Do not bicker about whose policies on balance are better for the economy or will help...

CONFER: Hillary Clinton used New Yorkers If you watched any of the Tim Russert tributes of the past few weeks, no doubt you saw a montage of his back-and-forths with politicians regarding his favorite question: “will you run for president?” One of these classic moments involved Hillary Clinton back in 2002. When asked that question she became incredibly uncomfortable, even while knowing it would be asked. Her mannerisms and body language told us an answer that was quite different from her repeated “no.” Despite her statements to the contrary, both before and after that interview, people of any political mettle...

There's a passage from a 2005 essay by Umberto Eco that I've frequently quoted, as it neatly defines several elements of the mindset of our age in just a few carefully thought out sentences: G K Chesterton is often credited with observing: "When a man ceases to believe in God, he doesn't believe in nothing. He believes in anything." Whoever said it - he was right. We are supposed to live in a [skeptical] age. In fact, we live in an age of outrageous credulity. Indeed. While it's a cliche that ours is a cynical era, it really is just...

Forward - By Nathan Guttman, Thu. Jun 26, 2008 Washington - Jewish Democrats are ratcheting up criticism against Republican candidate John McCain by attempting to focus attention on a 2005 vote in which McCain opposed toughening restrictions on business ties with Iran. In a June 26 press conference on Capitol Hill, organized by the National Jewish Democratic Council, Democratic lawmakers praised the Democratic nominee, Senator Barack Obama, and attacked the presumptive Republican nominee for what they characterized as his refusal to close loopholes that allow firms like Halliburton to continue doing business with the regime in Tehran. “Obama has already...

Is guilt by association fair? Many blogs and websites, including APRPEH have made an argument that Barry Obama's true feelings towards Jews and Israel can be measured by his associations. Undeniable facts about Obama, many of them posed as questions left unanswered or not answered in a credible or believeable fashion have formed the core of the No-Bama effort. These questions remain legitimate campaign issues and concerns. Obama DID indeed maintain a 20+ year relationship as a member of TUCC in the Jeremiah Wright flock, listening to what is undeniably anti-US and antiJew rhetoric only distancing himself when his crusade...

Quinnipiac analyst: "It’s clear that if Sen. Obama loses this November, Democrats will have to conclude that yes, in fact, their defeats are linked to their brand of politics, not their salesman’s communication skills." Of course, that's not true. If Barry loses, it's because of racism.

T. Boone Pickens has the wind up, so to speak, about oil. When the man who has been a savant of the oil patch for decades starts putting his own considerable fortune into wind farms, it is time to sit up and smell the alternative energy. It is also time to stop worrying about the spiritual advisors of the presidential candidates and to start worrying about their energy advisors. With oil flirting with forward prices of $140 a barrel, the whole world is in trouble and the United States somewhat more so. More so because, out of the world's oil...

From the beginning I've been afraid that Sen McCain is also too much of a gentleman to adopt and sustain an approach [direct, critical, unapologetic] of that kind. But, this speech seems to indicated that...he has started in that direction.

I do not think the President of the United States should be a liar, and believe that the overwhelming majority of U.S. citizens agree with me. For security reasons, the whole truth cannot always be revealed, but it is quite obvious that lies are seldom made to protect our nation. Almost invariably, the political fortunes of the prevaricator are at stake. During my campaign for the White House in 1976, veracity was a very important issue, because of the known falsehoods having been told during the Vietnam War and the revelations of the Frank Church senatorial investigation that our government...

Business, meaning research by historians and nourishment for history hobbyists, is brisk at the Harry S. Truman Library on this 60th anniversary of the Berlin Airlift, the desegregation of the armed services, recognition of the state of Israel and the improbable election of the president responsible for many momentous policies. The library is a place, and now is a time, to ponder the transformation Truman wrought in the presidency and the Constitution, and why that transformation should be debated before the next president is selected. With a mere 15 million pages of documents, this library is minuscule: The Clinton Library...

Is it time to move on from Jeremiah Wright since Barry has now fully repudiated his racist black preacher? Rev. Wright is playing either the good sacrificial lamb or is using the limelight to advance his putrid, racist, anti-American, anti-west, antiJew views from a national forum and leaving his student Barry H.O. in the dust for insulting him and dissing not only him (Wright) but the black church and all blacks as well. Wright transcript.

A Nightmare of their Own Making (Smoked-Filled Rooms II) April 24, 2008-- How will black voters react if Obama retains the lead in delegates, popular votes, states won, and money raised, but the superdelegates give Clinton the nomination? By Michael C. Dawson They're working. The rules are working as designed (see my earlier piece, No Time for Smoke-Filled Rooms), to guarantee that in a deeply divided, complicated and dangerous primary season the party elders will have the last say in choosing the Democratic Party's nominee for president. But the people who designed, and seem so eager to play by, these...

Obama, speaking to a group of supporters in San Francisco, CA. , recently said: "You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment...

"I am confident that Barack Obama is more sympathetic to the position of ending the occupation than either of the other candidates," said Hussein Ibish, a senior fellow for the American Task Force on Palestine, referring to the Israeli presence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip that began after the 1967 war. More than his rivals for the White House, Ibish said, Obama sees a "moral imperative" in resolving the conflict and is most likely to apply pressure to both sides to make concessions.

I've often wondered what newly elected Presidents think about on their first day at work. You know, will I make friends easily? Where are the restrooms? Will the bigger kids pick on me? What if I don't remember everyone's names? Who picks me up after work? What if I lose my pencils? My sense is that it's a lot like the first day in school except the stakes are bigger and your hopes get dashed a lot quicker. Then there's the annoyance of all those guys around you with things in their ears talking into their wrists and whispering, "New...

MIAMI -- A donor to the Democratic Party asked for a rebate out of frustration over the party's Florida delegate dilemma -- and he got it. Federal records show that Paul Cejas has given six-figure sums to the Democratic National Committee for years, NBC 6's Nick Bogert reported. Cejas asked for his last donation back. He said he was angry with the party, particularly party Chair Howard Dean, over the failure to resolve Florida's delegate dilemma. "Frankly, he's dropped the ball, and I told him, 'You're going to go down in history as the worst chairman of the Democratic Party...

I'm indebted to Hillary Clinton for the revelation that my global wanderings when my dad was president qualify me to run for the presidency myself. Mrs. Clinton has been insisting that her global junkets as first lady, and her meetings with foreign leaders, qualify her to be president of these United States. I never thought of it that way, but if she is correct then I am eminently qualified to follow my father's footsteps and take up residence at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., not merely as a member of the president's family, but as president in my own right. Hillary, who...