Free Republic

In order that we might all raise the level of discourse and expand our language abilities, here is the daily post of “Word for the Day”. roorback or roorbach [roo r-bak] Word Origin U.S. noun 1. a false and more or less damaging report circulated for political effect, usually about a candidate seeking an office. Origin of roorback: 1844, Americanism; after a fictitious Baron von Roorback, in whose travelogue occurred an account of an incident damaging to the character of James K. Polk British: /ˈrʊəˌbæk/ noun 1. (US) a false or distorted report or account, used to obtain political advantage...

Several critics, most of them conservatives, have complained that Game Change, the new HBO movie made from the best-selling 2008 presidential campaign book, portrays Sarah Palin as profoundly stupid. And it does. Those critics have also complained that the picture sometimes portrays John McCain and his top advisers as deeply craven. It does that, too. And then there's the fact that Game Change, the movie, focuses on a negative portrayal of Palin while ignoring the dramatic and divisive primary battle between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton that made up the biggest part of the book. So there's a lot of...

The just-concluded Texas legislative session has armed Gov. Rick Perry with a host of red-meat issues that could entice conservative Republican voters if he jumps into the wide-open presidential primary race. But analysts say some of those issues could carry consequences in reaching broader constituencies in the general election match-up against President Barack Obama. Texas' longest-serving governor burnished his conservative profile with legislative victories that included a no-tax budget with $15 billion in cuts, property rights protections, voter ID legislation and a bill requiring sonograms before abortions. Two other Perry-backed issues - an immigration measure to ban so-called sanctuary cities...

President Obama and his friends in the media want the public to think Americans serving in uniform are just fine and dandy with homosexual conduct in the military. This view is being spread through a series of selective leaks from the Pentagon's Comprehensive Review Working Group, which is putting the finishing touches on a report regarding the future of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. Mr. Obama has promised the fringe special-interest activists who helped him win the 2008 election that he will deliver what for them is the symbolic victory of opening barracks to lesbians, gays, bisexuals and the...