Free Republic

Oregon Secretary of State Kate Brown (D) will become the first openly bisexual governor in U.S. history when Gov. John Kitzhaber (D) resigns Wednesday

By my count, twelve United States senators are considering a run for president in 2008: six Democrats (Evan Bayh, Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Christopher Dodd, Russ Feingold, and John Kerry) and six Republicans (George Allen, Sam Brownback, Bill Frist, Chuck Hagel, John McCain, and Rick Santorum). For Biden, Kerry, and McCain it would be their second presidential campaign....

Warren Buffett sits on the edge of a soft brown sofa, closely watching as Sen. Barack Obama navigates the well-appointed living room. He moves his square glasses closer to his face, unfolds his arms and springs to his feet when the time comes to welcome his guest to Nebraska. "There he is," Buffett says with a wide grin, pulling Obama toward him with a hearty handshake. "You're the hottest ticket in town today." The sage of money and finance, America's second-richest man seldom becomes invested in politicians. But he has made an exception for the junior Democratic senator from Illinois,...

For the past several months, fate has conspired to keep me away from the computer. I haven't posted nearly as much on FR as I used to. With the holidays, though, I've had an opportunity to catch up a bit. What I found on my return is a bit disconcerting. While there's always been an element here that refuses to reason and does little more than insult Democrats and RINOs, it seems that this mentality has taken over a large portion of our membership. I've encountered more shrill, radical nonsense in the past couple of days than I had in...

CHICAGO -- Chicago's media gossip columnists are abuzz with news about Illinois' new political sensation, U.S. Senator-elect Barack Obama. Friday night, Obama will be featured on "Late Show" with David Letterman. CBS released a portion of tonight's transcript, and the Chicago Tribune's Maureen Ryan teased readers this morning by publishing part of the interview which will air Friday night at 10:30 PM CST: Letterman: " . . . Now was there a guy running for Senate, maybe an incumbent, maybe not, I think a Republican, and he had a problem because he and his wife would go to strip clubs...

Towards the end though - this little nugget comes popping out at you: Mr Obama still practises law, and also does some teaching at the University of Chicago Law School which he says keeps him sharp when it comes to issues like abortion, gay rights and affirmative action. This is a pretty startling statement when you look at its intended meaning - and Obama's actual record. By "staying sharp" Obama has voted: 1. To allow newborn infants to die from neglect in a Suburban Chicago Hospital's soiled utility room. 2. To legally protect the practice of delvering a near term...

On the final Sunday of the senate race, Alan Keyes says he will shock the nation Tuesday with the help of God. Even if he loses, he says he is staying right here in Illinois to rescue republican voters from their "corrupt" party leaders. On the upcoming election, Keyes pleaded with Illinois voters to reject the quote `wicked evil corrupt ways' of Barack Obama, who is taking it all in stride on the way to what figures to be a landslide victory. Republican Alan Keyes, more preacher than politician today, spoke at a south side church. He pleaded with parishioners...

A wild U.S. Senate debate spilled into living rooms Thursday night as Republican Alan Keyes and Democrat Barack Obama rocked each other with blistering attacks on religious faith, crime, gun control, abortion and sex education.In a bid to jolt his long-shot candidacy, Keyes excoriated Obama for coddling gang members, proposing kindergartners learn about sex and using his faith disingenuously to get votes.The choice of topics meant Obama, who holds a 40-percentage-point lead in polls, often found himself on the defensive during the hour-long debate on WLS-TV, Channel 7. But Obama did rip Keyes for being a too-preachy name-caller who opposes...

NAPERVILLE, Ill. - In a U.S. Senate race that looks increasingly like a grand philosophical debate about religion and government, Democrat Barack Obama stood before a packed church Tuesday and argued the case for keeping the two separate. As Exhibit A, he held up his Republican opponent: "It's not clear to me that I want Alan Keyes telling me what it means to be a Christian," Obama said. Obama, currently a state senator representing a Chicago district, and Keyes, a conservative activist recruited from Maryland by the Illinois GOP, are vying for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Sen....

Book 'reveals' Mrs Clinton as an abusive adulteress This is according to a controversial new book by Christopher Anderson, whose American Evita: Hillary Clinton's Path To Power paints a disturbing portrait of a ruthless politician he describes as "the most famous, most complex, most loved/hated/admired/ reviled wo man - perhaps person - in America". Drawing on the testimony of various "new" insider sources as well as published accounts, Anderson argues that there have been inevitable comparisons between Hillary and Argentina's legendary Eva Peron. "Sex, power, money, lies, scandal, tragedy and betrayal were the things that defined the lives of both...

He just announced this on Hardball; he said that Kerry told him this personally on the phone while they were discussing Reagan's appearance at the Democratic Convention that his first act in office if he's elected will be to sign an executive order to reverse Bush's stem cell policy.

TAMPA - The Hillsborough County teacher accused of having sex with a 14-year-old student was once the sweetheart of local Backstreet Boy Nick Carter, friends of hers told ABC Action News, and a former lesbian girlfriend of hers is now in the hospital because of the stress surrounding the case.

It's been said that every society has two aristocracies. The members of the aristocracy of mind produce ideas, and pass along knowledge. The members of the aristocracy of money produce products and manage organizations. In our society these two groups happen to be engaged in a bitter conflict about everything from S.U.V.'s to presidents. You can't understand the current bitter political polarization without appreciating how it is inflamed or even driven by the civil war within the educated class. The percentage of voters with college degrees has doubled in the past 30 years. As the educated class has grown, it...