Free Republic

Janeane Garofalo says that the Tea Parties were racist! What were the May Marches last year when every Mexican marched last year? Taxes do not know color. This thing is deranged.

President Obama talking tough to a group of voters in Miami before the election, yet President Obama must have forgotten this speech. Is there any evidence of a tough policy towards Cuba? Any?

Meghan McCain: We Need More Gay Republicans! By David Knowles Apr 13th 2009 10:00AM Here's a question: Can Meghan McCain, the blog-a-lot daughter of Senator John McCain, help bring the Republican Party into the twenty-first century? Well, with her column at The Daily Beast, and during her many television interviews, she sure is giving it a go. Today's screed, for instance, attempts to light a fire under the Republican posterior on the matter of including gay rights in the party platform: If the Republican Party has any hope of gaining substantial support from a wider, younger base, we need to...

Meghan McCain, blogger and daughter of Senator John McCain, has scored a book deal. Ms. McCain’s book will tackle “what it means to be a progressive Republican in the party today,” according to a release from Hyperion, the Disney-owned publishing group that signed the 24-year old. The book, scheduled to be released in spring 2010, will use “an appealing and light-hearted voice” to delve into how the Republican Party can improve its use of technology and attract younger voters, topics Ms. McCain has already examined in her blog on The Daily Beast.

(CNN) — She's become decidedly more outspoken since her father lost his bid for the presidency last November, but there's one question Meghan McCain refuses to answer: whether she sees herself supporting Sarah Palin should the Alaska governor run for president. In an interview on CNN's "No Bias, No Bull" Wednesday night, the daughter of Arizona Sen. John McCain said she couldn't "possibly make a prediction about 2012 right now."

Obama wins praise from many Muslims But some remain skeptical, say they're awaiting concrete action CAIRO - The Middle East is finding, to its amazement, that it may actually like America's new leader. Barack Obama has impressed many Arabs and Muslims with promises to open a new page after years of distrust during his first presidential venture to the Islamic world this week. It's a startling change for a region where they chucked shoes at his predecessor George W. Bush and still want to burn Bush in effigy even after he's out of office. But Obama's charm has hiked expectations...

Reporting from Washington -- Vice President Joe Biden issued a high-level admonishment to Israel's new government Tuesday that it would be "ill advised" to launch a military strike against Iran. Biden said in a CNN interview that he does not believe newly installed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would take such a step. Even so, his comment underscored a gap between the conservative new Israeli government and the Obama White House on a series of questions, including the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and Iran. While the Obama administration has made a series of recent overtures to Tehran, the Israelis have grown...

Long known for their biting social commentary, a Turkish TV reporter donned blackface during a newscast yesterday while doing a report about President Barack Obama

Have things gotten so bad in this administration that Joe Biden has to unwind gaffes? Janet Napolitano and Hillary Clinton announced that the US no longer would use “war on terror” to describe the fight against al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and other affiliated terrorist groups. Napolitano went so far as to eschew “terrorism” altogether in favor of “man-caused disasters”. CNN tried getting VP Biden to explain this, and while not accusing CNN of making it up, clearly he couldn’t believe anyone would be this stupid:

The September 11 terror attacks were a watershed event in the life of a Canadian journalist named Beverly Giesebrecht.

The U.N. Security Council met in emergency session on Sunday afternoon to discuss concerns over North Korea's launch of a long-range rocket. But the closed-door consultations did not produce a clear and unified response. Diplomats say the council was unified in its deep concern over the launch, but that it could not immediately agree what form its response should take. The United States and Japan say they want a clear message in the form of a Security Council resolution condemning the launch. U.S. Ambassador, Susan Rice said "It is our view that this action merits a clear and strong response...

I doubt there's ever been anyone dumber on TV than this misguided liberal schmuck/Allan Colmes. He said it today on Fox News at around 12:30 PM ET, so there's no link available (yet?).

US Vice President Joe Biden said that the United States would no longer "dictate unilaterally" to Latin America, and that it had entered a new era in the historically troubled relationship. "The time of the United States dictating unilaterally, the time where we only talk and don't listen is over," Biden said in Santiago after holding discussions with a clutch of Latin American leaders at a conference at a Chilean beach resort. Biden's five-day visit to meet leaders in the region, including a second stop in Costa Rica, aimed to pave the way for President Barack Obama, who is set...

I have been a financial adviser for more than 25 years. I didn't vote for President-elect Barack Obama, but I wish to go on record as saying that this man will be our greatest president. He will accomplish the improbable. Mr. Obama will unite the disenchanted with the optimists. He will be a servant to all the people and teach us the basic reasons why this is the greatest country in the world. Mr. Obama won't be described as left, right or center. He will be a president who holds his morals in honor of his love of family to...

What's the one thing Las Vegas needs more of? Light, according to Carlos Santana, who figures he's just the guy to bring it during a Sin City residency he'll begin May 27 at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. Santana, the man and the band, will play about three shows a week through 2010 at the Hard Rock's expanded and refurbished concert theater, the Joint, which another classic rocker, Paul McCartney, will inaugurate April 19. "Santana is going to bring a lot of joy, light, peace and happiness into a place that is basically based on illusion," the multiple Grammy-winning...

You know you're in trouble when Old Europe chastises you for being too socialist. But, hey, nobody's perfect — except maybe Michelle Obama, who landed in London with a huge Obama entourage, wearing a daffodil yellow dress and looking like a confident ray of U.S.A. sunshine. As President Obama renegotiates the terms of American leadership this week in Europe, those of us left at home struggle to get over our affluenza. That condition, the bane of the middle class, is defined in a book of the same name as "a painful, contagious, socially transmitted condition of overload, debt, anxiety and...

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton confirmed this week that the war is over. Namely, the death of the term "global war on terrorism." Like Sherlock Holmes' deduction of what didn't happen from the dog that didn't bark in "The Hound of the Baskervilles," observers have noted that former President George W. Bush's unifying rallying cry after the Sept. 11 attack was anathema in the "I'm OK, you're OK" world of the Obama administration. After all, the term is disliked overseas and wars are bad. Until now, however, the administration was reluctant to mention it. Mrs. Clinton, asked Monday about...

More Roosevelt… Less Jimmy Carter… that’s what this brand needs! Folks, there’s been a lot of scrutiny of President Obama in these first 100 days. It goes with the territory. The attention is brutal no matter who’s in the Oval Office and it always will be. Exposure is something most marketers covet . . .but over-exposure especially of the wrong features can be deadly for a personal brand. That is why, Barack Obama –whom I’ve called a first-rate poli-marketer (see the past few weeks FOX Forum posts here)– had better stop behaving like Jimmy Carter and start emulating Roosevelt. In...

Meghan McCain appeared on Larry King Monday night. This bright young lady now mediates. Meghan is news when she advocates reconciliation between Republicans and Democrats, which is what she believes should happen. Papa's probably proud. The great Senator from Arizona, John McCain, declares himself a maverick. His daughter reveals she is as well. If Meghan agrees with most of his political notions, but disregards others, that sounds like other folks her age, especially from families who support individuality in children. Meghan has taken center stage by appearing on a number of talk shows to give her point of view. Perhaps...

Obama and the case of the missing 'thesis' By Jim Popkin, NBC News Senior Investigative ProducerJuly 24, 2008 excerpt: The hunt for Obama’s senior “thesis” began with a throwaway line in a newspaper article last October. The New York Times story, on Obama’s early New York years, mentioned in passing that the presidential contender had majored in political science at Columbia and had spent his time “writing his thesis on Soviet nuclear disarmament.” Journalists began hounding Columbia University for copies of the musty document. Conservative bloggers began wondering if the young Obama had written a no-nukes screed that he might...

The wackjob Moonbats continue to demonize their favorite target: former VP Dick Cheney. Earlier this month, Keith Olbermann made the same claim citing Sy Hersh. Surprisingly, Cheney's so called "assassins" are merely Joint Special Operations Command, a unit which continues to operate under Obama. And yes, they assassinate terrorists. Which is good because under Team "O", living terrorists are now being treated better than most American citizens.

United Church of Christ committee recommends condom distribution at churches Washington D.C., Mar 26, 2009 / 09:06 pm (CNA).- The HIV and AIDS Network of the United Church of Christ (UCC) is advocating that condoms should be distributed at places of worship and faith-based educational settings. The network called for condom distribution in its March 19 statement issued at a presentation to the UCC Wider Church Ministries Board, the Institute on Religion and Democracy reports. UCC executive Michael Shuenemeyer argued: “The practice of safer sex is a matter of life and death. People of faith make condoms available because we...

Army specialist Terry Holdbrooks had been a guard at Guantánamo for about six months the night he had his life-altering conversation with detainee 590, a Moroccan also known as "the General." This was early 2004, about halfway through Holdbrooks's stint at Guantánamo with the 463rd Military Police Company. Until then, he'd spent most of his day shifts just doing his duty. He'd escort prisoners to interrogations or walk up and down the cellblock making sure they weren't passing notes. But the midnight shifts were slow. "The only thing you really had to do was mop the center floor," he says....

Dear Republican Leaders: The Republican Party has become the party dedicated to sabotaging the American future. Check out the sermon I just delivered about the Republican Party on CNN when being interviewed by D.L. Hughley -- and/or read on. You Republicans are the arsonists who burned down our national home. You combined the failed ideologies of the Religious Right, so-called free market deregulation and the Neoconservative love of war to light a fire that has consumed America. Now you have the nerve to criticize the "architect" America just hired -- President Obama -- to rebuild from the ashes. You do...

“I am an Obama supporter. I am also pro-life. In fact, without my family’s involvement in the pro-life movement it would not exist as we know it. Evangelicals weren’t politicized until after my late father and evangelical leader Francis Schaeffer, Dr. Koop (Reagan’s soon-to-be Surgeon General) and I stirred them up over the issue of abortion in the mid-1970s. Our Whatever Happened to the Human Race? book, movie series and seminars brought the evangelicals into the pro-life movement. “In 2000, we elected a president who claimed he believed God created the earth and who, as president, put car manufacturers and...

John McCain: If your campaign does not stop equating Sen. Barack Obama with terrorism, questioning his patriotism and portraying Mr. Obama as "not one of us," I accuse you of deliberately feeding the most unhinged elements of our society the red meat of hate, and therefore of potentially instigating violence. At a Sarah Palin rally, someone called out, "Kill him!" At one of your rallies, someone called out, "Terrorist!" Neither was answered or denounced by you or your running mate, as the crowd laughed and cheered. At your campaign event Wednesday in Bethlehem, Pa., the crowd was seething with hatred...

Best-selling author and former Republican Frank Schaeffer lets Rush Limbaugh and his Republican mates have it at HuffPo, in a piece called, "An Open Letter to the Republican Traitors (from a former Republican)": I have to say, love him or hate him, the Republicans have got to appreciate Schaeffer's helpful inclusion of related content. He's like their own personal AOL Dashboard.....

The GOP's identity crisis just got more interesting with the recent media splash of Meghan McCain. Young McCain, who began blogging during her father's presidential campaign, recently made waves at The Daily Beast when she picked a fight with conservative media mavens Ann Coulter and Laura Ingraham. McCain, just 24, is one smart cookie. In a matter of weeks, she has created a brand, presenting herself as a fresh face of her daddy's party and a voice for young conservatives. Strategically speaking, what better way to launch herself than to challenge the reigning diva herself, Miz Coulter? McCain jammed traffic...

Despite the title, I have nothing against Meghan McCain. I am sure she is a very nice person, and I'm sure she will accomplish plenty before her life is complete. Frankly, I am sure that so far she has accomplished more than me. That said, at this point, her main resume point is a very accomplished dad. That's what I was thinking as I watched her exchange pot shots with several prominent conservative thinkers. Whatever her name, there is no reason why she has any more credibility speaking about the direction and future of the Republican party than any obscure...

Full transcript here. Yeah, granted, she’s the RINO to end all RINOs, but come on: She’s totally charming. How can my atheist heart not soar at back-handed digs like this?

It’s my party- And I’ll- Cry if I want to! Defy who I want to! Eat pie--one piece won’t do! You would whine too-If you hadn’t a clue. Daddy was running for President Against this way-cool black guy Now Obama’s a White House resident And I just whimper and sigh! Sarah Palin was Daddy’s running mate, Tho’ I thought she was way too right-wing Her politics are just what I hate Now all that I can do is sing…. It’s my party- And I’ll- Cry if I want to! Defy who I want to! Eat pie--one piece won’t do! You...

King: Does Obama seem like the same guy who ran against your dad? How do you view him? McCain: He's our president and when the election was over and when President Obama won, all negative feelings were gone. I support the president.

Evangelical Left potentates are now rallying to Obama's nomination of pro-abortion rights Governor Kathleen Sebelius as Health and Human Services Secretary. Describing themselves as "top Christian leaders" in their news release, they affirmed Sebelius as part of their ongoing dedication to "finding common ground solutions to reduce the number of abortions in America."

In an interview with The Times, President Obama opened the door to a reconciliation process in which the American military would reach out to elements of the Taliban.

Help me out here folks Could he really be this stupid???? Now Obama has insulted French President Sarkozy! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Oh no! Obama sent a letter to Chirac, saying he looks forward to working with him the next four years. Le Figaro, French newspaper is horrified at the faux pas. Doesn't Obama ever consult his staff before acting? Sarkozy is the President there! It's like Sarko writing to George Bush and saying he looks forward to working with him. Chirac is the FORMER president. Here is a translation of the letter in Le Figaro: Vendredi 20 mars 2009 OBAMA PREFERS CHIRAC...

*snip* Obama told "60 Minutes" interviewer Steve Kroft that criticism of Geithner is natural and that neither he nor Geithner had mentioned the possibility of a resignation. The president, according to CBS, joked that he wouldn't accept the Treasury chief's resignation even if it were tendered, saying he'd respond, "Sorry, buddy, you've still got the job."

After the United Nations diplomat John Solecki, who had forcefully converted to Islam under the doctrine of the Taliban militants, a Canadian journalist - Beverly Giesbrecht, became the latest Taliban target, with the deadline of March 30 being announced by the militants for her release. Even as the 48-hour deadline for kidnapped United Nations official John Solecki ends, the Taliban has released another hostage video, this time of a Canadian journalist, threatening to behead her by March 30. As Beverly desperately calls out for help, she says, "The timeline is very short and my life is going to end. So...

<p>It looks like it's taking people a long time to get the hint that Meghan McCain is rubber, and they are, in fact, glue. The latest media figure to tangle with Meg? Howard Kurtz, Washington Post reporter, and host of CNN's Reliable Sources.</p>

JERUSALEM (Map, News) - An American demonstrator was critically wounded Friday in a clash between protesters and Israeli troops over Israel's West Bank separation barrier. Peace activists with the International Solidarity Movement said Tristan Anderson, of the Oakland, Calif., area, was struck in the head with a tear gas canister fired by Israeli troops. The military and the Tel Aviv hospital where Anderson was taken had no details on how he was hurt. "He's in critical condition, anesthetized and on a ventilator and undergoing imaging tests," said Orly Levi, a spokeswoman at the Tel Hashomer hospital. She described Anderson's condition...

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama is making a big mistake in escalating U.S. troop strength in Afghanistan, where he already has acknowledged he doesn’t believe victory is possible. We should ask: What are we doing there seven years after the 9/11 attacks by the al-Qaida network? Historically, the country has lacked a strong central government and has been governed by locally strong tribal leaders and warlords. Al-Qaida was able to take advantage of this loose structure and turn Afghanistan into the plotting ground for the terrorists who struck the Pentagon and the World Trade Center in New York. But what...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Beverly in East Texas, nice to have you on the EIB Network. Hello. CALLER: East Texas blessings to you, Mr. Limbaugh. RUSH: Thank you very much. CALLER: From a military mother of two, I'm wondering, sir, if I might shift your focus from the war on economy to the war that we are also fighting on another front. Might I do that, sir? RUSH: You mean the war that Joe Biden says we're losing? CALLER: Yes, sir. RUSH: That would be the war in Afghanistan? CALLER: On Saturday our president said we aren't winning which I would...

Here is video of Billionaire Warren Buffet in an interview with CNBC today saying in an interview that the U.S. Economy has "fallen off a cliff." Buffet says he has seen more drastic changes in American consumers than at any time in his lifetime. He believes the fear Americans have has changed their spending habits, and that will not be altered quickly. Buffet said the core of the problem goes back to the belief that housing prices could only go up and never down, a belief he said everyone had - including himself. Buffet said this economic disaster will end,...

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told CNSNews.com on Thursday that she supports an amendment to a Senate bill that would force the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to “take actions to encourage and promote diversity in communication media ownership and to ensure that broadcast station licenses are used in the public interest.” The amendment’s language is viewed by many media experts as a means to regulate conservative talk radio, particularly popular programs such as the Rush Limbaugh Show and the Mark Hannity Show, among many others. House Conference Chairman Mike Pence (R-Ind.), a former radio broadcaster and one of...

Vice President Joe Biden gave a warm and well-received speech to the AFL-CIO Executive Council at the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach, Florida today. “And old joke…you go home with them that brung you to the dance,” the vice president said, according to remarks put out by the White House. “Well, you all brought me to the dance a long time ago. And it's time we start dancing, man. It's time we start dancing.” Biden noted that the National Labor Relations Act “explicitly says this nation's policy is to encourage -- encourage -- collective bargaining, encourage unions.” He said he...

A top U.N. official accused the United States of committing inhuman "atrocities" in Iraq and Afghanistan during a speech Wednesday to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva. "The aggressions against Iraq and Afghanistan and their occupations constitute atrocities that must be condemned and repudiated by all who believe in the rule of law in international relations," said U.N. General Assembly President Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann. • Click here to see the speech. D'Escoto claimed that U.S. actions have directly led to more than a million Iraqi civilian deaths since 2003, a vastly inflated figure that does not correspond with the...

President Barack Obama doesn’t go anywhere without his TelePrompter. The textbook-sized panes of glass holding the president’s prepared remarks follow him wherever he speaks. Resting on top of a tall, narrow pole, they flank his podium during speeches in the White House’s stately parlors. They stood next to him on the floor of a manufacturing plant in Indiana as he pitched his economic stimulus plan. They traveled to the Department of Transportation this week and were in the Capitol Rotunda last month when he paid tribute to Abraham Lincoln in six-minute prepared remarks. Obama’s reliance on the teleprompter is unusual...

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Socialist President Hugo Chavez met with a 21st-century incarnation of one of the world's biggest revolutionary icons Wednesday: actor Benicio del Toro, who stars in the new film chronicling the life of Ernesto "Che" Guevara... "He's nice," the actor told journalists following the encounter at the presidential palace...

Four months after he lost his bid for the White House, no one in the Senate really knows what to make of Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). This week McCain tried to strip most of the earmarks from a pending $410 billion omnibus spending bill. The effort failed. While the former GOP presidential candidate managed to rally 30 of his Republican colleagues behind his amendment, once it was struck down, 27 of them were happy to abandon the stand and accept their millions of dollars in earmarks, now secure in the bill. The moment seemed to answer a question raised immediately...

To all those scared to death about the tumbling stock market, President Obama played financial adviser yesterday, offering the age-old counsel: Buy low and sell high. The president, in a departure from usual form, directly addressed the swoon in the stock market. The benchmark Dow Jones industrial fell nearly 300 points Monday to the lowest level in 12 years - and more than 50 percent off its all-time high in October 2007 - and finished down about 37 more points yesterday.Obama waved off the ups and downs in the market, comparing them to tracking polls that his campaign often ignored...