Free Republic

We always knew that Obama has a glass jaw, that he can’t take a punch. But it’s a little surprising that he’s started staggering around the ring so soon after November, his approval numbers bleeding away, desperately counting the seconds until the bell rings at election time in 2014 to save him from further pummeling. It’s also hilarious. On paper he’s a bruiser. This is a guy who won a knockout reelection bout even though the economy was in the toilet. He hit the GOP with an uppercut over the Fiscal Cliff. He’s got an awestruck media in his corner...

There are those who say that the tea party is fading in influence, but nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, the movement is on the cusp of achieving what once seemed nearly impossible: keeping the Senate Democratic. A year ago, famed political handicapper Charlie Cook gave Republicans a 60 percent to 70 percent likelihood of capturing control of the Senate; now, he tells me the likelihood of it remaining Democratic is 60 percent. The switch in fortunes can be attributed to many causes — a slate of lackluster Republican candidates high among them — but one thing...

SAN ANTONIO — Greeting a crowd of donors with “Hello San Antone,” President Obama revved up Democrats in the traditionally red state by telling them he sees shades of purple in Texas that might ultimately turn blue down the line. “The next four months, you guys won’t see them, because, you know, you’re not considered one of the battleground states, although that’s going to be changing soon In the next four months,” Obama said of negative ads at a fundraising luncheon at a downtown convention center here. “There is going to be more money spent than we’ve ever seen before,...

Cancer says "Totally Free" of Venezuela's Chavez ... (Spoof) Venezuela's Chavez says "totally free" of cancer, again CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez declared himself fully recovered from cancer on Monday, three months before an election in which he is seeking another six-year term. "Free, free, totally free," he told reporters when asked if he was free of the disease that struck a year ago. The 57-year-old socialist leader was first diagnosed with cancer in the pelvic region in mid-2011. He wrongly declared himself cured at the end of that year before having a recurrence of the disease in...

U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts’ swing vote to uphold ‘Obamacare’ under Congress’s taxing powers has drawn praise from his usual critics. One top Democratic senator lauded Roberts’ “judicial independence” in saving President Obama’s signature law, but also argued that the Bush-appointed jurist broke his promise by narrowing the scope of the Commerce Clause. In his opinion, Roberts explained in detail why he believes his view is not inconsistent with precedent, siding with conservative architects of the legal challenge in the argument that Congress may not regulate inaction. “In my view it certainly merited upholding under the Commerce Clause,” said Sen....

WASHINGTON -- A quiet transformation is taking place in the Republican Party, which has begun to embrace openly gay candidates - and among gay Republicans, who now feel more comfortable speaking out in a party that may have accepted them but didn't always show it. While differences still exist, the party is on the cusp of a generational shift in which the longtime foes of gay rights are replaced by younger party leaders who are more accepting. "It's an exponential change from a few years ago," said former Republican Rep. Jim Kolbe. "It's happening, and it's going to continue to...

ATLANTA (AP) -- Herman Cain is still campaigning for president. But by most measures, his White House bid is all but over. His standing in polls is cratering. Supporters are wavering if not fleeing. Fundraising is suffering.And, these days, the former pizza company executive is less a serious candidate than the butt of late-night comedy jokes after a string of accusations of sexually inappropriate behavior and, now, an allegation of a 13-yearlong extramarital affair."His chance at winning the presidency are effectively zero," said Dave Welch, a Republican strategist who worked on both of John McCain's presidential bids.

Much of the mass media seems to be saying, to paraphrase John Lennon and Yoko Ono, “All we are saying is give the Muslim Brotherhood a chance.” There are three arguments supporting this policy that are worth discussing in large part because the Muslim Brotherhood’s advocates don’t have any others. The first, which one hears everywhere, is that the Muslim Brotherhood is full of factions that are moderate and hip young people who want real democracy. If this were true it should be easy to prove. Here are some of the ways to do that: Who are the leaders of...

(Reuters) - Allegations that Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain sexually harassed women in the 1990s have begun to damage his bid for the White House, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found. The poll showed the percentage of Republicans who view Cain favorably dropped 9 percentage points, to 57 percent from 66 percent a week ago.

This is from a national poll before Florida's recent poll which showed Perry plummeting even further: In early September, Perry had a 3-to-1 advantage over any other candidate among those “strongly” backing the tea party, but his support has plummeted from 45 percent to 10 percent in this group. .

The beginnings? Historian Rick Perlstein says union protests in Wisconsin show the birth of a movement It was a long, hot spring and summer on the streets of Greece, England and Madrid, as protesters and rioters vented their fury at high unemployment, painful austerity measures and following a fatal police shooting in London. The US, meanwhile, has been virtually free of rioting and even of widespread peaceful political protest. This is despite some of the highest unemployment in decades, growing income inequality, dissatisfaction with the nation's direction, frustration with its dysfunctional government and the threat of drastic cuts to social...

After suggesting the current Republican primary field is a weak one, former Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson claimed that New Jersey governor Chris Christie is strongly considering a presidential run of his own, despite his many public statements to the contrary. Even with the rise of Rick Perry into the race, Gerson argued that Republicans are still unsatisfied with the current field of candidates, and dropped the tiniest of bombshells on This Week to Christiane Amanpour. GERSON: Last week, Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey was in Chicago, had two meetings with serious Republican groups from the Midwest… AMANPOUR: Even though...

I’ve been approached several times today by doubters who advance arguments as to why Sarah Palin cannot win the nomination, or if she secures it, why she can’t defeat Barack Obama. All of the theories I’ve had pitched in my direction today share a couple common faults, and it’s important to point them out here. The most common reason I’ve heard today is the belief that the Media will destroy her. That’s silly. Is there a single Republican, never mind conservative, who the media will not seek to destroy to defend their darling, Barack Obama? Anybody who watched the media...

The Senate's top Democrat told a home state newspaper he expects the conservative movement's grasp on the GOP to diminish. The days of the Tea Party's influence on American politics are numbered, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said this weekend. The Senate's top Democrat told a home state newspaper that he expects the conservative activist movement's grasp on the GOP to diminish, a bold prediction given the influence that group showed Saturday in Ames, Iowa, where Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), a Tea Party darling, won an influential presidential straw poll.

Tea Party’s heyday may be coming to an end, say political experts By Alexander Bolton - 08/14/11 02:57 PM ET The reign of the Tea Party may be coming to an end in Washington, according to academic political experts who say polls show a backlash against the conservative movement. Two national polls released this month by CNN and The New York Times in conjunction with CBS News showed the Tea Party’s unfavorable rating at an all-time high. Political scientists say the data shows a backlash of independent voters against conservative lawmakers who have taken a hard line against bipartisan compromise...

I know this sounds crazy. I know it goes completely against the grain of mainstream political opinion. I know you probably haven't heard this anywhere else before. But I don't think Barack Obama will be on the Democratic ballot as a candidate for re-election to the presidency. And I know he's not going to win a second term. Just look at the way he is already second-guessing his announcement to run again. In an interview that aired on the "Today" show earlier this week, he said this: "There are days where I say that one term is enough." Aside from...

On October 1, 1939 – two weeks after their invasion of Poland – Winston Churchill described Russia with these memorable words: “It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma, but perhaps there is a key.” Today, as it faces the political and economic realities of the 21st century, the same statement can be made about modern-day Turkey. We happened to be in Turkey during the 2007 re-election of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. We traveled all over the country, and we were so enamored with the city of Istanbul that we decided to return this spring. However,...

Is Right-Wing Talk Dying? by John Avlon Info Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, and Rush Limbaugh are losing fans in a key market. John Avlon on why listeners and station managers are sick of anti-Obama tirades—and who bucks the trend. Here’s another sign that the tide might be turning against the Wingnuts—Glenn Beck’s TV ratings are down 50 percent and major market radio stations are dropping him. That’s not all—a look at radio ratings shows that hyper-partisan talk has been declining or flat-lining between ‘09 and ‘10, despite the intensity of the election year. There’s a demand for something different—smart, un-predictable,...

National Public Radio yesterday detailed the chain of events that led the news organization to wrongly report that Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords had died in Saturday’s shooting rampage, and said it is considering new safeguards regarding the deaths of public officials. “NPR follows a basic two-source rule when reporting that someone has died. In this case, we followed the two-source rule, but the sources were not as optimal as desired. Also, we did not cite our sources,” spokeswoman Anna Christopher said. “We’re not changing our policy, but we will reinforce best practices going forward.” NPR was the first of several...

As a 2008 primary front-runner, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani tanked. But as a 2012 dark horse, he could do surprisingly well. It’s not because Giuliani has shifted; it’s because the Republican Party has. The 2010 election was less about social conservatism than it was fiscal conservatism, and that aligns with Giuliani’s socially moderate and fiscally conservative ideology. There is another promising wind of change blowing Giuliani’s way, one that’s less ideological. This isn’t the era of kinder, gentler politicians. This is the age of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and...

Presidents Generally Age In Office,But have you ever known of a President Shrinking? Did you take notice of Obama's side-view today during his speech? He looks about 160 Pounds! At Six-Foot One,a healthy weight is around 185/190.Obama already appears as a weak leader&being so underweight only shows that he is stressing out&caving in on Conservatives being he knows now that he will never get his way. And so now he is losing his appetite or being attacked by Republican Tapeworms.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who saw her powerful position taken from her in Tuesday’s landslide election, was adamant the day after Democrats lost 60 seats in the House that the results were not a rejection of the agenda pursued by President Obama and herself. “Let’s understand the message,” Pelosi told ABC’s Diane Sawyer. “The message was not, ‘I reject the course that you are on.’ The message is it didn’t go fast enough to produce jobs.” Pelosi, who would not comment on whether she will retire from Congress rather than go back to the minority, also predicted that Obama will...

Tim Kaine, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, says the primary victory by Sen. Michael Bennet in Colorado shows the party still has “a lot of mojo.” And Kaine crowed that the GOP added to a crop of “flawed candidates” with Tuesday’s results. “In a whole series of these races in different states,” the former Virginia governor said Wednesday in a phone interview, “what we see is Democrats picking good candidates, Democrats coming together and Republicans picking flawed candidates and, frankly, candidates that are kind of continuing to divide their party.” The president’s political organization — including the DNC’s Organizing...

Holder: Osama bin Laden won't be brought in alive By: Josh Gerstein March 16, 2010 05:28 PM EDT Attorney General Eric Holder told a congressional panel Tuesday that the question of reading Osama bin Laden his Miranda rights is absurd – because he won’t be brought in alive. “Let’s deal with reality,” Holder said. “You’re talking about a hypothetical that will never occur. We will be reading Miranda rights to the corpse of Obama bin Laden. He will never appear in an American courtroom. That’s the reality….He will be killed by us or he will be killed by his own...

COLUMBIA, Mo. – From the time of the Crusades to the modern day, war refugees have struggled to integrate into their new communities. They are often economically impoverished and socially isolated, which results in increased conflict, systematic violence and warfare, within and between communities as the new immigrants interact with and compete with the previously established inhabitants. Now, University of Missouri researcher Todd VanPool believes pottery found throughout the North American Southwest comes from a religion of peace-seeking women in the violent, 13th-century American Southwest. These women sought to find a way to integrate newly immigrating refugees and prevent the...

Israeli officials remained doggedly silent on Wednesday in the wake of a Dubai police decision to seek the arrest of the Israeli prime minister and the head of its spy agency over the murder of a top Hamas militant in the Gulf emirate. Neither Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office nor the foreign ministry would comment on Dubai police chief Dahi Khalfan's order for arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Mossad chief Meir Dagan. Khalfan says the hit on Mahmud al-Mabhuh was carried out by Mossad agents using European and Australian passports. Israel has not confirmed or denied the accusations, although opposition...

The government watchdog overseeing economic stimulus spending says the White House was too quick to take credit for saving or creating 640,000 jobs. The White House trumpeted job figures released last month, saying they proved the administration is on track to save or create 3.5 million jobs by the end of next year.

Obama hearing Monday 10/5/2009 8AM U.S. District Court Santa Ana, CA.

(CNN) -- Could George W. Bush or some of his top aides end up behind bars? It's extremely unlikely, but the Obama administration is taking its first steps along a path that could lead in that direction, with the investigation of Central Intelligence Agency interrogators involved in the war on terror. "You don't know where these things are going to end up," former CIA agent Peter Brookes told me. "They could go to very high levels in the government." The probe will focus on whether interrogators exceeded their instructions and broke the law when, for example, they choked a prisoner...

Meacham: So how bad is it, really? Your title doesn't quite declare conservatism dead. Tanenhaus: Quite bad if you prize a mature, responsible conservatism that honors America's institutions, both governmental and societal. The first great 20th-century Republican president, Theo- dore Roosevelt, supported a strong central government that emphasized the shared values and ideals of the nation's millions of citizens. He denounced the harm done by "the trusts"—big corporations. He made it his mission to conserve vast tracts of wilderness and forest. The last successful one, Ronald Reagan, liked to remind people (especially the press) he was a lifelong New Dealer...

The editor of The New York Times Book Review and the paper's "Week in Review" section, Sam Tanenhaus is the biographer of Whittaker Chambers and is at work on the life of William F. Buckley Jr. In a new, short book, The Death of Conservatism, he argues that the right needs to find its footing for the good of the country. In an e-mail exchange with Jon Meacham, Tanenhaus reflected on the book's themes. Excerpts:

Congress Votes to Outsource Presidency Washington, DC , July 10, 2009 Congress today announced that the office of President of the United States of America will be outsourced to India as of September 1, 2009. The move is being made in order to save the President's $500000 yearly salary, and also a record $750 billion in deficit expenditures and related overhead that his office has incurred during the last 3 months. It is anticipated that $7 trillion can be saved to the end of the President's term. "We believe this is a wise financial move. The cost savings are huge,"...

A few months ago, most people assumed former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani's political future was unpromising, to put it nicely. Sure, he might run for governor of New York if Governor Patterson ran for re-election, but his national ship had sailed. After all, if the economy was the big issue, who better to nominate in 2012 than former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney -- who, at Bane Capital, excelled at turning around struggling businesses? Despite getting off to a fast start in the 2008 Republican Primary campaign, Giuliani had faded fast, a victim of poor political strategy and social views...

Sounds far-fetched and, to some, totally implausible. But the Republicans are losing potential candidates at a pace that is downright alarming if you believe in a healthy two-party system. The demise of John Ensign’s political career a few weeks ago and the surreal downfall of Mark Sanford last week is enough to send chills through the even the most optimistic Republican strategist. We know that of the 2008 crop, only Mitt Romney seems likely to stay on as a contender. The old stalwarts like Newt Gingrich may get a lot of press, but it is unlikely they can mount a...

Congratulations, Democrats. You've got the pilot, the co-pilot, a majority of the passengers and, with Arlen Specter, 60% of the stewardesses on Flight 2009-2010. Don't fly it like Air Force One on a postcard mission. Democrats, being Democrats, don't usually think in such small time frames. Barack Obama promised to wean America off foreign oil in the next 10 years, or midway through his third term. But James Carville has raised him by a factor of four, suggesting Obamaism is in place until 2049 in a curious book entitled "40 More Years: How the Democrats Will Rule the Next Generation."...

For his latest book about Democrats ruling Washington for the next 40 years, consultant James Carville laid his thesis out to Republicans. "They said, 'Yeah, it's horrible,' " he says. In 40 More Years, How the Democrats Will Rule the Next Generation, he presents the facts about the last two elections in his "ragin' Cajun" style. The GOP lost the youth and Hispanic vote and is credibility-starved. Then he kicks the party's faves: Sarah Palin, the 2008 veep nominee, for once running an Alaskan city hall that "looks just like a Louisiana bait shop," and Fox's Bill O'Reilly as stupid,...

Having rendered themselves irrelevant on every major issue, Republicans consoled themselves last week with a delusional round robin. First, the Drudge Report, linking to a Pew Poll, featured a headline denying what most of us observe in the real world: “President Polarize: Poll Shows Historic Divide…Partisan Gap in Obama Job Approval Widest in Modern Era.” Perhaps demonstrating that Drudge, not Limbaugh, is the maestro of the GOP chorus, the point was quickly picked up by Karl Rove on the house network, Fox News. Then the Washington Post’s Michael Gerson, one of the few Bush aides to emerge from that administration...

A study by biorhythm researchers and makers of sex-related products say the uptick in sex is fueled by resolutions to have children, alcohol and parties. WASHINGTON — The Christmas-New Year's period produces a year-high spike in sexual activity and conceptions in the United States, according to biorhythm researchers and makers of sex-related products. They attribute the increase to holiday leisure and New Year's resolutions to have children. New Year's irresolution fueled by alcohol and partying is another contributing factor. "Right before New Year's Eve is our highest sales peak," said David Johnson, group product manager for Trojan brand condoms, the...

If the terrorist attacks in India are found to be Pakistani militants, could this be a prelude to a wider war? Possibilities? Discuss...

Just when it seemed the insults hurled at Barack Obama had reached the apex of absurdity, al-Qaida weighs in with a bit of retro name-calling of its own. In a video released last week, Ayman al-Zawahiri, the top deputy to Osama bin Laden, denounced Obama as a “house Negro” and compared him unfavorably to “honorable black Americans” such as the late Malcolm X, the black nationalist who practiced Islam. Zawahiri also showed a still photograph of Obama wearing a yarmulke while visiting Jerusalem’s Wailing Wall last summer. The implication was that Obama had become nothing more than a “tool of...

t will be some time before we know the full extent of Obama's ambitions on domestic policy, but progressives are sure to feature prominently in any debate over health care, energy, banking, etc. In the realm of foreign policy, however, progressives seem already to have been marginalized, or dismissed entirely. Barack Obama's national security team is beginning to take shape and there is not a progressive in sight. Assuming the leaks and rumors are true, Hillary will be at State, Jones will serve as national security adviser, Brennan will head the CIA, Gates will stay on at Defense, and Obama...

Click on link. Change states to see how results can change outcome tomorrow

Barring an extraordinary shock, Barack Obama will win more than 270 electoral votes on Tuesday, giving him the White House. Hours before voting starts, John McCain has no clear path to reaching that same goal. In fact, based on interviews with political strategists in both parties, election analysts and advisers to both presidential campaigns - including a detailed look at public and private polling data - an Obama victory with well over 300 electoral votes is a more likely outcome than a McCain victory. Under the Electoral College system, a candidate wins all of a state's electoral votes as long...

The McCain campaign is definitely demoralized right now. The blame game has begun. There is no question that there is a rift between Sarah Palin's camp and that of John McCain inside the Republican campaign, sources tell ABC News. Watch George Stephanopoulos on "Nightline" tonight at 11:35 p.m. ET on ABC And you are seeing people within the McCain campaign starting to look to the future. Not only Palin, but many of the McCain staffers, as well, are circulating their resumes and pointing the finger. Whenever people in the campaign are starting to worry more about their own reputations rather...

The Sun Times today gave a major clue that Barack Obama will indeed go down with Tony Rezko, sooner rather than later. It looks as though Rezko is about to turn on Alexi Giannoulias, the 30-year old State Treasurer of Illinois (who was elected only because Obama backed him). Here’s where all the clues are…and then we’ll walk you through the local Chicago politics on how today’s hint by the Sun Times has us convinced, for the first time ever, that prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald could indeed send Barack Obama to jail. We need to repeat that: we never believed, until...

For 20 years he sat in the pews of Jeremiah Wright church. For 20 years he listened to the Reverend of hate, racism, and anti-Americanism. For 20 years he called Wright a friend and a mentor. Even when the Reverend that asked God to damn America was exposed Barack Obama still could not disown him more than he can disown his white grand mother as he said in this ridiculous speech he gave in March 2008. Obama and his liberals believe that they are going to fool America and win the Presidency. The media gives us dozens of biased polls...

China's economy is strong enough to withstand the impact of the global financial crisis and may even help the world by maintaining fast growth, Premier Wen Jiabao was quoted as saying Sunday. "Our economic fundamentals haven't changed, and the economy is moving in the direction we expected," Wen was quoted as saying by the state-controlled Xinhua news agency. "The strength of our financial institutions has generally increased, and their ability to make money and withstand risk has risen. Market liquidity is ample and the financial system is stable and safe," he said. "This will help us withstand any negative external...

DEVELOPMENT of alternative energy should create more than 20 million jobs around the world in coming decades as governments adopt policies to address the depletion of resources, according to a UN report. Some 2.3 million people around the world already work in alternative energy jobs with half of them in biofuels, said the report. Speedy creation of the jobs will depend on countries implementing and broadening policies including capping emissions of greenhouse gases, and the shifting of subsidies from the oil and natural gas sector, to new energy including wind, solar and geothermal power, it said. "If we do not...

Bud Richard, and voters like him, may ultimately determine this year's presidential race. But if he's any indication of Indiana's political preferences, pollsters will have a hard time calling the Hoosier State Nov. 4...

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin blew onto the national political scene like a surprise hit movie - with an exciting script, a new landscape, a fresh face - that suddenly everyone wanted to see and talk about. But now that the Republican vice presidential candidate has been seen and heard by millions - and parodied on "Saturday Night Live" before millions more - a question has been raised about the "Palin Effect." While GOP loyalists apparently still love the movie, is it starting to wear thin on the rest of America, particularly the legions of middle-of-the-road voters? "Is she a one-hit...