Yes. He was a visionary. When he started Free Republic, there was really no place conservatives could go to learn the truth. CNN was earning its "Clinton News Network" nickname, every hour of every day.
The terrain has changed, but the mission remains the same: find the truth, and report it. May God bless Jim and his family.
Yes. And he deserves the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
I think WorldNetDaily (wnd.com) was already around. I went there before I found FR (I have been here under a different name longer than my current name). Lucianne.com is weak tea, but some conservatives went there. And there was the old Drudge Report.