Free Republic

BURLINGAME, Calif. — Donald J. Trump got a taste on Friday of what his next month of campaigning in California could be like. He was forced to exit his motorcade and walk through a field, climbing an embankment with Secret Service agents helping him, to avoid angry demonstrators on the street. “We went under a fence and through a fence, and oh, boy, it felt like I was crossing the border, actually,” Mr. Trump said when he finally made it to a ballroom to speak at California’s Republican Party convention. For the next 25 minutes, though, Mr. Trump spoke little...

Pete Alexander celebrated the news that a federal court in California had thrown out this state’s strict requirements for obtaining a concealed-handgun permit — among the toughest in the nation — by calling the Orange County Sheriff’s Department to apply for a permit he had long wanted. “I’m a gun enthusiast,” said Mr. Alexander, a construction contractor who lives in Fullerton. “Crime is encroaching on our neighborhood, and I don’t feel as safe as I used to. This is adding to the police force.” Mr. Alexander turned out to be the beginning of a flood. In the two months since...

Sen. Rand Paul distanced himself Thursday from Cliven Bundy’s recent remarks on race, roughly a week after the likely 2016 presidential contender knocked the way the federal government has handled the land dispute with the defiant rancher. “Cliven Bundy’s remarks on race are offensive and I wholeheartedly disagree with him,” Mr. Paul, Kentucky Republican, said via Twitter.

In an interview with CBS This Morning Thursday, Texas Governor Rick Perry discussed the situation at the Bundy Ranch in Nevada and racist comments made by the man at the center of the recent standoff there, rancher Cliven Bundy. Perry said Bundy's remarks were a "side issue" and pointed to a land dispute in Texas with the same federal agency Bundy battled in Nevada, the Bureau of Land Management. "I don’t know what he said but the fact is Cliven Bundy is a side issue here compared to what we’re looking at in the state of Texas," Perry said. "He...

Adam Nagourney of New York Times, who has been a "deadbeat journalist" since before the Clinton impeachment wars, apparently got his marching orders from somewhere to produce a hit piece on Cliven Bundy. Nagourney, who fought on the side of the Clinton media forces back in 1998-1999, comes out smearing:...Mr. Bundy’s standoff with federal rangers — propelled into the national spotlight in part by steady coverage by Fox News... Since national politicians have started to come out on the side of Cliven, it appears that the government thugs who are after Cliven Bundy needed to do something to isolate Bundy....

A usual round of media self-criticism turned into a schoolyard brawl last week, as editors, reporters and bloggers traded insults over a front-page article in The Washington Post, all at the very online water cooler where they usually get their news about the industry. The Post article, which ran on Nov. 29, was about rumors of Barack Obama’s ties to the Muslim world. snip Then things got really ugly. On Dec. 10, Chris Daly, a Boston University journalism professor, posted an entry on his blog that turned the debate over the merits of the article’s reporting into a debate over...

he pro-train constituency has not been derailed by a state report this month that found the cost of the bullet train tripling to $98 billion for a project that would not be finished until 2033, by news that Republicans in Congress are close to eliminating federal high-speed rail financing this year, by opposition from California farmers and landowners upset about tracks tearing through their communities or by questions about how much the state or private businesses will be able to contribute. The project has been mocked by editorial boards across the country — “Somebody please stop this train,” The Washington...

It was only five years ago that opposition to gay marriage was so strong that Republicans explicitly turned to the issue as a way to energize conservative voters. Yet today, as the party contemplates the task of rebuilding itself, some Republicans say the issue of gay marriage may be turning into more of a hindrance than a help. The fact that a run of states have legalized gay marriage in recent months — either by court decision or by legislative action — with little backlash is only one indication of how public attitudes about this subject appear to be changing....

Senator John McCain had intended to ride back into Washington on Thursday as a leader who had put aside presidential politics to help broker a solution to the financial crisis. Instead he found himself in the midst of a remarkable partisan showdown, lacking a clear public message for how to bring it to an end. At the bipartisan White House meeting that Mr. McCain had called for a day earlier, he sat silently for more than 40 minutes, more observer than leader, and then offered only a vague sense of where he stood, said people in the meeting....

Despite the triumph of placing two conservatives on the Supreme Court within four months, leaders of the conservative movement these days seem less celebratory than divided. Heading into a midterm Congressional election in which the enthusiasm of conservative advocates could play a vital role in determining how Republicans fare, conservative leaders face internal rifts over polarizing issues and are dogged by a sense that a Republican-led Congress and a Republican president are not taking the nation in the proper direction on some critical matters, party leaders said. The fissures were evident as members gathered here on Thursday for the first...

I've been unlucky enough to catch TV appearances by Kerry's spokesperson, Stephanie Cutter lately. For a fairly attractive, seemingly intelligent young woman, she spews such absolute garbage and lies, it's almost laughable. I began to wonder if she actually believed the stuff she says, so I ran some internet searches on her background. She's the real deal alright -- started in the Clinton WH -- need I say more. However, I did find a very interesting article from Dec. 2003 in kos (not familiar with the site) which is VERY revealing about not only Ms Cutter but THE KERRY CAMPAIGN....

Most of the polls seem to indicate that the president’s lead is growing. Why? Adam Nagourney, in The New York Times, argues that the Mary Cheney mistake has canceled out Kerry’s supposed victory in the debates. That’s way too simple. No doubt Kerry’s been hurt by the Mary Cheney dustup. But there’s a lot more going on than that. For one thing, the president did far better in the debates than Nagourney lets on. In particular, the president’s been stressing Kerry’s liberalism. Kerry’s flip-flops aren’t just a matter of bending with the political wind. They’re an attempt to disguise his...

As in the days of yellow journalism, the Times can now be counted on to deliver the paper's biases on any page and in any article....