Free Republic

XXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX SAT MAY 18, 2002 14:31:25 ET XXXXX DOWD: OUR MAN IN ARIZONA "He hasn't been featured in any of the flinty-eyed, lantern-jawed photo shoots where the Bush team preened as war heroes. Annie Leibovitz has never laid eyes on him." NY TIMES op-ed queen Maureen Dowd is set to pass out the medals on Sunday, according to publishing sources, in a column paying tribute to the Phoenix-based FBI agent who warned about Islamic extremists in U.S. flight schools prior to 9/11. The agent, Kenneth Williams, named by the LOS ANGELES TIMES on Saturday, gets full Dowd...

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Florida coach Steve Spurrier resigned Friday, leaving the Gators after 12 years in which he turned them from losers into Fun 'N Gun winners. Spurrier's Statement I'm announcing my retirement today Jan. 4, 2002, as head football coach at the University of Florida. I simply believe that 12 years as head coach at a major university in the SEC is long enough. I thank all the players, assistant coaches, support staff people and the greatest football fans in the world for the success we have shared the last 12 years. I also personally thank all the Gators ...

AUSTIN - Hail and farewell, O Enron! What a flameout. The Establishment media, sucking its collective thumb with unwonted solemnity, is treating us to meditations on two themes: AUSTIN - Hail and farewell, O Enron! What a flameout. The Establishment media, sucking its collective thumb with unwonted solemnity, is treating us to meditations on two themes: "How the mighty have fallen" and "Who would have thunk it?" Pardon me while I snort, in lieu of ruder noises, and offer two themes of my own: "What took so long?" and "Anyone with an ounce of common sense." If you want to ...

Clarence Page We're not ready for `colorblindness' Published July 29, 2001 WASHINGTON -- Ward Connerly says he wants to get rid of racial classifications. But he really doesn't. At least he didn't sound like it during a recent telephone conversation I had with the California businessman and famous foe of affirmative action. Connerly, you will recall, gained national fame with his successful campaign to pass Proposition 209, California's anti-affirmative action initiative five years ago. Now the founder of the American Civil Rights Coalition is taking his crusade for a "colorblind" government a giant step further: He is trying to ...

Clarence Page Our `Summer of Chandra' Speculating on what has become America's favorite pastime Published July 25, 2001 WASHINGTON -- What? America still is talking about Chandra Levy? Yes, almost three months after the 24-year-old former intern was last seen at her health club at the end of April, the story still seems to be holding my television hostage. The all-news cable television channels, in particular, seem to be saying, OK, folks, if you don't do something more interesting we're never going to stop reporting this story. This story, as they say in Hollywood, has "legs." It just keeps ...

LEVY KIN: INVESTIGATE CONDIT BRO By BRIAN BLOMQUIST July 19, 2001 -- WASHINGTON - Missing intern Chandra Levy's family wants cops to find out if Rep. Gary Condit's bad-boy younger brother Darrell played any role in her disappearance, family sources said yesterday. "We think it would be fertile ground" for investigation, a Levy family source told The Post. "We know there's a criminal history. I'm sure [cops] are going to work that angle." D.C. police and FBI agents probing Chandra's mysterious disappearance more than two months ago have discussed focusing on Darrell Wayne Condit, Fox News reported last night. But ...

Whomever (of the black leaders) comes out FIRST tomorrow with the "Jesse's such a wonderful man but it's time for him to take a rest" mantra is the one behind it. Shall we start a lottery on who it'll be? (My money's on Infume) LOL

A "truly sorry" Rev. Jesse Jackson revealed last night that he fathered a love child two years ago - and said he's dropping out of public life to reconcile with his devastated family. The extraordinary admission came as the National Enquirer published a story about Jackson's secret affair with Rainbow Coalition activist Karin Stanford. The bombshell report details how the married civil-rights leader romanced the ex-professor while serving as spiritual adviser to President Clinton during Sexgate and even took his pregnant mistress to the White House. "I am father to a daughter who was born outside of my marriage," Jackson ...

Senator Pardek's original Thread.

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The uphill battle to stop John Ashcroft from becoming attorney general got a boost late last week, with the unexpected arrival of two dozen boxes stuffed with "opposition research" against the former senator from Missouri. The damning files were gathered by Democrat Mel Carnahan, who was killed in a plane crash just weeks before the conclusion of a vicious, racially polarized campaign in which he successfully unseated Ashcroft. The contents of these boxes, now sitting in the offices of People for the American Way, have become the hottest property on Capitol Hill. They paint a portrait of a patriarchal, ...

No one has mastered the fine Yiddish art of chutzpah like Jesse Jackson. Having spent November and December stoking the fires of racial suspicion and hatred, he then places a call to President-elect Bush to offer his guidance on racial ''healing.'' Like all good Republicans, Bush took the call. He should not have. He should have told an aide to tell the Reverend that he expected a public apology --- after which he'd be delighted to meet personally with him to talk about reconciliation. But my guess is that Bush is like so many other Republicans --- utterly naive about ...

December 14, 2000 Dear Fellow Citizen: Thank you for your encouragement and support. I am deeply humbled by the compassionate communications we have received. Your kind words and generous advice have been an inspiration to the employees of the Florida Department of State and to me. We have worked diligently to execute our responsibilities for the citizens of our state with independence, deliberation and integrity. It is my sincerest hope that this great nation will unite under the rule of law. Thank you again for your support and may God bless America. Yours truly, Katherine Harris Secretary of StateThe ...

I hope this is not considered a vanity post, but I searched and did not find any post reviewing Dick Morris’ comments on Hannity and Colmes on FNN this evening. Basically he called GWB’s debate strategy a “Master Stroke”. He said, “If Bush and Gore both run perfect campaigns, Bush wins.” He had Elenore Clift absolutely tied in knots. He made other positive points regarding the Bush campaign. Although I am always suspicious of Morris’ motives, his observations seem to be insightful. Any other viewer comments?BUSH/CHENEY 2000

Does anyone want to Freep this poll?Bush/ Cheney 39% Gore/ Lieberman 41% Click here.

If William Jefferson Clinton’s valedictory to his party was the boffo performance we have come to expect from him, it was also in many ways a predictable speech. As might have been expected, he delivered a vindication of himself and his record, laying down stanza after stanza of statistics as if numbers made poetry. As might likewise have been expected, he thrust the old arguments of his critics back in their faces, recalling how the Republicans had predicted unemployment, recession and national doom when he narrowly pushed his first budget through a recalcitrant Congress in 1993. ("Time has not been ...

If Teddy White were still with us, he might devote an entire book to the Republican convention last week in Philadelphia. What we saw in those four remarkable days was the Making of a President, 2000. Vice President Al Gore still has a chance to win this fall, but George W. Bush has now seized the commanding heights, and more to the point, has shown strengths that indicate he could become an effective and responsible steward of the nation's future. A year ago, Bush seemed young and a bit callow–someone who, as a Democratic wag put it, was born on ...

PHILADELPHIA –– Lifted by an acceptance speech of exceptional eloquence and powered by a party enjoying unusual unity, Texas Gov. George W. Bush embarks on the final stage of his quest for the White House with prospects that almost measure up to his brimming self-confidence. He has passed the first three tests on the way to the presidency with room to spare. He won the nomination early and with minimal bloodshed. He picked a solid running mate in former defense secretary Dick Cheney, who is adequate in campaign skills and outstanding in governmental experience and capacity--a healthy augury of the ...

NEW YORK TIMES hotshot James Risen, citing government officials, is reporting in Saturday editions that "the Justice Department and the FBI have begun a criminal investigation to determine whether the former CIA Director John M. Deutch mishandled classified material by placing it on unsecure computers in his home." Risen also writes that Attorney General Janet Reno has ordered a new inquiry as to whether her initial decison not to prosecute Deutch was in error. The new criminal investigation will team a Justice prosecutor with FBI agents to see whether Deutch should be tried. MORE Vernon Loeb reports in Saturday's WASHINGTON ...