Free Republic

From day one of his first term, Bush was faced with Democrats who denied the very legitimacy of his election. Given the situation, I think he has done well.

Futhermore, conservatives have never managed to elect a president in modern times without the help of moderate Republicans and independents. The Goldwater bid failed miserably. Reagan got to Washington because of his appeal to “Reagan Democrats,” among others. Rather than accept reality, too many conservatives spend their time whining about Rinos and trying to alienate people who want to be their political allies. You can’t blame Bush for that.

I basically agree with Coulter’s point that the refusal to admit the extent of Communist penetration of the FDR administration is far more serious than anything McCarthy ever said or did. The reasons for this ongoing scandal are complicated and start with the longterm split in American history between urban sophisticates and the men and women of the frontier. During the thirties, Communists portrayed heartland politicians as ignorant rubes, proto-fascists, and the tools of decadent capitalism, only marginally better than HItler. Liberals in the media and politics often shared this anti-American, pro-utopian socialist bias. They also tended to identify with people like Alger Hiss (he was one of them).

I’m familiar with the research that went into the Radosh/Klehr book on the Amerasia case. I’d say that John Service was pretty clearly not a spy, or even a Communist. But he was heavily targeted by Communist agents during his time in China. They preyed on his naivete and personal ambiiton and turned him into a first-class dupe.

Coulter is entitled to disagree with the Radosh review and maybe she doesn’t like him personally, but I know him well enough to be sure of two things: 1. he wouldn’t review a book he hadn’t read. 2. he isn’t trying to “curry favor with liberals.” That ship sailed for him a long time ago.

Have you read the Radosh review? It wasn’t an “attack” on Evans, much less slanderous. It’s a mixed review, agreeing with and praising some aspects of Evans’ book but taking issue with him on a few key points.

Nor does one have to be a leftist to have qualms about McCarthy. Whittaker Chambers didn’t care for him either.

Actually, all these things are true. The Truehaft internship was a summer job, but Hillary did take an extra year at Yale and worked on child welfare/custody issues. The Panther trial was of limited duration; she also did legal services work while in law school.

It’s no news that the Clintons have selective memories but in this instance (for once) it is going too far to say that Bill was lying.

I’m afraid it’s true. Huckabee would be lucky to carry four states. Moreover, if by some miracle he got elected, he would govern far to the left of a President Giuliani. Rudy talks liberal on selected issues, but acts like a conservative most of the time. With Huckabee it would be just the reverse.

What I recall about this case is that the sheriff later testified that he kept the jar containing Dumond’s privates in a “little canacky” in his office. He meant credenza.

For what it’s worth, Di and Camilla were both adulterers. At least Camilla confined herself to one outside interest, as far as we know. Also, Camilla was relatively discreet. She didn’t put her friends up to gabbing to tabloid reporters, make hundreds of crank phone calls to lovers who threw her over, and sleep with men who would later “tell all.”

Why? Because looks aren’t everything. Would you want to be married to woman whose hobby was throwing up? Di was beautiful and doubtless loved her sons but she was also immature, emotionally damaged and at times scheming.

Yep, no one likes Rudy except the voters, including independents and many Democrats. We won’t be foolish enough to nominate someone like that. So go with Ron Paul — a man I personally wouldn’t vote for even to save the country from Hillary or Obama. Brilliant idea!!!

Was it Malkin who came up with this phrase? I thought it was Charles Krauthammer.

As the author of yet another Hillary book (The First Partner) I could add a comment: Hillary has an impulsive streak and took a big gamble that she could get Congress to pass a bill creating a healthcare entitlement for all.

The specifics of the plan were designed to fail in my opinion — an ostensibly free market plan designed for the most part by people who didn’t understand or believe in competition. Once the insurance companies were regulated into submission the entitlement would still be there and the government could take over where the market had “failed.”

It’s true that Hillary is good at rote learning, not original thinking. She doesn’t really grasp economics. But her big problem is that she sees government spending as the solution to all problems. The Democrats as a whole have worked themselves into this corner — if they backtrack on this principle, they might as well be Republicans.

You’re right. I watched some of “Dog”’s interview on Hannity and Colmes and kept thinking I was looking at one of those “it can’t happen here” dramas. Is anyone really surprised that a bounty hunter who calls himself Dog uses inappropriate language on occasion? This was a private conversation and hardly a “racist rant,” as even sympathetic commentators keep saying. It was the desperate plea of a guy who knows he’s being set up by someone and can’t bring himself to see that the culprit is his own son.

Is the use of an objectionable word IN PRIVATE really worse than setting up your own parent for public humiliation and the loss of his livelihood?

Why isn’t the son being dragooned to come before the cameras and apologize?

I’m the co-author of the book The Rosenberg File, sometimes cited as the source for the notion that Ethel Rosenberg was innocent. Not so. Julius was the organizer of the spy ring. Ethel was aware of what he was doing and occasionally acted in an accessory role. At times, however, her help was very important — as when she talked her brother David Greenglass into contributing information about his work at Los Alamos.

It seems Ethel was also ready to volunteer for other tasks. Before the Soviets brought in Harry Gold as courier it was suggested in the Rosenbergs’ correspondence that Ethel would travel to New Mexico to pick up data.

There is no question that Ethel would have received a lesser sentence if Julius had confessed. Even in the absence of a confession, many observers — including J. Edgar Hoover — thought she should have been sentenced as an accomplice. But innocent she was not.

Back in the seventies I had something called an International Driver’s License. Nobody ever asked to see it. When stopped by armed men claiming (accurately or otherwise) to be policemen it was good to mention that I was from Brooklyn. No matter where you go, everyone has a friend or relative there. As one rough looking character in North Africa said when I mentioned my hometown, “Ah, c’est la capital de les Etats Unis!”

I lived in NYC while Giuliani was mayor and 9/11 is just a minor part of why I like the guy. To me, he’s the politician who drastically lowered the crime rate, stood firm against special interests and mobsters, reformed the welfare department, figured out how to clean the streets promptly after snowstorms, and did many other things that Democratic mayors said couldn’t be done. He made government responsive to the needs of the average working person. Period.

It certainly isn’t unknown for employees in these clubs to identify a sucker and lace his drinks with chloral hydrate or some similar drug. The mark can become very suggestible and will sign just about anything. The fraudsters tend to pick the type of law-abiding person who doesn’t have much experience with these practices and is unlikely to retaliate physically.

Rudy isn’t scared of abortion defenders, gay rights groups or anyone else. Unlike most conservative politicians, however, he picks his battles carefully and usually wins them. Though he may rate as a liberal in your book, no one in politics today would do more to bedevil the left and turn the tide against them. Unlike Duncan Hunter, he may not be your knight in shining armor, but he is a canny fighter who would move America back to the center and away from moonbat politics.

Maybe I’m just over-sensitive, but the feeling I get when I read these comments is that women, unless they happen to be young and REALLY hot, should just shut up.

I’ve met Susan Estrich. I disagree with her about a lot of things and she does have some annoying mannerisms — I thought the Feirstein/Carol Channing comment was hilarious. But she is actually quite a nice and reasonable person, one of the Dems that you can have a civilized discussion with.

Your comment proves Estrich correct. Why must every woman who doesn’t look like Katherine Zeta Jones be slammed as ugly on this board? I thought conservative men were supposed to be gentlemen, with some standard of decency and good manners.

I sympathize. My late boyfriend had Parkinson’s. He looked hale and hearty, but it was very difficult for him to walk. He got lots of nasty looks. (Since he had the ruddy complexion, tendency to perspire and awkward gait that often go with Parkinsonism, he was sometimes taken for a drunk.) People need to be a little more tolerant — don’t assume you can judge by first appearances.