Free Republic

On the Road Again By Dan Froomkin Special to washingtonpost.com Tuesday, May 3, 2005; 11:21 AM According to the polls, the more people hear what President Bush has to say about Social Security, the less they like it. But that's not stopping him. He jets off to Mississippi today to hold another "conversation on strengthening Social Security." Susan Page writes in USA Today that the latest Gallup poll shows a whopping 58 percent of Americans now disapprove of how Bush is handling the Social Security issue.

To judge from the e-mails I received during the four years I spent on the White House beat, Post readers of all political ideologies agree: I am biased. But in which direction? A conservative magazine put me on its cover as "Dana 'Bias' Milbank." A liberal Web site made me its "Media Whore of the Week," and a posting on a liberal blog proposed "Whore" as my middle name. (I've decided to combine the "Bias" and "Whore" suggestions and make my middle name, simply, "Bore.") In political journalism, complaints from ideologically driven readers come with the territory; sometimes I've gotten...

he Kabul-ki Dance Inside the cockpit with the pilots and wizzos of the 391st Fighter Squadron, the top guns of America's air war in Afghanistan by Mark Bowden ..... ne of the unadvertised downsides of being a god of the night sky, of delivering America's smartest bombs, of owning the twenty-first-century battlefield and then getting home in time to dine on surf 'n' turf and Häagen-Dazs and catch the latest episode of Friends, is the capability of the U.S. Air Force to record every word and image from the cockpit of your F-15 for digital playback. It's fine for showing...

ROME -- As is just about everywhere else in the world, Rome is awash in editions of "The Da Vinci Code," the blockbuster whodunit with a narrative that includes a Vatican coverup of an explosive theological secret: Jesus was married! Despite the heretical plot twist, in which Jesus fathered a child with his wife, Mary Magdalene, Dan Brown's novel was on sale at the bookstore of Gemelli Polyclinic, the Rome hospital where Pope John Paul II underwent a tracheotomy last month and spent 18 days recovering before being released Sunday. Well, enough is enough. Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, once a top...

Bush Recommends Wolfowitz to Head World Bank By William Branigin Washington Post Staff Writers Wednesday, March 16, 2005; 11:47 AM President Bush said today he is nominating Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul D. Wolfowitz to be the next president of the World Bank, tapping one of his administration's most controversial figures as the U.S. choice to head the 184-nation institution. Bush confirmed the recommendation of Wolfowitz at a news conference this morning after a senior administration official had disclosed that the president was putting the name forward. The official said Wolfowitz wants the job and that no one has yet...

'Mildly Pro-Choice' Rice Won't Rule Out Presidential Bid By Mike Allen Washington Post Staff Writer Sunday, March 13, 2005; Page A05 Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice described herself Friday as "mildly pro-choice" and "kind of libertarian" on abortion, and left the door open for a presidential race in 2008. Rice, who took office Jan. 26 after four years as President Bush's national security adviser, said she "can't imagine" running to succeed her boss and that she is "not trying to be elected." But she said she knows people are talking about the possibility, and did not rule it out when...

Will the Mideast Bloom? By Youssef M. Ibrahim Sunday, March 13, 2005; Page B01 DUBAI, United Arab Emirates Listen to the conversations in the cafes on the edge of the creek that runs through this Persian Gulf city, and it is hard to believe that the George W. Bush being praised by Arab diners is the same George W. Bush who has been widely excoriated in these parts ever since he took office. Yet the balmy breeze blowing along the creek carries murmurs of approval for the devoutly Christian U.S. president, whose persistent calls for democracy in the Middle East...

CNN tanking as Fox News surges Double-digit declines reported for Larry King, Wolf Blitzer The ratings are in for February, and the numbers are not good for CNN which saw steep losses in its viewership, while the Fox News Channel continued its rise. According to Nielsen Media Research, CNN's ratings fell by 21 percent last month in primetime, and 16 percent overal reports Variety. Primetime big-name shows such as "Larry King Live," "Wolf Blitzer Reports," "Lou Dobbs Tonight," "Paula Zahn Now" and "Newsnight With Aaron Brown" all experienced double-digit declines. Only "Anderson Cooper 360" had a slight increase of 2...

Vladimir Putin never expected to become President of Russia. But on the eve of the new millennium, Boris Yeltsin abdicated, leaving him in charge. Over the five years he has served thus far, he has been faced with Chechnyan terrorism, rampant organized crime, and widespread business corruption. He has responded to each of these challenges by consolidating power ever more tightly within the Kremlin—a pattern that has made him a highly controversial figure on the world stage. While some view his heavy-handed approach as a betrayal of Russia's fledgling status as a democracy, others welcome it as a necessary antidote...

March 17, 2004, 8:34 a.m. Kerry’s Irish Blarney How green is Massachusetts's junior senator?