Free Republic

Donald Trump can't keep his Midwesterners straight. At a campaign stop in South Carolina on Tuesday, Trump repeatedly referred to retired neuosurgeon Ben Carson as "Obama." "What Ted Cruz did to Obama, where he said that Obama had quit the race and take our votes," Trump began to say before being corrected by his audience. In fact, he was referring to an incident in which members of Cruz's campaign spread reports suggesting that Carson was dropping out of the race on the day of the Iowa caucuses. People in the crowd started yelling that it was Carson. "Right? Is that...

President Barack Obama has performed his act of contrition. Now comes the hard part, according to Democrats around the country: reckoning with the simple fact that he’s isolated himself from virtually every group that matters in American politics. Congressional Democrats consider him distant and blame him for their historic defeat on Tuesday. Democratic state party leaders scoff at what they see as an inattentive and hapless political operation. Democratic lobbyists feel maligned by his holier-than-though take on their profession. His own cabinet – with only a few exceptions – has been marginalized.

It could give a sense of superior American organisation, or be an indicator of a deep-set persecution complex. It could also be a manifestation of Uncle Sam’s penchant for a show of strength. The matter pertains to US president Barack Obama’s planned visit to Mani Bhavan —the Gandhi museum — on November 6, soon after he reaches Mumbai. On Monday, US secret agents visited the museum to plan Obama’s security detail. They were accompanied by officers of Mumbai Police and civic officials of the D ward (where Mani Bhavan is located). While inspecting the route and the buildings lining up...

Former ACORN head Bertha Lewis told a group of the Young Democratic Socialists: Any of these groups that says, "I'm young, I'm Democratic, and I'm a socialist," is okay with me. You know that's no light thing to do -- to actually say, I'm a socialist. You've got to know, actually, we are living in a time that's going to dwarf the McCarthy era. It is going to dwarf the internment of World War II. We are right now in a time that is going to dwarf the era of Jim Crow and segregation. They are coming. And they are...

Pennsylvania Public Radio's Scott Detrow reports from a conservative event in Harrisburg: Wurzelbacher touched on several different points during his speech, and many of them were surprising. He said he doesn’t support Sarah Palin anymore. Why? Because she’s backing John McCain’s re-election effort. “John McCain is no public servant,” he told the room, calling the 2008 Republican nominee a career politician. I pointed out he’d just be plain old Sam Wurzelbacher of Ohio — Joe the Plumber wouldn’t exist – without McCain. His response was blunt. “I don’t owe him s—. He really screwed my life up, is how I...

The Dems are getting nervous. The polls are tightening, knuckles are whitening, and the prospects are frightening! Witness this HUffPo THREAD by Sherman Yellen, "My Coming November Crackup." In spite of some polls giving Obama a sizeable lead, this old HUffie fears Rovian Republican chicanery come Election Day. Hee! Hee! So before we get to his thread, let's reinforce Sherman's fears with a song. Click and sing along! CRY (If you see polls)By Johnnie Ray-of-Sunshine Tune: "Cry" (If your sweetheart) Original If you see polls that turn out to be too high It's just Diebold, you'll feel better if...

"If we were not so used to it, we would find it odd for the government to collect money from young workers and give it to the old (mostly workers' parents)." -- Robert Barro The headline that Business Week put on Robert Barro's column quoted above was "Why Private Accounts are Bad Public Policy." And the headline that the Washington Post put on a story that referred to Barro and others was Conservatives Splitting on Social Security. Is that the real story? I would describe Social Security as a program with a dubious economic rationale and very large costs. As...

Friends, Freepers, Lurkers, Newbies, Trolls, Americans all, attend: For I shall for once be serious. I have spent much of my free time at other sites, more left-leaning than centrist, but where I have some respect and some decent relations. I have been arguing with them non-stop, and it has been crazy-making. Here's a (close) parody of how it goes: Leftist: Dell makes great buses! Me: Buses? Um, last I checked, Dell doesn't manufacture buses or any other of their subcomponents - they purchase all of that from subcontractors and then assemble a damn good computer... Leftist: Computers? Man, you...

I was afraid today was going to be a bust, since Kerry has no public appearances scheduled in order to prepare for the first debate. But Kerry comes through by re-enacting another Kennedy legend and playing touch football on the Esplanade in Boston. Even just walking down the street, he can't stop pointing. He still hasn't learned how to throw or catch. 38 days until the election. 39 more days of Kerry Crack-ups.    1Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry walks from his house to the Esplanade for a game of touch football in Boston, Massachusetts September 25, 2004. The...

Maxine Defends Ex-Klansman May 8, 2003 Imagine if you will, California congresswoman Maxine Waters, defending an ex-Klansman just because he’s a Democrat. The depths of desperation to which these people are plunging is unbelievable. Maxine just plunged further by echoing Robert Byrds latest Bush bash on the Senate floor. In doing so, she opened the door into her own face and bloodied her nose - as is becoming standard Democrat operating procedure. Maxine appeared on the News with Brian Williams Wednesday night on CNBC, where she and great moderate Peter King got into it. You just have to hear this,...

Democrat Crack-up Rolls On April 3, 2003 Thursday's required reading for the EIB class is Byron York's National Review Online column: "The Dems are Blocking Nearly Every Bush Judge." You can also listen to me read the piece, which of course has to do with the Democratic Party's effort to pack the courts with extremist, liberal judges. They don't think President Bush won the election, so they don't think he has the right to appoint any judges. York: "Since the new Senate convened in January, the president has nominated 19 candidates for the courts of appeals. At this moment, twelve...

Crack-up leaves Russians in cold By Julius Strauss in Moscow (Filed: 09/01/2003) Tens of thousands of Russians were facing temperatures below -22F yesterday without any heating, as the coldest weather for 15 years cracked hot-water pipes across the country. Early evening in Moscow's Red Square, January 5th In central Moscow, temperatures dropped to -26F while in Siberia and the far north some villages registered around -58F. The Emergencies Ministry said 23,000 Russians were left with no heating as hot-water systems, which are meant to heat entire towns, buckled under the strain. Television stations showed residents shivering in fur coats next...