Free Republic

Michael Kelly was one of the best writers of his generation and an extraordinarily gifted observer of politics and culture. Despite having grown up in Washington to become a member of the media elite, Kelly was also one of the few writers willing to turn a scathingly critical eye at the press itself. I've often wondered what Kelly's reaction would be to the atmosphere in Washington these days; what he might have written about the coverage of the war and, more recently, how he would have viewed the flap over Karl Rove and the CIA leak investigation. As it turns...

Newsweek magazine has announced that it will institute stricter guidelines on the use of unnamed sources after last week's retraction of a Quran-desecration story. But despite the tremendous uproar generated by the discredited story, the magazine says no staffers will lose their jobs. In a letter to readers in Newsweek's latest issue, chairman and editor in chief Richard M. Smith promises that "the cryptic phrase 'sources said' will never again be the sole attribution for a story in Newsweek." Two of the magazine's top editors will be assigned sole responsibility for approving the use of anonymous sources. "We got an...

A dozen years ago, after the Soviet Union collapsed and the United States emerged as the sole superpower, historians began a guessing game. How long had it been, they asked, since anyone enjoyed as much sway as the United States? One hundred years, back to the British Empire? Five hundred years, stretching back to Spain? Yale's Paul Kennedy soon provided the right answer: America, he said, had more economic, political, military, and cultural power than any nation since ancient Rome some 2,000 years ago. But, Kennedy added, there were already signs of American slippage, and that warning set off another...

February 4, 2005 Eason Jordon WEF Video Mark Adams, Head of media at the World Economic Forum, replied today to my email from yesterday. First, big kudos to Mr. Adams for the quick response! Please pass the word that I'm working this with him so please do not flood him with requests. Second, he has confirmed that he has the video. He needs to make a copy. I have asked for it to be mailed to me by Wednesday next week. I'll update this post as more information becomes available.

Okay, sorry . . . Been waiting for someone else to post this . . . But since no one has, let me be the first to display my ignorance. Shep Smith just had Matthew Felling, media director for the Center for Media and Public Affairs, on half an hour ago talking about Rathergate. In the middle of the interview Felling suddenly blurts out that the person who originally found the font discrepancy "has ties to the KKK." WTF???!!! What is he talking about and when will the unfounded lefty smears end?

I just heard Matthew Felling (media analyst) on Studio B say that the memos where debunked by someone with ties to the KKK. What is up with that???! I hope Buckhead sues the pants off this jack@$$.

YOO-HOO! UNDECIDEDS + "PERSUADABLES" HEAR THE SPEECH JOHN KERRY DOESN'T WANT YOU TO HEAR (WHY INFORMED, RATIONAL DEMOCRATS WILL VOTE FOR BUSH) DECONSTRUCTING ZELL MILLER WHY JOHN KERRY IS DANGEROUS FOR AMERICA by Mia T, 9.02.04   DECONSTRUCTING ZELL MILLER-PART 1: KERRY, THE Ds + SEDITION (IF IT WALKS LIKE A DUCK...) (viewing movie requires Flash Player 7, available HERE) DECONSTRUCTING ZELL MILLER-PART 2 KERRY, THE Ds + THE AMERICAN SOLDIER (viewing movie requires Flash Player 7, available HERE) DECONSTRUCTING ZELL MILLER-PART 3 KERRY + Ds: NATIONAL-SECURITY CLUELESSNESS (viewing movie requires Flash Player 7, available HERE) DECONSTRUCTING ZELL MILLER-PART...

Sandy Who? Two weeks ago, Republicans were filled with glee, as Democrats fell all over themselves, trying to diminish the fact that Bill Clinton’s former national security adviser, Samuel Berger, better known as Sandy, was caught stuffing classified documents and national secrets down his drawers, in his jacket, in his socks, and in a leather portfolio, in order to steal them from the National Archives, and to later destroy some of them. (Berger returned some documents, but only after he was caught, and had “accidentally” destroyed the most important ones.) Note that Berger reportedly burgled the Archives on as many...

Republicans are filled with glee, as Democrats fall all over themselves, trying to diminish the fact that Bill Clinton's former national security adviser, Sandy Berger, was caught stuffing classified documents and national secrets down his drawers, in his jacket, in his socks, and in a leather portfolio, in order to steal them from the National Archives, and to later destroy some of them. (Berger returned some documents, but only after he was caught, but had "accidentally" destroyed the most important ones.) Note that Berger reportedly burgled the Archives on five separate occasions. Watergate, meet BVDgate. For the past thirty years,...

Republicans are filled with glee, as Democrats fall all over themselves, trying to diminish the fact that Bill Clinton's former national security adviser, Sandy Berger, was caught stuffing classified documents and national secrets down his drawers, in his jacket, in his socks, and in a leather portfolio, in order to steal them from the National Archives, and to later destroy some of them. (Berger returned some documents, but only after he was caught.) Watergate, meet BVDgate. For the past thirty years, many observers have thought it the height of paranoia for Pres. Richard Nixon's men to burglarize the offices of...

Is there anyone more annoying than ultimate-establishment guy David Gergen, the man who has worked for four or five presidents, including Bill Clinton? There he was on Today this morning, defending former Clinton National Security Advisor Sandy Berger who has been accused of taking classified documents from the National Archives. And what was the source of Gergen's knowledge of the subject? He repeatedly made reference to statements made by "close associates" of . . . Berger! In other words, Gergen was nothing more than a shill for the Berger/Dem party line. In fairness to Today, they led the show with...

Gergen named trustee at Duke University 7/8/2004 9:55 AM By: Associated Press (DURHAM) -- David Gergen, a Harvard University professor who has worked for four U.S. presidents, is one of three new members of the Duke University Board of Trustees. Gergen is a professor of public service and director of the Center for Public Leadership at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government. He is also editor-at-large at U.S. News and World Report. Gergen advised Presidents Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Clinton, working as a speech writer, a communications director, special counsel and an international affairs adviser. He is a native...

What was the meaning of the past remarkable nine days? You cannot stop the American people from feeling what they feel and showing it. From the crowds at Simi Valley to the hordes at the Capitol to the men and women who stopped and got out of their cars on Highway 101 to salute as Reagan came home--that was America talking to America about who America is. It was a magnificent teaching moment for the whole country but most of all for the young, who barely remembered Ronald Reagan or didn't remember him at all. This week they heard who...

Ronald Reagan would have loved knowing that Sgt. York marched in his funeral parade. Sgt. York, of course, was that horse - a 13-year-old jet-black gelding from New York - that walked so majestically behind the caisson bearing the former President through the streets of Washington Wednesday night, saddle empty and stirrups bearing Reagan's riding boots turned backward. Reagan would have enjoyed the quiet dignity of that horse, but just as much, he would have thrilled at the memory the horse invoked: Sgt. Alvin York of Tennessee, the young draftee who led a small band into fire against a German...

[Paraphrasing--ABC News played a clip of Gergen saying that the president left the clear impression that the thread was imminent. Link takes you to Gergen's page, where it simply states he'll be pushing this lie on Nightline tonight.]

As the 30th anniversary of Watergate nears, student investigators at the University of Illinois have concluded that Deep Throat, the White House source who helped journalists unravel the greatest political scandal in American history, was most likely conservative commentator Pat Buchanan. Since 1999, journalism professor William Gaines and his students have set about unmasking the elusive informant. Building on the work of their predecessors—and examining information ranging from thousands of pages of FBI records to interviews with members of the Nixon administration—this year's class unanimously fingered Buchanan, a White House speechwriter during the Watergate era. Gaines, a Pulitzer Prize-winning former...