Free Republic

Reading about the big disarray that Congress is in I keep thinking of the Car 54, Where Are You? Tune. jerry639 posted that he thinks of I've got a tiger by the tail..... Okay, here is your opportunity to write a theme song based on Congressional Disarray. I'll start off with one stanza of my own 'Rat 54, Where Are You but feel free to add your own material to that tune or come up with a new parody song on this subject. Here goes: There's a holdup in Committee, The floor has broken out in fights. CODEPINK takes over...

Howard Dean, the new chairman of the Democratic National Committee, and Senator Hillary Clinton (D.-NY) jointly hold the dubious distinction of being the only major public figures with less credibility than Mahmoud Abbas. Abbas, the recently elected successor to the late Yassir Arafat, alternately advocates peace and brotherhood with Israel, along with its total annihilation, depending on the particular audience he happens to be addressing. Likewise, both Dean and Clinton are on record as being not only the sworn enemies of conservatism, but also its truest of champions. Although they disagree on specific tactics in their respective quests for power,...

An Uncertain Trumpet Whatever pundits say, this election was not a wholesale repudiation of liberalism. By Robert Kuttner Web Exclusive: 11.21.04 Were the Democrats repudiated as too left wing for the country, especially on cultural issues? Or were they mainly outplayed? Depending on what one concludes, dramatically different remedies follow. In fact, the country was split almost evenly, as in 2000. Democrats would make a grave mistake to take 2004 as a wholesale repudiation. Rather, John Kerry lost the election and Democrats lost ground for four distinct reasons. First, the Republicans enjoy a structural advantage. As a party they...

Anti-coalition forces in western Iraq are "pretty much in disarray," Army Maj. Gen. Charles H. Swannack Jr., commander of the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division, told journalists today during a Baghdad press conference. Deployed to Iraq since September, Swannack's Task Force All-American patrols the Anbar province in western Iraq, which includes the cities of Fallujah and Ramadi. All of his 18,000-member force is slated to complete re-deployment back to Fort Bragg, N.C., sometime in May, and will be relieved by 24,000 Marines. "Systematically, we have captured or killed the individuals directing the insurgency (in western Iraq)," Swannack said. The Jan. 11...

Though al Qaeda's leadership structure has been seriously damaged, the organization remains "as committed as ever to attacking the U.S. homeland," the nation's top intelligence official said today on Capitol Hill. Director of Central Intelligence George J. Tenet identified al Qaeda as the biggest danger to the United States in his annual national security threat assessment to the Senate Armed Services Committee. Though many al Qaeda's top leaders have been killed or captured, Tenet said, the organization still is capable of devastating attacks like those of Sept. 11, 2001. "Military and intelligence operations by the United States and its allies...

Taiwan News 2003-10-11 / Knight Ridder / U.S.President Bush's overhaul of his top Iraq strategists reflects deep unhappiness with his national security team - particularly Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld but also Secretary of State Powell, Bush sources told the New York Daily News Thursday. Bush's displeasure means that neither Powell nor Rumsfeld will keep his job in a second Bush term, the sources said. Powell already has signaled his intent to leave after the 2004 election but Rumsfeld had indicated he wanted to stay on. "All this does is validate (Bush's belief that) it's time for new blood in...

Former Altanta Mayor Manyard Jackson has quietly began speaking to influential Democrats in Washington and elsewhere to measure whether to mount a challenge to current DNC chairman Terry McAuliffe when the DNC's executive board meets in February.The New York Times reported last week that Jackson who squared off against McAuliffe for control of the DNC in 2001, has sent a letter to McAuliffe demanding a meeting of the DNC board where McAuliffe could explain the Democrats recent defeat.Jackson had challanged McAuliffe a year ago on the grounds that the Clinton money man was too focused on money, not on building...