Free Republic

I know if I were there I would be picking teeth out of my knuckles. Way to go Kerry Democrats. You are really making Kerry look good..NOT!

MUCH HAS BEEN made of the Republican National Committee’s decision to showcase the moderate wing of the party from the stage at Madison Square Garden this week. Hence speeches by Senator John McCain and former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani on Monday night, and by California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday. And no invocation by Franklin Graham, Jerry Falwell, or Pat Robertson. The president, understandably, wants to avoid a Pat Buchanan–esque moment of the sort that marred his father’s convention in 1992. (Buchanan’s prime-time rant about the "culture war" was so extreme that Molly Ivins quipped it was better in...

Who says that God doesn't have a sense of humor? My regular readers will remember that at the Democratic National Convention, I found myself sitting a few feet from filmmaker Michael Moore. I had been eager to talk with Moore about his positions on Israel, since I had read several negative comments attributed to him. I tried to speak with him, but he turned me away. But last night at the Republican National Convention, I was working on my laptop from one of the press desks when a Secret Service agent suddenly walked in and told me that the empty...

If there is a hell, and most likely Zell Miller believes in such a thing, than Democratic Senator Zell Miller is going to burn in it.Spin hotly on the giant griddle. For something close to eternity. Oh yes, siree. He is going to burn in hell. And the chances of hell existing have just skyrocketed, because if God exists then he's no kind of God unless he quickly fashions a hell for Democrat Zell Miller to burn in.And even if the universe exists without a God, it is far from beyond the inarticulate power of this vast mass of galaxies...

HEWITT: Sitting across from me Terry McAuliffe. Strike me dead. It’s so good to see you here Mr. Chairman. It’s good to have you at the Democratic National Convention and at the Republican National Convention MCAULIFFE: Who would have thought that I’d be going around with a credential at the Republican Convention. HEWITT: Can you stay for a couple of hours? MCAULIFFE: Love to. Love it here. Everybody is being hospitable to me. HEWITT: I want to start with some very easy questions. MCAULIFFE: Yeah. HEWITT: Do you believe that John Kerry took a CIA man into Cambodia and kept...

THE MILLER MOMENT: Zell Miller's address will, I think, go down as a critical moment in this campaign, and maybe in the history of the Republican party. I kept thinking of the contrast with the Democrats' keynote speaker, Barack Obama, a post-racial, smiling, expansive young American, speaking about national unity and uplift. Then you see Zell Miller, his face rigid with anger, his eyes blazing with years of frustration as his Dixiecrat vision became slowly eclipsed among the Democrats. Remember who this man is: once a proud supporter of racial segregation, a man who lambasted LBJ for selling his soul...

How many Republicans does it take to fill up a comedy club? Twelve: One to concentrate on the show and 11 to fend off all the reporters asking them how it feels to be a Republican with a sense of humor. At least, that's what it looked like Monday night at the Laugh Factory in Times Square, where three conservative comics were promising an evening of GOP comedy. This sounded every bit as appealing as an evening of lefty comics promising an evening of Abu Ghraib thigh-slappers. Which perhaps explains the low turnout. But humor is - by definition -...

NEW YORK - Out on the street with protesters, there are environmentalists, pacifists, even some capitalists - selling anti-Bush T-shirts, of course.      But to Republicans here, the great unwashed sweating in and blocking the streets, are defined in one word: Democrats.      ``Frankly it reminds me of why I left the Democratic Party,'' said former Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer. ``I used to be a Democrat and I turned instead to Ronald Reagan's upbeat optimism instead of the negativity and the liberalism and the protest movement of the Democratic Party. It wasn't my cup of tea.''      Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie...

Conservatives Take Back Seat at Republican Convention NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. Republican Party is presenting a moderate image at its national convention but conservatives who dominate the party say they are happy to stay in the background, confident that President Bush (news - web sites) will take care of their interests if he wins the election. "The speakers at the convention may be thought of as moderate but their message is a strong conservative message. They are not going to be speaking about abortion rights or same sex marriage -- that would go down like a lead balloon,"...

A judge yesterday threw the book at a protester arrested for setting fire to a papier-maché dragon near the Garden during the protest march on Sunday. Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Patricia Nuñez ordered Yusuke Banno, 21, held in lieu of $200,000 bond or $100,000 cash on charges of inciting a riot, resisting arrest and assaulting Police Officer John Park, 26, whose hand was burned making the arrest, authorities said.

Britney Spears has been banned from a political party conference-for being too sexy.The blonde singer, who is a supporter of George W. Bush, was due to play at the Republican National Convention in New York.But Britney, whose raunchy image was seen as 'potentially doing more bad than good' for the party, was rejected by top politicians after it was leaked that she was to make a surprise appearance.An insider said, 'We are a serious political party and don't need Britney to promote us.''Besides, with the headlines she has been recently attracting it would do more harm than good to the...

(08-30) 21:01 PDT NEW YORK (AP) -- A march against the Bush administration turned ugly Monday when a protester repeatedly stomped and punched a plainclothes detective and hundreds of officers in riot gear pushed demonstrators away from the site of the Republican convention, witnesses and police said. The detective, William Sample, was briefly knocked unconscious and was hospitalized with head injuries that were not life-threatening. His assailant escaped and was being sought by police. Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly called it "a blatant, vicious attack."

Protester has kicked a police officer off of his scooter outside of Madison Square Garden. Officer is in critical condition.

As the GOP Convention opens in New York City, President Bush and (the daring and fractious!*) First Lady campaigned in Nashua, N.H. President Bush gave an interview to Matt Lauer for release today. Enjoy your daily Dose of W @ Sanity Island. *Per the anointed leader of the opposition

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Dozens of demonstrators heckled and jeered Broadway theatergoers on Sunday, seeking confrontations with Republican delegates who arrived in New York City to back President Bush (news - web sites)'s reelection bid. Police arrested up to 60 protesters who assembled in Times Square at dusk chanting anti-Bush slogans after hundreds of thousands had marched in Manhattan to decry the president's policies before the Republican convention begins on Monday. But individual protesters kept tensions high, some of them hissing or cursing at well-heeled couples heading to popular Broadway musicals like "Thoroughly Modern Millie" and "Fiddler on the Roof."...

<p>Justice Dept demanding records on liberal Internet site that lists delegates to Republican National Convention... Developing...</p>

Ryan Sager of the NY Post editorial board is posting quite a few interesting pictures of protests in NYC that you might otherwise not see in the MSM... an example: Take a look at his very entertaining blog at: http://www.rhsager.com/