Free Republic

NEW YORK - Madison Avenue had unwelcome news for John Kerry's campaign yesterday as advertising executives said Bruce Springsteen, who is campaigning with the Democratic presidential hopeful, turns away more votes than he attracts. The campaign trails have begun to look like Hollywood Boulevard as both presidential candidates inject star power into their campaigns, with Terminator star Arnold Schwarzenegger appearing with George W. Bush in Columbus, Ohio, yesterday. While many stars have spoken out about their presidential preference, with most opting for Mr. Kerry, a major ad industry study shows most voters prefer candidates who keep their distance from Hollywood....

Rep. Stehpanie Herseth (D-SD) said on 10/27 in a televised debate that she would vote for President George W. Bush if her vote was needed to break an electoral college deadlock. Herseth made the comment in a debate with ex-state Senator Larry Diedrich.She was asked by a reporter how she would vote if neither Bush or Kerry won the election outright. Herseth said she would be guided by South Dakota voters, who are projected to vote for President Bush by a wide margin.'I represent South Dakota, and I'm goping to put South Dakota first.' (ahead of my party)

  Former Vice President Al Gore gestures while discussing the Bush presidency during an address at Georgetown University in Washington, Monday, Oct. 18, 2004. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Patrick Buchanan, the conservative commentator whose Republican primary challenge and divisive convention speech weakened the first President Bush's campaign for re-election in 1992, is publishing a book excoriating the second President Bush over the invasion of Iraq, just in time to grab a share of the limelight at another Republican convention. In Where the Right Went Wrong, released late last week, Buchanan calls the invasion of Iraq "the greatest strategic blunder in 40 years, a mistake more costly than Vietnam. If prudence is the mark of a conservative, Mr. Bush has ceased to be a conservative," Buchanan wrote. The release...

For much of my life I have grappled with my identity, who I am. As a young child, I wasn’t at all ambivalent about myself, and this lack of ambivalence left me confused.Thinking that I was doing the right thing, I have not spoken about this subject. I imposed the politically correct reality unto myself, a reality which is layered with all the “good things” and “right things”, including not saying down at the pub that you fancy a gorgeous woman seated across the room and question the law of gravity in reference to her bodacious tatas. These include not...

Plates Killed By ‘Friend’ Hold onto your hats...it was Senator Tom McClintock who spoke against the bill that would allow Choose-Life Plates and had it killed in the Senate Transportation Committee on June 29! Yes, the same McClintock, whose staff referred to him as the “most pro-life Rep in Sacramento!” when I called. Really? Senator Kevin Murray (plates foe) actually stated he was going to abstain from voting and “just let the Committee decide”, which he did. It was McClintock who got into heavy debate with Senator James Brulte (defending the plate’s bill) and McClintock who led the charge against...

HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. -- Joe Gibbs Racing released Michael McSwain from his duties as crew chief of the No. 18 Interstate Batteries Chevrolet in the NASCAR Nextel Series. McSwain joined Joe Gibbs Racing in December 2002 and served as Bobby Labonte's crew chief for the 2003 season and the first 18 races of the 2004 season. "Over the past two years, Michael McSwain has worked extremely hard for Joe Gibbs Racing," J.D. Gibbs, president of JGR, said. "This was a difficult decision, but it was time to go in a different direction. We appreciate all that he has done for the...

Dear Mr. President, I am graduating from college after a fair amount of sacrifice and struggle. I go to Portland State University, a fine institution that has done a lot for me, and I have attempted to do as much as possible for it. When I began, I felt so optimistic about the changes that I was seeing all around me. It was a time of great purpose and I felt a calling to serve my community in a way that I had never felt before. It was an exciting time. Don't get me wrong, Mr. President, I have not...

French President won't go casually to the G8 By Henry Samuel in Paris (Filed: 11/06/2004) President Jacques Chirac's reluctance to adopt the casual dress code at the G8 summit has been seized on in France as a new way of saying non. He was the only leader in the early meetings to wear a tie despite the oppressive heat and humidity. Tony Blair had an open collar and rolled up shirtsleeves and Chancellor Gerhard Schröder donned a tennis shirt as temperatures soared into the high 80s. Mr Chirac stuck to a grey suit, white shirt and red tie. "Behind this...

Sudan and other human rights defenders.AMONG THE COSTS of the Abu Ghraib scandal is the harm it does to America's standing as a champion of human rights--and the distraction it creates, in international circles, from the misdeeds of truly heinous regimes. "Whenever the United States raises a criticism of somebody else, this is immediately what will be thrown back in your face," says Paul Marshall, a senior fellow at Freedom House. "You get this sort of rank, stinking hypocrisy."Sure enough, America took a tongue-lashing at the annual meeting of the U.N. Human Rights Commission in Geneva, still in session as...

1970's songbird Linda Ronstadt, best known for her torch song-style and mellow ballads, is working overtime these days trying to persuade her fellow Arizonans that it's time to dump President Bush "right away." In an interview broadcast on Saturday, Ronstadt was in the middle of explaining to WABC Radio's Mark Simone why she prefers living in Arizona to Los Angeles or New York, when she added one caveat. "The politics are very conservative here and I'm not conservative. I'm having a hard time sometimes convincing people that we need to vote for a new president," she offered. When Simone begged...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Actor Tony Randall has a fantasy: when he dies President Bush and Vice President Cheney show up to pay their respects but they're turned away - because his family knows he didn't like them. Feeling his own mortality while suffering a cold, Randall, 83, made his remarks as the National Funeral Directors Association announced a new code of ethics for its members, beginning in 2004. Funerals should be planned as a celebration of life and "a touch of humor doesn't hurt a bit," Randall said. A comedian, Randall is best known for his role as Felix Unger...

Most liberty-loving Americans consider Franklin D. Roosevelt the single worst president of the 20th century, even with stiff competition from the likes of Woodrow Wilson and Lyndon Johnson. FDR was perhaps the most openly socialist leader ever to occupy the White House, and his policies reflected a firm belief that government should control business and redistribute wealth. His New Deal programs dramatically increased both the size and scope of the federal government, fundamentally changing (for the worse) the nation’s perception of the proper role for government in our society. Contrary to popular myth, Roosevelt helped cause the Great Depression through...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Rosie O'Donnell married her longtime girlfriend Thursday, taking what she called a proud stand for gay civil rights in the city where more than 3,300 other same-sex couples have tied the knot since Feb. 12. "I want to thank the city of San Francisco for this amazing stance the mayor has taken for all the people here, not just us but all the thousands and thousands of loving, law-abiding couples," the former talk show host, holding a large bouquet of purple and yellow flowers, said after she and Kelli Carpenter emerged from their brief ceremony inside...

American presidential campaigns seem to go on forever. It seems like years, not months, that the nine Democratic contenders have been racing for the nomination. I have some liberal, anti-Bush sparring partners, passionate news and blogosphere junkies whose e-mails keep me abreast of the Left's self-deluding fantasies of success for the Democrats in 2004. Last month one was gloating because Al Franken's anti-Republican Lies and The Lying Liars Who Tell Them, had become a best-seller. This was apparently a sign that in 2004 Bush would be swept from office by irate Americans fed up with the "fascist" policies of his...

Saddam’s Capture Means Trouble for U.S. Officials by Jacob G. Hornberger Special to the NNPA from The Future of Freedom Forum Originally posted 12/16/2003 News Analysis FAIRFAX, Va. (NNPA)-In his official statement celebrating the capture of Saddam Hussein, President Bush announced that “the former dictator of Iraq will face the justice he denied to millions.” Notably lacking from the president’s statement, however, was whether the U.S. government would agree to relinquish control over Hussein’s trial to the Iraqi government or to an international tribunal consisting of independent judges. Why wouldn’t U.S. officials readily agree to relinquish jurisdiction over Hussein’s...

PARIS (AP) -- Poachers shoot them. Smugglers sell their babies as exotic pets. Illegal loggers wipe out the rain forests where they live. And civil wars drive them away. The great apes -- gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos and orangutans -- are in great danger, the United Nations says. On Friday, the U.N.'s environment and cultural agencies closed a meeting in Paris on how to protect the closest relative to humans in the animal world. The talks in Paris drew representatives from 18 countries for what organizers said was the most wide-ranging meeting ever on endangered great apes. Over three days, they...

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Nov 28, 2003 (AP WorldStream via COMTEX) -- A day after U.S. President George W. Bush made a surprise trip to Baghdad, U.S. senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Jack Reed flew in Friday, saying it isn't too late to bring the United Nations back to Iraq. The senators said the administration of Iraq - a huge expense - should be spread among a wider group of nations. "I'm a big believer that we ought to internationalize this, but it will take a big change in our administration's thinking," said Clinton, a Democrat from New York. "I don't see...

Fate of the Democrats Posted: November 19, 20031:00 a.m. Eastern © 2003 WorldNetDaily.com Last week marked a huge burst of activity from the United States Congress. Not only did Senate Majority Leader Frist lead his Republican colleagues in an excellent exposing of Democratic obstructionism on judicial nominees, but conference committees finished work on two major pieces of legislation. House and Senate negotiators finished work on a major energy bill and on a Medicare-reform bill that includes a prescription-drug benefit. The energy bill contains some traditional pork, but it also authorizes the construction of a new and much needed Alaska natural gas pipeline....

22 October – The United Nations is owed so much in regular dues that it has had to borrow from its peacekeeping account, though that was not fully paid up either, to cover its bills in October and was likely to have to borrow up to $125 million in November, a senior UN manager said. Under-Secretary-General for Management Catherine Bertini told the General Assembly's Administrative and Budgetary Committee on Tuesday that unpaid regular budget assessments from 78 countries totalled $693 million, while the arrears for peacekeeping was $1.56 billion. "The financial stability of the organization is under pressure," she said....