Free Republic

When the Clintons last occupied the White House, Sidney Blumenthal cast himself in varied roles: speechwriter, in-house intellectual and press corps whisperer. Republicans added another, accusing Mr. Blumenthal of spreading gossip to discredit Republican investigators, and forced him to testify during President Bill Clinton’s impeachment trial. Now, as Hillary Rodham Clinton embarks on her second presidential bid, Mr. Blumenthal’s service to the Clintons is again under the spotlight. Representative Trey Gowdy of South Carolina, a Republican who is leading the congressional committee investigating the 2012 attacks in Benghazi, Libya, plans to subpoena Mr. Blumenthal, 66, for a private transcribed interview....

Here is the uncomfortable question every Republican senator must ask: at what point is it more of a liability than an asset to have Mitch McConnell serving as Majority Leader instead of Harry Reid? At what point do you bench the player who grounds out into a double play every time he comes to the plate? He [McConnell] has now decided to shut off all debate and join Democrats in blocking Senator Rubio’s (R-FL) amendment, which would have forced Iran to recognize Israel’s right to exist. As we’ve noted, McConnell is not only committed to passing bills supported by Democrats,...

Barry Soetoro or Barack Hussein Obama, or whomever this obscure character is, I chose to call him out on everything he has done to destroy our nation For the past seven years, maybe a little more, since back at the time when the 2008 presidential elections were reaching their peak of political controversy upon the unsightly possibility that a quisling candidate with a dubious pedigree by the name of Barack Hussein Obama, threatened to become the next president of the United States of America, I forewarned the world, especially the American people, of the magnanimous menace this enigmatic man represented...

Just in. I am looking at a picture of the WTC with smoke pouring out of the western tower. Looks like a huge amount of damage. Debris raining down on people in the street.

Hillary Clinton is ready to run on President Obama’s record when it comes to the economy. Clinton allies say that if the former secretary of State does in fact announce a second bid for the presidency this year, they expect that she’ll tether herself to a main slice of Obama’s legacy. A series of economic reports including Friday’s positive jobs numbers is adding to Democratic confidence that the economy will finally be a winner for Obama in his last two years in office, and that it will help the Democratic White House candidate in 2016. But even as Clinton embraces...

Uploaded on Dec 13, 2011 Country music recording artist Dwayne O'Brien performed his song "We Remember" (available on the CD "Song Pilot" at www.flightsongrecords.mybigcommerce.com) at the annual convention of the International Council of Air Shows last December in Las Vegas, Nevada. And he produced this video to be projected on the screens behind him while he sang. We hope that you'll share this link widely with friends and family who appreciate America's aviation legacy and all that our country's airborne warriors have done to defend our country. Many thanks to Dwayne O'Brien for both performing his wonderful song and producing...

WASHINGTON — The Obama legacy wasn't supposed to unfold this way. Barack Obama was changing the political map, pushing the Democratic Party into the South and the Mountain West. He was building a new social network that would endure long after an Obama presidency. And he was building a new Democratic coalition for a new age, with greater turnout from young and minority voters. Today, those ambitions are in tatters. Obama's once-vaunted team wound up doing little more than electing him twice. Without Obama on the ticket, Republicans not only soared in 2010 congressional elections, but scored victories broad and...

HONOLULU (AP) - Two Honolulu city councilmen have dropped plans to rename a popular beach for President Barack Obama. The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reports Councilman Stanley Chang and Council Chairman Ernie Martin decided to withdraw the proposal after hearing from the public.

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday returns to work to face a rich and varied docket, including cases on First Amendment rights in the digital age, religious freedom behind bars and the status of Jerusalem. Those cases are colorful and consequential, but there are much bigger ones on the horizon. “I’m more excited about the next 12 months at the Supreme Court than about any Supreme Court term in its modern history,” said Thomas C. Goldstein, who argues frequently before the court and is the publisher of Scotusblog. In the coming weeks, the justices will most likely agree to...

Editor's note: this piece was coauthored by Hagelin's daughter, Kristin Carey. If you could take any aspect from the family you grew up in and bring it into the family you have created, what would it be? A certain holiday tradition? The way your home was always filled with visitors? The friendship and affection your parents had for each other? Or maybe even the tough, but refining love they showed you?What would you obliterate, if you could? The alcoholism? The sting of abandonment? Strict rules and unfair punishment? Short tempers?Your answers to these questions may reveal more than you think. Even...

Back during the 2008 presidential campaign a lot of conservatives predicted that if Obama were elected president his administration would amount to Jimmy Carter’s second term. Little did anyone at the time realize just how prescient those predictions turned out to be. After all, it was Jimmy Carter that enabled Islamic fundamentalism to take root in Iran through his support in deposing Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. It’s very likely true that the Shah was a son-of-a-gun that established SAVAK, a secret police force that brutally suppressed any political opposition against the regime. But in point of fact, he was our...

President Barack Obama is gathering nearly 50 African heads of state in Washington for an unprecedented summit aimed in part at building his legacy on a continent where his commitment has been questioned. From the start of his presidency, Obama has faced sky-high expectations from African leaders and U.S. policymakers who hoped the son of a Kenyan would bump Africa up the White House list of foreign policy priorities. Unlike his predecessor George W. Bush, who launched a $15 billion program to address HIV and AIDS, Obama seemed to be lacking a signature Africa initiative. And his administration's focus turned...

Forty-five years ago, there was a day like few others that rallied Americans and changed America forever. Yet I could find but one or two news stories about that momentous occasion and triumph. Do you remember what it was? It's the type of event that America needs now, maybe more than ever before. If you're old enough, you remember July 20, 1969, when 123 million of roughly 200 million Americans were riveted to their televisions, watching astronaut Neil Armstrong 240,000 miles from Earth. As he stepped off the Eagle -- the lunar landing module -- to become the first human...

Remembering back to any high school US history class, we can all recall hearing about the doctrines of various presidents. A doctrine would be the pattern of actions that came to define a given administration. The history of doctrines tends to remember presidents by their aggressive foreign policy stances, such as the Monroe Doctrine towards European colonization efforts in the Americas or the Reagan Doctrine of pushing back Soviet influence around the world. President Obama, on the other hand, will likely not be remembered for any significant foreign policy achievements. Instead, unfortunately, when Americans think of the Obama Doctrine,...

"Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing." ––Abraham Lincoln The 149th anniversary of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln provides an appropriate opportunity to appreciate the character of the man beyond the customary veneration afforded by his memorials in statuary, currency and the names of thousands of streets and commercial institutions. He was, in his own words, “the real thing.” This was a man of humble origins whose determination and perseverance led him to the highest office in the land. At no point in...

President Obama is under pressure from all sides to announce major reforms to the National Security Agency on Friday. Privacy and civil liberties groups as well as lawmakers on the left have urged for a wholesale termination of much of the government’s snooping. Silicon Valley, home to some of Obama’s biggest supports, is also pressing for change. So are foreign leaders, rankled by the notion that their ally might be spying on them. The calls for reforms put Obama in a tough spot give his administration’s insistence that the NSA’s efforts are critical for national security. While Obama is sure...

As noted by Mark Levin on his radio show yesterday, Nelson Mandela could have easily become a dictator-for-life in South Africa... yet he ultimately resisted, unlike what you hear from the American left re. Obama 3rd term (Heaven forbid). Mandela seemed to have understood the value of a (another) smooth transition of power, making clear he was 'no messiah'... He also didn't get into the heavy redistributionist themes seen in other socialist basket cases throughout sub-Saharan Africa, as well as from the ANC commie morons that proceeded Mandela in Pretoria (and who have driven the country into the ground).  According...

**SNIP** While raising money for House Democrats in Boston Wednesday night, the president said the minority leader from California “has just constantly surprised me by just how good, how tough, how visionary and how committed she is, and dedicated to the well-being of not just her own constituents but the American people.” Less publicly he’s described Pelosi as “tough as nails,” confiding his respect for her ability to corral votes in her conference, even when some of her Democratic members initially feel less than united.

Nobel prize-winning writer claimed just before his death that leader was helping nation rediscover what it was to be Russian Four months before his death Alexander Solzhenitsyn offered qualified praise for Vladimir Putin, arguing that he was doing a better job as Russia's leader than Boris Yeltsin or Mikhail Gorbachev. The US ambassador, William Burns, visited Solzhenitsyn in April 2008 at his dacha outside Moscow. He then sent a cable to Washington giving his impressions of the Nobel-prize winning writer who was exiled from the Soviet Union in 1974 and returned to Russia 20 years later.

  Above: La Raza protesters hijacking MLK's legacy for a cause he would vehemently oppose, said his top aide and speechwriter.- by John HillStand With Arizona As the nation recognizes the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King's I Have A Dream speech, advocates for illegal aliens have attempted to hijack the legacy of MLK in order to attack the new law. Janet Murguia of the National Council of La Raza ("The Race"), speaking at the Realize the Dream March and Rally days before the 50th anniversary of King's speech, Murguia said, "We march so that everyone knows that true...