Free Republic

Obama Supporters on the Far Left Cry Foul By WILLIAM YARDLEY PORTLAND, Ore. — In the breathless weeks before the Oregon presidential primary in May, Martha Shade did what thousands of other people here did: she registered as a Democrat so she could vote for Senator Barack Obama. Now, however, after critics have accused Mr. Obama of shifting positions on issues like the war in Iraq, the Bush administration’s program of wiretapping without warrants, gun control and the death penalty — all in what some view as a shameless play to a general election audience — Ms. Shade said she...

For those voters who think Ralph Nader and Bob Barr are too conventional, the Green Party this weekend named former Rep. Cynthia McKinney, D-Georgia, its 2008 presidential nominee. At the Green Party's nominating convention Saturday in at the Chicago Symphony Center, McKinney received 313 out of 532 votes cast in the first round of balloting. "I am asking you to vote your conscience, vote your dreams, vote your future, vote Green," McKinney told the convention's 800 or so attendees. "A vote for the Green Party is a vote for the movement that will turn this country right-side-up again." McKinney, a...

In the breathless weeks before the Oregon presidential primary in May, Martha Shade did what thousands of other people here did: she registered as a Democrat so she could vote for Senator Barack Obama. Now, however, after critics have accused Mr. Obama of shifting positions on issues like the war in Iraq, the Bush administration’s program of wiretapping without warrants, gun control and the death penalty — all in what some view as a shameless play to a general election audience — Ms. Shade said she planned to switch back to the Green Party. “I’m disgusted with him,” said Ms....

The Democratic nominee's policy pivots are causing anguish among liberals. He is no fool Change, it turns out, wasn't all that it was cracked up to be. Having campaigned for the past year as the agent of transformation, the man who would lead an historic shift in America's political direction, Barack Obama is discovering that there is quite a lot he likes about the way things are. Since securing the Democratic nomination a few weeks ago, the only change coming from the Illinois senator has been in what he seems to stand for. Last month he dropped his opposition to...

Last Friday afternoon, the guests taking part in Sunday's roundtable discussion on This Week had a pre-show call with George Stephanopoulos. One of the topics he raised was Obama's perceived move to the center, and what it means. Thus began my weekend obsession. If you were within shouting distance of me, odds are we talked about it. I talked about it over lunch with HuffPost's DC team, over dinner with friends, with the doorman at the hotel, and the driver on the way to the airport. As part of this process, I looked at the Obama campaign not through the...

At the "Take Back America" conference, participants are divided about how superdelegates should participate at the convention.When the movers and shakers of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party got together in Washington last year for their annual conference, attendees were stunned by breaking news: New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg had just announced he would shed his GOP registration. Many lamented that the mayor appeared on a path to a third-party presidential run and would create a Ralph Nader spoiler scenario again for Dems in 2008.The Bloomberg fear has passed—he's since stopped making noise about a run. And today the...

Court strikes staggering blow to free speech TACOMA—In a stunning blow to teachers and other union workers, Washington’s Court of Appeals ruled yesterday that the state law prohibiting unauthorized use of non-member union fees for politics is unconstitutional. The case was on appeal after the Washington Education Association (WEA) was sued by the state Attorney General (AG) and found guilty in July 2001 of willfully violating RCW 42.17.760, which prohibits the union from using fees taken from non-member teachers to advance political causes without permission from those teachers. The WEA was ordered to pay $570,000 dollars in fines and penalties...