Free Republic

The passing of President Gerald Ford is a reminder that the Republican Party was once led by political moderates who have now been replaced by members of the radical right (read that as "neocons") and evangelicals. Ford, who had served as House Republican leader, vice president and president, understood that politics is the art of compromise. He had many friends on the opposite side of the political aisle who heartily supported his nomination to be Richard M. Nixon's vice president when Spiro Agnew was forced to step down in 1973 amid bribery allegations. That doesn't mean Ford was not a...

Fearless White House correspondent Helen Thomas has covered nine presidents, and says Bush is undoubtedly the worst. It was the talk of the blogosphere: As part of Stephen Colbert's eviscerating roast of President Bush at the annual White House Correspondents' Association Dinner in April -- wonkish Washington's equivalent of the Oscars -- he showed a hilarious video that was supposedly an "audition" for the job of White House press secretary. His costar in the satiric short: none other than the octogenarian doyenne of White House correspondents, Helen Thomas. Using actual TV footage of the White House press corps, Colbert (of...

Say it isn't so. Hawkish Henry Kissinger is advising President George W. Bush about Iraq war strategy? This is deja vu all over again. The former secretary of state -- who served in that job from 1973 to 1979 and previously from 1969 as national security affairs adviser -- inspires too many bad memories of the Vietnam War. I remember when Kissinger came into the White House press room in 1972, just before the presidential election and announced "peace is at hand." Three years later, we fled Saigon by our fingertips. Who can forget the pictures of refugees piling into...

And you thought it was too much to hope for, but you were wrong! That's right, tonight and tonight only, you can spend time in the company of the sassy and inimitable doyenne of the White House press corps. Here are the details: Presidential Politics: Pundits, Personalities, and the People Monday September 25 at 7:00 pm A Free Panel Discussion offered in conjunction with our fall production STATE OF THE UNION moderated by Bob Schieffer, Host, CBS, Face the Nation with Helen Thomas, White House Correspondent, Hearst Newspaper and other panelists to be announced Ford’s Theatre 511 Tenth Street, NW...