Free Republic

The successor to President George W. Bush has a clear-cut choice of saving lives or saving face. Bush wants to leave to the next president the burden of ending the debacle he started five years ago when he ordered the invasion of Iraq under false pretenses, against a people who had done us no harm. Bush cannot explain his reasons for the war without compounding his folly. To this moment, Bush has not given a logical explanation for his disastrous militarism. How can he tell American families that their sons and daughters died for a terrible, tragic mistake committed by...

How strange is this? The nation’s chief law enforcement officer cannot say whether “waterboarding” is illegal. At a recent Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Attorney General Michael Mukasey acknowledged under questioning that he would feel tortured if he were waterboarded, but he staunchly refused to say whether it was illegal. A heinous technique dating back to the Spanish Inquisition, waterboarding involves strapping a prisoner down and pouring water over his cloth-covered face to create a sensation of imminent drowning. Mukasey -- whose confirmation for the Cabinet post was championed by two Democrats, Sens. Charles Schumer of New York and Dianne Feinstein...

Helen Thomas chatted with young [National Press] Club members over breakfast March 13 and with characteristic bluntness dismissed President George W. Bush as a chief executive who has made little contribution. The legendary White House correspondent, who has covered every president since John Kennedy, was acerbically critical of the Democratic Congressional leadership as well. Even at this stage in her long career, Thomas, now a syndicated columnist for Hearst, pointed out that she still depends for information on other journalists. “I’m reading newspapers every day like you are. And as eager as she was to take questions, Thomas was just...

If there is one federal agency that should always be squeaky clean, it is the Justice Department. But under Attorney General Alberto Gonzales -- the nation's chief law enforcement officer -- an embarrassing stench has arisen in the department because of the firing of eight U.S. attorneys. Some irate Democratic lawmakers -- especially Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. -- are calling for his resignation for what smacks of politicization of the Justice Department. Gonzales took responsibility for mistakes that were made but insisted that he would not resign. He told a news conference Tuesday that the firings were the right decision....

TO: White House Correspondents' Association RE: White House Briefing Room DATE: March 16, 2007 The White House Correspondents' Association met today to review plans for the renovated West Wing Briefing Room and the seating assignments. The new briefing room will consist of 49 seats: 7 rows and 7 seats per row. In the old briefing room, we had 8 rows and 6 seats per row. This new configuration required us to make several adjustments to the seating arrangement, which is a White House Correspondents' Association responsibility. As a board, we decided to move CNN to the first row. This decision...

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...

NEW YORK -- Like so many women, Suzanne Holstein, a schoolteacher and mother of two, has had her struggles balancing motherhood and career. So she was sympathetic when she heard that ABC anchor Elizabeth Vargas, a woman she admires, was stepping down from her prestigious evening-news perch to focus on her growing family. And yet, like many women across the country, Holstein is not only a little disappointed by Vargas' move, but a little suspicious. "I can't believe that a woman who's worked so hard to get where she is would just resign like that," says Holstein, 39. "I think...

OK Gang! I just saw Rudy Bakhtiar reporting on FoxNews.Anyone know when she made the jump from the ClintonNewsNetwork and why?FoxNewsBabe dominance over CNN continues....Oh, and see the obligatory FR rules photo below...

For all those people who drool over the babes at Fox, check out the number one reason young (and old) Frenchmen (and perhaps French lesbians) are well informed.