Free Republic

They say you shouldn’t live in the past. But they said that before they saw this trove of amazing-borderline-janky Obama kitsch in the form of wristwatches that just resurfaced on the web. Anyway, we thought it prudent you know about this ASAP, before all the good “Llamas for Obama” watches get snapped up. As the story goes, the very reputable-sounding webshop ObamaWatches.com churned out dozens upon dozens of commemorative watches throughout Barack Obama’s two presidential campaigns—three of which are enshrined in the Smithsonian, no less—and since they’ve still got a few tickers left over from that wild 2008-2016 ride, they’ve...

In a segment this morning discussing the breaking news that a panel of judges on the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia unanimously ruled that some of President Obama's recess appointments had been made in an unconstitutional manner, MSNBC's Thomas Roberts turned to network contributor and former Democratic Senate staffer Jimmy Williams for his reaction. Williams conceded the the court had ruled correctly, but rather than chiding the president for violating his oath of office with unconstitutional appointments, he blamed Senate Republicans for driving Mr. Obama to do so. For his part, Roberts agreed, mumbling "mm hmm" in...

A few years back, in the early 2000s to be exact, my son was writing for a tiny monthly independent newspaper in Fort Collins, Colorado.  The tilt of the outlet was decidedly left, but nevertheless the paper was its own self-contained entity and answered to no one but its own publisher.  David told me several times during his early journalistic days that the greatest danger the country was facing was the growing corporate centralization of news control.  From twenty-four or so corporations that once owned news media outlets, the number had shrunken to seven, he told me.  At the moment, I can...

Do They Really Support Israel? Ask Michele Bachmann, Tim Pawlenty, Mitt Romney, etc. U.N. to 'Debate' Seizing Jerusalem on July 11th, 26thWASHINGTON, July 6, 2011 /Christian Newswire/ -- Here's the pro-Israel litmus test question YOU should ask Republican Presidential candidates Michele Bachmann, Tim Pawlenty, Mitt Romney: "Will you make a major campaign speech supporting H.R. 297 before July 26th?" Yes or No. Question for Rick Perry, Sarah Palin, Rick Santorum, Jon Huntsman, Herman Cain, Gary Johnson, Ron Paul, Newt Gingrich, Thad McCotter: "Will you publicly campaign to de-fund the U.N. if they seize East Jerusalem from Israel this September?" Congressman...

Remember how the vocal elements among the left-wing media were all too eager to exploit disagreements between prominent conservatives? There were comments Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele made about Rush Limbaugh earlier this year and the back-and-forth between former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and former GOP vice-presidential nominee and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. These and other overblown instances were offered as anecdotal evidence there was a divide in the Republican Party and/or conservative movement by MSNBC personalities and sometimes by even more mainstream media types like George Stephanopoulos. ...more (w/video)...

Living in between the two purist partisan camps means being willing to go out of the way to both criticize the President when he deserves it and to compliment him when he deserves it.Today, President Obama appears to have taken a small but important step towards fulfilling his central campaign promise of a post-partisan governing style:  An Obama administration spokesman has explicitly stated the President’s opposition to the reimposition of the so-called “fairness doctrine”.The doctrine was a requirement that any radio station that included political programing would be required to provide “equal time” for both sides.  This seemingly simple requirement...

Matt Lasar of Ars tells us not to worry about the Fairness Doctrine being revived, only to go on and cite several lawmakers who have said they’d like to revive it. Meanwhile, over at the American Spectator, somebody called “The Prowler” seems to have all sorts of unnamed sources on the Hill telling him the Fairness Doctrine will be revived any day now.Who knows what to believe. But let’s keep our eye on the real issue here. The danger is not that the Fairness Doctrine gets back on the books in the same form; it’s that versions of it sneak...

It is easy to forget how things were just a short one year ago, let alone 4 years ago. Promises are forgotten, statistics become fuzzy. Introducing, Obama Watch!! This is a collection of economic vitals and a list of key campaign promises designed to fix our ailing nation. This will be updated on a per-need basis to reflect the most up to date tracking. All data is as of January 20th, 2009 EOD unless stated otherwise.

Thank You, Chris Wallace By Sam Graham-Felsen - Mar 21st, 2008 at 12:59 pm EDT On Fox and Friends this morning, hosts Steve Doocy, Brian Kilmeade, and Gretchen Carlson spent multiple segments sensationalizing a comment Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) made yesterday... When the trio welcomed Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace onto the show, instead of previewing his show this weekend, Wallace announced that he was going to take his fellow Fox hosts “to task” for their “excessive” and “somewhat distorting” coverage of what Obama said... We appreciate Chris Wallace for doing his job as a tough but fair journalist...

WASHINGTON -- Hoping to prod Barack Obama into appearing on its show, "Fox News Sunday" launched the "Obama Watch," a weekly update on the number of days the Democratic presidential candidate has failed to appear on the program. Host Chris Wallace said Sunday that Obama promised him in March 2006 that he would appear, but the Illinois senator has since demurred. Since then, New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Obama's rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, has been a guest at least twice since then, and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the likely Republican nominee for president, has shown up at...

Fox launches 'Obama Watch' Chris Wallace told me last December that the Democratic candidates were "damn fools" for refusing to debate on Fox, and that Barack Obama — unlike Hillary and, famously, Bill Clinton — declined requests to appear on "Fox News Sunday." This morning, Wallace launched the "Obama Watch." Showing perfect News Corp. synergy, Obama was displayed in split screen a la "24," with the ticking time clock at 730 days, 13 hours, 53 minutes and 9 seconds. And counting. That number dates to May 2006, when Wallace said Obama first agreed to a face-to-face interview on "Fox News...