Free Republic

<snip> There are plenty of reasons to be perturbed when loons and hate-mongers support a candidacy. But this game of guilt-by-association can be played endlessly. I tend to place greater emphasis on loons and hate-mongers that candidates actively seek out. Pat Robertson is a loon and an anti-Semite and a vicious homophobe who blamed Americans for 9/11. Giuliani didn't receive some unsolicited money from him; he actually stood on a platform and embraced him. Why one standard for Paul and another for Giuliani? If Obama embraced Louis Farrakhan as a supporter, you think Goldfarb and Kirchick would be silent? They'd...

Eliminate Primary Elections The best way to greatly reduce the influence of big money in American politics is to eliminate the primary elections. Choosing nominees in primary elections was invented as a reform to get away from those famous "smoke-filled backrooms." That was a reference to the old political machines, which were active in most large American cities. They often played a major role in choosing nominees. As often happens with reforms, the reform has produced a greater problem than the one it was intended to solve. It's true that money is the mother's milk of politics, but it is...

MANCHESTER (AP) — At a campaign stop in Manchester yesterday, Democratic Presidential hopeful John Kerry told an audience of college students he opposes federal prosecutions in medical marijuana cases in states that have legalized the practice, pledging to reverse Bush administration policy on the issue. More broadly, he said he wanted to wait for the completion of a study to see what other alternatives might be available to medical marijuana before deciding whether to legalize it in all states. Asked whether he would repeal federal law that denies federal student loan assistance for individuals convicted of drug offenses, he said...