Free Republic

Joe Biden is being portrayed as the Democrats’ safest potential presidential nominee, despite his obvious flaws as a candidate. But one wonders how Biden’s history of swamp corruption will play if he actually faces the scrutiny of a national run. Biden’s family has gotten wealthy, like those of so many low-paid “public servants”–Tom Daschle and Harry Reid are obvious examples. How does that happen? Politico headlines: “Biden Inc. Over his decades in office, ‘Middle-Class Joe’s’ family fortunes have closely tracked his political career.” It begins:

At the time, I puzzled over why this happened. I think the most likely explanation is that in the middle of a presidential term, when pollsters ask voters whether they approve or disapprove of a president, respondents are comparing the president to a theoretical alternative. If it is easy to imagine how a president might be better, or more in accord with a voter’s own views, the respondent is likely to tell the pollster that he disapproves. This changes once the president is running against a specific opponent. Now, a voter who is asked whether he approves or disapproves of...

Lots of deserved recollections on the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing over the last few weeks and months. There’s not much need to repeat the main themes of the scientific marvel or adventurous spirit of that glorious enterprise. Some political aspects of Apollo, however, have not received sufficient attention. Specifically, the liberal attitude toward the moon landing is emblematic of how American liberalism had lost confidence in itself and sunk into its guilt phase from which it has never emerged. As befits our woeful woke era, there has been a lot of comment about the lack of “diversity”...

As Paul noted last night, Democrats (and some Republicans) turned John McCain’s funeral into an orgy of Trump-bashing. Evidently they thought it made political sense. It reminds me of another politicized funeral, 16 years ago. In the fall of 2002, Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone was running for re-election against Norm Coleman. Tim Pawlenty was running his first race for Governor. And, of course, it was the first midterm election of George W. Bush’s presidency. In the last days of the campaign, Wellstone’s campaign airplane crashed in northern Minnesota, killing Wellstone and a number of others. Former Vice-President Walter Mondale was...

Why did Susan Rice send herself an email purporting to document this part of the meeting? Because she was C’ing her own A. Rice was nervous about the fact that, at the president’s direction, she had failed to “share information fully as it relates to Russia” with President Trump’s incoming national security team. This violated longstanding American tradition. Outgoing administrations have always cooperated in the transition to a new administration, whether of the same or the opposing party, especially on matters relating to national security. Susan Rice is far from the brightest bulb on the tree, but she was well...

All were from Troop 620 in Hallsville and wore personal flotation devices. Lightfoot says the catamaran was on fire, with sails up, when game wardens arrived. Lightfoot says the preliminary investigation indicates the sailboat came in contact with the power line.

Anyone happen to know what this thing is?

Sixteen people died this morning when a large hot air balloon struck a high-voltage power line, caught fire and crashed in a pasture near Lockhart, Texas, according to Texas authorities and the Federal Aviation Administration said.

One thing George W. Bush got right: the Islamic Republic of Iran is an evil regime. It seems an elementary point. It seems obvious. The regime is responsible for the murder and disfigurement of many Americans. It is the proud supporter of terrorist organizations including but not limited to Hamas and Hezbollah. It is itself a tyrannical, murderous, terrorist regime. Yet President Obama is operating on a theory of international relations that has enriched and empowered the regime. Iran took at least $100 billion as the downpayment for its professed support for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. The JCPOA...

RUSH: Angelo Codevilla and Trump. As you know, Mr. Codevilla is a renowned academic and has served as special advisor to various Senate committees. He has written a piece that actually became a book on "the ruling class," his term to describe the Washington establishment, but it's not limited to Washington. It really is the political establishment that compromises members of both parties, and instead of calling them the establishment, he called them "the ruling class" or "the political class." It was so well written, I read the whole thing on this program. It appeared in the American Spectator. He...

EIA's energy mapping system is a data-intensive visual reference tool that includes several map layers defining energy infrastructure components across the United States. Using this series of maps, viewers can see crude oil, petroleum, natural gas, or hydrocarbon gas liquid pipelines, terminals, and ports in their area, as well as high voltage electric transmission lines. The mapping system combines information from many government agencies as well as public and private sources. Understanding infrastructure components is helpful as energy supply and consumption patterns change. These map layers can be presented over several base layers with geographic, topographic, street, or satellite image...

Andrew Johnson of NRO reports that in 2002, as executive of Milwaukee County, Scott Walker signed a resolution that expressed support for “comprehensive immigration reform” that will “provide greater opportunity for undocumented working immigrants to obtain legal residency.” The author of the resolution says that Walker definitely supported it. Having signed it, he should be presumed to have supported, in any case. Will this news harm Walker’s chances of becoming the GOP presidential nominee? Standing alone, it shouldn’t. It’s one thing to sign a non-bonding resolution passed by the legislature in favor of “greater opportunity” for legal residency. It’s quite...

The finale of the Miss Universe pageant is a week from Sunday. It will be televised on NBC at 8 Eastern, 7 Central. We wrote about the pageant and previewed some of the contestants here. Miss Universe now easily eclipses Miss World as the leading international beauty pageant. It is on television, for one thing; it still has a swimsuit competition, for another. Also, Miss Universe promotes itself far more skillfully, perhaps because it is owned by Donald Trump. The main Miss Universe web site is here; the pageant’s YouTube feed is here; its Facebook page is here; its excellent...

John and Scott have commented on the indictment of Gov. Rick Perry. As they note, it fits a pattern of politically motivated indictments of prominent Texas Republicans. The Perry indictment also fits a pattern of harassment via the legal process of prominent Republican governors: Sarah Palin, Scott Walker, Chris Christie, and now Perry. What do these four have in common? Why, they all are (or were) potentially viable candidates for the national office. Invocation of the legal process against Christie may well be warranted. (So too with Bob McDonnell, whom I didn’t include in my list because, although once vaguely...

A major development occurred today in the scandal surrounding the Washington Post’s attempt to advance Democratic Party talking points by falsely linking Koch Industries to the Keystone Pipeline. In the unlikely event that you are not already familiar with the story, you should begin by reading this post and this one, as well as the one from last October where I dismantled the International Forum on Globalization report that was the basis for the Washington Post’s story of March 20. The facts, very briefly, are these: Koch Industries has no interest in the Keystone Pipeline; it has not lobbied in...

-snip- 24. Power Line From practically the day they sprang into existence, blogs have been denigrated as trivial, inaccurate, and derivative. Untrained writers could never match the accuracy and depth of newspapers and network news. Power Line, a scrappy right-wing blog, turned that perception on its ear when it took down one of old media’s most venerable figures: Dan Rather. In September 2004, Rather and CBS News aired an explosive story about George W. Bush’s service in the Texas Air National Guard. The report used military documents to show that Bush had received preferential treatment and performed poorly while failing...

Politico reports that Marco Rubio is prepared “to go all in to support sweeping immigration legislation, offering himself up as the public face of the bill.” This isn’t much a surprise. In all likelihood, Rubio has been prepared to be the front-man in the push for amnesty and path for citizenship for illegal aliens from the get-go. His sponsorship of reprehensible efforts to demonize critics of amnesty have shown him to be every bit as much of a ruthless pro-amnesty ideologue as Chuck Schumer, for whom he is fronting.

It is typical for politically-engaged people to note the weaknesses and defects of their own side, while overestimating the strength and prowess of their opponents. This is not a bad instinct, but sometimes it’s worth stepping back and trying to view the whole scene from a neutral perspective. It is possible a neutral or objective observer would conclude that the Left has just had about the worst month in longer than I can recall. First came the Sandra Fluke controversy. What looked like a well-staged triumph for the Left because of a rare overreach by Rush Limbaugh resulted instead in...

(edit)  A College Park man has been accused of attacking a motorist with a live power line knocked down by the Hurricane Irene.  According to authorities, on Sunday, August 28, 32-year-old Richard Bialczak tailed a man with his car and then got out and attacked him. Derek Edwards, 28, was driving home from work when Bialczak's car came up closely behind him.  Edwards said he tried to get away from Bialczak, but the suspect matched him turn for turn, until they reached Colesville Road in Silver Spring.  There, the victim encountered a downed power line, still charged with electricity, which...

On my radio show on Wednesday, January 19, Dick Morris flatly declared that Mitt Romney could not win the Republican nomination for president because of the health care plan Romney guided into law in Massachusetts in 2005. On the same day my friend and superb political analyst John Hinderaker of Powerline fame declared that it was over for Sarah Palin. “The time has come to put any thoughts of Sarah Palin running for President to rest,” John wrote.