Free Republic

It is this reporter's opinion that often behind a great man is the driving force of a great woman. Never was this truer than in the case of Kateryna Chumachenko Yushchenko, the American-raised wife of the newly elected leader of the Ukraine. This tough-minded, savvy businesswoman hails from Chicago; the daughter of an electrician and a seamstress, Kateryna grew up steeped in the traditions of her ancestral homeland. She graduated from Georgetown University and became known for her commitment to freewheeling capitalism. But Ukrainian democracy was the zeal of her life. During WWII, Kateryna's parents were forced to emigrate to...

National Review has found yet another reason to hate Trump, whom it has attacked relentlessly for over four years. It seems that among his multiple shortcomings, according to Frank Lavin, a supporter of Republican Voters Against Trump in 2020, Donald Trump was not the Gipper. In fact, he caused the Republican Party to deviate grievously from Reagan’s policies; and so it now behooves us to save the GOP by returning to the proven “conservative” teachings of the president whose approval ratings approached 70 percent shortly after leaving office. Lavin offers a study in contrast between the Gipper and Trump. In...

Do ya'll remember the Country Club Republicans? They held sway over the GOP for many years. East Coasters like Nelson Rockefeller and the Bushes. None of them liked Ronald Reagan, but we did. They did everything they could to side-line our dear Ronnie.True patriotic Republicans have had to put up with being dismissed by the Country-Clubbers, we were not hoity-toity enough for them. Or pro-choice enough for them.Then comes the TEA Party which embarrassed the crap out of them. The George Will's of the world denigrated us. The Karl Rove's of the world worked to displace us. But then Donald...

"John, basically, made it very clear that if he were an American he would vote for Reagan...."

Finally got to watch the final episode of Showtime's documentary on The Reagans. This time he's presented as a man who used the fools of the religious right as a voting and fundraising scheme by lying to them about wanting to repeal Roe v Wade. Not sure if that was a strategy he thought up on his own or if it was orchestrated by Nancy's astrologer, who also figures prominently in this episode. We also found out that he only approved of the Strategic Defense Initiative because it reminded him of a movie he was in and how one sentence...

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan makes the case for his version of the future of the national Republican Party in a video being released Monday by his national advocacy organization, An America United, as speculation continues to swirl about whether he will run for president in 2024. The video, first obtained by Fox News, is adapted from a speech Hogan gave on Nov. 16 at the Reagan Foundation. It comes at a time when, with President Trump having lost the presidential election but denying the results and saying that he might run again in 2024, the Republican Party is forced to...

You have to love South Dakota GOP Gov. Kristi Noem! She openly mocks Joe Biden with this tweet, after Biden promised Americans Government “help” is on the way. She uses a famous Reagan quote to do it – “I’m from the Government, and I’m here to help!” Video of President Reagan’s statement. . . .

This is the third part of a 4 part documentary on the life and times of Mr. and Mrs. Reagan. In this chapter they leave most but not all of the racism behind to show how he was a tool of industry, a union busting, regulation destroying corporate shill masquerading as a man of the people. And the people, of course, because they are stupid sheep who really need compassionate Democrats to lead them, ate it up and voted against their own self interest. They note how the Middle Class was destroyed, budget cuts were made at the expense of...

Ronald Reagan in great form

About 10 days ago I watched the first part of a 4 part series on the life and times of Ronald and Nancy Reagan and posted about it here. This is my review of part 2 of the series. While part 1 showed him as greagarious, loveable and a bit of a buffoon part 2 got downright nasty. He is portrayed as a racist who used code words to scare white people into voting for him to halt the black scourge sweeping America. He was the original dog whistler, though his son (who is the worst ingrate) said he never...

Nancy Reagan tried to cover up her use of an astrologer who dictated White House policy by telling the clairvoyant: 'Lie if you have to, just lie'. The former First Lady told Joan Quigley in their final conversation that 'you can't say anything', a new documentary reveals. Nancy was furious after her husband's chief of staff Don Regan told about Quigley's role in an explosive memoir and called her the Reagan administration's 'most closely guarded secret'. He revealed Nancy would call Quigley up to eight times a day and without her say so Air Force One would not take off...

A former California congressman who’s headed back to the House next year, compared President Trump’s additions to the Republican Party to those of Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan. “I believe that Donald Trump has added to the Republican Party just as Lincoln did and Reagan did and Goldwater did,” Darrell Issa said on "Fox News Saturday." “These are lasting people still mark each of those historical figures in a very special way. And so I think when you take the party of Reagan, and then you add Lincoln, then you add Trump you get our party.” The California Republican is...

An eye-opening four-part series reexamining one of the most powerful and polarizing political couples of our time. Award winning documentarian and journalist Matt Tyrnauer combines archival footage, exhaustive research and first-person accounts from the couple's inner circle to craft a revealing portrait of their unlikely rise from Hollywood to the presidency - and Nancy Reagan's powerful position at the helm of their unprecedented partnership. A story of power, its legacy and a political performance few knew until now.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has defended the firing earlier this month of State Department Inspector General Steve Linick, telling "The Ingraham Angle" in an exclusive interview Thursday that "I regret that I didn't recommend to the president earlier that he be terminated. "He was acting in a way that was deeply inconsistent with what the State Department was trying to do," Pompeo told host Laura Ingraham. "His office was leaking information, we tried to get him to be part of a team that was going to help protect his own officers from COVID-19. He refused to be an active...

His name was Protagoras. He taught the Art of Debate in Ancient Greece from approximately 481-411 B.C. and is still regarded as the Father of the Debate. "One can imagine an Athenian father wondering why he was laying out all those drachmas only to end up with a son who argued with him at dinner," writes Frank McCall. In the United States, the tradition of political debate goes back to a punishing series of seven, count 'em, seven debates Abraham Lincoln and his challenger, Senator Stephen Douglas, undertook in 1858. This started our lively tradition of political debates undertaken by...

Ronald Reagan remains the Gold Standard among American presidents for conservatism. Reagan was successful in putting an amiable face on a political philosophy sometimes seen as tough, at least on communists and fans of big-government programs. After an unsuccessful trial run for the GOP nomination for president in 1976, Reagan kicked in the door in 1980. The former two-term California governor not only won the Republican nomination for president but defeated President Jimmy Carter, sending Reagan to the White House. The coalition Reagan put together in 1980 grew by 1984, allowing him to become a two-term president. Moreover, enough of...

Ronald Reagan's daughter, Patti Davis, criticized the Trump administration over its disclosure of President Donald Trump's health status amid his COVID-19 diagnosis in an op-ed for the Washington Post. "Now the country is confronted with a president suffering from a potentially deadly virus," Davis wrote in an op-ed published Sunday by the newspaper. "Instead of accurate and complete information, Americans are receiving only sketchy details and evasive answers." Davis reflected on her father's hospitalization in the aftermath of his 1981 shooting, comparing the response of the Reagan administration to that of the Trump administration.

I’ve never been a big fan of Eddie Van Halen’s songs – Eddie Van Halen with Valerie Bertinelli circa 1980 although I do recognize that he was a legendary, hard working, hyper-talented guitarist. Nor was I a fan of Peter Fonda’s modest talents, although he did deliver an iconic movie. Peter Fonda in Easy Rider circa 1969 But as both of them have now shuffled off this mortal coil it does give me pause to reflect on the passage of time. The 60s and 70s were consumed with bad fashion, Vietnam, drugs, sex and rock and roll – not necessarily...

In a bid to persuade voters that he is the man that will save America from the evil Donald Trump, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden recalled his days as a lifeguard, saying that “I saved 77 people and one set of dentures from drowning. Who did Trump ever save? Are we even sure he can swim?” “Today our country faces perilous times,” Biden continued. “In city after city armed police are oppressing mostly peaceful rioters and murdering unarmed black men like George Floyd. Yet, all Donald Trump has to offer is a plea for law and order. Law and order...

Sept 03, 1984, President Reagan said the following: "Well, America isn’t about promises; it never has been. America is about promise. It’s about possibility." Last night, in his acceptance speech, Biden said: "I have always believed you can define America in one word: Possibilities." Biden is a serial plagarist and he feels he can continue to get away with it, or he is truly senile. In any case, he is dangerous.