Free Republic

by Mark Finkelstein March 24, 2006 Have a look at the legend beneath the photo below of Pat Buchanan. 'Republican' strategist? Really? Buchanan quit the Republican party in 1999 to run for president as the candidate of the Reform Party. Go to Buchanan's official web site, The American Cause. The creed advanced there is Pat's particular brew of protectionism and conservatism, with nary a reference to the Republican party. So why, might you ask, would NBC engage in such false packaging? The answer is obvious: to gull viewers into thinking that it is presenting a fair balance of opinions. This...

Mar. 5, 2003 Yemeni cleric charged with raising funds for Al Qaida and Hamas By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS NEW YORK A Yemeni cleric detained in Germany bragged to an FBI informant that he supplied $20 million, recruits and weapons to Osama bin Laden in the years leading up to the Sept. 11 attacks, US officials said Tuesday. Much of the money came from contributors in the United States, including worshippers at the Al Farouq mosque in New York, Attorney General John Ashcroft said in announcing charges against Sheik Mohammed Al Hasan Al-Moayad. Amid an undercover operation, Al-Moayad "boasted that jihad...

Left on the sidelines of the presidential debate, long-shot candidate and alleged race-spoiler Ralph Nader was nonetheless at the University of Miami -- criticizing the two headliners and plotting an unscripted cameo on the prime time stage. ''If I could only go through the ducts and leap out onstage in a cape -- that's my dream,'' said Nader, who enjoyed a dinner at the school's faculty club as he pondered ways to liven up what he called ''a presidential puppet show, a presidential charade'' governed by preset rules agreed on by the Bush and Kerry campaigns. ''You know what would...

- The Florida Supreme Court on Friday derailed the Democratic Party's attempt to cancel the candidacy of Ralph Nader, opening the door for the consumer activist to again become the spoiler in a tight presidential race in Florida. In a 6-1 decision, the court restored Nader's name to the Nov. 2 ballot on the Reform Party ticket, overturned a lower court decision that left thousands of absentee ballots in limbo and concluded that state law is so vague it isn't possible to tell if Nader abused the ballot-access law or not. A Democratic Party spokesman said there would be no...

Ralph Nader is back. At least for now. In a dizzying turn of events, Florida Secretary of State Glenda Hood returned the consumer crusader to the state's presidential ballot on Monday as lawyers for the Democratic Party, the state and Nader sought emergency court hearings to settle a dispute over whether the independent candidate can appear there. A state judge booted Nader off the ballot last week, but Hood, in effect, reversed the ruling -- telling election supervisors now preparing absentee ballots to be mailed overseas that Nader is a candidate. The move infuriated Democrats, who accused Hood, an appointee...

Nader off the ballot in Florida By Bill Cotterell DEMOCRAT POLITICAL EDITOR In a tactical victory for John Kerry, a Leon County circuit judge issued an emergency order Wednesday night knocking Ralph Nader off Florida's ballot. "I've never seen, in 40 years, a more pell-mell kangaroo court procedure involving any of our third-party activities," Nader told the Tallahassee Democrat after the ruling by Judge Kevin Davey. "This is nothing more than a judge responding to the political imperatives of a nervous and corrupt Democratic Party." The ruling stands for now, but could be reversed later. Nader drew about 92,000 votes...

Texas Libertarian Party officials said they gathered enough petition signatures by Monday's deadline to earn a spot on this year's ballot, but other alternative parties said they came up short. Libertarians presented about 75,000 signatures Monday to the Secretary of State's office in Austin. Election officials must validate 45,540 signatures for the Libertarians to make the November ballot. The signatures must be from registered voters who did not vote in this year's Democratic or Republican primaries. A spokeswoman for the secretary of state said the office hopes to make the determination by early July. The two other parties that mounted...

Ralph Nader, as the Reform party candidate, could be on the ballot in at least three swing states. Perhaps the most significant and underreported story of the past week: Ralph Nader was endorsed Wednesday by the Reform party. Presuming he accepts their nomination — and Nader spokesman Kevin Zeese told reporters, "he'll be on the ballot in Florida" — Nader will automatically get on the ballot in Florida, Wisconsin, Michigan, Colorado, Kansas, Mississippi, Montana, and South Carolina. The last four are shoo-ins for Bush, but the first three are swing states, and the Kerry campaign is spending $1 million in...

WASHINGTON - Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader has been endorsed by the national Reform Party, giving him ballot access in seven states, including Florida and Michigan, party leaders announced Wednesday. Nader spokesman Kevin Zeese said Nader welcomes the support but plans to continue running as an independent. He said Nader would decide on a case-by-case basis whether to accept the ballot lines in each state. "This shows that Nader can garner support from across the political spectrum, including conservatives who supported Bush in 2000," Zeese said. "The naysayers who said Nader could only get liberal votes are being proven wrong....

Thursday, February 5, 2004 Al Qaida has again warned of a major strike in the United States. The Al Qaida warning was relayed via the Tajamu Reform Party of Yemen in a statement proposing terms of reconciliation with the government which has been under pressure to cooperate with the United States in the war on terrorism. "A major strike, a big event will take place in America soon," the statement said. In its statement, Al Qaida termed Sanaa as the second most cooperative partner in the U.S.-led war against the Islamic insurgency movement. The group said Pakistan was the chief...

A year from today, Americans will elect -- or reelect -- a president, and the outcome could be determined by the impact of a third party or perhaps a fourth or fifth party. In contrast to 2000, third parties pose a greater threat to President Bush in 2004 than to the eventual Democratic nominee, said political scientist Lawrence Jacobs. Jacobs, director of the 2004 Election Project at the University of Minnesota's Humphrey Institute, has been studying the indicators of third-party activity. His conclusions have attracted national attention, in part because the third-party wild card has mostly been overlooked by pundits...

Minutes of the Executive Committee Reform Party of the United States of AmericaSeptember 13, 2003 -Old Business:  Motion to Invite Speakers to 2003 Convention At the previous meeting, the following was moved: Mr. Lauterman moved that the ExCom formally invite Ross Perot, Jesse Ventura, and Pat Buchanan to speak at the convention.  Seconded.  Ms. Kennedy moved to amend by striking Pat Buchanan's name from the motion.  Seconded.  (Business taken up at this point) The question was called. Those voting yes on the amendment:  Ms. McKelvey, Ms. Campbell, Ms. Kennedy, Mr. CollisonThose voting no on the amendment:  Mr. Lauterman, Mr. Richardson The amendment passed.

<p>SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- As a growing number of GOP heavyweights rally behind Republican gubernatorial hopeful Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sen. Tom McClintock risks being labeled a "spoiler" if his candidacy costs the Republicans the election.</p> <p>But former Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader, widely considered a spoiler for taking votes from Democrat Al Gore in the 2000 election, said dropping out now would cost McClintock a major loss of integrity.</p>

Now that Jesse "The Body" Ventura has announced that he will not seek a second term as Minnesota’s governor, it is time that we looked at what his administration has wrought. Jesse Ventura has been a boil on the body politic. Some of us initially welcomed Ventura’s flamboyant entry into politics. We thought that this political newcomer wouldn’t automatically embrace the political dogma of antiquated tax and spend policies. Jesse boldly proclaimed he wouldn’t raise taxes and he talked like a man who would tighten the purse strings of government. For a man claiming to be an outsider in the...

Reform Party Chair Ezola Foster Joins Constitution Party------------------------------------------------------------------------ Friday, April 12, 2002 - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (LOS ANGELES-CA) - Ezola Foster, who was Patrick J. Buchanan’s Vice Presidential running mate in 2000, resigned her position as Chair of the Reform Party of California (RPCa) and joined the Constitution Party’s California affiliate, the American Independent Party (AIP), yesterday April 11, 2002 during an RPCa Board meeting in Santa Monica. Foster’s resignation was joined by four other Board Members and will soon be joined by two others. Legions of conservative Reformers are expected to abandon the Reform Party to follow Foster into...