Free Republic

NORTH CONWAY. N.H.—Vivek Ramaswamy isn’t making much of a dent in the polls yet, but judging from the audience reaction at a packed Masonic lodge in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, it won’t be long. Everyone was paying close attention. There was no sense in the room of skepticism over why this 37-year-old guy—out of nowhere and standing there with his doctor wife—had the temerity to run for president. They got it. He had done his homework and then some. Several people during the lengthy question session prefaced theirs with “I voted for Trump but I’m going to vote for you.” Others...

By the time you read this, Sidney Powell may have released her Kraken on America in the form of a filing about election events in Georgia. Until then, though, there is a healthy debate about whether Powell can make the case that Dominion and Smartmatic, both of which played a role in the disputed states, have Venezuela ties that prove their connection to American fraud. Roger L. Simon has entered the fray, detailing what two informants told him as background about these two companies and their ties to Venezuela.Writing at the Epoch Times, Simon, who tackles facts like a rigorous...

On Monday I received an email from the Motion Picture Academy informing me that if I didn't pay my dues, I wouldn't be able to vote in the Oscar nominations in a couple of weeks. I debated for a few minutes. Dues have inflated since I joined in the eighties and are now a hefty $450 per annum. Nevertheless, spendthrift that I am, I bit the proverbial bullet and went for it. Call it the inability to break a bad habit. Or an addiction to the non-stop influx of screeners that arrive at my door every December, not that I...

Far be it for me, someone who spent the better part of his life as your typical secular agnostic, to talk about God. But that was what I have been thinking about in the hours since I spent my day, as many of us did, watching the Kavanaugh confirmation hearing. I guess it first hit me when Judge Kavanaugh, in the midst of his powerful and heartfelt opening statement, one few expected him to make, choked up, fighting back tears as he spoke of his ten-year old daughter's desire to pray for Dr. Ford. I had trouble choking back my...

The first thing I noticed when I walked into the Trump rally in Nashville Tuesday night ... was that Trace Adkins was singing. Not bad! (Hey, it’s Nashville.) The second thing I noticed was that Jim Acosta wasn’t smiling, virtually the only person in the auditorium who wasn’t. If you don’t like Adkins, either you don’t like music or your Trump Derangement Syndrome is so great you couldn’t even groove to Bach or The Beatles in their heydays. Too bad for Jim. ... But enough diversion. Trump’s on. They clearly love him in Nashville, but not Lamar Alexander and, especially,...

I hereby bestow my Column of the Week – on second thought make that of the Century – award to Roger L. Simon for this: Panic in Progressive Park: What If He’s Actually Good? And while Roger’s columns are generally award worthy simply because of his command of the English language this award is for being the first to acknowledge a very real possibility: Donald Trump may just turn out to be a great president: Reason for the panic -- the dawning realization, repressed and often unrecognized though it may be, that Donald Trump may even a be a good president,...

If you thought Trump Derangement Syndrome was a tad excessive, as they say, you ain't seen nothin' yet. To channel an old Pacino flick, opening now for Oscar season, it's "Panic in Progressive Park." Reason for the panic -- the dawning realization, repressed and often unrecognized though it may be, that Donald Trump may even a be a good president, possibly a great one. Then what? If anything could cause panic among liberals, progressives, and the media (apologies for the redundancy), that's it. And Trump has certainly hit the ground running with more "vigah" -- this time to channel an...

In April 2013, Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus secretly met about a dozen writers, directors and producers in a suite at Loews Hollywood Hotel. The topic: How could the industry's quiet network of conservatives help elect more Republicans?

Jerry Perenchio backs Carly Fiorina, Mary Hart likes Marco Rubio and Ann Coulter stumped for Donald Trump in Beverly Hills, as a stealth GOP operates outside the industry spotlight. In April 2013, Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus secretly met about a dozen writers, directors and producers in a suite at Loews Hollywood Hotel. The topic: How could the industry's quiet network of conservatives help elect more Republicans? GOP fans in Hollywood tend to hold their political activities close to the vest. This reporter was thrown out of a fundraiser for Rick Santorum at a $35 million mansion on Sunset...

That the photograph of Walter Duranty — the New York Times Moscow correspondent who deliberately whitewashed Stalin’s 1930s forced starvation of millions of Ukrainians and won the Pulitzer for it — still is on the newspaper’s wall of fame with their other prize winners is apparently no aberration. The New York Times has no moral center. In fact, it’s despicable. On November 24, they published the home address of Officer Darren Wilson. By now most of America knows who Wilson is — the Ferguson, Missouri, police officer exonerated for the murder of Michael Brown, the supposed 6′ 6″, three-hundred-pound “gentle...

It's no secret that POLITICO is a biased news organization. The online polictical blog is as progressive as they come. Very agenda driven. In our reporting we have already addressed the fact that Journolist members are solidly entrenched inside POLITICO's upper levels. Something Roger Simon, who calls the website home, tried to downplay. John Nolte over at Big Journalism isn't buying it, and has a simply marvelous retort: You say MSM, I say Politico. You say corrupt, I say Politico. Today, Politico’s Roger Simon was kind enough to almost scold JournoList for its lasting effect on his precious little profession...

ORANGEBURG, S.C. - - Newt Gingrich trundles into the meeting hall - - a former X-rated movie theater - - to rapturous applause. He is not the best-looking guy in Republican race or the best-funded or the most ideologically pure. But he has found his shtick, and he is shticking to it. Newt Gingrich is the angriest man in America. Mitt Romney will tell you that Barack Obama is a “nice guy” but that he is “in over his head.” Newt Gingrich will tell you Barack Obama is “the most radical and most incompetent president in our lifetime!” Obama is...

The Bambino stands in the center of the stage, untouchable, uncatchable, unbeatable. He is Newt Gingrich, and he has become the Sultan of Swat. It is Saturday night at yet another Republican debate and — wham! wham! wham! — Gingrich keeps blasting them out of the park. Mitt Romney claims he should be president, because, unlike Newt, Romney is not a “career politician.” “Let’s be candid,” Newt replies. “The only reason you didn’t become a career politician is that you lost to Ted Kennedy in 1994.” Wham! Newt, like the real Bambino, Babe Ruth, is a man of appetites. For...

"Can I say one thing about the birther issue? It's not a fun issue to poke somebody on. It is more than a little bit racist. It grew -- not everyone who believes it is a racist, but it grew out of the belief that a black man could not be legitimately elected to the President of the United States. Now why would Perry use that in the primaries instead of saving it for the general when he's running against President Obama? Well, it's because being extreme perhaps and, a little bit racist perhaps, gives you good bonafides in a...

We are creatures of history even as we make history. (Click here for Roger L. Simon's reply to Salim's original letter.) Dear Roger,Thanks for your extending our conversation in cyberspace. I welcome your questions, and expect more to follow.I believe it is more than right for you to pose them, since I wrote you as a Muslim. In these times, Muslims do have a lot to answer for — and non-Muslims do have reason to be skeptical.But I am a student of history, much more so than theology, and I trust you will grant me the following observation. We live...

Former Alaska governor Sarah Palin is thrilled with the upsets by some she endorsed from the Tea Party and says she is ready to lead and shake up Washington. This week, tea-party-backed Christine O'Donnell pulled off a stunning win in the Delaware Republican Senate primary, defeating nine-term U.S. Rep. Mike Castle, also a former governor. Palin Thrilled with Tea Party Upsets. Palin Thrilled with Tea Party Upsets. That led columnist Roger Simon to note in a headline: "O'Donnell May Be the Average American." Follow his column below, Ed.: Rarely has the political commentariat been so unified in its opinion: Up...

Q: Will Barack Obama be a one-term president? A: Yes, he might last that long. Honest to goodness, the man just does not get it. He might be forced to pull a Palin and resign before his first term is over. He could go off and write his memoirs and build his presidential library. (Both would be half-size, of course.)

Appearing on MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell Reports on Tuesday, Politico columnist Roger Simon described a recent interview with President Obama: "...he showed a genuine irritation....when people like Bobby Jindal, you know, standing up, screaming about more federal action...a small-government, no federal aid kind of guy. And the President is calling out those people for hypocrisy."Simon was discussing a quote from Obama in that interview, in which the President whined: "Some of the same folks who have been hollering and saying do something are the same folks who, just two or three months ago, were suggesting that government needs to stop...

Bob Shrum and Roger Simon in a contest on who can bash Palin more on MTP..

Sarah Palin can be the Republican nominee in 2012. I am not saying she will be, but she can be. Those who underestimate her do so at their own risk. She projects a tough but warm personality. Her most famous line — "You know what they say the difference is between a hockey mom and a pit bull? Lipstick!" — reflects that. She is a conservative in an increasingly conservative party. ... That someone could be Sarah Palin, if she does seven things right now: Dump Alaska. She doesn't need to run for re-election for governor in 2010 for name...