Free Republic

Maybe our Joe is right. If Democratic vice-presidential nominee Joe Biden doesn’t let the pressing matters of the day bother him, so why should I? Tell a tall tale. Have a drink. Just be what I am – a scrappy kid from Scranton who’s got the best stories in the bar. The next time I stop at Joyce’s Tavern in the Irish Minooka section of Scranton, where my grandfather landed after he emigrated from County Galway, I’ll tell the lads some dandy stories. I’ll always remember the day, I’ll say, just like Joe does when he tells a whopper, when...

Oct 03, 2008 (The Times-Tribune - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX)-- On Thursday night, millions of television viewers around the globe caught a glimpse of something Northeast Pennsylvanians can see any night of the week: Scranton voters talking politics. However, local residents themselves will likely never see the footage of the live news show, broadcast on Al-Jazeera English from the upper room of Cooper's Seafood House in Scranton. While the network is seen by an estimated 80 million people, it has almost no American viewers, but the fact the station chose Scranton as its locale to broadcast from on the...

It is impossible for me to answer all of the objections to the Church’s teaching on life that we hear every day in the media. Nevertheless, let me address a few. To begin, laws that protect abortion constitute injustice of the worst kind. They rest on several false claims including that there is no certainty regarding when life begins, that there is no certainty about when a fetus becomes a person, and that some human beings may be killed to advance the interests or convenience of others. With regard to the first, reason and science have answered the question. The...

Bishop Joseph F. Martino Scranton, PA, Oct 2, 2008 / 04:12 am (CNA).- Bishop Joseph F. Martino of the Diocese of Scranton has directed a pastoral letter on pro-life matters to be read at all weekend Masses of the upcoming Respect Life Weekend, saying Catholic efforts on such issues have “more significance than ever.” Discussing the societal breakdown in the wake of the sexual revolution, Bishop Martino explains Catholic teaching, and pledges “vigilance” in correcting Catholic pro-abortion rights public figures.The pastoral letter, which is also to be circulated with all parish bulletins this weekend, could have political ramifications for...

Everyone in the press -- myself included -- is whining about the inability to interview Gov. Sarah Palin. Or, at least shout-out a question or two to Sen. John McCain's choice for vice president. Although considering the speed of light in which a gaffe can travel in this campaign season, her decision to steer clear of reporters may be a very wise one. Reason enough to contact my fellow journalists to help me compile a Top Ten List of "I can't believe he/she just said that" reasons why Sarah Palin doesn't want to take questions from us:

While most McCain town hall attendees traditionally direct their questions or commentary towards the GOP nominee during the campaign events as the press take notes, one audience member decided to take her message directly to the media today. After praising his choice of Sarah Palin as a runningmate, one female audience member turned around towards the press seated in the back of the room and went on a diatribe about what she feels is biased coverage. “I also want to take the opportunity to ask the media, where is your 30 investigators over in Chicago looking at (Tony Rezko and...

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- You just knew that when Joe O'Connell, former head of the local AFL-CIO, got on stage here with John McCain and Sarah Palin things were not going smoothly for the Obama campaign among union voters. "I am a lifelong Democrat, an intelligent Democrat, who is supporting John McCain," O'Connell said last week as a crowd of 7,000 waved "Another Democrat for John McCain" signs and roared its approval.

Campaign Calendar Upcoming Events Use this calendar to find the latest events for John McCain 2008! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 09/21/2008 September 21st- Road to Victory Rally with Governor Sarah Palin in The Villages, FL Please join Governor Sarah Palin for a Road to Victory Rally in The Villages, FL Sunday September 21st. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 09/22/2008 Town Hall Meeting: Monday September 22nd in Scranton, PA Please join John McCain for a Town Hall Meeting on Monday September 22nd in Scranton, PA. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 09/22/2008 Victory Rally: September 22 in Media PA Please join Senator John McCain & Governor Sarah Palin for a Victory Rally in...

VIENNA, OHIO -- You have to wonder with just 49 days left until election day, what is Sen. John McCain doing in Ohio's Mahoning Valley again? It's not like there is a history of Republicans winning here. George W. Bush was only able to muster a little more than 36 percent of the vote in 2004, up 1 percent from 2000, when Bush went against Al Gore. This rust-belt, blue-collar community with a heavy Democratic voter registration advantage has seen better times -- the steel industry is gone, replaced by a lower income service industry. The medium income hovers at...

The Sen. Barack Obama campaign is under performing with women, especially older white ones. So, it released a list of female surrogates that will be his force on issues that are important to those women voters -- like equal pay. There also will soon be an ad released that will hit Sen. John McCain on the touchy issue of equal pay. According to McCain-Palin spokesman Brian Rogers, that is a problem for Barack Obama, since he is the one that pays his females staffers less than the men. Rogers points to Senate Records showing that women working in Sen. Obama's...

The intelligent question thrown out among strategists for both campaigns is, can John McCain really win Pennsylvania? Really win it, not pretend to go for it, as Republicans did in 2004, all the while closing the deal in Ohio when no one was looking. The last Republican presidential candidate to win Pennsylvania was George H.W. Bush, in 1988 -- a win preceded by two Reagans but followed by two Clintons, a Gore and a Kerry. The Kerry win was narrower than the others, however.

Perhaps finding out what really is going on in Pennsylvania is for me to look no further than my own backyard, literally.

Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden is coming back to Scranton. Biden was born in Scranton. His family moved to Delaware when he was ten years old. A spokesperson for the Obama/Biden campaign says Biden will visit a home in Scranton's Green Ridge section, where he will participate in a discussion on jobs and the economy. If you'd like to take part, forget about it. Admission to the Monday afternoon Biden appearance is by invitation only. It will be Biden's first visit to Scranton since Barack Obama chose him for the second spot on the ticket last month.

Joe Biden once got in trouble for plagiarizing a speech and inflating his academic record. So it will not surprise you to find that his famous working-class background turns out to be mythical. But it may surprise you to learn that Biden isn't the one who has trouble with the facts. In his Wednesday night speech at the Democratic convention, Biden referred to "those of us who grew up in middle-class neighborhoods like Scranton and Wilmington [Delaware]." In the video preceding his address, he said that the people he knew as a boy didn't regard themselves as working class but...

Does Biden Need to Watch His Language? August 30, 2008 9:26 AM ABC's Matt Jaffe and Sunlen Miller Report: For Senator Biden – known for his loose lips and frequent gaffes – every word is being closely watched now that he's a Vice Presidential candidate. At the new ticket's first public event on their bus tour throughout swing states, Senator Biden said a word that was taboo – at least for his running mate - just days before. "I knew somebody famous was gonna come out of Scranton and I sure as HELL knew it wasn't gonna be me so...

DENVER: When most people think of Joe Biden, they think Senate longevity, confidence, a liberal with a free-wheeling impulse to give you his never-to-be-humble opinion. What they don't think of is a man who could have a great impact in Pennsylvania. The question becomes: Can he make his impact as broad as Hillary Clinton -- another Scranton native -- did in the Pennsylvania primaries? Hillary glowed in Pennsylvania. She made Pennsylvania her second home and it stuck with voters. John Kerry, married to the Heinz ketchup heiress Teresa, did the same thing in his runup to the 2004 election. He...

The speculation began first with Hillary, then it was Clark, a strong flirtation with 'change' soul-mate Kaine flipped to an eye towards stability with Indiana's Bayh, but now all of that has shifted over to Biden -- Joe that is -- that outspoken senator from Delaware that hails from the same part of Pennsylvania as Hillary Clinton's family and makes C-SPAN so darn interesting.

Bitter Small Town Democrats hand Obama 75-25 Loss in Northeast Pennsylvania We enjoyed watching Barack Obama lose the Pennsylvania primary 55-45, noting especially that Pennsylvania is a Blue State whose electoral votes will be decisive in the November election. The Democratic superdelegates would be well advised to note that Obama lost despite spending three dollars for every dollar that Clinton spent, thus underscoring the fact that most voters can recognize a phony smile on top of an empty suit when they see one. Obama’s camp claims, despite its catastrophic defeat, that Hillary Clinton is still behind in delegates and therefore...

Bitter: the gift that keeps on giving TRIBUNE-REVIEW By Salena Zito John Brabender, a D.C.-based media strategist, put up the first "bitter" ad to be used in a congressional race -- for a Republican. "Barack Obama's statement about the small towns of Pennsylvania and the entire middle America for this cycle is the gift that you can use all year long," Brabender said. He said that you could say it is the gift that keeps on giving. Brabender's client Matt Shaner is in a tight Republican primary race to succeed retiring John Peterson in the biggest piece of congressional geography...

The stuff Pennsylvanians are made of TRIBUNE-REVIEW By Salena Zito Obama's statements have also put Pennsylvanians under the microscope of the country. No state's diverse population can be placed into one category, but a good insight as to what is important to most Pennsylvanians was found in our own newspaper today. ...If you want an insight into the stuff Pennsylvanians are made of, read ‘Fishmas Eve.'