Free Republic

US President George W. Bush's campaign chief has accused Democratic White House challenger John Kerry of playing into terrorists' hands by being pessimistic on Iraq. "John Kerry's pessimism, shifting positions and lack of resolve will not win the fight against the terrorists. His campaign has demonstrated again that it has nothing to offer but attacks on the president's agenda for creating a safer world," Ken Mehlman said in a statement out Saturday. "On the eve of (Iraqi) Prime Minister (Iyad) Allawi's visit to the United States, John Kerry's military adviser is preaching defeat and suggesting retreat in Iraq. Such a...

NEW YORK - Before a recent rally for President Bush in Las Cruces, N. M., campaign officials showed the crowd a video featuring John Kerry's shifting explanations of his stands on issues. The audience broke into laughter toward the end as a catchy theme from a popular `60s TV show accompanied the clip: "They call him Flipper, Flipper, faster than lightning/ No one you see is smarter than he." That tack was hardly unusual. In fact, on the campaign trail and at this week's Republican convention, Bush and other GOP speakers reduced Kerry to a punch line: a flip-flopping Boston...

At least two political beat reporters in DC are working on a story that may prove very embarrassing to John Kerry. Jim Rassman, the former soldier upon whom Kerry’s supposed status as a “war hero” depends so strongly, has had a very interesting life since he left the Army. Rassman was a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputy for a number of years. While there, it seems he was exceptionally vocal in his protests against gays. He was rumored to go on “fag patrol,” looking for gays to harass and arrest just because of their sexuality. He repeatedly said he hated...

Just a minute ago, Alan Colmes, supposedly disproving Zell Miller's statement that (paraphrase) "John Kerry would let Paris decide when the US needs defending," played a clip of Kerry's acceptance speech where he said the exact opposite, that he "would never let other nations decide" yadda, yadda, yadda. Terry Holt then responded with "When JFK was first becoming a political figure, he made the statement that he would turn over our sovereignty to the UN." Colmes then incredulously shot back that, since Kerry made that statement thirty-five years ago, it was no longer relevant or accurate. A Kerry flackey then...

NANTUCKET, Mass. - (KRT) - Forget the economy, it may just be the personality, stupid. Swing voters don't like Sen. John Kerry much, one recent poll suggests, and that's just the latest survey pointing to a stubborn "personality gap" he suffers versus President Bush. Some political analysts think simple likability is the Democratic nominee's greatest challenge as the presidential campaign enters its two-month stretch run. This phenomenon persists even though virtually every poll shows that a solid majority disapproves of Bush's handling of the Iraq war and the economy. Most voters also think the country is headed in the wrong...

On September 3, CNN senior political analyst Bill Schneider characterized as "name-calling" Senator John Kerry's response to attacks leveled at him during the Republican National Convention. Kerry delivered his response in a speech at midnight September 3. From an exchange between Schneider and anchor Wolf Blitzer on the September 3 edition of News From CNN: SCHNEIDER: And a lot of Democrats are saying, "At last, John Kerry is responding"-- something they wanted him to do weeks ago because he more or less lost the month of August when he was getting beaten up by these independent ads. So they're saying...