Free Republic

WASHINGTON, Oct. 25 — A liberal gay rights group said Wednesday that one of its employees, acting anonymously, had created the Web site that first published copies of unusually solicitous e-mail messages to teenagers from former Representative Mark Foley, which led to his resignation. A spokesman for the group, the Human Rights Campaign, said it first learned of its employee’s role this week and immediately fired him for misusing the group’s resources. The scandal surrounding Mr. Foley, a Florida Republican, has been a burdensome distraction for members of his party in the month before the midterm elections, and some Republicans...

It was inevitable. After all the polls from early this year until just recently showing the Democrats winning the Congressional elections in a landslide by incredibly wide margins, the election contests are now tightening up. So does this reflect a big shift in the mood of the electorate? No. It just shows that the polls are now beginning to reflect REALITY much closer due to the fact that the election results will be measured against the poll projections. Before the polls were highly skewed to DEPRESS the Republican turnout but now the pollsters realize their reputations are on the...

As part of an ongoing voter education campaign, AARP today unveiled its "Don't Vote" initiative, which tells voters "Don't vote . . . until you know where the candidates stand on the issues." The campaign has its own Website where voters can select their respective state and receive information on state and national races, find their district, and register to vote. Additionally, visitors to http://www.dontvote.com can view the AARP Voters' Guide, which presents national, state, and local candidates' unedited responses on key issues. "Voters tell us a candidate's positions on issues are as important to them as their personal qualifications,"...

So Bush signs the bill into law that will allow terrorists to be interrogated harshly, as they should be, and allow many top Al Qaeda agents to be brought to justice through military tribunals. "It is a rare occasion when a president can sign a bill that he knows will save American lives," Bush said. President Bush signed legislation Tuesday authorizing tough interrogation of terror suspects and smoothing the way for trials before military commissions, calling it a "vital tool" in the war against terrorism. Bush's plan for treatment of the terror suspects became law just six weeks after he...

It is now a month away from the mid-term elections and we might as well not hold them. I mean the MSM has already declared the Democrats to be the overwhelming winners. Not a doubt about it. The reason is that Mark Foley is gay. That's it. The Democrats will win FOR SURE in November because Mark Foley is gay. See, according the Democrat and MSM hopes, the "fundies" as they are called will stay home and not vote because Mark Foley is gay thus giving the victory to the Democrats. To ensure they stay home, Lawrence O'Donnell and...

Pending Hastert's news conference, Fox is reporting that internal Repub polls indicate that the Foley matter is destroying any chance of the Repubs keeping the House, "and maybe the Senate as well." Breaking as we await the Hastert news congerence. Fox reports that the entire country is riveted by this matter and it has "blown away" all other issues for the upcoming mid-terms. I have a hard time believing this manufactured scandal is having this effect, but Fox seems to be shooting straight on this. Perhaps the dealy in the Hastert new conference is due to furious fighting over whether...

<p>WASHINGTON A third figure in the page scandal threatening to envelop the House speaker, J. Dennis Hastert, suggested Wednesday that the speaker knew of an inappropriate e-mail message that Representative Mark Foley had sent to a Louisiana boy before the matter became public.</p>

Finally, a Republican scandal that may stick Usually when the Republican chairman of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children instant-messages an underage boy and asks him to get out a ruler to measure his... Well. Ahem. Let's just say: Usually when a congressman is involved in a scandal, he doesn't bring the whole party down with him. This time could be different. The Mark Foley affair is so simple and so human, it's like a Cliffs.Notes version of all the other Republican scandals: Rampant corruption. Leadership? Ha. No one cares till the klieg lights get turned on. THE...

Do scandals involving Rep. Foley and others affect your attitude toward all parties? * 2419 responses Yes. I'm fed up with both Republicans and Democrats. Both parties are equally corrupt. 29% In general, the Republican party is the most corrupt. 54% Generally, Democrats are the most corrupt party. 5.8% There are alternatives to both parties- that's why I vote independent! 3.8% Scandals pass... and it's a shame a few bad politicans give Capitol Hill a bad image. 7.4%

This just in- the Phelps clan has unbelievably sunk even lower with their reported plan to picket the funerals of murdered Amish children.

A Bronx charity will pay the city back $625,000 that had been intended for children and the elderly but was improperly lent to Air America Radio... -snip The state attorney general’s office is continuing to look into the misuse of the funds, and the case has been transferred from its charities bureau to the criminal prosecutions bureau, two people close to the investigation said yesterday. City investigators found that the charity, based in Co-op City and formerly known as the Gloria Wise Boys and Girls Club, lent $875,000 to Air America Radio. At the city’s request, the network put the...

By Andrea HopkinsMONROE CITY, Indiana (Reuters) - In a dozen districts across the U.S. heartland, voter unhappiness has imperiled Republicans, setting the stage for what could be the biggest anti-incumbent midterm election since 1994.Pat Wilkerson says U.S. troops and veterans are her first priority, believes family values are important and voted Republican in 2004. But in November she'll switch parties -- though not because Democrats have won her over."When I vote now, it's not who I'm voting for, it's who I'm voting against," said the 59-year-old administrator, adding she is fed up with the war in Iraq and wants troops...

When he sets his jeweler’s eye upon the so-called Swift-boating of the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry, for instance, future candidates for office get point-by-point instruction on how to turn a campaign liability into an asset: in this case how someone with no combat experience can successfully run on national security issues against someone who was actually shot on the battlefield. Mr. Rich asserts that the Bush camp, “so brilliant at creating fictional stories for their own man,” managed to “create a fictional biography for Kerry” that offset the stories of his heroism as captain of a Swift boat...

Things have actually been going a bit better in Iraq these days.  Fewer American soldiers are dying and the Iraqis are slowly taking on more power and responsibilities.  This presents a quandary for the media.  You see, as part of their Bush-bashing template, they need to continue to push the war in Iraq as an un-winnable failure.  The Democrats are counting on failure in Iraq to carry them to victory this fall. That's right...the Democrats are actually invested in American failure in Iraq.  They need more American troop deaths to put them over the top at the polls in November. ...

In recent years, The New Republic, one of the nation's leading magazines of political and cultural commentary, has been embarrassed by scandals involving two of journalism's original sins: fabrication of stories and plagiarism. But the latest scandal, involving the magazine's cultural critic Lee Siegel, has to do with a transgression peculiar to the Internet age: sock puppetry. A sock puppet, in Internet parlance, is a false Internet identity created for deceptive purposes. Siegel, who had been writing a culture blog for The New Republic, had started using the pseudonym "sprezzatura" on the blog's forums to praise himself and savage his...

Here's an email we received yesterday morning at 10:26 am: Hey guys, Even though I'm a big fat liberal, I've been a big fan of your site since it first launched, and I visit it every day. It's a terrific resource.However, I do have a criticism regarding the way you posted yesterday's (9/15) AP Piece "Polls Shows GOP Not Making Its Case". That's the way the AP titled it, at least. You guys decided to title it on your site "GOP Gains Ground In Battle For Congress".I understand that there may have been some data in their polling that made...

Richmond -- Democratic Senate candidate Jim Webb will air his first television ad next week — a spot that features praise from none other than Ronald Reagan. Webb, who was Reagan's Navy secretary before Webb switched to the Democratic Party, uses the ultimate GOP icon to send a sentimental message to conservatives and moderates courted by his opponent, Sen. George Allen. An Allen aide called the decision "hypocritical." The 30-second ad opens with video of Reagan praising Webb during a commencement address at the U.S. Naval Academy in 1985, when Reagan was president and Webb, a Navy grad, was an...

With Fox News reporter Steve Centanni and cameraman Olaf Wiig still being held hostage by Palestinian terrorists, the Western media has received a potent reminder that broadcasting certain truths from inside Arab territory can result in devastating consequences. While it is not clear the kidnappers’ motivation—they have yet to state any demands—this is just the latest in a string of abductions, which is in and of itself only part of the arsenal of heavy-handed media intimidation present in the region. Thuggery helps explain the obscenely low volume of negative press coverage of the Palestinian Authority, Fatah, Hamas, Hezbollah, and others....

Note: A FReeper who wishes to remain anonymous has asked me to post her story of her abortion and the grief and redemption that followed. She does not seek your sympathy, she merely has a desire to possibly help young women avoid the same mistake.In reading her story, one particular portion of Scripture came to mind: If we acknowledge our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from every wrongdoing. If we say, "We have not sinned," we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. (1 John 1: 9-10)Here...

Fox News just reported that Reuters admits second photo was doctored. Here's the image: