Free Republic

U.S. should use all tools to pressure Iran: Obama Tue Jul 15, 2008 11:59am EDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama said on Tuesday preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon was in America's vital interests and vowed to use all tools to pressure Tehran. "No tool of statecraft should be taken off the table," Obama said in a speech covering broad national security issues, including Iraq and Iran.

(CNN) -- Sen. Barack Obama on Tuesday called the war in Iraq a "dangerous distraction," and said more emphasis must be placed on the battle in Afghanistan. Sen. Barack Obama said he would take the country in a new direction, should he become president. "As should have been apparent to President Bush and Sen. [John] McCain -- the central front in the war on terror is not Iraq, and it never was," Obama said in what his campaign called a major policy address on Iraq, Afghanistan and national security. Obama said part of his new strategy will be "taking the...

If you think that Muslims burning the Danish Mohammed Cartoons don't have a sense of humor, you ain't seen nothin' yet. Just wait til the Political Correct Commissars catch you laughing at Barack Obama. It's like the old rabid feminists: That's Not Funny! Mr. Obama is very easily offended, like Don Quixote, the Man of La Mancha, who is constantly looking for the smallest slights to his egg-shell fragile ego. Obama told Maureen Dowd early in the primaries that he is hypersensitive to any remarks about his ears. Obama is offended if you criticize his tough-as-nails lawyer wife -- although...

Barack Obama's campaign scrubbed his presidential Web site over the weekend to remove criticism of the U.S. troop "surge" in Iraq, the Daily News has learned. The presumed Democratic nominee replaced his Iraq issue Web page, which had described the surge as a "problem" that had barely reduced violence. "The surge is not working," Obama's old plan stated, citing a lack of Iraqi political cooperation but crediting Sunni sheiks - not U.S. military muscle - for quelling violence in Anbar Province. The News reported Sunday that insurgent attacks have fallen to the fewest since March 2004.

With all the reporters covering the major presidential candidates, it amazes me no one ever seems to ask the right questions. For several days now, WND has been hounding Barack Obama's campaign about a statement he made July 2 in Colorado Springs – a statement that blew my mind, one that has had me scratching my head ever since. In talking about his plans to double the size of the Peace Corps and nearly quadruple the size of AmeriCorps and the size of the nation's military services, he made this rather shocking (and chilling) pledge: "We cannot continue to rely...

Since losing the 2004 presidential election, John Kerry and his supporters have continued to claim "Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak out against John Kerry" and the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth have been "discredited" for spreading a pack of lies about Kerry's military service in Vietnam and his subsequent leadership in the anti-war movement....

If John Kerry had been elected President of the United States in November 2004, especially with the incoming majority Democrat Congress, it is highly likely that Iraq would be in the midst of a civil war, Iran’s regional influence would have increased, Israel would be in more jeopardy than it is now, two Supreme Court seats would be occupied by clones of John Stevens and Ruth Bader Ginsburg instead of by John Roberts and Samuel Alito, judicial decisions would have given even more “rights” to enemy combatants, domestic entitlements and earmarks would have skyrocketed, the Bush tax cuts would be...

This is the most important book you’ll buy this year: To Set The Record Straight, How Swift Boat Veterans, POWs and the New Media Defeated John Kerry, by Scott Swett and Tim Ziegler, with Forward by John O'Neill. Not only will you learn the inside details of the only book – Unfit For Command -- that ever decided a presidential election but, especially for those who have any doubts, you will learn about how the peoples' democracy can still work in the United States. For those inclined toward political science, the book is an important contribution to understanding how political...

You're a swiftboater, I'm a swiftboater, everybody's a swiftboater. The all encompassing phrase for any political zapping; real, potential, or imagined, has been funneled into one label, swiftboating. No longer used much as a noun, this verb has become overused to the point of triteness and acceptance as appropriate English. Language is the child of overused slang Ain't that the low-down!? For the record a review of who and what actual swift boaters stood for is in order. They took umbrage when fellow swiftie, Senator Kerry, decided he was going to run for president as a gung ho war hero....

”His boat took 188 enemy hits”: Another Kerry Swift Boat story surfacesBy Fedora During the 2004 campaign, John Kerry faced a firestorm of controversy over the events surrounding the awarding of his third Purple Heart and his Bronze Star. One inconsistency investigators noticed was that although military documents described Kerry’s Swift Boat team as facing “about 5000 meters” of enemy fire while travelling down a 75-yard-wide stretch of the Bay Hap River, there was no record of any bullet damage to craft or crew. Not publicized in 2004 was another discrepancy magnifying this issue: while Kerry was making his first...

Former U.S. Rep. Bill Zeliff is joining Rudy Giuliani’s presidential campaign. A source in the campaign told UnionLeader.com that the former Jackson innkeeper “will help with federal and New Hampshire issues as an adviser and will help raise money in Washington, D.C.” Zeliff, a Republican, was first elected to New Hampshire’s 1st District U.S. House seat in 1990. He left the House after three terms and ran unsuccessfully for the GOP nomination for governor in 1996. Zeliff has been a Washington lobbyist for the past 10 years, currently employed by The Livingston Group, headed by former Republican Rep. Bob Livingston...

RUDOLPH Giuliani, the flamboyant former New York mayor, suffered a personal embarrassment yesterday when a judge ordered him clean up his private life. A court overseeing the politician’s divorce case ruled that his two teenage children can no longer to stay at his Manhattan home while his girlfriend, Judith Nathan, is sleeping there. Judge Judith Gische said the overnight presence of Ms Nathan, 46, would have a detrimental effect on the youngsters - at least until the conclusion of Mr Giuliani’s battle with his estranged wife, Donna Hanover. In an eight-page ruling she concluded that Andrew, 16, and Caroline, 12,...

...While many Democratic movers and shakers in the film industry felt they owed Clinton their loyalty, there was a gnawing feeling that it would be no simple task to get one of the most polarising political figures of our times back into the White House. ....Of more concern for Clinton's campaign, her prospects against the likely Republican opponents have grown bleak. Less than a month ago, she was running in a virtual dead heat with the leading Republican, former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, who has yet to declare his candidacy. The Rasmussen and Zogby polls taken last weekend have...

"A Senate hearing that began with glowing tributes to a St. Louis businessman and his qualifications to become ambassador to Belgium turned bitterly divisive Tuesday after he was criticized for supporting a controversial conservative group," the Associated Press reports from Washington: Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., grilled nominee Sam Fox about why he donated $50,000 to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth during the 2004 presidential race. . . . "Might I ask you what your opinion is with respect to the state of American politics as regards the politics of personal destruction?" Kerry asked near the end of the hearing...

[snip] Behind the scenes, Kerry apparently has been having doubts, calling current and former Democratic confidantes to inquire just how much his gaffe hurt his presidential chances, according to several Democrats who spoke on condition of anonymity because the conversations were private. Kerry, who turns 63 later this month, had been planning to announce a comeback campaign in December or January. He had thrown himself into helping his party reclaim Congress in the midterm election, campaigning for roughly 80 House, Senate and gubernatorial candidates. [snip] Nonetheless, Kerry and his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, hope to boost their public reemergence with...

A West Point Cadet sends this along with the photo below: I'm a cadet at West Point, and tonight at our game against the Air Force Academy, a big sign emerged, and it was shown to the Corps of Cadets, who cheered wildly, and then shown to the Air Force cadets, who also cheered.

His latest misleading plea: Quote: From: "John Kerry" {info@johnkerry.com} Add to Address Book Add Mobile Alert To: LewWaters@I'llnevertell.com Subject: Millions of Dollars. Thousands of Lies. Date: Tue, 17 Oct 2006 16:26:52 -0500 Dear Lew, Shame on us if we don't stop these disgraceful character-assassins right in their tracks. At the last-minute, shady, unaccountable attack groups are springing up with millions of dollars to spend spreading lies to smear veterans who speak the truth. If you've been looking for a powerful way to fight back, you just found it. The Patriot Project is prepared to do what these anti-veteran hate groups...

Kerry: Bush assurance on Iraq a blunder By MIKE GLOVER, Associated Press Writer 19 minutes ago Democratic Sen. John Kerry said Tuesday that President Bush committed "a gigantic blunder" by giving top Iraqi officials assurances that U.S. forces would remain indefinitely in the war-torn country. Kerry argued that his 2004 rival should have pressured Iraqi leaders to set aside their differences and focus on making progress in assuming responsibility for security, a move that could lead to a reduction in U.S. troop levels. "The absence of pressure I find is an enormous blunder that gives the Iraqi politicians a free...

Kerry says he deserves 2nd chance in '08 1 hour, 29 minutes ago Sen. John Kerry says he deserves a second chance if he decides to take another crack at becoming president. The Massachusetts Democrat, who lost to President Bush in 2004, said it is a basic principle that "Americans give people a second chance. And if you learn something and prove you've learned something, maybe even more so. Now, I don't know what I'm going to do yet. We'll make that decision down the road." Ronald Reagan twice unsuccessfully sought the GOP nomination for president before he got it...

Democrats assail Bush's N. Korea policy By LIZ SIDOTI, Associated Press Writer 13 minutes ago Democrats seized on North Korea's brazen act to criticize President Bush's record in confronting the communist regime, contending the administration's focus on Iraq ignored legitimate threats. Democratic Sen. John Kerry, the president's rival in 2004 and a potential 2008 candidate, assailed Bush's policy as a "shocking failure," and said, "While we've been bogged down in Iraq where there were no weapons of mass destruction, a madman has apparently tested the ultimate weapon of mass destruction." One month before midterm elections, North Korea's reported nuclear test...