Posted on 11/19/2008 12:26:59 PM PST by kristinn
A Democrat is poised to take the reins of power in Washington, D.C., and Fresno resident Jim Robinson is feeling a sense of deja vu.
It was President Bill Clinton's 1992 election that sparked Robinson's political activism, driving him to create a Web site that made him a grass-roots leader among conservatives before Clinton's term was over.
This year, as Barack Obama prepares to sweep into office on another tide of Democratic votes, Robinson and denizens of that Web site, freerepublic.com, are preparing to do battle again.
"We'll double and redouble our efforts to fight for what is right," Robinson says. "We've got people just spitting nails."
Free Republic, founded by Robinson in September 1996, doesn't attract much attention from the national press and is not well-known among political experts. Many of its postings have a decidedly fringe feel.
But long before Red State, Daily Kos and Little Green Footballs arrived on the Internet political scene, Free Republic was building an audience -- and becoming a formidable political force among conservatives and libertarians that is admired even by some who disagree with its political philosophy.
In a study last month by the Internet ratings firm comScore, Free Republic ranked fifth among political blogs, just behind heavyweights The Huffington Post, Politico, Drudge Report and RealClearPolitics.
(Excerpt) Read more at stltoday.com ...
And Free Republic remains successful without its participants having to resort to cussing to get their point across.
Alot of the posts kept referring to "Free Republic" so I took a look see and, well, the rest is history.
I’ve been lurking since 2006, and just signed up officially a few months ago. I’ve been a member of Redstate, but I think I prefer the set-up over here at Freep a little better. It’s kinda like Drudge, only it’s updated every minute, and it has comments!
Congrats Jim. Stay well, friend.
Insuring domestic tranquility, providing for the common defence, promoting the general welfare, and securing the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity is never fringe. It's right on target.
It's tyranny and anarchy that are on the fringe. It's tyrants and anarchists who want people to think of us as being on the fringe.
This article is a case in point.
Don't perpetuate it.
I've been here for 10 years now. Don't plan on leaving soon either!!
My parents came to America for the opportunity and freedom. I made the most of it thanks to this great country.
Now I am a “fringe”, right wing “kook” for wanting my son to have the same opportunity. Go figure.
Woo hoo!!
Thank you all very much!!
FReepers are the greatest!!
Pingin’ the Usual Suspects !!! :)
Roger that ;
This is the comment I left at St Louis Today...
“Only a left wing nutcase would think that adherence to the Constitution, limited government, liberty, personal responsibility, personal property rights, national security and American sovereignty are “fringe thoughts”.
Please pack up your stuff and moveon to Venezuela, Cuba or some such hole where the mindset is more attuned to yours.”
Congrats Jim! Lord knows you deserve it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I predict BHO will be forced out by the end of 2010.
Though that’s a seemingly “balanced” statement from Pratkanis, it’s dishonest in that Kos produces its own editorial/news content with a decided leftist BS spin, whereas FR allows free comment on news articles that originated elsewhere. FR’s “spin,” if it can even be called that, could be loosely defined as the sources frequented or how stories are presented (e.g. “barf alerts”). I do wish freepers would post less from immature, unfocused sites like WND though, and stick with smarter conservative sources.
LOL there’s cussing even in this thread.
I don’t cuss here but i don’t mind it that much as long as it’s not being used excessively or for personal attacks. I like to think we’re honest, robust conservatives who are HUMAN, not timid churchie robots.
Long live FreeRepublic and thank you Jim!
Lock n’ load.
Uh, no, we're not.
During the 2004 election I was looking for something to get some like minded thinking. I don't remember how I came to FreeRepublic, but I did and it has been a pleasure to be here. Again, thank you!
Glad to see the article got more exposure!
.."we're gonna need a bigger server"
Now that the election is over, RCP will drop to a distant fifth.
Nice! LOL!
Not since we stopped posting AP and other driveby media articles. ;~)
The comments & debates on Free Republic forums are borne from news articles and other verifyable sources all over the globe, and are by far and away more diverse and far reaching than all our competitors combined, we usually have already researched articles for accuracy before any of the talking heads have their make up on, and our knowledge pool has no peers.
We're also one the only if not the only forum that have moderators, not to mention Viking Kittys to keep things civil.
Yeah, I could see how the Globe would consider informed, civil discourse and an aversion to sleaze out on the "fringe"
I am biased toward FR for sure, but I see bogus data expunged on a regular basis here, and reveled in over there.
Guess that's why we're “fringe”, making Kos “mainstream” by comparison.
There are too many forums/blogs, what have you, that I find the majority of posters are using the foul language "excessively" as you put it. I lose the point they are trying to make because of it and quit reading.
5th....not bad at all.
I found FR when I did a solo counter-protest of the anti-war weenies before we went into Afghanistan (and don’t you ever let ‘em tell you that they’re all for us going into Afghanistan).
There I was by myself in Copley Square, Boston....with 3000 anti-every-war weenies...and Little Bill recruited me.
The rest is in-the-streets Freepin’ history.
Amen and Congrats, Jim!!!
Let’s hunt some ‘rat!!!!!!!
Yay! Thank you Jim Robinson for giving us all a cyberhome and meeting place. Your good work may become the source of this country’s salvation (c’mon FReepers, we’ve got work to do!). God Bless you.
I love how the article describes posts here as “fringe” but Democratic Underground as “left leaning”.
We should add a self-evident truth to that old document. ?Unless stated otherwise, the media will always spin things leftward.
Huh. I had the same impression of AP stories.
“Free Republic, founded by Robinson in September 1996, doesn’t attract much attention from the national press and is not well-known among political experts.”
Yeah, Dan Rather & CBS have no clue....
FR and FReepers rock!
Fringe? As opposed to what? Academia that made excuses for Stalin for 30 years and that currently worships the world's worst dicators? The DNC oligarchy that compare our military to Nazis? Or a president-elect that exagerrated a tornado's death toll literally by 200,000% just to score a political point?
Pingers & Posters, we've got a lot of work ahead of us...
Thank you Jim & Kristinn, and to all of you.
FREE REPUBLIC - Rock On!
Freerepublic just doesn’t blog about news ....
It makes news...
Maybe more Conservative minded people will take a gander...
Thanks Jim.
No surrender. No retreat. Remember the Alamo!
Hooray for Jim and FR and hooray for the longtimers around here!
You said, “Congrats Jim! Now get us the social network tools the Left has to organize conservatives on the Internet. We can’t afford to outmanned and outorganized. EVER AGAIN!”
I am gathering volunteers for social networking. I need lots and lots of volunteers. Please send me your e-mail address and we’ll get started. If you know any other good conservatives, send them my e-mail address. Tell them that they need to tell me, “Goldstategop sent me.”
Best FReegards — Jim
Thank you Jim and Kristinn and all the mods who make this the only place I go for news. You all are my lifeline to sanity. God bless you royally!
do we have elected officals come to free republic like the liberals and the Dems grovel to the KOS, move on and huffington hate post?
“We Don’t Get French Benefits?” ;)
O.R. complains that people who put him down and his show are the ones who do not watch
I wonder seeing as he puts this site down does he come on here all the time and read this site as does he get some college kid on an intern to do his work for him and the intern has left views anyway .
seeing as he likes to say hate then why does he have the likes of sharpton his buddy on his show.
Sharpton is a racist and a bully and yet O.R. HAS admitted they are friends.
Happy I do not watch him now since I saw him lick obama’/s arse in NH
exactly the left wing hate sites out up articles wrote by left wing radicals and sheep which go on there believe it all.
a few popped up after the homo’s got homo so called marriage, then the homo’s came on pretending to be conservatives trying to cause dissent in the ranks.
No worries we’re all ready as I am sure the mods are for the trolls to either pretend they are us or try to cause dissent
really
I thought she was liberal,
those liberal sites post mainly left wing bloggers articles or left wing articles.
Here on this site we put up all sorts of news from right and left.
We read the article and take it from there
the liberals are like sheep , they read a left wing blog article and actually think it is the truth even though it is all based on no facts or anything
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