Free Republic

The filibuster isn't a noble institution, it's a tactic - and one with a checkered past, at that. Liberals decried it in the 1960s when segregationist Southern Democrats used it to thwart the will of the majority to block civil rights legislation. But at least that tawdry application of the filibuster was consistent with its purpose in the United States Senate as a procedure to force legislative compromise.

Posted on Wed, May. 25, 2005 Cosby's challenge: His social message is right, but he should preach beyond the choir BY E.R. SHIPP New York Daily News (KRT) - In a nation that so values freedom of speech, one would think that frank talk would also be valued. But consider the consequences in three settings. First, New York City mayoral candidate Fernando Ferrer violated what should be Rule No. 1 of politics: Be clear and consistent. He commented on the 1999 killing of African immigrant Amadou Diallo by four trigger-happy Bronx cops. To a cop audience, he said the shooting...

Opportunity. That was the key word in remarks by Ken Mehlman, chairman of the Republican National Committee, who was in Harrisburg yesterday. He appeared at a fund-raising rally for City Councilman Otto Banks, who is seeking re-election. A longtime Democrat, Banks recently switched to the GOP. Mehlman said his visit here was part of an ongoing effort to support minority candidates across the country, and to recruit minorities into the Republican party. Those objectives can be accomplished through "education reform, [supporting] small-businesses, home-ownership initiatives," Mehlman said. He said the Republican agenda is "designed to help working Americans." Mehlman said the...

OFF TO THE RACES Butler's Chances Black Minister From Detroit May Prove To Be A GOP Exception By Charlie Cook Tuesday, May 3, 2005 Central to the job of a political analyst is to assess the partisanship and voting patterns of a state or congressional district, the strengths and weaknesses of the incumbent if one is running and of the other candidates in the field, the availability of resources and any other circumstances that might become important in the contest, and then weigh the importance of each of these factors. After almost three decades of watching congressional elections, I have...

Roland G. Fryer Jr. is 27 years old and he is an assistant professor of economics at Harvard and he is black. Yes, 27 is young to be any kind of professor anywhere. But after what might charitably be called a slow start in the scholarly life, Fryer has been in a big hurry to catch up. He was in fact only 25 when he went on the job market, gaining offers from -- well, just about everywhere. He abruptly ended his job search by accepting an invitation to join the Society of Fellows at Harvard, one of academia's most...

Gibbons’ Wife to Explore Run for His House Seat By Nicole Duran Roll Call Staff January 10, 2005 Talk has begun in earnest that Rep. Jim Gibbons (R-Nev.) once again wants his wife to succeed him in a legislative body, as he seems certain to vacate his House seat for a run at the governor’s mansion.

For approximately ten years I have been without political affiliation.  I am not a member of a political party.  Today, I plan to change that.  First, I will vote for the reelection of President George W. Bush.  Secondly, I will join the Republican Party. Why?  Well, many (many, many) African Americans will say,"because he is an idiot".  I understand and respect that response.  I know the hurt we feel (and have felt for hundreds of years).  I am aware of the blatant racism the Republican Party has condoned (and in some cases still condones).  My reasons for the stance taken...

THOMASVILLE, Ga. -- Herman Cain, fast-food millionaire turned U.S. Senate candidate, fixed his gaze on the semicircle crowding around him at the local political hangout and grinned. It was showtime. The women in the red-white-and-blue blouses had set aside their fried chicken plates and ambled into the lobby of the Plaza restaurant, idling attentively beneath the autographed picture of former House speaker Newt Gingrich.

<p>GOP hopes black mayor can nab House seat in N.Y.</p> <p>NEW YORK — Long Island's first black mayor, James Arthur Garner, is a conservative Republican who the GOP believes can unseat four-term Democratic Rep. Carolyn McCarthy and attract black voters to the party he has re-christened "The Grow Out Party."</p>

Rep. Hooley should brace for a tough race Both Sen. Jackie Winters and Jim Zupacncic are formidable foes. April 17, 2004 Voters in the 5th Congressional District can choose between the strongest Republican candidates in years. Either state Sen. Jackie Winters of Salem or lawyer Jim Zupancic of Lake Oswego would be a formidable opponent to Democratic Rep. Darlene Hooley. Winters’ and Zupancic’s views are alike in many ways. Both support President Bush’s tax cut, his No Child Left Behind act and his approach to thinning public forests. Each vows to cut government waste and paints the other as more...

From the desk of Perry A. Atkinson Oregon Republican Party Chairman 1999-2003 Monday, April 12, 2004 Dear Fellow Republican, It is rare that I get involved in a Republican Primary but when I learned that Senator Jackie Winters’ opponent in the Fifth Congressional District race, downtown Portland Lawyer Jim Zupancic, had contributed money to Democrat Attorney General Hardy Meyers, it bothered me deeply. This is the same Hardy Meyers that recently refused to enforce the state law banning gay marriage in Multnomah County. While I was trying to lead the Party, at a time when then candidate George W. Bush...

Given that the teaching of black studies is today dominated by privileged incompetents and political hacks who teach – in one of Schuyler’s favorite words -- hokum, I suppose it is fitting that they either disparage or ignore George S. Schuyler. After all, they hold the greatest of all black Americans, Booker T. Washington, in contempt, so why should Schuyler fare any better?George Samuel Schuyler was born in 1895 in Providence, Rhode Island, the son of a chef, and grew up in Syracuse, New York. He served six years in the U.S. Army (1912-1918), eventually attaining the rank of First...

Well, it's Black History Month, and I'll bet you haven't heard one thing about George S. Schuyler (1895-1977). George S. Schuyler was, simply, the greatest black journalist this country has ever produced. (Normally, I eschew qualifiers like "greatest black," as opposed to "greatest," period, but this is journalism we're talking about. I will never, in five lifetimes of sitting in newspaper morgues, looking at microfilms of ancient newsprint, be able to read enough to determine who America's greatest journalist was.) From 1924-1966, he bestrode the black press like a colossus. Working for Robert Lee Vann's (1879-1940) Pittsburgh Courier weekly newspaper,...

Devaluing the Black Family by Anthony B. Bradley Forty-three percent of black pregnancies end in abortion, according to a recent study by the Alan Guttmacher Institute, a leading research and advocacy organization promoting sex education. Nearly 70 percent of all black children are born out-of-wedlock. These two facts taken together should be perceived by everyone as clear evidence of a marriage and family crisis in black America. But don’t count on it. During the upcoming presidential campaign, while we can expect to hear a lot about affirmative action and racial injustice, we’ll likely hear nothing about this crisis. For...

ATLANTA (Talon News) -- When conservative Georgia Sen. Zell Miller decided he was going to retire next year, the former CEO of Godfather's Pizza decided it was time for him to bring the skills he has learned as a successful businessman to politics. "His experience, coupled with his characteristic determination, make this black conservative a serious contender for the U.S. Senate in Georgia," said Matthew Craig, a research associate of the African- American leadership network Project 21, referring to Republican candidate Herman Cain. Cain, who is an African-American and a conservative Republican, recently received overwhelming support from his former colleagues...

Meet the next J.C. Watts for Congress! Dear John McGuire, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton don't want you to read this letter! If you share my opinion of those two race-hustling poverty pimps, that fact alone should motivate you to read every word. I'm the black conservative United Press International recently called "the early favorite" to win the open seat in the 5th Congressional District of North Carolina. As the liberal media so often remind us, there has been no black Republican in Congress since J.C. Watts retired. The Wall Street Journal called me "the next black Republican Congressman" and...

Please suggest some ways I can help a young black woman, a borderline conservative, embrace the Republican Party.

<p>Washington politicians spend a lot of time talking about education, but the truth is that the heavy lifting on school reform, especially on vouchers and charter schools, takes place at the state and local level, one district at a time. Which is why the empire of the status quo is now descending on Milwaukee.</p>

Marc Edwards could not be more appalled as he watches President Bush push ahead with plans for war. If the United States invades Iraq, a disproportionate number of blacks will be among the troops, said the 45-year-old Harlem resident. Other minorities will be the war's victims, he said, adding that black families will be especially hard hit by its costs. "It's a war that's threatening to send this economy reeling and that's going to really hurt black people," Edwards, a bookstore marketing supervisor, said while standing on 125th Street. As Bush and his Cabinet continue trying to line up support...

<p>A black Republican is the early favorite for a North Carolina House seat.</p> <p>In the wake of the Trent Lott fiasco, Republicans are highly sensitive to the fact that with the retirement of Oklahoma's Rep. J.C. Watts, there is now no black Republican in Congress. "It is a worrisome development for a party trying to sell itself as the home of compassionate conservatism," clucks the Washington Post. Indeed, many Republicans are actively recruiting Mr. Watts to return to Congress if Sen. Don Nickles retires next year.</p>