Free Republic

Let’s make foreign policy like it’s 2000. I think we will support our troops and vets by revisiting the foreign policy that former President Bush expressed in 2000. Otherwise, we will send brave hearts into vain battles. In October, 2000, George W. Bush debated Al Gore on C-SPAN. He said: “I think one way for us to end up being viewed as the ugly American is for us to go around the world saying: ‘We do it this way, so should you.’ … It really depends upon how our nation conducts itself on foreign policy; if we’re an arrogant...

As a candidate for president in 2008, Barack Obama pledged to "immediately" review federal mandatory minimum sentences "to see where we can be smarter on crime and reduce the ineffective warehousing of nonviolent drug offenders." Obama also had written memoirs, in which he admitted to using marijuana and cocaine -- "maybe a little blow when you could afford it" -- as a teen. And he's the first black president. Linda Aaron, a black Alabama grandmother, voted for Obama. For years, Aaron had been hoping that President George W. Bush would commute the obscenely long prison sentence of her son, Clarence....

BEDFORD - A man in golf gear stood near a nondescript SUV at the Omni Bedford Springs Resort golf course Thursday. Holstered to his khakis was an automatic handgun; in his ear was a radio receiver. He was a Secret Service agent sent to guard George W. Bush as the former president took in a round of golf at the Bedford County resort. The country's 43rd president took a private jet Thursday morning from Texas to the Bedford County Airport, where agents escorted him for an afternoon golf foursome. "It's a beautiful part of the state," Bush said to a...

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi just pulled her caucus well to the right of President Obama, as she dramatically broadened the scope of her proposal for extending the Bush-era tax cuts. The White House, since Obama took office, has called for those tax rates to be extended only for households making less than $250,000 a year. The president wants the rates to expire for everybody else. But Pelosi, in a letter to House Speaker John Boehner, upped that threshold to $1 million. She urged Boehner to schedule a vote "as early as next week" to extend the "middle-income tax cuts"...

The illusion of supposed conservatism, for scholars like Strauss and for politicians like George W. Bush and Mitt Romney, is that the political spectrum in America has shifted so far to the Left that yesterday’s liberals are today’s conservatives says Author and Speaker Jeff Nyquist... Consider the state of America: marriage is no longer an enforceable contract in most states (i.e., no fault divorce); even more telling, homosexual marriage is increasingly acceptentage of the population attending religious services has been falling steadily for years, along with honesty and our nation’s work ethic.....It would seem that conservatives have nothing left to...

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- President Obama told Air Force Academy cadets Wednesday America was stronger and more respected around the world than ever before despite impending cuts to the nation's armed forces. The president delivered the commencement address to over 1,000 graduates at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo. "Around the world there is a new feeling about America," he told cadets. "There is a new confidence in our leadership. "Today I think we can say with pride that America is stronger and safer and more respected in the world," Obama added.He noted the class of 2012 would...

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., says Jeb Bush is the GOP VP candidate who could most likely put Mitt Romney over the top in the November elections. “He’d be an outstanding pick. It’s up to Gov. Romney but if I had to recommend a single person it would be Jeb,” Graham told The Hill. Graham is pushing for Republicans to mend their fences and quickly unify behind Romney. Graham is a close friend of Sen. John McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee who had trouble winning over many grassroots coalitions during that contest. Chatter is picking up on Capitol Hill that...

Link only, no cut and paste due to their rules.

Bush to return to White House to unveil official portraitBy ANI | ANI – 25 minutes ago Washington, May 19 (Xinhua-ANI): Former U.S. President George W. Bush is expected to return to the White House for the unveiling of his official portrait honored by sitting President Barack Obama later this month, both Bush's office and the White House confirmed Friday.

These are extraordinary times in the history of freedom. In the Arab Spring, we have seen the broadest challenge to authoritarian rule since the collapse of Soviet communism. The idea that Arab peoples are somehow content with oppression has been discredited forever. Yet we have also seen instability, uncertainty and the revenge of brutal rulers. The collapse of an old order can unleash resentments and power struggles that a new order is not yet prepared to handle. Some in both parties in Washington look at the risks inherent in democratic change—particularly in the Middle East and North Africa—and find the...

NBC News anchor Brian Williams appeared on CBS’ The Late Show with David Letterman on Tuesday night. Letterman discussed Williams’s special on Rock Center about the killing of Osama bin Laden and became agitated when describing President Barack Obama’s successes as compared to what he sees as President George W. Bush’s failures in the War on Terror. “What more do we want this man to do for us, honest to god,” asked Letterman. He was first asked about CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley, who Williams described as being suspiciously “sunny” in his disposition. “Life’s too short, if you feel...

A stone's throw away from the White House, former President George W. Bush said today the world is in an "extraordinary" time for freedom and that the changes of the Arab Spring should be embraced despite the uncertain future that comes with them. Bush said those who say the dangers of democratic change are too great and that America should be in favor of stability over change are unrealistic. "In the long run, this foreign-policy approach is not realistic," Bush argued, "It is not realistic to presume that so-called stability enhances our national security. Nor is it within the power...

Tune in at 10am for the live webcast of our human freedom event featuring Pres & Mrs Bush & Aung San Suu Kyi http://t.co/6FhKWnJr Submit your Q's for Aung San Suu Kyi using hash tag #FreedomCollection & watch her answers live here: http://t.co/dfDOoYwC -- A Celebration of Human Freedom May 15, 2012 On Tuesday, May 15, the George W. Bush Presidential Center will hold a special event to celebrate the brave efforts of dissidents and activists around the world in their fight to be free. Joined by leading voices of liberty, President Bush will deliver major remarks on the fight...

On May 7, Geoffrey Norman posted "Today's Laugh Line" at National Review Online -- a quote from a column by Mark Halperin in Time asserting Mitt Romney has "the luxury of an open schedule" allowing him to "spend every waking hour as a full-time candidate," while President Obama "is required to do his day job." It was even funnier if one looked at President Obama's May 7 schedule. Here was his schedule that day, in its entirety, with all events taking place in the Oval Office: 10:00 a.m. The President receives the Presidential Daily Briefing. 11:00 a.m. The President meets...

"Extend tax cuts for all income levels and do nothing else," said Sean Snaith, economics professor at the University of Central Florida. "More of the same piecemeal, patchwork policies put forth by this administration will undermine confidence and do little to change the path the economy is on." But economists surveyed were in broad agreement that the recovery is still too fragile to allow taxes to go up for the 97% of taxpayers not in the top brackets. "If those tax cuts expire for everybody, we go into a double-dip recession," said Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Analytics. Zandi...

<p>As we mark the anniversary of Osama bin Laden's death, President Obama deserves credit for making the right choice on taking out Public Enemy No. 1.</p> <p>But his administration never would have had the opportunity to do the right thing had it not been for some extraordinary work during the George W. Bush administration. Much of that work has been denigrated by Obama as unproductive and contrary to American principles.</p>

Vice President Cheney, Mr. Chief Justice, President Carter, President Bush, President Clinton, reverend clergy, distinguished guests, fellow citizens: On this day, prescribed by law and marked by ceremony, we celebrate the durable wisdom of our Constitution, and recall the deep commitments that unite our country. I am grateful for the honor of this hour, mindful of the consequential times in which we live, and determined to fulfill the oath that I have sworn and you have witnessed. At this second gathering, our duties are defined not by the words I use, but by the history we have seen together. For...

On November 27, 2003, one of the funniest FreeRepublic threads was born. An excited soldier broke the news that President Bush was eating in his undisclosed location.It was a complete surprise to him, to us and the media. Nobody knew where Bush was! The professional stealth and management of a dangerous but wonderful operation was a thing of beauty.Flash forward to 2012 and the immature Obama administration. Everyone knew long before Obama spoke that he was in Afghanistan. The bizarre thing was the threats made against journalists like Jammie Dupree who had to tell Neal Boortz "I don't know" when...

As we mark the anniversary of Osama bin Laden’s death, President Obama deserves credit for making the right choice on taking out Public Enemy No. 1. But his administration never would have had the opportunity to do the right thing had it not been for some extraordinary work during the George W. Bush administration. Much of that work has been denigrated by Obama as unproductive and contrary to American principles. He is wrong on both counts. Shortly after bin Laden met his maker last spring, courtesy of U.S. Special Forces and intelligence, the administration proudly announced that when Obama took...