Free Republic

More Questions Than Answers In Iowa By Charlie Cook Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2004 Notwithstanding the District of Columbia's inept and unsuccessful bid for attention with a Jan. 13 shadow Democratic presidential primary, the opening bell for the Democratic nomination rings at 6:30 p.m. (CST) on Monday, Jan. 19 in Iowa. As the Iowa caucuses get closer, the outlook for the Democratic nomination gets murkier and murkier. Tracking polls going into the holidays indicated that former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean was in first place in the mid-to-high twenties, with Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri licking at his heels in the low-to-mid-twenties....

Chinese influence unit U.S. officials tell us the Chinese government has expanded a special section within the embassy in Washington that is in charge of running influence operations, primarily targeted at Congress. The office is headed by Su Ge, a Chinese government scholar who wrote a book on U.S. relations that was required reading for Chinese officials involved in American affairs during the presidency of Jiang Zemin. Mr. Su's operation now has some 26 political officers working to influence Congress and the Bush administration. Mr. Su has a doctorate from Brigham Young University and another degree from Harvard. Mr. Su,...

Dragon or Dinosaur? Nuclear Weapons in a Modernizing China THOMAS M. KANE From Parameters, Winter 2003-04, pp. 98-113. Few leaders, if any, would make the decision to deploy nuclear weapons casually. Therefore, the fact that a country possesses such arms indicates that it has important uses for them. Nevertheless, analysts of contemporary Chinese foreign policy often dismiss the nuclear arsenal of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as insignificant in size and passively defensive in purpose.1 Indeed, analysts of contemporary nuclear matters often fail to mention China at all.2 This article aims to correct these omissions by arguing that Beijing...

HOW DEAN WINS WHILE GETTING OBLITERATED IN THE SOUTH: This Los Angeles Times article detailing how thoroughly the Democratic Party has been wiped out in Kentucky--a state Bill Clinton actually won in both 1992 and 1996--would seem like really, really bad news for the Democrats' national aspirations. If Democrats can't even compete (let alone win) moderate Southern and border states like Kentucky, West Virginia, Arkansas, and Tennessee, the article quite plausibly suggests, they don't have much of a chance of capturing the presidency any time soon. Maybe that's right. Maybe not. But, either way, the piece omits a couple of...

Andrews again eyes a run for governor He won't rule out challenge to McGreevey Wednesday, December 31, 2003 BY JEFF WHELAN Star-Ledger Staff U.S. Rep. Robert Andrews (D- 1st Dist.) is mulling a primary challenge to Gov. James E. McGreevey in 2005, a Philadelphia radio station reported yesterday. KYW NewsRadio quoted the Camden County Democrat saying, "People are asking me to run, and I have not turned them down." Bill Caruso, Andrews' spokesman, said the congressman was in South Carolina with his family yesterday and not available for comment. But Andrews issued a short written statement, in response to media...

Dean's Planned Parenthood Ties Raise Questions About Abortion (CNSNews.com) - As the current frontrunner in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, Howard Dean, the former Vermont governor and the only physician in the field of candidates, has been clear about his support for abortion rights, but adamant that he never performed an abortion himself. "I did not perform abortions. I'm a medical doctor. Nor did my wife," Dean told a Boston television station in July. Dean's wife Judith also is a physician. Yet, Dean's extensive ties to the Northern New England chapter of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc.,...

Tillman drops by to stay in touch Kent Somers The Arizona Republic Dec. 22, 2003 12:00 AM SEATTLE - As a U.S. Army Ranger, Pat Tillman probably is accustomed to stealth missions. He made another one this weekend, visiting his old team, the Cardinals, on their trip to Seattle. Tillman, a former Cardinals safety, is stationed at Ft. Lewis, about a 50-minute drive south of Seattle. So he, along with wife Marie, his brother Kevin, and a couple of friends visited the Cardinals on Saturday and Sunday. Kevin is also a Ranger. They stayed at the team hotel, watched the...

A New Vision for NASA Adam Keiper merica’s manned spaceflight program is in disarray. You can see it in the technology. The future of the shuttle fleet is unclear. The International Space Station, a shadow of what it was meant to be, begs for a purpose. Plans for new spacecraft are jumbled and uncertain. You can see it in the people. The achievements of the U.S. astronaut corps routinely go unnoticed. Critics of NASA have said the agency has a “broken culture.” The loss of the shuttle Columbia further demoralized a program that was already suffering from sagging spirits and...

India Instead re: Bradley J. Murg's Our Pakistan by Chris Griffith The recent article by Bradley Murg argues for a return to the strong bilateral ties between the U.S. and Pakistan that existed during the Cold War. But Murg's "strategy" would alienate the U.S. from the only other 21st century Asian superpower that could possibly balance the PRC -- India. While it is true that India was a moralistic Soviet lackey during the Cold War, today India is shaking off the shackles of socialism and building a vibrant economy -- and a first class navy. China and India are destined ...

New GOP Face Considers Run Against Davis Politics: As banker William E. Simon Jr. targets a governor struggling with the energy crisis, he hopes to avoid pitfalls of other wealthy novices. By MARK Z. BARABAK, Times Political Writer Republican William E. Simon Jr., a Los Angeles investment banker and political unknown, has launched an exploratory campaign for governor as the state GOP casts about for a credible candidate to face incumbent Gray Davis. Simon, 49, the son of the late U.S. treasury secretary, is assembling a campaign team and has committed a six-figure sum to his preliminary effort. He is ...