Free Republic

Sen. John McCain's bid for the Republican 2000 presidential nomination got a boost Wednesday when he was endorsed by fellow Sen. Fred Thompson, who joined McCain's campaign as national co-chairman. "When it comes to personal courage and integrity and the courage to do what he thinks is right, regardless of whether or not it's particularly popular at the moment, John McCain has shown characteristics of leadership like no one else I've ever seen," Thompson said at a press conference. Thompson, a Tennessee Republican, and McCain are both independent minded senators who have bucked their party, most notably on the issue...

"What they say in Washington is not going to affect the fact that there are terrorists around the world that are planning to come here and kill us," he said in Iowa, in the most spirited part of his newly honed stump speech. Pointing his finger and bouncing up and down on his toes, he declared, "It is something I understand better than anyone else running for president." H said, it is time to eliminate the estate tax and vastly simplify the tax code. But it was the Iraq war and efforts against terrorism on which he was most impassioned....

John McCain and Rudy Giuliani are the top presidential hopefuls for Republican Party supporters in the Granite State, according to a poll by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center. 29 per cent of likely GOP primary voters would back the Arizona senator in the 2008 United States primary, while 29 per cent would support the former New York City mayor. Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney is third with 17 per cent. Support is lower for actor and former Tennessee senator Fred Thompson, former House of Representatives speaker Newt Gingrich, former Wisconsin governor Tommy Thompson, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee,...

The visit to the Middle East, and to Syria in particular, by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has provoked mixed reactions in the Arab world. Some wrote that Pelosi's visit challenged the foreign policy of the Bush administration, and that it had improved the U.S.'s image in the Arab and Muslim world. Others took a more skeptical approach, denying that the visit had made any major change. Still others were highly critical, and accused Pelosi of damaging the cause of democracy in Syria. Syrian Journalist: Pelosi Has Opened the Door to a Syria-U.S. Dialogue Pelosi's visit was well received in...

Social conservatives seeking to ban abortion and same-sex marriage are worried that their agenda is increasingly being overshadowed by the war in Iraq, making it more difficult for their voices to be heard in Congress and the presidential campaign than at any time in more than a decade. A poll released Thursday by Diageo/ The Hotline indicated that Iraq was by far the single most important issues to voters, with 30 percent of all respondents -- 21 percent of Republicans, 38 percent of Democrats, and 32 percent of independents -- naming their opposition to the war as the most critical...

The tripod on which Giuliani is basing his campaign is his reputation as “America’s Mayor” from 9/11, his record as Gotham’s most successful chief executive and – most promisingly from a free market perspective – as an advocate of supply-side economics, which endorses tax cuts to boost economic growth. In this campaign, however, Giuliani is more committed to supply-side economics than ever. He never misses an opportunity to tout his belief in it or make clear his disgust with high taxes. In a recent interview he repeatedly declared, “I don’t like taxes.” He has also committed himself to a “massive...

After last November's election, I wrote that the climate in Congress would likely move to the far left, but this writer never dreamed that the Speaker of the House would try to dangerously undermine this nation's foreign policy. But that's exactly what Nancy Pelosi has done by taking off and sitting down with one of this planet's more reprehensible monsters, namely Syrian president and terror supporter Bashar Assad. Syria is not our friend. They have been allowing huge amounts of weapons to be moved from its borders to the Lebanese-based Hezbollah militia and they have been suspected of supporting the...

Nancy Pelosi has persistently violated her duty to exercise her speaker powers in accordance with the Constitution and the current "106th Congress House Rules Manual" (House Document 106-320). In short, she has fostered what is known as "tyranny by the majority" — and violated House Rules that give her the duty to maintain order, civility, and decorum, and to foster "comity" (a word rarely used these days, meaning "mutual respect"). She also denied a request by President Bush (who has primary constitutional authority over the conduct of foreign policy) that as the third-highest official of the United State she not...

The other face of America! This is how Arab media and political circles describe Nancy Pelosi as she winds up her tour of the Middle East amid criticism from the Bush administration. And, there is little doubt that much of the Arab elite likes that face better than the one presented by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in her trips to the region. Pelosi, the speaker of the US House of Representatives, describes her tour as a fact-finding exercise. But, judging by the substantial negotiations she engaged in, hers was a full-fledged diplomatic mission. At least, this is how...

Almost two-thirds of California residents believe President George W. Bush is untruthful and only 23 percent approve of his job performance, according to a new poll released today from San Jose State University. In contrast to the president, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's approval rating is at a near-record high of 62 percent, according to the poll, conducted by the Survey and Policy Research Institute at SJSU. Schwarzenegger is winning approval from liberal and moderate Californians while still maintaining a 64 percent approval rating among conservatives, according to the survey results. While California's presidential primary is 10 months away, the poll results...

The state Senate leader on Thursday announced plans for an advisory ballot measure calling for the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, hoping to prompt debate among presidential candidates campaigning in California. The Vote Us Out of Iraq measure would appear on California's Feb. 5 presidential primary ballot and is believed to be the first such proposal for a statewide advisory vote in the nation. “We want every single candidate coming to California to square off on this issue,” said Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland. The proposal would have to pass the Democrat-controlled Legislature and be signed...

Some of the world's biggest polluters have threatened to derail a new UN-backed global climate report, questioning its scientific basis and working to tone down its language before the report is released later this week, according to delegates at the climate conference in Brussels Wednesday. The United States, Russia and China have reportedly taken the lead in seeking modifications to a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The report's final draft, compiled by hundreds of scientists assessing global literature on climate change, must still be approved by government representatives meeting at a four-day summit in Brussels. Russia...

Rudy Giuliani blasted Democrats on the Iraq war and emphasized his role after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, which made him a national figure, in a speech to supporters in St. Petersburg on Wednesday. Giuliani, leading in polls in the Republican presidential primary both nationally and in Florida, was making his first public campaign appearance in the Tampa Bay area. "You have to be on offense against terrorists," Giuliani told the crowd. "Before Sept. 11, we were playing defense." If a Democrat wins the election, "we'll be right back playing defense because that's what the Democrats are doing," he said....

Former New York City Mayor Ed Koch has made it clear that he's not very fond of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and now Koch wants Republicans to know something or two about their front-running presidential candidate. He's doing so by re-issuing his 1999 book, Nasty Man, along with some new comments about his successor. "I believe Rudy Giuliani would be bad for the country," Koch said. "So what am I supposed to do, be silent? I'm not!" Koch has endorsed Sen. Hillary Clinton for president in 2008.

Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani on Wednesday said everything has to be considered if the United States wants to break its reliance on foreign oil, including more drilling off Florida's coast. Calling the energy supply a major domestic problem, Giuliani said the nation needs to focus on nuclear power production and renewable energy sources. In the meantime it also needs to see what oil can be tapped, he said. "Energy independence means everything has to be open for discussion," Giuliani said when asked about offshore drilling. "The idea of having more oil under our command, so to speak, or within...

The former mayor of New York leads Sen. John McCain by a 36 percent to 24 percent margin among the state's likely GOP primary voters, and is the choice of nearly four in 10 of those who say they are "strongly conservative." "Voters are not picking up fully on his positions or tending to discount them because of overriding issues like terrorism and Iraq, " DiCamillo said of Giuliani. Only one in five California Republicans say there is no chance they would vote for Giuliani, and he enjoys an 80 percent favorability rating. But no matter which of the top...

Our polls show Giuliani with 43% voter support, compared with McCain's 24%. Giuliani continues to lead McCain among Pro-Choice voters and among Pro-Life voters; Giuliani continues to lead among both those who support and those who oppose same-sex marriage; Giuliani continues to lead among those who are for stem-cell research and those against it; Giuliani continues to lead among those who own guns and those who don't; Giuliani continues to lead among those who think the USA needs a military draft and among those who think the USA does not; and Giuliani continues to lead in union households and in...

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who is leading in national polls of the Republican presidential field, is picking up support in North Carolina. Giuliani will be the guest at a fundraiser on April 25 in Greensboro at the home of Dr. Aldona Wos, the former U.S. ambassador to Estonia, and her husband, Louis DeJoy. Jim Culbertson, a Winston-Salem businessman who headed the two state campaigns for George W. Bush, will chair Giuliani's North Carolina campaign. DeJoy will be a co-chairman. "We were pretty much blown away by him," Culbertson said. Culbertson said Giuliani could help Republicans win in Democratic-leaning...

Two Democratic presidential candidates broke previous fundraising records during the first three months of the year, with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton setting a high bar of $26 million in new contributions for the quarter. Former Sen. John Edwards' campaign said he had raised more than $14 million since the beginning of the year. The Clinton campaign also announced that she had transferred about $10 million from her last Senate campaign, bringing her total receipts for the quarter to $36 million. Edwards had no such transfers of money. Clinton aides would not specify how many of her contributions were designated only...

White evangelicals made up one-third of the electorate in Iowa in the 2004 presidential election, according to exit polls conducted for The Associated Press and the television networks. Two-thirds of them voted for George W. Bush. Nationally, evangelicals were 23 percent of the electorate in 2004 and they voted overwhelmingly for Bush. Republicans suffered a dramatic setback in Iowa in the midterm elections with a Democrat winning the governor's office and Republicans losing two seats in Congress. In addition, both chambers of the state Legislature rolled to Democratic control, and Scheffler acknowledged that a main reason was that religious conservatives...