Free Republic

SEP 11, 2001. A day of great loss for our nation. But, at the time, out of that loss, there was the prospect of great gain. For me, that was symbolized by seeing President Bush and Senator Daschle hug, as the President arrived to address a joint session of Congress, shortly after the 9/11 tragedy. Sadly, our nation has let that prospective gain slip through our fingers. Like most Americans who remember 9/11, there are specifics that stand out in my memory. - We were still living in Orange County, CA and we were just waking up when the news...

I am helping a local Republican get a Website going. Any suggestions of where to look to buy domain names? How about places that would help with a design? I've heard frontpage doesn't always come across well on a MAC? Whats the best? Dreamweaver?

I need ballot help from the Washington State Forum. Would any of you mind moving the discussion to this thread so that I can get a handle on the candidates? This impressive video is Randy Neatherlin running for Representative District No. 35 Position No. 2.

According a very poor analysis offered this week by the Politico, which was highlighted by Drudge for all of about half a hour before he realized how false it was and removed it, the “GOP is heading into the 2008 election without a single minority candidate with a plausible chance of winning a campaign for the House, the Senate or governor.” (snip) Governor Jindal is one of the nation’s foremost chief executives. But the leadership he exemplifies is even more abundantly found in one of the GOP’s foremost congressional candidates, Lt. Col. Allen West. And one would have to be...

This day has been a long time coming. We’ve arrived at a time in American history when we have reached the bottom of the barrel in terms of political talent and no decent American truly qualified to lead the free world would ever even consider entering the cesspool of national politics. Americans have never been so disgusted with their federal government - and rightfully so. No matter which party the people have put in power, once in Washington DC, all politicians find a way to sell out the American people for a career ride on America’s best get-rich-quick scheme of...

GREENSBORO, N.C. - Former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee put the squeeze on a politician at the North Carolina Republican Party convention, but in a good way. The former Arkansas governor performed the Heimlich maneuver on Robert Pittenger, Republican candidate for lieutenant governor, at a lunch Saturday. Pittenger said he was laughing when he choked on some food. "I stood up and the governor came over and did the Heimlich and got the relief," Pittenger said. He said the food dislodged when Huckabee applied the trademark Heimlich squeeze to the midsection. Pittenger added, "In fact he called me in the...

This morning at around 7:30 a.m. on CNN it was reported that Mr. McCain spent 2 hours at a hospital yesterday. No reason given for the visit. I believe the report was that he was at the Mayo Clinic in Arizona. Has anyone heard anything more about this??? There is no link on Google or Drudge as to this visit but it was seen on CNN this morning.

'Lay off my wife." So says Barack Obama about his controversial spouse, Michelle. The Democratic candidate for the presidential nomination has a grating tendency to dismiss any inconvenient fact as a "distraction" and to label every stinging criticism as "divisive." So even if he didn't have a husband's natural desire to defend his wife, he'd still probably denounce criticism of Michelle as beyond the pale. Obama's comments came in the wake of a Tennessee GOP ad this month calling new attention to Michelle Obama's remark in February that she'd never in her adult life been "really proud" of America until...

The Libertarian Party on Sunday picked former Republican Rep. Bob Barr to be its presidential candidate after six rounds of balloting. Barr beat research scientist Mary Ruwart, who also sought the party's presidential nomination unsuccessfully in 1983, on the final ballot. The vote was 324-276. Barr endorsed Wayne Allyn Root, who was eliminated in the fifth round, to be his vice-presidential nominee. Barr left the GOP in 2006 over what he called bloated spending and civil liberties intrusions by the Bush administration. The former Georgia congressman said he's not in the race to be a spoiler. "I'm a competitor and...

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - Sen. Hillary Clinton referred Friday to the assassination of Robert Kennedy in 1968 Democratic campaign as a reason she should continue to campaign despite increasingly long odds. Clinton was responding to a question from the Sioux Falls Argus Leader editorial board about calls for her to drop out of the race. "My husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June, right? We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California. I don't understand it," she said, dismissing the idea of dropping...

Constitution Party stunner: Chuck Baldwin KOs firebrand Alan Keyes Convening its national convention in Kansas City today, the Constitution Party picked radio talk-show host Chuck Baldwin over former Ambassador Alan Keyes as its 2008 presidential candidate. The pick was seen as something of an upset, given Keyes' higher national profile. Known for his fiery stem-winders, Keyes is a two-time GOP presidential candidate who abandoned the Republican Party this month to join the Constitution Party, which believes in limited government and is committed to ending abortion and bringing American troops home from Iraq. But Baldwin's roots in the Constitution Party run...

She wouldn't bring any political base to the ticket, since she doesn't have one. She wouldn't bring any regional advantage, since McCain is almost certain to beat either Democrat in Rice's native state of Alabama, and almost certain to lose to either Democrat in Rice's adopted state of California. And while McCain has tied his candidacy to the Iraq occupation, he maintains some distance from the Bush administration by charging that until recently the war was woefully mismanaged. Rice, as national security adviser in Bush's first term, was one of the mismanagers. She would, however, provide three things that McCain...

CBS News report that shows Hillary caught in a lie about the circumstances surrounding her Bosnia trip.

The latest polls reflecting Obama’s near-collapse should serve as a morality tale of John Edwards’s two Americas — the political obtuseness of the intellectual elite juxtaposed to the common sense of the working classes. For some bizarre reason, Obama aimed his speech at winning praise from National Public Radio, the New York Times, and Harvard, and solidifying an already 90-percent solid African-American base — while apparently insulting the intelligence of everyone else.

ABC News' Sunlen Miller reports: While in Casper, Wyo., today Sen. Barack Obama ruled out the possibility being a vice presidential candidate during an interview with CBS' Montana affiliate KTVQ. Here is a transcript of what he said. Q: You’ve raised $55 million in February and in your speech today you said "I was against the war in ’03, ’04, ’05 -- all the way on through 2010, and you specifically mentioned Hillary Clinton and John McCain. Could you ever see yourself on the same ticket as Senator Clinton? A: Well, you know, I think it’s premature. You won’t see...

It seems like just yesterday that many were reading liberalism’s epitaph. After the Reagan years, Republican Revolution of 1994, retreat of the gun-control hordes after Al Gore’s 2000 defeat and George W. Bush’s two successful presidential runs, many thought conservatism was carrying the day. Ah, if only. We might ask: With conservatives like President Bush and many of the other Republicans, who needs liberals? While the media has successfully portrayed the Republicans as the party of snake handlers and moonshine, the difference between image and reality is profound. Bush has just spun the odometer, proposing the nation’s first ever $3...

The elections come and go and all the name-calling and bickering as well. Check out this very short video of a frog's day in his pond. Revski

“Conscience will ever judge right when it is rightly informed, and speak the truth when it understands it”. – John Leland How is the conservative media to be assessed during the recent chaotic Republican Primaries? This is one question that, if it can be answered honestly, may come to haunt the conservative party throughout the term of the next administration. We have to admire the mainstream media for their success in convincing voters to support the MSM’s chosen candidates, and in the precise order calculated: Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson, John McCain, Mike Huckabee, John Edwards, Ron...

If Barack Obama fulfills the MSM's storyline of Obama the Dragon Slayer, a new theme will surface - Obama the Global Candidate. In his February 11, 2008 article entitled "Obama, the Democratic Nominee? Yes He Can!" Dick Morris unequivocally declared, I believe that Barack Obama will defeat Hillary and win the Democratic nomination. If Morris is right, we should see hints of the next big MSM storyline emerge in the weeks ahead. It could look like this. Obama will be packaged as the Global Candidate to whom the world's poor and oppressed look for signs of hope for the future....

Some Inland voters arrived at the polls today expecting to vote for a presidential candidate, only to be told they couldn't get that party's ballot. Some were not aware that as "decline to state" voters -- those not registered in a specific political party -- they would not be able to vote in the Republican nominating contest. The state Democratic Party allowed decline to state voters to vote in its primary, but the Republicans did not. Others said while they had long been registered as Democrats, they were told at the polling place that they were listed as Republican, or...

The post 9/11 era has changed the rules of engagement for national security experts and for those who can read the mind of the Jihadists, when it comes to US Presidential elections. While the principle was that the counter Terrorism community should let the voters chose their candidates and select their chief executive first, then offer the expert advice to the President later, unfortunately for that principle, things have changed. Indeed, since the attacks against New York and Washington and the engagement of the nation in the war with Jihadism since 2001, the selection of the US President can fundamentally...

A good friend of mine, a retired firefighter and Korean War Era Marine – a fine and good American if there ever was one, recently sent me an email on the realization that John McCain was the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination. In it he espoused the exact sentiment that I fear most going into the November elections. In essence, he said that if McCain wins the nomination he will not be voting...period. I have heard this pronouncement coming from the talk radio elite as well. While it is appropriate to thrash out intra-party ideological differences in the primary...

Thinking about next year's election ... already made up your mind? still deciding? Try this fascinating website! This is a simple, non committal, eleven question quiz for you to take regarding the presidential candidates - all of them The subject of the quiz is the Presidential Candidates - very interesting analytical tool This quiz Takes about 1-2 minutes. Having trouble deciding who to vote for in 2008? This quiz will compare your answers with "ALL" candidates - Republican, Democrat, Other and what they support. From your answers the candidates will be scored and placed in an order that best reflects...

Why did Fred withdraw?Because he is not a clown and did not fit in the circus of 21st century main stream media and Republican party politics.In the spirit of 1776 he answered the call of a segment of the population who still believed that the 'Party' would accept a constitutional conservative candidate.After the first six performances of the primary follies it became apparent that the process of choosing a presidential candidate had become a farce, a comedy of errors.  For a man of integrity who values principle above politics it was just too much.The Republican party has devolved into the...

Choose your candidate based on the issues.

I’m enjoying the prime time primaries, carefully considering what each politician brings to the table as they all campaign to participate in what policy wonks might consider the political equivalent of the National League and American League playoffs in baseball. It’s exciting and compelling observing the players moves; assessing “statistics” comprised of voting records and accomplishments; and listening to analysts determine the catalyst behind voter reactions, compare and contrast the candidates’ styles, analyze the spin, and comment on occasional heartfelt passion, as each contender competes to “go to the show,” our nation’s 2008 presidential election. After the Democrats choose their...

Answer the 11 questions below to find out which candidates are most aligned with your views and opinions. You may skip questions if you do not want them factored into the results. This quiz is not meant to pick your candidate for you. It is designed to inform the public of the various stances candidates make. Results are not scientific. The WQAD candidate survey is based on the original SELECT A CANDIDATE survey developed by Minnesota Public Radio and posted at: http://minnesota.publicradio.org/projects/ongoing/select_a_candidate/. Used by permission.

Everyone here seems to be full of piss and vinegar about ONE candidate (different candidates for each Freeper.) That will never win the general election. What if we put each of the major candidates into one of four categories: 1) Favorite - This is my guy!2)Tolerable - Not my first choice, but I'll work to get out the vote for him against the Dim nominee.3) Whatever - I'll vote GOP, but don't ask me for any help.4) Hell no! - I'll sit out or hold my nose and vote for Hillary!!! I suspect this will tell us more about each...

What happens to the delegates a candidate has collected in the various primaries and caucuses when they drop out before the convention ? I have been searching all over and cannot really find an explanation about this. Do the delegates get to choose who they want to vote for ? Does the resigning candidates endorsement of another candidate impact that decision ? Does they go to the 2nd place winner in the state etc ? I'm sure it varies by state etc. How does this work ?

Hello America! As you may know, 2008 is going to be a g-rate year. I am so excited! There is to be a presidential election this year! Hoo-ray! Exciting times, exciting times. And whoa... so confusing! So much talking, so much anal-yzing, so much research to do to be sure the person who wins your vote truly reflects your values and goals for the executive of this g-rate nation. Man, it's going to be tough. Well, this is for those of you who say "To heck with that!" and are more interested in voting for a candidate based on snap...

GodTube, the youtube alternative has a add presidential poll with Democrats and Republicans listed.

This link provides a way to match your opinions with the stated positions of the candidates. Take the test, look at your results. See link here:

As I watched the speeches of the victors in the Iowa caucuses, I was stunned at how vague the comments of the candidates were. "Unity." "Change." "Hope." "Faith." What do these words mean besides evoking vague memories of films of Der Fuhrer screaming "Ein Reich, Ein Volk, Ein Fuhrer" to wild masses at Nuremberg? Mostly nothing, I suspect. So, from my safe little office in Rancho Mirage, California, I will start to offer some specifics of what government can do to redeem these vague phrases. A pledge that if the candidate is President, he will: Not allow there to be...

DES MOINES, Iowa (Reuters) - A clash between Christmas vacations and the U.S. election calendar has left presidential campaigns in Iowa struggling with a shortage of student volunteers to call voters, distribute pamphlets and drive people to the polls. The first-in-the-nation nominating caucuses are on January 3, the earliest ever, meaning that many students have gone home for the holidays just as candidates seek to ramp up their vote drive in the final days before the crucial contest. That hasn't stopped campaigns, which rely heavily on students' enthusiasm and free labor, from trying to persuade many to drop their holiday...

Look out, Hillary and Barack, here comes Mike. No, not Mike Huckabee (though he'd better watch out, too). Mike Bloomberg--Mayor Mike as millions of New Yorkers more or less affectionately call him. And this time it is for real. Folks close to New York City's twice-elected mayor suggest that he's made up his mind to end one of the city's long-running rumors and become an Independent candidate for president. The date of his announcement? Pencilled in for right after Super Tuesday--Feb. 5. By then Bloomberg would have a pretty good idea of just who would be lining up against his...

(CNSNews.com) - Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney was asked about his "retreat" on gun control Sunday, just one of the issues raised in his appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press." Host Tim Russert asked Romney about his earlier support for strong gun control laws, noting that in his 1994 Senate race againt Ted Kennedy, Romney backed two gun-control measures -- the Brady Bill with its waiting period on gun sales; and the renewal of a 1994 ban on "assault" weapons. At the time, Romney said he didn't "line up with the NRA." But when he decided to run for president,...

The rumors first surfaced during Obama's run for Senate but took off in a viral e-mail campaign in 2006. One e-mail called Obama "The Enemy Within." GOP strategist Ed Rogers also pointedly mentioned Obama's middle name, Hussein. In January, the Obama campaign was forced to denounce Fox News for repeating a false Insight magazine report that he had spent fours years in an Indonesian madrasa, an Islamic school. Though CNN sent out a reporter who found that the school Obama had attended had nothing in common with the Pakistani incubators for jihadists, and though his campaign has set the record...

DOVER, N.H. -- A congressional candidate staged a car crash, fabricated his disappearance and altered his appearance to gain publicity for his 2006 campaign, prosecutors alleged in court documents. Investigators said that Gary Dodds faked an accident and disappearance in April 2006 because he believed that the publicity would increase the visibility of his primary campaign for the U.S. House.

Watch the full interview here.

Lou Dobbs for President? Don't laugh. After months of telling reporters that he "absolutely" would not consider leaving his highly-rated CNN show in which he crusades against free trade and illegal immigration, Mr. Dobbs posted a commentary on his Web site last week predicting a surprise new presidential candidate in 2008. The mystery candidate is an "independent populist . . . who understands the genius of this country lies in the hearts and minds of its people and not in the prerogatives and power of its elites." Lou Dobbs Friends of Mr. Dobbs say he is seriously contemplating a race...

A major sex scandal story involving one of the leading presidential candidates is believed to be soon published by the LA Times, Big Head DC has learned. Details are slowly trickling in through people who’ve heard about the story, and with Larry Flynt saying he’s set to reveal a “huge” sex scandal story involving a sitting senator in the coming days, the rumors seem to be gathering traction. “So I was down in DC this past weekend and happened to run into a well-connected media person, who told me flatly, unequivocally that ‘everyone knows’ the LA Times was sitting on...

With Sen. Sam Brownback now out of the presidential race, only two candidates in the Republican presidential field -- California's longtime U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee -- can lay claim both to a high degree of purity on the hot-button issues for social conservatives and to a personal life that seems in keeping with those traditional values. But only one, Huckabee, seems to be gaining major traction... even though the record in Arkansas suggests that he might be the wrong one to rally around.

Senator Sam Brownback, a Republican trying to inject new life into his beleaguered presidential campaign, plans to offer a resolution this week for Congress to apologize for slavery and segregation. Brownback, of Kansas, told The Boston Globe's editorial board yesterday he will join an unnamed Democrat in sponsoring the proposal. He said he expects a tough fight on the resolution, even though it will not include any call for reparations. "They were federal policies," he said. "They were wrong. The only way for us to move forward . . . is at the end of day acknowledging those, taking ownership...

With talk of a Nobel Peace Prize in the air and election deadlines looming, supporters of Al Gore have been raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for petition drives and advertising campaigns in a last-ditch effort to draft him into the Democratic presidential primaries. Draft Gore, a national group that for several years has been trying to pull Mr. Gore into a presidential race, ran a full-page advertisement in The New York Times on Wednesday, as well as commercials on liberal radio talk shows, saying he had an obligation to seek the presidency again and address from the White House...

Blackwater Contractor From Kokomo Running For Congress Ex-Army Officer's Iraq Assignment Ending Weeks Before Primary POSTED: 7:53 pm EDT October 3, 2007 MISHAWAKA, Ind. -- A former Army captain who works with Blackwater USA will seek the Republican nomination for the U.S. House in Indiana's 2nd District, the seat now held by Democratic Rep. Joe Donnelly. Chris Minor, 39, of Kokomo, announced his candidacy while on a break from his job as a civilian intelligence analyst for the U.S. State Department in Iraq and said his assignment in Iraq will be over by mid-April, a few weeks before the Indiana...

Today, Newt Gingrich is set to kick off his latest ambitious project. His “Solutions Day” is aimed at coming up with a “broad set of nonpartisan solutions” that will move the government “from the world that fails to the world that works.” This Saturday, over a dozen workshops will be held nationwide to tackle a range of issues, from tax reform and reducing bureaucracy to conservation and space policy. This effort perfectly fits Newt’s reputation for bold thinking and innovative policy ideas. He is less well-suited, however, for the presidential run he continues to flirt with. The tireless former Speaker...

Rudy Giuliani’s presidential campaign is up with a radio ad in Iowa claming he is liberals’ “worst nightmare” — an effort to get early voters to think ahead to November when they caucus in January. The spot, called “Nightmare,” shows that last week’s MoveOn.org ad bashing Army Gen. David Petraeus is the gift that keeps on giving for Republicans. “MoveOn.org is the most powerful left-wing group in the country,” the ad, which is running statewide, intones. “They spent millions electing anti-war liberals. And publicly brag how the Democratic Party is theirs — bought and paid for. Why is MoveOn attacking...

The first truth we must find a way to swallow is this - we have exactly the government we elected! Our Republican President has a public approval rating hovering around 30% and our Democrat congress has an approval rating down around 20%. Clearly, we don’t think much of our government, but we elected them and what does that say about us? Americans have a serious obesity problem and that’s because too many live on junk food. They live on junk food because we tell them to. Too many Americans outspend their pocketbook; just like our government does, they are up...

...Next month, Mr. Thompson is expected to join the Republican race for president. While he is perhaps best known for playing the tough-minded District Attorney Arthur Branch on the NBC show “Law & Order,” it is his real-life role as an investigator of government wrongdoing that has become a central part of the political biography he hopes will propel him to the presidency. But the public image of the impartial, “let the chips fall where they may” prosecutor that Mr. Thompson has cultivated masks a more nuanced reality.

The blogger 'An American Expat in Southeast Asia" who lives near Barack's childhood residences in Jakarta tracks down leads and does some correspondence gumshoe journalism to find more info on Barack's early years.Part 1 part 2 Part 3 I thought Freeper's would enjoy these bits of info... http://laotze.blogspot.com/