Free Republic

Ask Democrat Ed Markey or Republican Gabriel Gomez about guns or ObamaCare or each other's qualifications to be the next US senator from Massachusestts, and out come the canned talking points and put-downs that anyone following the Senate race quickly wearies of. But what if you toss them some questions from off the beaten path? I put some nonstandard queries to the two nominees, hoping their answers might be illuminating – or at least unexpected. Herewith excerpts from their replies. (The candidates' full responses are posted online: Click here for Markey's and here for Gomez's). 1. Are TV shows getting...

OBAMA: Now, having said all that, you'll remember when I made that speech a couple of weeks ago about the need for us to shift out of a perpetual war mind-set, I specifically said that one of the things that we're going to have to discuss and debate is how are we striking this balance between the need to keep the American people safe and our concerns about privacy because there are some tradeoffs involved.

WHEN is a Jew not a Jew? When he’s a Karaite. Or so says Israel’s chief rabbinate, which, after 65 years of relative harmony with an ancient Jewish sect, is reopening an old and bitter schism. In recent months, rabbis working for Israel’s ministry of religion have deemed Karaite marriages invalid, fined their butchers for claiming to be kosher, and demanded that Karaites marrying Orthodox Jewish women should convert, sometimes having to undergo tavila, or baptism. “We are already Jews,” protests Moshe Firrouz, a computer engineer who heads the Karaites’ Council of Sages. “The rabbinate is denying us our religious...

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) has invited Vice President Joe Biden to debate him on gun control. The invite came during Cruz’s speech Friday at the annual National Rifle Association convention in Houston.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, noting that Vice President Joe Biden reportedly plans to revive a legislative push for gun control, challenged him to a debate about policy responses to gun violence.

"It is not enough for the insecure left to deem a position wrong; if it’s merely wrong, it needs to be argued about, and it can’t survive that. It must instead be morally abhorrent, so that the zealot reacts to the toxin of questioning much like a jogger coming across a decomposing body on the side of the road — it must be internalized that the correct response to such a horror is to retch, and faint, and call the authorities post-haste. This is how the leftist faith protects itself from the infection of doubt. (Meanwhile, of course, patting...

April 12, 2013 Dear Friends, I believe every senator should be required to go on the record about their views on the Second Amendment. And yesterday, I voted for a procedural motion to require senators to go on the record about where they stand on gun control. I believe the American people deserve to know where the Senate stands on this issue. I want to debate and I want to vote. I’m not afraid to show my support for the Second Amendment. Here's why: · Many senators have refused to take a position on some of these gun control issues...

Same-sex marriage is probably inevitable in America whatever the Supreme Court decides. That's because the public is clearly leaning that way. That the court is even being asked to impose a sweeping social change on the nation is illustrative of another lost battle -- the idea that the Supreme Court is not a super-legislature and that nine robed lawyers ought to refrain from imposing their policy preferences on the whole nation. Even two liberal justices, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer, have from time to time expressed caution about the Court imposing its will on matters better left up to...

Atheist professor and philosopher, Alex Rosenberg, says if you believe in Intelligent Design you are a chauvinist. (Posted by: Religio-Political Talk. This is one of the most incredible statements I have heard in my life. While it is trivial to many, it shows the depth of how progressive ideology in education has corrupted even the sciences with its radical multiculturalism and politically-correct thinking. Here again is Professor David Clemens explains how this thinking has crept into all corners of education, here he talks about some of the cases that the above video adds to: http://tinyurl.com/caej2oz The entire debate between Professor...

Recently a discussion of this story about DC Comics being pressured by homosexual activists to fire one of its writers because he’s on the board of the National Organization of Marriage prompted vigorous debate on my Facebook wall. While perusing through the various comments, it was obvious there still exists much confusion in our country today about the term “rights.” There are two types of rights: unalienable and contractual. Sometimes referred to as a natural right (i.e. “the Laws of Nature and Nature’s God” reference from The Declaration of Independence), an unalienable right is a right that comes from God...

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) predicted Sunday that Republicans would eventually accept Democrats’ combination of closing tax loopholes and spending cuts to replace sequestration. Schumer characterized the GOP’s plan to offset the across-the-board cuts with other spending cuts and no new revenues as out of step with a majority of voters. The Senate Democratic Policy Committee chairman said Republicans’ preferred path caters to special interests and the wealthy. “I think that the Democrats have the high ground both substantively and politically, and we will win on this issue. … I believe that just like on the ‘fiscal cliff,’ Republicans will come...

The Great Gun Debate shows American political discourse at its irrational worst; with both left and right promoting panic and hysteria that distracts attention from the nation’s truly menacing problems. Instead of addressing crushing deficits, economic stagnation, political gridlock, and the erosion of middle-class security, politicians and pundits obsess over gun violence—one of the few challenges where the United States has made dramatic progress in recent years. How can the president and his supporters work themselves into a self-righteous lather over minor regulatory adjustments that have been tried before with no measurable impact on the rate of firearms crime? And...

**SNIP** The president also conceded that “[t]he same dynamic happens on the Democratic side,” but in his mind, “the difference is just that the more left-leaning media outlets recognize that compromise is not a dirty word.” He claimed that “leaders like myself—and I include Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi in this—are willing to buck the more absolutist-wing elements in our party to try to get stuff done,” as opposed to the opposing party which he views as obstructionist. “[T]hat’s one of the biggest problems we’ve got in how folks report about Washington right now, because I think journalists rightly value...

And Obama's advisor (Jarrett) went on to compare the current president with Abraham Lincoln. "I think you can't compare the Civil War to what we're going through," she said. "But we've been through a really tough time in our country. And seeing how Lincoln had to work so hard just to make the progress that he did, how he never gave up, and how resilient he was, and [how] he tried a whole range of different strategies. And I think obviously that resonated with the president. And so it kind of reaffirmed what he already knew, which is you have...

“You come in here, brandish your little book as if I don’t know what’s in there--” “My little book? That’s the Constitution of the United States. It’s our founding document, Piers.” “I know what’s in your Constitution.” “Do you really?” That was the climax of a heated debate between Breitbart News Editor-at-Large Ben Shapiro and CNN’s Piers Morgan on live television this evening--one in which Morgan came off much the worse for wear. Shapiro began by pointing out that for weeks, Morgan had bullied guests who defend the right to bear arms by "standing on the graves of the children...

The decision of a newspaper in New York’s Westchester County to publish an interactive map that allowed readers to discover the names and addresses of owners of legal guns is generally being debated as one about whether the Gannett-owned Journal News showed good judgment. It didn’t, but the problem goes a lot deeper than whether or not a newspaper ought to publicize information that is legally available to the public in this manner. The controversy goes to the heart of the entire discussion about guns in this country. No matter what those behind this stunt say

Sen. John Kerry is the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations responsible for oversight of US State Dept., execution of foreign policy and oversight of diplomatic facilities. But in Oct. 2012, Kerry was also acting as Obama's debate coach when Obama prepared for the 2nd debate, the foreign policy debate at which Romney was expected to grill Obama over the Benghazigate disaster. Did Kerry violate the separation of powers and ignore a conflict of interest in being both Obama's foreign policy debate coach and Chair of the committee? Kerry's committee in the legislative branch is supposed to provide...

One of the most common and quickest traps and which most of us fall in the marriage debate about recognizing same-sex couples is that we allow the conversation to center around the couple themselves, that is, to center on the adults. But intrinsically marriage as an institution is not fundamentally about adults, it is about children.William May recently wrote a short book on this matter: Getting the Marriage Question Right: a guide for effective dialogue. I want to summarize one of the key points he makes.Marriage unites a man and a woman with each other, and any children born from...

Romney’s Mona Lisa smile The Italians have words for it; the meaning of that famous smile. The tight lips with the ‘giocondo’ smirk of self-amusement. The ‘sfumato’ smile of blurry ambiguity leaving all to the imagination. But there was little left to the imagination in the Mona Lisa smile of Mitt Romney. It was everywhere in that final debate; that tight smile and warm eyes. The face that never wavered. It was a constant reflection into his opponent’s rage. It softly deflected the opposing aspirant’s mean eyes darting the fiery embers of spent dark coal. The gentle face absorbed the...

What's the explanation for Mitt Romney's unparalleled breakout? A few weeks ago, the Romney campaign was regarded as dead in the water. The polls (with the exception of Rasmussen) had the campaign uniformly down, giving Obama up to half a dozen points. Voter interest was phlegmatic at best. A combined Chicago-media offensive appeared to have put Romney on the ropes. The consensus was that Obama would cruise to another victory, one paralleling and perhaps even exceeding his triumph over John McCain four years ago. Today, little more than an electoral-cycle heartbeat later, the situation is utterly reversed. The big mo...

Republican incumbent Scott Brown and Democratic challenger Elizabeth Warren both postponed campaigning Monday. Brown and Warren then announced they are pulling out of Tuesday's final debate. A Brown spokesman said the Republican incumbent decided against the debate "out of concern for the hardship faced by people in the path of Hurricane Sandy." Just last week, Brown pledged to attend the debate and even offered Warren a ride to the venue in his truck.

DEBATE season is over and there are only eight days left before the US Presidential Election. As the Filipino Channel’s daily newscast “Balitang America” reports on each debate between President Barack Obama and Gov. Mitt Romney, we also engage our viewers by asking their opinion about the candidates’ performances in presenting the policies and platform of their respective parties. The first debate was reported to belong to Romney, as indicated by almost all mainstream media polls -- primarily because of Obama’s “lackluster” and “flaccid” performance in this first face-off. Our ISYU NGAYON daily online poll of “Balitang America” also showed...

[ Click above to embiggen: Didn't you think it was STRANGE that Michelle Obama raced up onto the stage and practically dragged her husband away after he acted like he was on drugs during the Denver presidential debate? That's because he was on drugs at the Denver presidential debate. The simplest answers are often the best ones...and Michelle's outfit that night was recycled from a McDonald's "Grimace" costume. Stating the obvious is fun. ] Peggy Noonan wrote another of her “articles” today, in her coloring book, or the Wall Street Journal, or her litter box or wherever. This one’s about...

Barack Obama is toast. This is not something I say lightly. I generally try to remain cautious about predictions, because the prediction business is a humbling one. I have never been especially bullish on Mitt Romney, and I spent most of the summer and early fall arguing that this was basically a neck-and-neck race that would go down to the wire. But in the end, two things stand out: One, Mitt Romney has a consistent, significant lead among independent voters, which increasingly looks like a double-digit lead. This is especially clear in national polls, but can also be seen in...

Why was the first debate so toxic for the president? Because the one thing he couldn't do if he was going to win the election is let all the pent-up resentment toward him erupt. Americans had gotten used to him as The President. Whatever his policy choices, whatever general direction he seemed to put in place he was The President, a man who had gotten there through natural gifts and what all politicians need, good fortune. What he couldn't do was present himself, when everyone was looking, as smaller than you thought. Petulant, put upon, above it all, full of...

Since he couldn't bring the 'prompters, looks like Plouffe and Axelrod were coaching  The World's Most Overrated Intellect through an earpiece: _______________________________________________________________ Pat Dollard   h/t and Dave Simpson via Coreen Doyle

After watching the third presidential debate, are you clear on America's foreign policy? I thought not. That's because there appears to be no singular foreign policy, rather a series of foreign policies, which must be tailored to fit each nation. I expected Mitt Romney to go after President Obama on his most recent foreign policy failure, the terrorist attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, in which four Americans were killed, including the U.S. ambassador. The president had no explanation as to why there was inadequate security in Benghazi, preferring instead to say only that we are "going...

During Monday night’s debate nearly 60 million of us got a good look at why Barack Obama has not been able to accomplish anything in four years. It’s his patronizing, me-me personality. Did you see how condescending he was toward Mitt Romney, not to mention downright rude at times? Obama’s more-presidential-than-thou attitude, which he did little to hide or dial back at the debate, should have reminded us of what happened in the first two weeks of his administration. Remember when he met with congressional leaders and said he wanted to come up with a bipartisan solution for the country’s...

See the video HERE. FEINSTEIN FINALLY DEBATES EMKEN! Emken Uses Hollywood Technology To 'Create' Debate (ORANGE COUNTY, CA) After weeks of watching Dianne Feinstein refuse to give California voters an opportunity to compare their U.S. Senate candidates in public debate, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Elizabeth Emken has turned to Hollywood for a solution. Using the same technology that made Forrest Gump a household name, the Emken campaign is releasing a YouTube video that puts Emken in a “debate” with Feinstein – a debate that the 79-year old three term Senator had sought to deny the public as well as her...

Debates are high-pressure, high-risk events, and they often offer low rewards. A candidate's first goal is not to win the debate, but rather not to lose -- to do no harm to the campaign. A simple misstep can change the course of an election. The first debate was a clear win for former Gov. Romney, who appeared more interested and engaged than President Obama, who appeared aloof, disinterested and arrogant. The difference in their performances -- each standing at a lectern -- enabled Romney to gain momentum in the polls. In their second meeting, they prowled around stage, often circling...

Barack Obama lost the debate in Boca Raton last night. It must have been the altitude. The president patronized, interrupted, and mocked Republican challenger Mitt Romney throughout the night. In return, Romney acted presidential, and may have put this election away. A key moment of the night in this final policy debate was a set-piece zinger by the president as the candidates discussed military spending: Romney: Our Navy is older — excuse me — our Navy is smaller now than any time since 1917. The Navy said they needed 313 ships to carry out their mission. We’re now down to...

Mitt Romney is to travel to Wisconsin, a state Barack Obama won in a 14-point blowout four years ago, as the Republican candidate's surging campaign seeks to expand the 'chessboard' into previously safe Democratic territory. At the same time, the Romney campaign has bought television advertising in the Boston market, which reaches screens in New Hampshire, a state Obama won by almost 10 points in 2008. Asked whether Romney himself would be visiting Wisconsin in the closing days of the race, Eric Fehrnstrom, a senior Romney adviser, said: 'Yes. Paul Ryan was just in Pittsburgh. We'll be back in Wisconsin,...

zero has lost Letterman ... it's over.

I didn't notice this before but if you zoom in on Obama's ear, it looks like it was edited. The ear hole is a funny shape and the color around it looks like it was retouched...

   This was recorded earlier and does not have the principles present, but rather plays soundbites from the candidates from the archives. No interruptingFrom Tea Party Express: This is the debate the media doesn't want you to see. We are asking the questions they don't want to ask and we are showing you the answers they are trying to hide. This debate is going to show the candidates for who they really are and spotlight the outrageous media bias! You see, we have tapes of the candidates speaking candidly over the last few years. So we can show you the...

Monday night's final 2012 presidential election debate included a brief but fierce naval battle. The candidates exchanged close-combat broadsides over the size of the U.S. Navy, then fired provocative salvos in the direction of two complex subjects, the capabilities of modern weapons and the deleterious effects of funding cuts required by sequestration on the defense budget, especially planned ship-building programs. Gov. Mitt Romney opened the engagement. "Our Navy is smaller now than at any time since 1917. The Navy said they needed 313 ships to carry out their mission. We're now under 285. We're headed down to the low 200s...

All three presidential debates are now behind us. Mitt Romney’s convincing win in the first clash was a game changer, turning a possible Obama landslide into an even race. The debates provided the big boost Romney needed, but for advocates of limited government, the three debates suggested a troublesome four years ahead, no matter who wins. Just a few of the red flags:The China Syndrome. Although Mitt Romney did make some nods to the importance of trade for the U.S. economy, he spent a large amount of debate time trying to start a trade war with China. Of course,...

President Obama was on the ropes in the polls after the first presidential debate. After the second presidential debate, he hit the mat in the polls. And after the third presidential debate, he looks to be down for the count. The question, of course, is why. Looking at the debates alone doesn't tell the full story. Romney surely won the first debate -- in fact, he cleaned President Obama's clock -- but in the second debate, he fought President Obama to a draw. And in the third and final debate, which centered on foreign policy, Romney pulled his punches. So...

In the final debate, liberal CBS anchorman Bob Schieffer did it right. He moderated without asserting his own political opinions. Indeed, if this was all you had as a compass, you'd never know where he leaned. It was a welcome change from the Raddatz and Crowley libfests. On the morning after the debate, CBS invited Fox's Bill O'Reilly to discuss the debate performances. Interestingly enough, he faulted them all, while CBS's Charlie Rose defended them all. Rose tried to suggest these debates reveal something more than policy differences, they reveal demeanor and temperament. "Well, then let's have Dr. Phil interview...

Gov. Mitt Romney today pulled a bold move in the final debate with President Obama, opting for relatively limited verbal combat with his opponent while instead showcasing his knowledge of foreign affairs, adopting a presidential demeanor, and offering a sense of optimism for the future. This strategy was the political equivalent of the Muhammed Ali Rope-a-Dope against George Foreman in the heavyweight boxing championship in 1974. Everyone expected a war, but Ali laid back on the ropes and let his bigger, stronger opponent pound away until Foreman was exhausted, and Ali knocked him out. And I think Romney may have...

It would be better for left- and left-leaning pundits to watch future debates in isolation rooms so that they do not produce among themselves the sorts of collective misjudgments that dominated the post-debate commentariat after the second, third and last night's final debate. Indeed, mass herd instinct led to hysteria and derangement after the first debate which took a terrible night for the president and made it a fatal one. Now having proclaimed victory yet again, their followers wil yet again watch polls soldify around Romney (and perhaps even increase in his favor as happened with Rasmussen's tracking poll today)...

For those angry about Mitt's performance (and for those who understood it) - this confirms the strategy, and the Romney campaign outlook on Benghazi. ******************************************* ...ForeignPolicy.com...snip... "That's a big fundamental problem that the administration has to deal with, that they did mislead people for a period of time, and what's even scarier, they misled themselves." ...snip... *******************************************

Bill O'Reilly, along with a good number of other pundits, seems exasperated that Governor Romney didn't hammer away at Obama about the Libyan scandal, during the debate. Bill O'Reilly obviously hasn't taken the time over the years to understand the psychology of scandals. If he had, he would realize that Mitt Romney is either: A.. much smarter that Karl Rove and a good many other former Republican consultants, or B.. has hired a few very smart advisers. When a scandal breaks, a candidate can approach things in one of 2 ways. One way is to immediately attack his opponent with...

Bill O'Reilly, along with a good number of other pundits, seems exasperated that Governor Romney didn't hammer away at Obama about the Libyan scandal, during the debate. Bill O'Reilly obviously hasn't taken the time over the years to understand the psychology of scandals. If he had, he would realize that Mitt Romney is either: A.. much smarter that Karl Rove and a good many other former Republican consultants, or B.. has hired a few very smart advisers. When a scandal breaks, a candidate can approach things in one of 2 ways. One way is to immediately attack his opponent with...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Here is Romney burying Obama on the apology tour... ROMNEY: The president in his campaign some four years ago said he'd meet with all the world's worst actors in his first year. He'd sit down with Chavez and Kim Jong-il, with Castro and with president Ahmadinejad of Iran. I think they looked and thought, "Well, that's an unusual honor to receive from the president of the United States." And then the president began what I have called an apology tour, of going to various nations in the Middle East and criticizing America. I think they looked at...

“The great rule of conduct for us, in regard to foreign nations, is, in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connexion as possible.” – George Washington The last debate established that both parties miss the obvious. Mitt Romney and Barack Obama nibbled around the edges, largely agreeing. They reduced foreign policy to being compassionate about “gender equality” while trying to talk tough. Both would do this and undo that, making promises they’ll never keep all while purporting fiscal responsibility. Neither explained an underlying principle informing their decisions. Without such a compass, each seems inclined to...

Barack Obama won on points last night. But that victory may not have been enough to undo the damage done to the president by this year's debate season. President Obama came into the first debate in Denver as a heavyweight champ circling his battered, over-matched foe. But Obama let the challenger off the mat and deliver enough blows to change the contest's momentum in dramatic fashion. The next debate was a messy tossup round that barely went to Barack, and last night continued that trend. Now the question is whether Big Mo stays with Mitt. But there is no question...

In response to Gov Romney's comment about the loss of numbers in naval vessels, President Obama boldly responds with the activation of the reserve fleet.President Obama today ordered the USS Constitution to the Straights of Hormuz. Excerpt: With the US Navy increasingly stretched trying to meet its commitments in both the Pacific and the Middle East, the Department of the Navy announced today that it will be re-activating its entire mothball fleet for upcoming Middle East deployments, including the USS ConstitutionRead more: http://www.duffelblog.com/2012/10/navy-deploys-uss-constitution-to-strait-of-hormuz/#ixzz2AASyvvH2 Follow us: @theduffelblog on Twitter | duffelblog on Facebook

BOCA RATON, FL, October 23, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com) – Mitt Romney pledged to increase military spending by scrapping the health insurance reform known as ObamaCare last night in Boca Raton during a debate more marked by pointed answers and conflicting style than substantive disagreements. The third and final presidential debate, which focused on foreign policy, was held last night at Lynn University. When asked by moderator Bob Schieffer how he would increase military spending without raising taxes, Romney said he would begin “by reducing spending in a whole series of programs. By the way, number one I get rid of...