Free Republic

The National Rifle Association is putting the election-year squeeze on conservative Democrats, demanding that they buck their leadership to support a bill to erase more of the District of Columbia’s gun laws. Democratic gun rights supporters will risk losing their A-plus rating if they don’t sign a discharge petition to be filed Wednesday bringing the gun-rights bill directly to the floor. It will be the first time in more than 20 years that the NRA has “scored” a discharge petition in determining the grades it gives lawmakers before the November election, said spokesman Andrew Arulanandam. “We’re making this a priority....

Democrats do not take Islamofascism threat seriously Democrats do not take the threat to our civilization by Islamo-fascists seriously. They think defending our country against them is a job for cops, not the military. They want to try terrorists in our civilian courts as if they were petty criminals. And now, a senior advisor to Obama says the following: In arguing that the country should back off a policy that causes too much pain, Danzig said, “”Winnie the Pooh seems to me to be a fundamental text on national security.”He read a section from the children’s book where Pooh...

The Democratic National Committee is asking America to weigh in on its party platform, and this week kicks off more than 1,300 meetings to hear from voters across the country on the big question: What should Democrats stand for - and against? If the idea sounds politically challenging, or even risky - think Rush Limbaugh and his dittoheads weighing in - San Francisco attorney Michael Yaki, who heads the party's platform committee, says not to worry. In fact, he's even invited Limbaugh and his dittoheads to come on down and take part in the meetings that will happen around the...

Hundreds of Denver's homeless could be cooling their heels in a movie theater or museum while the Democratic National Convention is in town next month. The Colorado Coalition for the Homeless plans to get 500 movie tickets as well as passes to the Denver Zoo, Denver Museum of Nature and Science and other cultural facilities for the people it helps. Many day shelters will have expanded hours during the convention, and big screen TVs are being donated to some shelters so patrons can watch convention goings-on without being caught up in the mayhem. A two-day voter registration drive is also...

AS if Barack Obama doesn't have enough good will in his bid for the White House, along comes "Why I'm a Democrat." Former Page Six editor Susan Mulcahy, who interviewed 55 movers and shakers for her new book, notes, "GOP candidates often win simply by acting, as one Democrat observed, like the kids of folks you'd enjoy having over for a barbecue . . . the barbecue with no beef, as it were."

Okay, I'm waiting for Republicans to go on the attack here. If Democrats hold up drilling, aren't we then, in theory, using up more of the world's existing supplies? When is the GOP going to get clever here? This is such an easy position to take. By not drilling, we are using more of our foreign neighbor's supplies, an argument the Dems have used against us for decades. Also, ethanol taps into our food supply. If we use our food to make fuel, then we have less food to feed the poor. That's downright "evil"! Another dacades old Dem argument....

The Greenest Show on Earth: Democrats Gear Up for Denver From Organic Fanny Packs to 'Pure' Trash, Party Planners Face Logistical Nightmare By STEPHANIE SIMON June 25, 2008; Page A1 DENVER -- As the Mile High City gears up to host a Democratic bash for 50,000, organizers are discovering the perils of trying to stage a political spectacle that's also politically correct. Consider the fanny packs. With biodegradable balloons and organic snacks, Denver Democrats hope to stage the "greenest convention" ever. See examples. The host committee for the Democratic National Convention wanted 15,000 fanny packs for volunteers. But they had...

Reps. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.) have said in recent weeks that U.S. oil refineries should be "socialized" -- that is, nationalized and run by the federal government. But Waters apparently is now backing away from those comments. In speaking to oil company executives at a May 22 hearing of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Waters tried to hold her tongue but nonetheless said: "This liberal will be all about socializing, uh, uh ... would be about basically taking over and the government running all of your companies." At a June 18 press conference, Rep. Hinchey said he...

When someone starts yammering about transcending partisanship, renouncing “hatred and venom” and “bringing us together” – head for the hills. He’s talking capitulation on the right, with long lines of defeated, dejected conservatives in tattered uniforms being marched away to political POW camps. Former Bush flak Scott McClellan, author of a tell-all book on his White House service, is worse than a rat fink. He’s worse even than a fawning sycophant craving the establishment’s favor. He’s a defeatist who bids his party to stand with him in the middle of a four-lane highway at rush-hour. Can we say “road-kill”? Here’s...

As gas prices soar past $4 a gallon, Congress and the presidential candidates are hard at work trying to assign blame for the record prices, and when they finish that, suggesting fixes. For Republicans the answer is simple: We need more energy and the best way to get it is to expand domestic production through new drilling. For Democrats the problem is the energy industry itself -- both domestic and foreign -- and it needs to be brought to heel under new regulations. The stakes are high. Polls show anxiety over energy prices now trumping terrorism as a top concern...

City proposal targets aggressive panhandling Tuesday, June 17, 2008 10:59 PM By Bobby Pierce THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH Columbus' panhandlers might have to watch their step to continue soliciting in the city. Aggressive panhandling was the topic at a City Council public hearing tonight. Councilman Andrew Ginther moderated the testimony of 12 Columbus residents, as well as the deputy safety director, assistant city attorney and a police officer. “You can't simply throw panhandlers in jail,” Ginther had said last week. “Some are following people for blocks; in the University area, people feel badgered and threatened; they are coming up to people...

Don't listen to the liberals - Right-wingers really are nicer people, latest research shows George Orwell once wrote that politics was closely related to social identity. 'One sometimes gets the impression,' he wrote in The Road To Wigan Pier, 'that the mere words socialism and communism draw towards them with magnetic force every fruit-juice drinker, nudist, sandal-wearer, sex-maniac, Quaker, nature-cure quack, pacifist and feminist in England'. Orwell was making an observation. But today a whole body of academic research shows he was correct: your politics influence the manner in which you live your life. And the news is not so...

Since literally the founding of the American Communist Party in 1919, the extreme left -- specifically, the communists -- have relied upon genuine liberals to be dupes, or suckers, to help further their cause. Here's how it typically worked: the communists would engage in some sort of work or agenda, very focused, and which they would be prepared to publicly deny. Anyone who has done any work with or on communists, from New York City to Moscow, can speak at length about how they operated with deceit. As Vladimir Lenin had said, in a favorite quote cited often by Ronald...

  100 Republican Firsts (for Leftwing Dummies)  by Ben-Peter Terpstra   Part 1 (1-50): For Mr. Clooney! 1. 1854: Pro-life Americans establish the first major anti-slavery party. The Republican Party is born. 2. 1862: Pro-life politicians are the first to abolish slavery in Washington, D.C. They are Republicans. 3. 1863: Pro-life politicians issue the Emancipation Proclamation, in order to set all slaves free. They are Republicans.   4. 1865: Attorney John Rock (a registered doctor), becomes the first black member of the Supreme Court bar. He is a Republican. 5. 1870: Pastor Rhodes Revels becomes America’s first black Senator. He is...

Return to the Article June 07, 2008The Audacity of the DemocratsBy Rocco DiPippo There was a pre-Lewinsky time, before moral relativism blurred America's vision, when associating with people like Jeremiah Wright and William Ayers would have automatically excluded someone from attaining the highest office in the land. Back then, anyone with well known connections to such America-averse personalities would have been rejected by a super-majority of the electorate during primary season and almost certainly blocked by the Democratic Party before they could have gotten to within a mile of the White House. But those days -- when patriotic, true...

- Snip = Barack Obama ... consistently gave 1 percent of his income to charity. Al Gore has been famously stingy when it comes to actually giving his own money to charities. In 1998 he was embarrassed when his tax returns revealed that he gave just $353 to charity. - Snip - Senator John Kerry likewise has a poor record. In 1995 he gave zero to charity, but did spend $500,000 to buy a half stake in a seventeenth century painting. In 1993, he gave $175 to the needy. - Snip - [Ted] Kennedy's tax returns are obviously a closely...

WASHINGTON -- New Orleans and its hurricane recovery efforts will get star billing at the Democratic National Convention in Denver. Denver's 2008 Host Committee and Democratic National Committee announced Thursday that instead of the 24 separate parties for state delegations originally planned, they've decided on a single bash with a New Orleans theme. It will be held Aug. 24, one day before the four-day convention that will nominate Barack Obama for president begins. "Nearly three years after Hurricane Katrina, we want the nation to know that rebuilding New Orleans and the Gulf region is not just a local issue but...

Here's the "thing", when John McCain spoke, he spoke full volume, to the point and full of substance, when Obama speaks (including on the middle east), it's all AIR, or (shall I use -- at this juncture -- Hillary's phrase, he's all 'ZEROX'). One would have to wait for any beginning of truth in these "pledges"... until Obama starts realizing that there's nothing to "talk" about with an Islamic Hitler that wants US/Israel to disappear because they interfere with his Islamofascistic-Messianic ambition and his aim to control the world via oil, nukes and terror. Only when Obama will start addressing...

Those people who believe all problems have solutions may be unfamiliar with the inner workings of the Democratic Party. On Saturday, the party’s Rules and Bylaws Committee will try to solve a big problem, in order to avoid a huge problem in order to prevent a train wreck. The big problem is what to do about Michigan and Florida, two states stripped last year of their delegates to the Democratic National Convention because both broke party rules and moved their primaries up too early in the election year. The rules committee will try to work out a compromise Saturday to...

THE MEDIA KEEP REMINDING US OF THE ISSUES THAT DIVIDE us as a nation: Iraq, different approaches about reviving the economy, socialized medicine, the role of mankind in global warming, gay marriage, social issues, and many others. As Ted Kennedy’s recently diagnosed brain tumor demonstrated, Right and Left are also divided based on whether they display basic human decency when misfortunes befall a member of the other side. The American people seem to be fundamentally cleft about how they treat news of an opponent’s impending death in a conservative manner – with prayer – or a leftist one – with...

"Frangis Ford a volunteer for Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is shown as she calls voters from Clinton's Oregon campaign headquarters before the polls close for the Oregon Democratic primary Tuesday, May 20, 2008, in Portland, Ore."

Dear Friends,  I ran into the article below and think it offers some great insights into key differences in perspectives of leaders in the Republican and Democratic parties. I have great respect for many lawyers and consider them to be personal heroes. Justice Richard Sanders on our state Supreme Court, who swore me in as a state representative the first time and is a consistent defender of individual rights, comes to mind; Judge Richard Eaton, who as my merit badge counselor for Citizenship in the Nation back in 7th grade taught me much about our Declaration of Independence and fundamental...

She's not quitting. WASHINGTON (AP) — Her money drained and her options dwindling, a resolute Hillary Rodham Clinton vowed Wednesday to press on with her presidential bid even as she and top advisers were hard-pressed to describe a realistic path for her to wrest the nomination from Barack Obama. ..."I'm so happy to be here in West Virginia and excited about the next week as we campaign here in this beautiful state about our country's future," Clinton told an audience at Shepherd University.She planned to return to the state Thursday, then fly to South Dakota and Oregon, which also have...

SENATOR Hillary Rodham Clinton’s victory last week in the Pennsylvania presidential primary bought Mrs. Clinton time, but it’s what might fill the time that troubles Democrats: an increasingly sharp dialogue between core Democratic constituencies — blacks and a wide swath of women. Will either of those constituencies leave their grievances at home come November? Will large numbers stay home altogether if their history-making candidate loses the nomination? The reassurances, and the warnings, are flying. Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have all promised a resolution shortly after the...

The metaphors in the title above are decidedly mixed and somewhat mordant. So were the results from yesterday’s Pennsylvania Primary. Unless you believe the popular theory here on the Right that Hillary is one of the undead; she lived to fight another day. But rational people can certainly feel entitled to ask her why. Hillary will amuse the armchair philosophers of Blogistan by aggressively affirming the consequent. She will argue that Democratic candidates able to win the Presidency carry Pennsylvania with regularity. She will remind us with her customary subtlety that she just took the Keystone State. We will be...

Last week's Democratic debate between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama really depressed me. And not just because the moderators spent the first 40 minutes on "gotcha" questions with no relevance to the problems we face. ABC News' Charles Gibson and George Stephanopoulos gave such short shrift to foreign policy queries, you'd think we had no overseas problems. Never mind that George W. Bush will leave behind a Mideast mess worse than any I've seen. Even more frustrating: On the few questions involving Iraq, there was no effort to get the candidates to flesh out their thinking. Both Democrats are more...

"People were just getting together on their own," remembers Tom. "I guess you could call it grass roots." Like thousands of others, Tom downloaded phone lists so he could cold-call potential supporters in the area. Mary spent hours typing names and addresses into Obama's national database. The first paid operatives finally arrived in the area weeks later, only to find a virtually organized Obama machine already up and running. When the campaign held its first statewide training sessions in March, some 2,000 people turned up.It has gone on like this all year for Obama as his campaign deftly exploits the...

Barack Obama may be exactly what his supporters suppose him to be. Not, however, for reasons most Americans will celebrate. Obama may be the fulfillment of modern liberalism. Explaining why many working-class voters are “bitter,” he said they “cling” to guns, religion and “antipathy to people who aren’t like them” because of “frustrations.” His implication was that their primitivism, superstition and bigotry are balm for resentments they feel because of America’s grinding injustice. By so speaking, Obama does fulfill liberalism’s transformation since Franklin Roosevelt. What had been under FDR a celebration of America and the values of its working people...

WASHINGTON - President Bush's refusal to let two confidants provide information to Congress about fired federal prosecutors represents the most expansive view of executive privilege since Watergate, the House Judiciary Committee told a federal judge Thursday. Lawyers for the Democratic-led panel argued in court documents that Bush's chief of staff, Josh Bolten, and former White House counsel Harriet Miers are not protected from subpoenas last year that sought information about the dismissals. The legal filing came in lawsuit that pits the legislative branch against the executive in a fight over a president's powers. The committee is seeking the testimony as...

The Democrats' cul-de-sac by James Edmund Pennington The current agony of the Democratic Party, which grows more acute every day, is laden with an unspoken truth. As the unending Clinton-Obama struggle drags on, the core unutterable reality for Democrats is simply this: because of the composition of the Party's domestic coalition, its continued electoral viability makes absolutely necessary perpetual capture of 90+% of the black vote. Because of this grim fact -- of the Party's own making -- the Clinton/Obama fight is over. Obama has won, and every leading Democrat knows it. In short, because of his race, Obama must...

Accused Saddam Agent Says He Met With Hillary at White House By IRA STOLL, STAFF REPORTER OF THE SUN | March 27, 2008 A Michigan man facing federal criminal charges of illegally working for Saddam Hussein's Iraqi Intelligence Service says he met with Hillary Clinton at the White House in May 1996. In a 1997 interview with this reporter, Muthanna Hanooti said that at the meeting, Mrs. Clinton was "very receptive" to his request for an easing of the American sanctions on Iraq that were in place at the time. He said Mrs. Clinton "passed a message to the State...

It was just after the 2000 GOP Michigan Primary, and George W. Bush was peeved. Apparently, a band of saboteur Democrats had switched flags and voted for Senator John McCain in the GOP nominating contest. As a result, then Governor Bush was forced into a harder and more protracted battle for the 2000 Presidential nomination. Governor Bush did something the Ohio Democrats of 2008 seem utterly incapable. He accepted that political parties indulge in all sorts skullduggery and that “politics ain’t beanbag.” He moved on in a way that no liberal in MoveOn.org is capable of, and continued his march...

HARRISBURG, Pa. - Democratic Party enrollment surged past the 4 million mark Monday, setting a state record on the last day Pennsylvanians had to register to vote in next month's presidential primary. The figures, which showed modest declines in the ranks of Republicans and independents, reflected intense interest in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination and recruitment efforts by both candidates, Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois. Since last year's election, which featured races for judicial and municipal offices, the number of Democrats increased by more than 161,000, or more than 4 percent,...

In response to the media, and political, firestorm (if you want to call it that) regarding the controversial sermons by Barack Obama’s pastor, campaign damage control dictates he give a speech on that, and race issue in general. Race is still a sensitive issue in the United States of America. Hell, I even received a comment on my previous column from the Ku Klux Klan LLC, bemoaning the fact that political correctness is squelching what they can and can’t say about “radical Republicans” and “Negros”. What a wonderful country we are that an organization like the Ku Klux Klan qualifies...

U.S.A If the Dems don't stop fighting, McCain will win By Patricia J. Williams Friday, 03.14.2008, 05:07pm It was delightful, those early days when Republicans were in fractious disarray and the Democratic field bloomed with interesting candidates like a pasture full of daffodils — any of them! All of them! Bluebirds sang. We were rolling in good will. Now, however, John McCain has unified the right with a lizardy, smothering oil of "my friend," "my friends" and "hey listen, pal." And Democrats are chewing each other's legs off. ...

Eliot Spitzer has remained governor longer than most people expected after 4 pm ET yesterday. When the news broke that the former prosecutor who once bragged of busting a prostitution ring had recently decided to patronize another, most people assumed that his admission would be quickly followed by an exit from the political stage. However, despite numerous calls for his resignation, Spitzer has not yet departed: Stunned politicians in both parties last night called on Gov. Spitzer to resign.Democratic Assemblyman John McEneny (Albany) said:“I don’t think anyone remembers anything like this. The fact that the governor has a reputation as...

SACRAMENTO -- A new water bond has risen from the ruins of two weeks of backbiting and false hope. Good thing too. U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, an influential Democrat, has sent a letter accusing Democrat leaders of blocking progress on negotiations over how to respond to California's water crisis and subtly threatening to back a GOP/pro-business bond if they don't get their act together. State Sen. Mike Machado, a Linden Democrat who has been actively pursuing a deal and working with Republicans regularly, submitted a $6.8 billion compromise Thursday. Significantly, Machado's announcement included words of encouragement from Sen. Dave Cogdill,...

Eight House Democrats were mailed a letter and photo of a Times Square recruiting station in Manhattan before it was bombed this morning, according to House insiders. The letter did not contain any specific threats against the lawmakers or the site, but the U.S. Capitol Police and the FBI are now investigating the matter. It was unclear which lawmakers received the letters or when, but House aides confirmed they were all Democrats. The New York Times is reporting that the "improvised explosive device" used in the attack "was 'roughly similar”' to the devices used in two earlier bombings at foreign...

While 58 percent of Republicans reported having excellent mental health, only 38 percent of Democrats described themselves that way. The study was no surprise to D. Lyle H. Rossiter, Jr., a noted psychiatrist and author of a controversial book that makes the clinical case liberalism is a mental illness. "Based on strikingly irrational beliefs and emotions, modern liberals relentlessly undermine

Frances Rice, chairman of the National Black Republican Association, describes the Democratic Party as the architect of modern day racism. Rice, a retired Army lieutenant colonel and lawyer, says in an interview it was Republicans who pushed through much of the ground-breaking civil rights legislation in Congress. Now, she says, Republicans stand for empowering blacks to help them out of poverty. In contrast, Rice says, the Democrats push to keep blacks dependent on government handouts and encourage them to see themselves as victims...

***** Democratics ******* 7%...... of Democrats say they would not vote for a woman. 9% ....... of Democrats would not vote for an African-American. . ******Among political moderates ****** 12% .........would not vote for a woman. 15%........ would not vote for an African-American. ******Nation Wide Voters ***** 71% ........say they would be willing to vote for a woman for President. 17% ......... say they would not vote for a woman 11% .... don't know if they would vote for a woman 73% .........willing to vote for a Black president 14% ........ are not willing to vote for a Black president...

On the Spot (CNSNews.com) - In response to a letter by the city council of Berkeley, Calif., telling Marine Corps recruiters they are not welcome in the city, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told Cybercast News Service he was "disappointed" in Berkeley and that the Marines are welcome anywhere in America. And Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said he is demanding an apology from the city council. "I would be satisfied with an apology but nothing short of that," said Cornyn. "Everything I have seen indicates they have felt the sting of public opinion, but they have not understood the...

NEW YORK - Andrea Brustein and her husband, Michael Firestone, both New York attorneys, were having lunch with friends when the talk turned to politics. Firestone revealed that he'd made a donation to Barack Obama. "Well," parried his wife. "Now we're going to donate to Hillary Clinton." And when Greg Caucutt acquired an Obama bumper sticker for his car on a sunny day in Rochester, Minn., necessity dictated that he give his wife a sticker for hers: A Hillary sticker, that is. Not that these couples have been fighting tooth and nail — their political banter has been friendly, they...

It was billed as "Fight Night", "The Final Showdown", and even "The Democrats' Ali versus Frazier". But in the end, the first one-to-one TV debate between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton was not so much a punchfest as a barbed match of who could be the most polite. By the end of the two hours, Mr Obama and Mrs Clinton were even agreeing to consider the other as their vice president and held each other close as they talked in one another's ears immediately after the debate. The Hollywood A-list audience was certainly expecting blood on the canvas as it...

WASHINGTON - Senate Democrats will move to add to a $150 billion economic stimulus package rebates for senior citizens living off Social Security and an extension of unemployment benefits, setting up a clash with the White House and House leaders who are pushing a narrower package. As the House planned a vote Tuesday on a plan that would speed rebates of up to $600 to most income earners — more for couples and families with children — the Senate was planning to draft its own measure with the add-ons, said senior Senate aides in both parties, speaking on condition of...

Son of Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sibelius Designs Raunchy Prison-Themed Board Game Sunday , January 27, 2008 The son of Gov. Kathleen Sebelius is peddling a board game titled "Don't Drop the Soap," a prison-themed game he created as part of a class project at the Rhode Island School of Design. John Sebelius, 23, has the backing of his mother and father, U.S. Magistrate Judge Gary Sebelius. Sebelius spokeswoman Nicole Corcoran said both parents "are very proud of their son John's creativity and talent." John Sebelius is selling the game on his Internet site for $34.99, plus packaging, shipping and handling....

Liberals don't actually choose their leaders --- they just fall in love. To the rest of us that might seem pretty strange --- but then can you imagine conservatives going to a Broadway musical like Camelot, to sing songs about a politician?  Conservatives may love Ronald Reagan, but Reagan had to prove his mettle before skeptics were convinced. Liberals really are different. They fell head over heels for FDR and Eleanor; then for Adlai; then it was Jack and Jackie; even Gorbachev got his turn; and in the 90s, they tumbled for the burlesque team of Bill and Hill. Competence...

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED. WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to the Palace Theatre here in Myrtle Beach. We're here in South Carolina five days before the first Democratic primary in the South. And it's no coincidence that we're holding this debate on the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, along with our partners, the Congressional Black Caucus Institute. This state will provide the first significant test of support within the African-American community in a historic Democratic contest that has confronted issues of race and transcended them. As...

Monday, January 21, 2008 Who Said It: Al Qaeda, Or A Democrat? The latest edition of 'Who Said It' in Rush Limbaugh's monthly newsletter is a withering assault on the Democrats' handling of the war against Al Qaeda. In Limbaugh's characteristically poignant way, he prints a series of quotes, some from Al Qaeda and some from defeatist Democrats, challenging readers to determine who said what. Using their own words, Limbaugh illustrates exactly how in synch Democrat leaders are with Osama bin Laden and his thugs. Take a look: 1. "This is George Bush's war. He is responsible for this war....

Analysis: Obama's Age Gap: Is It Race? Jan. 19, 2008(CBS) This analysis was written by CBSNews.com Editorial Director Dick Meyer. Now that Democrats have voted or caucused in three states in three different parts of the country, it appears there is one crucial voting bloc that will not support Barack Obama: older Americans. Obama was able to overcome a consistent age gap in Iowa because of an unusually high turnout by young voters who supported him overwhelmingly. And he may be able to carry South Carolina, where roughly half the Democratic primary voters are expected to be African-American. But Obama’s...