Free Republic

Among the more controversial chapters in "Suicide of a Superpower," my book published last fall, was the one titled, "The End of White America."     It dealt with the demographic decline of the white majority and what it portends for education, the U.S. economy, politics and national unity.    That book and chapter proved the proximate cause of my departure from MSNBC, where the network president declared that subjects such as these are inappropriate for "the national dialogue."    Apparently, the mainstream media are reassessing that.    For, in rare unanimity, The New York Times, The Washington Post and USA Today all led...

This is an open letter to the American People, though brief, I hope it serves as a wakeup call. This open letter is meant to awaken all even Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, Mark, oh wait Mark Levin is already awake but I wouldn’t mind a critique from him. Everything that is happening is by intent don’t be a shill for the OBrinch The OBrinch that stole America Every Constitutionalist down in Constitutionville loved America. But the OBrinch (Barack Obama) who lived in the White House did NOT! It might be because his ears weren’t screwed on quite right....

Barack Obama’s campaign for re-election as US president, launched with a video and fundraising website on Monday, is targeting a population which has been transformed racially in the past decade in ways that could have profound repercussions for the 2012 poll. The electorate has become less white and more Hispanic more rapidly than predicted, according to the national census, two trends that will influence elections for decades. “America is in the midst of a profound demographic change. Each election now brings a different electorate than the one just past,” said Simon Rosenberg of New Democrat Network, a Democratic-aligned think-tank. Mr...

President Obama hits 50 percent in the new Newsweek/Daily Beast poll, but Americans are largely dissatisfied with Congress, its leaders, and plans. (A bright spot: Trump for president!) Full results below. A new Newsweek/Daily Beast poll shows that while the American people are gradually warming to President Obama's job performance—he's at 50 percent approval ratings, versus 44 percent who disapprove—the American electorate remains deeply skeptical toward the plans of both the Democrats and Republicans in Congress, and gives Congress itself a distinctly negative rating. Some of the specific are as follows: • Only 30 percent approve of the job Congress...

Even though Charlie Reese retired over two years ago as a syndicated columnist, several of his columns continue to orbit cyberspace. Not too long ago one of Reese’s pieces landed in my e-mail box for the umpteenth time. In his widely-distributed article originally titled “Looking For Someone To Blame? Congress Is Good Place To Start” and then more than twenty years later revised and titled “The 545 People Responsible for America’s Woes,” Reese blames America’s domestic woes on its 100 senators, 435 congressmen, 1 president, and 9 Supreme Court justices. The self-described traditional conservative with libertarian leanings is currently a...

From this morning's Squawk Box on CNBC. See link.

According to Senator John Kerry (D-Massachusetts), the reason his fellow Democrats are facing what could be unprecedented losses in the upcoming mid-term elections is that the majority of voters are uninformed, easily swayed idiots. He'd be right if he were referring to the elections of 2008 but unfortunately for him and his party, it's 2010.

On Friday, Senator John Kerry intimated that voters are stupid and that is why the beleaguered Democrats are facing an uphill battle in November. After touring the Boston Medical Center, Kerry told reporters “We have an electorate that doesn’t always pay that much attention to what’s going on so people are influenced by a simple slogan rather than the facts or the truth or what’s happening,”

Here’s the quotation of the century, providing a critically important insight I’ve never seen stated before. Read it and weep; read it again and then act: “The danger to America is not Barack Obama, but a citizenry capable of entrusting a man like him with the presidency. It will be easier to limit and undo the follies of an Obama presidency than to restore the necessary common sense and good judgment to an electorate willing to have such a man for their president. The problem is much deeper and far more serious than Mr. Obama, who is a mere symptom...

"Oppressive government is fiercer than a tiger." Confuscius In his 1978 book, The Way the World Works, Jude Winniski makes the following observation: "The electorate, being wiser than any individual in society, is society's most precious resource." The political model he embraces holds that the collective voter is wiser than any of its individual parts. In other words, the voters know exactly what they are doing. Consider the 1976 election he cites in Massachusetts, the only state to vote for George McGovern over Nixon in '72, a state that historically sends liberal representatives to Washington. Massachusetts voters were presented with...

One out of every four ballots requested by military personnel and other Americans living overseas for the 2008 election may have gone uncounted, according to findings being released at a Senate hearing Wednesday. Sen. Charles Schumer, chairman of the Senate Rules and Administration Committee, said the study, while providing only a snapshot of voting patterns, "is enough to show that the balloting process for service members is clearly in need of an overhaul." The committee, working with the Congressional Research Service, surveyed election offices in seven states with high numbers of military personnel: California, Florida, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, Washington...

I am a middle aged, middle income, traditional Catholic female and I don’t belong here anymore.The nation I have loved all my life has rebelled, like some arrogant teenager who smugly tells his mother and father that he knows more than they do. It’s been coming on for some time, but I’ve always comforted myself with the thought that I stood with a silent majority that was just too busy working and striving and living and dying to voice their concerns about where the culture of our nation was headed.Forty years or so after the cultural and sexual revolution began,...

A test on knowledge of American history, politics, and economics found Americans’ getting low grades. The average score was 49 percent for ordinary citizens and 44 percent for elected officeholders. Apprised of these results, Maryland House of Delegates member Inez Noughton (D-Baltimore) called herself “liberated from the minutia of the past and free to soar to new heights on behalf of the people of Maryland.” You can take the 33-question quiz yourself at http://www.americancivicliteracy.org/resources/quiz.aspx.

LOS ANGELES -- Democrats hold an edge with Hispanics in national elections, but Latinos' growing tendency to register as independents and split their vote between parties is buoying Republican prospects for 2008. Younger and college-educated Hispanics in particular offer fertile ground for the GOP, new data show. And while no one suggests Republicans have become the party of choice for the nation's fastest-growing minority, Democrats have been gradually losing ground. "The Democrats began in the 1980s to slowly lose Latino registration," said Antonio Gonzalez, president of the William C. Velasquez Institute, a San Antonio-based research group that studies Hispanic issues....

Are We Rome?" asks a new book, authored by an editor at Vanity Fair magazine. The subtitle is "The Fall of an Empire and the Fate of America." It seems, given the dour mood of the country, that this would be a good time to market such a book. And, indeed, as I check its sales clip on Amazon, it seems to be moving at a brisk pace that must please both author and publisher. Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., center, greets supports as he arrives at a house party in Las Vegas, Friday, July 13, 2007. (AP...

The history of the American political system has been one of a perpetual conflict between Federalism and the Anti-Federalists. We owe the First 10 Amendments to the constitution and much of our personal freedom to the Anti-Federalists who, led by Thomas Jefferson, refused ratify the Constitution without them. The essence of the conflict is whether we the people are best served by a centralized, distant, all powerful government or by a more local, responsive, and hands off government; whether we individually or collectively are best equipped to govern and serve ourselves. Compromise is required because each system can perform certain...

So everyone claims to be terribly distressed. We glare at each other, looking as grim as possible, and the first one to break into a grin or a smirk or a snort loses. Stop it! It's not funny! But then who are all the people watching David Letterman and Jay Leno, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, and laughing -- laughing! -- at Foley's shenanigans? Who are the people cracking jokes on the Internet? They are so distressed that they can't stop giggling, and they find the whole subject so distasteful that they can't get enough of it. This is not...

Judges across several Western states could soon face new limits on their authority and threats to their independence, as conservatives campaign for ballot measures that aim to rein in what they describe as "runaway courts." Frustration among the right has been building for years, especially since the high court in Massachusetts legalized same-sex marriage in 2003. Politicians and pastors have accused judges of ignoring the public will and legislating from the bench. On Nov. 7, voters will be asked to do something about it. South Dakota's ballot contains the most radical provision: It would empower citizens to sue judges over...

CALIFORNIA VOTERS go to the polls on Nov. 7 to elect a governor, U.S. senator, 100 state legislators and 53 members of the U.S. House of Representatives. While they are there, voters will decide the fate of 13 state propositions including billions of dollars in bonds for transportation, schools, water and housing and tax increases on oil companies and cigarette smokers. The outcome of this election could shape the policy environment for decades to come, but most Californians will be bystanders rather than participants in the process. Instead, a small group of state residents will be making critical decisions about...

Another name for lollipop by Mychal Massie There's a stench in the air that's covering the countryside. It isn't from farmers spreading manure as fertilizer. It isn't from factories, exhaust emissions or municipal landfills. The stench is the flatulence being produced from the decadent character of those who will say anything and promise anything to get elected or re-elected to national office. It's election time, and the landscape is littered with those who think you are dumb enough to believe whatever they say are the problems, believe whatever they claim it takes to address said problems, and that they are...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Nearly 16 million Californians are eligible to vote in Tuesday's special election, and almost one-fifth of them are registered as independents, according to figures released Wednesday. The number of registered voters represents a slight increase from the 2003 recall election that elevated Arnold Schwarzenegger to the governor's seat. The secretary of state's office said 15.9 million - 70.7 percent of the state's eligible adults - registered to vote by the Oct. 24 deadline. That's up from the 15.4 million Californians who were registered to vote in the 2003 special election that recalled Gov. Gray Davis and elected...

TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran's reformist government alleged that "certain organs" were buying votes in poorer aread of the Islamic republic ahead of this week's presidential run-off election. The government spokesman also said outgoing reformist President Mohammad Khatami was "very worried" ahead of Friday's high-stakes clash between between hardliner Mahmood Ahmadinejad and moderate conservative Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. "The government has receieved reports on the distribution of funds by certain organs in the poorer areas of certain provinces with a specific aim in mind," Abdollah Ramazanzadeh said Wednesday. "Khatami is worried about the future of the country and believes that we need...

Left-wing politicians think voters are stupid. Why do American voters reject big government candidates like John Kerry? Why do European voters reject more power for the socialist bureaucrats in Brussels? The answer, in both cases, is that they are stupid. Or at least that is what left-wingers are convincing themselves according to this article: "Whatever the rights and wrongs of the populist rejection of the EU treaty, the manner in which the 'No' campaign is disparaged by professional politicians betrays a powerful anti-democratic temper. It appears that professional politicians attempt to account for their isolation from the electorate by pointing...

I can't wait for South Park to do Isikoff... Maybe Cartman will convince a reporter a deadly virus is going to kill everyone unless the mayor shoots Mr. Garrison dead. After she kills Mr. Garrison Cartman will say he had two sources, some guy he overheard talking and Chef, who refused to say whether it was true or not. Flashback to some dude saying AIDS is an epidemic and gay men are more likely to catch it, and Chef telling Cartman he was too busy to talk. The best think about this is watching and reading and hearing the lefties...

Something occurred to me as a result of leftover November buzz (what happened in November?) about the American youth, that much-hyped group who were meant to have blown this election (oh that) out of the water. One question? Why did this youth vote necessarily ally itself with the challenger – why did that word, “youth,” send shivers down the spine of the incumbent? Why did their slogan, “Vote or Die” necessarily attach itself to the sly “Vote for Change”? Well, so here’s what occurred to me – there’s a disconnect somewhere in this formula, and there is, more importantly and...

A few weeks ago, I wrote an article in response to a Jane Smiley missive posted on Slate.com (''The Unteachable Ignorance of the Red States'') diagnosing the results of the 2004 Presidential Election. It is something to admire that Ms. Smiley’s reaction was not apoplectic as such (I had to look that big word up in a thesaurus--and, while I was at it, I discovered, having forgotten what I was doing, that there simply is no synonym for thesaurus!) As some might remember, I took exception to her reading of the results. Specifically, to put it in terms that all...

My understanding is that if a candidate wins both the majority and plurality of the popular vote as well as the electoral votes, that candidate has a mandate from the electorate. Accordingly, President Bush has such a mandate.. . . . But a mandate for what policies . . . ...Let each citizen remember at the moment he is offering his vote that he is not making a present or a compliment to please an individual--or at least that he ought not so to do...

The following is the easiest route Bush has to re-election. The states are sorted by point spread, according to mid-October or later state polls on realclearpolitics.com... EV.State..Bush Up By 5 Utah............+37 3 Wyoming....+36 7 Oklahoma...+32 5 Nebraska...+30 6 Miss.........+27 4 Idaho..........+29 9 Alabama....+26 3 Alaska.....+25 6 Kansas.....+24 3 N.Dakota...+24 34 Texas......+23 3 Montana....+21 11 Indiana....+19 8 Kentucky...+19 15 Georgia....+17 11 Tenn.......+17 8 S.Car......+14 3 S.Dakota...+14 9 Louisiana..+12 15 N.Car......+9 10 Arizona....+7 11 Missouri...+5 13 Virginia......+5 9 Colorado....+4.3 5 West Va.....+4 5 Nevada......+3.7 6 Arkansas....+3 5 N.Mexico....+2.5 27 Florida.....+2 7 Iowa...........+1.7 10 Wisconsin...+0.4 ---TOTAL--- 276 EV The closest state that we...

The electorate has been polled, polled and polled again. Campaign workers have knocked on millions of doors with millions more to hit before Nov. 2. Voter registration figures in some states show big increases. And voter interest in the presidential election appears to be at record levels. But the biggest mobilization in modern presidential politics cannot answer the big question that could determine the outcome of the race between President Bush and Sen. John F. Kerry: Is there an invisible army of voters out there -- and if there is, will it tip the balance toward the incumbent or the...

Is there any change in the contours of partisan support that has remained pretty much the same since 1996? ~snip~ Three interesting patterns turned up. ~snip~ First, Bush margins were up in 10 of realclearpolitics.com's 16 battleground states. Significant trends toward Democrats showed up only in Colorado (where most public polls in 2002 were Democratic, too) and West Virginia. Significant trends toward Bush appeared in several key states. Bush's margin was up 6 percent in Wisconsin; 5 percent in Pennsylvania; 4 percent in Florida, Iowa, and Maine; and 3 percent in Ohio and Missouri. The battleground seems to have shifted....

COLUMBUS, Ohio, Sept. 10 - It wasn't supposed to be like this. Everything seemed to be in place for a powerful run by Senator John Kerry in Ohio in the stretch drive after Labor Day. Al Gore lost the state by 175,000 votes in 2000, despite having pulled all his advertising early in October. Ohio has shed 250,000 jobs since George W. Bush became president. Rocked by scandals and an unpopular tax increase, the statehouse Republicans, from Gov. Bob Taft down the line, have been in unaccustomed disarray for weeks. At the end of last month, the Census Bureau reported...

I tried to tell you guys that states were changing blue in this poll. Some of you told me that I was overreacting.

Pledge your support for the President. The trend is slowly sliding blue, but has been in Bush's favor for about a month. Let's turn both the pledge map and the electorate map red!

<p>Just as the nation was split among red and blue states in the 2000 presidential election, California is a politically divided state, with the major parties enjoying huge advantages in their specific regions of strength. There's not a lot of middle ground in conflicted California.</p>

Well, despite the cynical prophecies of doomsayers, doubters and darlings of political punditry, the “little recall movement that could” has placed the Golden State, once again, on the threshold of making political history. After thirty previous attempts to do so, a frustrated California body electorate recently gathered enough petition signatures to qualify a recall measure that was initially adopted as state law at the outset of the twentieth century. Between now and Tuesday, Oct. 6, Gov. Joseph “Gray” Davis will be fighting for his political life and, appropriately so--with all the splendor of a Hollywood suspense thriller--all eyes of a...

Is the Minnesotan electorate changing? That’s a question I’ve been asking myself recently, when I’ve looked at the voting trends of this once-Democratic bastion over the past decade. Minnesota, the only state that hasn’t voted for a Republican presidential nominee since 1972, has been showing much stronger support for Republicans in almost all levels of government recently—and I’m not just talking about the 2002 results. Consider the following voting data: Minnesota was part of the Republican sweep in 1994, when Rod Grams won a US Senate seat 49%-44%. The GOP also won the state’s gubernatorial race in 1994 64%-34%. 1996...

<p>The following is a look at how California's voting population is projected to change if current trends hold in citizenship and voter participation by race.</p> <p>The first column is race; the second column is the percentage of California's 2000 electorate each race represented; the third column is the percentage of voters that race is projected to represent in 2010; the fourth column is the percentage of voters that race is projected to represent in 2020; the fifth column is the percentage of voters that race is projected to represent in 2030; the sixth column is the percentage of voters that race is projected to represent in 2040.</p>

<p>Modern politics is caught in a vicious downward cycle. Voters are tuning out, and the politicians, increasingly desperate to reach those who remain engaged, are using tactics that drive still more citizens to the sidelines. That, in turn, prompts the candidates to try even harder, and so on.</p>