Free Republic

Mitt Romney could face new questions about his overseas investments after a campaign official acknowledged to NBC News that his campaign is revising his financial disclosure forms to report more than a half dozen offshore holdings, including income from a multi-million dollar Swiss bank account that was not disclosed last year. The tax returns released by the Romney campaign this week showed that the Ann Romney Blind Trust had reported $1,783 in interest income from a bank account held at UBS in Switzerland in 2010. But the Swiss bank account -- as well as other offshore investments in the Cayman...

Oprah Winfrey tells CNN she still supports President Obama, however she will not do a large endorsement event like she did during the 2008 campaign cycle. "I don't need to endorse him because I am a 100% supporter him of and I've already endorsed him. And I've already, you know -- everybody always asks me 'Are you going to do what you did in 2008?' What I did in 2008, I did because people really didn't know -- my friends didn't even know who he was at the time," Oprah Winfrey told CNN. "They were like 'Who's this guy? You...

WEST DES MOINES, IOWA — In our interview, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich discussed what kind of First Lady his wife Calista might be. Gingrich is quoted in the new e-book “THE RIGHT FIGHTS BACK,” by Mike Allen and Evan Thomas, saying she would be in the Nancy Reagan mold. So that’s where we started. What did he mean by that? I asked. “First of all she is a very strong personality, which Nancy Reagan was,” Gingrich said. “She actually describes herself as being a cross between Nancy Reagan and Laura Bush with just a slight bit of Jackie Kennedy...

Really, Barack? Really? Barack Obama told supporters last night, “My kids will succeed… Even if the country as a whole is not successful.” President Obama believes that Republican leadership of the country would ruin the United States as a land of opportunity, but he’s (justifiably) confident that his daughters will have plenty of opportunities, no matter what. “Our kids are going to be fine,” Obama told supporters at a campaign event last night. “And I always tell Malia and Sasha, look, you guys, I don’t worry about you . . . they’re on a path that is going to be...

Mitt Romney was polite as he took his seat in coach next to Carolyn McClanahan of Jacksonville, Fla., on a recent Delta flight to Boston. He thanked her when she said she appreciated his efforts to reform health care as the governor of Massachusetts and even posed for a photo with her. As a physician who heads a financial planning company and prides herself on having read every page of President Obama’s health care reform bill, Ms. McClanahan, 47, recognized that it’s not every day you’re seated next to a presidential candidate on a two-hour flight. According to Ms. McClanahan,...

(VIDEO AT LINK) While addressing college students in Richmond, VA, President Obama was surprised to learn that schools use trailers, also called 'modular buildings' or 'modular classrooms.' During his visit Obama said he was approached by an educator who mentioned she teaches in a trailer. Obama did not mention that the teacher had a problem with her situation, but he made it clear this was unacceptable. "I just -- in the back, I was taking some photos with folks who had helped out to organize this event, and there was a young lady who is a teacher. And she said,...

[snip] You know you’re in trouble when Harry Reid says you should be more aggressive. If the languid Obama had not done his usual irritating fourth-quarter play, if he had presented a jobs plan a year ago and fought for it, he wouldn’t have needed to elevate the setting. How will he up the ante next time? A speech from the space station? Republicans who are worried about being political props have a point. The president is using the power of the incumbency and a sacred occasion for a political speech. Obama is still suffering from the Speech Illusion, the...

The iPad is for show-offs. And the iPhone 4 makes it difficult to make a simple telephone call. Apple used to be hip, stylish and ahead of the curve. Now, though, it has become totally uncool -- and not just since Steve Jobs stepped down. It happened again just recently. Yet another elderly member of Germany's parliament sauntered up, pulled out a neat leather case and whispered conspiratorially: "I've got one now, too." The correct response to this would have been: "Yeah, so what?" But politeness demanded a feigned: "Great." People who purchase Apple products feel like they've joined some...

Having seen unreleased photos of Osama bin Laden’s corpse, US Senator Scott Brown does not believe pictures of the dead terrorist leader should be made public, the Massachusetts Republican said in an interview on NECN. “Let me assure you that he is dead, that bin Laden is dead — I have seen the photos,” said Brown. Asked directly if the pictures, which have been described as bloody and gruesome, should be made available for everyone, Brown responded: “If it’s to sell newspapers or just have a news cycle story, no, I don’t think they should be released. We’re still dealing...

General David Petraeus on quran burning: "Ambassador Sedwill and I have just released a statement on behalf of NATO and ISAF forces in Afganistan. In that statement we condemn the action of an individual in the United States who burned a holy quran. That action was hateful, it was intolerant and it was extremely disrespectful. And again, we condemn it in the strongest manner possible."

"If you're complaining about the price of gas and you're only getting 8 miles a gallon, you know," Obama said laughingly. "You might want to think about a trade-in."

Had Americans been able to stop obsessing over the color of Barack Obama's skin and instead paid more attention to his cultural identity, maybe he would not be in the White House today. The key to understanding him lies with his identification with his father, and his adoption of a cultural and political mindset rooted in postcolonial Africa. Like many educated intellectuals in postcolonial Africa, Barack Hussein Obama, Sr. was enraged at the transformation of his native land by its colonial conqueror. But instead of embracing the traditional values of his own tribal cultural past, he embraced an imported Western...

Loyal readers will recall that I warned last year of the perfect storm approaching on gun control. Now, with the Tucson tragedy as a stepping stone, and with eyes firmly focused on his re-election, the president has finally opened a campaign to appease his base on the polarizing issue of gun control. Let me completely disclose my position: I am a strong Second Amendment advocate. I believe in protecting our fundamental rights, including our Second Amendment rights, through the political process. To that end, I serve as honorary chairman of the "Trigger the Vote" voter registration campaign. That campaign is...

Elitist Entitlement Syndrome (EES): You know, those people who believe they are smarter than everybody else, and therefore, should be making decisions for everyone. They believe this because they have Ivy League educations and live lives above the rest of us. Some of the smartest people I have ever known never went to college. In fact, some of them never finished high school. And, conversely, people who have degrees are some of the stupidest people...evah!

The mayor stirred up another brouhaha yesterday when the Irish Voice reported that "The remarks were met with a combination of laughs, boos and groans" when those words emerged from Bloomberg's mouth Wednesday night at the American Irish Historical Society, where more than 100 leading Irish-Americans were celebrating publication of a book about the 250th anniversary of the St. Patrick's Day Parade.

Will Mayor Tom Menino save Boston’s poorest families from the scourge of  . . . everyday low prices? Yes, the wolves of Wal-Mart are again at the city’s door. They want to spend millions building a store, hiring construction workers and creating hundreds of permanent jobs. No wonder the mayor hates them. Is “hate” too strong a word? In 2005, Menino told a cheering Labor Day breakfast crowd “Wal-Mart shouldn’t be in downtown Boston!” A year later, after shooting down a Wal-Mart proposal, he claimed there was no place for them here. “Wal-Mart does not suit the clientele we have in the...

Former Republican U.S. Rep. Mark Foley, a pariah with many in the GOP after he abruptly resigned in a 2006 Internet sex scandal, is slowly regaining acceptance with some local Republicans. Foley spoke to a Palm Beach County Young Republicans meeting last week -- his first time headlining a GOP event since his resignation -- and on Tuesday he introduced new U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Plantation, at the grand opening of West's district office in West Palm Beach. Foley's resignation over sexually charged e-mails to male former congressional pages came less than six weeks before the 2006 midterm elections. Many...

Is the idea that former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin could be America’s next president laughable? Not only to many on the left, but also to conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer. On Friday’s broadcast of “Inside Washington,” Krauthammer offered several reasons why Palin shouldn’t be considered the presumptive Republican nominee for the 2012 presidential election. “What do you mean if not Sarah Palin in 2012?” Krauthammer said. “Who’s saying she’s going to be the presidential candidate? I don’t even hear her saying it. Her chances of being are smaller than half a dozen other people. If you talk to Republicans, I don’t...

Freudian slips may haunt Obama By: Keith Koffler November 15, 2010 04:36 AM EST President Barack Obama, fresh from his drubbing in the 2010 midterms, is trying to revive his fortunes by pursuing a path toward the middle. But Obama’s effort to overhaul his image is encumbered by conflicting impressions of who he is that have been engraved in voters’ minds by his own words. During unguarded and even some staged — but inadvertently revealing — moments, Obama has allowed unintended glimpses into his thinking. At various times, his offhand comments have led critics, and many voters, to view him...

The battle over America's Judeo-Christian identity is heating up, and at least one author isn't taking the fight lying down. Two new books from best-selling author Brad O'Leary put the lie to secularist claims that America is not a Christian nation and that Christianity isn't under an intense attack. "God and America's Leaders" is the definitive collection of quotations by our Founding Fathers and past presidents on matters pertaining to God, Jesus Christ and Christianity. This invaluable resource leaves no doubt that America's top leaders were men of faith, and that ultimately, their strong faith in God inspired their faith...

'The people have spoken, the bastards." That would be how Democrats in the White House and on Capitol Hill are feeling. The last two years of their leadership have been rebuffed. The question for the Democratic Party: Was it worth it? Was it worth following the president and the speaker in their mad pursuit of liberal legislation that the country would not, could not, like? And what will you do now? Which path will you take? The Republicans saw their own establishment firmly, sharply put down. The question for them: What will you do to show yourselves worthy of the...

In the wake of Tuesday's shellacking, outgoing Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-CA, has been widely expected to step down as the Democratic leader and leave Congress. Not so fast. High-level Democratic sources in the House tell ABC News Pelosi is seriously considering staying in Congress and running for the position of minority leader. Pelosi is methodically calling every Democratic House member who won on Tuesday, as well as many who lost, sources tell ABC News. In the process, she is weighing her options and gauging her support. Some of Pelosi's closest allies are encouraging her to stay and...

Wow, is Chris Mathews now starting to see the light of truth about President Barak Obama and the Democrats in light of the upcoming mid-term elections come tomorrow? I sense that Chris Mathews is waking up to the reality that as Americans go to the voting booths tomorrow, Tuesday November 2, 2010 for Election Day and the mid-term elections that is starting to look like a major political earthquake that will make the mid-terms of “1994″ look like a walk in the park. From what I have seen in this video, Mr. Mathews is NOT VERY HAPPY with how President...

In the Boston-area home of a wealthy hospital executive one Saturday evening this month, President Obama departed from his usual campaign stump speech and offered an explanation as to why Democrats were seemingly doing so poorly this election season. Voters, he said, just aren’t thinking straight. “Part of the reason that our politics seems so tough right now, and facts and science and argument does not seem to be winning the day all the time, is because we’re hard-wired not to always think clearly when we’re scared,” he told a roomful of doctors who chipped in at least $15,200 each...

Tom Tancredo this afternoon criticized his opponent in the gubernatorial race, Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, as an out-of-touch elitist after video surfaced of Hickenlooper talking of "backwards thinking" in rural areas of the Interior West. In the video, Hickenlooper is responding to an question from transgender journalist Eden Lane regarding why the Matthew Shepard Foundation would establish its headquarters in Denver. "I think a couple of things, I mean, you know, the tragic death of Matthew Shepard occurred in Wyoming," Hickenlooper says in the video taken in late 2009. "Colorado and Wyoming are very similar. We have some of the...

WASHINGTON -- Is the tea party one of the most successful scams in American political history? Before you dismiss the question, note that word "successful." Judge the tea party purely on the grounds of effectiveness and you have to admire how a very small group has shaken American political life and seized the microphone offered by the media, including the so-called liberal media. But it's equally important to recognize that the tea party constitutes a sliver of opinion on the extreme end of politics receiving attention out of all proportion with its numbers. Yes, there is a lot of discontent...

The developer of the proposed mosque near Ground Zero has begun repaying the $270,000 he owes in property taxes. Sharif el-Gamal walked into the Department of Finance payment center at 66 John St. on Wednesday and said he wanted to settle his tax bill, a department spokesman said. He paid $35,449.17 -- 15 percent of what his real-estate firm, Soho Properties, owed -- and said that the remaining $236,327.81 would then be taken care of in eight quarterly payments.

There's nothing quite like a slap across the face to get a man's undivided attention. Sometimes, one slap is not enough. The Tea Party seems ready with more slaps, if necessary.

While the Imam behind plans for a mosque near Ground Zero was jetting around the globe and advocating for his Downtown project, a pair of dilapidated apartment buildings he owns in New Jersey fell into such disrepair that cops have to stand watch in the event of a fire. The fire watch, at taxpayer expense, was revealed during a court hearing today when Union City lawyers asked to have two buildings owned by Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf placed into receivership so that rent s could be used to fix dozens of violations, including inoperable alarms and sprinklers. Rauf skipped today’s

Karl Rove -Sean Hannity, Discussing Christine O'Donnell + 2010 Election

Sunday, September 05, 2010 Email to a Friend ShareThis Advertisement The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Sunday shows that 24% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as president. Forty-seven percent (47%) Strongly Disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -23 (see trends).

The Ground Zero Victory Mosque and the wake-up call it’s giving regular, typically non-political people, could very well prove to be one of the defining moments in our lives…and the Left never saw it coming, and still doesn’t realize the inescapable trap it finds itself in. Frankly, we’ve been waiting for something like this to happen for years, and sometimes can’t believe America’s luck that it’s FINALLY here…an event that exposes the Left for what it really is, so nakedly and plainly, that Democrats have an Emperor’s New Clothes moment and are revealed for exactly who and WHAT they really...

Liberal talk show hosts sound off on President Barack Obama’s elitist attitude, claiming he hates black people because he was to be the head black man in America. In fact, he doesn’t even want to be black. No really. Viewer advisory F-Bomb used in video

Michelle Obama today faced a fresh wave of attacks over her lavish break in Spain with 40 friends, which could easily cost U.S. taxpayers a staggering £50,000 a day. The First Lady has been lambasted for her extravagance at a time when the economy is still struggling. One blogger went so far as to brand her a modern-day Marie Antoinette. And her critics will be further annoyed when they learn that the president's wife had a Spanish beach closed off today so that she, her daughter and their entourage could go for a swim. Spanish police cleared off a stretch...

Sacrifice is something that many Americans are becoming all too familiar with during this economic downturn. It was a key theme in President Obama's inaugural address to the nation, and he's referenced it numerous times when lecturing the country on how to get back on its feet. ~snip~ While many of us are struggling, the First Lady is spending the next few days in a five-star hotel on the chic Costa del Sol in southern Spain with 40 of her "closest friends." ~snip~ To be clear, what the Obamas do with their money is one thing; what they do with...

The 39 year-old told journalists at the Frontline Club last night that US government insiders had informed him about discussions to charge him as a co-conspirator to espionage. The discussions were later dropped. Mr Assange says despite this he still fears he is at risk of being forcefully detained by the US government as a material witness in the prosecution of US intelligence analyst Bradley Manning. Mr Manning, 22, was arrested in Baghdad in May and charged earlier this month with multiple counts of mishandling and leaking classified data, after a computer hacker turned him in. In the United States...

Kerry: Yacht story 'our fault' By: Andy Barr July 30, 2010 07:50 AM EDT Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) said Thursday that he and his office mishandled the politics surrounding tax questions on his new $7 million yacht. “I don’t think I dealt with it fast enough, effectively enough. There’s nobody to blame but myself for that,” Kerry said Thursday in an interview with the Boston Globe. Throughout the weeklong story, Kerry has insisted that he will pay whatever state taxes are owed – estimated to be $500,000 – on the yacht. Kerry has so far not had to pay Massachusetts’...

She was smeared by right-wing media, condemned by the NAACP, and canned by the Obama administration. It wasn't pretty, what was done this week to Shirley Sherrod. And maybe something good can come of it. The thought occurred to me after reading her now-famous speech, which is about the power of grace and the possibility of redemption. Here's a way to get some good. This September, when school begins, we should make the speech required viewing in the nation's high schools.

Remember that guy you went to high school with? You know, the one with the rich parents. The one who drove a Porsche to school and wore the slickest clothing. The one with a pool in the backyard and the Xbox and the tennis court. You thought he was a jerk then. He's still a jerk now. Only now, he's president of the United States. His parents didn't buy him the SUV and the tickets to the concerts and the jet rides to New York. You did. As the rest of the country suffers through a real unemployment rate of...

President Barack Obama spent Sunday on the golf course at Fort Belvoir, Va., according to White House pool reports.

Observers have characterized President Obama's many efforts to nationalize industries a systematic form of "wealth redistribution." But the activities instigated by the White House go beyond redistribution and devolve straight into reparations. Consider: Race Gender Quotas in "Financial Reform" Section 342, which declares that race and gender employment ratios, if not quotas, must be observed by private financial institutions that do business with the government. In a major power grab, the new law inserts race and gender quotas into America's financial industry... ...Section 342 sets up at least 20 Offices of Minority and Women Inclusion. Racial Preferences in Obamacare Transfer...

According to Paul J.J. Payack, president of Global Language Monitor, Americans are just not intelligent enough to understand what Obama was trying to say in his speech Tuesday evening.  He says that Obama speech was written to a 9.8 grade level of understanding.  I guess us hicks in the hinterland just don't git wat Obama were trying to tell us unejacated folk out here.  Despite using slightly less than four sentences per paragraph, Payack says that because Obama used 19.8 words per sentence, that our ability to go comprehend what he was saying went right over our heads. Payack especially...

President and First Lady are partying like rock royalty. The same hypocrite who says our energy costs must “necessarily skyrocket” to fund his political ambition, is giving Marie Antoinette a run for her money when it comes to spending national treasure on personal luxuries. While much of the country is struggling to pay their bills, the President and First Lady are partying like rock royalty. The collection of talent that has made the pilgrimage to the White House to entertain Obama and friends is nothing less than amazing: Bob Dylan, Stevie Wonder, Tony Bennet, Paul Simon, Marc Anthony, Herbie Hancock,...

Commentary’s Peter Wehner rightly draws attention to George Will’s superb speech at CPAC last week. Although the speeches of other speakers, such as Newt Gingrich, Andrew Breitbart, Glenn Beck and, yes, even Ron Paul were covered extensively in the blogosphere, Will’s speech has largely been ignored. This is, as far as I’m concerned, a shame, because Will truly “knocked one out of the park,” as Wehner puts it. Will’s main point was that the Left’s main goal is to make Americans dependent on the government for pretty much everything. He succinctly called this “the dependency agenda.” I strongly encourage you...

Speech by George Will to CPAC 2010.

For those who want a GOOD LAUGH, a friend of mine put this very funny musical video together. ENJOY!:)=^..^=

What's behind the Tea Party protests, low approval ratings for Congress, distrust of the media and unease with experts in the Obama administration? In short, a growing anger at the sermonizing and condescension by many of America's elites. We see this specifically, for example, in the debate over global warming, which a year ago was accepted as gospel. The high profile of prestigious scientists, former public officials like Al Gore and Van Jones, and the Obama administration all made impending cap-and-trade legislation seem likely. Skeptics were derided as "deniers" and virtual know-nothings. But then the assertion of manmade climate change...

Every political community includes some members who insist that their side has all the answers and that their adversaries are idiots. But American liberals, to a degree far surpassing conservatives, appear committed to the proposition that their views are correct, self-evident, and based on fact and reason, while conservative positions are not just wrong but illegitimate, ideological and unworthy of serious consideration. Indeed, all the appeals to bipartisanship notwithstanding, President Obama and other leading liberal voices have joined in a chorus of intellectual condescension.

While the old media talking heads continue talking to themselves; still believing they're the center of the universe and while progressive academics continue to condescend to those who disagree with their science, historical perspectives, or outdated educational methods, the rest of us are moving on. It's quite interesting to observe. It has been an incredible 12 months . . .