Free Republic

This one definitely does not go into the "how to persuade people that your cause is right" file. Obama For America's latest attempt to beg people to contribute $3 to enter a drawing for a dinner with POTUS and FLOTUS has a pathetic, insufferable, punkish and privacy-invading twist, wherein you get the opportunity to tell a Republican acquaintance that you just gave money to the Obama campaign.

The White House has named Jesse Lee to a new position within its communications department titled Director of Progressive Media & Online Response. According to The Huffington Post, Lee will essentially be responsible for building up Obama’s online presence as he prepares for his reelection bid, and squashing any negative stories: The post is a new one for this White House. Rapid response has usually been outsourced to the Democratic National Committee (DNC), if not done on an ad-hoc basis by administration officials. And it signals that the White House will be adopting a more aggressive defense of the president and...

since July 2009, career employees were ordered to provide political staffers with information about the people who asked for records — such as where they lived and whether they were private citizens or reporters — and about the organizations where they worked. If a member of Congress sought such documents, employees were told to specify Democrat or Republican. No one in government was allowed to discuss the political reviews with anyone whose information request was affected by them.

DHS & TSA: Making a list, checking it twice By Doug Hagmann Tuesday, November 23, 2010 Following the publication of my article titled “Gate Rape of America,” I was contacted by a source within the DHS who is troubled by the terminology and content of an internal memo reportedly issued yesterday at the hand of DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano. Indeed, both the terminology and content contained in the document are troubling. The dissemination of the document itself is restricted by virtue of its classification, which prohibits any manner of public release. While the document cannot be posted or published, the...

On Monday, we asked, in the context of the Southern Poverty Law Center conflating Constitutionalists with haters, if a video warning law enforcement to cue their behavior in citizen encounters off of bumper stickers could either chill free speech or endanger Americans expressing political sentiments. We followed up yesterday asking if video co-narrator/former ATF Special Agent in Charge James Cavanaugh was a credible SPLC spokesperson. Here’s someone—a leading “respected” academic and activist who agrees with “Waco Jim” and the SPLC about the armed political right: "It's racist, it's armed, it's hostile, it's unspeakable," she said. "White people armed, demanding an...

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama is pulling back from remarks he made last month when he called on Latino voters to punish their "enemies" in the midterm elections. In an interview Monday with radio host Michael Baisden, Obama said he should have used the word "opponents" instead of enemies. Republicans were quick to criticize Obama's original remarks. Republican National Committee spokesman Doug Heye called it a message of desperation. Obama's remarks came after he was asked how he could ask Latinos for their vote when many don't believe he's worked hard to pass comprehensive immigration reform.

DNC Requests Records Related to Palin, Romney, Seven Other Possible 2012 Contenders. The Democratic National Committee formally has asked the Pentagon for reams of correspondence between military agencies and nine potential Republican presidential candidates, a clear indication that Democrats are building opposition-research files on specific 2012 contenders even before the midterm elections. An internal Army e-mail obtained by ABC News indicates that the DNC has filed Freedom of Information Act requests for "any and all records of communication" between Army departments and agencies and each of the nine Republicans -- all of whom are widely mentioned as possible challengers to...

Here we go again. I've been through this nightmare before. Any day now, you can expect to begin hearing that dozens of groups and individuals critical of Barack Obama and his policies have been subjected to Internal Revenue Service audits. That's the way it happened during the last Democratic presidential administration. And this one is, if anything, more desperate, more ruthless and more cunning that the one run by Bill Clinton.

Several developments have occurred in recent days that indicate something as innocuous as visiting pro-gun rights websites that are critical of government Constitutional compliance, and especially participating in comments and forums, can results in heightened law enforcement scrutiny and even as a supporting criteria for "legal" intervention.On Friday, I told WarOnGuns readers I was aware of a child welfare case in New Hampshire where one of the criterion for removing a child from its parents was an ostensible membership of the father in what protective services was characterizing as "a militia known as the Oath Keepers." Long-time readers know we've...

Obama advisor David Axelrod appeared on CBS Face the Nation this morning and was grilled on unsubstantiated accusations made by President Obama and the Democratic National Committee — which originated with left-wing groups – that the Chamber of Commerce was secretly taking foreign money to fund its election campaign ads. The New York Times has already panned the allegations as “spin”:

A federal inspector general is looking into whether the Obama administration used confidential taxpayer information in an effort to attack a political opponent, Koch Industries.The review was revealed Tuesday by Sen. Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, two weeks after he and a handful of other top Senate Republicans called for the Treasury Department's inspector general for tax issues to look into the matter, saying either administration officials had illegal access to taxpayer information or were inappropriately speculating in public about the company's tax status.Charles and David Koch, brothers who control the Kansas-based company, are libertarians who have used some...

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is just the latest keeper of the ObamaCare enemies list. Last week, she warned that insurers who dare to pass along to consumers the cost of new federal mandates would face "zero tolerance" from the administration. But the White House has been keeping tabs on critics of ObamaCare for more than a year. It started with the health czar's Internet Snitch Brigade: Last August, the White House Office of Health Reform called on its ground troops to report on fellow citizens who talked smack about the Democratic plan. The White House Web site...

A British teenager who sent an e-mail to the White House calling President Obama a "pr*ck" was banned from the U.S. for life, The Sun reported Monday. The FBI asked local cops to tell college student Luke Angel, 17, that his drunken insult was "unacceptable." Angel claims he fired off a single e-mail criticizing the U.S. government after seeing a television program about the 9/11 attacks. He said, "I don't remember exactly what I wrote as I was drunk. But I think I called Barack Obama a pr*ck. It was silly -- the sort of thing you do when you're...

Obama Admin Admits It Tracked Abortion Groups in Wisconsin Madison, WI -- The Department of Homeland Security admitted today that it improperly conducted a threat assessment on pro-life groups in Wisconsin. The assessment came before an expected rally last year in response to the University of Wisconsin Hospital board decided to allow abortions. http://www.LifeNews.com/state4796.html

RUSH: I penned a message to Obama that I would like to deliver now. Because Mr. Obama, I think it's time we had a heart to heart talk. Let me be the father that you never had or never really knew, because I think you need some guidance. It's time to man up. It's time to grow up. That speech last night was an embarrassment. You couldn't focus, you lashed out in all directions, you refused to accept responsibility for your own actions, and you were angry. And he was, folks! He was mad. Being president is a big job....

Anita Dunn may be gone from the White House but her successor feels the same way she did about Fox News. From TVNewser The White House has a new communications director -- Dan Pfeiffer -- but the message is the same when it comes to Fox News Channel. During a video interview today with The New York Times' The Caucus blog, Pfeiffer was clear about the White House position on Fox News: "I have the same view of Fox that Anita [Dunn] had, which is that Fox is not a traditional news organization. They have a point of view. That...

While the Obama administration continues its war against its media critics, well-known liberal journalists — instead of defending freedom of the press — are joining the attack on a news network they despise as much as does the administration. Gone is any seeming concern for the right of commentators to voice their own opinion, because mainstream liberal editorial writers are sure their opponents are both extremists and wrong. Take, as our first example, Jacob Weisberg, editor-in-chief of The Slate Group. Writing in last week’s Newsweek, Weisberg explained at the start that anyone who watches Fox News knows immediately that Anita...

It is an odd, and we'd say regrettable, pattern of this White House that it lets itself get dragged down into fights with specific media outlets. George W. Bush experienced acrimony with the New York Times, but for the most part, other than general frustrations of a conservative administration, complaining about a liberal media, it was no big deal. But in addition to Fox News, now The White House is going after highly-respected and influential car site Edmunds .com. They're actually using The White House blog to dispute the site's analysis of Cash-For-Clunkers (via Detroit News). The post is snarkily...

The Obama White House has apparently decided to wage a two-front war on the media. After a blistering analysis of the Cash for Clunkers program from the well-established auto industry analyst Edmunds, the White House tried attacking their credibility while claiming that automakers were planning for greatly-increased demand for their new products. Business Insider wondered what the administration could be thinking: On the same day that we found out that motor vehicle output added 1.7% to economic growth in the third quarter – the largest contribution to quarterly growth in over a decade – Edmunds.com has released a faulty analysis...

The Center for American Progress is a powerful Washington, D.C.-based think-tank that has as its main benefactors George Soros and his allies and political soul-mates, Herbert and Marion Sandler, who are also major benefactors. The Center (CAP) has become a one-stop shop for staffing the Obama administration with key officials (Van Jones hailed from the CAP and returned to his sinecure there when his radical ideas became known to the rest of us). Bloomberg news titled an article about the Center this way "Soros-Funded Democratic Idea Factory Becomes Obama Policy Font." The CAP promises to become a hydra-headed beast as...

An early progress report on President Barack Obama's economic recovery plan overstates by thousands the number of jobs created or saved through the stimulus program, a mistake that White House officials promise will be corrected in future reports," the Associated Press reports. Time magazine's Joe Klein has not yet labeled the AP's reporting seditious, but the Obama administration does seem to have added the wire service to its enemies list. Tommy Christopher of Mediaite.com reports Ed DeSeve, senior adviser to the president for Recovery Act implementation, complains that "the story draws misleading conclusions" and "looks at only a small portion...

Republican senators and members of the media highlight President Obama's failure to live up to his pledge to conduct health care negotiations in full view of the public. Senators and media members also highlight the White Houses alarming tendency to seek to punish those who dont share its views.

With all the talk about President Obama's "enemies list," including less than flattering comparisons to former President, Richard M. Nixon, I think it's appropriate to add some perspective to the issue. People apply the Nixonian label when searching history for a precedent nearing the level of Obama's attacks against his so-called "enemies list".

For eight years Democrats pounded at the doors of D.C., throwing their own fecal matter around, and claiming that it was only a matter of time until Bush had them all rounded up for being unpatrotic. And like the frenzied mob at a Black Friday sale waiting for the doors to open, shoving and shoving against the glass, until the doors finally open, and the mob bursts through stomping over any store personnel in the way, Democrats have been completely unable to let go of the attack dog politics of the last 8 years and actually govern. Instead what we’ve...

A radio service which belongs to the government fights to stay off of the Obama's enemies list. The graphic on the front page is from Hot Air. Designed by one of their readers they’re using it to help identify those news outlets that have earned the official White House News seal of approval … and its my guess NPR has just retained that designation. Courtesy of Hot Air picks … Apparently NPR reporter Ken Rudin described Obama’s war on Fox News as Nixonian. Hardly news making, considering Lemar Alexander, Karl Rove and Mike Huckabee already beat him to the punch....

A topic I first raised in March rings ever more true!In March I wrote: "Is Obama the New Nixon? How long before full White House involvement in enemies list and attack politics is revealed?" At the time, their primary target was Rush Limbaugh. Since then, they have expanded their field of fire considerably. Anyone who has a policy disagreement with Obama, even a fellow Democrat, can be targeted for destruction by this White House. Is the Real Obama a Uniter or a Divider?Readers may recall these words from Obama's inaugural address: "We gather because we have chosen hope over fear,...

If Obama and his Chicago thugs simply focused on the country's real enemies rather than American citizens and institutions which provide constructive criticism and honest discourse on the policies emanating from the White House, effective policy might be put in place which would advance an agenda supported by a true majority of citizens. But rather, we see an administration so focused on what, in its paranoid state, it perceives as enemies, that all of its energies are centered on discrediting Bush and Cheney, Fox News, talk radio, Rush Limbaugh, town hall attendees, tea party organizers, health insurance companies, Wall Street...

It's pretty unremarkable to describe the Obama White House's growing enemies list -- the insurance companies, Chamber of Commerce, Fox News -- as "Nixonian." But there's one place where, if you venture such an opinion, you'd better be prepared to apologize -- quickly and profusely. On National Public Radio's "Talk of the Nation" Wednesday, NPR political editor Ken Rudin said the White House campaign against Fox News is a bad idea. "It's not only aggressive, it's almost Nixonesque," Rudin said. "I mean, you think of what Nixon and Agnew did with their enemies list and their attacks on the media;...

Fox Wars The 'Post-Partisan' President Makes An enemies List By Charles Krauthammer Friday, October 23, 2009 Rahm Emanuel once sent a dead fish to a live pollster. Now he's put a horse's head in Roger Ailes's bed. The White House has declared war on Fox News. White House communications director Anita Dunn said that Fox is "opinion journalism masquerading as news." Patting rival networks on the head for their authenticity (read: docility), senior adviser David Axelrod declared Fox "not really a news station." And Chief of Staff Emanuel told (warned?) the other networks not to "be led [by] and following...

There has been much talk of late about the "Enemies List" that the Obama administration is working off of. As a public service to our readers, we are publishing the items one must be aware of in order to be taken off the Obama Hate list.You might be on Obama's Enemies List if: If you have a degree from a college in something other than Law, Civics, Theater Arts, Education or Political Science If you have ever attended a tea party or ever complained about paying your taxes If you make enough money to have to pay taxes If you...

I have argued before that the tone and manner in which one practices politics are undervalued commodities, especially at a presidential level. The public looks for leaders who are large-minded rather than petty and peevish, who engage in public arguments rather than in personal attacks, who want to solve problems rather than settle scores. Tone and approach are important not simply for the aesthetics of politics but also because of what they reveal about a person's predisposition and attitude, temperament and spirit. That is but one reason why President Obama's war on Fox News -- being carried out by him...

Rahm Emanuel once sent a dead fish to a live pollster. Now he's put a horse's head in Roger Ailes's bed. Not very subtle. And not very smart. Ailes doesn't scare easily. The White House has declared war on Fox News. White House communications director Anita Dunn said that Fox is "opinion journalism masquerading as news." Patting rival networks on the head for their authenticity (read: docility), senior adviser David Axelrod declared Fox "not really a news station." And Chief of Staff Emanuel told (warned?) the other networks not to "be led [by] and following Fox." Meaning? If Fox runs...

Most recent........

A growing number of conservative talkradio show hosts, including Jim Vicevich have been bringing up that President Obama has set up an "enemies list" just like Richard Nixon has done. Lemar Alexander brings this up in an interview by Neil Cavuto. Well he’s not the first. Krauthammer and Rove said the same thing right here. But this is a Senator who’s been there and seen that so it carries a little more weight. I agree with Rush. I think this does nothing. This doesn’t even give Obama a tingle.

Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN), Republican Conference Chairman, suggested on the Senate floor this morning that the Obama White House is plotting a political strategy similar to that of ex-President Richard Nixon and may be on the verge of preparing its own “enemies list.” This afternoon, Fox News’ Neil Cavuto interviewed him regarding the comments. (videos below) Alexander, who served in the Nixon White House, offered what he said was a “friendly suggestion” to the White House not to repeat the errors he saw committed by the staff of the disgraced former president. “This behavior is typical of street brawls and...

The third-ranking Senate Republican said Wednesday the Obama administration appears to be launching a Richard Nixon-like political strategy of making an "enemies list" of people who disagree with the president. Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, who once worked in President Nixon's administration, warned the White House that such a "street brawl" approach of attacking political opponents "can get you in a lot of trouble." Alexander offered no evidence that Obama is developing an actual list, as Nixon famously created for his opponents. But, he said, "I have an uneasy feeling only 10 months into this new administration that we're beginning...

"President Obama is working systematically to marginalize the most powerful forces behind the Republican Party, setting loose top White House officials to undermine conservatives in the media, business and lobbying worlds. With a series of private meetings and public taunts, the White House has targeted the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the biggest-spending pro-business lobbying group in the country; Rush Limbaugh, the country’s most-listened-to conservative commentator; and now, with a new volley of combative rhetoric in recent days, the insurance industry, Wall Street executives and Fox News"

[ABOVE: Remember this enemies list, titled "Smears, Inc" from Obama's Fightthesmears.com? Click image to enlarge.] "What you won't hear from this campaign or this party is the kind of politics that uses religion as a wedge, and patriotism as a bludgeon -- that sees our opponents not as competitors to challenge, but enemies to demonize." – Barack Obama, June 3, 2008 featured at the top of Obama's Fight the Smears.com website OBAMA ENEMIES LIST NOTHING NEW FIGHT THE IMAGINED "SMEARS" with REAL SMEARSBefore Fox News and Glenn Beck, there was Floyd Brown and Bob Perry. This White House has...

The Obama Administration rejected concerns that it is collecting information from the Internet for the purpose of compiling an “enemies list.” “Granted, we are gathering information—names, addresses, and the like—from those who have posted comments critical of the Administration’s policies,” admitted White House spokesman Nicholas Shapiro. “But our purpose is to better target future educational efforts.” Shapiro contended that “so much of the opposition to the President and his program is based on ignorance and erroneous information that it should be obvious to any sound thinking person that many in our country need a significant amount of reeducation. Rather than...

A doctors' group and an organization that advocates for the interest of the inner-city poor have joined forced to sue the Obama administration, charging that its abortive effort to collect criticisms made by those opposed to President Obama's plan to change the U.S. health care system infringed on their First Amendment rights. In a complaint filed Thursday in U.S. District Court, the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons and the Coalition for Urban Renewal and Education said the White House had attempted to "unlawfully" collect information on protected political speech when it asked Obamacare supporters to report any negative comments...

August 14, 2009…It is August of 2009, but it might as well be George Orwell’s 1984. The author’s nightmare vision of an oppressive government is coming true in Barack Obama’s America . The latest example is the administration’s blatant assault on free speech. The Obama White House is asking supporters to spy on fellow Americans and inform on any friends, family members or colleagues who may be opposed to the President’s trillion dollar health care plan. According to the White House website: “There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there…These rumors often travel just below the...

So claims Erick Erickson at Redstate, and Greg Sargent’s attempt to explain the White House response does appear to confirm it. Even Greg sounds less than convinced by the latest Obama administration pushback on its Snitch Central e-mail line, now defunct, which is to claim that Senator John Cornyn’s website also collects information from submissions to an information line. Greg, Erick, and Cornyn point out the very obvious difference: Now the DNC is striking back by pointing out that similar email collection is done on the Web sites of Senators and members of Congress, including … John Cornyn. Over on...

P&G, Progressive Pull Ads From Glenn Beck's Fox Show After "Obama Is Racist" Remarks By Jim Edwards | August 7th, 2009 @ 8:57 am 3 Comments Share Email My BNET Twitter del.icio.us Google StumbleUpon Newsvine Facebook LinkedIn Digg My Yahoo Technorati Reddit Print Recomend 1 Fox is proving uniquely sensitive to advertising boycott campaigns this summer. Three major advertisers — LexisNexis-owned Lawyers.com, Procter & Gamble and Progressive Insurance – all abandoned Glenn Beck’s Fox News Channel show after he called President Obama a racist (video below). The move comes after Fox axed host Steven Cohen from Fox Soccer Channel because...

Obama goes after media for 'enemies list' rumor @ 2:17 pm by Eric Zimmermann President Obama attacked the media today for helping circulate a story that the White House is compiling an "enemies list." "This is another example of how the media ends up just completely distorting what's taking place," Obama said. "C'mon, guys!" he added later. The story started when the White House asked supporters to forward "fishy" claims about Democratic healthcare legislation, the goal being to check and refute those claims. Critics said that forwarding emails would let the White House compile a list of political opponents. Sen....

Last week, the debate about health care reform was transformed into one about free speech — specifically, whether the Obama administration is trying to chill the speech of its critics by creating an “enemies list.” The ruckus started when the White House called on its supporters to help it combat what it calls “disinformation” about its health care agenda that is being propagated through emails, websites, and “casual conversation.” Specifically, it asked: “If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov.” Of course, the emails forwarded to...

According to Democrats.com, Obama has pressured these companies into pulling their ads from FOXnews. Let's boycott these wimps and let them see that losing the mainstream dollar hurts more than losing the radical left dollar: Campbell Soup Chrysler General Motors Kellogg Kraft Foods Lawyers.com Nestle Pfizer Proctor & Gamble Progressive Insurance

Battle of health care videos 8:01Reliable Sources: W.H. wades into war of YouTube videos about health care. Howard Kurtz talks to Linda Douglass.

Douglass stands by W.H. effort to gather 'fishy' health information @ 4:49 pm by Jordan Fabian Obama administration official Linda Douglass on Sunday dismissed claims that the White House has tried to compile an "enemies list" and censor debate on healthcare reform legislation. Last week, the White House made a blog post accusing opponents of spreading "disinformation" on healthcare and encouraged supporters to submit "fishy" information floating around the internet. "We don't have a list we're not keeping any of the sources of information those are all crazy charges," said Douglass, who is Communications Director of the White House Office...

It is incredible that in American an Administration has created a Public Enemies List. Please write your representatives, the Whitehouse and the MSM showing your distrust of this government the Media that is silent.

White House Spokesman Robert Gibbs gets caught ina HUGE LIE today. After repeating over and over that the White House wasn't keeping any names off their wierd email snitch initiative, a sharp reporter points out that THAT would be brealing the law...