Free Republic

[...] And yet, here we are at the end of 2011, with Facebook pages, Twitter accounts and discussion boards still teeming with intemperate quick takes. President Obama has taken considerable heat this year, but isn't it too soon to accuse him of being an ineffectual leader? Isn't that one lesson from the Tucson incident? On a Christmas Day episode of "GPS" on CNN, Fareed Zakaria interviewed Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David McCullough, who reminded us that it's too early to cast Obama's legacy in stone. Here's an excerpt from their interview: I admire him very much, and I think that his...

<p>WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican political figure and tea-party favorite Christine O’Donnell says she’s backing Mitt Romney’s presidential bid.</p> <p>O’Donnell cites executive experience as part of her reason for endorsing Romney. She announced her decision Tuesday night during an interview on Fox News Channel.</p>

A committee working to recall the state Senate's Republican leader has raised a little more than $3,500 since mid-November. Democrats and their allies are trying to gather enough signatures to force Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald and three other GOP senators in recall elections next year. The Democrats want to oust the senators from office because they supported Republican Gov. Scott Walker's contentious collective bargaining law.

President Obama's slow ride down Gallup's daily presidential job approval index has finally passed below Jimmy Carter, earning Obama the worst job approval rating of any president at this stage of his term in modern political history. Since March, Obama's job approval rating has hovered above Carter's, considered among the 20th century's worst presidents, but today Obama's punctured Carter's dismal job approval line. On their comparison chart, Gallup put Obama's job approval rating at 43 percent compared to Carter's 51 percent.

<p>“I do not believe that the people of the United States are going to take people who’ve been here for a quarter of a century … [and] separate them from their families and expel them,” Gingrich said during a discussion about illegal immigration and border security. “I do believe we should control the border. I do believe we should have very severe penalties.”</p>

Okay everyone...approaching 2:00pm Eastern...ready for the "Big EAS Test"?

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- "What the [bleep] is Politico doing?" said the man on the phone. "And how the [bleep] are they getting away with this [bleep]?" Reporters rival sailors for their proficiency in profanity, and one of the most experienced political journalists in Washington was cussing a blue streak Thursday evening as he railed against the shoddiness of Politico's reporting on the Herman Cain "scandal."

Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain's inconsistent statements in the wake of revelations that he was accused of sexual misconduct in the 1990s are complicating his efforts to move on from the incendiary story - and may prompt voters who would otherwise have discounted the allegations to reconsider. During his initial media interviews on Monday, Cain said that he was unaware if the National Restaurant Association, which he headed during the 1990s, had paid a financial settlement to a female employee or employees who had accused him of sexual misconduct. Politico reported Sunday that at least two women complained about Cain's...

A painted road sign was misspelled to "scohol" instead of school.Spell check needed: A painted road sign near a Broward elementary school was misspelled "scohol" instead of school. Residents in the neighoborhood of 50th street and Pine Island Road, which is one block from Banyan Elementary School, were surprised by the mistake, the South Florida Sun Sentinel said. "It's stupid, stupid, stupid," Jerome Seleznow was quoted as saying by the newspaper. Nadine Drew, spokeswoman for the Broward County School District, said she was glad the misspelling was being fixed. "We are surpised that it happened," she said. "We're glad to...

BALTIMORE (WJZ) – Indecent exposure. Videos of Baltimore students having sex spreading worldwide. WJZ first broke news of both sex scandals, and there are two police investigations underway at this hour. The incidents are provoking strong opinions online. Mike Hellgren has new insight into the controversy. Video of students as young as 14, having sex on school grounds in Baltimore has spread online.

HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! HA! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZr7KP2UODQ This guys is angry at congress but says nothing about the failure of Obama!

Many of you have seen the new bumper stickers from various conservative groups that goes something like this: OBAMA = One Big A$$ Mistake, America! That definition has now been added to UrbanDictionary.com, and with your help, it can be "thumbed-up" to the top-ranking position. Left-wingers succeeded in labeling Bush as a "failure." But we can turn the tables and get America to realize that Obama really is one big mistake! Click here to give this new definition the "thumbs-up." Thanks!

The Washington Post's attempt to "macaca" Rick Perry generated a racialist response from a surprising source. Stephanie McCrummen's ham-handed effort to smear the Texas Governor relied on hearsay, anonymous cloudy recollections of events from nearly 30 years ago and interviews with black Texas residents recalling how they were treated in the Jim Crow 1950's. Ms. McCrummen is a reporter based in Nairobi: it would seem the Post could bring in someone based in Texas for this research, but perhaps the editors weren't looking for someone with local knowledge so much as someone willing to grind the ax against Governor Perry....

First lady Michelle Obama, wearing a hat and sunglasses, center, stands in line at a Target Department ...

Even the White House press office isn't immune from making geography gaffes. Per CNN's Mark Walz, the credentials given to members of the press corps traveling with President Obama on his campaign swing out west this week included a map that mistakenly identified Wyoming as Colorado. The two rectangular states do look similar on the map, but it's a pretty embarrassing error, especially considering how important Colorado might be to President Obama's re-election chances next year.

Someone has do do this...looking forward to comments from those that watch

If someone can post the chart, that would be great. It's not an image file, though, so I can't post it. :( Go to the link above, however, and you will see it.

President Barack Obama receives an update on Hurricane Irene in the Situation Room of the White House, August 27, 2011. Clockwise from left, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood; Richard Reed, Special Assistant to the President for Homeland Security; Nick Shapiro, senior policy advisor to John Brennan; John Brennan, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security; and Chief of Staff BIll Daley. Onscreen are FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. Joing by phone are Vice President Joe Biden, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and Energy Secretary Steven Chu. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

PRINCETON, NJ -- President Barack Obama is closely matched against each of four possible Republican opponents when registered voters are asked whom they would support if the 2012 presidential election were held today. Mitt Romney leads Obama by two percentage points, 48% to 46%, Rick Perry and Obama are tied at 47%, and Obama edges out Ron Paul and Michele Bachmann by two and four points, respectively.

Of all the places to hear fulminations against President Obama, one of the least expected is the corner of 71st Avenue and Queens Boulevard, in the heart of a Congressional district that propelled Democrats like Geraldine A. Ferraro, Charles E. Schumer andAnthony D. Weiner to Washington. But it was there that Dale Weiss, a 64-year-old Democrat, approached the Republican running for Congress in a special election and, without provocation, blasted the president for failing to tame runaway federal spending. “We need to cut Medicaid,” she declared, “but he won’t do that.” She shook her head in disgust. “He is a...

CNBC just broke in and told the audience that the President has requested airtime and will speak to the nation at 1300hrs EST (12 noon central, 10 AM PST) on the US national debt downgrade.Developing...

Nothing in Monte Carlo is understated, from the baubles to the yachts to the bank accounts. Now add traffic pile-ups to that list. The Hope Diamond of fender benders unfolded yesterday in possibly the most conspicuous stretch of asphalt in the .75-square-mile principality — the round-about in front of the James Bond-worthy casino — when three blondes in a jelly-bean blue Bentley Azure ($363,000) scraped the rear of a white Mercedes-Benz S-Class (a paltry $91,000). And that was merely the appetizer Served up for the main course were a hapless black Ferrari F430 ($186,000), which was hit nose-first by the...

Lt. Gov. Timothy P. Murray, citing the growing cost of maintaining the state’s transportation infrastructure, said today the administration may soon be seeking an increase in the gas tax. Reports indicate that the state’s transportation needs appear to be growing faster than the state can afford to repair and update its infrastructure. Mr. Murray said a discussion about raising revenues for transportation needs is coming in the next year or two. “I think there are still a few items left on the ‘reform before revenue’ punch list, but I do think we are getting close (to needing to look for...

...as it stands right now, Obama’s failing to connect and Garrett cited his so-called Twitter town hall meeting as an attempt almost in desperation to resurrect the messaging success the president in his prior election. “[I]f people aren’t listening to you on that core message, it doesn’t matter what you say anymore,” he said.

Morning all, didn't see a thread for today so I created one.

President Obama made an embarrassing blunder during an address to U.S. soldiers. Speaking at Fort Drum in upstate New York yesterday, the President mixed up two Medal of Honor recipients, referring to dead hero soldier Jared Monti as alive. For the members of the U.S. Army's 10th Mountain Division who listened to the President's speech, the remark no doubt came as a shock. The President said: 'Throughout my service, first as a senator and then as a presidential candidate and then as a President, I’ve always run into you guys. And for some reason it’s always in some rough spots....

South Africa President Jacob Zuma has snubbed the visiting Michelle Obama by sending his prisons minister to meet the first lady at the airport and failing to see her during her three-day stay...

Official motto of the White House economic team: Those who can, do. Those who can't, fantasize in the classroom, fail in Washington and then return to the Ivy Tower to train the next generation of egghead economic saboteurs. Life is good for left-wing academics. Everyone else pays dearly. Take Austan Goolsbee, please. President Obama's "fresh-faced" University of Chicago econ professor arrived in Washington in December 2008 to fill two slots: chief economist/staff director of the president's Economic Recovery Advisory Board and member of the Council of Economic Advisers. In September 2010, he replaced CEA head and fellow academic Christina Romer,...

Well here's some reading, from your commander in chief....... 1. Promising to "publish all non-emergency legislation to the website for five days... before the President signs it," then breaking that promise over and over again. 2. Despite promising to keep lobbyists out of his administration, Obama has broken his word again and again (making 17 exceptions to this promise in his first two weeks). 3. Obama promised to eliminate income taxation for seniors making less than $50,000 a year. He has broken this promise despite numerous opportunities to keep it, including the economic stimulus package and his administration's first budget...

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Congress will not be riding to the rescue. Economic indicators are pointing to slower growth. More Americans are looking for jobs, and the housing market is in a confirmed double dip. In another time and place, lawmakers have might responded with economic stimulus measures to get the country back on track. This time around, it's not in the cards. Having spent the majority of the current legislative session operating at a truly glacial pace, Congress is sitting on the sidelines, waiting to see how the debate over the debt ceiling pans out. "I am not sure...

When was the last time the Senate cast a unanimous vote on an issue of any substance? The only unamimous votes in the Senate’s 112th session have been to confirm judges or on honorary resolutions, and on a few amendments, and one bill to make it illegal to publish or copy images taken by the TSA from backscatter scanners. There has not been a single unanimous negative vote in the Senate this session — until now. Yesterday, the Senate rejected by a 0-97 vote the budget proposed by Barack Obama: The Senate voted unanimously on Wednesday to reject a $3.7...

ALAMEDA, Calif. (AP) - California preacher Harold Camping says his prophecy that the world would end was off by five months because Judgment Day actually will come on October 21. The independent Christian radio host said Monday the apocalypse will come five months after May 21, the original date he predicted.

It couldn't happen to a more pertinent person - and this is the moment TV motor mouth Jeremy Clarkson's car broke down in the middle of Lincoln city centre. Jeremy Clarkson and co-presenter James May were caught on camera pushing an electric vehicle they were testing for BBC's Top Gear. The pair were filming an episode of the show's forthcoming 17th season and had been challenged to road-test two of the latest electric cars. ...SNIP... But disaster struck at about 1pm when Clarkson's car ran out of power and broke down outside the local paper, the Lincolnshire Echo...

BRUSSELS – NATO holds its fire as Moammar Gadhafi's forces advance 100 miles into rebel territory. It then blasts a rebel tank, saying it didn't know the rebels had any — even though footage of rebels with tanks had been on YouTube for weeks.

Libyan rebels are so frustrated with NATO that they think the alliance should halt its mil-itary operations. Maybe NATO should oblige them. Forces fighting Moammar Gadhafi have become increasingly perturbed with the support they are getting from NATO under the newly named Operation Unified Protector. The rebels blame NATO for their flagging fortunes on the battlefield and have even requested that the alliance suspend operations unless they “do the job properly.” Gen. Abdel-fattah Younis, chief of staff of the rebel forces, said, “NATO is moving very slowly, allowing Gadhafi forces to advance. NATO has become our problem.” It is amazing...

Once upon a time, I developed a theory that we have much lower expectations for public-sector performance than we do for private-sector performance.[1] We saw this in accounting standards that — when applied to Enron — resulted in market forces shutting that firm down, while the Department of Defense loses billions of dollars annually. The difference in terms of waste between the two sectors is exponential, but while Enron is held accountable for its ethics, the government gets a pass. Or consider what we tolerate from the US Postal Service (USPS) as opposed what we tolerate from firms like FedEx...

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is set to introduce a bill Monday night to fund the military through September and fund government operations for one more week, Republican sources tell The Hill. Boehner's move is intended to prevent a government shutdown that would start after Friday without another measure to fund the government. House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) said the GOP was trying to prevent a government shutdown "at all costs." “We’re serious about trying to prevent a government shutdown. We’re also serious about cutting spending," he told reporters after a meeting of the GOP conference on Monday evening....

The day after his inauguration, President Obama promised a new era of “openness in government.” But the reality has not matched the president’s rhetoric. We, presidents of two of the nation’s largest journalism organizations, and many of our thousands of members, have found little openness since Obama took office. If anything, the administration has gone in the opposite direction: imposing restrictions on reporters’ newsgathering that exceed even the constraints put in place by President George W. Bush. Democrats criticized the Bush administration for not making decisions based on the best science. But the Obama administration now muzzles scientists and experts...

In the less-than-gracious way President Barack Obama compares himself to his predecessors and other mere mortals, we’ve come to expect oblique swipes at President George W. Bush. They’ve been sprinkled in Obama’s inaugural address (“we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals…our power alone cannot protect us”); in prime-time addresses (“the decision to go into Iraq caused substantial rifts between America and much of the world…I’ve spent this year renewing our alliances”); in his Cairo speech (“Iraq was a war of choice…there has been controversy about the promotion of democracy in recent years, and much of...

Only Good Morning America's Jake Tapper on Tuesday pointed out the relatively low public support for Barack Obama's military actions in Libya and the harsh criticism from both the right and the left. On NBC's Today, Chuck Todd parroted, "[Obama] also took the opportunity to rebut critics on the left and the right about how and whether to target Qadhafi with the military. In total the President used the framework of American values to make the case." On CBS's Early Show, Bill Plante narrated, "The President defended his decision to use military force in Libya, he said that when the...

A huge swath of the world is now struggling with his nonsensical leadership. I’ve watched our president with great interest over this last week. I have to admit a good amount of trepidation about being critical of any commander-in-chief during a time of war: it’s typically liberals undermining our troops and berating the president during a military fight. On the other hand, the president insists we aren’t at war in Libya, so I guess that gives clearance.President Obama projects timidity and indecision at home and abroad: he’s afraid of the optics of America dropping bombs on another Islamic country; he...

Monday night President Obama took to the airwaves to rebut the criticism and confusion surrounding his decision to send U.S. troops to Libya. It was an interesting speech, but a lame attempt to make the Libyan circumstances seem unique to his presidency.

In ordering air and naval strikes on a country that neither threatened nor attacked the United States, did President Obama commit an impeachable act? So it would seem. For the framers of the Constitution were precise. The power to declare war is entrusted solely to Congress. From King William's War to Queen Anne's War to King George's War to the Seven Years' War, the colonists had had their fill of royal wars. To no principle were they more committed than that the power to declare war must be separate from the power to wage it. And Obama usurped that power....

'Fair game' a box-office flop The movie Fair Game, about the Valerie Plame/Joseph Wilson affair, was in theaters and then it seemed to disappear. Any reason? Poor ticket sales, basically. Fair Game was a generally well-regarded movie (it got a good 79 percent favorable rating on the movie website Rotten Tomatoes) that starred big-name actors in Naomi Watts and Sean Penn. It was about CIA operative Valerie Plame (played by Watts) whose cover was blown in Bob Novak's widely read Washington Post political column. The information was allegedly leaked to Novak by White House officials to discredit her husband, Joseph...

Next week, Shine is heading down to Washington, D.C., to chat with White House officials about issues that affect women in education, employment, and work-life balance, and we want to know: What do you want us to ask the Obama Administration? Leave your questions for the Obama Administration in the comments, below, and tune in on Wednesday, March 30, to watch our exclusive interview live.

Obama doesn’t tell you what he’s thinking. He keeps his motives to himself. Cherished long-term ideological goals are advanced as pragmatic fixes to concrete problems in the present. Now we’re seeing the familiar domestic pattern in foreign policy as well. Few Americans realize that Obama has had a longstanding interest in multilateral efforts to combat war crimes and genocide. Obama would like to see a more constraining international legal regime on war crimes, even at the cost of national sovereignty, not to mention the blood and treasure of the countries doing the enforcing. In general, Obama has said little about...

It has been one year since Obamacare was signed into law. This is the same law about which then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, “We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it.” It is the same law that Pelosi and her Democratic colleagues jammed through Congress. The same unpopular law that led to Democrats losing control of the House. After a year of learning what is in the law — and seeing its effect on families, small businesses and our economy — it is now clear that Obamacare is a failed experiment. Sadly,...

The Obama administration, after helping to orchestrate a U.N.-backed military intervention in Libya, is facing pressure to do more to prepare for the potential collapse of the government in another Mideast country, Yemen -- but U.S. officials admit they are doing little more than watching at this point. Though Yemen President Ali Abdullah Saleh has already offered to step down by the end of the year, anti-government demonstrators still swell the streets of the capital Sana'a as the government declares a state of emergency. Yemen's parliament is now giving Saleh, who has led the country since 1978, even broader powers...

Leave aside for a moment whether it was wise for President Obama to order our military to intervene in Libya's civil war, siding with rebels we know little about against a dictator who has sponsored terrorism against us. A more fundamental question comes first: Did Obama have constitutional authority to do it? President Washington's actions counsel otherwise. In responding to Indian raiders, Washington repeatedly declined to order offensive -- as opposed to defensive -- military action because Congress had not approved it, as he believed the Constitution required. In 1792, William Blount, governor of the territory that became Tennessee, wrote...

The allies in the U.S.-led military operation in Libya debated a new command structure Tuesday, with differences over the ultimate aims and scope of the campaign impeding an agreement, as forces loyal to dictator Moammar Gadhafi shelled the coastal city of Misurata. There were also growing questions about how much the Odyssey Dawn operation will cost and who will pay for it [Hint: We will, as usual], as many participating nations are dealing with budget constraints in the aftermath of the global economic downturn.