Free Republic

President Obama fired the imagination of the country during his campaign, but the glow has faded It is fashionable these days to decry the quality of American leaders, and why not?Not long ago, we celebrated our CEOs as the new masters of the universe; some paid themselves as if they thought so, too, and their faces graced the covers of magazines everywhere. But last year, that universe imploded, and taxpayers were forced to come to the rescue. As Bill George of the Harvard Business School argues, we have come to realize that the economic crisis was less a matter of...

“It’s a sad day to see a man of good work get so little credit,” CNN senior political analyst David Gergen regretted about Van Jones on Monday’s Anderson Cooper 360, complaining about the coverage of the Obama “green jobs” czar who resigned late Saturday night after his radical views were exposed: “I mean, there’s no balance to understanding just how many good things he’s done.” Jones signed a petition which charged Bush administration officials “may indeed have deliberately allowed 9/11 to happen, perhaps as a pretext for war,” described himself as a “communist,” compared George W. Bush to a crack...

The year 2005 is ending as it began, with another successful election in Iraq and a liberal media still flapping around trying to find other controversies to submerge it. It does not matter to them that a Gallup poll found that 74 percent of Americans express confidence in their military, but only 28 percent express confidence in their newspapers or TV news outlets. The "mainstream" media excels in excoriating the performance of nearly everyone else, but acts as if nothing they do should be held up as ineffective, inaccurate or just plain absurd. That's why the Media Research Center and...

WND contacted CNN, Anderson Cooper and his guest analyst, David Gergen, to ask for comment on the controversy but received no response.

CNN anchor Anderson Cooper interspersed "teabagging" references with analyst David Gergen's more staid commentary on how Republicans are still 'searching for their voice.' "It's hard to talk when you're teabagging," Cooper explained. Gergen laughed..."

CNN's Anderson Cooper should have his dirty, little gutter mouth washed out with soap. Then he should be fired. Cooper, a cover boy on the homosexual magazine "The Advocate" and listed as among the most powerful "gays" in the country by OUT magazine, made what can only be characterized as an obscene and disgusting comment during CNN's biased coverage of Wednesday's "tea party" protests around the country. "It's hard to talk when you're tea-bagging," he said. That was a revolting attempt at "inside humor" by Anderson Cooper. "Tea-bagging" is known in the homosexual subculture as a practice involving a particular...

Christie slams the panel as they cry racism. CHRISTIE: As a proud black man, I don't look at a chimpanzee as an African- American. I don't look at it as a reflection of who I am and who African-Americans are in this country. And frankly, if it's supposed to be a portrayal of President Obama, the president didn't write the stimulus bill. The bill was written by Speaker Pelosi in the House and by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. For goodness sakes, we just had a chimpanzee who went nuts yesterday. The speaker of the House and the majority leader...

David Gergen says Obama's inaugural speech was not 'one for the ages' 10:40 AM PT, Jan 20 2009 CNN senior political analyst David Gergen sounded a bit let down by President Barack Obama's inaugural speech. "It was not as lofty as I would have anticipated," said Gergen, noting that Obama had visited sites such as the Lincoln Memorial for inspiration. He said that while previous presidents had given inaugural speeches "speaking to the ages," Obama's speech "was speaking to this generation. It was very rooted in the here and now."

As noted below, the story of the moment is not just the unhinged quality we're seeing from more and more McCainiacs at McCain-Palin rallies, but also the leading role McCain and Palin have played in whipping up all the anger. Here is establishmentarian David Gergen making the key point ( nice catch by HuffPo)... "There is a free-floating sort of whipping-around anger that could really lead to some violence," Gergen says. "And I think we're not far from that." More from Gergen: "I think it's really imperative the candidates try to calm people down." That's the story here: That not...

It seems James Carville and David Gergen just had to warn us before it became too late. They have to save America the same way Madame Royale had to save France. There would be “disturbances” if the “right” candidate didn’t win. David Gergen broached the topic with the customary subtlety of an advisor/hack from both Republican and Democratic administrations. "I think it's too early to declare victory, because Barack Obama is black," Gergen said Tuesday night. "And until we play out the issue of race in this country, I don't think we'll know and maybe (not until) late in the...

In which the single dumbest, most paranoid racial charge of the campaign is recycled on national television by a former presidential advisor and current Harvard professor. I said it before but it bears repeating: If you take this logic to its conclusion, there’s literally no non-racist way to accuse a member of a minority group of having an outsized ego. Any synonym you can conjure — elitist, arrogant, “megalomaniac narcissist� (to quote Hitchens) — can all happily be dismissed as “code,� regardless of whether the subject might in fact (a) display his very own presidential seal, (b) be known to...

Heading into the candidates’ appearances on Saturday night at Saddleback Church, the conventional wisdom in politics was Barack Obama should have a clear upper hand in any joint appearance with John McCain — one the young, eloquent, cool, charismatic dude who can charm birds from the trees, the other the meandering, sometimes bumbling, old fellow who can barely distinguish Sunnis from Shiias. Well, kiss that myth goodbye. McCain came roaring out of the gate from the first question and was a commanding figure throughout the night as he spoke directly and often movingly about his past and the country’s future....

Later in the segment on CNN’s "Newsroom" between Tony Harris, David Gergen, and Roland Martin after the Reverend Jeremiah Wright speech at the National Press Club (which Mark Finkelstein blogged about earlier), Gergen suggested that "it’s time for him [Rev. Wright] to get off the stage, and frankly, for the media, I suggest, to move on." He also twice characterized the whole affair as a "sideshow" [audio available here].Shortly after a commercial break which came in the middle of the discussion, Gergen, in response to a question from "Newsroom" co-host Tony Harris, said of Rev. Wright, "Every time he appears,...

It’s been another week without word from the New Republic on the status of its "investigation" into the columns of TNR Baghdad Diarist Scott Thomas Beauchamp. "The editors" have not spoken on the matter since their (August 10 update). At that time "the editors" spoke grandly of their "commitment to the truth" and their efforts to resolve the "legitimate concerns about journalistic accuracy" that had been raised by the critics of Beauchamp's TNR Baghdad Diarist columns. They also said they took those concerns "extremely seriously." Ten weeks later, however, their promises have proved empty. "The editors" think they can stonewall...

Beginning Wednesday, November 15, the sometimes called "CNN of the Arab world," will be out to capture the rest of the world as Al Jazeera International debuts on TV screens globally - in English. The new satellite station will run 24/7, broadcasting 12 hours a day from Al Jazeera's home base in Doha, Qatar, with another four hours each from Washington DC, London and Kuala Lumpur. For star power it will have David Frost doing interviews, with Wednesday's "scoop" scheduled to be his talk with Tony Blair. In its decade on the air, Al Jazeera in Arabic has become the...

  Dog At Large!April 7, 2005 The Devil once made an offer to former Clinton lackey, Sandy Berger.  The Devil visited Berger's office and made him an offer. "I can arrange some things for you,” the devil said. " I’ll get you a top level security clearance; I’ll give you your 15 minutes of pathetic fame; I’ll make you the best liar in the world and I’ll let you get away with being a despicable scumbag. All I require in return is that your wife's soul, your children's souls, their children's souls and your country’s soul rot in hell for eternity." Berger...

by Mark Finkelstein April 12, 2006 On a light news day, why not run a generic piece on President Bush's low poll numbers and his assertedly bleak prospects for reviving them? That was apparently the thinking at the Today show this morning. Today themed the segment "Can Bush Save Presidency?", and NBC White House reporter Kelly O'Donnell seemed to answer the question in the negative, kicking things off with this gloomy assessment: "For President Bush, low poll numbers have not just been a dip or temporary rough patch but appear now to be a sustained pattern that is different than...

It brings no joy to issue a public rebuttal against a valued colleague, but there are moments that demand no less. The occasion is the publication of an essay titled "The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy," written by two professors, John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago and Stephen Walt, the academic dean and my colleague at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. In essence, their 82-page piece argues that U.S. policy in the Middle East has been hijacked by a pro-Israel "Lobby." "The core of the Lobby," they say, "is comprised of American Jews who make a significant effort...

by Mark Finkelstein February 14, 2006 - 19:52 Thirty-six minutes into tonight's Hardball, host Chris Matthews finally permitted a Cheney defender, former Cheney aide Ron Christie, to grace his program. Even then, Christie was not given an unobstructed opportunity to make his case, having to share the segment with hyper-partisan Dem consultant Bob Shrum - he of the record-breaking number of losing presidential campaigns - who tried to drag in everything from Iraq to Hurricane Katrina. Until Christie's belated appearance, Hardball was an absolutely ceaseless calvacade of criticism heaped on the Veep and his handling of the shooting incident that...

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) -- Four years from now, if some Harvard students' predictions turn true, Sen. Chuck Hagel will be preparing for his presidential inauguration. That's according to a group of students tasked with researching this past presidential election and looking forward into the next election cycle. Student authors Miriam Barhoush, Kevin Bourke, Amanda Coe and Paul Scott, predict Hagel will win the White House over Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh, of Indiana. Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney will be the Republican's running mate and Mark Warner, currently governor of Virginia, will be the Democratic counterpart. The students wrote the paper for...

As reported by NewsBusters, U.S. News and World Report’s editor-at-large David Gergen on CBS’s “Early Show” last Friday made the claim that the Wilson/Plame affair had some similarities to Watergate. Today on the same program, Gergen changed direction, and is now comparing this “scandal” to former President Clinton’s impeachment proceedings (video link to follow): “Well, you know, the country went through a large conversation about that just a few years ago about Bill Clinton because the underlying events there with Monica Lewinsky were not illegal. But what he got charged with and what he was impeached by in the house...

WASHINGTON -- Mark Felt, finally revealed as the "Deep Throat" who divulged the Watergate scandal, is wearing the hero's laurel 32 years later. But that designation comes across as peculiar to those of us who lived through the turbulent times. Felt deserves praise for breaking the rules as FBI associate director, providing Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein of the Washington Post the guidance to determine whether they were on the correct path in uncovering the machinations of President Nixon. However, Felt was considered by reformers at the FBI to be part of the problem rather than the solution. He was...

The president of The Newspaper Guild has drawn intense flak from conservative news groups after it was disclosed that she had accused the U.S. military of targeting journalists in Iraq. In remarks made during a panel discussion at the National Conference for Media Reform in St. Louis on May 13, Linda Foley said that not only U.S. journalists were being targeted. "They target and kill journalists from other countries, particularly Arab countries, at news services like Al Jazeera, for example. They actually target them and blow up their studios, with impunity." The conservative website NewsMax.com charged that Foley had accused...

A few weeks ago, I suggested that we might have reached a tipping point, after which the influence of Big Media would rapidly decline. "Big deal," you may have thought. "Techno-avant-garde types like Reynolds are always waving their hands and talking about tipping points." True enough. But now David Gergen, who is pretty much the standard measurement unit for conventional wisdom, is saying something similar. Here's what Gergen said on Hardball Monday night: GERGEN: But, even so, Chris, there is a larger issue about American journalism that I worry deeply about. And sympathetic as I am to people who are...

New York Post, Cindy Adams on David (Rodham) Gergen: I asked his take on the Social Security issue. He said: "Bush can't sustain this fight. The faster the president backs off, the better. He has to explore alternatives. Orrin Hatch is very fertile-minded. He can come up with something whereby President Bush may save face and yet come up with some sort of workable plan. The president cannot continue going down this road."

NOW about this "Deep Throat" soon- to-be revelation. Woodward and Bernstein are once again teasing mankind, saying how they'll maybe soon reveal The Identity because they'd always agreed they'd wait until the death of this person. Well, I don't totally know anyone gives a hoot anymore. However, I do know about a 90-year-old man who was a player in the Nixon administration. High up in the FBI in those days. Close to Hoover in earlier days. Now seriously ailing in California, his name is Mark Felt.

GUEST OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR Washington Give the man his due: George W. Bush is emerging as one of the boldest, most audacious presidents in modern history. Whether he is also wise is a question that will preoccupy us for another four years, but the reshuffling of his team in recent days makes clear that he intends to stretch the powers of his office to their limits. Woodrow Wilson once wrote that "the president is at liberty, both in law and conscience, to be as big a man as he can.'' President Bush comes Texas-sized. By sending members of his White House...

Just saw US News & World Report's David Gergen interviewed on CNN's Lou Dobbs tonight. Gergen feels election has tilted slightly in John Kerry's favor for the first time. He also feels Kerry won all three debates, an unprecidented feat.

The heated exchange on Thursday took place at about 7:50pm EDT as the group sat in MSNBC's outdoor set up near Madison Square Garden. The MRC's Geoff Dickens took down the highlights: Chris Matthews: "You know the old question in every political campaign is do you go hard or do you go soft? David Gergen. That fella just went hard. Was that smart?" David Gergen: "He went hate, he didn't go hard. That was a speech, in contrast to Dick Cheney's speech which was well within the bounds of political discourse and it was a tough speech. And, and, and...

Indeed, an enraged David Gergen dared to compare Miller to Lester Maddox, the segregationist governor for whom Miller worked more than 40 years ago. Gergen said Maddox was "a man of hate," and that Miller was "a man of hate" too. John Podhoretz in New York Post I mean, he [Zell Miller] came to prominence, you recall, as the chief of staff to Lester Maddox, the last segregationist governor of Georgia. Mark Shields on NewsHour

.........Some voters, especially men, will privately welcome a commander in chief who plays rough with his opponents. Mr. Nixon's meanness, it was said, provided an extra measure of safety against the Russians. Maybe, some will think it's a good thing for terrorists to see that Team Bush rolls over anyone who stands in its way, whether Saddam Hussein or Mr. Kerry. But there are distinct and pressing dangers here for Mr. Bush. Remember that in Iraq, he gained the upper hand at first, but the brash, overreaching way he went to war has come back to haunt him in the...

Not a surprise. Interviewed by Katie Couric who was suited up in her softball uniform, David Gergen blithely dismissed Berger's actions in a featured segment at the top of the Today show, July 20. Ourtageously, Gergen called the Clintonoid who made off with top secret documents a "hero." Gergen even suggested that the accusations were politically motivated to stave off criticisms of GWB being generated in an election year. Little or no mention was made of Berger's post as Kerry's adviser except to say he might have to go on hiatus from the job. Berger, a former top US gov't...

Ronald Reagan would have loved knowing that Sgt. York marched in his funeral parade. Sgt. York, of course, was that horse - a 13-year-old jet-black gelding from New York - that walked so majestically behind the caisson bearing the former President through the streets of Washington Wednesday night, saddle empty and stirrups bearing Reagan's riding boots turned backward. Reagan would have enjoyed the quiet dignity of that horse, but just as much, he would have thrilled at the memory the horse invoked: Sgt. Alvin York of Tennessee, the young draftee who led a small band into fire against a German...

The wife of Bush-bashing former U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Joe Wilson is apparently not a covert CIA operative or an undercover agent, though she's been described that way repeatedly since the CIA asked for an investigation on how her identity was made public. According to columnist Robert Novak, who revealed Mrs. Wilson's name in his July 14 column, sources at the CIA expressly told him she was not a spy. "According to a confidential source at the CIA, Mrs. Wilson was an analyst, not a spy, not a covert operative, and not in charge of undercover operatives," Novak told...

To determine this year’s winners, a panel of 52 radio talk show hosts, magazine editors, columnists, editorial writers and media observers each selected their choices for the first, second and third best quote from a slate of six to nine quotes in each category. Each received a paper ballot in late November and returned it within two weeks. Now, the winning quotes in 17 award categories: Media Hero Award “For Castro, freedom starts with education. And if literacy alone were the yardstick, Cuba would rank as one of the freest nations on Earth. The literacy rate is 96 percent.” --...

Likely suspectsThirty years later, the world still wonders who "Deep Throat" wasBy CATHERINE FITZPATRICK and JAN UEBELHERR Journal SentinelLast Updated: June 10, 2002As mysteries go, it's right up there with Stonehenge and the whereabouts of Jimmy Hoffa.Thirty years later, the world still wonders who "Deep Throat" was.Deep Throat? David Gergen, White House advisor.Deep Throat? John Sears, Republican strategist.Haig: Might his moral code have led him to reveal unsavory secrets?Pat Nixon: She's as good a guess as anyone, says Stanley Kutler.Deep Throat. Code name for the covert source of newshound Bob Woodward. Paranoid whistle-blower in the downfall of an American president.Parlor...