Free Republic

Let's break out the old standard: if Barack Obama has lost Al Hunt, he's lost America—or at least the liberal-media part. On today's Morning Joe, discussing the James Rosen outrage, Hunt called President Obama "no better than Richard Nixon" when it comes to the press. He then strongly suggested that Attorney General Eric Holder should go. View the video here.

Presidential elections are poll-driven. The candidate ahead in the surveys usually gets better coverage, and the results energize supporters. The one behind often comes across as doing little right, and campaigns and constituencies lose confidence. But what if the polls are wrong, and we aren't surveying the real likely electorate? This might be more than an academic issue. A number of polls this presidential race show a gap in the preferences of registered voters vs. likely voters. In these models, the president usually does better with likely voters, the figure most news organizations emphasize. To get to likely voters, all...

Pity the poor historian a hundred years from now trying to assess John McCain. He is unlikely ever to be President (though he plans to run in 2008); he isn't a powerful legislative leader like Henry Clay or Bob Dole or Ted Kennedy; and he hasn't led a political movement like Robert LaFollette. Yet he is the most popular and, in many ways, influential politician of our times. John Kerry and George W. Bush vie to associate themselves with the Arizona Republican, as do politicians of every stripe all around the country, ranging from liberal Democrats, who disagree with him...

Now that the truth is coming out about John Kerry's Vietnam war record his sycophantic media groupies are losing their grip. For instance, arch lefty Albert Hunt of the Wall Street Journal became positively combustible when he found that John Kerry had been exposed for the fraud he really is. According to this paragon of journalistic virtue it's grossly unfair to "focus attention on John Kerry's Vietnam War record and subsequent protests." Given that John Kerry made his Vietnam war record a central issue of the election campaign and actually invited scrutiny, how can Hunt seriously complain when those who...

Suppose in the 1992 presidential election, after an unconfirmed rumor surfaced about an alleged affair then President Bush had years earlier, Clinton supporters decided to make marital fidelity a central issue. That would be almost as crazy as the current effort by some Bush backers to focus attention on John Kerry's Vietnam War record and subsequent protests. This is being significantly funded and directed by Texas fat cats and political operatives who have more than a passing relationship with Bush political guru Karl Rove. These are some of the same people who surreptitiously smeared John McCain in the last election....

Ideally a president should have an impressive résumé. For the past 20 years John Kerry has been only an average senator. In a consummately political job, the nation's chief executive should be a natural, with good political instincts. John Kerry is lacking. And a president should exude resolve and decisiveness. He hasn't always, witness his convoluted rationalizations for his votes on the Iraq war. ... He also probably would stumble and hesitate in normal times, but then rise to the challenges of tough times. Tonight's acceptance speech will be an important test of that ability.

<p>There are 24 days until the first votes are cast in the 2004 election, but political insiders already are dreaming about a 2008 Bush-Clinton matchup.</p> <p>There are two causes for this conjecture. For one, it's just the kind of thing that political junkies do. Also, there's a growing consensus among Republicans, and even many Democrats, that President Bush will be reelected in 2004.</p>