Free Republic

NEWS BREAKING AS WE GO TO PRESS: CIA OPERATORS DENIED REQUEST FOR HELP DURING BENGHAZI ATTACK, SOURCES SAY.DEVELOPING…and now back to the original post:This doesn’t add up does it?“I was told there would be no math.” “During his appearance on Jay Leno last night, President Obama admitted that he struggles with math above a 7th grade level.Leno read the president a question from a viewer asking him what subject was the most difficult to help his daughters with, while doing homework.Well, the math stuff I was fine with up until about seventh grade,” Obama said. “But Malia is now a...

Others who worked with Obama reached similar conclusions. “He doesn’t listen to anyone,” a former top economic aide told a friend. Outsiders invited to meet with him concluded it was all for show, that he was not interested in what they had to say. That he rarely talks to congressional leaders, including fellow Democrats, has become such a staple of Washington that it has ceased to be news. He apparently believes it is beneath him to consult or get into the details of legislation. Then again, he doesn’t talk to members of his Cabinet much either, so he’s consistent in...

Is there a limit to self-delusion? And if there is, what happens when the limit is exceeded? New York Times columnist Gail Collins began her column last week as follows, "When Democrats run into each other on elevators, they exchange glances and sigh. Or make little whimpering sounds." She went on to observe that "Democrats are going bipolar. Democrats spend all their waking hours thinking about the swing states. If Wisconsin starts looking wobbly, their day is ruined." It makes you wonder what their days are going to be like if Obama loses the actual election. Liberals are angry and...

Last night's performance by Biden – capering, giggling, near-maniacal opera buffa – was targeted in one place: a dispirited, demoralized Democratic base on the edge of panic. Paul Ryan was businesslike, steady, and on-point. He hit solid doubles all night, and that's all he needed to do. If he'd been as amped and manic as Biden, it would have been a political and imaging disaster. Biden aimed to throw the Obama base a lifeline. He fed the Kos Kidz desperate need to see some fight, but at the cost of his remaining (and mostly notional) dignity. If you want a...

.....I had been trying to think if there was a comparable example of when a live television event had had such a profound effect upon what had been a widely accepted truth. When I read Toby Harnden's report of how Obama stepped off of the Denver stage believing he had won, it dawned on me.According to Harden: >>>"In an extraordinary insight into the events leading up to the 90 minute showdown which changed the face of the election, a Democrat close to the Obama campaign today reveals that the President also did not take his debate preparation seriously, ignored the...

As prominent Democrat Dick Harpootlian put it, "Big Bird is iconic. He — or it — she — I don’t know what it is — is an icon with a whole generation or two of Americans." Well said. If Mitt Romney won't stand up for giant muppets, who will he stand up for?If we're destined for heartbreak on election night, my friends, let these words be our solace: A lawyer for Sesame Workshop has requested that the campaign take down the spot, which was slated to run on national cable outlets.“We have received that request,” [Obama spokesman Jen] Psaki told...

Election 2012: President Obama might think sagging polls are his biggest post-debate problem. But it's really people like Buzz Bissinger, Stacey Dash and Bill Maher showing it's now acceptable in polite society to attack The One. In an eye-opening piece Monday on the Daily Beast, "Friday Night Lights" author and lifelong Democrat Buzz Bissinger announced he was voting for Romney. The tipping point, he wrote, "was last week's debate in Denver," which showed Obama out of energy and out of ideas.

The Pew poll is devastating, just devastating. Before the debate, Obama had a 51 - 43 lead; now, Romney has a 49 - 45 lead. That's a simply unprecedented reversal for a candidate in October. Before Obama had leads on every policy issue and personal characteristic; now Romney leads in almost all of them. Obama's performance gave Romney a 12 point swing! I repeat: a 12 point swing. Romney's favorables are above Obama's now. Yes, you read that right. Romney's favorables are higher than Obama's right now. That gender gap that was Obama's firewall? Over in one night: Currently, women...

The recently reinvigorated cast of Saturday Night Live has been having a field day with the 2012 election and their ratings have shown a payoff for their efforts. Yes, the majority of their skits still tend toward skewering conservatives and Republicans, but to give credit where credit is due, they do take some shots at Obama when the target is too obvious to ignore. Such was the case with last week’s debate.... ...it was a fairly glaring attack not just on Obama’s poor performance, but the totally vacuous nature of the MSNBC prime time lineup. The roughly four minute video...

They can spend all the time at all the camps they want and it won’t wipe the FAIL off the last four years, but they’ll try anyway: To remedy this, there will be more extensive preparation for Obama before the next showdown — now much higher stakes for Obama — at Hofstra University. Obama will set up debate camp at the end of next week in Williamsburg, Va.Obama may not be adding more rehearsal time — but as senior adviser David Axelrod says, he’s going to be more strategic about how he uses it.And on Obama’s debate sparring partner...

The Obama campaign has been reeling since losing the first Presidential debate of this election cycle in front of 67 million viewers. They've tried--and thus far failed--to craft a narrative to explain away the debacle in Denver. Previously, we reported to you that Obama Senior Advisor David Plouffe, who ran the President's successful 2008 campaign, (falsely) accused Mitt Romney of lying. In a rare comedic moment from the typically robotic former Vice President Al Gore, he suggested on Current TV that the Mile High City's altitude was the reason Obama was low on energy and enthusiasm. Neither of those caught...

During his opening monologue tonight, Bill Maher admitted he was not happy with how President Obama did during his first big debate this week. He told his audience that Obama undeniably “sucked” during the debate, and surmised that the million dollars he gave to the campaign was probably spent on weed. Maher surmised that because Wednesday was Obama’s anniversary, “he apparently had the sex first and was completely spent” for the debate. He contrasted Romney looking “charged up” with Obama looking like Michael Jackson on diprivan. Maher admitted that Obama “sucked” during the debate, and made a joke referencing...

HH: Broadcasting from the CPAC convention in Denver on the day after the most devastating loss in the history of presidential debates suffered by Barack Obama, the Agincourt of presidential debates. Call it Midway, call it Dien Bien Phu, call it whatever you want, it was a rout. And who will call it best? Mark Steyn, of course, Columnist To the World. Mark, welcome, what did you think of last night? MS: Well, I’m not sure I’d go as far as, what did you say, Midway, Agincourt… HH: Agincourt, Midway and Dien Bien Phu, because John Kerry was involved. We...

The Barack Obama who stood on the debate stage in Denver Wednesday night was virtually unrecognizable to the person who swept to victory in 2008 or even the man who had built a narrow-but-clear edge in the 2012 race. In the wake of the debate, Democrats conceded that former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney had dominated the proceedings and quickly moved on to a deeper — and harder to answer — question: What the hell was wrong with the president? Theories abound — up to an including that Obama, who had done debate prep in Las Vegas, struggled to adjust to...