Free Republic

It’s amazing what a few competitive polls can do to concentrate the mind. Democrats had taken comfort for months in the Republican Party’s seeming inability to get behind Mitt Romney, Obama’s healthy lead in the polls, and equally healthy job growth. And for a few, fleeting, moments, Democrats thought the election might just be easy. But Republican division appears to have been merely an artifact of primary politics, and Mitt Romney has proved a consistent, if unglamorous campaigner… “There was this sense maybe a month or two ago that Obama was really riding high — that he had gotten his...

Though the Obama campaign has repeatedly attacked Mitt Romney for his career at Bain Capital, President Obama still accepted $7,500 in campaign contributions from three Bain executives. His campaign press secretary, Ben LaBolt told The Politicker the president has no intention of giving the money back. “No one aside from Mitt Romney is running for President highlighting their tenure as a corporate buyout specialist as one of job creation, when in fact, his goal was profit maximization,” said Mr. LaBolt. ”The President has support from business leaders across industries who have seen him pull the economy back from the brink...

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - At a fundraiser for his re-election campaign in Denver tonight, President Obama set out to upend conventional Republican wisdom that his administration has been defined by excessive government spending. "I'm running to pay down our debt in a way that's balanced and responsible. After inheriting a $1 trillion deficit, I signed $2 trillion of spending cuts into law," he told a crowd of donors at the Hyatt Regency. "My opponent won't admit it, but it's starting to appear in places, like real liberal outlets, like the Wall Street Journal: Since I've been president, federal spending has...

As an added bonus he also sympathizes with Occupy Wall Street.Via MEMRI: The Prophet Muhammad told us that Islam would spread. He told us about the Islamic conquest of Constantinople — Turkey of today — and indeed, it was conquered. He also told us about the conquest of Rome, which is Italy. People find this strange. “How can we conquer Italy?” they say. “We are too weak.” You should consider the number of Muslims in that great Christian center — another person converts to Islam every day. Check on the Internet how many people want to convert to Islam in...

For the last couple of months, many of the pointy-headed talking heads who inhabit The Fox Neocon Channel (FNC), PMSNBC, and the Communist Newspeak Network (CNN) have been babbling about the in-fighting on the Right. Many have wondered if the GOP Establishment's Golden Boy Mitt Romney has been damaged by the lukewarm rececption of him by the GOP's Conservative base. (As of this writing, it is unknown if the Bellvue staff has allowed Tokyo Rove to have shoe laces yet.) Night after night, we've had nothing but on air hand-wringing from the likes of Ann Coulter and the rest of...

Each held Saturday on $1.5 million bondTwo Broward County men were among three arrested this week in a nighttime police raid after they planned to attack four police stations, President Barack Obama's campaign headquarters and Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s house, according to court documents. The men arrested Wednesday in an apartment building in the Bridgeport neighborhood. They're accused of trying to make Molotov cocktails ahead of the two-day summit that starts Sunday. They were each held Saturday on $1.5 million bond. Brian Church, 20, of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.; Brent Vincent Betterly, 24, of Oakland Park, Fla. and Jared Chase, 24, of...

A standoff between protesters and the University of California at Berkeley over a 10-acre plot of university-owned agricultural land in Albany continued into its 17th day today. Anya Kamanskaya, of the group Occupy The Farm, said the ball is in the university's court after protesters issued a response late Monday to the university's proposal to resolve the standoff. UC Berkeley spokesman Dan Mogulof said the university planned to respond to the protesters' letter later today. Occupy the Farm activists moved onto the site, which is known as the Gill Tract and is located near the corner of Marin and San...

A standoff between UC Berkeley and Occupy activists who planted renegade crops on university land is headed from the farm to the courts. The University of California Board of Regents filed a lawsuit Wednesday against 14 protesters, claiming they and others conspired to cut through chains that secured gates and trespass onto the Gill Tract, a patch of land along bustling San Pablo Avenue in Albany. The activists, who call themselves Occupy the Farm, moved onto the tract April 22. They are pressuring the university to preserve part of the tract, which has been the subject of development debates for...

Last week, I wrote a piece suggesting that Mitt Romney's path to the presidency wasn't necessarily narrow. Rather, the breadth of that path will depend on "environmental" factors that could ultimately push him well past the 286 electoral vote ceiling that has seemingly been imposed upon the Republican party since 1992. On the other hand, Ron Brownstein suggests that this ceiling is an outgrowth of demography and changing coalitions, and is largely etched into our electoral map. This has created a “blue wall” consisting of “the 11 states from Maryland to Maine (except New Hampshire); the three West Coast states;...

I just about knew it when I heard a top-of-hour radio report this morning. When the announcer intoned that there was a 3% increase in "home construction" in April, I said to myself: "There's the Associated Press again, up to its old tricks." That was indeed the case. When I went to the related AP reports, I found that they were, like the economic data coming out during the Obama administration, much worse than expected. In this morning's coverage of the still bottom-feeding situation in new home construction, the AP's Christopher Rugaber indeed wrote that a 3% seasonally adjusted April...

Recent weeks have seen ombudsmen at both the New York Times and the Washington Post defend their respective newspapers from charges of journalistic bias and a deep-seated, enduring slant to the political left. Described as “trusted [intermediaries] between…an organization and some…external constituency,” it is the job of New York Times ombudsman Arthur Brisbane and the Post’s Patrick Pexton to represent “the broad scope of constituent interests” by seeking to present readers with facts and straightforward, impartial reporting. (1) Of course anyone with a sense of humor—or any sense at all—will get a real kick out of claims of straightforward and...

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich tells Newsmax in an exclusive interview that Republicans have a “two out of three” chance of winning not only the White House in November, but the Senate and House as well. The reason, he says: President Obama “doesn’t have a clue about what he’s doing” and Americans can’t afford four more years of this “disaster.” Gingrich suspended his presidential campaign on May 2 and has endorsed Mitt Romney. The veteran Georgia lawmaker was first elected to the House in 1978 and served as speaker from 1995 to 1999 before announcing his retirement.

Obama to Graduates: Don’t Believe the Media By CNSNews.com Staff May 14, 2012 (CNSNews.com) - President Barack Obama pointed a finger at the news media today when he gave the commencement address at all-female Barnard College in New York City, attributing some of the blame for what he described as a lack of faith in American institutions on news reports that focus on “sensationalism” and “scandal” and carry “a message that change isn’t possible." In a survey conducted last September, Gallup discovered that 47 percent of Americans believe the media is "too liberal" while only 13 percent believe it is...

On NBC's Meet The Press,' just now (May 13, 2012: Jamie Dimon said it's not fair to blame 'all banks,' you know of a particular bank that does something wrong go after that specifically. I accept all criticism. I am now "barely a democrat." Asked: 'What do you mean "barely a Democrat," Are you not a Democrat anymore? I mean I am still a Democrat... but BARELY... The current admin. - (environment) very 'anti-Business.' I don't blame the president but the Democrats were much more destructive than the Republicans.

The irony here, of course, is that the history lesson of democracy gets delivered by a former refugee from the former Soviet Union, but the history lesson doesn’t just end with the USA. One young man tried to pass an “Occupy Wall Street Journal” to two men observing the protests, and ended up gaining an education in history, politics, economics, and statecraft. Give the young Occupier credit, as Joe Schoffstall says — he was at least willing to listen. I’m not sure he was actually convinced, but he at least knew better than to keep arguing:

One of the hallmarks of demonstrations organized by the left-as anyone who lives in this city can attest-is a consistently muddled message-or assemblage of messages-which often has little bearing on the theme ostensibly animating the protest movement in question. I’m not sure if the occupiers displaying the words of anti-USSR, Marxist Polish philosopher-turned anti-Marxist Solidarity activist-Leszek Kolakowski appreciate their import-considering the number of CCCP t-shirts and Soviet flags I saw displayed throughout May Day, I doubt most of them do. However, the Kolakowski quote did strike an ironic note when juxtaposed against the sea of slogans chanted by protesters this...

One of the five self-described anarchists arrested last week for attempting to blow up a local bridge signed the lease for a West Side warehouse where about a dozen members of the Occupy Cleveland group live. In a one-hour recording of a Friday evening general assembly meeting of the group posted on its website, occupy leaders expressed concern about Anthony Hayne's name being on the lease, which strengthens his link to the group.... "If this gets into the media, it would be a disaster."

Acts of public protests are nothing new. From time to time, certain trigger issues will emerge which cause the general public to rally en masse for or against or both on the topic. The 1960’s were defined by both the anti-Vietnam War ‘hippie’ crowd, comprised mostly of the younger generation, and civil rights marches in the sometimes bloody battle for racial equality. The neon, Cold War ‘80’s saw protests against nuclear proliferation as well as its use as an energy source, and South Africa’s Apartheid policies, along with the starving in Ethiopia, were the main social causes. Even back before...

When the radical homosexual organizations and the "Occupy" movement team up to brutally stop a Tea Party rally, what else do you need to know? They are clearly natural allies in the effort to destabilize our society. A vocal minority of Tea Party people in Massachusetts were skittish when the Tea Party Coalition decided to include "social issues" for that event. "It will hurt our brand" or "it will alienate people" or "it's not what the Tea Party is about" were some whines we all heard. Well, guess what? They rioters see it all as one big movement. They understand...

PITTSBURGH — Rick Santorum dropped his presidential bid nearly a month ago, so his meeting here Friday with presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney would have seemed like the perfect opportunity to offer Romney his endorsement. But even before the 90-minute meeting took place, everyone knew that no such nod would be coming anytime soon. Santorum, like pretty much everyone else who has run in the Republican presidential contest, has embraced the party's standard-bearer with a stiff arm. Of course they will work to defeat President Obama, they say. Yet few have been willing to get behind their party's winner with...