Free Republic

It won’t make any difference anyway. New Yorkers have an affinity for crooked politicians.

WASHINGTON -- The National Rifle Association is turning to Hillary Rodham Clinton to bolster its criticism of Barack Obama's positions on gun issues. The NRA's Political Victory Fund planned a national newspaper ad Thursday reviving a Clinton mailing that accused Obama of waffling on gun issues. Clinton's campaign sent the mailing when the New York senator was challenging Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination. It accuses Obama of changing his statements on gun issues to try to fit the audience he was addressing. "Hillary was right: You can't trust Obama with your guns," says the NRA political action committee's ad,...

God bless you guys, we need you. You're our last great hope before the Democrats and RINOs push us all in and plunge us into full blown socialism. Hang tough!! By the way, just heard on FOX News something about the committees working on this bailout bill just had their Blackberries confiscated so they can't communicate with the outside world. I pray I misheard that.

OBAMA'S MONEY CZAR OWNS HOTEL HOSTING AHMADINEJAD Penny Pritzker, national finance chair of Barack Obama's presidential campaign, is the owner of the Hyatt, the hotel hosting the genocidal Hitler wannabee, Ahmadinejad. This is the latest in an assault on Israel and Jewish Americans. Obama and co. strong armed and bullied the craven organizers of the Anti-Ahmadinejad rally to disinvite Pro-Israel supporter Sarah Palin. Clearly Obama's chief fundraiser could refuse to host the Ahmadinejad at her hotel. Instead, she has rolled out the red carpet. It was bad enough that Obama would not send someone to represent him at the anti-Ahmadinejad...

THE White House race has plumbed new depths as Barack Obama accused John McCain of stooping to "lies and phony outrage" in response to the Democrat's mocking talk of "lipstick on a pig". In a new Internet ad, the McCain campaign accused Senator Obama of a sexist "smear" against the Republican's female running mate, Sarah Palin. But Senator Obama aides flagged a YouTube video showing Senator McCain using the same phrase himself. "You can put lipstick on a pig. It's still a pig," Senator Obama said at a school in Norfolk, Virginia, reprising his line to attack the Republican pair's...

FLINT, Mich. — Barack Obama broadly accused his Republican rivals of dishonesty Monday, citing former lobbyists working for John McCain, Sarah Palin’s shifting stance on the “Bridge to Nowhere” and their promise to change Washington. With national polls finding the Democratic presidential nominee trailing or in a dead heat with McCain, Obama began the campaign’s final eight-week push by criticizing McCain’s popular running mate as much as the Arizona senator himself. He said Palin has an interesting biography — “Mother, governor, moose shooter. That’s cool,” he said — but the election should be about who can change people’s lives for...

Barack Obama’s campaign brushed off suggestions Monday that a verbal gaffe the Democratic candidate made during a weekend television interview is anything more than just that. In an interview Sunday with ABC’s “This Week” host George Stephanopoulos, Obama tried to suggest that FOX News and others “closely allied” to Republicans are promulgating the notion that the Illinois senator is Muslim. Asked about whether McCain himself has done anything to suggest he’s Muslim, Obama said, “Let’s not play games. What I was suggesting — you’re absolutely right that John McCain has not talked about my Muslim faith. And you’re absolutely right...

Obama supports post-birth death of babies.

Former Texas Rep. Charlie Wilson -- yes, that Charlie Wilson -- was speaking at an anti-war rally when he, um, flubbed a line: "We should be led by Osama bin Laden," he said, then quickly corrected himself. "I mean Obama and Biden." How does that Southwest commercial go? Want to get away?

DEMOCRAT Barack Obama has berated his White House rival John McCain as an out-of-touch economic illiterate who would make the rich richer at a time of financial pain for most US voters. At a rally in a sweltering high school gymnasium in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Senator Obama mocked Senator McCain for remarking at a weekend forum with religious leader Rick Warren that only those earning more than $US5 million ($5.7 million) a year were really rich. "This explains why his tax plan gives hundreds of thousands in tax breaks for people earning 2.5 million, because they're only middle class," the...

A MAN with self-described mental health problems was ordered held without bail in Florida on charges that he had threatened to assassinate Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama or President George W. Bush. Raymond Hunter Geisel was arrested by the Secret Service in Miami on Saturday after making threats before other participants against both Mr Bush and Senator Obama at a bail bondsman's training course, according to federal court papers. A Secret Service affidavit said Mr Geisel denied making the threats. But he told a Secret Service agent, in comments he later described a a joke, that if he wanted to...

Palestinian brothers inside the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip are listed in government election filings as having donated $29,521.54 to Sen. Barack Obama's campaign. The donations would violate election laws, including prohibitions on receiving donations from foreigners and guidelines against accepting more than $2,300 from one individual during a single election, Bob Biersack, a spokesman for the Federal Election Commission, told WND in response to a query. The contributions also raise numerous questions about the Obama campaign's lax online donation form, which apparently allows for the possibility of foreign contributions. Last week, the Atlas Shrugs blog outlined a series of donations in...

Barack Obama’s lead over John McCain has diminished considerably in three battleground states, according to a poll published Thursday. The Quinnipiac University polls, conducted from July 23-29, found that Obama’s lead has weakened in Pennsylvania and Ohio, two key swing states in November’s presidential election. The poll also found the two candidates in a virtual tie in Florida. According to the poll, Obama is ahead of McCain by 7 percentage points, 49 to 42 percent, in Pennsylvania — a drop from that same poll last month, which showed Obama leading McCain by 12 percentage points at 52 to 40 percent....

-- A South Carolina senator is fielding negative reactions after he posted a picture of Barack Obama and Osama bin Laden with a controversial comment on the state legislative Web site. S.C. Sen. Kevin Bryant said he "wanted to make people think." But after the public reacted negatively to the image, Bryant said he will take it down. The image shows bin Laden and Obama with the text: "the difference between Obama and Osama is just a little b.s."

COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) - A Republican state senator from South Carolina is being criticized for a post on his blog that shows photos of Barack Obama and Osama bin Laden wearing similar clothing, along with a line that states the difference between the two is "a little B.S." The image was posted on Sen. Kevin Bryant's blog on Friday without an explanation from the politician. It appears to be a photo of a T-shirt, with images of bin Laden and Obama wearing turbans and the words "OBAMA" AND "OSAMA," with the "B" and "S" each highlighted in red. The American-Arab...

Barack Obama’s campaign has elected for it’s candidate to speak at the Siegessäule, a victory column, which was moved by Adolf Hitler from the Reichstag to its current location in 1939 as part of Hitler’s planned transformation of Berlin into the Nazi capital “Germania.”

AMERICANS are sharply divided by race ahead of the first presidential election in which a black candidate will represent a major party, a New York Times/CBS News poll showed today, The poll found that blacks and whites hold vastly different views of Sen. Barack Obama, an Illinois Democrat who would be the first black president, and are also divided on the state of race relations in the US, the newspaper reported. In the survey, 83 per cent of blacks had a favorable opinion of Mr Obama, compared with 31 per cent of white voters. Mr Obama will face John McCain,...

Growing up with a father who is an irritable traveler notoriously obsessed with avoiding traffic, I developed a habit of always preparing myself for the worst whenever embarking on a journey. ~snip~ Despite all of the problems faced by the current incarnation of the Republican Party, America is still a right of center nation, which explains Obama's need to abandon many of his liberal positions. Although it's something I would rather not find out, what this means is that Obama's ability to govern as a liberal if elected president would largely be a function of how well conservatives can mobilize...

DEMOCRATIC presidential candidate Barack Obama has promised a more active approach to faith-based social programs in a bid to bolster his support among evangelical and religious voters. Obama visited a community ministry in a conservative region of the election battleground state of Ohio today to unveil a plan to reinvigorate faith-based community programs pioneered by President George W. Bush. The Illinois senator, who will face Republican John McCain in November's presidential election, said he would put more money and emphasis on strengthening the link between government and community faith programs. "The fact is, the challenges we face today - from...

You are the Democratic candidate for president. You want to reach out to Catholics. So what do you do when the majority of the elected officials on your National Catholic Advisory Council have the seal of approval from NARAL Pro-Choice America? That's the position Barack Obama now finds himself in. A few months ago, his Catholic advisory council was announced with great enthusiasm, and Sen. Bob Casey (D., Pa.) was listed as a national co-chair. His appearance at the top of the council sent a clear message: This campaign is determined to recover some of the lost Democratic sheep who...

Smear: LIE: Rush Limbaugh says a tape exists of Michelle Obama using the word "whitey" from the pulpit of Trinity United... Lie: Proven GOP sleazemeister Roger Stone says he has "credible evidence that some indelible record exists" of a tape of Michelle Obama using the term "whitey."

Now that the two parties have finally selected their presidential candidates, it is time for a sober — if not grim — assessment of where we are. Not since 1972 have we been presented with two such painfully inadequate candidates. When Election Day came that year, I could not bring myself to vote for either George McGovern or Richard Nixon. I stayed home. This year, none of us has that luxury. While all sorts of gushing is going on in the media, and posturing is going on in politics, the biggest national sponsor of terrorism in the world — Iran...

I am absolutely certain that generations from now, we will be able to look back and tell our children that this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless; this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal.

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in Connecticut finds Barack Obama attracting 47% of the vote while John McCain earns 44%. Given that choice, 4% would opt for “some other candidate” while 5% are not sure. In early March, Obama led McCain by twelve percentage points. However, that poll was conducted before Obama’s controversial former pastor, Jeremiah Wright, became part of the campaign dialogue. Currently, Obama is viewed favorably by 57% of Connecticut voters. That rating is down ten percentage points since March. McCain is viewed favorably by 54%, down four points from the previous survey. In Connecticut, Obama leads...

Barack Obama’s favorability ratings among white women have significantly depreciated in recent months, particularly among Democrats and independents, posing an immediate obstacle for the likely Democratic nominee as he moves to shore up his party’s base. According to a new report by The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, half of white women now have a negative perception of Obama. Forty-nine percent of white women view Obama unfavorably, while only 43 percent hold a favorable opinion. In February, 36 percent of these women viewed Obama unfavorably while 56 percent had a positive perception of the likely Democratic...

DEMOCRAT Barack Obama admitted he was wrong to say his uncle helped liberate the Nazis' Auschwitz concentration camp after Republicans said Soviet troops freed the camp. Senator Obama's campaign said the candidate meant to say that his great-uncle, Charlie Payne, had helped liberate a part of the Buchenwald camp, not Auschwitz. "Yesterday he mistakenly referred to Auschwitz instead of Buchenwald in telling of his personal experience of a soldier in his family who served heroically," said campaign spokesman Bill Burton. Mr Burton said in the statement that Obama's great uncle served in the 89th Infantry Division that entered Germany in...

DID someone say road trip? Republican presidential nominee-in-waiting John McCain has offered to take his likely Democractic counterpart Barack Obama to Iraq to "educate him" on the real situation there. Senator McCain has said Senator Obama has not been to Iraq in more than two years, since before the so-called troops surge announced by President George W. Bush at the start of 2007. He has said the country has been transformed since then and Senator Obama cannot have a credible policy on Iraq unless he returns there to see the improvements in security. "Look at what happened in the last...

The last couple of months have been springtime in paradise for Republicans: the loveliest of all possible seasons. They have been watching two Democratic presidential candidates in an endless battle to destroy each other -- a process that does not appear to enhance the chance that the eventual nominee will win in November. A recent Gallup poll shows John McCain leading both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in a head-to-head matchup. All this before Republicans even begin publicizing the worst that can be said about either of two candidates whose alleged defects provide a supremely target-rich environment. But it's easy...

DEMOCRATIC White House hopeful Barack Obama said today he could declare victory over Hillary Clinton on May 20, when Kentucky and Oregon may put him over the top in terms of elected delegates. "If at that point we have the majority of pledged delegates, which is possible, then I think we can make a pretty strong claim that we have got the most runs and it's the ninth inning and we have won," he told NBC television, referring to the final inning of a baseball game. "But, you know, I think it is also important for us to, if we...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Barack Obama's march toward the Democratic presidential nomination picked up support from four more superdelegates Wednesday, pushing him ever closer to victory over Hillary Rodham Clinton - even as their primary marathon staggered on. She added two superdelegates herself in what has become the last big contest as their race winds toward a finish. There are just 217 delegates to be chosen in the final six primaries, and neither candidate can win enough of them to claim final victory. Meanwhile, 265 additional delegates - the party elders and other "superdelegates" - have yet to be claimed, and...

BARACK Obama has conceded defeat to Hillary Clinton in today's Democratic White House primary in Indiana but, on the back of a win in North Carolina, offered himself up as the only candidate who could truly unite American voters. "I want to start by congratulating Senator Clinton on what appears to be her victory in the great state of Indiana," Senator Obama told a rally in Raleigh, North Carolina - even amid uncertainty over who had actually won. CBS News called Indiana for Senator Clinton, but others were more hesitant and, several hours after polls closed, NBC News and Fox...

WHITE House hopeful Hillary Clinton has claimed victory in the Democratic presidential primary in Indiana, saying it is "full speed on to the White House". With 85 per cent of the precincts reporting, US networks said Senator Clinton was leading rival Barack Obama by 52 per cent to 48 per cent, but had not yet called the race in the midwestern state. Senator Clinton said Senator Obama had recently predicted that Indiana would be the tiebreaker in their battle for the Democratic Party's nomination. "Well, tonight we've come from behind. We've broken the tie, and thanks to you, it's full...

IGNORING the crowds who flocked to a giant picnic with Barack Obama in Fort Wayne, Indiana, the White House hopeful's six-year-old daughter took the stand to urge them to "vote for daddy". Senator Obama has been campaigning hard across Indiana this weekend, ahead of a crunch Democratic primary in the state tomorrow, and has been flanked by his wife Michelle and their two daughters, Malia, 9, and Sasha, 6. It is the first time the girls have accompanied their father as he campaigns for his party's presidential nod since the contest in Iowa back in January.

HILLARY Clinton, buoyed by her win in the Pennsylvania primary, has piled pressure on top Democratic Party officials who hold the key to her gripping White House feud with Barack Obama. The "superdelegates" who can vote how they like at the party's August convention came under a glaring spotlight after Senator Clinton defied Senator Obama's latest bid to bundle her out of the contest with a 10-point triumph in yesterday's vote. Though Senator Clinton trails Senator Obama by every metric in the race, the result gave the former first lady more time to raise doubts among party members that her...

DEMOCRATIC hopeful Barack Obama said that as president he would do his utmost to help Israel defend itself from any regional threat, as he criticized ex-president Jimmy Carter for seeking to meet with Hamas. "As president, I will do everything that I can to help (Israel) protect itself ... We will make sure that it can defend itself from any attack, whether it comes from as close as Gaza or as far as Tehran," Senator Obama told a synagogue in Philadelphia, according to his campaign aides. He said US-Israeli cooperation, although successful, "can be deepened and strengthened". Senator Obama, who...

US PRESIDENTIAL contender Barack Obama has wiped out his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton's yawning lead in Indiana and trails by just five points in Pennsylvania, according to a new poll. Ahead of the crunch Pennsylvania primary next Tuesday, the Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll suggested that Senator Obama has not suffered overly from his description of working-class voters as "bitter". The poll gave the former first lady a lead over Senator Obama of 46 per cent to 41 in Pennsylvania, down from double-digit margins in earlier polls, and also had her losing in both Indiana and North Carolina, which both vote...

Here's a clip taken by somebody at the San Francisco event; it's the passage just before the lines everyone is now focused on, in which he talks about the skepticism he encounters: Here's how it is: in a lot of these communities in big industrial states like Ohio and Pennsylvania, people have been beaten down so long, and they feel so betrayed by government, and when they hear a pitch that is premised on not being cynical about government, then a part of them just doesn't buy it. And when it's delivered by -- it's true that when it's delivered...

WASHINGTON — Buoyed by recent polls favoring John McCain to win the White House, Republicans are sharpening their knives while wondering which Democrat would be easier to beat in November. For months, Republican strategists have delighted over the prospect of facing off with Hillary Clinton, believing that she would be easier to beat than her Democratic rival, Barack Obama. But things have changed since the Obama campaign was engulfed in controversy over embarrassing statements by his former pastor, Jeremiah Wright, whose fiery sermons have been called anti-American. The former first lady and New York senator is one of the most...

Breaking her silence on the controversy surrounding Barack Obama’s long-time pastor, Hillary Clinton said Tuesday that she would have left the congregation if her pastor behaved like Obama’s. “He would not have been my pastor,” Clinton told reporters at a press conference in Greensburg, Pa. “You know, we don’t have a choice when it comes to our relatives. We have a choice when it comes to our pastors and the churches we attend,” she said. “Everyone will have to decide these matters for themselves. They are obviously very personal matters … I think the choice would be clear for me.”...

ANGELINA Jolie and Brad Pitt could be split on which Democrat to vote for in the US Presidential race - with researchers finding they are each distant relatives of a candidate. Barack Obama is apparently Pitt's distant cousin, while Hillary Clinton is related to Jolie, Madonna, Celine Dion and Alanis Morissette. Meanwhile Republican John McCain is said to be a sixth cousin of first lady Laura Bush. Researchers at the New England Historic Genealogical Society made the connections, the Associated Press reports today. Senator Obama can also call six US presidents, including George W Bush, his cousins, according to the...

This report, from January 2007, is worth reading as we learn more and more of what Jeremiah Wright is all about. It fawns over the principals (Wright, for example, is described as "a straight-talking pragmatist"), but it's illuminating about the regard Obama has for Wright and his views. Did you know, for example, that the Reverand is the inspiration for Obama's memoir The Audacity of Hope — the title is evidently taken from a Wright sermon called "Audacity to Hope." (I didn't until I heard Rush mention it a few minutes ago.) Some excerpts: Wright, 65, is a straight-talking pragmatist...

Former vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro, who is stepping down from Hillary Clinton’s finance team after telling a California newspaper that Barack Obama has been aided politically by his race, said Wednesday evening that the remarks were nothing more than a “statement of fact.” Ferraro told FOX News she’s leaving her unpaid post on the Clinton finance committee because she doesn’t want the flap to become a campaign distraction, but blamed the fallout on Obama’s operatives. “Somebody must have seen this (article) and said, ‘Wow, this is really something — we go after Ferraro, we go after Clinton,” Ferraro said...

HARRISBURG, Pa. -- Hillary Rodham Clinton said Tuesday she disagrees with Geraldine Ferraro, one of her fundraisers and the 1984 Democratic vice presidential candidate, for saying that Barack Obama "would not be in this position" if he were white instead of black. In a brief interview with The Associated Press, Clinton said she regretted Ferraro's remarks. The Obama campaign has called on the New York senator to denounce the comments and remove Ferraro from her unpaid position with the campaign. Last week, Ferraro told the Daily Breeze of Torrance, Calif.: "If Obama was a white man, he would not be...

Watchdog groups are questioning why it took Sen. Barack Obama more than a year to disclose additional details of his dealings with indicted fundraiser Antoin "Tony" Rezko. While Rezko was known to be under federal investigation, Obama toured a Chicago-area home with him to get his opinion of the property, Obama's campaign revealed to Bloomberg News for a story published Monday. The politician later bought the home, with Rezko's help, who bought the adjoining lot in what was effectively a package deal. Until then, Obama has professed trouble recalling such details during interviews with reporters. Responding to questions about Rezko...

His record isn't likely to win back the rural "pro-gun" voters who've fled to the Republicans in recent years, likely costing Gore the election in 2000. From the Chicago Defender, Dec. 13, 1999: Sweeping federal gun control legislation proposed by Sen. Barack Obama (D-13th) would increase the penalties on gun runners who are flooding Chicago's streets with illegal weapons. At an anti-gun rally held at the Park Manor Christian Church, 600 E. 73rd St., headed by the Rev. James Demus, Obama also said he's backing a resolution being introduced into the City Council by Alds. Toni Preckwinkle (4th), Ted Thomas...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - With no clear winner after months of wooing voters, the tight race for the Democratic White House nomination may leave the choice between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama to "super-delegates." The super-delegates are party leaders and lawmakers, including all Democratic members of Congress and former presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, as well as ex-vice president Al Gore. If no candidate has a lock on the 2,025 delegates needed to secure the nomination before the party's convention in August, the 796 "super-delegates" would be decisive. Unlike "pledged" delegates chosen through primaries and caucuses, super-delegates are free to...

Leadership: Newsweek proclaims Obama an "icon of change." But is it a change from victory in Iraq to defeat, from low taxes to high and from prosperity to dependency?"Change" is the operative word in this primary season, and few candidates have been able to complete a sentence without it. Barack Obama may very well change the political landscape if he dispatches Hillary Clinton in the New Hampshire primary. But the kind of policy changes he has in mind for America are not the kind we need. Republican candidate Rudy Giuliani put it in context when he said, "I know there's...

On October 20th, I posted this item at NewsBusters: "Obama: No Hand on Heart for National Anthem," which included a "Time" photo of Barack Obama at Sen. Tom Harkin's steak fry in September. In contrast with the other candidates, Obama was shown not placing his hand over his heart during the playing of the national anthem. A reproduction of the photo is seen here, as displayed on today's "Morning Joe." I believe I may have been the first person in the blogosphere to discuss the story. Fox News made reference to the matter on a couple shows, but to my...

Barack Obama, the Democrat aiming to become America's first black president, has condemned Republican slurs about his background after a leading candidate confused him with Osama bin Laden. In what aides claimed was a slip of the tongue, the former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney accused the Illinois senator of urging terrorists to converge in Iraq — as the al-Qa'eda leader did in a tape released this week. In the midst of criticising Democrats' foreign policy, he said: "Actually, just look at what Osam — uh — Barack Obama, said just yesterday. Barack Obama calling on radicals, jihadists of all different...

Romney slip: another Osama-Obama mix-up By GLEN JOHNSON, Associated Press Writer 9 minutes ago In a slip of the tongue, Republican Mitt Romney accused Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama of urging terrorists to congregate in Iraq. In the midst of criticizing Obama and other Democrats on foreign and economic policy Tuesday, the GOP presidential hopeful said: "Actually, just look at what Osam — Barack Obama — said just yesterday. Barack Obama, calling on radicals, jihadists of all different types, to come together in Iraq. That is the battlefield. ... It's almost as if the Democratic contenders for president are living...