Free Republic

Kweisi Mfume recently announced his departure as NAACP President, and not a moment too soon. His tenure has been a disaster for the storied civil rights organization, driving it deeper into liberal irrelevance. But that doesn't mean it still shouldn't be defended against the current IRS probe of its tax-exempt status. Back in October the NAACP was informed that it may have violated a law that prohibits charities, churches and other nonprofits from engaging in partisan activities. Under Mr. Mfume and chairman Julian Bond, the group has accused President Bush of being at war with black America; compared Republicans to...

The nation's new poet laureate, Ted Kooser, drove without a second thought across the red-blue fissure of the elections - two days on the road from his Nebraska home to his splendid aerie by the copper dome of the Library of Congress. He listened to Bach, not Limbaugh, as he crossed the Appalachian Mountains and headed down into this politics-crazed place, arriving as an aberration: an American filled with notions apart from partisanship. "This is really an apolitical position, and I think it ought to stay that way," Mr. Kooser laconically ruled, disappointing anyone who thought that as the nation's...

Major media needs resuscitation. Entrenched in political partisanship, left-wing big media is failing to tell many of the stories of our day. Too often, wittingly or otherwise, journalists miss important stories that will educate and inspire. Digging to find real stories takes work. Today, the preferred method of reporting is something akin to tabloid journalism — day after day, hawking rumors and gossip and spotlighting bungled lines in political speeches. This is the easy way to get words on a paper or to fill airtime, but the RatherGate scandal illustrates that this type of journalism polarizes and does not advance...

Try to catch this roundtable. Man, Maher is so smug and ignorant. Ashleigh Banfield is showing her dimness and John O'Neill came off as much more knowledgable than Maher. Tune in and comment

I have a message for the NAACP's Julian Bond and Kweisi Mfume, who have accused black conservatives of being the "puppets" of white people, unable to think for ourselves: You do not own, and you are not the arbiters of, African-American authenticity. I am a lifelong member of the NAACP. I have a great respect for the organization. Its historical leaders, all visionary thinkers, have been responsible for helping to advance the struggle of African-Americans over the past century, making our nation a more equitable and race-blind society. Sadly, the current NAACP leadership has managed to take a proud, effective...

Kerry supporters stress economy, Bush supporters, terrorismPRINCETON, NJ -- A recent Gallup survey finds three problems dominating Americans' concerns -- the economy, the war in Iraq, and terrorism. Concerns about moral decline are also important to a limited number of Americans. The poll also finds that the relative importance of these issues varies considerably by whether one supports Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry or President George W. Bush in the presidential contest. Kerry supporters are much more concerned about the economy and the war in Iraq, while Bush supporters are much more concerned about terrorism and moral decline in America.The poll,...

Documentary film-maker Michael Moore won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival for Fahrenheit 911, not because the awards jury wanted to endorse his politics, but because it was "the best film at the festival" according to festival jurist Quentin Tarantino. Never mind that Moore immediately said he hoped his film "would affect the outcome of the 2004 election." We are still supposed to believe that the film was judged on its artistic merits, and nothing else. Add this to some other remarkable facts that we are supposed to believe about the "non-partisan" nature of other efforts to enlighten...

“Oh my, Caesar, wasn’t that the Rubicon we just crossed?” Call it a paradigm shift, a worldview revolution or a sea change but today’s America is a totally different creature from the America of yesterday. All of the changes – political, social, economic, global -- are interconnected and they are most likely irreversible. These paradigm shifts were 20-50 years in the making, driven largely by elitest academics, and easy for any sober prophet to predict -- but it is breathtaking to see it all finally arrive at last. Indeed the years 2000 to 2003 will most likely be remembered by...

I‘D TRADE a Bush defeat for an Iraq victory any day. I say this because not a day goes by without me receiving a barrage of e-mail from readers asserting that I’m — just like everyone else on the right — allowing my “partisanship” for Bush to color my views on the war, the media, my dog, my reason to live, whatever. The truth is more like the other way around: Right now, I support Bush because I am such a partisan for winning in Iraq. Of course, I would support Bush over Kerry even if we weren’t at war,...

Several Senate Intelligence Committee Democrats favor creating two separate partisan staffs on the panel so that Democrats can control half of its resources, according to sources. Some aides say the proposal, if implemented, could lead to enhanced oversight of the Intelligence community, which historically has had close — some say excessively close — ties with the unified, nonpartisan staff in the Senate. But intelligence matters are so sensitive this election year that no Democrats are claiming ownership of the idea, although it has been a topic of discussion among senators and staff. Democratic senators raised the issue at a recent...

PLAYING POLITICS WITH IRAQ -- (Senate - April 29, 2004) [Page: S4671] GPO's PDF --- Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, as President pro tempore and presiding over the Senate, I have found the overheated rhetoric on Iraq over the last few days at best disappointing and at worst misleading, harshly partisan, and motivated by election year politics. I have simply had enough of this. I have come to the floor to ask my Senate colleagues to restore the level of debate that this institution demands. I urge the Senate to not play politics with Iraq. Do not seek to gain some...

<p>Your editorial exposing the 9/11 commission as a sham was right on the money ("National Disgrace," April 14). Early on, the commission was hijacked by the partisan Democratic members to be used to attack President Bush. The only reason for having Condoleezza Rice repeat her testimony in public and to release the presidential daily briefing was to get that information to the liberal media so it could be misrepresented for political purposes. And don't forget that the commission's report is set to be released to coincide with the start of the Democratic national convention in Boston. William Dillon Brick, N.J.</p>

WASHINGTON - Members of the 9/11 commission were warned this week to avoid partisan attacks when the nation's top intelligence and law enforcement officials testified, sources told the Daily News. Fears that the perception of partisanship could harm the credibility of the commission's ultimate findings compelled Republican Thomas Kean, the chairman, and Democrat Lee Hamilton, the vice chairman, to tell their colleagues to cool it. "This is seriously hurting us," fretted a commission source. Kean's scolding came the day before Attorney General John Ashcroft, former FBI Director Louis Freeh and former Attorney General Janet Reno testified. A week earlier,...

<p>April 14, 2004 -- The national 9/11 commission has been hijacked by political shills -- men and women eager to subordinate truth to partisan advantage; who hold a transitory victory on Election Day more dear than American victory in the war on terror.</p>

<p>When politicians see television cameras, even the most reasonable and responsible among them become more than willing to sink the ship of our nation with the inflammatory rhetoric spewing from their loose lips. The 9-11 Commission has done nothing to further the prevention of terrorism, but has been a dirty political blame game that must have been very entertaining for Osama bin Laden (assuming he has access to television in the hole he is cowering in). The public hearings have been a dangerous farce, eroding the confidence of some and exposing our divisions to those who wish us ill.</p>

State Senator Ray Jones' months-long personal attacks against the Governor, the Senate President, the Senate President's wife, and anyone who disagrees with him are a case-study in the failed policies of the left-wing of the Democratic Party. Senator Jones invokes insidious words like 'blackmail' and 'extortion', as well as threats of legal reprisal against all those who oppose him. Desperate to re-elect himself and advance his political career, Mr. Jones throws one tantrum of name-calling after another in the press and on the Senate floor against those who are putting partisan differences aside and forging a bipartisan approach to solving...

Your partisan behavior at the 9-11 Commission is a grave disgrace to all citizens of the United States. Rather than turn this into a Soviet style show trial, YOUR group, of all people, should be demanding clear honest answers from ALL parties. You are not doing that. Instead, out of PURE partisan political bigotry, you are engaging in a transparent smear attack on President Bush. Your posturing as a "non-partisan" group fools NO ONE. Your clapping and carrying on during the hearings shows clearly that you are MORE intrested in a partisan witch hunt then real answers. I wll be...

Investigative Report Democrats Subvert War Intelligence Posted Dec. 22, 2003 By J. Michael Waller Mellon, above, is using his position as Democrat staff chief on the Senate intelligence panel to undermine the leadership of Rumsfeld, Feith and Bolton. It's one of the unsolved political mysteries of 2003: Exactly who drew up the plan for Democrats to abuse the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) as a stealth weapon to undermine and discredit President George W. Bush and the U.S. war effort in Iraq? The plot, authored by aides to Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), vice chairman of the committee, has poisoned...

<p>Howard Dean's campaign promise: More partisanship.</p> <p>Tuesday, December 23, 2003 12:01 a.m.</p> <p>Say what you will about how he has governed, but George W. Bush didn't win his party's nomination nor the White House by promising bitter political fighting. From at least the release of his autobiography, "A Charge to Keep," in November 1999, he promised to change the "tone of the national discourse" by working with Democrats. And as Time magazine reported a year later, that message was still the "essence" of Mr. Bush's campaign as Election Day 2000 approached.</p>

WASHINGTON (Talon News) -- Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee's subcommittee on the Constitution took to the Senate floor Tuesday to criticize his Democrat colleagues over the content of leaked memos regarding President Bush's judicial nominees. Cornyn recalled an April 2003 letter that all 10 freshmen senators wrote to the leadership asking for a fresh start in the judicial nomination process. Cornyn warned, "Any tactic or strategy used by a partisan minority now to obstruct President Bush's nominees, if successful, if allowed to proceed, will no doubt be sought to be used in the event a...