Free Republic

The Bush administration today projected that the budget deficit for FY09 would be $482 billion, more than the record $413 billion deficit recorded for FY04. The figure includes the $151 billion economic stimulus package enacted in February and would total 3.3 percent of gross domestic product. That compares with 3.6 percent in FY04. For FY08, the projected deficit is $389 billion, 2.7 percent of GDP. The projected FY09 deficit is roughly $70 billion more than the $410 billion FY09 deficit estimated in President Bush's budget proposal released in February and about $320 billion more than the $162 billion FY07 estimated...

Supporters of Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul have ramped up plans for a local counterweight to the GOP's national convention in September. Not content with a planned rally at the University of Minnesota's Williams Arena on Sept. 2, the Paul forces now plan a three-day "Rally for the Republic" that will climax in a 10-hour extravaganza at Target Center in Minneapolis. "It's getting exciting," said Marianne Stebbins, a longtime GOP activist who ran the Texas congressman's campaign in Minnesota. "We realized [Williams Arena] wasn't big enough for everything we wanted to do." Although Paul was a long-shot candidate who came...

September's national convention for Republicans won't be a bed of roses for Sen. John McCain. There's at least one impediment to keep him from his party's nomination — a probable fight over the platform. At issue are his stances on such explosive issues as global warming, immigration, stem-cell research and campaign finance. The Washington Post reports that, "Virtually the entire platform will have to be rewritten to lessen the imprint" of President Bush, whose name appears on nearly every page." Although McCain has yet to reveal how he plans to alter the strongly conservative platform, the Post reports that many...

One reason people are unhappy with the way politics and governments operate is that people who run for office are known to “say one thing and do another.” Thus, we have the call for “change.” Candidates for high office make frequent use of that word. Even our House Republican Conference’s recently released slogan highlights that word. Yet, bringing about change is easier said than done. The American people are aware that government is broken and must be fixed. They will demand more than lip service as our problems become more severe. Change, then, cannot simply be a word. It must...

We don't have just two choices Hordes of Democrats and Republicans are unimpressed by their choices for president this year. Many on both sides are willing to crawl across broken glass, this time to avoid voting for their party's candidate. The two major parties, neither one of which are even mentioned in the Constitution, think they have us in a corner where we must vote for either Barack Obama or John McCain, or the other guy will win. But it isn't true; especially in states where it's already a foregone conclusion who will win? Everyone knows McCain will win Texas'...

As the Democratic presidential candidates held pre-primary rallies yesterday in Indiana and North Carolina, and presumptive Republican nominee John McCain spoke to the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce, another major-party presidential candidate continued his own quest for nomination, headlining a "Freedom Rally" on a Fort Wayne, Ind., university campus. Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.) told supporters in early March, through a Web video, that he knew he was no longer in the running for the presidency, and aides said his campaign would be "winding down." But it turns out Paul never stopped running for president.

Last week in Pennsylvania 27% of Republicans voted against John McCain. They voted for Huckabee and Ron Paul, who did not even campaign. In McCain's home state of Arizona, white registered Republicans voted McCain (44%) to Romney (42%). This week McCain condemned the North Carolina GOP for producing an ad that called Barack Obama and his mentor Jeremiah Wright "extreme." It is time to send a clear message to McCain. I urge my fellow Republicans in North Carolina to write-in Rush Limbaugh on May 6.

It was a horrible, shocking, unnerving experience. Reading some of the things Barack Obama's pastor has said, I suddenly saw something with which I completely agree!! He said five days after 9/11: "We bombed Hiroshima, we bombed Nagasaki, and we nuked far more than the thousands in New York and the Pentagon, and we never batted an eye...." His point: Chickens were coming home to roost. I agree. We certainly committed terrorism and murder when we dropped two atomic bombs on open cities in Japan. And, as Ron Paul has said, correctly, re: 9/11: The terrorists were over here because,...

Oil prices have spiked to a record of $117.40 a barrel after a Japanese oil tanker was attacked in the Middle East, off the east coast of Yemen.

"Somebody Blew Up America" By Amiri Baraka Somebody Blew Up America They say its some terrorist, some barbaric A Rab, in Afghanistan It wasn't our American terrorists It wasn't the Klan or the Skin heads Or the them that blows up nigger Churches, or reincarnates us on Death Row It wasn't Trent Lott Or David Duke or Giuliani Or Schundler, Helms retiring It wasn't The gonorrhea in costume The white sheet diseases That have murdered black people Terrorized reason and sanity Most of humanity, as they pleases They say (who say?) Who do the saying Who is them paying Who...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Texans appear poised to favor Republican front-runner Sen. John McCain over either of the Democratic candidates for president in the general election, a CNN/Opinion Research Poll released Thursday shows. Assuming McCain is the Republican presidential nominee, 52 percent of poll respondents said they would vote for him, compared with 44 percent for Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, the current Democratic front-runner. New York Sen. Hillary Clinton fares slightly worse, with 42 percent, compared with 55 percent for McCain. The results are not a surprise, said CNN polling director Keating Holland. "Texas is a pretty red state." However, a...

I am a long-time poster here, but I have to admit that I never gave Ron Paul serious consideration because (1)many of his most vocal supporters are nuts and (2) he can't hold his own in a debate. But looking at the substance of the man, I finally realized his conservatism is almost exactly the same as mine: He is a small government, pro-life, pro-marriage, constitutionalist. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_positions_of_Ron_Paul#Stem-cell_research_regulation If not for his unpopular stance on the futility trying to police the globe, I think he would have had much more support among the GOP's conservative base.There is just no way, now...

<p>With this field of losers, it's no wonder the race for the GOP presidential nomination remains completely up for grabs.</p> <p>The only common bond among the Republicans running is that each one has managed to humiliate himself with disastrous defeats at some point or another.</p>

If George W. Bush were running for president today on his current Mideast policy, he probably would lose the votes of many who have praised him as Israel's best friend ever in the Oval Office. In 2000, right-of-center pro-Israel voters were attracted by his vow to quickly move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, and his determination not to following the footsteps of his father and Bill Clinton into the Mideast peace process swamp. They were delighted when he snubbed Yasser Arafat. He's come a long way since then, and so have those admirers. The trouble is, they've gone in different...

Six candidates to appear at GOP debate By Robert Morris - The Sun News Following the New Hampshire primary, six Republican candidates will attend Thursday night's debate in Myrtle Beach, state party officials said today. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, former Massachussetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee have all accepted their invitations, said Rob Godfrey, spokesman for the state Republican Party. "The stakes couldn't be higher this election, and we couldn't be more excited to...

A damning New Republic expose on Ron Paul shows the “libertarian” Republican candidate to be a racist, a homophobe and an anti-Semite. Will his diehard supporters continue to defend a man who called Martin Luther King a gay pedophile? Daniel Koffler, a former Paul sympathizer, has a compendium of the Texas congressman’s creepiest hits, pulled straight from his decades-old newsletter. by Daniel Koffler James Kirchick of the New Republic has a devastating piece on Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) online today on the TNR website. Kirchick provides a meticulously detailed history of the “Ron Paul Political Report,” a newsletter Paul had...

Ron Paul is the only presidential candidate that treats farmers with dignity as businessmen and as adults. He doesn't rob taxpayers to buy votes of farmers or anyone. I never felt good taking money I didn't earn. I'm better off for it. That is a conservative value. You provide a good or service and get paid for it. However, when money gets taken out of my paycheck, I resent it. And that is a conservative value too. Ron Paul is true to his "Dr. No" moniker with regards to the following positions: No on Ethanol No on Farm Safety Nets...

The conventional wisdom among presidential candidates is that the assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has proved the importance of continued American meddling in that land. Both Republicans and Democrats are rushing to mumble incoherent platitudes before the cameras while several have even proclaimed their next big idea for how Pakistan ought to be run. Democratic candidate Bill Richardson made his first headline in months by proclaiming that President Bush ought to give former General – now just "President" – Pervez Musharraf his pink slip. Most of the rest simply say we should "support democracy" there. This "wisdom"...

Paul Won't Rule Out Run as Independent Ron Paul, the Texas congressman stirring up the Republican presidential contest with his libertarian-leaning views and online fundraising prowess, left the door open Sunday to running as an independent, should he not win the Republican nomination. Paul, who has railed against excessive federal spending, also defended his own earmarks to benefit his congressional district into spending bills, likening them to a "tax credit" for his constituents. He added that his position was consistent because he ultimately voted against the spending measures. And he decried the Civil War, calling it a needless effort for...

Ron Paul wins Aiken Straw Poll by 2 votes over Fred

On Nov. 5, supporters of Ron Paul raked in more than $4.2 million in donations in 24 hours, mostly of them collected over the Internet. Today, they're at it again. Hoping to detonate what they call a "money bomb," the supporters started fundraising at midnight Saturday and have already raised $2 million as of about 10:30 a.m. today, more than at this point on Nov. 5, according to figures they posted online. They hope to collect a total of $10 million by midnight Sunday. Last time, they tied their fundraising to Guy Fawkes Day, which commemorates a British mercenary who...

It seems flabbergastingly improbable that President George W. Bush learned of the National Intelligence Estimate concerning Iranian nuclear ambitions only a few days before the rest of us did, but the haplessness of his demeanor suggested that he might, in fact, have been telling the truth. After all, had the administration known for any appreciable length of time that the mullahs had hit the pause button on their program in late 2003, it would have been in a position to make a claim that is quite probably true, namely, that our overthrow of Saddam Hussein had impressed the Iranians in...

WASHINGTON — If Ron Paul's supporters got together for a family portrait, it would be one of those pictures in which no one seems to resemble anyone else. "You have old-school Republicans, the conservatives who backed Barry Goldwater (in 1964). You have the antiwar crowd who are principled non-interventionists," said Jim Forsythe, a former Air Force major who's organized meet-and-greet sessions in New Hampshire for the Texas congressman and Republican presidential candidate. You also have businessmen tired of government regulation, college students who like his views on holistic medicine and middle-aged folks who don't see Social Security helping them in...

Charleston, WV (HNN) – An updated listing of Republican delegates who registered for the Feb. 5 statewide Charleston convention has been announced by wvgopconvention.com. The new tally adds some of the registrations that came in by mail. At least one additional update is anticipated. Mitt Romney leads the committed delegates with 191 followed by Ron Paul at 177, Fred Thompson 157, Mike Huckabee 126, Rudy Giuliani 89, John McCain 25, Duncan Hunter 7, and Alan Keyes 5. A total of 589 delegates are listed as “uncommitted.” After all of the delegate registrations are processed, an online vote will be conducted...

"On the weekend of October 27, 2007, the Internet was suddenly bombarded with a rash of spam emails promoting U.S. presidential candidate Ron Paul. The spam run continued until Tuesday, October 30, when it stopped as suddenly as it began. At the same time, political blogs began to light up, accusing the campaign (or at least its ardent supporters) of running a criminal botnet for political purposes. We decided to cut through the spin and take a closer look at this botnet to determine its origins and shine some light on who might be responsible." "confirmation that the spammer calling...

He won’t win the nomination. He won’t win any primaries. But for Ron Paul’s quixotic bid for the White House, it’s “Mission Accomplished.” In the past few months, Ron Paul has dramatically raised the profile of libertarianism inside the Republican Party. My small-l libertarian friends seem more comfortable describing themselves as such, even though they’ll go out of their way to disassociate themselves from Ron Paul and the big-L kind. Libertarianism in the GOP took a big hit on 9/11, and it’s slowly coming back, with Ron Paul as the catalyst. Its underlying ideals still have appeal well beyond the...

The Ron Paul Political Report Volume I Number 1 Page 6 GOLD EAGLES AND LEAD BALLOONS Each month I will award Gold Eagles to champions of freedom and Lead Balloons to statists. Please send me your suggestions. A LEAD BALLOON to Jack Kemp (R-NY) and Bob Dole (R-KS) who have introduced legislation to forcibly close the Palestinian Information Office in Washington. They would also ban delegates from the Palestinian Liberation Organization at the United Nations. The authors call this bill an "Anti-Terrorism Act." But what about terrorism that uses government force to suppress free expression in this country?

WASHINGTON (AP) - Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul, aided by an extraordinary outpouring of Internet support Monday, hauled in more than $3.5 million in 20 hours. Paul, the Texas congressman with a Libertarian tilt and an out-of-Iraq pitch, entered heady fundraising territory with a surge of Web-based giving tied to the commemoration of Guy Fawkes Day. Fawkes was a British mercenary who failed in his attempt to kill King James I on Nov. 5, 1605. He also was the model for the protagonist in the movie "V for Vendetta." Paul backers motivated donors on the Internet with mashed-up clips of...

Hearing 'messages' embedded in noise could be early sign of schizophrenia New Haven, Conn.—A tendency to extract messages from meaningless noise could be an early sign of schizophrenia, according to a study by Yale School of Medicine researchers. The study this month in the British Journal of Psychiatry reported on 43 participants diagnosed with “prodromal symptoms”— meaning they exhibited early warning signs of psychosis such as social withdrawal, mild perceptual alterations, or misinterpretation of social cues. Participants in the study were randomly assigned to take the anti-psychotic medication olanzapine or a placebo, and then symptoms and neuropsychological function were assessed...

Josh Green crunches the numbers on Stephen Colbert's presidential run in South Carolina and judges that his best bet is with the Republicans. Who will suffer the most from Colbert's entrance into the race? Drum roll, please: I put Ron Paul in a separate category of "protest candidate," but he should be sweating, too. Paul’s supporters are among the most passionate and committed this cycle. But their profile is similar to that of the voters Colbert might attract. (“Pot smokers,” a Republican consultant called them.) Anonymous presidential advisor: “If Colbert wants to do it he’s got to convert every young,...

Reaction to the Times’ profile of long-shot GOP presidential hopeful Ron Paul was swift Monday. And relentless. It can make for a long day if you’re on the wrong side of the Ron Paul grassroots Internet machine. One e-mailer, in two separate messages, called the author of the story a piece of garbage and a child molester. Their anger is at the way they believe the mainstream media, and the Times in this case, are treating their candidate. “Ron Paul is not a nutcase,� wrote Mike Toles, of Colorado, responding to the comments of a former aide, Eric Dondero. “(Paul)...

Paul shows that Romney is not the only one with a big MANCHESTER, N.H. -- There are five presidential candidates in New Hampshire today, but few will be like a rally for Ron Paul. At a large downtown park in Manchester about 250 people from several states gathered to hear Paul, meet 30 members of his family, and even sing a long to the official campaign song. Mitt Romney's campaign is known for using his large family to aid in the campaingn, but Dr. Paul has five children, 18 grand-children and one great-grandchild of his own. While introducing his father,...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Congress signaled its disapproval of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with a vote Tuesday to tighten sanctions against his government and a call to designate his army a terrorist group. The swift rebuke was a rare display of bipartisan cooperation in a Congress bitterly divided on the Iraq war. It reflected lawmakers' long-standing nervousness about Tehran's intentions in the region, particularly toward Israel—a sentiment fueled by the pro-Israeli lobby whose influence reaches across party lines in Congress. "Iran faces a choice between a very big carrot and a very sharp stick," said Rep. Tom Lantos, chairman of the...

When Americans evaluate today's political landscape, most feel something between impotence and disapproval. So, while citizens shake their heads or shrug at the mainstream media's “top tier” presidential candidates, it is extraordinary how many are becoming overjoyed about one lesser covered candidate. Tens-of-thousands have joined the appropriately named Ron Paul Revolution, joining Meetup.com groups, putting up signs, and crossing states to attend rallies. Congressman Ron Paul's genuine message and untarnished record of promoting individual liberty for everyone, a free-market economy of wealth and abundance, and a foreign policy of non-intervention, peace and free trade, has attracted vast support from diverse...

The Legal Newswire - It is obvious that, after seeing the Fox News Debates on Sept. 5th, 2007, the mainstream media and GOP see Ron Paul as enough of a threat to stop ignoring him, and to start ridiculing him. From using a split screen to show Giuliani smirking as Ron Paul answers his questions, to the background chuckles as he is asked questions, Ron Paul has apparently become the butt of an inside joke. However, with a 33% win in the post-debate poll, it is Ron Paul who should be laughing. Of course, Sean Hannity could not resist making...

At a quick campaign stop at a Texas airport this morning, candidate-in-waiting Fred Thompson faced harassment from a young woman who was vocally displeased with the senator's conservative credentials. Her beef? Thompson's membership in the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonpartisan think-tank known as an influential heavyweight on US policy making. The disgruntled woman worked her way into a reporter scrum and peppered Thompson with questions about his membership in CFR, which she derided as "the same group that's forming the North American Union with Canada and Mexico." Thompson, chuckling, replied: "Don't fuss at me, now," and went on to...

He hasn't yet entered the Presidential race, and yet Fred Thompson, yesterday, showed us why he's the scariest Republican Presidential candidate. And maybe the scariest of both parties. Don't believe Thompson's claim that he understands the Islamist jihadist threat to America. His announcement, yesterday, of his choice of Spencer Abraham as campaign manager, told us everything we need to know. Although Abraham, of Lebanese descent, is a Maronite Christian, he is a career water carrier for Islamists of the most extremist stripe and made that the cornerstone of his failed, one-term Senate career and equally lousy tenure as Energy Secretary....

HOUSTON, Texas (CNN) – A woman screaming “you’re not a real conservative, sir” was removed by police from a welcoming reception for likely GOP presidential candidate Fred Thompson Wednesday morning. A second protester was also taken from the room. Houston police officers escorted the woman — as well as a man — from the hangar at Hobby Airport, where Thompson was shaking hands with a crowd of supporters. They were not arrested. The woman questioned Thompson as he talked to reporters. She asked him why he was a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and noted that the organization...

A troll has been spotted on a number of blogs and forums, going by the name of Jim Robinson....

The only reason anyone would watch tonight’s Democratic presidential debate from Charleston is to see what kind of antics crazy old “Mad Mike” Gravel will pull. Let’s be honest, the guy not only makes us feel good about being Republican, but he makes us feel good about not being senile. High five! So, because the debate is sponsored by YouTube - and because YouTube is the only reason we can even pick Gravel out of a lineup - we decided to count down his five best YouTube moments. We wanted to do 10, but then we got bored and moved...

NAFTA Superhighway Has Giuliani As Key Player Submitted by admin on Tue, 2007-06-26 20:28.A NAFTA superhighway extends North through Texas into Oklahoma and Colorado, and it's a four lane huge superhighway.On March 23, 2005, U.S. President George W. Bush, former Canadian Prime Minister, Paul Martin and former Mexican President, Vicente Fox, authorized the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP), now under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Commerce. Most Americans have little to no knowledge of this seemingly innocuous sounding unofficial treaty and therefore believe there is little reason to be alarmed.However, what could be misinterpreted as legislation which has...

NEW YORK A feature piece in this coming Sunday's New York Times Magazine on Republican candidate for president, Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, portrays his followers as including a wild mix of "wackos" on both ends of the political spectrum. Paul, a libertarian, has been gaining media and public attention of late. The cover line reads: "A Genuine Radical for President." The headline inside: "The Antiwar, Anti-Abortion, Anti-Drug-Enforcement-Administration, Anti-medicare Candidacy of Dr. Ron Paul." The article closes with the author, Christopher Caldwell, attending a Ron Paul Meetup in Pasadena. The co-host, Connie Ruffley of United Republicans of California, admits she...

A feature piece in this coming Sunday's New York Times Magazine on Republican candidate for president, Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, portrays his followers as including a wild mix of "wackos" on both ends of the political spectrum. Paul, a libertarian, has been gaining media and public attention of late. The cover line reads: "A Genuine Radical for President." The headline inside: "The Antiwar, Anti-Abortion, Anti-Drug-Enforcement-Administration, Anti-medicare Candidacy of Dr. Ron Paul." The article closes with the author, Christopher Caldwell, attending a Ron Paul Meetup in Pasadena. The co-host, Connie Ruffley of United Republicans of California, admits she once was...

Hey stop f@!#ing deleting and banning Republicans who are for Ron Paul you piece of garbage. Just because we disagree with neocons on some issues doesn’t mean you should ban us! You act like some f@!#ing Communist who stifles all dissenting opinions. If you and your goons weren’t going around banning all who disagree with Fred Thompson’s fat ugly evil looking ass you would see Ron Paul Republicans all over your neocon front website. Ron Paul Republicans would destroy your neocon minions easily if we weren’t constantly banned you filth. You did the same bull s!@t to Pat Buchanan supporters....

It comes right down to freedom. They want to go back to small government. Not smaller government. Small government as it was originally intended. And that is what really unites most of our support. The word ‘freedom’ is a short-hand way of explaining Paul’s platform. Paul supports a drastically reduced federal government- the elimination of the IRS, he believes state’s should be left to regulate abortion and marriage policies. He questions many international organizations and agreements, such as the World Trade Organization, NAFTA and the country’s membership to the United Nations.

Seventy House members, nearly all liberal Democrats, vowed today that they would not support any more funding for Iraq military operations unless tied to a complete withdrawal of combat troops. This is a big development. Earlier this year, liberals grudgingly voted for Iraq funding bills because they didn't want to give Nancy Pelosi a defeat. Now it seems that their patience has run out. The next Iraq funding bill won't come up until the fall, so this showdown won't happen for a few months, but it appears to be shaping up as an epic battle between liberals in Congress and...