Free Republic

Obama preached to his flock yesterday and what he said would surprise many people with a little knowledge of history (a class Obama clearly flunked). He said that the Soviet Union collapsed because we negotiated with them.....stop laughing, let me finish.....and that Iran really isn't that big of a threat: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ew5qP2oPdtQOk, history lesson. The USSR collapsed because their economy collapsed. That collapsed because they tried to keep up with Reagan and the defense build up along with the "star wars" program. Then he goes on to say Iran and the US have common interests? Is he freakin insane? We neither...

WILL: I was at the Truman library in Independence, Mo., last week, and was looking at a black-and-white photograph of Harry Truman giving a speech in a stadium in Los Angeles during the '48 campaign. Seated next to the lectern, right next to Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart, is a man who had introduced Truman, and it was a 37-year-old Ronald Reagan. That was probably the last time he voted for a Democrat. And so Sean's right, he was the first Reagan Democrat, but what really made Reagan Democrats were Democratic policies. One of the worst things that ever happened...

SDI: A destroyed satellite attests to the prowess of U.S. technology and our ability to defend ourselves. Democrats said it wouldn't work. Adversaries say it's provocative. Somewhere Ronald Reagan must be smilingRarely is military technology put to so public a test with so much riding on its success or failure. With the whole world watching, a modified Standard Missile-3 was launched Wednesday night from a Navy cruiser in the North Pacific, its target a spy satellite in a decaying orbit headed to Earth full of hazardous hydrazine fuel. Deputy National Security Adviser James Jeffrey discounted any comparison with an anti-satellite...

Stalin (and his ilk) were constantly scrubbing history to fit their agenda. It is said, in fact, that in the USSR, the future was known...it was the past that was always changing. Today's American left are driven by the same impulse, and will use whatever means at their disposal to do the same thing. Fortunately, American liberty prevents them from getting away with as much as Stalin could...though if they had the power afforded them by the totalitarian system to which their core ideology is always slouching, they surely would. Using the three pillars of information dissemination—academia, entertainment, and the...

In 1984 a book was published with the title New Lies For Old. It was written by Soviet KGB defector Anatoly Golitsyn. The book claimed that the Soviet Union had a secret long-term strategy to disarm and defeat the United States through a controlled collapse of the Soviet empire that would take place in the last decade of the twentieth century. In the book's most remarkable chapter, titled "The Final Phase," Golitsyn accurately described the future of the Soviet bloc. Communism would give up its monopoly of power in Russia, he explained, as apparent freedom and democracy would be introduced....

Former Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.) may be violating Federal Election Commission (FEC) laws by failing to report funds raised in the second quarter, which ends tomorrow — giving his probable presidential campaign a one-month fundraising advantage over his rivals in the third quarter. Republican or Democratic rivals could file a complaint against Thompson if he enters the 2008 presidential race and it becomes apparent that he spent the month of June campaigning rather than wrestling with the decision to run. Thompson is operating under the “testing the waters” clause of FEC laws, allowing him to raise money, travel and conduct...

Jeff Miller is a friend of Fred. Florida’s First District congressman couldn’t wait for former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson to officially enter the presidential race to declare his allegiance. Thompson has formed a committee to explore his options and is expected to state his intention to seek the presidency sometime in July. Miller, R-Chumuckla, sent a letter to supporters June 20 backing the Republican from Tennessee. “Now that he has established his exploratory committee and a decision to run appears imminent, I want to make my endorsement of Senator Thompson for President official,” Miller said. In the letter, Miller calls...

After John East, a stalwart conservative from North Carolina, entered the U.S. Senate in 1981, wags began referring to Jesse Helms as "the liberal senator from the Tar Heel state." We are reminded of this tale as Republican activists rush to encourage, if not yet fully embrace, the presidential candidacy of Fred Thompson, the former senator from Tennessee. The Republican base is evidently unimpressed or uninspired (or both) by the conservative credentials of the top three Republicans (John McCain, Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani) seeking the 2008 presidential nomination. Mr. Thompson's most-oft-cited conservative credential is his 86.1 percent lifetime (1995-2002)...

SPRINGFIELD — He hasn’t announced if he’s running for the presidency yet but that isn’t stopping a group of Illinois Republicans from backing former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson for the job. Members of Illinois Citizens to Draft Fred Thompson gathered in the Capitol on Friday said they expect the deep-voiced Tennessean to announce for the presidency soon and when he does they want the campaign off to a quick start. To help their cause they have begun urging Illinoisans to go online and register as a Thompson supporter at the group’s website. Former head of the Illinois Republican Party, Donald...

The Speech That Brought Down a Wall Monday, Jun. 11, 2007 By ROMESH RATNESAR The four most famous words of Ronald Reagan's Presidency almost were never uttered. Twenty years ago, on the morning of June 12, 1987, Reagan arrived in Berlin, on the occasion of the city's 750th birthday. He was scheduled to speak on the Western side of the Brandenburg Gate, for years the city's symbolic dividing line. His speechwriters had drafted an address intended as much for Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, with whom Reagan was forging a close relationship, as for the 20,000 people who gathered to hear...

Twenty years ago today Ronald Reagan stood in front of the Berlin Wall at the Brandenburg Gate and gave the speech heard 'round the world. Our friend Peter Robinson was the man who wrote the speech. He tells the story behind the speech in his terrific book How Ronald Reagan Changed My Life. Peter has kindly condensed his account for Power Line readers today: In April 1987, when I was assigned to write the Brandenburg Gate address, I spent a day in Berlin with the White House advance team, the logistical experts, Secret Service agents, and press officials who went...

Supporters of Fred Thompson are seeking to raise $4.6 million to help launch the former senator and "Law & Order” star’s expected run for president in 2008. A group called the First-Day Founders got the ball rolling when all 100 members each donated the primary maximum of $2,300 on June 1, the day Thompson’s exploratory committee filed with the Tennessee secretary of state, allowing the committee to begin fundraising. If the First-Day Founders come through with their fundraising efforts, "Thompson presumably would start off with $4.6 million in ‘seed money,’” The Hill newspaper reported. "Speculation has been rampant as of...

Twenty years ago this very day, President Ronald Reagan destroyed the Soviet Union. On the morning of October 12, 1986, it seemed as if the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. were on the brink of sweeping reductions in their nuclear arsenal. President Reagan's refusal to abandon SDI caused the talks to collapse. This locked the Soviets into continuing an arms race that they could not afford, could not win, and could not abandon, dooming their empire to eventual collapse. The results of the SDI program President Reagan refused to abandon could well save our lives from North Korean aggression.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has a suggestion for those who still doubt we should be building a missile defense system. In my interview with him last Thursday, Mr. Rumsfeld said, "All anyone has to do is read the words of the leadership in [North] Korea and Iran, and look to their behavior with respect to the development of ballistic missile technologies and nuclear capability." Even for those of us who have been supporters of missile defense since President Reagan announced it in 1986, Mr. Rumsfeld's mild admonition is good advice. Examining Mr. Rumsfeld's examples -- Kim Jong-il's North Korea and...

The great American consumer has been written off so many times in the last couple of years, just like the rest of the economy. But he/she is alive and kicking. Another great story never told. Retail sales came in at 1.4 percent for July, way above Wall Street expectations, while core sales excluding autos, gas, and building materials — a number that feeds directly into GDP — increased 0.6 percent. Over the past 3 months core sales rose 6.7 percent at annual rate, and in the past year they’re up 7.4 percent. Excluding autos alone, sales have gained 9.2 percent...

I remember 1989 and 2001. I remember how in 2001 Bill Clinton was scrambling around like some great booby trying to find his legacy. Ronald Reagan, a humble man, let his legacy speak for itself in 1989. That year the Berlin Wall came down and Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, East Germany and Romania tasted freedom after decades of bitter Soviet occupation. After the better part of a year trying to convince us how great he was for us, we still only remembered Bill Clinton for his romp with Monica Lewinsky. One might argue that that was all he deserved to be...

What the new literature on the Gipper won't tell you. Over the past several months, Nancy Reagan has quietly been alerting friends and family that the health of her husband Ronald Reagan, the nation's 40th president, is failing rapidly due to Alzheimer's. Reagan will turn 92 on Feb. 6, and the signs seem to suggest that he won't be with us for very much longer. It is not uncommon, when such circumstances involve a national figure, for the media to prepare tributes and obituaries in anticipation of the event. But in the case of Ronald Reagan, the magnitude of this...

As Washington insiders pore over the latest low job-approval ratings for George W. Bush, and as aficionados of British politics ponder the latest low ratings of Tony Blair, let's take a longer look at the political ebb and flow in America and Britain over the last quarter century or so. There is a certain parallelism.In the late 1970s, both countries experienced something like collapse -- a collapse of the Keynesian economics dominant in the post-World War II years, a collapse of the accommodationist foreign policy prevailing since the setback in Vietnam.From that collapse arose two improbable leaders on the political...

Last week, I published a new book, "Impostor: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy." A lot of my friends are not happy with me for writing it, and I have been embraced by a number of people on the left whom I would ordinarily consider my political enemies. Both are mistaken about why I wrote the book and what I hope to accomplish with it.Some of my former friends on the right have attacked me as an opportunist who sold out his party and his president to get a best-seller. They would not think so...

In this war freedom should come first not after! In New Hampshire the Motto is Live free or Die! I don't need Bush spying on law abiding americans and taking our freedoms. Anyone who surrenders a square inch of freedom to the government in the name of saftey is a traitor and should be treated like one! Let the Bush Fashists all drop dead! Filthy Commys! LET FREEDOM RING!

He would have turned 95 on Feb. 6 – the most recent former president to die and likely the most popular and inspiring chief executive of the 20th century. Ronald Reagan – known as unflappably pro-defense yet able to forge friendships with his adversaries. Staunchly partisan and loyal to the Republican Party yet deft at crafting compromise with Democratic lawmakers to move his agenda forward. A tax cutter who presided over a significant expansion in revenues to the federal government. Though Reagan's legacy includes accomplishments in all areas of public policy, it is his success in toppling the "Evil Empire"...

WASHINGTON — Twenty-five years ago, President Reagan came to Washington with bold plans to move the Supreme Court to the right. He and his lawyers wanted a high court that would uphold state laws that impose the death penalty, restrict abortion and allow a greater role for religion in public life. They favored property rights over environmental regulation, states' rights over broad federal authority and executive power over Congress and the federal courts. Now, with the Senate about to confirm Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr., a second generation of Reagan disciples stands ready to fulfill the former president's vision for...

Last February, as rumors swirled about the failing health of Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, a team of conservative grass-roots organizers, public relations specialists and legal strategists met to prepare a battle plan to ensure any vacancies were filled by like-minded jurists. The team recruited conservative lawyers to study the records of 18 potential nominees — including Judges John G. Roberts Jr. and Samuel A. Alito Jr. — and trained more than three dozen lawyers across the country to respond to news reports on the president's eventual pick. "We boxed them in," one lawyer present during the strategy meetings said...

I have distinct recollections of that historic day January 20, 1981. First was the setting. I recall that it was a cold, crisp, though not frigid day, certainly nothing like the snowstorm that paralyzed the city during JFK’s inauguration or the frigid conditions just four years later that required Reagan’s second inaugural to be moved indoors. This inaugural was the first to be held on the West side of the Capitol facing out over the entire mall -- a symbol of the rise of the Western US that was Reagan’s electoral base and of the Western Pacific Region and the...

Ronald Reagan ran for President to change America. In the end, he changed the world. Today, on the 25th Anniversary of his Inauguration, we should remember his legacy and remind ourselves that what brings Republicans together is far stronger than what pulls us apart. When we are the party of ideas, we win because our ideas are better. As Republicans, we believe in a smaller, more efficient federal government, returning power to the states, lower taxes, and individual freedom. None of these beliefs is shared by our Democrat colleagues, who continue to rely on old-fashioned, big government solutions to every...

Ohio’s Republican gubernatorial front-runner Ken Blackwell is “Jesse Jackson’s worst nightmare.” Ken Blackwell has just finished regaling a group of Ohio retailers with his vision of how to turn around the state’s struggling economy with a heavy dose of fiscal restraint and tax cuts. The crowd, accustomed to Republicans who tax and spend as furiously as Democrats, is rapt. But as Blackwell works the room afterward, on a warm fall afternoon in Columbus, one well-dressed woman stops him to outline her concerns. “I like your ideas on taxes,” she tells the former college football star, who at 6 foot 5...

During the Reagan campaign of 1980 one felt part of movement or “revolution” that was going to change not only the nation but perhaps the world. Then “Governor” Reagan’s vision was clear and concise and left little room for doubt... America must shrink the size of the federal government, reduce regulations on business, and cut taxes “across the board” for all Americans. In other words, Reagan instinctively knew that -- given the tools -- the American entrepreneur would lead the country back to prosperity and out of double-digit inflation and double-digit interest rates. Reagan also understood that communism’s worldwide influence...

Speech to the House of Commons Ronald ReaganJune 8, 1982"The Evil Empire" We’re approaching the end of a bloody century plagued by a terrible political invention — totalitarianism. Optimism comes less easily today, not because democracy is less vigorous, but because democracy’s enemies have refined their instruments of repression. Yet optimism is in order because day by day democracy is proving itself to be a not at all fragile flower. From Stettin on the Baltic to Varna on the Black Sea, the regimes planted by totalitarianism have had more than thirty years to establish their legitimacy. But none —...

“Both major parties have been around so long that they exude the seedy, unmistakable odor of entrenched and callous old age. But in the eye (or nose) of public opinion ... the GOP unquestionably forged into a commanding lead in this unhappy respect.” Sounds familiar, right? Except this observation of the Republican Party was penned in 1975 by National Review editor and revolutionary thinker William Rusher in his critically acclaimed book, “The Making of the New Majority Party.” In the wake of Watergate and the unprecedented resignations of Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew and after Nixon’s successor, Gerald Ford, continued...

Broadcast excellence continues after an Operational Pause. Go get 'em, Rush!

CHEYENNE - The Peacekeeper nuclear missile, credited by some with helping with the demise of the Soviet Union and winning the Cold War, is to be officially deactivated. F.E. Warren Air Force Base here oversaw the only squadron of 50 Peacekeepers deployed in the United States. Each 71-foot-tall, 8-foot-diameter missile, deployed in the 1980s, carried 10 warheads. Almost 15 years after the end of the Soviet Union and the Cold War, the last Peacekeeper, also known as the MX, has been removed from its hardened silo. A ceremony was scheduled Monday at F.E. Warren to mark the deactivation of the...

Trade: The House's cliffhanger 217-215 passage of the Central America Free Trade Agreement is a decisive victory for free markets and democracy. It's also Ronald Reagan's final triumph. This victory is President Reagan's legacy. Because CAFTA, by slashing duties and giving free markets a boost, makes Reagan's Caribbean Basin Initiative permanent. As such, CAFTA creates a vast permanent bulwark against totalitarianism that will benefit the U.S. and its southern neighbors. Central America now has a bright future based on the one thing that makes democracies strong and nations viable — free markets. Reagan knew that in the struggle against tyranny,...

Reagan is the greatest American!

It’s been one year since the death of Ronald Reagan, whose standing as a president grows steadily. He is now ranked as a “great” or “near-great” president in most public polls, although the reaction among political historians and commentators remains somewhat mixed -- perhaps because first judgments are not easily set aside. The number of experts who in 1980 dismissed Reagan as too old, too dumb and too conservative to be president is legion. Some remain skeptical. Anthony S. Campagna, a professor of economics at the University of Vermont, says flatly that Reaganomics failed, leaving “many more serious problems to...

THERE ARE AT LEAST THREE major cycles to the historical process of judging presidents. There is the initial summation upon leaving office. Then there is a reappraisal period, when we start to recall the unappreciated virtues of these men, and when previously secret documents and circumstances shed new light on a president's designs and actions. And finally there is revisionism, which has epicycles of its own.Modern presidents usually fare poorly in the initial summation upon leaving office: Harry Truman was unpopular, Dwight Eisenhower was a dunce, Lyndon Johnson, Jimmy Carter, and George H.W. Bush were failures, while Richard Nixon and...

After forming a close alliance with Pope John Paul II, Ronald Reagan was prepared to go to war with Russia to stop a planned invasion of Poland, one of Reagan's top advisers tells NewsMax Magazine. Judge William P. Clark, President Reagan's National Security Adviser (1982-1983), revealed just how close the world came to the brink of war and possible Armageddon in the early 1980s. Clark made his revelations in NewsMax Magazine's latest edition "The Pope's Final Battle in These End Times." After Archbishop Karol Wojtyla's rise to the papacy in 1978, he soon ignited a prairie fire for freedom in...

April 04, 2005, Freedom's Men The Cold War team of Pope John Paul II and Ronald Reagan. By Mark Riebling Though Pope John Paul II and Ronald Reagan will be remembered as the pope and the president who defeated Communism, the exact nature of their relationship has remained elusive. Some journalists have posited a "holy alliance" between the two, with the CIA briefing the pope each Friday. Others, like George Weigel writing in National Review, have argued that "there was neither alliance nor conspiracy [but] a common purpose born of a set of shared convictions." Which view is more correct?...

Lebanese Defy Protest Ban as Debate on Hariri Rages Mon Feb 28, 2005 08:31 AM ET By Lucy Fielder BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon's Syrian-backed government came under fire in parliament Monday over the assassination of ex-premier Rafik al-Hariri, while streets away thousands defied a protest ban to demand it stand down. The debate, which looked certain to roll on to Tuesday, was expected to close with a no-confidence vote. But the government has a sound majority and was expected to win. Banks, schools and businesses closed in a general strike the opposition called to coincide with the debate on Hariri's...

Ronald Reagan's Legacy - Top Ten points for Parents, Families and Schools By Kevin Fobbs August 12, 2004 In less than a month young school children all across America will be returning to their classrooms and the shadows of their summer vacation will slowly evaporate into distant memories. In this summer we lost a great president, in Ronald Reagan and it is important for both school students, parents and teachers to not only remember the legacy of this man, but more importantly, with the coming school year, to tell and teach the truth of the impact he had on this...

Meat Increases the Risk of Alzheimer’s Disease “Extensive evidence points to the rich Western diet as the fundamental cause of Alzheimer’s disease: … Worldwide, the incidence of AD [Alzheimer’s disease] is more common among people who follow meat- and dairy-centered diets, than among those people who eat a more plant-based diet.” —Dr. John McDougall, McDougall Wellness Center Indeed, a flood of research shows that the toxins in meat, including chicken and fish, increase your risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, while the antioxidants in vegetables help prevent this deadly disease. Click here to learn more. In the wake of former President...

"If Walter Cronkite was around today," USA Today founder Al Neuharth proclaimed in a speech in South Dakota last week, "I think John Kerry would be President" because of "the trust the people in Middle America had in Cronkite, when he returned from Vietnam opposed to the war, public opposition soon followed." As recounted by the Daily Republic in Mitchell, South Dakota, in addition to boasting of the influence of Cronkite's bias, Neuharth "said he thought if McGovern had won the presidency in 1972, U.S. troops would have pulled out from Vietnam a lot sooner with a lot fewer casualties,...

The Soviet Union might still exist and Saddam Hussein might control the Persian Gulf and possess nuclear weapons had Democrat John Kerry been president when the United States faced those regimes, Vice President Dick Cheney said Saturday. "I think it's a good thing that he wasn't in charge," Cheney said. Kerry asserted Friday that had he been president during the war in Afghanistan, terrorist leader Osama bin Laden would be in captivity or dead. The Democratic nominee has long criticized President Bush for abandoning the pursuit of the alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks so that U.S....

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - The military plans to place a sixth ballistic missile interceptor inside a silo at Fort Greely by the end of the month, as initial tests of a national defense system critics contend is highly flawed near their conclusion. To prepare for activation, the military is conducting exercises at the Interior Alaska post, where five of the 55-foot-long rockets have been installed since July, as an essential component of the Bush administration's national security policy. The first two interceptors destined for Vandenberg Air Force Base in California will go into existing silos in November, with two more scheduled...

Much of the feedback that I have had concerning this series has been focused on the idea that the Republican Party has not drifted away from its foundation, but rather has abandoned its core principles effectively becoming a big government socialistic party like the Democrats with the major distinction between the two being only how big and how quick. Against that back drop, most of the people who support a movement to restore the Constitutional limits on government have suggested to me that they believe the only way to overcome existing Republican opposition to such a move would be by...

The southern Polish city of Krakow decided Wednesday to name a square after former President Ronald Reagan in recognition of his role in ending communist rule. Krakow councilors voted 19-17 to give the name "Ronald Reagan Square" to the main square in Nowa Huta, a communist-era development built around a major steel plant. Currently called Central Square, it was the scene of numerous protests by workers in communist times. Reagan, who died at age 93 on June 5, is fondly remembered in Poland for his support of the anti-communist Solidarity movement during the period of martial law, imposed by Poland's...

For an explanation of President Bush's enduring popularity, consider the horrible images from North Ossetia. Faced with men who can do such things, voters naturally prefer the President's religious certainties to his critics' sophistry. This is worth pointing out because, for many Britons, Mr Bush's standing must be utterly bewildering. If your chief source of news were the BBC, it would be incomprehensible that such a dolt could command majority support. Should he somehow win in November, the corporation will have a great deal of explaining to do. One thinks of the recent Iraq war, where BBC presenters kept telling...

NEW YORK -- The spirit of our late President Ronald Wilson Reagan was evident among the Republicans gathered in this city for the Republican National Convention. Ronald Reagan's influence lives on amongst the younger GOPers who are here seeking help for their own campaigns to carry the Reagan Revolution well into the 21st Century. Duane Sand, now running for Congress from North Dakota, rose from dirt poverty to become a successful businessman in real estate and running a restaurant. "When Ronald Reagan ran, I was 12 years old," he told Newsmax.com. "I was struck by how he gave me a...

"It is my intention to curb the size and influence of the Federal establishment and to demand recognition of the distinction between the powers granted to the Federal Government and those reserved to the States or to the people." Radical at the time, these words by President Reagan set the tone for his administration. Leadership requires transformation. Ronald Reagan's presidency meets that definition as his presidency represents the most abrupt shift in American philosophy in the 20th century since FDR. Most Americans recognize the significance of Ronald Reagan's transformational leadership particularly on issues involving international and economic affairs. But greater...

Local immigrant family remembers former President Ronald Reagan for legislation By: Steven Lopez 06/30/2004 This week one local Hispanic family is remembering former President Ronald Reagan for actions he took to pass the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 (IRCA). Advertisement The Lopez family of Channelview believes it was one of many hallmarks of the Reagan administration. Along with his contribution to end communism, they believe he gave many immigrants a chance to live the "American Dream." After coming to the states from a war-torn El Salvador, Luis and Morena Lopez began their life like any other immigrant in...

<p>Recently, I came to America to join the world in saying goodbye to former President Reagan. His spirit and vision will live forever in the hearts of the freedom-loving peoples he inspired. As the leader who dared to dream that the wall of tyranny dividing Europe could be torn down, he made freedom's victory in the Cold War possible. Romanians have a full understanding of the values that Mr. Reagan espoused. In 1989, as the Berlin Wall was dismantled, the Romanian people threw off the yoke of a corrupt, totalitarian regime.</p>