Free Republic

Most aspiring presidents and prime ministers face a myriad of challenges as they embark on their journey. Controversial issues, questions about ethics or past conduct, wounds within their party all raise their heads. But the doubts that Barack Obama faces are far more existential than the superficial questions about most candidates. They go to his very core as a person, calling into question his values, his world view, even his patriotism. Hard racial divisions have softened in America, but fear of the “other” persists. Their possible next president has a strange name. He grew up in Hawaii and Indonesia. He...

Have We Heard of Obama's Uncle Before? A key update to this post, in which Obama describes "his uncle, who was part of the American brigade that helped to liberate Auschwitz." From a Chicago Tribune profile of Obama's mother: The education of Obama the would-be politician didn't begin, of course, until after his birth in 1961, in Honolulu. But the parental traits that would mold him — a contrarian worldview, an initial rejection of organized religion, a questioning nature — were already taking shape years earlier in the nomadic and sometimes tempestuous Dunham family, where the only child was a...

The main obstacle standing between Barack Obama and the White House was distilled into five words by a local television correspondent in South Charleston, W.Va., earlier this month. Prefacing a question about the challenges of winning over white, blue-collar voters, the reporter offered this observation: “They think you are un-American,” he said. Such questions, asked by reporters and plainly on the minds of voters in Appalachia and elsewhere, are the fruits of an unprecedented, subterranean e-mail campaign. What began as a demonstrably false attempt to cast Obama as a Muslim has now metastasized into something far more threatening to the...

<p>All political art is propaganda (that is the point), but most political posters are bland, forgettable, wallpaper.... [Shepard Fairey] wanted to make posters that the cool cats would want. The 2008 Democratic primary season equivalent of the Che poster (with all that implies). More Mao, more right now.... The kind of poster that might sell on eBay, as a signed Fairey Obama recently did, for $5,900....</p>

The presidential hopeful opposed the Iraq war and spoke sense about Iran, but expect business as usual on the Middle East Now that Barack Obama is almost certain to be the Democratic party’s nominee, in spite of Tuesday night’s expected Clinton victory in West Virginia, those who want to believe he may change America’s foreign policy should turn to his pre-campaign biography. I don’t mean the recent and obviously self-serving Audacity of Hope, but Dreams From My Father, which he wrote in his early 30s. In four tight pages, before the main section about the dilemmas of being a person...

A Communist??? What is this, 1953? Are we the Un-American Activities Committee? First he was a Muslim, now he’s a Communist? I know, I know, but please, bear with me… I just naturally tend toward extremes, so I deliberately temper myself when I see something that strikes me as alarming. Consequently, I didn’t say a word when Hot Air posted the picture from a Fox News broadcast that showed one of Barack Obama’s campaign offices with a Cuban flag on the wall, with a stenciled image of revolutionary murderer Che` Guevara on it. Remember this? I just figured that office...

Each of us lives a life of contradictory truths. We are not one thing or another. Barack Obama's mother was at least a dozen things. S. Ann Soetoro was a teen mother who later got a Ph.D. in anthropology; a white woman from the Midwest who was more comfortable in Indonesia; a natural-born mother obsessed with her work; a romantic pragmatist, if such a thing is possible. "When I think about my mother," Obama told me recently, "I think that there was a certain combination of being very grounded in who she was, what she believed in. But also a...

A few months ago, a day before one of the occasional marches the Capital sees demanding an end to the Iraq War, I began the descent into the Metro stop near my office, looked up, and saw a number of representatives of Code Pink standing at the railing overlooking the escalator. Or rather, I heard them first. They were screaming at the parade of commuters, at the top of their lungs and in a tone somewhere between simple frustration and righteous anger, "End the war!!!" Well, I thought, that ought to take care of things. Good work, hippies! I kid...

Most at NYU say their vote has a price By: Lily Quateman - Washington Square News November 14, 2007 07:29 PM EST Two-thirds say they'll do it for a year's tuition. And for a few, even an iPod touch will do. That's what NYU students said they'd take in exchange for their right to vote in the next presidential election, a recent survey by an NYU journalism class found. Only 20 percent said they'd exchange their vote for an iPod touch. But 66 percent said they'd forfeit their vote for a free ride to NYU. And half said they'd give...

Will Pinch Sulzberger Lose The New York Times? Monday , October 01, 2007 By Thomas Lifson Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr., known all but universally as "Pinch", may well be the last member of the Sulzberger/Ochs family to run the world-famous newspaper company. He is trapped in a financial and competitive trap of his own making, and may have to rely on new money coming into the company at the price of relinquishing his managerial power. Christopher Alleva already explained last week that the incredible shrinking equity resulting from the combination of high dividends and low profits is already raising questions...

Red Star Ignorance - Cameron Diaz and the great Peruvian faux pas By Court Pearman Epoch Times Washington, D.C. Staff June 30, 2007 Oh, Poor Cameron Diaz! She got roasted for wearing a bag with a red star and a quote from Mao Tse Tung on it in Peru, a country that suffered massive bloodshed at the hands of Maoist rebels. People who survive civil wars are so uptight. It is not like she was wearing a bag with a Hitler quote and a black swastika on it. That would have been really bad. And she wasn't wearing a KKK...

Boston's Faneuil Hall, built in 1742, is known as the "Cradle of Liberty." It was there that Samuel Adams and other patriots fomented the American Revolution. On Tuesday, Sept 13, 2005, British Member of Parliament (MP) George Galloway, flanked by a bust of John Adams and a portrait of George Washington, defiled Faneuil Hall by bouncing a torrent of anti-U.S, anti-West pro-Islamist invective off its hallowed walls. The event, sponsored by the radical-Left Traprock Peace Center, the International Socialist Review, and the anti-Israel National Council of Arab Americans, began with a cavalcade of minor anti-U.S., anti-Western, and anti-Israel speakers. Annie...

My son was taken from me when he was only 2 months old because I supposedly "worshiped the devil" in front of him. I am an atheiest. I don't even belive in the devil. It ruined my life and at the same time opened up a whole new world of horror stories from other parents. How our government is walking all over the rules they put in place to protect us and how our civil rights are violated each and everyday. EVERYONE especailly those with families should be aware of this!!! Please visit my sites and sign my petition to...

I have been writing to numerous people ever since September 11, 2001. That event changed me. Before September 11, 2001 I assumed our government knew what it was doing in the world and I never questioned anything it did, but after September 11, 2001 i started to think ,why would anybody hate us so much as to try to kill as many Americans as possible. My quest for the truth lead me to one very sobering conclusion.........our policies, even before our independence in 1776, has gradually created a world in which we do not realize what people around the world...

Just signed up to see what The KKK and it's supporters are up to- as usual I found the most racist, sexist homophobic war monging hate mongering idiots I've ever seen gathered in one place all right here on this one website. It's good to know you assholes are can all be communicated to in one place- since most of you are illiterate and ignorant it will be easy to disseminate info to you redncek losers.

To all good people of countries other than the US- WE are now officially a rogue nation- please don’t blame the citizens of the US as we have been taken over by Nazis. Trust us, we are more frightened than you. There is no possible way that Bush is the most popular president ever. There is no way that he won this election. It is a lie, supported by fraudulent elections and corrupt government officials. There is no popular support for Bush, only Bush freepers on the net paid for by homeland security to convince other nations and naive US...

You all took turns laughing because I am an extreme left, but I laugh at you because you people proved me right. You delete remarks for no other reason but you don't like the thoughts expressed, (though mine was left for assument) inactivate my account, and preach free speech for all. My words weren't for the purpose of starting a war, only to say, "hey, what do you think about this?" I didn't get one intellgent arugment. Name calling yes, insults yes, nothing thought provoking. So you cane prove me right yet again, and delete this post and inactivate my...

Exactly why are you retards happy that this Cokehead chimp is back? Do Conservatives like escalating budget deficits? I guess so. Do Conservatives like pointless wars initiated by lies? I guess so. You really must love outsourced jobs and a crappy economy. You are probably too stupid to realize how the country is now screwed. To hell with all of you.

Following is the full English transcript of Usama bin Ladin's speech in a videotape sent to Aljazeera. In the interests of authenticity, the content of the transcript, which appeared as subtitles at the foot of the screen, has been left unedited. Praise be to Allah who created the creation for his worship and commanded them to be just and permitted the wronged one to retaliate against the oppressor in kind. To proceed: Peace be upon he who follows the guidance: People of America this talk of mine is for you and concerns the ideal way to prevent another Manhattan, and...

I was just wondering how many freepers believe in global warming? What do you think about it?

<p>Kerry will have the race in the bag very soon!!!!</p> <p>Mod note: I hesitate to leave this thread up, realizing how difficult it is for us poor conservatives to match up against liberal intellectuals. But in the interest of fairness...</p>

Hehehe....The Republicans can really dish it out but can't take it. They cry like little "Wussies" when they are told the truth! Maybe you guys can support your buddies the Republicans by supplying them hankies for when they start to cry. Oh. Your posts sound more and more like "Fagot Republican Bush Supporters" with your silly comments. I guess Kerry's got you boys squirming now. Ha!Ha!Ha! Now the sorry Republicans are trashing Kerry for being friends with Jane Fonda. Kerry could care less what you clowns think of him.

Dear Saddam, Remember when we first met on that magic night in Baghdad in 1983? You were gassing those wacky Iranians with chemical weapons and having a grand old time, but Ronnie and I just said hey, 'dictators will be dictators' - know what I mean?!! Hahaha. It's a good thing we sold you all those weapons and military equipment that you used in crushing your own people. Lord knows what might have happened if we hadn't stepped in to help you out. What a time it was too! We sold you all kinds of fun things - anthrax, VX...