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Two men from Texas who are members of a group that planned to disrupt the Republican National Convention have been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of possessing an unregistered firearm, possessing a firearm without a serial number, and illegal manufacturing a firearm, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Minneapolis said. David Guy McKay, 22, and Bradley Neal Crowder, 23, both of Austin, allegedly possessed firearms that were not registered in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record and possessed firearms that did not contain serial numbers as required by law. The alleged actions took place Aug. 31 through...

New polling suggests that the Republican Party is beginning to regain some of its luster and, perhaps as important, is experiencing a surge in excitement among its political base. A new poll by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press reports that independent voters have an equally favorable opinion of both parties, 50 to 49 percent, a one-point edge for the GOP. That compares to an 18-point Democratic advantage as recently as August, a wide gap that had generally held for more than a year. And half of registered voters overall now have a favorable opinion of...

Mordecai Specktor says his 19-year-old son, Max, "has never been in a fight" and is "not a violent person." "He's an anarchist," said Specktor, the publisher and editor of Minnesota's Jewish newspaper, the American Jewish World. He's also "a University of Minnesota student, Jewishly educated." His son, he said, is "a wonderful guy." Max Specktor is also now branded a terrorist after his arrest earlier this month, along with seven others, on charges of planning to disrupt the Republican National Convention in St. Paul. He's been charged with conspiring to riot "in furtherance of terrorism" and could face up to...

He met her in the bar of the swank hotel and invited her to his room. Once there, the woman fixed the drinks and told him to get undressed. And that, the delegate to the Republican National Convention told police, was the last thing he remembered. When he awoke, the woman was gone, as was more than $120,000 in money, jewelry and other belongings. The thief's take stunned cops. "It's very, very, very rare," Minneapolis Police Sgt. William Palmer said. "I can think of a couple of burglaries where we had that much stolen, but it's the first time I've...

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin tore through the Republican National Convention like a lead sled in the Iditarod dogsled race, while Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, who chose to forgo a scheduled convention speech by staying away to deal with Hurricane Gustav, catapulted to the top tier as a GOP presidential candidate in 2012 or 2016. Indian American Republicans who attended the convention Sept. 1-4 unanimously raved to India-West about Senator John McCain’s vice presidential choice and Palin’s stiletto-like jibes at Democratic presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama in her acceptance speech. “She sent a vibrant message to Middle America that she connects...

Top Obama fundraiser Jodie Evans stated she used C-SPAN credentials without the cable news outlet's knowledge at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul last week.Also, her Code Pink co-founder Medea Benjamin bragged to the press at the Democratic National Convention that she had convention press credentials under the name of a Christian radio netweork.Evans, who has been a part of Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama's campaign finance operations since the beginning of his run for the White House in February 2007, charged the stage when Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin was making her acceptance speech. She claimed to...

For Freeper poll watchers, this is an interesting article about party identification. This is really the reason that Rasmussen has not shown the same gap for McCain that Gallup has recently, as Rasmussen is weighting his poll according to a full 90 days prior survey of what he believes the makeup by party will be come election day. I guess that we will all find out on November 4th, but I personally don't think that this is a traditional situation where the increase in Republican party identification or leaning will decrease to levels that Rasmussen is currently weighting his polls...

A man arrested during protests during the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota is now being investigated for arson at the Texas governor's mansion in June. The story was first reported Tuesday by CBS 11's sister station WCCO in Minneapolis. Bradley Neil Crowder, 23, of Austin, is charged with one count of possession of firearms not registered to him after his arrest Sept. 1 in St. Paul. Prosecutors believe Crowder and another man, David Guy McKay, made Molotov cocktails which could then be thrown into a St. Paul parking lot where law enforcement parked their vehicles. A high-level source...

Democrats tried to attract Catholic voters in Denver. Republicans tried to attract them in St. Paul. As the excitement at the end of the Republican National Convention affected Catholic Republicans as much as it did other delegates, they may have succeeded. Polls and TV ratings suggest Sen. John McCain of Arizona and his vice-presidential candidate running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin ended the convention way ahead of where they started.In his acceptance speech, McCain electrified Catholics by speaking about a culture of life, funding for private schools and America’s newest Catholics, immigrants.“From the boy whose descendants arrived on the Mayflower...

I assume John McCain chose Sarah Palin as his vice-presidential partner in a fit of pique because the Republican money men refused to let him have the stuffed male shirt he really wanted. She added nothing to the ticket that the Republicans didn't already have sewn up, the white trash vote, the demographic that sullies America's name inside and outside its borders yet has such a curious appeal for the right. So why do it? It's possible that Republican men, sexual inadequates that they are, really believe that women will vote for a woman just because she's a woman. They're...

In an interview published Sunday with the German mag Der Spiegel, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said he didn't miss going to the GOP national convention because it lacked "bipartisanship." He compared the "hard core" who run the national party to California's GOP leaders: "I have almost no contact with them – none. Because they're just so out there." That should help round up those GOP votes for his budget proposal …

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Blacks are scarce here at the Republican National Convention. Of the more than 2,300 Republican delegates who gathered this week, just 36 -- or 1.5% -- were black, the lowest portion in 40 years, according to a study by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a Washington think tank that focuses on black issues. That is substantially below the figure in 2004, when a record-setting 6.8% of Republican delegates were black. The number of black Republican candidates running for federal office also has fallen sharply, to about seven from a high of 24 in...

It turns out a protest aimed at disrupting events at last week's Republican National Convention had a Fort Wayne connection. Fort Wayne realtor Annie Eckrich says her stolen identification was used by operatives to illegally gain entry onto the convention floor. Eckrich, who was an alternate delegate to the Republican Party extravaganza in Minneapolis- St. Paul, says she didn't know anything about what happened until a reporter called her, asking if she'd handed over her credentials to protesters. The story has gotten national attention on several political blogs. One of those blogs has displayed a picture of a simple badge...

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Minnesotans may want to have the legislature investigate this report from the Examiner about University of Minnesota staff involvement in violent anti-Republican protests during the convention in Saint Paul. According to Ray Robinson, key meetings were held on the U of M’s Twin Cities campus, and involved staff from both the university and union leaders of the AFSCME local that represents them: University of Minnesota staff were key coordinators of the recent violent protests at the Republican National Convention (RNC). The university employees are also members of the local clerical union of the American Federation of State County and Municipal...

University of Minnesota staff were key coordinators of the recent violent protests at the Republican National Convention (RNC). The university employees are also members of the local clerical union of the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees. The AFSCME is part of the AFL-CIO union. Protests turned violent at the 2008 RNC located in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Police have arrested hundreds of demonstrators for violent attacks on police officers and bystanders and other more nuisance crimes. The Saint Paul Police have identified an anarchist group called the RNC Welcoming Committee as being at the center of the violence....

Before Gov. Sarah Palin came flying in from the wilds of Alaska for the Republican convention in St. Paul, there was a lot of sniggering in media rooms and satellite trucks about her beauty queen looks and rustic hobbies, and the suggestion that she was better suited to be a calendar model for a local auto body shop than a holder of the second-highest office in the land. Ms. Palin, unwilling to be rendered as a caribou-skinning cartoon, stepped to the microphone on Wednesday and punched back. [...] In the press galleries at the convention, journalists wrinkled their noses in...

Protesters Say They're Proud Of RNC ActsSep 7, 2008 12:20 pm US/Central MINNEAPOLIS (AP) For two years, demonstrators had been looking toward the first four days in September -- when they'd take to the streets of St. Paul to speak out against the war in Iraq, the Bush administration and the Republican agenda. **SNIP** She pointed to Thursday night, when hundreds of people stayed on the streets of St. Paul, even after police told them to leave. Nearly 400 people were arrested, including Sundin. "I think it made a very strong statement," she said. **SNIP** "We think we were able...

Highlights From the GOP ConventionToday This weekend, C-SPAN presents highlights of Republican National Convention including acceptance speeches by Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) & Sen. John McCain (R-AZ). Then, Rep. Ron Paul's (R-TX) speech at "Rally for the Republic

Thank you for that warm welcome. I am honored to be here. We meet tonight in the wake of a terrible storm that has hit the Gulf Coast but that hurts all of us, because we are all members of our larger American family. At times like this, we set aside all that divides us, and we come together to help our fellow citizens in need. What matters is certainly not whether we are Democrats or Republicans, but that we are all Americans. The truth is, it shouldn’t take a hurricane to bring us together like this. Every day, across...

Almost exactly one year ago during a Republican presidential debate in Durham, New Hampshire, I said that if I weren't running for President myself, I'd be supporting John McCain. Well, I'm not, and I do. Every four years, we are told that this Presidential election is the most important election of our lifetime. This year - 2008 - IS the most important.This has already been historic. It is the longest Presidential campaign in history. And it sometimes felt even longer.The American people realize this election represents a turning point. In two months they will decide the future direction of our...

Thank you everyone.  John and I are so proud of them and so happy to have them here with us tonight.  Nothing has made me happier or more fulfilled in my life than being a mother.  But while John and I take great joy in having been able to spend time together this week as a family, our hearts go out to the thousands of families who have had to leave their homes once again due to devastating weather. It is not only our natural instinct to rally to them, to lift them up with our prayers and come to...

Republican presidential nominee John McCain will not be elected on his oratorical skills — compared to his opponent, they are weak and flat. He may, however, win over voters with the power of his personal story. So it went in his acceptance speech. His words lit up the Xcel Center in Minneapolis, and he himself grew noticeably more enthused as he talked about his experience as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, how he fell in love with America and became a more humble man while held in Hanoi. The Republican National Convention started out as a bust, with a...

After the GOP attacks the media over stories about the vice presidential nominee's family, TV networks and newspapers deny bias and say Republicans opened the door to coverage. News executives Thursday tried to shake off the excoriations of the media emanating from the Republican National Convention, defending their coverage of GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin as responsible and evenhanded. While top television network officials and newspaper editors largely dismissed the critiques as partisan rhetoric, some fretted that charges of media bias had reached a new and disturbing level. "I really do take exception to it," NBC News President Steve...

Nielsen reports that the Republicans averaged 34.5 million viewers over three nights, making the event the most-watched convention since the company began keeping records. ...the Democrats averaged 30.2 million viewers over four nights. White viewers flocked to their TVs for McCain's speech (32.2 million versus 27 million for Obama). But among African Americans, the reverse was true. About 7.5 million African Americans watched Obama's speech last week, whereas 3.1 million tuned in for McCain's.

Been away for awhile, busy at work. I wanted to point out today some observations I made about the republican convention. The news media and Katie "Koran" Couric have presented the Democratic convention in glitz and glamor with touching family scenes with Obama and his little girls and with big talk about the past 8 years being crap. (never mind that the 8 years previous with Clinton, the fact we are at war, and the rat congress are mostly to blame. Especially Clinton and the Dems. Lets not forget the RINOS.) All the Democrats are bringing up how their policies...

I have never been so moved by a political speech. The speech up until the final crescendo was workmanlike. It was only at the end that I realized it was all to lay the foundation for that incredible ending. It lays the details and facts that form the basis of the powerful emotion at the end -- made all the more powerful in that it is grounded in the real details of this man's history and the basis of his love of country. To hear the cheers rising, and McCain struggling to raise his broken arms higher with each round...

AT THE Republican convention in St Paul, Minnesota this week it was hard to remember the party has been in power for eight years and that George W Bush is still president of the United States. John McCain's populist strategy of distancing himself from Washington's elite by appropriating the rhetoric of political change, his fighting nationalism and, above all, his inspired choice of Sarah Palin as his running partner paid off in a distinctive platform and re-energised the party's conservative base to stand against Barack Obama. This is a remarkable achievement in a week which saw the convention nearly called...

Day 4 Day: ThursdayLocation: CapitolArrests: 400 Arrests Mark Last Anti-War March Of Convention Percussion grenades, tear gas and nearly 400 arrests marked the final anti-war march during the Republican National Convention. More than 800 arrests were reported during a week of sometimes peaceful, sometimes violent dissent. Anti-war protesters rallied Thursday at the state Capitol and then planned to march to Xcel Energy Center, where Sen. John McCain was due to accept the GOP presidential nomination. But their permit had expired, and police -- in riot gear and using horses, snow plows and dump trucks -- blocked their way. For...

Some highlights: Letter grade for McCain's speech: 41%-A, 22% - B Asked of 1051 registered voters (Margin of error 3.1) who saw both Obama and McCain's speeches, who has the better position on: Iraq: Advantage McCain 55-41 Energy Independence: Advantage McCain 55-42 Health Care: Advantage McCain 46-45 Education: Advantage McCain 50-45 Environment: Advantage Obama 49-41 Are Democrats more interested in reaching out to Republicans, or are Republicans more interested in reaching out to Democrats? Advantage: Republicans 35-24 (39 said same or neither) If you had to bet today, who will win in November? McCain 49-44

Michael Steele at the Republican National Convention talks about the efforts to increase minority involvement in the Republican Party. Video.

McCain just shot up hugely in Tampa, look at this new poll from Survey USA. In our latest poll out of Tampa for WFLA-TV, 52% of registered voters told us their opinion of John McCain went up after hearing his speech at the Republican National Convention last night. 18% say their opinion of McCain went down while 30% say their opinion of McCain stayed the same.

WASHINGTON -- A conservative academic, angered that I had gone on television and criticized John McCain's acceptance speech, vented to a friend: "Whose side is he on anyway?" How about the side of well-crafted speeches that advocate and explain innovative policy and occasionally surprise you into thought? By these standards, at both conventions, it was the year of speaking conventionally. Barack Obama's effort was numbingly typical in rhetoric, argument and policy -- the Platonic form of the Democratic stump speech -- designed to diffuse voter concerns about the newness and risks of his candidacy by assuring them that he is...

This was the happiest convention I have attended. In seven conventions going back to 1984, I have never seen delegates as happy. I have seen them eager, energized, committed, determined but the underlying mood last night was sheer joy. There was joy that Senator McCain had had the courage to pick Governor Palin. There was joy that she and her family had come through the week of attacks smiling and eager to campaign. There was joy that Governor Palin's Wednesday night speech completely vindicated Senator McCain's choice. There was joy that 37 million Americans had seen her speech. That is...

John McCain’s address to the convention was more than a speech. It was a life impression. There is no logic in trying to compare his delivery style with any other speakers at the Republican Convention or the Democrat Convention. It’s not really about style comparison. Yet that is as far as some critics have gone following McCain’s speech. They deliberate regarding his pauses, a supposed glitch or two, his soft-spoken sentences on occasion. All of that is superficial assessment. What is truly significant is that McCain’s speech was about a serving life span over years.

Iranian Delegate Touts McCain's Tough Stance September 02, 2008 National Journal Gregg Sangillo John McCain has been a staunch critic of Iran for its sponsorship of sectarian violence in Iraq, its reported nuclear weapons program, and the radical ideology of its controversial president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Although critics accuse McCain of saber-rattling, plenty of Republican delegates applaud his hard line -- and none more enthusiastically than Hossein Khorram, a native of Iran who is a delegate from Washington state. Khorram grew up in Tehran. After the overthrow of the shah in 1979, his father's property was confiscated and the family fled...

WASHINGTON, September 5, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has released four new print ads, two addressing stem cell research and two focusing on abortion.   The ads were initially published in the Capitol Hill newspaper, Roll Call, and were distributed at the Democratic Convention in Denver and at the Republican Convention in Minneapolis/St. Paul, by pro-life groups. The stem cell research ads highlight scientific advances using adult stem cells that are making embryonic stem cells obsolete. One ad shows a commuter running for a train, and asks: "Science is moving...

The GOP presidential candidate attracted roughly the same number of viewers to his convention acceptance speech Thursday as Obama did before the Democrats last week, according to Nielsen Media Research. It marked the end of an astonishing run where more than 40 million people watched political speeches on three nights by Obama, McCain and Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. The Republican convention was the most-watched convention on television ever, beating a standard set by the Democrats a week earlier.

McCain, Obama tied in TV audiences Sep 5 07:39 PM US/Eastern By DAVID BAUDER AP Television Writer NEW YORK (AP) - As a television draw, John McCain was every bit the equal of Barack Obama. The GOP presidential candidate attracted roughly the same number of viewers to his convention acceptance speech Thursday as Obama did before the Democrats last week, according to Nielsen Media Research. It marked the end of an astonishing run where more than 40 million people watched political speeches on three nights by Obama, McCain and Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. The Republican convention was the...

As I walked out after viewing John McCain's nomination acceptance speech into the balmy Northwestern evening, with the sun still illuminating the apricot clouds on the horizon, I looked up at the row of houses just across the street, and saw, through each of their front windows, eerily identical TVs showing the same giddy delegates and reporters and pundits at the Republican National Convention. John McCain's speech was moving, smart and well-delivered for his television audience on streets just like this one across America. The nominee punctuated his words with many wide smiles, grinning during a pause for disruptive protesters:...

08/17/2000 Jay Nordlinger National Review EXCERPT I'm a little weary of the Liebermans' routine. Wednesday night was Joe-'n'-Hadassah night in LA (Dems 2000 convention), and if the country is falling in love with them, it is a strange country indeed. Mrs. L. introduced her husband, and she did it in her now-familiar very treacly style. The Liebermans have seemed awfully pleased with themselves, and with life, this month. Hadassah can't quite put a damper on her excitement, and neither can Joltin' Joe. She gushed her thanks for the Democrats' "support, enthusiasm, and love," which have been "overwhelming" (as though we...

The people of Alaska boast that they have the coldest state in the U.S. and "the hottest governor." In her younger days, Sarah Palin did come in second in the Miss Alaska beauty pageant but that's not the point. Republican John McCain named her just one week ago as his surprise pick for the vice presidency. This week, she was the star of the Republican National Convention and became the most talked-about person in America. They are right in Alaska; she is a hot commodity, though the Republicans may yet get burned. Most Americans have only started getting their first...

In case you missed the toe tapping country rocker by John Rich at the end of McCain's acceptance speech here it is!

Last January, on the night of John McCain’s back-from-the-dead victory in the New Hampshire primary, I asked a longtime adviser how McCain had survived the collapse of his campaign a few months earlier. “You know, in the darkest days, I think there were a lot of us who just respected him so much we just wanted to band together to make sure to restore his dignity,” the adviser told me. “But the chance of this actually happening was pretty remote.” And yet it did happen. After McCain won New Hampshire, he kept on winning until there he was, onstage last...

A photo of Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama and his Code Pink bundler, terrorist supporter Jodie Evans, has finally surfaced. Ironically, it most likely was released by Code Pink.The photo is included in a video report by WCCO-4 in Minnesota about Evans and her Code Pink co-founder Medea Benjamin infiltrating the Republican National Convention the night of vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin's speech Wednesday night.The WCCO reporter, Esme Murphy, included the unsourced photo of Evans and Obama to illustrate Code Pink's claim that they go after both sides. Murphy describes the photo as a Code Pink member "interrupting Obama", yet...

Grab a beer with... Biggest disappointment... Biggest star.... Freep it. Sarah is biggest star, Biden is biggest disappointment.

Freep this poll: Who had the better convention D's or R's

After lackluster showings in viewership at the beginning of the week, the Republican National Convention bounced back on Wednesday and Thursday, making it the most-watched political convention in American history (or at least since Nielsen began recording convention viewership in 1960).