Free Republic

Memo TO: John McCain SUBJECT: Be yourself In case you haven’t noticed, Senator, you are losing the argument to be the next president of the United States. And you are doing it all on your own. Recent trends and polls show that Americans are shedding their discomfort with Barack Obama, and women and independents are breaking in his direction. For your part, you are doing nothing to persuade people to do otherwise. Time to shed the over-handling and carefulness and go at it. A movement is brewing in this country: Americans are looking for a leader. Bush is devoid of...

This came down as an "alert" from the AP...the latest whine from the Drive Bys. Palin, while in New York, is meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe. The meetings are scheduled for Tuesday. The press was told photogs and a camera crew could go in, but no so-called journalists who pretend to be reporters. Can someone post the crybaby picture?

ABC News' Eloise Harper Reports: Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, in a video interview with Newsweek posted on YouTube, discussed the coverage of Sen. Hillary Clinton. In an interview that appears to have taken place during the Democratic primary, Palin criticizes Clinton for her response to media scrutiny she received while on the campaign trail. Palin says, "When I hear a statement like that coming from a woman candidate with any kind of perceived whine about that excess criticism or you know maybe a sharper microscope put on her I say man that doesn’t do us any good. Women in politics,...

Did Palin Call Hillary Clinton a Whiner? September 02, 2008 2:15 PM ABC News' Eloise Harper Reports: Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, in a video interview with Newsweek posted on YouTube, discussed the coverage of Sen. Hillary Clinton. In an interview that appears to have taken place during the Democratic primary, Palin criticizes Clinton for her response to media scrutiny she received while on the campaign trail. Palin says, "When I hear a statement like that coming from a woman candidate with any kind of perceived whine about that excess criticism or you know maybe a sharper microscope put on her...

The Democrats have titled their party platform, "Renewing America's Promise." A more honest and accurate title would be, "We'll Give You More." The soul of the Democratic philosophy is summed up in this passage from the platform: "For decades, Americans have been told to act for ourselves, by ourselves, on our own. Democrats reject this recipe for division and failure." Note the disdain for the ethos of self-responsibility. Democrats do not merely regard it as insufficient. Instead they regard the idea that people should provide for themselves as divisive. Even more significantly, Democrats regard self-responsibility as a "recipe for failure."...

Thar’s a conspiracy a bubblin’ out in the land-of-the-tubes… Well, there’s two. But one has to do with the alleged finding of Bigfoot. One conspiracy at a time… Seems that when John McCain was supposed to be in a soundproof vault Saturday night or as Saddleback church pastor Rick Warren put it, a “cone of silence,” he was actually in his motorcade. The deal going in to the high-profile first meeting of the two candidates was that while Barack Obama was being questioned by the best-selling author, John McCain would be in a disclosed - but soundproof - location in...

Another gold another world record!

Spoiled rotten It's a meme we've hit before. Americans have it so good, we don't even know how good we have it anymore.We hit the topic hard in What a bunch of whiners we are! and What a bunch of whiners we are, Part 2. We also hit a related theme in a thorough essay on the perils of jealousy in I really don't care if someone has more money than I do.These themes cannot be stressed enough. If you're sick of 'em . . . if you already "get it," then forward them on to someone who still needs...

In large measure our wealth isn’t the product of capitalism, it is capitalism. It’s an old story. Loving parents provide a generous environment for their offspring. Kids are given not only ample food, clothing and shelter, but the emotional necessities as well: encouragement, discipline, self-reliance, the ability to work with others and on their own. And yet, in due course, the kids rebel. Some even say their parents never loved them, that they were unfair, indifferent, cruel. Often, such protests are sparked by parents’ refusal to be even more generous. I want a car, demands the child. Work for it,...

McCain Adviser, Phil Gramm, Leaves Campaign NEW YORK (CBS) ― Phil Gramm, a top adviser to presidential candidate John McCain, is resigning from the role as campaign co-chairman after his comments that the United States had become a "nation of whiners" who constantly complain about the state of the economy. The former U.S. senator from Texas and past presidential candidate made the remarks earlier this month. McCain immediately distanced himself from the comments, but they have been criticized constantly as McCain tries to show he can help steer the country past its current financial troubles. Gramm had also suggested that...

"Nation of whiners"? I don't know how you flesh out with mathematical exactitude ex-Sen. Phil Gramm's famous assertion of last week concerning how we talk about the economy. I'll say this: There's a lot of whining go on, and if, as Phil avers, he was "talking about our leaders," not our people in general, he makes a serious point with something of the blunt force requisite to the task. Alas for him! The glory of the First Amendment to the Constitution is that it lets you say practically anything about practically everything. The fly in the buttermilk is you can't...

It says a lot about the current state of affairs in America – and nothing good – that people get offended and outraged when someone tries to tell us things are really not so bad. Former U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm of Texas has apparently lived too long and done too much to care. We need more people like this. It would be fantastic if the presidential candidate Gramm is advising – John McCain – would think and talk like this. (He isn’t. Oh well.) In an interview last week with the Washington Times, Gramm said what needs to be said...

It’s always awkward when presidents and candidates are embarrassed by the words and behavior of their own friends. And such was the case when McCain supporter and surrogate speaker Phil Gramm stated earlier this week that America has become a nation of “whiners.” Speaking with a small group of media professionals, the former U.S. Senator (and former Presidential Candidate) from Texas spoke about current economic conditions, saying "you've heard of mental depression; this is a mental recession." He went on to note that, despite all the rhetoric about hard times in America, our economy still produced a growth rate of...

Gramm was right about the recession and stood by his recession comments on Thursday. A recession is two consecutive quarters in which the economy shrinks, and last quarter it grew. But no matter. Voters feel they are in a recession, and so they are, at least according to Campaign Econ.

Gramm calls slowdown 'mental' By: Mike Allen July 10, 2008 10:01 AM EST Former senator Phil Gramm, a top economic adviser to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), referred to the economic slowdown as "a mental recession," and referred to the United States as “a nation of whiners.” The comments, in an interview with The Washington Times, could hurt the campaign’s efforts to convince working-class Americans that McCain feels their pain. Democrats immediately condemned the remarks as “callous,” and quickly began working to gain widespread attention for them. The Democratic National Committee issued a statement titled: “Out of Touch Much, Phil.”

In his radio address [Saturday] morning, President Bush went after the Democrats on energy: The fundamental problem behind high gas prices is that the supply of oil has not kept up with the rising demand across the world. One obvious solution is for America to increase our domestic oil production. So my Administration has repeatedly called on Congress to open access to new oil exploration here in the United States. Unfortunately, Democrats on Capitol Hill have rejected virtually every proposal. Now Americans are paying the price at the pump for this obstruction. So this week, I asked Democratic congressional leaders...

WASHINGTON, (AP) -- Texas mayors and business leaders filed a class-action lawsuit Friday alleging Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff hoodwinked landowners into waiving their property rights for construction of a fence along the Mexican border. Members of the Texas Border Coalition said Chertoff did not fairly negotiate compensation with landowners for access to their land for six-month surveys to choose fence sites. The coalition of mayors and business and community leaders is seeking an injunction to block work on the fence. They also want a federal judge to rescind all the agreements with landowners and to order Chertoff to start...

Barack Obama accused President Bush of "a false political attack" Thursday after Bush warned in Israel against appeasing terrorists — early salvos in a general election campaign that's already blazing even as Obama tries to sew up his party's nomination. The White House denied Obama was Bush's target, but the Democratic presidential contender said the Republican president's intent was clear. John McCain, the likely GOP nominee, jumped in, too, using the opportunity to argue that Obama was showing "naivete and inexperience and lack of judgment" in his willingness to meet with U.S. foes. ...As the workday began stateside, Bush gave...

Both Hillary and Obama have explicitly stated that we need to "tax the rich" so each pays "their fair share". I recently came across a report titled DISTRIBUTION OF CERTAIN FEDERAL TAX LIABILITIES BY INCOME CLASS FOR CALENDAR YEAR 2000, as Prepared by the Staff of the JOINT COMMITTEE ON TAXATION. The following table from that publication is interesting. Income Category...................Individual Income Tax ................................................Income......Percent Less than $10,000.......................-5.........-0.6% 10,000 to 20,000........................-7........ -0.8% 20,000 to 30,000........................10..........1.1% 30,000 to 40,000........................30..........3.4% 40,000 to 50,000........................39..........4.4% 50,000 to 75,000.......................114.........12.9% 75,000 to 100,000......................113.........12.8% 100,000 to 200,000.....................213.........24.1% 200,000 and over...................... 377.........42.7% Highest 10%........................... 587.........66.4% Highest 5%.............................478.........54.0% Highest 1%.............................297.........33.6%...

Clinton, Obama complain about complaining By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer 24 minutes ago Democratic presidential rivals Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama are complaining about which candidate is the biggest complainer. The issue is their treatment in debates. Obama is objecting to the questions posed this week in one moderated by ABC News. Many of the toughest questions were targeted at Obama, the front-runner for the nomination, and he's said too much time was spent on political divisions instead of issues that matter to Americans. Clinton said Friday that if Obama thinks the debate was tough, it pales in...

A lot of emailers have been taking a look at the Obamas' tax returns from 2000 to 2006, just released by the campaign. Several are pointing out the couple's charitable contributions prior to Barack Obama's big book-related payday — in 2002, the Obamas contributed $1,050 from an adjusted gross income of $259,394, and in 2001 they gave $1,470 from an adjusted gross income of $272,759. They contributed far more in Obama's big earning year, 2005, when they gave $77,315 on an adjusted gross income of $1,655,106. Something else that strikes me about the returns is their relation to Michelle Obama's...

TORONTO In from the cold they come, gangly young men and graying grandfathers alike, filling a downtown church with the kind of polite anticipation more befitting an afternoon wedding than an antiwar rally. ...Across Canada, the remnants of a lost counterculture are rising up again as hundreds of aging draft dodgers reluctantly leave the quiet comforts of their anonymous lives to help an estimated 200 Iraq war deserters who fled north with no promise of asylum...."You're being stop-lossed!"Phil McDowell tried to absorb his wife's frantic news in June 2006 that the Army was rescinding his discharge. Iraq had left him...

There's a movement afoot by prominent pro-Clinton diarists at Dailykos.com. Writes Alegre, in what is now the featured post on the site, one of the founding sound boards of the Democratic netroots movements:"We are going on strike and taking our writing elsewhere. When and if our beloved community is once more a focal point for Democratic election discussions, we will gladly return." Alegre has set up "The American Federation of Concerned Bloggers (AFCB)" and has enlisted at least three dozen bloggers.He writes:.....Daily Kos and Markos himself no longer adhere to this purpose of electing Democrats. Daily Kos has become an...

Not content to let the civility that reigned at last night's debate carry on through another news cycle, the Florida front-runners had some tough words for one another today. Talking to reporters aboard his bus this morning, McCain went first, unleashing some of his campaign's oppo research on Romney. "He raised taxes by $730 million, and the flight of manufacturing jobs was double that of the national average," McCain said of the former Massachusetts governor, according to AP. "His health care plan, we now find, is $245 million in the red, according to the Boston Globe yesterday." But it was...

MISS MANNERS It's best to ignore strangers who shout their prejudices Judith Martin Miss Manners November 8, 2007 Dear Miss Manners: This evening I found myself waiting in line with two young men who proceeded loudly to proclaim at least five different countries they would like to bomb, and advocated reintroducing the draft so that everyone else would have to share their "sacrifice." They then loudly branded several political figures they disapproved of with a crude word. I bit my tongue and waited quietly. Then the people in front of me joined in and, incredibly, they all complained about how...

Chesla Flood couldn't believe her eyes. A hangman's noose circled the neck of a black-hooded, jeans-clad dummy suspended from the chimney of a house in Madison.

PALMDALE - Carrying signs and chanting, about 60 people protested in front of Knight High School on Friday over the arrests of three students and a parent after a scuffle with school security officers over a spilled birthday cake. One security guard twisted the arm of 16-year-old Pleajhai Mervin behind her back and slammed her against a lunch table, fracturing her wrist, parents said. "I want justice," said Mervin's mother, Latrisha Majors, who also was arrested. "I want justice for my daughter. I want the guards to be held accountable for their actions." Majors and her daughter were arrested in...

Special Visas for Illegal Aliens Who Become Crime Victims By Susan Jones CNSNews.com Senior Editor September 06, 2007 (CNSNews.com) - People who come into the United States illegally and then become victims of crime may get special protection from the U.S. government. The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) on Wednesday announced an interim final rule that grants "temporary immigration benefits" to crime victims who assist government officials in investigating or prosecuting the criminal activity. The goal is to bring crime victims out of the shadows where they tend to hide if they fear deportation. The new rule offers protection...

Is your boss a nightmare? Not just annoying, but so completely lacking in people skills as to possibly be a sociopath? There may now be more you can do than simply renting "Office Space" for the 11th time. The Los Angeles Times reports that lawmakers across the country are considering legislation that would give workers grounds to sue their superiors "for being, basically, jerks." The specific standards for behavior that would justify such lawsuits are still being worked out. At least four state legislatures, including those in New Jersey, New York, Vermont and Washington, are considering such a measure

Thompson faces election complaint By JIM KUHNHENN, Associated Press Writer 14 minutes ago A liberal blogger has filed a federal complaint against former Sen. Fred Thompson, the actor and unannounced Republican candidate for president, accusing him of violating election laws as he ponders his entry into the race. The blogger, Lane Hudson, submitted his complaint to the Federal Election Commission on Monday saying Thompson has raised far more money than he needs to explore whether to run for president. Federal law allows potential candidates to raise money to travel, conduct polls and pay for other expenses related to "testing the...

MENLO PARK, Calif. —Today's New York Times has an article about people who are worth millions and are still complaining:Silicon Valley is thick with those who might be called working-class millionaires — nose-to-the-grindstone people like Mr. Steger who, much to their surprise, are still working as hard as ever even as they find themselves among the fortunate few. Their lives are rich with opportunity; they generally enjoy their jobs. They are amply cushioned against the anxieties and jolts that worry most people living paycheck to paycheck.But many such accomplished and ambitious members of the digital elite still do not think...

Luke AFB is west of Phoenix and is rapidly being surrounded by civilization that complains about the noise from the base and its planes, forgetting that it was there long before they were. A certain lieutenant colonel at Luke AFB deserves a big pat on the back. Apparently, an individual who lives somewhere near Luke AFB wrote the local paper complaining about a group of F-16s that disturbed his/her day at the mall. When that individual read the response from a Luke AFB officer, it must have stung quite a bit. The complaint: "Question of the day for Luke Air...

Democrats Blame Republicans and Bush for Low Approval By Nathan Burchfiel CNSNews.com Staff Writer July 20, 2007 Capitol Hill (CNSNews.com) - Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Thursday blamed the Republican minority for sinking congressional approval ratings, calling recent poll results "a referendum on Republican obstructionism." Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) blamed President Bush. Schumer told reporters that Republicans - who earlier this week blocked a Democratic amendment that would have mandated a troop withdrawal from Iraq, and who in June blocked a comprehensive immigration reform bill - are frustrating Americans who are hungry for change. A Zogby telephone poll...

Helen Thomas: This meaner U.S. Supreme Court sets back the country Helen Thomas Article Last Updated: 07/04/2007 04:02:47 PM MDT WASHINGTON - The new Supreme Court is more conservative than it has been in decades. It's also meaner. It is a dream come true for Republican presidencies dating back to the ''strict constructionist'' court aspirations of President Richard Nixon and now made possible by the conservative George W. Bush. Before closing down for the summer last month, the high court tossed out a flurry of decisions that overturned or reinterpreted long-standing liberal precedents.

Raleigh, N.C. (AP) -- Elizabeth Edwards pleaded Tuesday with Ann Coulter to "stop the personal attacks," a day after the conservative commentator said she wished Edwards' husband, Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards, had been killed by terrorists. "The things she has said over the years, not just about John but about other candidates, lowers the political dialogue at precisely the time we need to raise it," Edwards said by phone on MSNBC's "Hardball" program, where Coulter was a guest. Elizabeth Edwards said she did not consult her husband before confronting Coulter on the air, adding that she felt the pundit's...

High court's new majority is a downright mean bunch Monday, June 25, 2007 3:25 AM By Robyn Blumner Often you can sum up the collective actions of the Supreme Court under a particular chief justice with one word. The Warren Court always will be remembered as liberal, the Burger Court as pragmatic and the Rehnquist Court as conservative. The Roberts Court in its short tenure has already earned the moniker mean. The addition of Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito to the heartless duo of Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas has cemented a plurality for cruelty. If...

Dr. Ron Paul has become an internet sensation, according to his website www.RonPaul2008.com. The Ron Paul 2008 site states that he is the most requested Republican candidate on Eventful.com, a site which allows users to request that a person (usually an entertainer) visit their area. In addition, the Ron Paul 2008 site reports that Dr. Paul has twice as many You Tube subscribers as all of the other Republican candidates combined.

A few weeks ago – in between Hillary Clinton’s official entry into the presidential race and the first Republican primary debate of the cycle – the fiery online conservative forum Free Republic marked a decade in operation as one of the premier online forums for right-wing political discussion. It also experienced one of the biggest internal battles to rock the site since the 2000 election of George W. Bush -- a tumultuous campaign year that nearly tore the site apart, as its founder and chief administrator first cleansed commenting ranks of Bush supporters, then, later, rallied to his support. At...

DURHAM, N.C. (AP) - A lawyer for Asian students caught in a cheating scandal at Duke's business school says they were punished more severely than others. Durham lawyer Robert Ekstrand represents 16 students. He says most of those caught in the scandal didn't understand the honor code because they'd been in the country less than a year. Ekstrand has filed appeals for the students. He says students quickly wrote confessions after a faculty investigator pressured them to admit wrongdoing, even though some didn't understand the allegations. The scandal began when professors at Duke's Fuqua School of Business noticed similarities in...

I used to think we needed to leave the Constitution alone. That was before the Senate decided to extend citizenship to as many as 20 million lawbreakers whose sole purpose in breaking the law was to gain U.S. citizenship. Talk about making the punishment fit the crime! This punishment fits the crime exactly — they are identical! Forget about the billions of dollars it will cost the taxpayers of this country to give amnesty to illegal immigrants. Forget about the fact that it will forever change the nature of our country. Forget about the fact that if 9/11 terrorist Mohammed...

SALT LAKE CITY -- Radio relationship guru Laura Schlessinger, in Salt Lake City on Friday to speak to Army families at Fort Douglas, said she was tired of hearing the complaints of lonely and overwhelmed military wives whose husbands are deployed. "He could come back without arms, legs or eyeballs, and you're (whining)?" Schlessinger asked before taking the stage at the base theater to host her daily program on ethics, morals and values. "You're not dodging bullets, so I don't want to hear any whining -- that's my message to them." Schlessinger boasted that she once talked a young woman...

Language difficulties aren't going away anytime soon Saturday, May 12, 2007 3:40 AM Another tragedy happened recently. Four-year-old Jennifer Garcia, who lived at the Parkview Apartments on the Far West Side of Columbus, drowned. A life has been lost.The 911 call of this incident is disheartening to listen to. The frantic stepfather begins: "She fell in the water, I don't know how long maybe she stay in water. Rome-Hilliard, the apartments, the ParkView Apartments." He continues: "She drowned in the water, I don't know how long, she stay in the water maybe 15 - 20 minutes ago." This is followed...

NEW YORK -- Mayor Rudolph Giuliani says he will go back to Albany next week to push to keep rent controls on more than 1 million apartments, and to urge Republican leaders to come around to his position. ``I believe that we should continue rent stabilization and rent control,'' the mayor said. ``I will continue to oppose'' their elimination. The mayor is scheduled to spend much of Thursday at the Capitol, meeting with Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, a Manhattan Democrat, and other leaders. Giuliani is at odds over rent control with fellow Republican Gov. George Pataki and state Senate Majority...

DENVER -- One state lawmaker says he ate just one shrimp at a recent reception for fear of violating a strict new ethics law. Another says he sometimes has a bowl of cereal for dinner instead of the sandwiches and hors d'oeuvres he used to nibble at gatherings. There's no such thing as a free lunch at the Colorado Capitol since voters passed Amendment 41 last fall. Free breakfasts and evening receptions have vanished, too, in a cloud of confusion and jokes about exactly what is forbidden and what is allowed. The stakes are much more serious beyond the dome....

President George W. Bush said on Monday he did not intend to insult Democrats by failing to pronounce their party's full name in his State of the Union address. "I didn't know I did it," Bush told NPR in an interview. In his speech last Tuesday, Bush declared to a joint session of the U.S. Congress that "I congratulate the Democrat majority." Some Democrats were incensed he did not say "Democratic." The party's proper name is the Democratic Party. Republicans for years have dropped the last two letters of the name as a slight to the party. Bush's prepared text...

Things are goofy in California. I mean, goofier than usual. Republicans are afraid they've lost influence with the governor, which wouldn't be so strange if the governor wasn't also a Republican. What's even stranger is that -- in a true blue state such as California, where Democrats control the Legislature and most of the top offices in the executive branch -- Republicans haven't figured out most Californians no longer care what they think, and this includes the chief executive from their own party. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was sworn in for a second term on Jan. 5 after coasting to re-election....

Last night Dallas, in the shaddow of their own goal line through a pass which was completed at about the one yard line. A Seattle player knocked the ball out of the receiver's hands towards and into the endzone. It was initially ruled that the ball was recovered by Seattle before it went out of bounds and so it was a Seattle Touchdown. Upon video review the refs (and everyone else) saw that the ball went out of bounds before it was recovered, and so it was ruled a Safety, two points for Seattle. Should this play have been rulled...

No sooner had Democrats captured one House, than President Bush began cleaning another. First on the presidential chopping block was Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who will now step aside in favor of former CIA director Robert Gates. The president’s new choice is a foreign policy “realist” who believes Iran “could play a potentially significant role in promoting a stable, pluralistic government in Baghdad.” Rumsfeld’s strong support for the war effort has made him enemy number one for Democrats – Nancy Pelosi, in her inaugural act as House speaker, demanded a “change in the civilian leadership of the Pentagon” – and...

The election is over, and the Republicans lost. I did not think the electorate was this foolish, and expected a large turnout to help Republicans. For the first time in recent history, that was not true. Many of the previous base of the Republicans voted the other way. My hopes of even gaining seats were dashed. Many wish to blame President Bush and the war in Iraq. The MSM certainly helped the Dems make it their center argument, and put a national face on local elections. However, both pro war and anti war Republicans lost. Being a critic didn't help...

According to a 1999 Gallup poll, 51 percent of Americans would not vote for an atheist in a presidential election. This is higher than the percentage who would not vote for a homosexual (41 percent). As a loud and proud atheist (I came out to my friends in preschool by proclaiming the non-existence of God), I find this to be very sad and demoralizing. Are we really worse than the homosexuals? I suppose the average God-fearing American reasons that at least gay people have souls, whereas atheists are actually possessed by the Devil. But before I go about lamenting how...