Free Republic

Obama hearing Monday 10/5/2009 8AM U.S. District Court Santa Ana, CA.

(CNN) -- Could George W. Bush or some of his top aides end up behind bars? It's extremely unlikely, but the Obama administration is taking its first steps along a path that could lead in that direction, with the investigation of Central Intelligence Agency interrogators involved in the war on terror. "You don't know where these things are going to end up," former CIA agent Peter Brookes told me. "They could go to very high levels in the government." The probe will focus on whether interrogators exceeded their instructions and broke the law when, for example, they choked a prisoner...

Meacham: So how bad is it, really? Your title doesn't quite declare conservatism dead. Tanenhaus: Quite bad if you prize a mature, responsible conservatism that honors America's institutions, both governmental and societal. The first great 20th-century Republican president, Theo- dore Roosevelt, supported a strong central government that emphasized the shared values and ideals of the nation's millions of citizens. He denounced the harm done by "the trusts"—big corporations. He made it his mission to conserve vast tracts of wilderness and forest. The last successful one, Ronald Reagan, liked to remind people (especially the press) he was a lifelong New Dealer...

The editor of The New York Times Book Review and the paper's "Week in Review" section, Sam Tanenhaus is the biographer of Whittaker Chambers and is at work on the life of William F. Buckley Jr. In a new, short book, The Death of Conservatism, he argues that the right needs to find its footing for the good of the country. In an e-mail exchange with Jon Meacham, Tanenhaus reflected on the book's themes. Excerpts:

Congress Votes to Outsource Presidency Washington, DC , July 10, 2009 Congress today announced that the office of President of the United States of America will be outsourced to India as of September 1, 2009. The move is being made in order to save the President's $500000 yearly salary, and also a record $750 billion in deficit expenditures and related overhead that his office has incurred during the last 3 months. It is anticipated that $7 trillion can be saved to the end of the President's term. "We believe this is a wise financial move. The cost savings are huge,"...

A few months ago, most people assumed former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani's political future was unpromising, to put it nicely. Sure, he might run for governor of New York if Governor Patterson ran for re-election, but his national ship had sailed. After all, if the economy was the big issue, who better to nominate in 2012 than former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney -- who, at Bane Capital, excelled at turning around struggling businesses? Despite getting off to a fast start in the 2008 Republican Primary campaign, Giuliani had faded fast, a victim of poor political strategy and social views...

Sounds far-fetched and, to some, totally implausible. But the Republicans are losing potential candidates at a pace that is downright alarming if you believe in a healthy two-party system. The demise of John Ensign’s political career a few weeks ago and the surreal downfall of Mark Sanford last week is enough to send chills through the even the most optimistic Republican strategist. We know that of the 2008 crop, only Mitt Romney seems likely to stay on as a contender. The old stalwarts like Newt Gingrich may get a lot of press, but it is unlikely they can mount a...

Congratulations, Democrats. You've got the pilot, the co-pilot, a majority of the passengers and, with Arlen Specter, 60% of the stewardesses on Flight 2009-2010. Don't fly it like Air Force One on a postcard mission. Democrats, being Democrats, don't usually think in such small time frames. Barack Obama promised to wean America off foreign oil in the next 10 years, or midway through his third term. But James Carville has raised him by a factor of four, suggesting Obamaism is in place until 2049 in a curious book entitled "40 More Years: How the Democrats Will Rule the Next Generation."...

For his latest book about Democrats ruling Washington for the next 40 years, consultant James Carville laid his thesis out to Republicans. "They said, 'Yeah, it's horrible,' " he says. In 40 More Years, How the Democrats Will Rule the Next Generation, he presents the facts about the last two elections in his "ragin' Cajun" style. The GOP lost the youth and Hispanic vote and is credibility-starved. Then he kicks the party's faves: Sarah Palin, the 2008 veep nominee, for once running an Alaskan city hall that "looks just like a Louisiana bait shop," and Fox's Bill O'Reilly as stupid,...

Having rendered themselves irrelevant on every major issue, Republicans consoled themselves last week with a delusional round robin. First, the Drudge Report, linking to a Pew Poll, featured a headline denying what most of us observe in the real world: “President Polarize: Poll Shows Historic Divide…Partisan Gap in Obama Job Approval Widest in Modern Era.” Perhaps demonstrating that Drudge, not Limbaugh, is the maestro of the GOP chorus, the point was quickly picked up by Karl Rove on the house network, Fox News. Then the Washington Post’s Michael Gerson, one of the few Bush aides to emerge from that administration...

A study by biorhythm researchers and makers of sex-related products say the uptick in sex is fueled by resolutions to have children, alcohol and parties. WASHINGTON — The Christmas-New Year's period produces a year-high spike in sexual activity and conceptions in the United States, according to biorhythm researchers and makers of sex-related products. They attribute the increase to holiday leisure and New Year's resolutions to have children. New Year's irresolution fueled by alcohol and partying is another contributing factor. "Right before New Year's Eve is our highest sales peak," said David Johnson, group product manager for Trojan brand condoms, the...

If the terrorist attacks in India are found to be Pakistani militants, could this be a prelude to a wider war? Possibilities? Discuss...

Just when it seemed the insults hurled at Barack Obama had reached the apex of absurdity, al-Qaida weighs in with a bit of retro name-calling of its own. In a video released last week, Ayman al-Zawahiri, the top deputy to Osama bin Laden, denounced Obama as a “house Negro” and compared him unfavorably to “honorable black Americans” such as the late Malcolm X, the black nationalist who practiced Islam. Zawahiri also showed a still photograph of Obama wearing a yarmulke while visiting Jerusalem’s Wailing Wall last summer. The implication was that Obama had become nothing more than a “tool of...

t will be some time before we know the full extent of Obama's ambitions on domestic policy, but progressives are sure to feature prominently in any debate over health care, energy, banking, etc. In the realm of foreign policy, however, progressives seem already to have been marginalized, or dismissed entirely. Barack Obama's national security team is beginning to take shape and there is not a progressive in sight. Assuming the leaks and rumors are true, Hillary will be at State, Jones will serve as national security adviser, Brennan will head the CIA, Gates will stay on at Defense, and Obama...

Click on link. Change states to see how results can change outcome tomorrow

Barring an extraordinary shock, Barack Obama will win more than 270 electoral votes on Tuesday, giving him the White House. Hours before voting starts, John McCain has no clear path to reaching that same goal. In fact, based on interviews with political strategists in both parties, election analysts and advisers to both presidential campaigns - including a detailed look at public and private polling data - an Obama victory with well over 300 electoral votes is a more likely outcome than a McCain victory. Under the Electoral College system, a candidate wins all of a state's electoral votes as long...

The McCain campaign is definitely demoralized right now. The blame game has begun. There is no question that there is a rift between Sarah Palin's camp and that of John McCain inside the Republican campaign, sources tell ABC News. Watch George Stephanopoulos on "Nightline" tonight at 11:35 p.m. ET on ABC And you are seeing people within the McCain campaign starting to look to the future. Not only Palin, but many of the McCain staffers, as well, are circulating their resumes and pointing the finger. Whenever people in the campaign are starting to worry more about their own reputations rather...

The Sun Times today gave a major clue that Barack Obama will indeed go down with Tony Rezko, sooner rather than later. It looks as though Rezko is about to turn on Alexi Giannoulias, the 30-year old State Treasurer of Illinois (who was elected only because Obama backed him). Here’s where all the clues are…and then we’ll walk you through the local Chicago politics on how today’s hint by the Sun Times has us convinced, for the first time ever, that prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald could indeed send Barack Obama to jail. We need to repeat that: we never believed, until...

For 20 years he sat in the pews of Jeremiah Wright church. For 20 years he listened to the Reverend of hate, racism, and anti-Americanism. For 20 years he called Wright a friend and a mentor. Even when the Reverend that asked God to damn America was exposed Barack Obama still could not disown him more than he can disown his white grand mother as he said in this ridiculous speech he gave in March 2008. Obama and his liberals believe that they are going to fool America and win the Presidency. The media gives us dozens of biased polls...

China's economy is strong enough to withstand the impact of the global financial crisis and may even help the world by maintaining fast growth, Premier Wen Jiabao was quoted as saying Sunday. "Our economic fundamentals haven't changed, and the economy is moving in the direction we expected," Wen was quoted as saying by the state-controlled Xinhua news agency. "The strength of our financial institutions has generally increased, and their ability to make money and withstand risk has risen. Market liquidity is ample and the financial system is stable and safe," he said. "This will help us withstand any negative external...

DEVELOPMENT of alternative energy should create more than 20 million jobs around the world in coming decades as governments adopt policies to address the depletion of resources, according to a UN report. Some 2.3 million people around the world already work in alternative energy jobs with half of them in biofuels, said the report. Speedy creation of the jobs will depend on countries implementing and broadening policies including capping emissions of greenhouse gases, and the shifting of subsidies from the oil and natural gas sector, to new energy including wind, solar and geothermal power, it said. "If we do not...

Bud Richard, and voters like him, may ultimately determine this year's presidential race. But if he's any indication of Indiana's political preferences, pollsters will have a hard time calling the Hoosier State Nov. 4...

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin blew onto the national political scene like a surprise hit movie - with an exciting script, a new landscape, a fresh face - that suddenly everyone wanted to see and talk about. But now that the Republican vice presidential candidate has been seen and heard by millions - and parodied on "Saturday Night Live" before millions more - a question has been raised about the "Palin Effect." While GOP loyalists apparently still love the movie, is it starting to wear thin on the rest of America, particularly the legions of middle-of-the-road voters? "Is she a one-hit...

"...Her favorable rating is at 40 percent, down four points from last week, while her unfavorable rating stands at 30 percent, having risen eight points in the same period. Among women, Palin's favorable rating has fallen 11 points in the past week, the poll said...."

CARRBORO - Throughout the primary election season, Barack Obama's campaign argued that his nomination would expand the electoral playing field. In particular, they pointed to Southern states, including North Carolina, Virginia and Georgia. Even in states like South Carolina and Mississippi, local political observers have made the case that high African-American turnout could turn their states "blue." As pollsters, pundits and others make their predictions, African-American turnout has been the focus of arguments and discussions. However, there is another side of the coin. What will turnout be like in the conservative Christian community? Republican victory in the South has always...

BELLEVILLE, Pa. -- The folks in this picturesque mountain community with red barns and Amish buggies have been voting overwhelmingly Republican in national elections for decades. But tough economic times in Mifflin County and in rural areas all around the country have created possible openings for Democrat Barack Obama. President Bush won nearly 70 percent of the county's vote in both 2000 and 2004, but the standard of living here has declined steadily during his administration. The farm equipment factory that employed 500 workers here is closing. So is the milk plant. Farmers are facing skyrocketing feed and fertilizer costs,...

Since Mr. Limbaugh first flexed his tonsils two decades ago, Democrats have publicly worried about their lack of an answer to him and his imitators, who have proven so adept at motivating conservative Republicans to go to the polls, especially for President Bush. Now it is Mr. Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee, who has a harmonious chorus of broadcast supporters addressing a vital part of his coalition, feeding and reflecting the excitement blacks have for his candidacy in general. Mr. Obama is getting support from white liberal talk radio hosts as well, but the backing he is getting from black...

American Jewish leaders yesterday predicted a big turnout among Jews in November's presidential election in favour of Barack Obama, in spite of suspicions about his views on Iran and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Ira Forman, executive director of the National Jewish Democratic Council, an advocacy group with strong links to the Democratic party, said: "I think Obama will win the Jewish vote by a large margin. The question is how much?" Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Centre of Reform Judaism, said American Jews' political affinity with African Americans, born of a shared experience of discrimination, could outstrip concerns...

The "Obamacans" that Sen. Barack Obama used to joke about - Republican apostates who whispered their support for his candidacy - have morphed into a new phenomenon, or syndrome, as detractors like to call it: the Obamacons. These are conservatives who have publicly endorsed the presumptive Democratic nominee, dissidents from the brain trust of think tanks, ex-officials and policy magazines that have fueled the Republican Party since the 1960s. Scratch the surface of this elite, and one finds a profound dismay that is far more damaging to the GOP than the usual 10 percent of registered Republicans expected to switch...

The head of U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign refused to concede Sunday that she has no chance to win the Democratic presidential nomination. Appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press," Terry McCauliffe said it is still possible for Clinton to win the nomination, even though most pundits have concluded that she cannot overtake her rival, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, to become the Democratic Party nominee. "Look, tomorrow -- something new could happen," said McCauliffe. "Nothing's impossible. You are talking to Terry McAuliffe. I don't believe anything in life is impossible." McAuliffe argued that Clinton would be a stronger candidate than...

It was one of those typical questions from a reporter gaggle on Capitol Hill: Does Harry Reid think the protracted nomination fight between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton will harm the party? Reid didn't miss a beat. "It makes me bitter," he deadpanned. Reid has such a dry humor that you actually have to pause and look at him to make sure he's not being serious when he's attempting comedy. But his usual grimace in front of reporters quickly turned to a grin as he capitalized on the now infamous "bitter" comment made by Obama at a San Francisco area...

My notes on this from the Clinton call weren't clear, but USA Today posts the audio, which is. On the Clinton call earlier, Mark Penn said, "We believe that [the Pennsylvania primary result] will show that Hillary is ready to win, and that Sen. Obama really can’t win the general election." He later revised it to say that losing Pennsylvania would raise questions about Obama's ability to win. But it's a pretty strong thing to say.

Terry McAuliffe, the chairman of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s (D-N.Y) presidential campaign, said Thursday that the former first lady is raising an average of $1 million per day online this month. The longtime Clinton supporter tried to defuse stories indicating that the campaign is in trouble. McAuliffe noted that the delegate count remains close and predicted big wins in Ohio and Texas, where voters will go to the polls March 4, as well as Pennsylvania, which holds its primary April 22. “At the end of this process … if you look at where Hillary Clinton will have won — California,...

Recession in the US 'has arrived' Merrill said Friday's employment figures confirmed the recession The feared recession in the US economy has already arrived, according to a report from Merrill Lynch. It said that Friday's employment report, which sent shares tumbling worldwide, confirmed that the US is in the first month of a recession. Its view is controversial, with banks such as Lehman Brothers disagreeing. But a reserve member of the committee that sets US rates warned that it could do little about the below-trend growth expected in the next six months. "I am concerned that developments on the inflation...

TALK OF HILLARY EXIT ENGULFS CAMPAIGNS Mon Jan 07 2008 09:46:28 ET Facing a double-digit defeat in New Hampshire, a sudden collapse in national polls and an expected fund-raising drought, Senator Hillary Clinton is preparing for a tough decision: Does she get out of the race? And when?! "She can't take multiple double-digit losses in New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada," laments one top campaign insider. "If she gets too badly embarrassed, it will really harm her. She doesn't want the Clinton brand to be damaged with back-to-back-to-back defeats." Meanwhile, Democrat hopeful John Edwards has confided to senior staff that...

THIS much is sure. Americans will elect a new president to replace George Bush on November 4th. The election process will be a weird mixture of the old and the new: of flesh-pressing in Iowa and guerrilla warfare on YouTube. The presidential election will dominate the nation’s—and the world’s—attention, though the way the new president governs will also depend greatly on the outcome of the House and Senate elections which take place on the same day. The primary season will be unusually front-loaded. The citizens of Iowa and New Hampshire will vote earlier than ever, probably in the first half...

COUNTRY music's soul is red, white and blue. It is, so the cliché has it, music for regular all-American guys - and their gals - who wear cowboy boots, drive pick-up trucks, chew tobacco and consider being called a redneck a compliment. It is, quite unapologetically, music for the American heartland. And for the last five years you could judge the mood in the US by listening to the country music charts. The 9/11 terrorist attacks produced an outpouring of pumped-up patriotism from Nashville as country singers such as Toby Keith saluted the might of the US military and promised...

(Aug. 20) - At a debate Sunday in the critical showdown state of Iowa, Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama worked to counter suggestions that he is too inexperienced for the job, while Sen. Hillary Clinton fended off attacks from outgoing White House political adviser Karl Rove that voters perceive her too negatively. "Is Barack Obama ready to be president, experienced enough to be president?" moderator George Stephanopoulos asked, presenting the first question of the debate hosted by ABC's "This Week" in Des Moines, Iowa — the first state in the nation to choose party nominees. Clinton was asked about...

A rash of resignations on Capitol Hill and among President Bush’s senior staff has increased the impression that Republicans are fleeing for the exits before electoral disaster next year. In the past week three of the party’s four leaders in the House announced that they would not seek re-election, and yesterday Tony Snow, Mr Bush’s spokesman, became the latest senior White House aide to quit. This came after the announcement by Karl Rove, Mr Bush’s chief strategist, that he will leave on August 31. The growing exodus has intensified Republican fears that as the Bush presidency ends mired in Iraq,...

Three years ago things looked bleak for the Democratic Party. George Bush had just won a second term while his party consolidated its grip on Congress. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay crowed about a "permanent Republican majority," and Beltway Democrats acquiesced as Republicans built their unchallenged (and lawless) unitary executive. Democrats appeared to be on the run, disorganized and demoralized. But outside of Washington there was hope. Grass-roots Democratic activists had seen the future of our politics in Howard Dean -- plain-spoken and unapologetic. His presidential candidacy had come up short, but its fresh, optimistic approach -- predicated on offering...

Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean says “evangelical Christians ought to vote Democratic because Jesus would have.” While admitting that Jesus might have had problems with Democrats’ pro-choice stand on abortion, “I don’t think he would’ve been a one-issue voter,” Dean speculated. “His demographic profile—poor, unemployed, unmarried—looks like a Democrat.” "I haven't read a single word about Jesus criticizing gay marriage in the Bible," Dean said in an address at a Democratic fundraiser at a Reno, Nevada casino. “In fact, Jesus himself may have been gay. He spent most of his time hanging out with men. The women in his...

...he was stunned to see two large Confederate flags flying from trucks...emblazoned with the words "The South Shall Rise Again." I'm stunned, too, that people still think it is cool to fly this flag. Our society should bury these flags -- not flaunt them...because the Confederate flag symbolizes racial tyranny to so many... ...This flag doesn't belong on city streets, in videos or in the middle of civil discussion. It belongs in our past -- in museums and in history books -- along with the ideas it represents.

Rudy Giuliani portrayed himself as the heir to Ronald Reagan at the first Republican debate last night, talking tough on terrorism - but struggling to present a clear and consistent position on abortion. Giuliani, who strongly supported abortion rights during his eight years as mayor, said he would not object to the U.S. Supreme Court overturning the 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision affirming abortion. "It would be OK to repeal it," said Giuliani, who is courting key anti-abortion voters in the GOP primaries. But he then added that "it would be OK also if a strict constructionist viewed it as...

As I have traveled around the country, one line in my speeches always draws cheers: "The monologue of the Religious Right is over, and a new dialogue has now begun." We have now entered the post-Religious Right era. Though religion has had a negative image in the last few decades, the years ahead may be shaped by a dynamic and more progressive faith that will make needed social change more possible. In the churches, a combination of deeper compassion and better theology has moved many pastors and congregations away from the partisan politics of the Religious Right. In politics,...

New York Observer's Kornacki writes that "according to one influential Democratic insider, close associates of" Al Gore "have communicated to him and other prominent fund-raisers who are uncommitted to other '08 candidates" that Gore "will consider entering the race -- if an opening presents itself -- in September." The timing "would certainly make sense," since Gore, with his "enviable name recognition," "reliable financial network" and loyal Dem support, "can afford to wait." With his Oscar and Nobel Prize nods, upcoming Cong. testimony on global warming and his int'l concert series slated for Jul '07, Gore "figures to receive more prominent...

President Lincoln - 1862 Copyright Albert Kaplan 1983 (click on image for the full daguerreotype plate) In 1977 Albert Kaplan purchased the daguerreotype receipted as "Portrait of a Young Man" from an art gallery in New York. "When I first saw it I thought that there were similarities between the handsome, aristocratic, and tastefully groomed young man of the daguerreotype, and my mental image of President Lincoln."Over the years Kaplan researched and assembled materials which cast light on the physical man, Lincoln. Kaplan believed that the best qualified people to analyze the image, and the assembled materials, to consider...

What is the underlying conviction of the European countries managing to establish a political and economical union of 500 million citizens? The leading voices of the EU itself seem to believe it all boils down to PC declarations. An alternative assertion to European strength consisting in thoughtless PC gaiety would be the immense, unsurpassed European contribution to the development of Technology, Science and the depiction of Man and his life here upon Earth as interpreted by the Humanist ideals stemming from The Renaissance and Antiquity. The EU comission article: "Federal Minister von der Leyen: "The Strength of Europe is its...

Why Women Are Abandoning MenBy SHMULEY BOTEACH The Jerusalem Post Remember the days when little girls grew up dreaming about a knight in shining armor whisking them off their feet to live happily ever after? Remember when a woman's foremost fantasy was finding the man of her dreams? Well, that's all over now as women are abandoning men in droves and learning to find happiness completely on their own. Two astonishing studies show just how alarming the trend has become. First, there was the study, from the National Marriage Project at Rutgers University and others, that two-thirds of all divorces...

Michael Stone, the most infamous hitman of the Northern Ireland conflict, has confessed to planning to murder Ken Livingstone. The former Loyalist assassin has revealed in an interview how he stalked London's Mayor when he was leader of the GLC in the Eighties. He was within three days of carrying out the plan, he said, but it was called off because the operation had been penetrated by an informer. Stone, 51, has never told the full story of the plot, although it was known Mr Livingstone had been a target of Loyalist paramilitaries because of his support for the Republican...

Oct. 26, 2006  With the midterm elections less than two weeks away, the Republican Party faces the real possibility of forfeiting its grip on the House of Representatives for the first time since 1994. As the chart above shows, at last count, the forecast from NPR Political Editor Ken Rudin sees Democrats ahead in 211 races, Republicans ahead in 204 races, and 20 races as tossups. At last count, NPR's numbers suggest there are 60 key races that could swing control of the House. . . .