Free Republic

Has the left’s half-century-long struggle to return the Democratic Party to its working class roots become an exercise in futility? This is perhaps the most vexing question facing the party of liberal America. It is not an easy one to answer. In recent years, the Democratic electorate has moved in two directions. First: The percentage of Democrats with a college degree has almost doubled, growing from 22 percent in 1996 to 41 percent in 2019. Second: While the percentage of Democrats who are non-Hispanic and white has fallen from 76 to 59 percent over the same period, according to Pew...

House progressives are doing damage control after retreating from a letter that stirred outrage among Democrats by questioning President Biden’s handling of the Russia-Ukraine war two weeks before the midterm elections. The letter, blamed Tuesday on poor staff work, raised questions about the political acumen of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and its leader, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), who is eyeing a run at leadership in the next Congress. “The letter was drafted several months ago, but unfortunately was released by staff without vetting. As Chair of the Caucus, I accept responsibility for this,” Jayapal wrote in a Tuesday statement. The...

On October 22, 2020, then-candidate Joe Biden vowed to "shut down the virus, not the country."14 months later, now-President Biden just admitted that there's no 'federal solution' to the pandemic, and that it's up to individual states to do what he promised."Look, there is no federal solution," he said during a call with state governors. "This gets solved at state level … and that ultimately gets down to where the rubber meets the road, and that’s where the patient is in need of help — or preventing the need for help.""My message to the governors is simple: if you need...

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden on Saturday clarified a prior statement that he would not comply with a Senate subpoena in President Trump's impeachment trial, saying that the matter concerns "Trump’s conduct, not mine." "I have always complied with a lawful order and in my eight years as VP, my office — unlike Donald Trump and Mike Pence — cooperated with legitimate congressional oversight requests," the former vice president said on Twitter. "But I am just not going to pretend that there is any legal basis for Republican subpoenas for my testimony in the impeachment trial," he continued. "That is...

A senior member of Gaza's Islamist rulers Hamas has encouraged Palestinians across the globe to kill Jews, drawing outrage from both Israeli and Palestinian officials as well as a UN envoy. In video from a speech to participants of weekly protests on Friday, Fathi Hamad, a member of the movement's top political body, can be seen calling on Palestinian Arabs across the globe to carry out attacks. "If this siege is not undone, we will explode in the face of our enemies, with God's permission. The explosion is not only going to be in Gaza but also in the West...

James Comey has said he hopes Donald Trump will not be impeached following the completion of the special counsel’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Instead the former FBI director wants the president to suffer a “resounding” loss at the ballot box on 2020 As speculation that Robert Mueller is on the verge of completing his almost two-year-long investigation, Comey published an opinion article in the New York Times, writing: “I hope that Mr Trump is not impeached and removed from office before the end of his term.” The op-ed continued: “I don’t mean that Congress shouldn’t move...

PITTSBURGH -- The entire Pittsburgh Steelers team plans to stand for the national anthem Sunday at Baltimore, center Maurkice Pouncey said Wednesday. "I care about the flag dearly," Pouncey said. "Trust me, this team will be out there standing." Asked about full participation, Pouncey said, "As I know it, it's 100 percent." "We love this country," Pouncey continued. "This is America. Yes, we know there are injustices in this world. For me personally, football is for football; that's what we'll approach it as." A source said some Steelers players have discussed kneeling Sunday but it's uncertain whether that will happen....

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on Thursday walked back comments that President Obama was "directly responsible" for the mass shooting at an Orlando nightclub that left 49 people dead. "I misspoke," McCain said in a statement. "I did not mean to imply that the President was personally responsible. I was referring to President Obama's national security decisions, not the President himself."

President Barack Obama hinted Friday that he might not strike Syria if Congress rejects his authorization request. “I’m not itching for military action… and if there are good ideas that are worth pursuing, then I’m going to be open to them,” he told one reporter who asked if he was seeking alternatives to a missile strike. “Are we on a fast track to military action as soon as Congress renders its judgment one way or the other?” the reporter asked Obama, during his morning press conference in St. Petersburg, Russia.

- After sharp criticism from Mitt Romney and Republicans, the Democrats have reinstated the language into their party platform that recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel as well as the words "God-given" that were removed in this year's platform.

Please make up your mind, Mr. President. You can’t vacillate when spending America’s human and fiscal resources in yet another foreign country without good reason. You said that Libyan leader Gaddafi has got to go. Many of us heard that as your call to action and agreed, "Okay, you’re right. He’s an evil dictator who kills his own innocent people, so enforce a no-fly zone so he can’t continue an aerial slaughter." But then you said our mission in Libya isn’t to oust Gaddafi after all. (Or vice versa on the order or your statements. Between you and your advisers...

Excerpt-UPDATE, 6:55 p.m.: Schmidt released this statement on the controversy: “The President is indeed a Citizen of this country and constitutionally qualified to be President of the United States. I may not agree with his politics but there is no doubt he is the President and has my full respect....

By Elan Journo web posted October 29, 2007 Thanks to a new diplomatic deal, the nuclear stand-off with North Korea will allegedly end bloodlessly. In exchange for 950,000 tons of fuel oil, or its equivalent in economic aid and diplomatic concessions from the West, North Korea has promised to disclose all of its nuclear programs and disable all of its nuclear facilities. This new arrangement is being celebrated as a levelheaded, practical, win-win solution to the problem of the North Korean nuclear threat. But this deal, like all previous ones, rewards the North for its aggression and will strengthen...

It appears that Rudy Giuliani, intelligent man that he is, understands the damage he did to his efforts to connect with conservatives in his CNN interview yesterday. As Kathryn Jean Lopez posted at The Corner, Giuliani has started to climb down from his support of funding abortions with tax dollars: MAYOR GIULIANI: "What I said yesterday is what I've been saying throughout, I think in the last number of months publicly and privately for quite some time, which is I'm against abortion, I hate it, I wish there never was an abortion and I would council a woman have an...

Apparently, many people missed the point of my column calling for the impeachment of President Bush for his dereliction of duty on the border and his non-enforcement of immigration laws. Some readers explained to me the impracticality of a successful impeachment. Others tried to tell me Vice President Dick Cheney would carry on the same misguided policies. Still others told me such a move would play into the hands of people like Hillary Rodham Clinton. So let me take another stab at this. I echoed Pat Buchanan's call for a bill of impeachment to be introduced by some courageous Republican...

For Immediate Release Tuesday, August 24, 2004 KERRY CAMPAIGN BACKTRACKS ON FIRST PURPLE HEART AWARD Campaign Says May Have Been Self-Inflicted Washington—In a reversal of their staunch defense of John Kerry's military service record, Kerry campaign officials were quoted by Fox News saying that it was indeed possible that John Kerry's first Purple Heart commendation was the result of an, unintentional, self-inflicted wound." "GARRETT: And questions keep coming. For example, Kerry received a Purple Heart for wounds suffered on December 2, 1968. But in Kerry's own journal written nine days later, he writes he and his crew, quote, "hadn't been...