Free Republic

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Kimberly Strassel is in the Wall Street Journal today with an amazing piece: "Trolling for Dirt on the President's List." Listen to this: "Here's what happens when the president of the United States publicly targets a private citizen for the crime of supporting his opponent. Frank VanderSloot is the CEO of Melaleuca Inc. The 63-year-old has run that wellness-products company for 26 years out of tiny Idaho Falls, Idaho. Last August, Mr. VanderSloot gave $1 million to Restore Our Future, the Super PAC that supports Mitt Romney. "Three weeks ago, an Obama campaign website, 'Keeping GOP Honest,'...

In the summer of 2015, Center for Medical Progress (CMP) began releasing its undercover videos exposing alleged profiteering on the part of Planned Parenthood and its partners in the biomedical fetal tissue procurement industry. The shocking videos forced America’s largest abortion provider into rapid defense mode, and smearing undercover journalist David Daleiden and his group became a top priority of Planned Parenthood. The group hired Fusion GPS to perform a forensic evaluation on CMP’s videos, the results of which were reported at Politico in August of 2015 with the headline, “Report for Planned Parenthood Finds Sting Videos Manipulated.”

Was it a mistake for Donald Trump’s opponents in the Republican primary not to have done oppo research on Trump and uncovered the stories about his personal behavior that have recently emerged? On today’s With All Due Respect, Mark Halperin posed the question to GOP consultant Susan Del Percio [who had earlier indicated she wasn’t voting for Trump or Hillary]. Del Percio said that, indeed, it was “political malpractice” for Trump’s primary opponents not to have done such digging on him. She surmised that the candidates didn’t want to spend the money, and were worried that in retaliation Trump would...

Key Findings: Hillary Clinton would enact a number of tax policies that would raise taxes on individual and business income.Hillary Clinton’s plan would raise tax revenue by $498 billion over the next decade on a static basis. However, the plan would end up collecting $191 billion over the next decade when accounting for decreased economic output in the long run.A majority of the revenue raised by Clinton’s plan would come from a cap on itemized deductions, the Buffett Rule, and a 4 percent surtax on taxpayers with incomes over $5 million.Clinton’s proposals to alter the long-term capital gains rate schedule...

According to Clinton's website the key elements of her 100-Day Jobs Plan are: Make the boldest investments in American infrastructure since Eisenhower built the interstate highway system. In too many parts of the country, our infrastructure is crumbling and in disrepair. It’s time to put people to work rebuilding America. We will fix our roads and bridges; expand public transit so that more Americans have access to good-paying jobs; enhance our seaports and airports; connect all Americans to high-speed, affordable broadband; modernize our power grids; and build world-class schools for our children. These investments will create good-paying jobs today, and...

Earlier this week in Des Moines, Iowa, Clinton praised Iowa's development of wind power touting it as "clean energy" and promised to make it available around the country. Are Clinton's claims justified? How "clean" is wind power? Can it be made available nationwide? What is the cost? This series of five posts explains that wind power is not as "clean" as you might think, is systemically less efficient, produces far more expensive electricity and is likely to do so for a long time, and can not survive without taxpayer subsidies. So why does Clinton promote wind power and promise to...

"Watch Live: Des Moines Iowa Democratic Party Rally with Hillary Clinton (August 10, 2016) - Hillary Clinton Des Moines Iowa Rally - Full Speech:..." For oppo-research. ;-) If you can stomach Hillary, here it is for today. Clinton keeps them short as they usually don't go farther than 20 minutes or so. Her talk time here is about 17 minutes. Check out the size of the crowd for comparisons with Trump's rally crowds and other patterns and Hillary idiosyncrasies.

Last night, BuzzFeed got a hold of the 2008 John McCain campaign's research book on Mitt Romney. In over 200 painstakingly researched pages, it notes every slip-up, political fib, and potential liability for Romney going forward. And of course it picks apart all the times Romney has said one thing, and then when the political winds changed, said something else.

Back in early May, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani said he “can probably be talked into” running for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012. A new poll has done some “talking.” The CNN/(Opinion Research Corporation) survey released on Friday found Giuliani leading the pack of potential GOP candidates with 16 percent of the vote among Republicans and independents who lean toward the GOP. Mitt Romney is second with 15 percent, followed by Sarah Palin (13 percent), Ron Paul (12 percent), and Herman Cain (10 percent). The other potential candidates had single-digit percentages. “Call it a sign of how...

The purpose of this post is to begin providing links, tools, and tactics which we can all use to educate the public, fellow citizens, and neighbors about Hillary Clinton.It is a work in progress- I have provided a starting point, but want others to chime in with more links, stories, and information.It is the product of conversations with a number of other members, from which several salient tactical points emerged:1- keep it as contemporary as possible- the old Whitewater and similar items are stale and dead to the public.2- keep it civil, please- within the board guidelines, or better. We...

What led you to write your new book, “Confessions of a Political Hitman,” which chronicles your rather unsavory career as a Republican Party operative who was hired in hundreds of political campaigns to dig for dirt on Democratic candidates? I wouldn’t use the word unsavory. The voter has the right to know the history of any candidate in order to make the most educated vote. Why do you make yourself sound as benevolent as a reference librarian? Because opposition researchers perform a needed public service. In the 2000 election, you produced an infamous anti-Gore commercial, juxtaposing footage of Gore...

"I just want to give my buddies here a little air time." -- Fred Thompson sounding like Ronald Reagan (after showing a video about Romney and Huckabee that would take the bark off the trees, and being told the others would have time to respond) ... Thompson's video utilized YouTube clips that have been circulating for quite some time on YouTube. Only this time, they are also being broadcast on CNN. My bet is getting this negative information out is a lot better use of his time than merely putting out some puff-piece ...

Having hit Chris Matthews hard here in recent weeks, let's give him credit for flashing some real reporter's instincts in going after Hillary aide Howard Wolfson on this afternoon's Hardball on the issue of whether the campaign is conducting opposition research on its Dem rivals.View video here.Matthews: "Let me ask you about opposition research. Is that part of your campaign: checking out other candidates's possible flaws in their resumes? Are you guys going to engage in that kind of politics to win the nomination?" When Wolfson gave an evasive answer to the effect he and Hillary believe she can...