Free Republic

DES MOINES, Iowa — Joe Biden spoke of his connection to black voters at an NAACP event Sunday afternoon and claimed his “political identity” was molded by minorities in his home state of Delaware. “I have a lot of black support because that’s where I come from. I was raised in the black church, politically, not a joke,” the former vice president said in Des Moines. “When I got into politics, I was the only white guy working on the east side, in the projects, because these were the guys I grew up with. These were the guys I worked...

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s tours of soul food restaurants and black churches to court black voters in recent weeks doesn’t seem to be paying off. The turnout of black voters is down in many areas compared to 2012, including key battleground states, providing the latest evidence that the former first lady’s campaign may be circling the drain. The black voter turnout in the key state of North Carolina is down 16 percent in early voting. It’s a similar situation in Florida, where black voters heading to the polls in person has decreased from 25 percent in 2012 to a...

White House Holds Meeting With Muslims And Sikhs by KRISTIN DONNELLY, CHRIS JANSING and CORKY SIEMASZKO President Obama's top advisers held a series of meetings Monday with Muslim and Sikh religious leaders to discuss the fallout their communities are facing in the wake of the deadly San Bernardino shootings. Senior adviser Valerie Jarrett, Domestic Policy Council director Cecilia Munoz, and Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes took part in the White House sit-downs — a dozen days after a radicalized Muslim couple fatally shot 14 people and wounded 21 more in California. The Chicago-born Syed Farood and his wife Tashfeen...

Scott Walker entered the 2016 presidential race as a conservative who fights and wins. Assuming his announcement isn't totally overshadowed by the Iran deal, the first thing he will have to fight is Donald Trump's hijacking of the GOP nominating contest. Can he win? The Wisconsin governor is well suited to put an end to the Trumpnado. He offers a blue-collar, can-do conservatism. He appeals to various wings of the party. And most importantly, he can take away immigration as Trump's signature issue. Walker's tentative embrace of a populist immigration position isn't without political risks. But right now he is...

“… I think to every African-American in the country it’s a symbolism of slavery to them and now it’s a symbol of murder for this young man and so I think it’s times to put it in a museum.” Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul says he believes the Confederate battle flag is “inescapably a symbol of human bondage and slavery” and needs to go. “No, I agree, I think the flag is inescapably a symbol of human bondage and slavery, and particularly when people use it obviously for murder and to justify hated so vicious that you would kill somebody I...

As she expands her political network in advance of an expected presidential run, Hillary Rodham Clinton and her husband have been cultivating an important ally who some believe could become her vice presidential running mate. Former president Bill Clinton invited Julian Castro, a former San Antonio mayor and incoming Obama Cabinet secretary, to the Clintons’ home in Washington last week for a private dinner that friends described as a chance for Democratic leaders from different generations to become better acquainted. Castro, 39, who is scheduled to be sworn in Monday as secretary of housing and urban development, traveled to New...

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney sought on Saturday to calm fears that his Mormon faith would be an obstacle to evangelical Christian voters, stressing shared conservative values while acknowledging religious differences. In a speech at conservative Christian Liberty University—where it is taught that Mormonism is a cult—Romney stressed their common goal of service to God and declared his opposition to gay marriage, a position essential for winning the majority of evangelicals in November. "People of different faiths like yours and mine, sometimes wonder where we can meet in common purpose, when there are so many differences in creed and theology,"...

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) aims to have his alternative to the DREAM Act proposal on paper in the next few weeks and passed by the end of the summer. "Our goal is to pass something this summer in time for kids who plan to go to school this fall," Rubio press secretary Alex Conant said Monday. Rubio's proposal would provide non-immigrant visas to illegal immigrants' children who attend college or serve in the military. "So just like lots of people come to the United States on work visas or on student visas or tourism visas or whatever, this would be...

Voters encountered a confident and combative Rick Perry last night at the first New Hampshire town-hall meeting of the Texas governor's presidential campaign. After uneven debate performances, Perry didn't hesitate as he took questions from voters about job creation, Social Security and global warming at the Adams Memorial Opera House in Derry. Throughout, he pitched himself as the Republican candidate who presents the clearest contrast to President Obama. "We need a nominee for the Republican Party that is a clear contrast with Barack Obama," Perry said. "Ronald Reagan said it pretty good when he said 'Now is the time for...

In an interview with Time magazine, Gov. Rick Perry showed that he had no intention of softening the cactus-thorned rhetoric he developed during his decades in Texas politics, notably repeating his characterization of President Obama’s policies as “socialist.” “Look, when all the answers emanate from Washington, D.C., one size fits all, whether it’s education policy or whether it’s health care policy, that is, on its face, socialism,” Mr. Perry told Time’s Richard Stengel and Mark Halperin. In 2009, Mr. Perry told a Republican group in Texas that the Obama administration is “hell bent on taking America towards a socialist country.”...

Texas Governor Rick Perry delved into foreign policy this morning as he addressed the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in San Antonio, warning that the United States “cannot concede the moral authority of our nation to multi-lateral debating societies.” “I do not believe that America should fall subject to a foreign policy of military adventurism. We should only risk shedding American blood and spending American treasure when our vital interests are threatened and we should always look to build coalitions among the nations to protect the mutual interests of freedom loving people,” Perry told thousands of veterans today. “It’s not...

McCain at The Race conference: Capitulation complete; Update: Juan Hernandez to broker meeting with Morones? By Michelle Malkin • July 15, 2008 08:32 AM As expected, John McCain’s appearance at the annual convention of La Raza/The Race yielded no Hermana Souljah moments. Ed Morrissey points to McCain’s mild, almost apologetic rejoinder to open-borders zealot Enrique Morones and compares it to Barack Obama’s embrace of the radical activist. That’s a relief. But it’s the very least we could expect of a Republican candidate. And when you watch the clip Ed posted, you’ll notice that in response to Morones blasting our Border...

WASHINGTON — Yucca Mountain dropped back into the presidential race today when Sen. John McCain suggested the planned nuclear waste dump outside of Las Vegas may not be needed after all. Among the remaining presidential contenders, McCain has been the lone supporter of Yucca Mountain, making him the odd candidate out among Nevadans who overwhelmingly oppose the repository. Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama have both assured Nevada they would oppose the dump. But in a talk on nuclear security at the University of Denver, McCain offered another approach as part of global efforts to watchdog civilian nuclear power:...

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - John McCain toured still hurricane-damaged areas of New Orleans and declared that if the disaster had happened on his watch, he would have immediately landed his plane at the nearest Air Force base. The Republican presidential candidate is campaigning this week in what he calls forgotten areas of the country. He offered a pledge Thursday to New Orleans residents that their situation will not be forgotten and that such a botched disaster response will never happen again. McCain was unsparing in his criticism of the Bush administration. He said Congress must share some of the blame,...

Mike Huckabee’s just-announced plan to stop illegal immigration is about as tough as Fred Thompson’s. It includes the border fence and the employer verification measures that are important to pro-borders voters like me. NumbersUSA now gives Huckabee’s promises scores that are almost as good as the ones it gives Thompson’s. It’s heartening to see Huckabee move so far on this issue; as a governor, he was much more sympathetic to illegal aliens, even supporting special scholarships for them that were not available to US citizens. With Republican presidential candidates endorsing strong pro-borders measures, our prospects of getting the SAVE Act...

Huckabee: Abortion Not States' Call Sunday, November 18, 2007 3:01 PM Article Font Size WASHINGTON -- Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee rejects letting states decide whether to allow abortions, claiming the right to life is a moral issue not subject to multiple interpretations. "It's the logic of the Civil War," Huckabee said Sunday, comparing abortion rights to slavery. "If morality is the point here, and if it's right or wrong, not just a political question, then you can't have 50 different versions of what's right and what's wrong." "For those of us for whom this is a moral question, you...

DES MOINES.....a Grinnell College student, Muriel Gallo-Chasanoff, said a Clinton aide told her to ask Hillary a scripted question about global warming at a bio-diesel plant event.... "They were canned," according to The Scarlet & Black student newspaper. Before the event, Clinton's staff member got Gallo-Chasanoff to ask the after Clinton's speech. "One of the senior staffers told me what [to ask]," she said. When Gallo-Chasanoff asked about global-warming, Clinton replied that young people often ask her that question.

WELLESLEY, Mass. — Senator Clinton is describing her opposition to the war in Iraq as an extension of Eugene McCarthy's position in the 1960s movement against the war in Vietnam. Mrs. Clinton's comments came at an energy-charged rally yesterday at her alma mater, Wellesley College. Her visit, the ostensible purpose of which was to announce a new Web site aimed at younger voters, hillblazers.com, created palpable excitement on campus. Hundreds of students lined up amid Wellesley's autumnal splendor for a chance to hear the speech of the 1969 graduate and then moved and bopped to the strands of Smash Mouth's...

NEW YORK – Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani says God is a very important part of his life. "I believe in God. I pray to God, and I pray to Jesus for guidance, help,” Giuliani said in an interview with Christian Broadcasting Network. “I have very, very strong views on religion that come about from having wanted to be a priest when I was younger, having studied theology for four years in college.” The former New York mayor said he feels God’s help when “in crisis and under pressure like Sept. 11, when I was dealing with prostate cancer, or...