Free Republic

Video 3008: US Congressman Dennis Kucinich on Syrian TV, June 29, 2011 Congressman Kucinich: There are great democratic aspirations for freedom. This is part of this desire for freedom, which is really sweeping the region and the world. The government is listening to the people. There has to be an agreement between the opposition and the government. When those agreements start to come together, things will change. I have no doubt that they will change. But you’re at the point right now where it must… From what I have seen, the government shows a willingness to listen, and shows a...

From time to time until November 2012, I’ll be offering a snapshot of the emerging presidential race. This is the first. Here’s the headline: Given current national trends and a credible Republican nominee, the presidential election would be very, very close, and President Obama might even lose. The economic situation looks like it will not be good enough for the president to cruise to victory, yet it will not so bad that voters are in the mood to repudiate him. In such a situation, campaign tactics, branding, and the identity of the Republican nominee would likely determine the outcome of...

With 55 days to go and the latest polls showing the presidential showdown deadlocked in a tie, sounds of worry is emanating from the left about the impact of McCain runningmate Sarah Palin. But if Democratic nominee Barack Obama is worried, he’s got a great poker face. Speaking at a press briefing this afternoon in Ohio, Obama addressed the Washington Post/ABC poll which showed white women jumping over to the McCain-Palin ticket in droves. Polls, schmolls “These are the same polls that had me 20 down last summer that have swung wildly thought this process,” he said. “I think that...

Up until now – the Democrat Primaries have been more a source of amusement than a cause for concern. I have watched the blooming of Hillary’s inevitability wilt beneath the hot rhetoric of Obama’s win after win after win, and I have enjoyed the circus. I have watched Bill’s temper flare and I have imagined the “behind the scenes” raging of a pre-ordained President unable to meet her rendezvous with destiny. I have witnessed the enthusiasm of Hillary For President! fanatics fade away into an almost shamed silence. But – I remember the ruthless politics of the Clinton White House....

understand is this is what happens when your economy is very very LARGE. The larger you are, the harder it is to sustain the same % level of growth. Growing a $100 economy 1% just means adding another dollar of new goods and services a year whereas growing a $1,000,000 economy 1% every year means adding an additional $10,000 of new goods and services every year. The percentages still matter of course and a million dollar economy has a good chance of keeping that sustained growth, but it does face finite resources and dis-economies of scale. So clearly the numbers...

CAMP ANACONDA, Iraq - Spc. Chris Carlson had been out of the U.S. Army for two years and was working at Costco in California when he received notice that he was being called back into service. The 24-year-old is one of thousands of soldiers and Marines who have been deployed to Iraq under a policy that allows military leaders to recall troops who have left the service but still have time left on their contract. "I thought it was crazy," said Carlson, who has found himself protecting convoys on Iraq's dangerous roads as part of a New Jersey National Guard...

CANCUN, Mexico (Reuters) - Facing a tough battle to push immigration reform through U.S. Congress, President George W. Bush was likely to win support from President Vicente Fox at talks on Mexico's Caribbean coast on Thursday. Fox will offer tighter border security and incentives to help bring illegal Mexican immigrants back home when the pair meet in the beach resort of Cancun, Mexican officials say. The U.S. Senate began debating immigration reform on Wednesday and Republicans are split over whether to support an effort backed by Bush to create a guest worker program for millions of immigrants. Conservatives in Bush's...

PRESIDENT Bush is now putting his en tire presidency at risk, thanks to incompetence by his staff — and his own I-know-best stubbornness on the port furor. Bush has landed fellow Republicans in Congress with a nightmare choice: They can create a diplomatic incident by blocking the United Arab Emirates takeover of ports like New York, or they can commit political suicide. "No member of Congress is going to risk a TV ad run by their opponent showing Arab street thugs burning American flags and waving AK-47s superimposed over port icons like the Statue of Liberty," says a veteran Republican...

THE White House sought to distance itself today from the US administration's approval of an Arab company's takeover of operations at major US ports, a day after President George W. Bush vowed to veto any legislation to block the deal. White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the president was not aware of the pending deal until it was approved and had become public but then checked with cabinet secretaries to make sure they stood by their approval of the plan by state-controlled Dubai Ports World to manage six ports. Mr Bush held a rare news conference on Air Force One...

I was watching Maureen Dowd on Larry King last night and something she said jumped out at me. Read the quotes in bold below. One is from Maureen Dowd and the other is from Mary Mapes. (Both were on Larry King last week-but not on the same day). Obviously, journalism standards change from story to story depending on how they can be used to smear a Republican president: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0511/12/lkl.01.htmlKING:[talking about Judy Miller] Was she doing her job or was she caught up in it? DOWD: I think she was too creditable. And too, you know, investigative reporting is not stenography....