Free Republic

The dance continues. Nader seeks a diverse and fierce ticket. In an election environment where diversity is playing a key role in attracting voters, perpetual presidential contender Ralph Nader said he's decided on dancer Jose Fantastico as his running mate. Fantastico will be the first Hispanic and the only openly gay vice presidential candidate in history. "Oh my God! I feel like Sally Field," Fantastico said at a press conference. "You like me! You really, really like me!" Fantastico said he brings a lot to the ticket. His style sense is listed as a major asset to Nader, who has...

Searching high and low for someone to blame for contaminated tomatoes, CNN’s Lou Dobbs tried: imported produce; a “moronic” Food and Drug Administration; and finally, President George W. Bush. In the June 16 edition of “Lou Dobbs Tonight,” Dobbs slammed the FDA and the president for not controlling the salmonella outbreak. After claiming that the FDA is “led by complete moronic, unengaged incompetents” and calling them “idiots,” Dobbs proceeded to link the spread of salmonella to Bush. “As for this administration, were a responsible president at the helm of this country, I would wonder why he is not taking action,...

Speaking on Wall Street last night, Senator McCain of Arizona sounded more like an economic populist than a proponent of the kind of unbridled free-market capitalism promoted by many who work on the trading floors nearby. At a town hall meeting in Federal Hall, the presumptive Republican nominee for president endorsed a federal probe into speculation in the oil markets, a phenomenon that some analysts contend accounts for about a third of the escalating cost of crude. "I believe there needs to be a thorough and complete investigation of speculators to find out whether speculation has been going on and,...

By far, the most significant story of the 2008 Republican primaries has been the unlikely candidacy of Mike Huckabee and his_single-handed_resuscitation of Christian conservatives as a force to be reckoned with in the Republican_Party. Yet, regardless of how he fares on Super_Tuesday_and_beyond, Mr. Huckabee will perhaps be best remembered as the man who, however unintentionally, helped persuade evangelicals to vote a Democrat into the White House in 2008 – and possibly in future races, as well. Since the 1970s, conventional_wisdom has held that evangelicals are driven by a single-minded_concern with defending "moral values," while mainline Protestants focus on issues of...

1. “I don’t think the governor’s tax cut is too big—it’s just misplaced. Sixty percent of the benefits from his tax cuts go to the wealthiest 10% of Americans—and that’s not the kind of tax relief that Americans need. … Gov. Bush wants to spend the entire surplus on tax cuts. I don’t believe the wealthiest 10% of Americans should get 60% of the tax breaks. I think the lowest 10% should get the breaks. … “I’m not giving tax cuts for the rich.” —Discussion with media, reported in “Bush, McCain Snip Over Tax Cut Plans,” Los Angeles Times, and...

Oh boy one has to believe that Huckabee will be getting some blow-back from this. These push polls have even brought out the South Carolina Attorney General to make this statement: “Last evening the Associated Press reported that that an out-of-state special interest group, Common Sense Issues, had launched a massive push polling effort disparaging John McCain and other candidates for president. In their push poll, Common Sense Issues makes several misleading claims regarding John McCain’s record.“Allow me to set the record straight. In the U.S. Senate, John McCain has been an unwavering voice for the rights of the unborn....

Many have discussed whether certain candidates have "fire in the belly." What I'm wondering is whether, at this point in our national history, conservatives in general have fire in their bellies. Given Gov. Mike Huckabee's remarkable performance so far in the GOP presidential contest in the name of conservatism, and especially after seeing his interview on the "Tonight Show," I question how brightly that flame is flickering. When Ronald Reagan was running for president in 1980, conservatives had more reasons to be discontent. We had been conditioned to believe that inviolable economic principles dictated that there was a necessary trade-off...

Apparently, small government Republicans [Huckabee’s] aides are wary of New Hampshire. “It’s all no tax, no government there,” said Bob Wickers, a top strategist. “It’s not ideal.” But they believe that the message of economic anxiety that he preaches will help in Michigan’s primary on Jan. 15 and in states in the South, which have high poverty rates in addition to strong groups of social conservatives.” Mike Huckabee is skipping New Hampshire because it’s too fiscally conservative. Instructive, yes? Huckabee’s brand of identity politics is as dangerous as anyone else’s - after nearly eight years of a fiscally liberal Republican...

It is very rare, if not unheard of, to catch a presidential candidate, especially a Republican, in the act of saying he or she would be willing to sign any tax increase that lawmakers wished for. But that's what happened to former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who has rocketed to a statistical tie in Iowa with Mitt Romney, largely as a result of the former Baptist minister's support from evangelical voters in the nation's first caucus state. The Club for Growth, an effective tax-cut advocacy group, has been on Huckabee's back almost from the beginning of his candidacy, sending out...

* Ron Paul, the libertaran truth-teller who knows how to leverage the Internet * Mike Huckabee, who genuinely appeals to conservative Christians * Fred Thompson, who has name recognition and appeals to country-club geezers * Rudy Giuliani, who will scare voters into thinking he alone can keep the country safe * Lou Dobbs, whose populist appeal and outsider credentials will seduce GOP masses * Mitt Romney, because he has great hair

Conservative Republicans disenchanted with their presidential options dream that Fred Dalton Thompson is the Great Right Hope for 2008. Fans of the 65-year-old actor and former Tennessee senator call him a Southern-fried Ronald Reagan clone with impressive name recognition and a folksy appeal who can unite the party - and beat Hillary Clinton. It won't be a cakewalk for Thompson, who, after several false starts, will launch his candidacy Thursday via his I'mWithFred Web site. He's starting unusually late, has had trouble raising cash and has been soporific in recent testing-the-water outings. "The wow factor is gone," a Republican operative...

John Edwards ended 2004 with a problem: how to keep alive his public profile without the benefit of a presidential campaign that could finance his travels and pay for his political staff. Mr. Edwards, who reported this year that he had assets of nearly $30 million, came up with a novel solution, creating a nonprofit organization with the stated mission of fighting poverty. The organization, the Center for Promise and Opportunity, raised $1.3 million in 2005, and — unlike a sister charity he created to raise scholarship money for poor students — the main beneficiary of the center’s fund-raising was...

John Edwards may be running for the White House as a populist concerned about "the other America," but that doesn't mean he has to sit in the cheap seats. The ex-North Carolina senator attended Thursday night's NBA finals in Cleveland, watching from the courtside "Platinum Suites" VIP seats costing thousands of dollars. "He should sue himself . . . for political malpractice," said Dan Ronayne, deputy communications director of the Republican National Committee. Countered Edwards spokesman Eric Schultz: "Breaking news - a candidate from North Carolina likes basketball. Wait till they find out he had a hot dog."

Democratic Response of Senator Jim Webb To the President’s State of the Union Address **Exclusive** Tue Jan 23 2007 19:10:01 ET [EMBARGOED UNTIL 8:45pm ET] Good evening. I’m Senator Jim Webb, from Virginia, where this year we will celebrate the 400th anniversary of the settlement of Jamestown – an event that marked the first step in the long journey that has made us the greatest and most prosperous nation on earth. It would not be possible in this short amount of time to actually rebut the President’s message, nor would it be useful. Let me simply say that we...

NEW YORK (CNN) -- The Democratic victory last week has our political elites in both parties and in the national media squealing like stuck pigs. Way to go, America, we may be on the way. It seems nothing frightens our free trade and pro-illegal immigration orthodoxies more than putting the common good and the national interest above dominant special interests, corporate America and, of course, our darling elites in both political parties and the media. The Bush administration long ago took polemics and false choices to a high art form. On the issue of the war in Iraq, this administration...

NEW YORK (CNN) -- We Americans like to think we're a pretty smart people, even when evidence to the contrary is overwhelming. And nowhere is that evidence more overwhelming than in the Middle East. History in the Middle East is everything, and we Americans seem to learn nothing from it. President Harry Truman took about 20 minutes to recognize the state of Israel when it declared independence in 1948. Since then, more than 58 years of war, terrorism and blood-letting have led to the events of the past week. Even now, as Katyusha rockets rain down on northern Israel and...

LA PAZ, Bolivia - Students attending a conflict resolution course in this politically tumultuous Andean nation got some unexpected extracurricular experience when Bolivia's leftist government accused the program's sponsor of being a front for U.S. spies.

There’s nothing harder in public life than admitting you’re wrong. By the way, admitting you’re wrong can be even tougher in private life. If you don’t believe me, just ask Bill Clinton or Charlie Sheen. But when you go out on the limb in public, it’s out there where everyone can see it, or in my case, hear it. So, I’m saying today, I was wrong to have voted for George W. Bush. In historic terms, I believe George W. Bush is the worst two-term President in the history of the country. Worse than Grant. I also believe a case...

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - Reprising the populist notes of his first campaign, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday said he will continue to push for government reforms but called on skeptical members of his own party to stop fighting and start leading. Republicans, he said, have a "history of boldness" that they must seek to regain in California. "We will continue to fight for recovery and for reform - if it is pension reform, education reform, redistricting reform or if it's budget reform," Schwarzenegger said to a packed convention hall at the Fairmont Hotel. "But here is where I believe...

Guide to the Perfect Latin American Idiot, by Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza, Carlos Alberto Montaner, and Alvaro Vargas Llosa, translated by Michaela Lajda Ames, New York Madison Books, 218 pages, $24.95 My Costa Rican friend Celeste, ordinarily mild-mannered to a fault, was turning purple. The TV newscast said her country was about to get its first maquila, a factory where cloth would be imported duty free from the United States, cut and sewn into garments, and shipped back to the United States. An enterprising reporter discovered that the Costa Rican seamstresses--though well paid by local standards--would be making about $4 an...

Love him or not, viewers will have the chance to debate Bill O'Reilly on his Fox News Channel talk show, "The O'Reilly Factor," next month. O'Reilly has announced the Great Factor Debate Contest, in which six winners will face off with the outspoken TV commentator on a topic of their choice. "You want a piece of me?" O'Reilly said Monday. "Would you like to sit on this set right here and let me have it? Of course you would. Well, now that can happen." He warned viewers to "be careful what you wish for." Applicants can enter by e-mailing OReillyContest"at"foxnews.com....

Is Hillary a centrist? Let's look at her votes President Bill Clinton was elected in 1992, and I'm still trying to figure out exactly what a "New Democrat" is. Specifically, was the phrase anything more than a cynical Clintonian effort to make liberal Democrats appear more moderate? Looking ahead, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), who must be considered the early Democratic front-runner for the White House in 2008, seems to be adopting a similar strategy. Over the past year, much has been made in various media accounts of Clinton's leaving her liberalism behind in favor of the center.

Enviro-Elitist Poses As Gas-Pump Populist By Jeffrey, Terence P Sen. Biliary Clinton (D.-N.Y.) sometimes talks as if she wants oil and gas to be cheap and abundant, but she never stops working to make them expensive and scarce. But there's a key to predicting when she will start gushing about America's need for inexpensive fossil fuels. Call it Hillary's hurricane rule: When a storm interrupts oil and gas supplies from the Gulf Coast, she becomes an instant gas-pump populist. Flash back to Sept. 28, 2004. A headline in that day's New York Times read: "Oil Nears $50 As Gulf Storms...

MEXICO CITY (AP) - Mexico's political, church and business elite are expressing concern that Latin America's rising tide of charismatic leftists may soon sweep into Mexico. The warnings are clearly aimed at Mexico City's free-spending mayor, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who leads the polls for the 2006 presidential race. "Here come the messiahs who offer the earth and the sky ... populists with magic recipes for everything," President Vicente Fox said recently. "In the end they are only cheating people and taking money away from hard working people." But the mayor insists he's just focusing on "social justice, helping the...

January 5, 2005 | Recently Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chávez gave Aljazeera TV an interview in which he openly disclosed his plans to lead a global "offensive war" against U.S. "colonialism and imperialism." The interview was one of those prepared events in which the questions are carefully designed to invite the answers. Not journalism but impudent advertisement. The presenter, Mr. Faysal Al-Quaim, starts by telling Chávez that he is so popular in the Arab world that, if he ran in an Arab presidential election he would "win by more than 90% of the votes" and hastened to add: "I mean a...

Still reeling from his loss to President Bush on Tuesday, Senator John Kerry is being urged by top advisers and friends to take a high-profile role as the Democratic Party grapples with issues like selecting its next chairman and shaping its identity and course. Unlike Al Gore, who made a tortured exit from the public stage after his loss to Mr. Bush four years ago, Mr. Kerry has a Senate seat to return to and is under no pressure to disappear from view for the sake of national unity and the legitimacy of the presidency, his advisers say. They argue...

Remarks of Senator John Edwards Des Moines, Iowa Monday, December 29, 2003 As Prepared It is an honor to be here at Creative Visions. Since 1996, your doors have been open to thousands of young people in need of a safe and caring place. Whether it's an after-school program, a job training class, or a Sunday night meal at the drop in for homeless young people, the work that you do every day is nothing short of heroic. This is the time of year when we remember what matters to us: our family and loved ones, and the hope we...

<p>POLITICIANS of all political persuasions are busy invoking the legacy of Hiram Johnson, the governor of California from 1911 to 1917, who pushed the constitutional amendments for initiative, referendum and recall that California voters ratified in 1911. These reforms set the stage for the state's tradition of "direct democracy."</p>

Media Reality Check. "Howard Dean: Not a Fierce Liberal Force? Media Brand Vermont Governor 'Populist,' 'Anti-War,' and a Magnet for 'Middle-Class Resentment'" The text of the July 15 report: Here's one sign the media are beginning to take Howard Dean's presidential campaign seriously. The "liberal" label has been dropped from coverage, and in some stories, denied. In this week's Newsweek, Howard Fineman never described Dean as liberal, but did find him on target: "As an early foe of war in Iraq, he made acerbic comments that now look prescient." Here are some other examples of the trend: > Time. The...

Early this month, Bill Moyers, the zillionaire PBS contractor, implored a gathering of Democratic faithful to Take Back America. His speech generated applause far greater than those of any of the presidential hopefuls on the program. Mr. Moyers's version of US history is cockeyed, his diagnosis of social ills is absurd, and his prescription for their cure is preposterous. Moyers claims to be a populist, but he has contempt for the people. We have been duped, see, and are captives of the "ruling class" who exploit and immiserate us. We are unaware of the depredations of the oligarchy, have been...

I often disagree with Bill O'Reilly, but I want to defend him. A lot of smart people are bashing him on line, particularly in the blogosphere, but I think that this just proves his point. I think that he's spot on with this erudite and well-reasoned editorial. This "Internet" is just too powerful. When the Founders wrote the First Amendment, they could never have conceived a technology that would allow anyone to publish anything at any time, at almost no cost, and have it readable by millions instantaneously. In fact, inspired by this work, I'm working on a book, tentatively...

Hi, I'm Bill O'Reilly. Thanks for watching us tonight. Sex, lies and videotape on the Internet, that's the subject of this evening's Talking Points Memo. Nearly everyday, there's something written on the Internet about me that's flat out untrue. And I'm not alone. Nearly every famous person in the country's under siege. Today's example comes from Web sites that picked up a false report from The San Francisco Chronicle that said a San Francisco radio station dropped The Radio Factor. If anyone had bothered to make even one phone call, they would have learned that Westwood One made a deal...