Free Republic
Encyclopedia
Free Republic is a moderated Internet forum
for activists
, and chat site for self-described conservatives
, primarily within the United States
. It presents articles and comments posted pseudonym
ously by registered members, known as "Freepers", using screen names. For each article, the forum's main page typically shows its headline, plus the first 100 words of the article as posted to Free Republic. Users can see the full article at its original source by clicking a hyperlink
beneath the headline.
Free Republic has been involved in several organized conservative campaigns including against CBS anchor Dan Rather
and against the Dixie Chicks
for their antiwar statements. Freepers were instrumental in exposing a lack of authenticity in the so-called "Killian memos
".
, and Free Republic mail. Some are only "ping list" groups, members who include their names in a list to be "pinged" on news articles of a certain nature. Some cover presidential events (daily picture, prayer, and speech threads), some focus on contemporary conservative issues such as the Second Amendment
, the pro-life
movement, or opposing gay marriage. The more active chapters organize
live protests, which they call "Freeps." Since the 2000 election
, these are often counter-protests, responses to protests by opposition groups, or small rallies.
, Free Republic opened to the general public in February 1997. Robinson filed for LLC
status on September 11, 1998. It has always been a for-profit company and donations have never been tax exempt.
Free Republic gained popularity during the Clinton impeachment from 1997 till 1999, a time when it was linked on the Drudge Report
as "Whitewater
Archives," when protests and write-in campaigns were organized through the website. Many were also introduced to the site through an impeachment rally in Washington, attended by over 3000 participants, called the "March for Justice," broadcast live on Halloween
1998 by C-SPAN
. Featured speakers included Alan Keyes
, Bob Barr
, Reverend Jesse Lee Peterson
of B.O.N.D. and Larry Klayman
. Ann Coulter
, Lucianne Goldberg
and Matt Drudge
also attended. Other Free Republic events over the years have also been televised by C-SPAN.
Drudge dropped the link to Free Republic by February 1999, "because they were doing racist stuff over the (imaginary) [Clinton love child]... I click on and I see this headline, "Nigger
Baby."" Drudge quickly restored the link, but later dropped it again for unknown reasons. As of April 2008 the Free Republic link is back on Drudge.http://www.drudgereport.com/
In its early years, Free Republic generally allowed its members to post copyrighted news stories in entirety to its forum, regardless of whether permission had been granted by content owners, until the site was sued in 1998 by The Washington Post
and The Los Angeles Times for copyright infringement. The newspapers obtained a permanent injunction
, although stipulated damages of $1 million were reduced to $10,000 during settlement negotiations which allowed the defendants to drop their appeal
. The case, often cited when arguing cyberlaw, is called L.A. Times v. Free Republic
.
From 1996-2000, the bulletin board was virtually unmoderated. This policy was central to the website's "fair use
" defense in the copyright infringement litigation, wherein it stated "(t)he website operated by the defendants, www.freerepublic.com, permits anyone who wishes to post news articles or other items and to post commentary about the article as well ... no censorship
is made and all views are permitted.". This supposed light moderating hand did not prevent the permanent banishment from the site of such "controversial" contributors as crime author Dan E. Moldea, "What Really Happened" website host Mike Rivero, and Internet poet, David Martin.
Salon.com
's Jeff Stein observed in 1999 that: "[A] swelling number of haters have turned up the volume of death threats, gay-bashing, name-calling and conspiracy theories
tying the father of Republican front-runner George W. Bush
to drug-dealing by the CIA." Robinson "famously blasted George W. Bush's presidential candidacy back in 2000, before a dramatic late-campaign about-face that saw him emerge as one of the GOP ticket's biggest supporters." These shifts signalled internal battles comparable to the nomination controversies of 2007 "as its founder and chief administrator first cleansed commenting ranks of Bush supporters, then, later, rallied to his support."
White House Press Secretary
and former Fox News commentator Tony Snow
was a registered member of Free Republic. Snow was not afraid to 'mix it up' with the Freepers who sometimes disagreed with his political philosophy and who called him a "pansy".
Free Republic had been criticized during the pre-moderation period for the actions of several of its members. In 1999, FReepers ran a campaign to make fake donations to the legal defense fund of Julie Hiatt Steele, who had been charge with obstruction of justice during then-President Bill Clinton's impeachment trial. Hundreds of fraudulent transactions from this campaign cost Ms. Steele around $4000. Some threatened to assassinate Clinton, like this from February 2001: "If he keeps on he's going to make me come up there. There is only one solution to the Klintons, two 45 rounds and a nice little spot in Marcy Park."
When the bar manager of an Austin, Texas
restaurant called 9-1-1
to notify authorities that an underage Jenna Bush
had attempted to purchase liquor in June 2001, the bar manager's personal information including her home address, date of birth, driver's license number and physical description was posted on FreeRepublic, along with calls for punitive action. The Clinton threat and some of the bar manager's personal information were removed by Robinson when brought to his attention, and the authors' posting privileges were revoked. He said that the site had had to "delete relatively few posts" over time for violations of its "no-violence" policy despite Free Republic's popularity and ease of registration.
During the 2004 election
, Jerome Corsi
, a Swift Boat Vet and co-author of the book Unfit for Command
that attacked the Vietnam war
record of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, apologized in the national media for comments that he made on Free Republic under the user name "jrlc."
One of the first responses to "Memogate
", the controversy surrounding CBS News
' use of documents of questionable origin during the 2004 presidential campaign, came on Free Republic the night of the broadcast. When the "Killian memos" (which were allegedly created during the 1970s) were shown during a CBS News broadcast, a Republican lawyer going by the pseudonym of "Buckhead" mentioned the memos' proportional spacing and made the claim that such printing was "not widespread until the mid to late 90's". Buckhead's post and some responses spread across the blogosphere rapidly, and were picked up by the Drudge Report the following afternoon. Within minutes of Buckhead's post, there was some dispute as to whether the Executive line of IBM typewriters had proportionally spaced fonts at the time, arising from a comment on the Power Line
blog. The dispute made headlines when an investigative panel set up to examine authenticity issues
with the documents "was not able to reach a definitive conclusion". Canadian journalist Ivor Tossell later opined that Free Republic was "central to the network of websites that uncovered the forged memos about Bush's Vietnam service that appeared on CBS News and ultimately cost Dan Rather his job." The Columbia Journalism Review
wrote, "But on close examination the scene looks less like a victory for democracy than a case of mob rule."
had committed adultery
. These rumors were suspected to be coming from the camp of Governor of Maryland
Robert Ehrlich
. O'Malley was a likely (and eventual) opponent of Ehrlich in the 2006 gubernatorial race
. Using this alias, MD4Bush allegedly lured Joseph Steffen, aide to Ehrlich, who had a Free Republic membership as "NCPAC," into contact. MD4Bush then allegedly brought up the O'Malley rumors, and baited Steffen into giving responses on the FR "private message" system, appearing to take credit for spreading the rumors.
Ehrlich fired Steffen when the contents of these messages were published in the Washington Post on February 9, 2005. "Kristinn Taylor, a spokesman for FreeRepublic.com, said [Maryland Democratic Party communications director] Ryan O'Doherty's Democratic Party address was one of at least three used to operate the identity of MD4BUSH." Taylor charged that Post reporter Matthew Mosk's access to the MD4Bush account was a violation of the Free Republic users agreement, and they were "looking into whether the Washington Post violated the Electronic Communications Privacy Act
when Post reporter Matthew Mosk accessed the Free Republic account of MD4Bush."
The e-mail address used in October 2004 to open the MD4Bush account was later changed to rodoherty@mddems.org, then changed for a third time. Anyone who had the password to the MD4Bush account could change the e-mail registration address at any time. It is not known how many people may have had access to that password. The e-mail address information obtained does not shed light on the actual users of the MD4Bush account, nor does it reveal whether someone attached the Ryan O'Doherty e-mail address to the account without his knowledge.
Dick Cheney
and to honor the men and women serving in the United States Armed Forces
. The event was promoted to feature then Arkansas
Republican Governor Mike Huckabee
and his rock
band Capitol Offense
.
The band Dixie Chicks
and lead singer Natalie Maines
claim that Free Republic was instrumental in fueling a nationwide boycott
of their music, which was organized by some former fans and radio stations after Maines made anti-Bush comments in 2003. In their 2006 documentary Shut Up and Sing as well as in interviews, the Dixie Chicks have often mentioned Free Republic in reference to the boycott, which sharply reduced sales of their CDs and concert tickets.
Maines was quoted as saying: "It's scary how much power they do have. They can take down someone singlehandedly (sic) and I don't think Americans are aware of that." "And I think it was originally started by the Free Republic. And they were very organized in calling radio stations across the country and telling them that they would never listen to their station, when they didn't even live in that town." Kristinn Taylor of Free Republic's dominant Washington D.C. chapter attended the screening of the documentary, hosted by the liberal advocacy group Center for American Progress
. He was invited to join in a discussion after the screening and complimented the director on the film.
. The New York Observer
reported:
Robinson himself endorsed Fred Thompson and was an enthusiastic backer of his campaign. Robinson has frequently banned fellow conservatives and others who don't completely share his political mindset. Among those claiming to have been permanently banned are several participants in the debate over the violent death of Bill Clinton's Deputy White House Counsel, Vince Foster
. They include Hugh Turley of FBICover-up.com, David Martin of DCDave.com, and Dan E. Moldea of Moldea.com. During and after the 2008 U.S. Presidential election, according to political commentator Sean Hannity
, "[E]veryone I knew basically left because of so much childish, immature personal attacks. The propensity there to eat their own. And a lot of the people -- most of the people -- I knew that were on it left."
methods of formal opinion poll
s, but instead invite all Internet users to respond. Some Free Republic forum messages, usually captioned "Freep this poll!", urge Free Republic members to vote en masse in these polls. Members are also urged to "'Freep' C-Span's 'Washington Journal' with telephone calls pointing out media bias." The concept, and even the term "freeping", has gained wide usage among political websites, both left and right.
"Whenever a poll is posted on Free Republic.com, everybody goes and votes the right way, and there's nothing wrong with that," says Marinelle Thompson, Freeper and founder of gun rights group Second Amendment Sisters. "We just do it for a laugh. It doesn't really mean anything." The polls can also be manipulated, said Vlae Kershner, SF Gate News Director (and poll writer): "People are finding a way of getting around our system that only allows one vote, and they're voting hundreds of times. It's not thousands of people voting one way; it's one or two people voting hundreds of times."
Occasionally, if the current results of an online poll are unfavorable to them, Freepers will "reverse freep" it, voting against their own views to pad the opposing vote to the point where it loses credibility.
at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC on June 10, 2009, posted an article on another site questioning the citizenship of President Barack Obama
(a view held by so-called "birther
s"); the article was then pasted into a thread on Free Republic. The thread was deleted by moderators after the shooting, but later restored when a review found that it had not violated posting guidelines against racism and anti-Semitism.
In July 2009, after Obama's eleven-year-old daughter Malia was photographed wearing a t-shirt with the peace symbol, a Free Republic thread featured racially charged comments about Obama's wife and children, using such terms as "ghetto street trash". After the thread was criticized, it was suppressed and placed under review. It was then restored to the site intact. Only after further criticism did site administrators remove it a second time. In an email response to the incident, Jim Robinson called Obama an "American-hating
Marxist pig."
Internet forum
An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are at least temporarily archived...
for activists
Activism
Activism consists of intentional efforts to bring about social, political, economic, or environmental change. Activism can take a wide range of forms from writing letters to newspapers or politicians, political campaigning, economic activism such as boycotts or preferentially patronizing...
, and chat site for self-described conservatives
Conservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...
, primarily within the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. It presents articles and comments posted pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
ously by registered members, known as "Freepers", using screen names. For each article, the forum's main page typically shows its headline, plus the first 100 words of the article as posted to Free Republic. Users can see the full article at its original source by clicking a hyperlink
HTML
HyperText Markup Language is the predominant markup language for web pages. HTML elements are the basic building-blocks of webpages....
beneath the headline.
Free Republic has been involved in several organized conservative campaigns including against CBS anchor Dan Rather
Dan Rather
Daniel Irvin "Dan" Rather, Jr. is an American journalist and the former news anchor for the CBS Evening News. He is now managing editor and anchor of the television news magazine Dan Rather Reports on the cable channel HDNet. Rather was anchor of the CBS Evening News for 24 years, from March 9,...
and against the Dixie Chicks
Dixie Chicks
The Dixie Chicks are an American country band which has also successfully crossed over into other genres. The band is composed of founding members Martie Erwin Maguire and Emily Erwin Robison, and lead singer Natalie Maines...
for their antiwar statements. Freepers were instrumental in exposing a lack of authenticity in the so-called "Killian memos
Killian documents authenticity issues
During the Killian documents controversy in 2004, the authenticity of the documents themselves was disputed by a variety of individuals and groups. Proof of authenticity is not possible without original documents, and since CBS used only faxed and photocopied duplicates, authentication to...
".
Local chapters and forum policies
There are local chapters "unconnected with Free Republic", organized through ping lists, e-mailE-mail
Electronic mail, commonly known as email or e-mail, is a method of exchanging digital messages from an author to one or more recipients. Modern email operates across the Internet or other computer networks. Some early email systems required that the author and the recipient both be online at the...
, and Free Republic mail. Some are only "ping list" groups, members who include their names in a list to be "pinged" on news articles of a certain nature. Some cover presidential events (daily picture, prayer, and speech threads), some focus on contemporary conservative issues such as the Second Amendment
Second Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution is the part of the United States Bill of Rights that protects the right of the people to keep and bear arms. It was adopted on December 15, 1791, along with the rest of the Bill of Rights.In 2008 and 2010, the Supreme Court issued two Second...
, the pro-life
Pro-life
Opposition to the legalization of abortion is centered around the pro-life, or anti-abortion, movement, a social and political movement opposing elective abortion on moral grounds and supporting its legal prohibition or restriction...
movement, or opposing gay marriage. The more active chapters organize
Community organizing
Community organizing is a process where people who live in proximity to each other come together into an organization that acts in their shared self-interest. A core goal of community organizing is to generate durable power for an organization representing the community, allowing it to influence...
live protests, which they call "Freeps." Since the 2000 election
United States presidential election, 2000
The United States presidential election of 2000 was a contest between Republican candidate George W. Bush, then-governor of Texas and son of former president George H. W. Bush , and Democratic candidate Al Gore, then-Vice President....
, these are often counter-protests, responses to protests by opposition groups, or small rallies.
1996-2000: Clinton Administration
Founded in September 1996 as a sole proprietorship by Founder, Chairman and President James C. "Jim" Robinson of Fresno, CaliforniaFresno, California
Fresno is a city in central California, United States, the county seat of Fresno County. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 510,365, making it the fifth largest city in California, the largest inland city in California, and the 34th largest in the nation...
, Free Republic opened to the general public in February 1997. Robinson filed for LLC
Limited liability company
A limited liability company is a flexible form of enterprise that blends elements of partnership and corporate structures. It is a legal form of company that provides limited liability to its owners in the vast majority of United States jurisdictions...
status on September 11, 1998. It has always been a for-profit company and donations have never been tax exempt.
Free Republic gained popularity during the Clinton impeachment from 1997 till 1999, a time when it was linked on the Drudge Report
Drudge Report
The Drudge Report is a news aggregation website. Run by Matt Drudge with the help of Joseph Curl and Charles Hurt, the site consists mainly of links to stories from the United States and international mainstream media about politics, entertainment, and current events as well as links to many...
as "Whitewater
Whitewater
Whitewater is formed in a rapid, when a river's gradient increases enough to disturb its laminar flow and create turbulence, i.e. form a bubbly, or aerated and unstable current; the frothy water appears white...
Archives," when protests and write-in campaigns were organized through the website. Many were also introduced to the site through an impeachment rally in Washington, attended by over 3000 participants, called the "March for Justice," broadcast live on Halloween
Halloween
Hallowe'en , also known as Halloween or All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the night before All Saints' Day...
1998 by C-SPAN
C-SPAN
C-SPAN , an acronym for Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network, is an American cable television network that offers coverage of federal government proceedings and other public affairs programming via its three television channels , one radio station and a group of websites that provide streaming...
. Featured speakers included Alan Keyes
Alan Keyes
Alan Lee Keyes is an American conservative political activist, author, former diplomat, and perennial candidate for public office. A doctoral graduate of Harvard University, Keyes began his diplomatic career in the U.S...
, Bob Barr
Bob Barr
Robert Laurence "Bob" Barr, Jr. is a former federal prosecutorand a former member of the United States House of Representatives. He represented Georgia's 7th congressional district as a Republican from 1995 to 2003. Barr attained national prominence as one of the leaders of the impeachment of...
, Reverend Jesse Lee Peterson
Jesse Lee Peterson
Jesse Lee Peterson is president and founder of The Brotherhood Organization of A New Destiny , an American group dedicated to a conservative agenda among African Americans. Rev. Peterson is also the Founder and President of BOND Action, Inc., a nonprofit, 501 organization. He has hosted a cable...
of B.O.N.D. and Larry Klayman
Larry Klayman
Larry Elliot Klayman is an American attorney and activist. He is known as the founder and former Chairman of Judicial Watch, a public interest and non-profit law firm, which attained notoriety through the initiation of 18 civil lawsuits against the Clinton Administration, and later an unsuccessful...
. Ann Coulter
Ann Coulter
Ann Hart Coulter is an American lawyer, conservative social and political commentator, author, and syndicated columnist. She frequently appears on television, radio, and as a speaker at public events and private events...
, Lucianne Goldberg
Lucianne Goldberg
Lucianne S. Goldberg née Lucianne Steinberger, also known as Lucianne Cummings is an American literary agent, author and the publisher of the website Lucianne.com. An avowed critic of U.S...
and Matt Drudge
Matt Drudge
Matthew Nathan Drudge is the American creator and editor of the Drudge Report, a news aggregation website. Drudge is self-described as being conservative and populist. Drudge has also authored a book and hosted a radio show and a television show.-Early years:Matthew Drudge was raised in Takoma...
also attended. Other Free Republic events over the years have also been televised by C-SPAN.
Drudge dropped the link to Free Republic by February 1999, "because they were doing racist stuff over the (imaginary) [Clinton love child]... I click on and I see this headline, "Nigger
Nigger
Nigger is a noun in the English language, most notable for its usage in a pejorative context to refer to black people , and also as an informal slang term, among other contexts. It is a common ethnic slur...
Baby."" Drudge quickly restored the link, but later dropped it again for unknown reasons. As of April 2008 the Free Republic link is back on Drudge.http://www.drudgereport.com/
In its early years, Free Republic generally allowed its members to post copyrighted news stories in entirety to its forum, regardless of whether permission had been granted by content owners, until the site was sued in 1998 by The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
and The Los Angeles Times for copyright infringement. The newspapers obtained a permanent injunction
Injunction
An injunction is an equitable remedy in the form of a court order that requires a party to do or refrain from doing certain acts. A party that fails to comply with an injunction faces criminal or civil penalties and may have to pay damages or accept sanctions...
, although stipulated damages of $1 million were reduced to $10,000 during settlement negotiations which allowed the defendants to drop their appeal
Appeal
An appeal is a petition for review of a case that has been decided by a court of law. The petition is made to a higher court for the purpose of overturning the lower court's decision....
. The case, often cited when arguing cyberlaw, is called L.A. Times v. Free Republic
L.A. Times v. Free Republic
L.A. Times v. Free Republic is a 1998 United States district court copyright law case. Several newspapers sued the Internet forum Free Republic for allowing its users to repost the full text of copyrighted newspaper articles, asserting that this constituted copyright infringement...
.
From 1996-2000, the bulletin board was virtually unmoderated. This policy was central to the website's "fair use
Fair use
Fair use is a limitation and exception to the exclusive right granted by copyright law to the author of a creative work. In United States copyright law, fair use is a doctrine that permits limited use of copyrighted material without acquiring permission from the rights holders...
" defense in the copyright infringement litigation, wherein it stated "(t)he website operated by the defendants, www.freerepublic.com, permits anyone who wishes to post news articles or other items and to post commentary about the article as well ... no censorship
Censorship
thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
is made and all views are permitted.". This supposed light moderating hand did not prevent the permanent banishment from the site of such "controversial" contributors as crime author Dan E. Moldea, "What Really Happened" website host Mike Rivero, and Internet poet, David Martin.
Salon.com
Salon.com
Salon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...
's Jeff Stein observed in 1999 that: "[A] swelling number of haters have turned up the volume of death threats, gay-bashing, name-calling and conspiracy theories
Conspiracy theory
A conspiracy theory explains an event as being the result of an alleged plot by a covert group or organization or, more broadly, the idea that important political, social or economic events are the products of secret plots that are largely unknown to the general public.-Usage:The term "conspiracy...
tying the father of Republican front-runner George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
to drug-dealing by the CIA." Robinson "famously blasted George W. Bush's presidential candidacy back in 2000, before a dramatic late-campaign about-face that saw him emerge as one of the GOP ticket's biggest supporters." These shifts signalled internal battles comparable to the nomination controversies of 2007 "as its founder and chief administrator first cleansed commenting ranks of Bush supporters, then, later, rallied to his support."
White House Press Secretary
White House Press Secretary
The White House Press Secretary is a senior White House official whose primary responsibility is to act as spokesperson for the government administration....
and former Fox News commentator Tony Snow
Tony Snow
Robert Anthony "Tony" Snow was an American journalist, political commentator, television news anchor, syndicated columnist, radio host, musician, and the third White House Press Secretary under President George W. Bush. Snow also worked for President George H. W. Bush as chief speechwriter and...
was a registered member of Free Republic. Snow was not afraid to 'mix it up' with the Freepers who sometimes disagreed with his political philosophy and who called him a "pansy".
Free Republic had been criticized during the pre-moderation period for the actions of several of its members. In 1999, FReepers ran a campaign to make fake donations to the legal defense fund of Julie Hiatt Steele, who had been charge with obstruction of justice during then-President Bill Clinton's impeachment trial. Hundreds of fraudulent transactions from this campaign cost Ms. Steele around $4000. Some threatened to assassinate Clinton, like this from February 2001: "If he keeps on he's going to make me come up there. There is only one solution to the Klintons, two 45 rounds and a nice little spot in Marcy Park."
When the bar manager of an Austin, Texas
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
restaurant called 9-1-1
9-1-1
9-1-1 is the emergency telephone number for the North American Numbering Plan .It is one of eight N11 codes.The use of this number is for emergency circumstances only, and to use it for any other purpose can be a crime.-History:In the earliest days of telephone technology, prior to the...
to notify authorities that an underage Jenna Bush
Jenna Bush
Jenna Welch Bush Hager , is the younger of the sororal twin daughters of the 43rd U.S. President George W. Bush and former First Lady Laura Bush, and a granddaughter of the 41st U.S. President George H. W. Bush. She and her sister, Barbara, were the first twin children of a U.S. President...
had attempted to purchase liquor in June 2001, the bar manager's personal information including her home address, date of birth, driver's license number and physical description was posted on FreeRepublic, along with calls for punitive action. The Clinton threat and some of the bar manager's personal information were removed by Robinson when brought to his attention, and the authors' posting privileges were revoked. He said that the site had had to "delete relatively few posts" over time for violations of its "no-violence" policy despite Free Republic's popularity and ease of registration.
2001-2004: Bush's first term and Killian documents
In January 2001, the forum organized the inaugural "Free Republic Gala and Count the Silverware Ball". It was attended by radio personality James Golden, who was one of the first high-profile conservatives to invest in the site and the Reverend Jesse Lee Peterson of B.O.N.D.During the 2004 election
United States presidential election, 2004
The United States presidential election of 2004 was the United States' 55th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 2, 2004. Republican Party candidate and incumbent President George W. Bush defeated Democratic Party candidate John Kerry, the then-junior U.S. Senator...
, Jerome Corsi
Jerome Corsi
Jerome Robert Corsi is an American author, political commentator and conspiracy theorist best known for his two New York Times bestselling books: The Obama Nation and Unfit for Command...
, a Swift Boat Vet and co-author of the book Unfit for Command
Unfit for Command
Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry is a 2004 book about then U.S. Presidential candidate John Kerry by John O'Neill and Jerome Corsi published by Regnery Publishing, a conservative publishing house. It was a New York Times Bestseller upon its release in August 2004...
that attacked the Vietnam war
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
record of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, apologized in the national media for comments that he made on Free Republic under the user name "jrlc."
One of the first responses to "Memogate
Killian documents
The Killian documents controversy involved six documents critical of President George W. Bush's service in the Air National Guard in 1972–73...
", the controversy surrounding CBS News
CBS News
CBS News is the news division of American television and radio network CBS. The current chairman is Jeff Fager who is also the executive producer of 60 Minutes, while the current president of CBS News is David Rhodes. CBS News' flagship program is the CBS Evening News, hosted by the network's main...
' use of documents of questionable origin during the 2004 presidential campaign, came on Free Republic the night of the broadcast. When the "Killian memos" (which were allegedly created during the 1970s) were shown during a CBS News broadcast, a Republican lawyer going by the pseudonym of "Buckhead" mentioned the memos' proportional spacing and made the claim that such printing was "not widespread until the mid to late 90's". Buckhead's post and some responses spread across the blogosphere rapidly, and were picked up by the Drudge Report the following afternoon. Within minutes of Buckhead's post, there was some dispute as to whether the Executive line of IBM typewriters had proportionally spaced fonts at the time, arising from a comment on the Power Line
Power Line
Power Line is an American political blog, providing news and commentary from a conservative point-of-view. It was originally written by three lawyers who attended Dartmouth College together: John H. Hinderaker, Scott W. Johnson, and Paul Mirengoff...
blog. The dispute made headlines when an investigative panel set up to examine authenticity issues
Killian documents authenticity issues
During the Killian documents controversy in 2004, the authenticity of the documents themselves was disputed by a variety of individuals and groups. Proof of authenticity is not possible without original documents, and since CBS used only faxed and photocopied duplicates, authentication to...
with the documents "was not able to reach a definitive conclusion". Canadian journalist Ivor Tossell later opined that Free Republic was "central to the network of websites that uncovered the forged memos about Bush's Vietnam service that appeared on CBS News and ultimately cost Dan Rather his job." The Columbia Journalism Review
Columbia Journalism Review
The Columbia Journalism Review is an American magazine for professional journalists published bimonthly by the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism since 1961....
wrote, "But on close examination the scene looks less like a victory for democracy than a case of mob rule."
MD4Bush Incident
In October 2004, the "MD4Bush" account was created to investigate the source of false rumors that Democratic Mayor of Baltimore Martin O'MalleyMartin O'Malley
Martin Joseph O'Malley is an American Democratic politician who is currently serving as the 61st Governor of Maryland. Previously, he served as the mayor of Baltimore from 1999 to 2007. He is currently the chairman of the Democratic Governors Association.-Early life, education and career:O'Malley...
had committed adultery
Adultery
Adultery is sexual infidelity to one's spouse, and is a form of extramarital sex. It originally referred only to sex between a woman who was married and a person other than her spouse. Even in cases of separation from one's spouse, an extramarital affair is still considered adultery.Adultery is...
. These rumors were suspected to be coming from the camp of Governor of Maryland
Governor of Maryland
The Governor of Maryland heads the executive branch of the government of Maryland, and he is the commander-in-chief of the state's National Guard units. The Governor is the highest-ranking official in the state, and he has a broad range of appointive powers in both the State and local governments,...
Robert Ehrlich
Robert Ehrlich
Robert Leroy "Bob" Ehrlich, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 60th Governor of Maryland from 2003 to 2007. A Republican, he became governor after defeating Democratic opponent Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, a member of the Kennedy family, 51% to 48% in the 2002 elections...
. O'Malley was a likely (and eventual) opponent of Ehrlich in the 2006 gubernatorial race
Maryland gubernatorial election, 2006
The Maryland gubernatorial election of 2006 was held on November 7, 2006. It was a race for the Governor and Lieutenant Governor of Maryland. The winning candidates -- Martin O'Malley and Anthony G. Brown, who defeated the incumbent Gov...
. Using this alias, MD4Bush allegedly lured Joseph Steffen, aide to Ehrlich, who had a Free Republic membership as "NCPAC," into contact. MD4Bush then allegedly brought up the O'Malley rumors, and baited Steffen into giving responses on the FR "private message" system, appearing to take credit for spreading the rumors.
Ehrlich fired Steffen when the contents of these messages were published in the Washington Post on February 9, 2005. "Kristinn Taylor, a spokesman for FreeRepublic.com, said [Maryland Democratic Party communications director] Ryan O'Doherty's Democratic Party address was one of at least three used to operate the identity of MD4BUSH." Taylor charged that Post reporter Matthew Mosk's access to the MD4Bush account was a violation of the Free Republic users agreement, and they were "looking into whether the Washington Post violated the Electronic Communications Privacy Act
Electronic Communications Privacy Act
The Electronic Communications Privacy Act is a United States law.- Overview :The “electronic communication” means any transfer of signs, signals, writing, images, sounds, data, or intelligence of any nature transmitted in whole or in part by a wire, radio, electromagnetic, photoelectronic or...
when Post reporter Matthew Mosk accessed the Free Republic account of MD4Bush."
The e-mail address used in October 2004 to open the MD4Bush account was later changed to rodoherty@mddems.org, then changed for a third time. Anyone who had the password to the MD4Bush account could change the e-mail registration address at any time. It is not known how many people may have had access to that password. The e-mail address information obtained does not shed light on the actual users of the MD4Bush account, nor does it reveal whether someone attached the Ryan O'Doherty e-mail address to the account without his knowledge.
2005-2009: Bush's second term
In January 2005, Free Republic organized an unofficial Inaugural Ball at the Washington Plaza Hotel to celebrate the reelection of President Bush and Vice PresidentVice president
A vice president is an officer in government or business who is below a president in rank. The name comes from the Latin vice meaning 'in place of'. In some countries, the vice president is called the deputy president...
Dick Cheney
Dick Cheney
Richard Bruce "Dick" Cheney served as the 46th Vice President of the United States , under George W. Bush....
and to honor the men and women serving in the United States Armed Forces
United States armed forces
The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. They consist of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard.The United States has a strong tradition of civilian control of the military...
. The event was promoted to feature then Arkansas
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
Republican Governor Mike Huckabee
Mike Huckabee
Michael "Mike" Dale Huckabee is an American politician who served as the 44th Governor of Arkansas from 1996 to 2007. He was a candidate in the 2008 United States Republican presidential primaries, finishing second in delegate count and third in both popular vote and number of states won . He won...
and his rock
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
band Capitol Offense
Capitol Offense (band)
Capitol Offense is an American rock band. It is most notable for its bassist, Mike Huckabee, who is the former Governor of Arkansas and former 2008 Republican candidate for President of the United States.-Early years :...
.
The band Dixie Chicks
Dixie Chicks
The Dixie Chicks are an American country band which has also successfully crossed over into other genres. The band is composed of founding members Martie Erwin Maguire and Emily Erwin Robison, and lead singer Natalie Maines...
and lead singer Natalie Maines
Natalie Maines
Natalie Louise Maines Pasdar is an American singer-songwriter who achieved success as the lead vocalist for the female alternative country band, the Dixie Chicks...
claim that Free Republic was instrumental in fueling a nationwide boycott
Boycott
A boycott is an act of voluntarily abstaining from using, buying, or dealing with a person, organization, or country as an expression of protest, usually for political reasons...
of their music, which was organized by some former fans and radio stations after Maines made anti-Bush comments in 2003. In their 2006 documentary Shut Up and Sing as well as in interviews, the Dixie Chicks have often mentioned Free Republic in reference to the boycott, which sharply reduced sales of their CDs and concert tickets.
Maines was quoted as saying: "It's scary how much power they do have. They can take down someone singlehandedly (sic) and I don't think Americans are aware of that." "And I think it was originally started by the Free Republic. And they were very organized in calling radio stations across the country and telling them that they would never listen to their station, when they didn't even live in that town." Kristinn Taylor of Free Republic's dominant Washington D.C. chapter attended the screening of the documentary, hosted by the liberal advocacy group Center for American Progress
Center for American Progress
The Center for American Progress is a progressive public policy research and advocacy organization. Its website states that the organization is "dedicated to improving the lives of Americans through progressive ideas and action." It has its headquarters in Washington D.C.Its President and Chief...
. He was invited to join in a discussion after the screening and complimented the director on the film.
Allegations of unfair treatment of Giuliani supporters
In 2007, moderators removed the posting privileges of many members who supported the presidential campaign of then current Republican front-runner Rudy GiulianiRudy Giuliani
Rudolph William Louis "Rudy" Giuliani KBE is an American lawyer, businessman, and politician from New York. He served as Mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001....
. The New York Observer
New York Observer
The New York Observer is a weekly newspaper first published in New York City on September 22, 1987, by Arthur L. Carter, a very successful former investment banker with publishing interests. The Observer focuses on the city's culture, real estate, the media, politics and the entertainment and...
reported:
Starting in April 2007 ... members sympathetic to the former mayor's candidacy claim to have suffered banishment from the site. They were victimized, they say, by a wave of purges designed to weed out any remaining support for the Giuliani campaign...
Robinson himself endorsed Fred Thompson and was an enthusiastic backer of his campaign. Robinson has frequently banned fellow conservatives and others who don't completely share his political mindset. Among those claiming to have been permanently banned are several participants in the debate over the violent death of Bill Clinton's Deputy White House Counsel, Vince Foster
Vince Foster
Vincent Walker Foster, Jr. was a Deputy White House Counsel during the first few months of President Bill Clinton's administration, and also a law partner and friend of Hillary Rodham Clinton...
. They include Hugh Turley of FBICover-up.com, David Martin of DCDave.com, and Dan E. Moldea of Moldea.com. During and after the 2008 U.S. Presidential election, according to political commentator Sean Hannity
Sean Hannity
Sean Hannity is an American radio and television host, author, and conservative political commentator. He is the host of The Sean Hannity Show, a nationally syndicated talk radio show that airs throughout the United States on Premiere Radio Networks. Hannity also hosts a cable news show, Hannity,...
, "[E]veryone I knew basically left because of so much childish, immature personal attacks. The propensity there to eat their own. And a lot of the people -- most of the people -- I knew that were on it left."
Influencing online polls
Media web sites, including newspapers, television networks, and America Online, run occasional "polls" that do not use the samplingSampling (statistics)
In statistics and survey methodology, sampling is concerned with the selection of a subset of individuals from within a population to estimate characteristics of the whole population....
methods of formal opinion poll
Opinion poll
An opinion poll, sometimes simply referred to as a poll is a survey of public opinion from a particular sample. Opinion polls are usually designed to represent the opinions of a population by conducting a series of questions and then extrapolating generalities in ratio or within confidence...
s, but instead invite all Internet users to respond. Some Free Republic forum messages, usually captioned "Freep this poll!", urge Free Republic members to vote en masse in these polls. Members are also urged to "'Freep' C-Span's 'Washington Journal' with telephone calls pointing out media bias." The concept, and even the term "freeping", has gained wide usage among political websites, both left and right.
"Whenever a poll is posted on Free Republic.com, everybody goes and votes the right way, and there's nothing wrong with that," says Marinelle Thompson, Freeper and founder of gun rights group Second Amendment Sisters. "We just do it for a laugh. It doesn't really mean anything." The polls can also be manipulated, said Vlae Kershner, SF Gate News Director (and poll writer): "People are finding a way of getting around our system that only allows one vote, and they're voting hundreds of times. It's not thousands of people voting one way; it's one or two people voting hundreds of times."
Occasionally, if the current results of an online poll are unfavorable to them, Freepers will "reverse freep" it, voting against their own views to pad the opposing vote to the point where it loses credibility.
2009-: Obama administration
James von Brunn, the white supremacist who killed a security guardUnited States Holocaust Memorial Museum shooting
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum shooting was a shooting at that nation's memorial to The Holocaust in Washington, D.C. on June 10, 2009, at 12:50 p.m. Security guard Stephen Tyrone Johns, 39, was shot, and later died from his injuries. Suspect James Wenneker von Brunn, 88, was charged...
at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC on June 10, 2009, posted an article on another site questioning the citizenship of President Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
(a view held by so-called "birther
Barack Obama citizenship conspiracy theories
Conspiracy theories about the citizenship of Barack Obama claim that Barack Obama is not a natural-born citizen of the United States and is therefore not eligible to be President of the United States under Article Two of the U.S. Constitution. Some theories allege that Obama was born in Kenya, not...
s"); the article was then pasted into a thread on Free Republic. The thread was deleted by moderators after the shooting, but later restored when a review found that it had not violated posting guidelines against racism and anti-Semitism.
In July 2009, after Obama's eleven-year-old daughter Malia was photographed wearing a t-shirt with the peace symbol, a Free Republic thread featured racially charged comments about Obama's wife and children, using such terms as "ghetto street trash". After the thread was criticized, it was suppressed and placed under review. It was then restored to the site intact. Only after further criticism did site administrators remove it a second time. In an email response to the incident, Jim Robinson called Obama an "American-hating
Anti-Americanism
The term Anti-Americanism, or Anti-American Sentiment, refers to broad opposition or hostility to the people, policies, culture or government of the United States...
Marxist pig."
External links
- Official website
- Stein, Jeff. Free-for-all at Free Republic: Lucianne Goldberg, Matt Drudge and other friends abandon the Clinton-bashing Web site over its attacks on George W. Bush SalonSalon.comSalon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...
, 13 July 1999. - Lauerman, Kerry. They're here, they're mad, get used to it. SalonSalon.comSalon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...
, 24 June 2001. - York, Anthony. "Free Republic defends Salon." SalonSalon.comSalon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...
, 18 July 2001. - "Agonistic Democracy and the Narrative of Distempered Elites: an Analysis of Citizen Discourse on Political Message Forums", by Jeanette Castillo, August 12, 2008 - doctoral dissertation analyzing Free Republic and Democratic UndergroundDemocratic UndergroundDemocratic Underground, also known as DU, is an online community for U.S. Democrats and progressives. Its membership is restricted by policy to those who are generally supportive of progressive ideals and support Democratic candidates for political office. DU was established on January 20, 2001,...
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