Free Republic

Mitt Romney, whose liberal past and questionable conservative credentials are at the heart of his problems securing the Republican presidential nomination, is being supported by three prior Republican nominees--all of whom lost their bids for the presidency while running as moderates.Sen. John McCain, the 2008 nominee who lost to Barack Obama, endorsed Romney on January 4 heading into the New Hampshire primary.Former Sen. Bob Dole, the 1996 nomineee who lost to Bill Clinton, endorsed Romney in December before the Iowa caucus.Former President George H.W. Bush, who lost to Bill Clinton in 1992, 'unofficially' endorsed Romney in December in remarks to...

Bob Dole, the 1996 GOP Republican presidential nominee, unleashed an attack on Newt Gingrich today, saying not only is he unsuited to be president, he’ll crush the party’s candidates at the state and local levels. “Gingrich had a new idea every minute and most of them were off the wall,” Dole said in a statement published by National Review. Dole was a senator from 1969 to 1996, overlapping with some of Gingrich’s time as speaker of the House. In his statement, Dole said he’s decided to speak out against Gingrich “before it is too late” and Republicans nominate someone who...

Former Senate Majority Leader — and 1996 GOP Presidential nominee – Bob Dole just tore into Newt Gingrich with an open letter that violates Reagan’s 11th Commandment so many times, Bob Dole will be in the confessional until Easter. ... .. Hardly anyone who served with Newt in Congress has endorsed him and that fact speaks for itself. He was a one-man-band who rarely took advice. It was his way or the highway. ... Gingrich had a new idea every minute and most of them were off the wall. He loved picking a fight with Bill Clinton because he knew...

All the members of the Republican Party who have been complicit and collaborative in the destruction of our nation in the past few decades always talking about smaller government while never fighting against the tide of creeping socialism have now come out against Newt Gingrich. Yesterday, at National Review, Elliot Abrams attacked Newt Gingrich for attacking Ronald Reagan from the right.Today, it is Bob Dole’s turn.Bob Dole, you will remember from George Stephanoupolos’s memoir of his time in Clinton’s White House, totally cut the legs out from under Newt Gingrich and House Republicans during the government shut down. According to...

I'm sure tonight.. I'm going to be thrown off this forum....so what if I do... I'll go down swinging... Buy before I go... I'm speaking my mind.... Gutless wonder Rush Limbaughs....Hey..Charles Krauthammer... Ann Coulter.. Chris Christie...are you listening... Mark Steyn... the editors of NRO... You are all the coward of cowards... You are all covers for Mitt Romney...You are all his Lackeys.... But let me ask you all something... esp you, Ann.... What was Mitt Romney doing in France as a Mormon missionary...? Hmmmmmmm? He speaks Fench.... Tell us Ann Coulter... what was he doing there? Ask him how many...

Republican elder statesman and former Senate leader Bob Dole on Sunday endorsed Mitt Romney to be the Republican presidential nominee, a day after the former Massachusetts governor received the backing of Iowa's main newspaper. In an open letter to Iowa voters, Dole - himself a former presidential candidate - said a great deal was at stake on January 3, when Iowa votes in the first nominating contest for the 2012 presidential election. "A number of my friends are currently candidates seeking the GOP nomination. But the time has now come for us to decide who among them can defeat Barack...

Republican elder statesman and former Senate leader Bob Dole on Sunday endorsed Mitt Romney to be the Republican presidential nominee, a day after the former Massachusetts governor received the backing of Iowa's main newspaper. In an open letter to Iowa voters, Dole - himself a former presidential candidate - said a great deal was at stake on January 3, when Iowa votes in the first nominating contest for the 2012 presidential election. "A number of my friends are currently candidates seeking the GOP nomination. But the time has now come for us to decide who among them can defeat Barack...

Gannett paper, link only http://caucuses.desmoinesregister.com/2011/12/17/23902/

AP has called the race for Turner

He stood up to the radical right when it shut down the government in 1995. Who will do the same today? The government shutdown of 1995, dramatic though it was for the country and damaging though it was to the GOP, looks like the height of Republican reasonableness compared with today’s brinksmanship over default. So much is different from 1995. The economy is weaker. Experts say the economic consequences of default may far exceed a mere government shutdown. The Republicans are much more, shall we say, ideologically inspired—with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Speaker John Boehner, and House Majority...

As rain splatters the windows of Sen. John McCain’s second-floor office on Capitol Hill, the 74-year-old Arizona Republican leans back, clasps his hands, and recalls the Nineties. Brinksmanship, he says, cost the party then, and it could cripple Republicans this summer — especially if Rep. Michele Bachmann gets her way. Over in the House, “I am told that it is very difficult,” McCain says. “There are Republicans who are committed, like Michele Bachmann, to vote against raising the debt limit under any circumstances.” Bachmann, he warns, is acting “sort of like Senator Obama did.”(snip) Yet as poorly as Obama has...

For years now there has been a clear power struggle within the Kansas Republican Party, but some major party figures say something about that tussle has changed. The rift between conservatives and moderates, they maintain, is widening into a chasm that could have significant implications for the party and the state. "I see Kansas Republicans being more divided than in years past," said Senate Majority Leader John Vratil of Leawood. (snip) ...conservative forces in the Capitol are stronger than ever. But many aligned with that side of the party want more. They seek decisive legislative majorities that could push an...

RUSSELL, Kan. | The long lines of well-wishers were here again. So were the Dole for President T-shirts and the striking red, white and blue “America’s Choice” campaign buttons. This time, though, Bob Dole was back not to launch another presidential campaign but to hang out for a few days in his old hometown. “It’s still home,” he said. “There’s only one home, and that’s wherever you grew up.” Read more: http://www.kansascity.com/2011/06/11/2943571/ailing-bob-dole-returns-to-russell.html#ixzz1P4Vd7iBE

The race for the 2012 Republican nomination for President is becoming more concrete. GOP candidates made their pitches to the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Washington on Feb. 10-12 and a straw poll of attendees was taken. The Washington Post reports Rep. Ron Paul of Texas won the poll, with about 30 percent of the 3,742 ballots cast. The poll doesn't say much as not one candidate received more votes than the other. Some of the biggest news from the weekend came from former vice presidential running mate Sarah Palin and she didn't even attend the conference. Palin hired...

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) -- A spokeswoman for the Dole Institute of Politics in Lawrence says former Kansas Sen. Bob Dole has been readmitted to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. Dole Institute spokeswoman Heather Anderson tells The Associated Press that Dole was admitted to the hospital Thursday.

On Oct. 24, 1996, Republican presidential nominee Bob Dole got up at a campaign rally and promptly lost it: "I wonder sometimes what people are thinking about, or if people are thinking at all," he shouted. "Wake up, America!" Those words -- an unmistakable harbinger of the humiliation Dole would experience by losing to Bill Clinton in a landslide 12 days later -- seemed to echo painfully like Taylor Swift singing without the benefit of an auto-tune machine in the bewildering comments made over the last couple of days by President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden. It's odd, to...

Not only did he endorse her, he did it from his hospital bed at Walter Reed. And then he sent her the maximum possible donation allowable under law.Second look at the GOP establishment? Christine OÂ’DonnellÂ’s message resonated with the voters, and to the surprise of many she defeated Congressman Mike Castle, who many of us thought would win. The primary is over and in my opinion it is time for voters to join hands and support Christine OÂ’Donnell. The Delaware seat is important and the winner in November could well determine whether Republicans or Democrats control the Senate. I find...

An endorsement from a symbol of bygone centrist Republicanism, Bob Dole: Christine O’Donnell’s message resonated with the voters, and to the surprise of many she defeated Congressman Mike Castle, who many of us thought would win. The primary is over and in my opinion it is time for voters to join hands and support Christine O’Donnell. The Delaware seat is important and the winner in November could well determine whether Republicans or Democrats control the Senate. I find many of the attacks on O’Donnell to be personal and lacking in balance and fairness. If her campaign wishes I am willing...

Introduced by a Democratic state representative at a gathering of hundreds of senior citizens at a condo complex in heavily Democratic Broward County on Wednesday, Florida governor and U.S. Senate candidate Charlie Crist thanked God that he was no longer a Republican. "You know, I used to be a Republican," Crist told the adoring crowd after an introduction by Democratic state Rep. Ari Porth . When a women in the audience yelled out, "Thank God!" Crist immediately said, "Yeah, thank God. Right - used to be!" The statement came the same day Washington Examiner columnist Timothy P. Carney revealed that...

Former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole is hospitalized at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, undergoing therapy after recovering from pneumonia, his spokesman says. Dole, 86, was admitted to the military hospital about three weeks ago with a respiratory condition, spokesman Michael Marshall said Monday. Dole recuperated from his bout with pneumonia but has remained at Walter Reed to regain strength from earlier surgery on his left knee, Marshall said.