Free Republic

Oh, how the tables have turned.Nervous Democrats are on defense and emboldened Republicans sense opportunity heading into 2010 and the midterm elections. It was just three years ago that the GOP lost the House and Senate as well as governors' races in a cross-country Democratic wave.Now, with most states under their control and comfortable majorities in Congress, Democrats must protect far more seats than Republicans: 19 governors' mansions, 17 Senate seats and as many as 60 House districts in moderate-to-conservative regions and swing-voting areas.At this point, Democrats must do it in a more troubling political environment than in 2006 and...

Former Congressman Duncan L. Hunter was kind enough to interrupt his extended Idaho vacation once more to answer a few questions and put his two cents in on the issues of the day. He and Lynne had their daughter-in-law and grandkids join them in Idaho over the Halloween weekend. He also extended his vacation plans for another week or so. After 28 years in the US House, then writing a book, he certainly deserves to enjoy his family, the R&R, and the hunting and fishing opportunities this weeks long vacation has afforded him. Hunter mentioned his son Duncan D. could...

If there’s one thing liberal pundits are experts on these days it’s the sorry state of conservatism. The airwaves and op-ed pages brim with more-in-sorrow-than-in-anger lamentations on the GOP’s failure to get with President Barack Obama’s program, the party’s inevitable demographic demise and its thralldom to the demonic deities of the right - Limbaugh, Beck, Palin. Don’t look at the imploding Democrats. No, let’s all titter at the cannibalistic “civil war” on the right. Well, here’s what conservatives actually believe. After 15 or 20 years of steady moderation, many conservatives think it might be time to give their ideas a...

Yes, socially conservative Republican candidates prevailed last night in the big races—the gubernatorial contests in Virginia and New Jersey—but it was the special election for New York's 23rd Congressional District that had become a national symbol for the battle between religious conservatives and the GOP establishment. In recent days, it was the race that the big Christian right groups like the Family Research Council and Susan B. Anthony List and the movement's favored politician, Sarah Palin, had become most outspoken about. But after forcing the socially liberal Republican out of the race, the right's candidate, Doug Hoffman of the Conservative...

Should we believe White House Spokesman Robert Gibbs when he claimed that President Barack Hussein Obama wouldn’t be watching last night’s election returns? Of course not. Why? Because unless Obama was intrigued by the Bowling Green at Buffalo nail biter, it was a slow TV night – except of course, for the election returns. OK thinks that like everything else about this administration, what we were told wasn’t what was going on behind the scenes. We think Obama & Co. anticipated last night’s results. In fact, we think several TVs were on inside the White House last night and that...

It's billed as "The Hottest Ticket in Political History:" A debate between Bill Clinton and George W. Bush at Radio City Music Hall. The event will happen in February as part of MSG Entertainment's third annual "Minds That Move The World" speakers series. The former presidents will debate topics "ranging from the economy, to foreign policy, to the current administration." From the press release: The series will be formatted to allow for President Clinton and President Bush to each present their thoughts on a wide range of important current events and national issues through a moderated question and answer period...

You want another, more frightening example? If Harry Reid decides it’s worth it--and giving the polls in Nevada he very well might--he’s going to use the reconciliation process to ram the health care proposal through by a simple majority without the chance of a Republican filibuster. Why can Harry Reid do this? Because he’s the Senate Majority Leader. Why is he the Senate Majority Leader? Because there are more Democrats in the Senate than Republicans. You can't get a more conservative Democratic Senator than Ben Nelson of Nebraska. He has supported the mission in Iraq, voted to lower taxes, and...

He was called a dumb actor -- a mere mouthpiece for wealthy controllers on the right, who fed him lines and pointed him toward a lectern to deliver them. He communicated well and knew how to act the part, having trained in those arts. But he was really an empty suit. Today, many rank that man -- Ronald Reagan -- among our greatest presidents. That he was not the derogatory things he had been called was a matter of record. Well before running for the presidency he had wedded himself to the core ideas he espoused in that office --...

During an appearance Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” program with host John King, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) demonstrated that he just doesn’t understand what happened in New York’s 23rd Congressional District over the weekend.

In January the Republican Party was in shambles—it had been disgraced, dismissed and discarded by Americans. While party officials and operatives were licking their wounds after eight hard years of destroying the party label, Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck went on the offense, cracked the national media’s protective shield of the President and exposed Obama as a committed Leftist with a radical agenda designed to bankrupt the nation. Their clarion call energized and excited the movement, and led to citizen revolts at town hall meetings and tea party rallies that have, at least temporarily, derailed Obama’s efforts to nationalize health...

A third-party conservative, Doug Hoffman, won support across the GOP Sunday in his race for a House seat in upstate New York, after the Republican nominee pulled out over the weekend. (snip) Many Republicans say they see independents who only a year ago were voting Democratic shifting to conservative candidates amid continuing unease about the economy and disenchantment over government spending and Democratic plans for health care and environmental regulation. (snip) "This is a weather vane for a year from now," said Rob Ryan, a spokesman for Mr. Hoffman. (snip) The intraparty tensions in upstate New York are on display...

America's leading conservative voice on President Obama, politics, and himself.

Republican Dede Scozzafava announced Saturday that she is suspending her campaign in the Nov. 3 House special election in New York, a dramatic development that increases the GOP's chances of winning the contentious and closely-watched race. "In recent days, polls have indicated that my chances of winning this election are not as strong as we would like them to be. The reality that I've come to accept is that in today's political arena, you must be able to back up your message with money—and as I've been outspent on both sides, I've been unable to effectively address many of the...

An interesting thing happened on the way to the congressional election in New York's 23rd district. The Republican candidate, Dede Scozzafava, dropped out of the race. This bodes well for the Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman, who, as it turns out happens to be a Republican who ran on a third party ticket against Scozzafava and the Democrat Bill Owens. This is a fascinating race to watch, because it forces those in the Republican Party to take a hard look at what has become of the GOP. In the last few weeks, there has been a huge rift within the...

Mission Our mission is to identify a select number of significant public issues and stimulate action on those issues through communications programs that make a measurable difference in our society. To that end, the Ad Council marshals volunteer talent from the advertising and communications industries, the facilities of the media, and the resources of the business and non-profit communities to create awareness, foster understanding and motivate action.

AlfonZo Rachel tells us why conservatives need to look to themselves for leadership in the latest ZoNation. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWcPDQqm6rc&feature=sub

The Gallup poll released Monday shows the public’s conservatism at a high-water mark. Some 40 percent of Americans call themselves conservative, compared with 36 percent who self-describe as moderates and 20 percent as liberals.Gallup often asks people how they describe themselves. But sometimes they classify people according to the values they express. And when they do that, they find a healthy percentage of libertarians, as well as an unfortunate number of big-government “populists.�For more than a dozen years now, the Gallup Poll has been using two questions to categorize respondents by ideology: Some people think the government is trying to...

RNC Chairman Michael Steele needs to do his homework before going back on Sean Hannity's radio show. Today, Hannity asked him about the Republican National Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee's support of the liberal Republican in the race against Conservative Party and Republican Doug Hoffman for the House seat vacated by John McHugh. Here's a brief excerpt; listen closely to Steele disputing Hannity about Scozzafava's position on card check: The two sources of proof that Michael Steele is mistaken are Dede Scozzafava and Dede Scozzafava, in writing and on tape. On Oct 19, 2009, the all things liberal...

Thank you very much. Thank you and good evening. The sponsor has been identified, but unlike most television programs, the performer hasn't been provided with a script. As a matter of fact, I have been permitted to choose my own ideas regarding the choice that we face in the next few weeks. I have spent most of my life as a Democrat. I recently have seen fit to follow another course. I believe that the issues confronting us cross party lines. Now, one side in this campaign has been telling us that the issues of this election are the maintenance...

Despite George W. Bush's many failures as president, in one area he was an unqualified success: demonstrating the impossibility of big-government conservatism. For decades, clever pundits and Republican apparatchiks have been touting this self-evident oxymoron as the path to political success. After eight years in practice, it has proved to be the road to irrelevance and ruin - politically as well as financially. Ideologies that celebrate the swollen state while traveling under the name "conservative" are nothing new. As the Old Right faded into the modern American conservative movement, Eisenhower-era "Modern Republicans" preached a "dynamic conservatism" that was to be...

This week’s striking Gallup poll on political ideology is further confirmation that the United States is in essence a conservative nation, which has ironically become even more conservative under Barack Obama. According to Gallup, 40 percent of Americans describe their political views as conservative, 36 percent as moderate and 20 percent as liberal. This is the first time conservatives have outnumbered moderates in America since 2004. These are staggering figures when you consider that the Left currently dominates the Executive Branch of the US Government, both Houses of the United States Congress, the federal bureaucracy, huge swathes of local government...

First on the Ticker: Palin to Iowa? Posted: October 27th, 2009 06:42 PM ET From CNN Political Editor Mark Preston A political organization formed to promote Sarah Palin is trying to raise $41,000 to help pay for a potential appearance by the former Alaska governor next month. WASHINGTON (CNN) – A political organization formed to promote Sarah Palin is trying to raise $41,000 to help pay for a potential appearance by the former Alaska governor next month before an influential conservative group in Iowa. Team Sarah, which has no formal ties to Palin, sent a fundraising appeal to supporters Tuesday...

The current state of American politics presents a paradox. On the one hand, survey [1] after survey [2] testifies to the rock-bottom standing of the Republican Party. Fewer Americans identify with the party than in the past, and fewer trust it to deal with the country’s problems. On the other hand, there are hard-to-ignore signs of a conservative resurgence. A 15,000 person Gallup survey [3] out today shows that 40 percent of Americans now identify themselves as conservative (up from 37 percent at the time of Obama’s election), while only 20 percent regard themselves as liberal (down from 22 percent)....

“Political parties must stand for something. When Republicans were in the wilderness in the late 1970s, Ronald Reagan knew that the doctrine of "blurring the lines" between parties was not an appropriate way to win elections.”….Sarah Palin There seems to be a great deal of disappointment within both the Republican and Democratic parties as well as with our elected officials/employees and our government. Disillusionment within our parties is because we trusted that our employees were upholding the values and principles which it seems most Americans adhere to regardless of their party. All is not lost and a third party is...

Campus Progress vs. Campus Reform Bethany Stotts, October 27, 2009 In a recent Campus Progress article “Smashing ‘Left-Wing Scum’ on Campus,” author Erin Rosa attempts to characterize the Leadership Institute as conservative bullies on campus. The problem is that she doesn’t have much of a case in the first place. Rosa derives the title of her article from a profile posting by Texas A&M graduate Toni Listi that he is “active on CampusReform to ‘smash left-wing scum.’” “I don’t know about that comment,” Rosa quotes Bryan Bernys, CampusReform National Director. “I don’t know where that is on the site or...

Conservatives are sick and tired of being taken for granted, misrepresented, and talked down to by the same "elite" Republicans in Washington who hopelessly screwed everything up during the Bush years. Everybody knows exactly whom we're talking about here. The same snobby, elitist, stuffed shirt, squishy, poll-obsessed Country Club Republicans who went to D.C., forgot who put them there, wasted the incredible opportunity they had to change this country for the better, and are now pointing the finger at everyone except themselves for their mistakes. Here are five messages for those people: We're not going back to the Bush years:...

Things seem to be looking up for conservatives. Important books like Mark R. Levin’s “Liberty and Tyranny” and Michelle Malkin’s “Culture of Corruption”, are also wildly popular. Glenn Beck and his colleagues at Fox are mopping up the competition. Sarah Palin has had a monstrous, unprecedented reception for her unpublished memoirs. And even usually tone-deaf, main stream Republicans seem able to say “no” occasionally to the liberal governing machine. But most uplifting is the birth of a grass roots conservative populism, an aggressive, fearless, public energy against big government unlike anything any of us on the right has ever seen....

Good news, but a tad underwhelming when you look at the numbers. Right now it breaks out at 40/37/20 among conservatives, moderates, and liberals, respectively. Between 2006 and 2008, when the left was routing us at the polls, it was roughly … 37/37/22, a testament to how toxic progressives’ brand is even at the best of times. In fact, between the second and third quarters of this year, conservatives actually lost a point while moderates gained two. Not sure what explains that, although as The One moves further left, crazy wingnut ideas like “we shouldn’t create a new federal health-care...

We need to start blasting all his phones, emails , twitter account, facebooks, and writing to the newspapers. Even if you don't live in his state you need to still be active on them and tell them no business in Louisiana if Landrieu votes in favor of Obama's reckless Obamacare and cap n trade. Offices New Orleans Hale Boggs Federal Building 500 Poydras Street Room 1005 New Orleans, LA 70130 Voice: (504) 589-2427 Fax:(504) 589-4023 Shreveport U.S. Courthouse 300 Fannin Street Room 2240 Shreveport, LA 71101 To read the rest follow the link http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977870900#

There is a wild three-way race going going on in the 23rd Congressional district in NY State, pitting liberal Republican Dede Scozzafava and Democrat Bill Owens both of whom have been endorsed by ACORN against Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman. This race is quickly becoming a microcosm of the battle of the soul for the Republican Party; Former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, former Senator Rick Santorum, former House Majority Leader Dick Armey, current Minnesota Rep. Michelle Bachmann, former Tennessee Senator and presidential candidate Fred Thompson, and former presidential candidate Steve Forbes have all backed Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman...

Hoffman Takes the Lead; NRCC to Spend $300K on Scozzafava NRCC chairman Pete Sessions refused to comment on the NY-23 special election for my piece in the magazine this week, but a top NRCC official has stepped forward to defend Scozzafava in an interview with Politico, which reported yesterday that the NRCC will spend $200,000 to $300,000 on "TV ads propping up Scozzafava in the days leading up to the Nov. 3 contest and plans to keep up a near relentless barrage of press releases slamming Hoffman." The NRCC official, granted anonymity, defends the decision to spend money on Scozzafava...

That the GOP should somehow do whatever it takes to become more moderate, to build a bigger tent over those in the center and on the center-left, is exactly the wrong answer for the party and, more importantly, for the country which depends upon its traditional common sense, values and restraint. The Republican Party must instead patch the holes in the proverbial tent over those on the political right who have been left out in the rain since George W. Bush began his second term. Republicans must focus intently on the proper role of the federal government with regard to...

In their lifetimes, they have seen their Christian faith purged from schools their taxes paid for, and mocked in movies and on TV. They have seen their factories shuttered in the thousands and their jobs outsourced in the millions to Mexico and China. They have seen trillions of tax dollars go for Great Society programs, but have seen no Great Society, only rising crime, illegitimacy, drug use and dropout rates. They watch on cable TV as illegal aliens walk into their country, are rewarded with free educations and health care and take jobs at lower pay than American families can...

For at least a century, the Washington political class has been correctly known for creating more problems than solving existing ones. This tendency to enact destructive, rather than constructive, solutions for problems (most often created by government) has now gone into hyper-drive. Many who see this situation often blame it on "excessive partisanship," where the real problem is caused by a bipartisan lust for power that breeds too much accommodation, rather than questioning and resistance to bad ideas. The American Founding Fathers understood that a balance of power and endless struggles within government were necessary to preserve individual liberties. Liberties...

Sky News is now streaming its TV channel for free over its website 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Despite Rupert Murdoch's mumblings about charging for all online content, the site is free - for now at least. Murdoch said yesterday that it was time for aggregators and search engines must start paying for news content - a slight refinement on previous announcements which seemed to want to get some money out of the readers.

Club for Growth and Club for Growth PAC will launch a $300,000 television ad campaign tomorrow in the special election for New York's 23rd Congressional District. The campaign follows the Club for Growth PAC's Sept. 28 endorsement of Doug Hoffman, a Republican running on the Conservative ticket, over liberal Republican Dede Scozzafava and Democrat Bill Owens. (See the video of their ad after the jump.)

Monday, October 19, 2009 HORSERACE, NEWT GINGRICHInstitutional Loyalty vs. Individual LoyaltyFred Thompson has endorsed Conservative party nominee Doug Hoffman over Republican Dede Scozzafava in New York's special election, and one of Fred's guys offers me some thoughts in response to my earlier post. I agree with you whole heartedly, but would add one beat to your item:  I have no problem with the RNC or NRCC backing whomever the locals have picked (I think there is a story there as to how Dede made the cut, and by the way, I'm not surprised that Hoffman, given his low key demeanor...

The NFL announced that it will cancel all drug and steroid testing in the future but will commence stringent testing for something far more dangerous to the league. The NFL intends to test players, coaches and owners for conservatism. Fresh on the heels of thwarting Rush Limbaugh's plan to run the St. Louis Rams like a plantation, the NFL decided that even though the Limbaugh threat has been handled, there are rumors that conservatism may be rampant among some players and management. "I hold in my hand the names of 54 conservatives in the NFL right now," claimed an enraged...

HERE'S the dirty little secret about political candidates and officeholders labeled by the mainstream media as "moderate Republicans": There's usually nothing moderate about them. Consider the case of "moderate Republican" Dede Scozzafava, the GOP nominee in an upstate congressional district's special election. Handpicked by local party pooh-bahs and supported by Beltway GOP leaders, Scozzafava is vying to replace Rep. John McHugh (R-Watertown), who resigned after accepting President Obama's nomination as Army Secretary. There's certainly no urgency to tack left. The district is as safe a Republican district as they come. The GOP has triumphed in every election there since 1871....

Some say U.S. senator should focus on emphasizing his conservative record. BY BEN SZOBODY The shouts of "traitor" that rained on Republican U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham last week at a local town hall meeting revealed rifts among conservatives that some analysts say might signal trouble for center-right politicians such as Graham. Political experts say a burgeoning group of right-wing activists long seen as the fringe of the party is growing in influence, fueled by economic fears and populist ire over unchecked Washington spending and magnified by the power of the Internet. Whether they represent a vocal minority or the seeds...

We need to establish a CONSERVATIVES ONLY poll. We need to distribute it far and wide through the blogosphere. We need to REJECT the polling agencies picking the frontrunners for us YET AGAIN. It is too damn important this time. The mess that Obama is going to leave, along with the long time bi-partisan drift to socialism can only be addressed by a leader who understands just how far we have moved towards socialism and who is committed to reversing the course. We need a Reaganite, period. With that in mind..... #1. WHO IS YOUR PREFERRED CONSERVATIVE CANDIDATE FOR WINNING...

The 2010 elections will transform America. Consider what will happen as these massive voter groups begin to fuse and, at an absolute minimum, strongly trend AWAY from big government liberalism. Irritated republicans. Angry conservatives. Ron Paul libertarians. Registered independents. Disaffected democrats. Angry Medicare seniors. Disillusioned Jews. And drum roll: Conservative youth (18-26). Pray, just for a moment (or longer, it's OK), reflect and analyze these energized groups. While political trends are often difficult to recognize and it's nearly impossible to predict individual winners in specific political races, I hold these observations to be self evident: Common sense, combined with American...

According to most conservatives in South Carolina, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has officially gone over to the dark side. Under the guise of 'bipartisanship,' Graham has signed on to one of the left's most ambitious plans to impose a socialist agenda in America - government control of the formerly free market through implementation of cap-and trade, the 1,400 plus page Waxman-Markey bill approved earlier this year by the House. The main (scientifically unproven) premise of cap and trade is that the earth is melting and government must step in to save the world. Of course, it will be expensive, but...

After showcasing the histories of the lib smear merchants last night, Mark Levin turned to Dave Checketts. The latter "went to Rush" with the deal and now has backed out after the liberals maliciously repeated lies. (After the jump: audio of Mark Levin plus a brief video about a small circle of jerks and evidence of what perhaps a civil court jury will find to be their slander.)

The debate over Glenn Beck is fascinating, but both sides have missed the real truth. Glenn Beck’s current position of prominence is a problem, but not for the reason that his opponents imagine. The debate has come down to a question of whether Beck is good for conservatism. Dan Riehl argues Beck is made prominent by the media because he hurts conservatism. Bernard Chapin provides the counterpunch that Beck is under attack by the media because he’s good for conservatism and revitalizes it. The problem is that few people are as strategic as Chapin or Riehl suggests. Certainly, Fred Phelps...

Many times, I feel that there is a vital need to bring certain subjects and ideas down to earth for detailed examination. Too many times, there are fundamental truths that people either skew, or demonize to a point that its roots are almost unidentifiable. They do this because they do not want people like you and me to be aware of the powers and rights we actually have. If we the people are unaware of our rights and powers and are completely ignorant of our civic duty to maintain these fundamental truths, then it will be easier to trick us...

Making Progress? Writing on the occasion of Ronald Reagan’s death, the NY Times columnist David Brooks articulated the roots of Reagan’s success in as accurate and succinct a way as I’ve seen. Reagan “revolutionized” American conservatism insofar as he transformed it from what had been a disposition to defend tradition and custom – and thus one with an orientation toward the past – to a movement motivated by a deeply optimistic belief in progress – and thus, marked by an upbeat view about the future and America’s providential role in advancing progress. As Brooks wrote, To understand the intellectual content...

Mark Levin is undeniably a patriot. Period. Everyday, he puts it all on the line to advance the cause of conservatism. Through his radio show, he educates his listeners on points of Constitutional law, as well as government abuses. His book, Liberty And Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto, will light the way for conservative activism, and effectively end the liberal dominance in government. It has now reached over a million readers, and threatens the abuse of power of America’s Marxist controlled U.S. Congress. Levin doesn’t do this because he seeks fame and fortune. Rather, he writes the book and does his...

Getting Conservatives elected in 2010 and beyond will depend not only on stopping the Democrat policies, but on presenting our own conservative alternatives. At some point, Conservatives will have to stop punting and start doing something on health care. The rising cost of health care is becoming an increasing problem in this country, both for personal affordability and for businesses. The cause of this rise is mainly due to bad government policy, which the Democrats are simply compounding with ObamaCare. In the end, Conservatives will have to deal with this issue, whether because the Democrats fail in enacting their policy...

•If a conservative doesn’t like guns, he doesn’t buy one. •If a liberal doesn't like guns, he feels that no one should have one ------------------------------------------------------------------- •If a conservative is a vegetarian, he doesn’t eat meat. •If a liberal is, he wants to ban all meat products for everyone. ------------------------------------------------------------------- •If a conservative sees a foreign threat, he thinks about how to defeat his enemy. •A liberal wonders how to surrender gracefully and still look good. ------------------------------------------------------------------- •If a conservative is homosexual, he quietly leads his life. •If a liberal is homosexual, he loudly demands legislated “respect.” ------------------------------------------------------------------- •If a black...