Free Republic

It may be something of a surprise that, as a long time conservative, I now support Barack Obama. In 1968, I was a speechwriter first for Ronald Reagan, when Governor of California, then, as Richard Nixon became the presidential nominee, a speechwriter for Nixon, working at his home office at 450 Park Avenue. I became a senior editor at National Review in 1969, a position I held until recently. Republican President George W. Bush has not been a conservative at all, either in domestic policy or in foreign policy. He invaded Iraq on the basis of abstract theory, the very...

They are starting to eat their own. Polls show that Democrat Barack Obama is leading in battleground states, including some -- such as Ohio -- carried by George W. Bush not once but twice. But even before the election is over -- and despite the fact that some polls show a tightening race -- Republicans are piling on their own presidential candidate, John McCain, accusing him of deserting principle. Some moderate Republicans think McCain has sold his soul to the right, abandoning the bipartisan record he built on immigration and other issues. "He has lost his brand as a maverick,"...

Christopher Buckley, the author and son of the late conservative mainstay William F. Buckley, said in a telephone interview that he has resigned from the National Review, the political journal his father founded in 1955. As a result, he wrote to Richard Lowry, the editor of the National Review, and its publisher, Jack Fowler, offering to resign, and “this offer was rather briskly accepted,” Mr. Buckley said.

If your parents live long enough there comes that awful moment when you look at them and realize: they’ve grown old. Suddenly, they’re unsteady on their feet. They tell bizarre, wince-inducing jokes. They’re the only ones grinning - and grinning weirdly at that. That’s how I felt watching John McCain on Tuesday night. What happened? Remember when he burst onto the national scene in 2000? Remember all those New Hampshire Republicans, independents, even Democrats who fell in love, who said they had never supported a candidate with such passion? McCain was the bad boy/fly boy war hero turned wry, caustic...

Senator Obama has announced that he intends to create a Council For Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Having been privileged to give some advance guidance for this worthy idea, it is exciting to watch it become part of the public record. An old idea talked about by George W. Bush and even "his thousand points of light" father? Well, yes, talked about; but by the writing of Bush's own staff, regrettably, not done. Obama says he's different and this will be a "critical part of his administration." The proof will be in the doing, of course, but this much is plain:...

Abortion has been dividing the culture, including political parties for over 30 years now. In its last several iterations with the Clintons, Al Gore, and John Kerry, the Democratic party platform has been rather decidedly one-sided.Roe v. Wade is to be affirmed and defended. End of story. Oh yes, there was the language of "safe, legal and rare," but the emphasis was always on 'safe and legal,' with 'rare' little more than an afterthought. Barack Obama is a different type of candidate. As he sees it, Roe is not an endorsement of abortion, so much as an affirmation that abortion...

God, Republicans are saps. They think that they’re running against some academic liberal who wouldn’t wear flag pins on his lapel, whose wife isn’t proud of America and who went to some liberationist church where the pastor damned his own country. They think they’re running against some naïve university-town dreamer, the second coming of Adlai Stevenson. But as recent weeks have made clear, Barack Obama is the most split-personality politician in the country today. On the one hand, there is Dr. Barack, the high-minded, Niebuhr-quoting speechifier who spent this past winter thrilling the Scarlett Johansson set and feeling the fierce...

In this election we have very a clear choice to make. A choice between Victory against Islamic Terrorism or surrender to our terrorist enemy. A choice between free market capitalist economy or socialism. A choice between constructionist judges or liberal judges who legislate from the bench. A choice between Life for the unborn or abortion on demand going wild. A choice between lower taxes or higher taxes. A choice between small government or big government. A choice between John McCain or Barack Obama. Let us choose John McCain. A Patriot, a war hero, and would be an excellent President. God...

By now, most McCain haters will have already skipped down to the comments section to post their expletives and tell me how it’s a free country and they have a 1st Amendment right, etc. to yammer on and on about how bad McCain sucks, totally missing the point of my post, again. But I’m here to tell you, in this free country, that in my opinion, you should SHUT YOUR STINKIN TRAP! To all you ingrates, rageaholics, and self-absorbed punks, WE KNOW YOU HATE MCCAIN. You can give yourself a rest now and stop posting on every single thread the...

PART SIX -- in my JUST SAY NO SERIES: KeyWord: JustSayNo2JohnMcCain.... The focus of PART SIX in my "Just say no" series is on the RNC itself.. I have recieved several solicitations/phone calls from various RNC fund raising efforts, Have You? I would like to encourage you to JUST SAY NO - To the RNC this cycle... I would encourage you to send any contributions you have made in the past to the RNC to CONSERVATIVE candidates for the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate. I know this will take extra time/effort, but we need to send the message that...

I am usually quite proud of being a conservative. I know in my heart that the only way to enjoying liberty under the law AND equality of justice is through the application of conservative principles to government and society. And I am usually proud of the rational, reasonable basis on which most conservatives see the world and evaluate people and events. That’s why it embarrasses me to no end to see fellow conservatives who actually believe that Barack Obama is some kind of “Manchurian Candidate” sent by Muslims to undermine American society. Or that Obama is a closet Muslim just...

PART FIVE -- in my JUST SAY NO SERIES: KeyWord: JustSayNo2JohnMcCain In response to the FReepers who think they should "HOLD THEIR NOSE" and Vote FOR McCain.. I ask you to reconsider this option, unless you want to completely DESTROY the two-Party system and move our party so far to the left that the base is completely ignored in ALL FUTURE ELECTIONS... While I certainly respect your opinion, and your right to vote FOR McCain, please understand the many of us who make up the conservative base just CAN’T.. no matter how many times we “the Base” hold our nose...

<p>Fox news just reported that Mark Halprin, from Time Magazine, has information that Mitt Romney will be ending his campaign sometime today.</p>

If John McCain rolls on Super Tuesday then it is time for all Freepers living in remaining primary states to cross-over in your respective primaries and vote for Obama on the dem ballot. It's our best opportunity to stop her because she will crush McCain in November.

"If you're looking at substance rather than whether it's an R or a D after his name...If he's our candidate, then Hillary's going to be our girl, Sean, cause she's more conservative than he is. I think she would be stronger on the war on terrorism. I absolutely believe that." VIDEO HERE

ANN COULTER Will Campain For Hillary Clinton Click on the photo to go to "youtube.com" to listen and watch it for yourself.

What could be wrong with a presidential candidate who is a longtime Republican senator from a conservative state, a certified war hero with a great smile and a wisecracking sense of humor? Nothing at all, except the last time one ran against a Clinton, he ended up filming Viagra commercials while Bill was rehearsing his inaugural address. The media have created the fiction that Sen. John McCain, alone among the Republican candidates, can beat Hillary or Obama this fall. This is a fiction because only a conservative can unite the Republican Party this year and win. Call him “maverick”, call...