Free Republic

Although I have written several columns expressing my admiration for Sarah Palin, I admit I have never taken her seriously as a 2012 presidential candidate. I've always felt that her greatest asset was as a kingmaker and behind the scenes advisor. In addition I've assumed that she wasn't that interested in pursuing the job but rather enjoyed making waves in the liberal media. The more I read the continuing attacks on Palin and her family I've started wondering why the Democrats and their media lapdogs fear her so much. Even some conservative pundits have determined that she is unelectable because...

Sarah Palin is the un-Obama. That’s why she’s a political force, though she’s way beyond her 15 minutes of fame. That’s also why she’s a contender in 2012. Barack Obama is a prince of the meritocracy. Palin is queen of the north woods. Why does this matter? Because in presidential politics, opposites rule. If voters are unhappy with Obama, Republicans have to offer them the un-Obama. That’s a role Palin fits perfectly. Obama has degrees from Columbia University and Harvard Law School. Palin attended four colleges in six years before earning her bachelor’s degree from the University of Idaho. Obama...

SCRANTON, Pa. -- Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin said Tuesday that her running mate John McCain's plan to reduce or eliminate taxes and help distressed homeowners with their mortgages will "get this economy moving again." At a raucous rally in Scranton, Palin said McCain's mortgage proposal is "not a handout, but a hand up" to help financially overwhelmed Americans hang on to their homes. "This is going to get our country through a time of testing, and it's going to get the economy back on the right track," Palin said. "Under this plan, we'll help American families keep their...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Sen. John McCain says he shares Sarah Palin's opinion that Republican congressional candidates could suffer at the polls if they stray from the tea party's anti-spending, anti-tax message. (snip) The Arizona Republican said that when Republicans gained majorities in Congress in 1994, "they betrayed our base, particularly in the area of fiscal responsibility" and were repudiated in the next two elections. McCain said, "What Sarah is saying is, 'We've got to get fiscally responsible Republicans in.' "

South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said Sunday that Sarah Palin is considering a run for president in 2012. "She's obviously toying with the idea," Graham said on CBS's "Face the Nation."

At a reception and dinner attended by fifty conservative movers and shakers, Sarah Palin implicitly compared herself to President Ronald Reagan. At the same time she suggested that she is mulling a Presidential run in 2012. According to Politico: "Speaking to a group of well-connected Republicans at a private dinner in Florida this week, Sarah Palin implicitly addressed questions about her own electability by noting that critics also said Ronald Reagan couldn't win in 1980, three attendees told POLITICO. "Palin, at an event organized by the conservative magazine Newsmax, told the right-wing crowd that those who don't have the same...

Sarah Palin may be edging closer to a 2012 presidential run, telling Fox News "I would give it a shot" if the American people think she's "the one." The former Alaska governor and 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee was in Des Moines, Iowa, Friday for the Reagan Dinner, a big GOP fundraiser in the heart of water-testing country for presidential candidates. Palin has remained coy about her ambitions, but she elaborated a bit in an interview with Fox News, attaching several conditions to the possibility of a 2012 presidential run. "If the American people were to be ready for someone...

Sarah Palin may be a popular pick for Republicans in 2012, but the former Alaska Gov. is staying cagey on her presidential plans. "I've never committed to running for president," Palin said on Fox News Sunday. "That's not where my focus is." Instead, Palin says she is devoting her attention to getting Republicans back in office this fall.

To understand why Democrats ever picked Mondale, you have to understand where the party — and where the country — was in 1982 and 1983, when the nation’s verdict on Reagan and his policies was far less positive. In those days, with unemployment surging over 10 percent and the president’s popularity slipping to sub-Carter levels, Democrats mistakenly assumed that the ‘80 election had been a mirage. The electorate, they figured, had acted in haste and was rapidly returning to its senses. The results of the 1982 midterms, when Republicans (who had begun the cycle with claims that they’d win...

It is good to criticize fanaticism, esp. BLIND fanaticism, but be equally weary of the fanatical Palin haters that parade around this site. Regardless of how some mask their true wishes for Palin in "constructive critic" guise, there are plenty of writers and thinkers out there who offer honest critique of Palin while having her and our country's best interests in mind and therefore want her to come out WINNING. Most of the FR trolls who post the latest Palin hit-piece of the day could care less for Palin and take joy everytime she supposedly "falls." To these types, Palin...

She was FORCED out for financial reasons. If anyone tells you she quit let them know otherwise. Her legal fee had accumulated higher than 500K. Her personal income was JUST OVER 100K a year. Financially her family was going under quickly. And they were filing another ethics complaint everytime she left the state. She was afraid to give interviews in the governors office. She was afraid to allow anyone other than staff in the Governors office after the TaserGate ordeal. They were destroying her. So, what were her options ? She tried to set up a legal defense fund. At...

The Netanyahu government’s attitude to the United States shows it is “waiting for President [Sarah] Palin, an Obama official reportedly told Peter Beinart, writing for the Atlantic Monthly news site. Palin was the Republican candidate for vice president two years ago and is considered a front-running candidate for the next presidential election in 2012. “As an Obama official once told me about the Netanyahu team, with amazement, ‘these guys are actually waiting for President Palin,’” wrote Beinart, a senior political writer for The Daily Beast and associate professor of journalism and political science at City University of New York. In...

ppearing on the Alex Jones radio show May 26th discussing a variety of issues, Congressman Ron Paul said that he 'had some reservations' about Arizona's new immigration law, SB 1070. 'I have some reservations about that law, but not its' intent', remarked the former presidential candidate and libertarian icon, whose son Rand Paul just won the Republican primary race for U.S. Senate in Kentucky. Paul is not the first conservative libertarian to voice concerns about the law.

Sarah Palin, 55 percent unfavorable poll ratings notwithstanding, is a political phenomenon the likes of which American public life rarely has seen. There's something distinctive, something deeply personal, about the way her legions of strong supporters rush not just to defend her but to counter-attack any and all of her critics. Palin has a way of establishing a sense of connectedness with her backers -- such a strong, attitudinal sense that she is not just like them but one of them -- that she has created what amounts to a one-woman, conservative "identity politics" writ very, very large. Yet if...

Conflicting loyalties seem to have resulted in some surprising political decisions by Sarah Palin. On Monday here at NewsReal Blog I argued that Govenor Sarah Palin’s active support of John McCain’s Senate reelection campaign makes no sense. Palin, after all, doesn’t owe McCain anything. Whatever debt she might have owed McCain she paid off during the 2008 presidential campaign. In fact, if anything, it seems to me that McCain is indebted to Palin. This because his ‘08 campaign really did her a disservice, and also because McCain staffers have since betrayed the former Alaska governor with malicious and disparaging leaks...