Free Republic

FAIRFIELD, Calif. — Republican leaders and voters, frustrated by their party's prolonged presidential contest, are increasingly coalescing behind front-runner Mitt Romney. Yet Rick Santorum on Thursday urged conservatives not to forsake their principles under pressure. He did so by conjuring the memory of Ronald Reagan, still the conservative icon, at an oddly symbolic place: the jelly bean factory that created the former president's favorite treats. "Let them know, conservatives all across this country have not given up the fight, we're not going to concede to the moderate establishment who wants to convince everybody that it's over, it's time to go...

Ann Coulter seems to be continuing her flirtations with RINOism. First she defended Romneycare. Now she is taking on the Conservative Pundit-Fox News-Complex. Here is the latest heresy from Coulter, courtesy of Jeff Poor: “And just a more corporate problem is I think our party and particularly our movement, the conservative movement, does have more of a problem with con men and charlatans than the Democratic Party,” she said. “I mean, the incentives seem to be set up to allow people — as long as you have a band of a few million fanatical followers, you can make money....

Former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum won the Republican presidential primary in Oklahoma on Tuesday, Fox News projected shortly after polls closed. It was the first victory of the night for Santorum, a staunch conservative who has been trying to establish himself as the conservative alternative to the more moderate front-runner Mitt Romney. Ten states are voting in nominating contests on Super Tuesday

SPARTANBURG, S.C. — Newt Gingrich signaled Wednesday that he believes his criticism of Mitt Romney’s record at Bain Capital is a mistake — and that he’s created an impression that he was echoing Democratic rhetoric. Gingrich conceded the problem when pressed by a Rick Santorum supporter at a book-signing here Wednesday. “I’m here to implore one thing of you. I think you’ve missed the target on the way you’re addressing Romney’s weaknesses. I want to beg you to redirect and go after his obvious disingenuous about his conservatism and lay off the corporatist versus the free market. I think it’s...

It is time for Republicans to get serious. After flirting with just about every candidate in a large presidential field, is is time to come home to the one candidate who has the demonstrated ability to run the largest organization in the United States, the Executive Branch of the federal government; who has never been touched by the slightest taint of scandal; whose success in the private sector makes him the outsider that Republicans say they are looking for; and who has by far the best chance of beating President Obama: Mitt Romney.{Snip}

It’s a very strange experience to have your friends think you’ve gone crazy. Some will tell you so. Others will indulgently humor you. Still others will avoid you. More than a few will demand that the authorities do something to get you off the streets. During one unpleasant moment after I was fired from the think tank where I’d worked for the previous seven years, I tried to reassure my wife with an old cliché: “The great thing about an experience like this is that you learn who your friends really are.” She answered, “I was happier when I didn’t...

With Sarah Palin fever sweeping across the media again, persistent Palin critic and conservative commentator George Will clearly was not excited by the speculation surrounding her potential run for President. Donna Brazile, Jonathan Karl and Ed Gillespie joined in on the conversation, yet Will had the most pointed remarks regarding how Palin is a “genius at manipulating” the infinite media attention she receives. Christiane Amanpour began the segment commenting “no one steals a show like Sarah Palin,” and while Will admits she will have a huge impact on the nomination process if she does decide to run, he still dismisses...

Go ahead. Act surprised: It’s official: Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, will seek the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, he announced Friday on Good Morning America. “At this moment I am officially announcing that I am a candidate for president in the Republican primary,” Paul said. “Time has come around to the point where the people are agreeing with much of what I’ve been saying for 30 years, so I think the time is right.” Paul, a mouthpiece for all things small-government, has made the presidential leap of faith twice before: In 1988, as the Libertarian Party nominee, and in 2008, as...

Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) , a conservative libertarian group founded in 1960 at the estate of William F. Buckley, expelled Rep. Ron Paul, Texas Republican, from their advisory board on Saturday. The organization released the following statement on Saturday afternoon: The National Board of Young Americans for Freedom (YAF)—America's oldest conservative-libertarian activist group—has, per curium, voted to purge Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) from YAF’s National Advisory Board. YAF’s concern with Rep. Paul stems from his delusional and disturbing alliance with the fringe Anti-War movement. “It is a sad day in American history when a one-time conservative-libertarian stalwart has fallen...

Likely 2012 Republican presidential hopeful Tim Pawlenty said Sunday that when he promoted a bailout plan aimed at stabilizing the imploding mortgage market in 2008 he was speaking solely as a surrogate for GOP presidential nominee Sen. John McCain of Arizona and never actually supported the idea himself. "Play the tape. It says 'he believes' and I was speaking as a spokesperson for Senator McCain," the former Minnesota governor said on "Fox News Sunday" after host Chris Wallace played video of Pawlenty endorsing what was billed as a bailout for both the mortgage industry and "Main Street." "But I didn’t...

In light of curious buzz surrounding Rep. Mike Pence's future, a new group called America’s President Committee (APC) launched early Monday morning. A number of conservatives would like to see Congressman Mike Pence, Indiana Republican, make a run for the GOP nomination for president in the 2012 election cycle. The desire to see the Indiana representative conservative throw his hat in the ring is nothing new, as right of center media commentators Erick Erickson (CNN, Red State), Jennifer Rubin (Washington Post), and George Will (Washington Post) have all voiced for an Oval Office run for the Indiana Republican.

As more pundits react to Sarah Palin’s video response on the Arizona shooting, Fox’s Brit Hume professed he’s never in his life seen someone receive such vicious media coverage as Palin and attempted to broadly define the “Sarah Palin Problem” on Fox News Sunday. Before Hume summed Palin up, Fox commentator Juan Williams shared his bewilderment over Palin’s tone and word choice in the video, and thought the whole thing was “unnecessary.” This “just gave her opponents such an opportunity then to excoriate her . . . and did not raise her stature,” Williams concluded. Brit Hume offered up his...

To many, the biggest question surrounding the 2012 presidential election remains: Will Sarah Palin run? Regardless of the answer, conservative columnist George Will believes Palin “cannot be elected president because she cannot compete where elections are decided.” On ABC’s “This Week” Sunday, Will explained that Palin will have trouble getting votes in specific parts of the country.

Just listened to Perino on Hannity who offered the same talking points straight from the mouths of Karl Rove and Charles Krauthammer: The START treaty is much ado about nothing. http://www.politico.com/blogs/laurarozen/0410/Karl_Rove_START_treaty_helpful_not_big_deal.html http://registerguard.com/csp/cms/sites/web/news/sevendays/25593587-35/nuclear-start-nukes-obama-treaty.csp It seems that the Russians have a taken a very different stance. I wonder why? http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101201/ap_on_re_eu/eu_russia_us_nuclear_2 She went on to say that Senator Kyle, who was opposed to START, was able to get some concessions in the end. Wow, great insight and reasoning, I feel so much better. Dana then went on to educate (patronize) all Americans, that humans are imperfect and we must understand that concessions will...

Over at NRO, you can read Rich Lowry's engaging year-end column about America, "Yes, the Greatest Country Ever." -snip- And sources now tell us that Lowry's been called to the White House this week for a secret meeting.

Riding the lamest of ducks, President Obama just won the Triple Crown. He fulfilled (1) his most important economic priority, passage of Stimulus II, a.k.a. the tax cut deal (the perfect pre-re-election fiscal sugar high - the piper gets paid in 2013 and beyond); (2) his most important social policy objective, repeal of "don't ask, don't tell"; and (3) his most cherished (achievable) foreign policy goal, ratification of the New START treaty with Russia. Politically, these are all synergistic. The bipartisan nature of the tax deal instantly repositioned Obama back to the center. And just when conventional wisdom decided the...

Charles Krauthammer on Friday tore into the liberal media for being obsessed with former Alaska governor Sarah Palin. After Krauthammer scolded the "editorial judgment" of the producers of PBS's "Inside Washington" for week after week prominently displaying her as the "only representative of conservatism of any importance" in this nation, the Washington Post's Colby King proved his point (video follows with transcript and commentary):

George Will: Palin’s ‘Non-Presidential’ TV Appearances Will Not Lead to the WH Sarah Palin can been seen all over television this week – from the debut of TLC’s “Sarah Palin’s Alaska” to her daughter’s controversial appearance in the finale of ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars” – but can Americans see her in the White House in 2012? George Will says no. “The independent voters have made up their minds about her, and it is a negative judgment they’ve made,” ABC’s George Will said on the “This Week” roundtable. In an interview with Barbara Walters that airs December 9th, Sarah Palin...

'The people have spoken, the bastards." That would be how Democrats in the White House and on Capitol Hill are feeling. The last two years of their leadership have been rebuffed. The question for the Democratic Party: Was it worth it? Was it worth following the president and the speaker in their mad pursuit of liberal legislation that the country would not, could not, like? And what will you do now? Which path will you take? The Republicans saw their own establishment firmly, sharply put down. The question for them: What will you do to show yourselves worthy of the...

As a co-host of ABC's daytime chatfest "The View," Elisabeth Hasselbeck has long been known as the conservative firebrand of the show, willing to butt heads with her fellow co-hosts on issues including taxes and abortion. But Hasselbeck, who campaigned with Sarah Palin in '08, insists that she's been misunderstood, saying in a recent interview that she regards President Barack Obama as an "incredibly cool guy" and parts company with conservative culture warriors on the charged issues of gay marriage and abortion rights. On the latter front, she says she's "torn"; she offers fairly unequivocal support on the controversial question...