Free Republic

Palin even went as far as to lend her voice to the charge leveled by Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) during the debate against Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R): That he allowed a law to go though requiring HPV vaccinations for adolescent girls because of a $5,000 campaign donation and his relationship with his former chief of staff, who went on to lobby for a pharmaceutical company. "I knew there was something to it," Palin said of learning while she was Alaska's governor that her Texas counterpart had given the go-ahead to the vaccine. "Now we're finding that now, yea, something...

GOP consultant Mark McKinnon says that the editor of a major newspaper told him, "We plan to declare war on Rick Perry and do all in our power to crush him." Mr. McKinnon was outraged. "No pretense of integrity, professionalism or of unbiased news gathering," he wrote in Investors' Business Daily. But I doubt he was surprised. This is what the "mainstream" media did to Sarah Palin in 2008, and what likely is in store for anyone Republicans nominate. But liberals will go after the Texas governor with special venom because he is anti- intellectual, prays in public, takes the...

Before I began to research Rick Perry's record, I perceived him to be nothing more than a garden variety southern Republican governor, probably conservative, certainly more conservative than his 2010 opponent Kay Bailey Hutchison. But the fact that he had such a spirited challenge from both sides in the GOP primary, both from the moderates AND the Conservatives, made me wonder just how conservative he really was. Just a bit of research revealed the gardasil mandate on preteen girls and their parents (and the cronysim associated with it), his full throated advocacy of open borders, including a pipeline for illegals...

With Perry's candidacy looming, some of us international relations wonks have begun to take note of his foreign policy positions. In a 2009 debate against primary opponent Kay Bailey Hutchinson, Perry plainly stated that his faith required him to support Israel. This latter statement was bolstered by his trip to the Holy Land where he accepted the Defender of Jerusalem Award before breaking bread with then-President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. As governor, Perry has suggested the deployment of American troops to Mexico to control drug violence and proceeded with the execution of a Mexican citizen, despite impassioned...

Bear with me, this isn’t a “sound bite” subject. The Human Papilloma Virus is an infection, and should not be a moral issue. In contrast, the vaccine against four strains of the virus, Gardasil, has become a political issue, even though the Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) now recommends it for all boys and girls. Governor Rick Perry has been criticized for his February, 2007 Executive Order that made the vaccine mandatory for girls before entering the 6th grade. Very little is said about the part of the EO that affirmed the right of and facilitated parents who wish...

While Texas Gov. Rick Perry has made no formal announcement, he told Time magazine in an interview he wants to run for president. "I mean I wouldn't be this far into the process. … The issue of, 'is this what I want to do?' was dealt with about 45 days ago in a conversation with my wife," Perry said. "Prior to that, no. Being the president of the United States was not on my radar screen from the standpoint of something I wanted to do." Perry added he has a "calmness" in his heart about running. (see below for supposed...