Free Republic

After Lying Low in Wake of 2008 Presidential-Election Loss, Arizona Senator Mounts Opposition to Obama's Top Priority. BY NAFTALI BENDAVID & GREG HITT Sen. John McCain kept a relatively low profile for months after he lost the 2008 presidential election to Barack Obama. Those days are over. In the health-care battle, the Arizona Republican has suddenly emerged as the John McCain of old -- a vigorous political combatant. He has publicly hammered Democratic proposals, engaged in heated exchanges on the Senate floor and lent his voice to automated telephone calls pressuring Democratic senators in Arkansas, Colorado and Nebraska on their...

Barack Obama began his presidency with an open hand toward the man he had just defeated in a race that was at times bitter. "There are few Americans who understand this need for common purpose and common effort better than John McCain," said Obama at an inauguration-eve tribute dinner to his former foe. But in the year since that evening of comity and collegiality, McCain has emerged as one of the leading critics of the new president. On foreign policy, his traditional area of expertise, and domestic affairs, where McCain has shown new passion, the 72-year-old Arizonan is making it...

Republicans like to point to Ronald Reagan for inspiration. However, we have to resign ourselves to the fact that Ronald Reagan is dead. Worse, his legacy was killed off by his own party, the same Republicans who say he inspired them. The only lasting legacy to George W. Bush was the nomination of two constructionist judges and a fading response to terrorism. For eight years, we saw GW insist more on getting along than being right. Even the war in Iraq was fought on the cheap, probably out of fear of the cost of waging war, which defies the logic...

I'm all for Ralph Nader running again. I'd love for Howard Dean to get fed up or some other Democrat to get fed up with Obama and I'd love for a third party of Democrats and liberals to establish itself. I want all kinds of liberals to line and up run in third parties. That's how we weaken their side. As for our side, the focus must be to take back the Republican Party. That's the way you win. You can draw attention to yourself by denouncing both parties at the same time, and you can think that you're relating...

If you liked George W. Bush's brand of big-spending, big-government conservatism, you'll love Mike Huckabee. BY MICHAEL D. TANNER Most of the leading Republicans running for president show some support for Bush's ideology, but no other candidate so completely embodies it. As governor of Arkansas, Huckabee dramatically increased state spending. During his two-term tenure, spending increased by more than 65 percent — at three times the rate of inflation. The number of government workers increased by 20 percent, and the state's debt services increased by nearly $1 billion. Huckabee financed his spending binge with higher taxes. Under his leadership, the...

The last time Jim Ryan ran for governor of Illinois, he offered voters a clear choice between a man who never took a dime in public life and Rod Blagojevich. And though many would like to forget it, they chose Blagojevich. "The infrastructure of the Illinois Republican Party has never really been for me," Ryan said over breakfast the other day as we talked about that 2002 campaign and his current run in the crowded GOP primary for governor. "I'm not a deal-maker. And senior Republicans knew my reputation. They knew I wouldn't be flexible." Seven years ago, Ryan, then...

What should Diedre Scozzafava want to accomplish by Sunday's appearance on Face the Nation on CBS? Is it just another post-election 'poor poor pitiful me' about being beat up by tea party thugs led by Dick Armey, who will be on the same show? Well, I hope not. Ms. Scozzafava knows politics aint bean bag and there is something for all to learn from the NY23 GOP meltdown. In retrospect, which is a lot like hindsight, Ms. Scozzafava was not the best hope for North Country Republicans and her selection by a handful of county chairs was another example of...

Apparently there are still some posters on FR who are fast asleep. Wake up! Dammit! We are in the middle of a conservative rebellion! While you were sleeping we, along with millions of other freedom loving grassroots Americans have participated in hundreds of tea parties all across this great land and fully intend to keep it up until all of America is awake. We are fed up and mad as hell! We grassroots Americans are delivering a message to the ruling class: NO MORE!! No more big government! No more high taxes! No more government bailouts! No more government takeovers!...

WASHINGTON (CNN) - The Republican National Committee will announce Monday that veteran political strategist Alex Castellanos will assume a senior communications role at the committee, an RNC official tells CNN. (snip) "Now the RNC has a new focus and direction - the 2010 elections," Castellanos said when reached by telephone. "And I am happy to help."

Republican Party chairman Michael Steele told Republican National Committee staff to immediately put an end to providing RNC employees with insurance for elective abortions. After learning of the abortion coverage from a news report, late Thursday evening Steele issued a statement: "Money from our loyal donors should not be used for this purpose. I don't know why this policy existed in the past, but it will not exist under my administration. Consider this issue settled." According to RNC spokeswoman Gail Gitcho, Steele then instructed staff to let their insurance carrier know that the RNC wished to opt out of the...

Newt Gingrich, the former Republican House speaker and purveyor of the GOP "Contract With America'' that helped his party win control of the House after President Bill Clinton's election, says GOP chairman Michael Steele has started work on a new framework for 2010 that he is calling "First principles.'' "I've been talking with Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele, '' Gingrich said today, speaking with students at C-SPAN's Cable Center Class. "He is developing a first principles model that I think is a very exciting , positive step in the right direction,'' said Gingrich, who has said that he will...

During two heated Democratic challenges, U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk of Highland Park was targeted by millions of dollars in TV ads painting him as a far right Republican in his north suburban district. Much of the time, it was the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee paying for and writing those ads. Kirk spent millions of dollars himself on ads to cultivate a moderate, independent brand in the 10th District. Now it seems the DCCC agrees with him. DCCC Chair Chris Van Hollen said during a C-SPAN interview Sunday that Kirk is a "moderate," contradicting his own organizations efforts to paint him...

If you want to know what's wrong with Sacramento, you need look no further than Orange County. That's where Republican Party insiders have cast aside one of the GOP's most principled members in its drive to fill the 72nd Assembly District seat vacated by disgraced Assemblyman Mike Duvall, who resigned after being caught on tape bragging in lurid detail to another assemblyman about his sexual exploits with lobbyists. The first major candidate to announce his intention to replace Duvall was Orange County Supervisor Chris Norby. If the local GOP were serious about the limited-government rhetoric it constantly preaches, Norby would...

Eighteen months later, Nevada Republicans have completed a count of all delegate ballots from last year's state convention. A group of disaffected Republicans says it feels vindicated after a Friday night count of missing ballots from the April 2008 gathering showed three delegates for U.S. Rep. Ron Paul should have been sent to the national convention. Paul supporters said they felt party leaders cheated them out of a place at the national convention when they abruptly recessed the convention before delegate ballots from the state's 2nd Congressional District could be counted. The district was allowed to choose three of the...

And Romney was nowhere to be seen. BY BRENDAN MINITER Amidst the stunning events in New York's 23rd congressional district -- with Republican-turned-independent Doug Hoffman suddenly surging to the front and likely to win today's race -- collateral damage has been suffered by some of the GOP's presidential hopefuls who misread the race and the mood of the Republican electorate. Mitt Romney -- formerly a man who seemed willing to show up and plug for any Republican anywhere to pick up a few chits -- was nowhere to be seen in the district. Mike Huckabee, a favorite for religious conservatives...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 1 (UPI) -- There is a "political rebellion" going on in America that the Republican Party is hoping to speak for, the U.S. House minority leader says. Rep. John Boehner of Ohio, speaking Sunday on CNN's "State of Union," said an incident in which a GOP-endorsed New York congressional candidate withdrew from an election under pressure from Republican conservatives showed that "we're in the middle of a political rebellion going on in America." Boehner said, "This rebellion are by people who really have not been actively involved in the political process. And they don't really care whether you're...

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:...

"Perhaps more ominously for his ( Newt's )rapidly fading hopes for a 2012 Presidential bid, conservatives are beginning to question his integrity. His constant repetition of the false "she's locally selected" mantra seems as off message as Scozzafava's numerous well documented campaign missteps.""Either Newt Gingrich is lying, or someone misled him."But how can "the smartest guy in the room", with a reputation as a scholar and seeker of truth have been so easily misled about a set of facts that could be discerned with half an hour's worth of phone calls?"

ALBANY—Former House speaker Newt Gingrich never mentioned Doug Hoffman's name during a radio appearance this morning, but had a clear message for Republicans in the 23rd Congressional District: "The vote you're going to cast for a third-party candidate is going to guarantee the election of a Democrat. If you think that adding another vote to Nancy Pelosi's majority is a good idea, that keeping Nancy Pelosi as speaker is a good idea, then it's fine. But don't kid yourself.""John McHugh is a moderate Republican, he's held the seat for a very long time, I think 20 years," Gingrich, who has...

If vindication means anything its name is spelled George Bush. As former U.S. president George W. Bush spoke to a Saskatoon audience, I stood in the wings, sneaking a peek through the curtains at the spectators beyond the footlights. The crowd was friendly to be sure. But more than that, the relationship was like a musical virtuoso carrying the audience through every nuance, crescendo and dynamic of a composition. With every pause, smile, laugh and down stroke of seriousness, Bush had the crowd in his hand. Before the show, a friend who recently dined with the former Texas governor and...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: In NY-23, Real Clear Politics: "Doug Hoffman, plus five."  Doug Hoffman may in fact win this with nowhere near the amount of money the two Democrats have.  I know there's a Democrat called a Republican, but we actually have two liberal Obama Democrats, one calling herself a Republican, and you've got the Reagan conservative Hoffman in there.  Tim Pawlenty threw in with him today, by the way, so you have Sarah Palin, Fred Thompson, Rick Santorum, who else?  (interruption)  Sue Collins endorsed -- so?  Is that a surprise?  That's going to sway a lot of votes.  Susan...

I’ve taken some heat for posts I’ve written on Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava versus conservative Doug Hoffman in NY-23. My posts have been misinterpreted as supportive of Scozzafava, which they truly were not. Blame that on me, as the posts weren’t clear enough about the thought process going on behind the scenes. But that’s less important than the issue at hand. My conservative credentials are intact. But how conservatives win the current civil war within the GOP is important to me. We must build the party up and become strong, not simply tear things down because we disagree with them. Scozzafava...

WASHINGTON, Oct 21 (Reuters) - Republican Senator John McCain said on Wednesday his party needed a positive agenda to better attract those Americans who are disenchanted with Democratic policies. McCain said he sensed "a lot of anger and a lot of frustration" among Americans over taxpayer-backed bailouts of banks and auto companies while they cope with a persistently high U.S. jobless rate of 9.8 percent and see bank executives get "obscene" bonuses. McCain, who was his party's presidential nominee and lost the 2008 election to Democrat Barack Obama, spoke to a Reuters Summit in a roundtable interview with journalists.

Democrats once flirted with running Republican Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava for the seat Rep. John McHugh will soon vacate in NY-23, but now that she's a leading contender for the GOP nod, they are rushing to bolster conservative concerns about her alleged tax troubles. Soon-to-be-former state Democratic Chairwoman June O'Neill today confirmed reports that Scozzafava's husband, an upstate labor leader, talked with key local Democrats and union heads about the possibility of his wife running on Row A if the party's presumed first choice, state Sen. Darrel Aubertine, takes a pass. "Her husband spoke with several Democratic officials and, you know,...

When a runaway hot-air balloon reported to be carrying a six-year-old boy made headlines last week, many were surprised to find out it had all been a hoax. Admitted the six-year-old boy on live television, “We did this for a show.” Another hot-air balloon by the name of Lindsey Graham also made headlines last week by putting on a show of his own, as the South Carolina Senator held court at a town hall meeting, touting his conservative credentials before an angry crowd that wasn’t buying it. “They’re a political fringe group” Graham said of his critics, “I’m the conservative...

Mitch McConnell and his deputies in the Senate Republican leadership are responding very cautiously to Olympia Snowe’s decision to become the first GOP vote for a Democratic health care reform bill. That’s about all they can do. “My job as whip is not to twist her arm but to bring all the information that we can bring to bear on the issue and hope that people vote the way we would like to see them vote,” said McConnell’s No. 2, Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.). Kyl said a heavy-handed approach “doesn’t work.”

An outburst at an angry South Carolina town hall meeting has exemplified the growing fissure in the Republican Party across the nation. “We're not going to be the party of angry white guys," liberal Republican Senator Lindsay Graham told a Greenville, South Carolina, audience at Furman University where some supporters of Congressman Ron Paul were heckling him. Ron Paul responded on CNN's Situation Room October 14 that Graham's attack was unfair. “For him to ... say that everybody who is upset with the government and upset with his type of voting record are angry white people or angry men, that...

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) is taking the opposite route of most defeated presidential candidates: rather than quickly bow out of national politics, McCain is working to become a transformative force in the Republican Party, Politico reported Friday. Concerned about the GOP's direction, McCain has been recruiting and raising money for candidates who share his pragmatic center-right style. McCain has been a particularly generous advisor to Rep. Mark Kirk (R-IL), who he encouraged to run for Senate and threw a $500,000 fundraiser to support.

When FOX News host Glenn Beck said during an interview with Katie Couric this week, “John McCain would have been worse for the country than Barack Obama,” his comments made headlines. Beck explained that “McCain is this weird progressive like Theodore Roosevelt was.” Beck laid out this view in better detail on his television program earlier this month: I am becoming more and more libertarian every day, I guess the scales are falling off of my eyes, as I’m doing more and more research into history and learning real history. Back at the turn of the century in 1900, with...

Mitt Romney has not announced whether or not he’ll make a second run for the White House, but his former aides are staying in campaign shape by managing key races across the nation that could benefit their old boss in future elections. In at least six crucial races around the country, veterans of the former Massachusetts governor’s presidential campaign are working to guide new candidates to victory. It may appear a simple case of political professionals moving to new clients, but Romney’s team has kept in close contact should a second presidential campaign come to fruition. That could pay off,...

Saying she was "alarmed about the direction our nation is headed," former Lt. Gov. Jane Norton officially launched her bid today as a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate. Surrounded by hundreds of supporters in a ballroom at the Marriott Tech Center, Norton, who has been serving as the executive director of the Denver Police Foundation, said she wanted to stop what she saw as an out-of-control government in the nation's capital. "At every turn, Washington's giant hand seems to be grabbing everything in sight," said Norton, who served as lieutenant governor under former Gov. Bill Owens. "Seizing control of...

(snip) SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: Well, I thought the president is eloquent. I thought he had a lot of passion. (snip) MCCAIN: I hope he gets a bill. I hope we can sit down together and do the things that all of us agree on. And there are a number of things that are -- that we can agree on. And I think the American people, obviously, want that. I don't know what the administration and the Democrats will insist on. Facts are stubborn things. The bills so far have had no bipartisanship associated with it. They were drawn...

WASHINGTON (CNN) — CNN's Deirdre Walsh reports that Republican Rep. Joe Wilson called the White House Wednesday night to apologize for his outburst during President Obama's speech, and spoke with White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.

Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker Believes There is Still Room for Compromise on Health Care. BY SHAILAGH MURRAY Republican Sen. Bob Corker stood before a packed high school auditorium this week for his 24th and final town hall meeting of the summer, sketching out his vision for the bipartisan health-care plan he says he is convinced Congress can pass.

While his party moves Right under Obama, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham remains the quintessential big government Republican. Six months into his presidency, the most significant difference between Obama and Bush seems to be that the new president is determined to spend more money than the last one. That Graham shows signs that he might be more willing than other Republicans to support this continuity, does not make him an exemplary model of what the GOP should be, but a painful reminder of what it has not been—the party of limited government. In trying to define this philosophy, Ronald Reagan...

"We just can't afford it!" Not long ago, every American child heard that, at one time or another, in the home in which he or she was raised. "We just can't afford it!" It may have been a new car, or two weeks at the beach, or the new flat-panel TV screen. Every family knew there were times you had to do without. Every father and mother has had to disappoint their kids with those words. Why is it that what parents do many times a year politicians seem incapable of doing: saying no? How many times in the last...

(CNN) — Despite his campaign-trail promises, President Obama has failed to change the partisan tone in Washington, Arizona Sen. John McCain said Friday. "I'm afraid they have," Obama's former presidential rival told CNN's John King when asked if the administration has 'failed' in delivering on its repeated pledge of bipartisanship.

SAN DIEGO – Immigration, a hot-button issue that has dominated headlines in Arizona and nationally over recent years, is fading from the public consciousness amid economic turmoil, Arizona Republican Party Chairman Randy Pullen said July 30. “Because of what’s going on with the recession, although (immigration) is still important, it’s not nearly as important as the recession,” Pullen said in an interview at the Republican National Committee’s annual summer meeting. “Cap and trade is now even a higher issue in Arizona than is immigration, as well as health care.” . . . . . Pullen, an anti-illegal immigration activist before...

Three Republicans are bunched within five points of each when potential GOP presidential candidates are matched up for 2012 with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney barely on top, according to a Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll conducted July 21-22. The margin of error for the part of the survey dealing only with Republican voters is 6 points. Romney leads with 22 percent, followed by former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee with 21 percent and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin with 17 percent. Former New York City mayor (we're dealing with a lot of "formers" here) Rudi Giuliani polls 13 percent, former House...

When you're up to your waders in barracuda, blame the media. And quit your job. And say you did it for the people. And hire an agent. And try to keep a straight face. On your way to the bank. Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public, H.L. Mencken once said. Terribly elitist fellow, that Mencken. If only he were alive to witness the phenomenon of Sarah Palin, whose biography validates every cynical thought that ever found expression in his prolific prose..... Meanwhile, getting real, can we stop pretending that Palin is interested in anything other...

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (CNN) -- Sarah Palin's not a quitter, she wants the public to know. "I am not a quitter. I am a fighter," Palin told CNN on Monday while on a family fishing trip, on the heels of her Friday bombshell announcement that she was resigning as Alaska's governor. Palin did her interview standing on the shores of Dillingham, Alaska, wearing hip waders. She granted 10-minute interviews to CNN and three other news networks Monday. She resigned because of the tremendous pressure, time and financial burden of a litany of ethics complaints in the past several months, she said....

While we are awash in the usual flood of cynical punditry and partisan sharpshooting over Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's resignation, it might pay us to pause and reflect on two critical principles of government in a republic, both of which are affirmed by Gov. Palin's action. • Elected office is a public trust — not a personal possession — and it should be held only so long as a person is able to carry out the people's business effectively. When there arises a hindrance — whether self-made or (as in her case) imposed by others — that makes it impossible...

It's hard to be neutral about Sarah Palin; in fact, I don't know anyone who is. And it's hard to find someone who really understands what led to Friday's shocker in which she announced her resignation as governor of Alaska. It was not unexpected to hear her say she wouldn't seek re-election in 2010. That made sense, as her numbers had drastically fallen back home since she was selected last summer as John McCain's running mate. Plus, she had been feuding with state lawmakers, the budget is in turmoil, and she has gone through the wringer with assorted investigations into...

You might have heard: Alaska governor Sarah Palin has quit her job. In the sort of eye-rollingly silly spin that we've come to expect from the good governor, she attributed her first-term resignation to her unwavering dedication to the people of Alaska and her inability to accept political convention: "I'm not gonna put Alaskans through [a lame-duck second-term]. I promised efficiencies and effectiveness. That's not how I'm wired. I'm not wired to operate under the same old politics as usual." She announced she was transferring the governorship to her lieutenant governor so that her administration "with its positive agenda and...

With the GOP still making noises about pushing for the nomination of yet another RINO, despite the disaster of 2008, conservatives often feel as if we are in political no-man's land--homeless pilgrims in a strange and barren land. What's a conservative to do in these unfortunate times when conservatism seems to be abandoned, even by the Party of Reagan?

Sarah Palin's decision to resign as governor of Alaska was greeted with doubts, criticism and downright derision -- not just from Democrats or the media or bloggers, but from Republicans. Critical responses to her decision came from many Republican insiders -- not just people who have an axe to grind such as Mike Huckabee and Lisa Murkowski, but others such as Karl Rove. That followed criticism of Palin just before her announcement from Charles Krauthammer and Jonah Goldberg. When talking off the record, Republican insiders are even harsher toward Palin, as Marc Ambinder notes: With a few exceptions, almost every...

I’m confused by all the confusion among the chattering classes about Palin. I thought her press conference explained it very clearly – though she couldn’t put it precisely this way without sounding vain, but it’s obvious. Even though she’s just a state governor, she’s a HUGE national star who is both sought after and attacked as if she is already a president (a Bush, not an Obama). But she basically can’t participate because she’s tethered to the governor’s office up in Alaska. Consequently, she has to fight with one hand tied behind her back and she also can’t go around...

I pretty well nailed Governor Palin’s strategy when she announced. Today there is little doubt to what she intends to do: “I am now looking ahead and how we can advance this country together with our values of less government intervention, greater energy independence, stronger national security, and much-needed fiscal restraint,” the former Republican vice presidential candidate wrote in a posting on her Facebook page. Palin’s spokeswoman, Meghan Stapleton, confirmed Palin wrote the entry. One thing I did forget to mention in the previous post which is clear today - Palin is going to shove as much crow down as...

If you thought that Alaska Governor Sarah Palin was going to just fade into the background you are very very wrong. One day after announcing her resignation, Palin became showed everyone what she meant by the little Hockey Mom/pit bull joke. On face book she released a message that smacked the mainstream media for its response to her resignation and hinted that she will be running in 2012..........Later in the day the Governor's attorney Thomas Van Flein on warned legal action may be taken against bloggers and publications that reprint what he calls fraudulent claims...

The jokes of David Letterman and the article in Vanity Fair perhaps were the straw that broke the camels back but it is the total lack of fairness the media showed that is a scathing indictment against them. If the country had a media czar it would seem appropriate that at this point he or she would be offering a public apology to Palin and that very humbly. Perhaps the czar could hang his head in shame as the proxy for the entire band of media thugs who reveled in the indignities. We have a media that thinks the story...