Free Republic

Political experts all agreed over the summer that Newt Gingrich’s candidacy was done. But Gingrich never got the message. In a volatile election cycle, Gingrich has battled his way back into contention, rising to third place in several national and state polls on the force of his ideas and breadth of knowledge of how Washington does and does not work. After nationally televised debates and local town halls, Gingrich has made voters want to give him a second look, especially after he speaks emphatically about American Exceptionalism and about bureaucrats and unelected judges who threaten to undermine it. His fundraising,...

WASHINGTON — Politicians and business groups often blame excessive regulation and fear of higher taxes for tepid hiring in the economy. However, little evidence of that emerged when McClatchy canvassed a random sample of small business owners across the nation. "Government regulations are not 'choking' our business, the hospitality business," Bernard Wolfson, the president of Hospitality Operations in Miami, told The Miami Herald. "In order to do business in today's environment, government regulations are necessary and we must deal with them. The health and safety of our guests depend on regulations. It is the government regulations that help keep things...

November 8, 2006 -- THE presidency of George W. Bush ended last night. The Democratic Party turned this election into a referendum on the president - and the president lost. The Democratic successes last night don't herald dramatic shifts in policy, the way the Republican 1994 triumph did. There will be no dramatic shifts in policy. We will not bug out of Iraq. There will be no tax increase. The president will have significant trouble getting conservatives on federal courts, including the Supreme Court - but he's had that same trouble notwithstanding the comfortable Republican margin in the Senate that...