Free Republic

First Christians in Korea, now Muslims in Indonesia: Lady Gaga's Asian tour is stirring up controversy. The WSJ's Deborah Kan speaks to reporter Eric Bellman.

WASHINGTON — A few weeks before the Republican primary in Florida in January, the billionaire owner of the NFL's Miami Dolphins hosted a fundraiser for Mitt Romney at his oceanfront home in Palm Beach. The average voter wouldn't know about the event at the home of Stephen Ross because Romney's campaign doesn't follow the practice of other major presidential candidates who have willingly identified big-money fundraisers and the amounts they collect. A review by The Associated Press of campaign records and other documents reveals hints about the vast national network of business leaders bringing in millions to elect Romney. The...

An antitax advocacy group zinged Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum’s tax plan, giving him a grade of “D+” grade and the dubious honor of proposing what “may be the worst idea of any of the Republican candidates.” ”The good news is Santorum has gotten more specific about his tax plan since last month when we gave him a D+,” economist William McBride wrote on Thursday. “The bad news is… he’s gotten more specific.” Mr. McBride said the biggest problem with Mr. Santorum’s proposal is the sharply different corporate tax rates he would establish. Mr. Santorum would halve the corporate tax...

Cain is planning a new effort to promote his 9-9-9 plan now that his candidacy is over. It could not come at a better time for the Republican Party. (Those wishing to join should go to cainconnection.com.) He is doing a bus tour and making the rounds on television shows to push his substantive agenda and, in the process, breathe enthusiasm back into Republican ranks. The 9-9-9 plan will satisfy the libertarian impulse that underscores Paul’s appeal, particularly to the young. It will simplify the tax code so that it is a means of raising government revenue, not of promoting...

We Need to Push Our Nominee to the Right, Not the Left! January 10, 2012 BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Wayne, Charlotte, North Carolina. You're next. Great to have you on the program, sir. Hi. CALLER: Yes, sir! That's where I am, sir. I -- I -- I am livid with you today. It's the first time I've ever been livid with you in over 20 years, Rush! You know, you're negatively painting Speaker Gingrich when you just perfectly delineated my whole point, or at least part of it. At one point, sir, Newt Gingrich came into this campaign with a...

"Okay. It is now officially crunch-time for conservative voters. Time for them to grow-up, stand on principle, admit there is not a perfect candidate, cast aside the pretenders, flip-floppers, and flakes, and unite behind the most genuine traditional values espousing candidate in the field. That being Texas governor Rick Perry."

According to multiple unnamed sources, Clinton has been confiding to close pals that Obama is "the worst President ever" and his presidency is a "sinking ship" that is "taking the Democratic party and the country down with him," and when Obama confronted him on the comments, Clinton looked him in the eye and said; "Yes, it's a fact." The Globe reports: "At that point, the source adds, Obama went ballistic and told the ex-Prez; 'Then you are a racist and no different than the rest of them.'"

when you're talking about Glenn Beck now he actually, the other day, called you a progressive on FOX Business channel. What do you say to that sort of claim?" Gingrich: "I don't know. It depends on what standard you're using, you know? The fact is I balanced the budget for four consecutive years. And we did so by cutting taxes and increasing employment so people went back to work, they left welfare, they left food stamps, they left unemployment, they left Medicaid. Who else has that record of achievement? I worked with Reagan in '79, '80. I worked with Reagan...

From a hefty lobbying budget to the use of free baseball tickets, Freddie Mac fended off any meaningful regulation in the years before the housing mortgage giant crashed, records obtained by The Associated Press show. Efforts to tighten government regulation were gaining support on Capitol Hill, and Freddie Mac was fighting back. [.....] The records obtained by the AP reflect growing concern within Freddie Mac over a chorus of criticism from Republicans worried that Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae had grown too big. The two companies owned or guaranteed over $5 trillion in mortgages. The Bush administration and Federal Reserve...

"An Open Letter to Fellow Conservatives" The Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives--urged on by conservatives opposed to abortion--has voted to defund Planned Parenthood. On this issue, Republicans and conservatives are dead wrong. My grandmother was a friend and supporter of Margaret Sanger, one of America's earliest, most effective advocates of birth control. I met Sanger several times before her death in 1966 and was impressed b y her intellect and her commitment to many issues, not the least of which was enabling every woman to be "the absolute mistress of her own body" as she put it. I didn't agree...

House Speaker John Boehner is not a serious adult when it comes to addressing the out-of-control federal spending of the Democrat party. That is evident in his proposal to cut a largely inconsequential $61 Billion from the final seven months of this year’s budget.

ATLANTA (AP) — Newt Gingrich says his passion for his country contributed to his marital infidelity. In an interview posted Wednesday by The Christian Broadcasting Network, Gingrich — who recently converted to Catholicism — said he had sought God’s forgiveness for mistakes in his past. “There’s no question at times of my life, partially driven by how passionately I felt about this country, that I worked far too hard and things happened in my life that were not appropriate,” Gingrich said. “What I can tell you is that when I did things that were wrong, I wasn’t trapped in situation...

WASHINGTON – Two more big guns of the conservative movement confirmed today they are not participating in the Conservative Political Action Conference next month because of the continued participation of the homosexual activist organization GOProud. The Heritage Foundation, the largest think tank in Washington and not known as part of the religious right, confirmed that it is not taking part in what has been the largest annual gathering of conservatives in the country. Heritage has been an active participant in CPAC every year for the last 10. "We have withdrawn," said Mike Gonzalez, vice president of communications for the Heritage...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 24 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today the Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles, a leading voice on Latinos and conservatism, announced a 42-city bus tour of California that will span 32 counties and more than 2,500 miles. The tour, which starts on September 27 and runs through October 6, will encourage Latinos to vote their values and support California Senate Candidate Carly Fiorina. "For too long, Latinos have supported candidates who spurn their core values," said Alfonso Aguilar, executive director of the Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles. "Candidates like Barbara Boxer, an outspoken advocate for abortion who opposes the protection of...

Last month I was out shopping with my mother in Phoenix, when a man came up to her and yelled, “Your husband needs to be more conservative!” before storming off. Believe it or not, nothing like this has ever really happened to me before. Sure, there have been times when I’ve been at rallies or speeches and people have made rude comments—that comes with the territory when you are in a public family—but this particular incident felt really shocking and disappointing. It was a direct slap in the face—a sign of how high the level of rancor has gotten that...

I have wonderful, grass-roots friends at Freedomworks. Dick Armey is not one of them. He’s a clueless promoter of bailout-happy, big government Republican Sen. John McCain. And Armey’s a blowhard-y Beltway dinosaur who can’t resist shooting off his mouth and alienating the Tea Party base while criticizing other conservatives of alienation. At the National Press Club to promote the D.C. protest against Demcare, Armey veered off into a liberal platitude-littered rant against conservatives who believe in strict enforcement of our immigration laws. Armey singled out former Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo and bragged about censoring him while they served in the...

A handful of advertisers, such as Apple, have abandoned Fox altogether. Network executives say they believe they could charge higher rates if the host were more widely acceptable to advertisers.

Conservative manifesto coming soon By: Kenneth P. Vogel February 12, 2010 12:54 PM EST With conservatives grappling among themselves for control of their movement — and the Republican Party — a group of more than 80 prominent conservative thinkers are set to unveil their version of a mission statement for the right. What they are calling “the Mount Vernon Statement” in homage to George Washington will be unveiled and signed Wednesday — on the eve of the annual gathering in Washington of the establishment right, the Conservative Political Action Conference. The big names attached to it include former Attorney General...

Sen. John McCain of Arizona is the most influential player in the Republican Party, according to a new Harris Poll out Thursday. Sixty-four percent of the 2,276 adults surveyed nationwide said McCain is influential in steering the direction of the Republican Party, a 14-percentage-point edge over his closest rivals: former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and radio host Rush Limbaugh, both of whom were rated as influential by 50 percent all of those polled. Even among just the Republican polled, McCain ran away from the field, getting picked by 68 percent. Only former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney was also picked as...

In a men’s room in Minneapolis, former Senator Larry Craig indignantly asked an undercover police officer: “Do you know who I am?” The cop didn’t know who Craig was, and many beltway bigshots should learn a lesson from that: time to lose the ego and take a hard look at how little you matter to the American voter. I thought of Craig when reading how Grover Norquist has issued orders to potential Republican presidential candidates. Mike Huckabee is supposed to make sure that Republicans defeat Senator Blanche Lincoln or Arkansas, and Rudy Giuliani needs to run for governor of New...