Free Republic

Congressional leaders finalized a sweeping $1.3 trillion budget bill Wednesday that substantially boosts military and domestic spending but leaves behind young immigrant “Dreamers,” deprives President Donald Trump some of his border wall money and takes only incremental steps to address gun violence. As negotiators stumbled toward an end-of-the-week deadline to fund the government or face a federal shutdown, House Speaker Paul Ryan dashed to the White House amid concerns Trump’s support was wavering. The White House later said the president backed the legislation, even as some conservative Republicans balked at the size of the spending increases and the rush...

Rick Santorum dropped out of the race for the Republican presidential nomination on Tuesday. Almost to a column, editorial and news account, the analysis centered on Santorum’s somewhat successful capture of conservative voters. And there lies the mystery. How could a man seemingly so opposite of conservative have entranced so many voters who label themselves just that? The easy answer is that as someone who made his religion such a prominent part of his campaign strategy... religious types who tend toward conservatism perhaps felt they’d found their man. [...] Indeed, if we ignore for a moment how very anti-conservative it...

I hope I write another piece on Sarah Palin again. The woman is an antidote, and I choose my words carefully there. She is everything that is right with America, and indeed, that is the only reason I’m writing this at all. This essay is altogether far more a commentary on The Undefeated's America than it is on the woman herself. Our national problem is Palin Derangement Syndrome far more than it is Palin. There have always been people like Sarah Palin, and presumably there always will be. The two real questions are why Marxists are so worried about them...

President Barack Obama has rightly been regarded as the liberal equivalent of Ronald Reagan, if not the second coming of Franklin Roosevelt. Like Reagan, the current president combines an attractive and compelling personality with superb communication skills to blunt the hard edges of his ideology and appeal to the broad spectrum of non-ideological voters who decide most elections (and who decided the 2008 election). Reagan also proved that it is possible, within limits, to govern successfully as an ideological president. Obama himself acknowledged this during the campaign, commenting that "Ronald Reagan changed the trajectory of America ... He put us...

Rudy’s 50-state strategy By Salena Zito Friday, September 14, 2007 CANONSBURG, PA-One day after the anniversary of the Sept. 11th terror attacks Republican presidential nominee Rudy Giuliani zeroed in on the Democratic front-runners – stinging Hillary Clinton, Barrack Obama and John Edwards with the sharpest words in the presidential campaign to date. Giuliani is clearly exercising a strategic move to define himself as the Republican front-runner who hopes to cinch the nomination before his GOP rivals gain steam. And he is increasing the volume on the issue Giuliani believes can catapult him to the White House: a do-or-die fight between...

Rudy Giuliani portrayed himself as the heir to Ronald Reagan at the first Republican debate last night, talking tough on terrorism - but struggling to present a clear and consistent position on abortion. Giuliani, who strongly supported abortion rights during his eight years as mayor, said he would not object to the U.S. Supreme Court overturning the 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision affirming abortion. "It would be OK to repeal it," said Giuliani, who is courting key anti-abortion voters in the GOP primaries. But he then added that "it would be OK also if a strict constructionist viewed it as...

Periodically, I get e-mails from supporters of the presidential candidacy of Alpine Rep. Duncan Hunter who express disbelief, befuddlement or fury, or a mix of all three, at my flat contention that he is a populist demagogue and anything but a principled conservative. These folks cannot fathom any talk that he's not free-trade, small-government Ronald Reagan reincarnated. Here's a typical example of Hunterista reaction to my comment that he's been against trade deals that have been important boons to our economy: You're supposed to be a columnist, an informed person. This is not an informed statement. OK. If you don't...

Bill Simon, the investor and philanthropist who was the Republican nominee against Gray Davis in 2002, has sent a letter to supporters informing them that he won’t be a candidate for state treasurer next year as he had planned. In the letter, Simon cites the oft-used “personal” reasons for backing out, saying he wants to spend more time with his family. But this is one case where that might actually be true. Simon has confided in friends in recent months that the unanticipated pressures involved in caring for their developmentally disabled 17-year-old son have been all-consuming for him and his...