Free Republic

John Oliver began his second week guest-hosting The Daily Show welcoming Sarah Palin back to Fox News. Okay, maybe “welcoming” is a strong word. In fact, Oliver realized that rather than spending the whole show piling on every single folksy thing Palin says, he might as well just ignore her instead. Oliver first noted that Palin only left Fox News five months ago, and now she’s back, so “she has now effectively quit quitting!” He played clip after clip of Palin saying what she’s been up to, and he was ready to mock every single word that came out of...

Ms. Palin became a national celebrity after her unsuccessful 2008 vice presidential turned into a media career as a paid Fox News contributor from January 2010 to January of this year. The Wall Street Journal reported in January that Ms. Palin wouldn't be renewing her contract with the cable news networking, citing a person familiar with the matter. "I've had several conversations with Governor Palin in the past few weeks about her rejoining Fox News as a contributor," Mr. Ailes said Thursday. "I have great confidence in her and am pleased that she will once again add her commentary to...

Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren says she is “delighted” Sarah Palin is back as a Fox News contributor and that the former Republican vice presidential candidate will be “part of the national debate.” “I am delighted to have her back at Fox,” Van Susteren told POLITICO in an email. “She has a big impact (check out the number of Facebook followers! 3.5 million!) and should be part of the national debate.” And, Van Susteren noted, “It is free promo for Fox since it will drive her TV critics crazy! They are obsessed with her!”(continued)

Michele Bachmann's taking a bow. Sarah Palin's star has faded. With the brassy, blow-dried bombasts of the GOP moving to the sidelines, there's no elected heir apparent to inherit the mantle and carry the conservative crusade forward on the national stage. What does that mean for a Republican Party struggling to woo the women voters it needs to win national elections? It may be for the best, say some of the GOP operatives who have been pushing the party to rebrand itself after its 2012 losses. "They and their style gives short shrift to other women in the GOP," said...

A very persistent Republic High School senior with an odd fascination for Sarah Palin managed to convince the sassy caribou-skinning gal from Wasilla to bring her show – or what little is left of it – to the tiny Eastern Washington town of Republic. If you haven’t heard, Palin, whose boundless anti-intellectualism can still leave one breathless, will deliver the commencement address to the school’s graduating class of 26 on Saturday afternoon. Each graduate has been given 20 tickets to distribute, which should guarantee that the 700-person capacity gym will be pleasantly stuffed. Still, to a large extent, Palin’s visit...

Christopher “Kid” Reid of the old hip-hop duo Kid ‘n Play wasn’t the only one who noticed Sarah (and Todd) Palin at the Pacers-Heat basketball game Sunday night. After attending the Indy 500, the Palins sat courtside for game three of the Eastern Conference Finals in Indianapolis.

It is one thing to raise millions from grassroots activists or appear on record numbers of TV talk shows or give rhetorically charged speeches before adoring crowds – it is quite another to do the hard work of governing. Both Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin were political lightweights who were full of sound and fury and accomplished very little. Both quit their posts like spoiled children, after meteoric rises that had precious little to do with actually getting anything done. Both were bad examples of what public service should be all about and both exhibited a certain pathology steeped more...

The streams emerging from beneath an Arctic glacier are several degrees warmer than the icy water Alaska’s Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski has tossed on a Tea Party group’s effort to draft former Gov. Sarah Palin as a U.S. Senate candidate in 2014. Reviving one of Alaska’s great political feuds, Murkowski told The Hill newspaper in Washington, D.C.: “I think there are a lot of outside interests that would like to see Sarah Palin in some form of elected office. Most in Alaska recognize our former governor is rally not involved in or engaged in the state anymore, that she’s moved...

It is hard to admit that one of the most cartoonish and self-aggrandizing figures in recent political memory actually could have been a contender at one time, but I am now willing to cede that point. Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin actually could have been, at the very least, a respected political figure over the course of the last decade, but she has squandered any capital or potential she may have had by being a rudderless buffoon. The only reason this comes to light again is because Palin is polling ahead of two other candidates for a potential open Senate...

It’s disturbing that Ann Coulter is so desperate for attention that she would stoop this low on the day Margaret Thatcher died. Just like Politco (as Steve pointed out in another post) Coulter used Thatcher’s passing as an opportunity to take part in some trashy PDS. During an interview with Geraldo Rivera, Coulter starting punching up and didn’t stop until she made a complete fool of herself.Transcript, courtesy of Real Clear Politics: COULTER: One thing that I know, because I know people who know her, is when Sarah Palin first burst on the scene, the political scene, she wanted to...

Last year, Sarah Palin made Marc Lamont Hill’s list of “15 Most Overrated White People.” And then he ran into her at an airport. Palin was very nice to me and kind to my daughter. Although we disagree on everything politically, I still appreciate that. After she walked away, I thought about all the things I've said about Palin over the past four years. Wondered if I would've been that nice.

Prominent among the clueless douchebags who thought Rudy Giuliani could be elected president, John Avlon by 2009 was faced with a problem: How could a pro-Obama liberal Republican hireling find work in a political environment where the Tea Party uprising demonstrated that the Charlie Crist collaborationist Vichy wing of the GOP had no natural grassroots constituency? So in 2010, Avlon co-founded the “No Labels” movement, funded by liberal donors and assigned the mission of helping Democrats destroy the Tea Party. And if Avlon’s constant smearing of conservatives as “winguts” damaged the Republican Party, so what? Nobody involved in “No Labels”...

She’s baaaack. Sarah Palin attempted to relaunch her political career and her political action committee, SarahPAC, on Thursday with a Web video called “Loaded for Bear,” which presented the former Alaska governor as the new kingmaker for conservative populists in the GOP. The video riffed off her speech at CPAC, in which Palin railed against “the big consultants, the big money men, and the big bad media.” But there’s an irony alert ahead: the current stated purpose of SarahPAC is to raise money ahead of the 2014 election—most of which will be spent on conservative consultants. Don't believe me? Well,...

You know, it’s curious that the more journalists and wise political pundits tell us how irrelevant Governor Sarah Palin is, the more attention she receives from these same bottom feeders in the form of shoddy and lazy drive-by hit pieces in the press and on television. The reason so many of these journalistic pursuits ring hollow in the face of, oh I don’t know, facts, is because the author/speaker isn’t adequately afflicted with Palin Derangement Syndrome, or PDS. As a public service, and believe me, this is a public service, as I’m expending time and energy for which I could...

Sarah Palin rocked a packed ballroom here at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Saturday afternoon. The applause was roaring. The hollers many. The atmosphere crackling. In other words: Dog bites man. Palin's speech, if you can call it that, was Palin at her most Palinesque: heavy on one-liners and folksy charm; light on, you know, anything resembling substance and solutions. Here, a sampling of Palin's many zingers: "They talk about rebuilding the party. How about rebuilding the middle class?" "They talk about rebuilding the GOP? How about restoring the trust of the people?" "Let's be clear about...

Republican strategist Steve Schmidt, the former campaign adviser to 2008 Republican presidential nominee John McCain, has repeatedly argued that the Republican Party should be more inclusive — of almost everyone, it seems, except Sarah Palin. On Friday night’s broadcast of HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher,” during its online “Overtime” segment, Schmidt tersely responded to a viewer question about McCain’s selection of Palin to be his running mate: MAHER: Steve Schmidt, ‘Is it possible you picked Sarah Palin the wrong year?’ Oh, my. ‘Could she have swung the women vote in 2012 enough to have put Romney in the White...

The writing-off of Sarah Palin began not long after her departure from Fox News hit the newswaves last Friday. The Post’s Chris Cillizza wrote on Monday that Palin is now “officially gone,” at least from the national spotlight. And MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell bid the failed 2008 vice presidential candidate a self-satisfied adieu, saying that Palin had now lost the “slightest connection to political relevance.” Vincent Harris, a social-media consultant who helps Republican campaigns, wonders about O’Donnell’s conflict of interest in issuing those words: “He’s a … cable-news host! I mean, what else is he going to say? He’s speaking for...

Former Republican star and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and FOX news ended their partnership on Friday after three years, a source close to Palin told the Real Clear Politics Web site, the Morning Joe panel discussed Palin’s exit on Monday morning. “Sarah Palin represented a time and place in American politics and not 2008 so much as 2010. And that time is passing us very quickly. Party leaders are finally understanding that,” Joe Scarborough told the panel. Palin last appeared on Fox on December 19, 2012 when she spoke with the channel’s Greta Van Susteren about Benghazi and the two...

While the departure of Sarah Palin from Fox News as a paid contributor has caused endless speculation (as well as endless jubilation among her enemies) there are just a few known facts, according to the story in RealClearPolitics. After some negotiations for a renewal of her contract, Palin was made an offer which was refused. The parting of the ways is said to be amicable. That doesn't mean that some informed speculation is not warranted.

Just before the Christmas break the Boston Globe published a lengthy postmortem on Mitt Romney’s massive failure as a presidential candidate. Between this, and the constant hand-wringing by Geniuses of the GOP™, I think we have beaten this dead horse to a pulp, but there was one thing that came out of this article that has me as angry as I have ever been over a politician. Before we get to that, let’s step back in time to 2008. Like 2012, the Republican Party didn’t exactly put forth an all-star field of candidates for voters to choose from. In the...

Should Sarah Palin run for president in 2016? Conservative columnist Charlotte Allen thinks so, arguing that the former Alaskan governor is just what the GOP needs to revitalize its campaign chances in 2016. Read more at http://www.inquisitr.com/404803/sarah-palin-in-2016-conservative-columnist-says-yes-please/#WsxLVCVOOZTMQYGW.99

One good thing about President Obama’s re-election: It seems to have prompted some sober thinking by Republican Party leaders and allies. Oh sure, there’s been some loose talk of secession, but mostly what you’ve found is top GOP leaders trying to figure out how to broaden the GOP’s appeal and shed its reputation for anti-intellectualism while staying true to their conservative values. This is a good thing. One sure way for Republicans to blow it: If Sarah Palin runs for president. You might’ve thought Palin’s political career pretty much ended when she decided not to run for president against a...

Governor Sarah Palin posed the question “Who is running our country?” in her latest Facebook note: Who is running our country? We’ve got a CIA Director sharing security info with his mistress using an unsecure gmail account. We’ve got the delusional Susan Rice blaming the death of an ambassador on a Youtube video. We’ve got Iran firing on one of our drones a week before the election. We’ve got the White House either ignorant of or covering up all of this. Who is minding the store? Everywhere we look we see the rank incompetence or corruption of the people who...

To all US Republicans – here is your statistics assignment for today 2008 Obama/Biden 69,456,897 McCain/Palin 59,934,814 20012 Obama/Biden 58,702,702 Romney/Ryan 56,455,982

Governor Palin posts another Facebook note today laying out a list of questions that the media in this country SHOULD be asking the Obama administration.Via Facebook: There are many questions about the Benghazi attack that Americans deserve answers to. It’s been too long an “investigation” and too tragic for the families of lost loved ones for the White House and its friends in the media to ignore these questions:- When and why did the YouTube trailer of the anti-Muhammad movie surface as any kind of credible reason for the attack?- Where is the proof that that video was linked...

These are some new photos of former governor Sarah Palin and her daughter Willow in Studio City, California on Sunday. I looked through the photos yesterday, but I couldn’t work up the courage to really write anything about them. My first reaction was actually “Did Sarah Palin get a really bad makeover?” Despite my disagreements with her politics (and I’m studiously attempting to only discuss the superficial here, so play along), I consider Palin an attractive woman, but whatever is going on in these photos is not good. Those highlights look awful. Her clothes look… cheap. And dear God, she’s...

I owe everyone here an an apology for falsely believing and then promoting the idea that Romney had the ability to unify the country and create a grander GOP coalition. He did not. I am fully behind him (only GOP candidate on ballot), but can only see a narrow GOP win (if we all pull the lever). Having said that, I am also certain that this was never a moment for a polarizing figure (like Palin). To defeat Obama by a big margin, we needed an inspirational/charismatic conservative (Paul Ryan type). We did not have that choice. Oh well....lest vote...

So, how was the public convinced that MacDonald was guilty despite all of these “reasonable doubts”? Enter my old neighbor Joe McGinniss. MacDonald signed a contract giving McGinniss exclusive rights to his life story, and so McGinniss was given unprecedented access to the defense team – living with them, working with them, eating with them. But when the guilty verdict came down, McGinniss did a one-eighty on them. Apparently, falsely convicted men don’t make for good books. McGinniss decided it was a better story to agree with the jury. MacDonald wasn’t a sympathetic figure. He did himself no favors with...

True, Mitt Romney’s new nominee for vice president possesses certain attributes that Sarah Palin lacked, namely a wonky intellect and speaking voice that does not sound like nails on chalkboard. But Paul Ryan may actually turn out to be a worse veep choice than Ms. Palin for several reasons. 1. Ryan further delays, and perhaps permanently scraps, Romney’s move to the center. Eric Fehrnstrom, a top Romney aide, signaled that the candidate intended to reinvent himself as a moderate after winning the primary season. But we never got that promised Etch-a-Sketch moment and now, likely, never will. How is Romney...

I’m getting sick of the rewriting of 2008 presidential campaign history as K Street Republicans continue to assault Sarah Palin in the fear that a similarly conservative Republican will rise to the top of the VP sweepstakes. It has been so fashionable in D.C. Republican circles to bash the Palin nomination as a mistake, ill-conceived or even disastrous, that even Dick Cheney has gotten into the act. These self-serving attempts to change history are nothing more than a smear campaign designed to influence the Romney VP pick by obscuring the truth that the choice of Sarah Palin to be the...

Sounds like fun already ... the Tampa Bay Times released the names of some of the speakers slated for the RNC convention in Tampa later this month, and it looks to be a promising lineup. The Times reported that, as of now, it's unclear where these speakers are slotted, and the rest of the lineup--including the keynote speaker--remains unknown. Names so far include conservative powerhouses New Mexico Gov. Susanna Martinez and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley. Florida Gov. Rick Scott is also speaking. Here's a portion of the Times report: Florida Gov. Rick Scott, Sen. John McCain and former Secretary...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Now, last Sunday on this week, Jonathan Karl interviewed Dick Cheney, and this is the sound bite where Cheney says that picking Sarah Palin was a mistake. And this was a toughie. It's not a defensible comment. I wouldn't even try. The thing to note about this is that shortly after this, Liz Cheney sent out the following tweet. "Rarely do I disagree with the best VP ever, but Sarah Palin is more qualified than Obama and Biden combined. I have huge respect for all she's done for the GOP." So Liz Cheney tweeted that. That didn't...

As if former Vice President Dick Cheney is ever anything but candid. That’s just the media’s way of now swooning over Dick Cheney, a man members of the media demonized for years. Their unhinged hatred of Sarah Palin over-rides all that, you see. [SNIP] When the media swoons over Dick Cheney, you know there is an ulterior motive. You know, like a distraction from Obama’s abysmal record. They are water-carriers to the end!

Dick Cheney has some advice for Mitt Romney on choosing a running mate: Don't pick another Sarah Palin. In his first interview since receiving a heart transplant in March, Cheney told ABC News, that John McCain's decision to pick Palin as his running mate in 2008 was "a mistake" - one that it is important from Romney not to repeat. It's subject on which Cheney has some unique experience. He helped Presidents Gerald Ford and George W. Bush lead their vice presidential searches and, of course, served as vice president for eight years. He's also privately offered some advice to...

Winning the presidency has a lot more to do with the charisma of the leader than it does with the policies that are brought to the American dinner table. Just look at the last sorrowful example the country was saddled with in 2008 with the current president. There is reportedly, current intrigue moving about in the backrooms of GOP political leadership within Romney’s campaign concerning Sarah Palin. It is suggested that Romney is sitting pat on the idea of not issuing Sarah Palin VIP credentials to the August RNC Convention in Tampa, let alone giving her any real speaking role....

10 Questions to ponder to why there has not been more discussion about these topics in this election cycle: 1) Have you ever wondered why there is little talk or discussion of the results of the 2010 midterm election in respect to the 2012 election, especially the fact that conservatives represented 42% of the electorate in 2010, 8 points higher than 2008 and that increase in self-identified conservatives should be exploited by Team Romney? 2) Have you ever wondered why there is little talk or discussion of Mitt Romney in most national polls not passing McCain's popular vote in 2008...

Republican Senator John McCain says he chose Sarah Palin over Mitt Romney as his running mate in 2008 because she was a “better candidate,” not because of Romney’s much-discussed tax records. The McCain presidential campaign received 20 years of Romney’s tax records, much more than what the 2012 Republican presidential nominee has revealed to date. Democrats have suggested the McCain campaign passed over Romney because they found something politically damaging. “Of course not,” McCain told Politico when asked if the tax records hurt Romney...

She is the Tea Party diva who lit up the 2008 Presidential campaign. But four years later Mitt Romney is facing one of the most vexing questions of his campaign: what to do with Sarah Palin? In an increasingly uncomfortable stand-off, he has not invited her to next month’s Republican national convention whilst she has failed to give him her full backing. Palin has also not appeared with the Romney on the campaign trail and prefers to use her Facebook page to bash Barack Obama. The result is that the Republican presidential candidate is left without the endorsement of a...

'I’M SURE I’M NOT THE ONLY ONE ACCEPTING CONSEQUENCES FOR CALLING OUT BOTH SIDES OF THE AISLE FOR SPENDING TOO MUCH MONEY, PUTTING US ON THE ROAD TO BANKRUPTCY, AND ENGAGING IN CRONY CAPITALISM,' THE CONSERVATIVE FIREBRAND SAYS

[T]he Romney campaign has not asked Palin to speak at the convention nor contacted her about even attending the party’s marquee event in Tampa. Queries to the Romney camp about any possible Palin role at the convention meet with a stony silence. Palin does not seem surprised. “What can I say?” she responded in an email from Alaska, when asked by Newsweek about the convention, just before heading to Michigan to deliver an Obama-thumping speech. “I’m sure I’m not the only one accepting consequences for calling out both sides of the aisle for spending too much money, putting us on...

-snip- Thoughts on the “no new tax” pledge from Grover Norquist. PARADE: During your presidency you gave in on your “no new taxes” pledge. You’ve been vindicated in many respects for that decision. I wonder how you view the “no new tax” pledge from Grover Norquist that seems to be requisite for GOP political candidates. GB: The rigidity of those pledges is something I don’t like. The circumstances change and you can’t be wedded to some formula by Grover Norquist. It’s—who the hell is Grover Norquist, anyway? BB: I think he ought to go back to Alaska. [laughs] Don’t quote...

Romney’s Palin Problem: Where’s Her Convention Invite? Jul 16, 2012 1:00 AM EDT Mitt still hasn’t invited Sarah to the GOP’s nomination assembly in Tampa, and the Tea Party is livid. Peter J. Boyer on how the snub could sabotage Romney’s tenuous ties to the grassroots—and why Palin is keeping the week open, just in case.

Kevin Madden, a Republican communications expert with long ties to Mitt Romney, will become a more frequent and visible spokesman for the presidential campaign, a source close to the decision said on Friday. The increased responsibilities for Mr. Madden came in the wake of criticism from nervous Republicans about Mr. Romney’s campaign team. The Wall Street Journal said in an editorial that the campaign “looks confused in addition to being politically dumb.”

*snip* The Christys, of McAdoo, Pa., pleaded guilty in January to making harassing phone calls to Palin's attorneys. Attorney John Tiemessen testified that the men's calls threatened Palin and attorneys. Both Christys apologized Friday for their actions. *snip* In Friday's sentencing, U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Burgess ordered Shawn Christy to spend up to six months at the Scranton residential facility, where a bed will become available in mid-July. Christy wanted to return to his parent's home, where he had been living until his arrest last year. "Why can't I go home now?" he said. "Because I'm not letting you...

Maggie and Emily write this morning on the new role Sarah Palin has carved out for herself in 2012 politics, picking the races she gets involved in more carefully and seeking out opportunities where she can have (or appear to have) disproportionate impact: "This year, Palin has become almost irrelevant in the context of the presidential race she once had a chance to dominate, and is seen more than ever as a sideshow by the Republican establishment. But after seeing her celebrity peak last year, Palin has settled into a role as something of a strong Triple-A political ballplayer, picking...

Each are Reaganest, in how they speak.

Appearing as a panel member on Sunday's Melissa Harris-Perry show, comedienne Margaret Cho wondered why some women are Republicans as she asserted that the GOP is "a party that's so against our rights, our reproductive rights, so many rights in so many ways." Cho also complained that Sarah Palin tries to "beat feminism down," claiming that "Sarah Palin wouldn't exist without feminism." After host Melissa Harris-Perry recounted a GOP drive to appeal to women, Cho wondered: What are women getting out of the GOP? That's, I always question that. I always wonder. This is a party that's so against our...

Was Steve Schmidt Qualified to Be McCain’s Campaign Manager? by WHITNEY PITCHER www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/05/07/was-steve-schmidt-qualified-to-be-mccains-campaign-manager In a recent article at the National Review, John McCain’s failed 2008 campaign manager Steve Schmidt is quoted as saying “it will be a very long time before questions about capability and preparedness are not a part of the process.” The implication is that former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was neither “prepared” nor “capable” to be vice president in the 2008 cycle, and that now hangs over the current vice presidential selection process.  In his comments about the VP selection process, Schmidt indicates a pretty simple concept--...

As officials warn of more Secret Service resignations as soon as Friday stemming from a prostitute scandal in Colombia, one of the former agents allegedly involved joked on Facebook that he checked out former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin while on assignment during the 2008 campaign. David Chaney and Greg Stokes are the two Secret Service supervisors no longer with the agency in the wake of the incident immediately preceding President Barack Obama's trip to Colombia for the Summit of the Americas, a source familiar with the investigation told CNN National Security Contributor Fran Townsend on Thursday. In a photo...

Ahead of her Fox News special Paying at the Pump, Sarah Palin gave an interview to Breitbart.com. Discussing various aspects of energy policies, Palin’s final question was about the network’s boss Roger Ailes — and her response wasn’t exactly glowing. The question was: “Governor, many people were disappointed that you decided not to run for president this year, but are still hoping that you might one day run for the White House in the future. Roger Ailes was recently quoted as saying, ‘Sarah Palin had no chance to be President.’ What do you make of that?” “Interesting,” Palin said, before...