Free Republic

Sarah Palin may have been making the case for herself with a Facebook post last night arguing that a president must be "a strong chief executive [who] has been entrusted with real authority in the past and has achieved a proven track record of positive measurable accomplishments." But she also sounds an awful lot like Tim Pawlenty, whose indictment against Michele Bachmann is that three-term member of Congress gives a good speech but hasn't actually accomplished anything. Wrote Palin: "Leaders are expected to give good speeches, but leadership is so much more than oratory. Real leadership requires deeds even more...

News site Politico.com admitted Friday that it made an "error" in attributing a nasty quote about Rep. Michele Bachmann to former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. The article said: "Palin's bus tour had some of the hallmarks of a primal scream: 'I built this constituency, not Bachmann, not anyone else,' she said. Looking at it through her eyes, she has a point." However, Palin never said that. Her political action committee promptly issued a statement urging the media to "quit making stuff up." "An absurd opinion piece in Politico includes a quote attributed to Governor Palin that is a total fabrication...

By KASIE HUNT: SEABROOK, N.H. — Sarah Palin’s bus is plastered with a mock-up of the U.S. Constitution. But her entourage — both the three-vehicle motorcade that includes the bus and the smaller, two-SUV version she uses for smaller events — hasn’t been very respectful of traffic laws. They speed. They run red lights and stop signs. They make last-second lane changes to get off the highway, sometimes without signaling.....So do the reporters following them.

Aides to John McCain initially added Sarah Palin to his "short list" of potential running mates because McCain wanted a woman on the list, according to his campaign manager. McCain entered the vice presidential selection process with a list of five possibilities: Tim Pawlenty, Mitt Romney, Michael Bloomberg, Charlie Crist, and Joe Lieberman, according to Washingtonian's profile (which isn't online) of Washington lawyer A.B. Culvahouse, who led the search. "As the clock was running out, [campaign manager Rick] Davis say McCain asked to have at least one woman on the short list. His advisers went back to the long list...

And Politico effectively joins Barack Obama's re-election campaign. Politico's increasingly leftward lean has finally caused it to fall over entirely. The sheer volume of anti-Palin stories over the last week was breathtaking. It's clear that they have targeted Palin. To wit: First they were critical of Palin for not saying anything: Tucson shooting presents 2012 test Their widely divergent reactions — from Tim Pawlenty’s subtle distancing from his beleaguered rival, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin; to her virtual disappearance; to former House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s feeding of the right-wing base — are telling for what they show about the...

From Tea Party activists to “mama grizzlies,” the number of female conservative candidates in this year’s election is unprecedented. This surge in the number of right-leaning ladies has not only caught the Democratic Party’s attention. Several media outlets have jumped on board to lend support to the female democratic candidates who are in danger of losing their seats.  Politico dedicated roughly 1300 words to the subject of female candidates in this year’s election in an Oct. 12 article, but it could only spare about 174 words on the conservative candidates. The article could easily double as a campaign literature touting...

Honest to goodness, the man just does not get it. He might be forced to pull a Palin and resign before his first term is over. He could go off and write his memoirs and build his presidential library. (Both would be half-size, of course.) I am not saying Obama is not smart; he is as smart as a whip. I am just saying he does not understand what savvy first-term presidents need to understand: You have to stay on message, follow the polls, listen to your advisers (who are writing the message and taking the polls) and realize that...

Contributors discuss Sarah Palin's comments about the Ground Zero mosque in light of her divergence from elite opinion. Brian Katulis, senior fellow, Center for American Progress It’s unfortunate, though unsurprising, that the attention-seeking former half-term governor is carelessly exploiting the Sept. 11 attacks in this way. Suggesting, as Sarah Palin did, that the presence of a mosque near ground zero is a “stab in the heart” of America is insulting to core values that make our country great: tolerance and pluralism. Tom Korologos, former ambassador, Republican strategist Whether the number of Palin supporters is 16 percent of Washington’s elite —...