Free Republic

I and others have written about Grover Norquist and his ties to unscrupulous individuals and organizations. Now Congressman Frank R. Wolf, Republican from Virginia District 10, has gone to the floor of the House of Representatives and taken Norquist to task. Congressman Wolf states, "My conscience has compelled me to come to the floor today to voice concerns I have with the influence Grover Norquist, the president of Americans for Tax Reform, has on the political process in Washington. My issue is not with ATR’s goal of keeping taxes low. Like Ronald Reagan said, and I believe, “the problem is...

As he enters the Republican presidential race, Texas Gov. Rick Perry is striking some red-meat notes on the subject of immigration. Border security, he says, is a federal responsibility -- and immigration reform will have to wait until the border is secured. Invoking his beloved 10th Amendment, he proposes that in the meantime states should have some latitude to set their own course on the subject. As for Texas, he suggests, unauthorized immigration will not be treated lightly; earlier this year he called for a state law to abolish sanctuary cities, although the bill never made it to his desk....

August 20, 2011 4:00 A.M.Rick Perry Pushes Their Buttons The questions put to Governor Perry are political, not scientific. Gov. Rick Perry, pressed for his views on evolution, characterized it as “a theory� with “some gaps� in it. He went on to say that, in Texas, both conventional evolution and creationism are taught. He told a boy whose mother asked him about the subject: “In Texas, we teach both creationism and evolution in our public schools — because I figure you’re smart enough to figure out which one is right.� This is the sort of thing that drives a certain...

Facing similar slams on immigration, Republicans like Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) have flip-flopped and swerved to the right on the issue. But in an interview with Mother Jones Tuesday, Flake held fast to his previous views on immigration and suggested that he'll campaign as a social moderate—regardless of any blowback from the right. In 2006 and 2007, Flake co-authored the STRIVE Act, an immigration reform bill that included a pathway to legalization for undocumented immigrants. When asked on Tuesday by Mother Jones whether he'd still support a pathway to legalization, Flake soft-pedaled his response but defended his previous views on...

<p>If you're one of the people who thinks that former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is dumb as a hunk of frozen tundra, and as dead-in-the-water as the last salmon she reeled in, time to remove the hook from your lip and get a grip.</p>

The Wall Street Journal said a cyber attack crippled FreedomWorks’ servers on Thursday morning just as a major fundraising campaign was about to get underway. Nothing should surprise us anymore, I suppose. It’s bad enough the US Dept. of Justice has some attorneys who exempt white people from the Voting Rights Act. But the latest assault on FreedomWorks speaks to a climate of extremism dominant in much of mass media—the poli-class outlets—and spewing from the mouths of many who hold political office. FreedomWorks is often associated with the Tea Party movement. It’s a sad day when someone who has served...

Sarah Palin tells Barack Obama to apologize to the 15 million jobless Americans, Americans who are jobless largely due to his policies. At a rally to get Republicans to come out to vote in the less-than-two-weeks-away midterms, Palin used an effective mixture of cold, hard facts and well-placed humor to cut down Obama, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and anything Democrat-affiliated. Her fiery speech at the Marriott World Center in Orlando was intended to mobilize GOP party officials, activists and volunteers to go out and canvass local, Florida neighborhoods for the November elections. Unlike the amnesty-supporting Democrats in Washington State, however, you...

Speculation is rife that Democrat activists or even the Obama administration itself may have been responsible for an attack which brought down a prominent Tea Party website right as the organization targeted was running a major fund-raising drive and on the day after Obama directed the Pentagon to attack “cyberthreats” within the United States. The FreedomWorks website was attacked at 6:55am yesterday morning as the organization’s server was penetrated and completely wiped out by a “sophisticated hacker” on the very day of the group’s donation drive to support Tea Party candidates running in the imminent mid-term elections. The attack also...

Just got this e-mail from Freedomworks:FreedomWorks 9/12 Taxpayer March on Washington Dear Mirkwood, Did you hear the "news?" According to mainstream reports, Glenn Beck's rally attracted a whopping "couple thousand" to Washington, DC.

Paul Streitz has decided to call Sarah Palin by her real name, because she endorsed John McCain (who is trying to win a fifth term as Senator) and said she will campaign for him. Fanatic Palinites, such as the editors of the misnamed „conservatives4palin.com” website (they should rename it „liberals4palin.com”), lambasted him and called him a “backstabber”. “If Paul Streitz’s support of Governor Palin is contingent upon his agreeing with every decision she makes or her selling out her deeply-held values, that’s unfortunate. While all support is appreciated, the governor has never been for sale. Ask the Alaska establishment, who...

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R), the 2008 vice presidential nominee, will join a new Republican policy group aimed at reshaping and promoting the party brand. House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.)announced Palin’s decision to join the National Council for a New America on Monday night. The group launched late last week and held its first town hall-style forum on Saturday in Virginia. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), the 2008 presidential nominee, indicated during a conference call last week that his former running mate had been invited to join the policy panel. The group, which is made up of prominent Republican leaders,...

Less then a week after saying he has heard the American people regarding illegal immigration and their opposition to the McCain-Kennedy Pro-Amnesty bill, John McCain would still SIGN THE BILL into law if he was President and it came across his desk: (VIDEO) This explains his receiving the endorsement of fellow Pro-Amnestians, Senator Mel Martinez, (who almost single-handedly bankrupted the RNC with his support of the bill), the NY Times, Florida Governor Charlie Crist and of the Mexico-first pro-amnesty open borders advocate Dr. Juan Hernandez. “My friends", let me give you some “straight talk", a vote for John McCain is...

American Research Group: Among registered Republicans saying they will definitely participate in the Republican caucuses on January 3, Mike Huckabee is at 24%, Mitt Romney is at 23%, Fred Thompson is at 13%, Rudy Giuliani is at 11%, and John McCain is at 10%. In yet another sign of Mike Huckabee's surge in Iowa, a new poll released this morning shows that the Iowa GOP Primary has officially become a two person race between Huckabee and Mitt Romney -- and it's now unclear who's ahead. The new American Research Group survey finds that Romney and Huckabee are effectively tied, with...

Mike Huckabee, a wise-cracking, guitar-strumming, Baptist pastor has leapt into a conservative void and shot into contention in the unpredictable 2008 Republican White House race. Huckabee, 52, was hitherto best known for being born in the same town, Hope, as Bill Clinton, and shedding more than 100 pounds from his once portly frame. But, partly by exploiting discontent among Christian conservatives with the Republican field, Huckabee, a witty former Arkansas governor, has powered into second place in polls in Iowa, 65 days before the state's crucial caucuses. "The religious right vote in the Iowa caucuses is a substantial bloc, and...

The last month has been the best one of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee's campaign for the Republican presidential nomination. He appears to be emerging as a viable conservative alternative -- rising in polls in Iowa and finally putting together a serious fundraising effort. There's just one problem with this rosy scenario. And, its name is the Club For Growth. The Club, a D.C. based organization that proudly touts both its fiscal conservatism and its willingness to dabble in contested Republican primaries, seems intent on not allowing Huckabee to coalesce the Republican conservative base behind his candidacy. From the start...

IRVING, Texas — New Beginnings church hasn’t endorsed anybody in the 2008 presidential race, but God probably has, pastor Larry Huch said Sunday. The Almighty, who chose a Goliath-slayer to reign over Israel years ago, apparently has selected an Arkansan to rule over the United States, the Irving pastor repeatedly told his congregation as Mike Huckabee stood nearby. Huch, saying he believes he has a word from God for the Republican hopeful, quoted a Scripture passage from 1 Samuel that ends with the Lord declaring: “Arise and anoint [David to lead the nation ] for this is the one.” The...

The USCCB Committee on Migration sent a delegation to the U.S./Mexico border region to study the plight of unaccompanied minors and human trafficking victims. The ever-growing problems with these populations are some of the gravest and many times most overlooked symptoms of the broken and out-dated immigration system currently employed by the United States. The delegation met with a broad cross-section of agencies and individuals involved with or knowledgeable of these populations to gain critical insights and to understand their needs. The delegation also met with Church officials, government officials, community-based organization, and other with important perspectives. Programs established to...

Hillary Clinton -- and the other Democrats running for president -- couldn't possibly have assumed that they would forever skate around the issue of illegal immigration. That notion came to an end in the most recent debate, when the New York senator badly slipped over a question about her state's controversial plan to issue driver's licenses to illegal aliens. Did she think no one would ask? Democrats had better start dealing with this. Polls show a large majority of Americans, including Democrats, opposed to illegal immigration. They also find that most Americans favor some sort of amnesty for many illegals....

ASHLAND, N.H., Sept. 3 -- Former senator Fred Thompson of Tennessee will grab most of the headlines this week as he enters the race for the White House, but Mitt Romney likes where he stands in the contest for the Republican nomination. "When I started running seven months ago, I was at 5 percent in the national polls," the former Massachusetts governor said at a question-and-answer session here. "Now I won the Iowa straw poll; I'm ahead here in New Hampshire, ahead in Michigan, ahead in the Nevada." The energetic Romney, who is shown jogging in a television ad that...

The traits that helped Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee race to a second-place finish in last week's Iowa straw poll might be more of a drag with voters in New Hampshire. Huckabee returns to the state Friday with an uptick in fundraising and fresh criticism aimed at his chief rivals.

In 1993 it became obvious that if Rudy was to avenge his narrow defeat for Mayor four years earlier, he would need more Democratic voters to cross party lines and support him. His campaign strategists knew I was disenchanted with the incumbent and put a full court press on me to meet with Giuliani. I was the elected head of the Democratic Party in a large Democratic district whose vote could be pivotal if it turned out for the I met him and we talked for about an hour. He impressed me then as he does now with his intelligence,...

Giuliani has been carefully preparing for this moment. He spent the past election season accumulating a reservoir of good will among Republicans, campaigning hard for Republican candidates from Oregon to New Hampshire. He was particularly adept at raising money for those candidates and has established himself as one of few presidential hopefuls capable of raising the $100 million or so that is seen as necessary to win the White House. At the moment, he is getting help from Anne Dickerson, who ran President Bush’s highly successful Pioneer and Ranger fundraising machine in 2004. Giuliani has allied closely with Bush &...