Free Republic

Throughout the autumn, as Election Day approached, many of us found ourselves asking the question: But what happens if we win? Every political campaign – of either party, of any ideology – focuses on the full range of issues. Tax cuts vs. tax hikes. Overspending vs. responsibility. Hedonism vs. ethics. A strong defense vs. a projection of weakness. But after the election, we have to come down to earth, and acknowledge that no one person – no single individual – can make the entire government do a 180. When one side wins both the presidency and majorities in both houses...

BREAKING: Republicans in Louisiana have created a supermajority in the State House by winning the competitive seats they needed. Here is the CURRENT expected final flip map tonight. Pink indicates R flips, lightest blue indicates a D flip. On track for a net gain of 8 ATM.

Plenty of Republicans remain bitter that their party passed that bloated $1.3 trillion omnibus—almost as bitter as President Trump, who felt pressured to sign it. But this fight doesn’t have to be over. Across Washington, principled conservatives are noodling with an idea that—if done right—could be a political winner. It’s a chance for Republicans to honor their promises of spending restraint and redeem themselves with a base turned off by the omnibus blowout. It’s an opening for the GOP to highlight the degree to which Democrats used the bill to hold the military hostage to their own domestic boondoggles. And...

The Republicans do not have a major legislative victory so far despite controlling the House, the Senate and the Presidency. Much of that is attributable to Republicans in Congress wanting to tread lightly politically so as not to offend. However, in this Divided Era, how the Democrats played politics with the likes of now Justice Gorsuch and the Georgia Democrat Jon Ossoff should be a wakeup call for Republicans. Regardless of what you think of Trump, he didn’t get elected by being bashful. He said what was on his mind and promised big changes. On several fronts, at least in...

For the first time in 6 years, I’m proud of my country.-I sure hope this works.Well, who knew? To quote the Ragin’ Cajun, “it’s the economy, stupid!” - followed closely by Obamacare, immigration, foreign affairs and Ebola. Big Guy was dead on: “make no mistake, my policies are on the ballot.” And the natives have weighed in with a resounding “take your policies and shove them.”Lady M is fuming because wherever she went, losses followed: Maine gubernatorial candidate Mike Michaud Iowa Maryland Democratic gubernatorial candidate, Anthony Brown, Senate candidate Bruce Baily Braley, Florida gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist, Colorado senate candidate...

Well, it's taken a while for our own home-grown, corn-fed Ohioan, John Boehner to get some Lamestream Media coverage, but President Obama has catapulted "our" John to the stage of national attention, mentioning him by name at least eight times in a Cleveland speech last week. Representative and Republican Minority Whip (And, I do mean "whip") Boehner was also diginified in that POTUS was only making a spontaneous speech at a Cleveland University, where local students had to be begged to attend, reportedly, because John Boehner had recently been in Ohio whipping up the masses against Obama's Recovery Summer...

Especially in a democratic age, statesmen are careful students of social trends. They know that the art of political leadership can't afford to ignore the science of political demography, even though the former can never be reduced to the latter. Conservatives who seek a revival in their movement must exhibit similar wisdom and closely examine how America has changed since the glory days of President Ronald Reagan, and how those changes pose new challenges to, and may impose new limits on, conservatism today. The conservative ascendancy of the Reagan years centered in the middle class. It wasn't just any middle...

There has been much chatter about who now speaks for the Republican Party and whether the GOP has a message or agenda to combat President Obama's popularity. Those questions are important to the party's future, but the most serious problem remains the deeper demographic and political forces at work in the country. For the past few months, political analysts and demographers have been poring over the results of the 2008 election and comparing them with presidential results from the last two decades. From whatever angle of their approach -- age, race, economic status, geography -- they have come to a...

Which shows us all exactly what we need to do with regard to defeating him. Repeat it like a chant. Show it in every way possible. Barack Obama is just another politician. He is no different than a John Kerry or an Al Gore. He will manipulate. He will say what is needed to get elected. He will go negative and attack. He will buy the election if it is possible for him to do so. His past shows him to be nothing extraordinary and quite ordinary. Even if every single one of these points is made and lands in...

Karl Rove dreamed of creating a "permanent Republican majority." But as President Bush's longtime adviser exits the Washington scene, the political landscape he helped chart is already shifting beneath his feet: The era of conservative values -- a tight-fisted approach toward government aid to the poor, traditional positions on social issues and a belief in a muscular foreign policy -- that emerged in the 1990s is coming to a close.

John S. Wilder needs 17 votes to remain Lt. Governor, but there are only 16 Democrats in the Tennessee Senate. That hasn't stopped him before.

During the 2000 presidential campaign, Karl Rove, the political mastermind George W. Bush called Boy Genius, was wont to draw an analogy with the election of 1896, in which the Republican William McKinley drubbed William Jennings Bryan. McKinley's election ushered in a 35-year era chiefly characterized by G.O.P. dominance; so, too, Rove argued, would Bush's hasten the progress toward an era of virtual one-party rule. And Rove's bold prediction seemed plausible. Over time, the Republicans have increased their margin in Congress and reversed years of Democratic dominance in statehouses and State Legislatures. The conservative columnist Fred Barnes declared in 2003...

In America, parties enter periods of hegemony when they are seen as having resolved the crisis of the age.Lincoln, the first Republican president, reunited in blood a Union that had sundered over his election and a Southern rebellion against the ascendancy of an industrializing North.With the crushing of the Confederacy by the armies of Sherman and Grant, the assassination of Lincoln on Good Friday, 1865, and the abolition of slavery, the Republican Party appeared to have solved the crisis of the age. The GOP owned the patriotism issue, "waving the bloody shirt," and the morality issue, emancipation, and thus became...

With six months to go until Election Day 2006, are Republicans doomed to defeat? And what of President George W. Bush: If the Democrats win back the congressional majority, will they seek to investigate - even impeach - him? The answers to these two questions are linked. That is, Republican voters, angered, in particular, over Bush's shilly-shallying on the immigration issue, are inclined to let the GOP suffer a little in 2006. But they don't want to see the 2004 presidential election results overturned. After all, this is a conservative country; Republicans have won seven of the last 10 presidential...

I know a little something about adventure. In the late 1970s, the leader of the Republican minority in the U.S. House of Representatives used to greet newly elected Republican members with a white flag of surrender. "Every day I wake up and look in the mirror and say to myself, 'Today you're going to be a loser,'" said the former minority leader. "And after you're here awhile, you'll start to feel the same way. But don't let it bother you. You'll get used to it." A party whose leader would offer such advice deserves to be in the minority --...

Our View: Keep the House Republican Posted Apr 21, 2006In Frank Capra’s oft-watched movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life,” the character George Bailey is given a chance to see what his hometown would be like had he never lived. He quickly learns it’s an ugly place. Lucky for Bailey, the transformation of his fictional town was just a trick played on him by an angel. Conservatives cannot count on a similar twist in this year’s elections, which will take place in the real world. If they succumb to the temptation to write off the Republican Congress, sitting on their hands this...

Rep. Tom DeLay says he made the decision to leave Congress after taking a poll in his Texas district which showed he had no better than a 50-50 chance of winning reelection this November. In a long discussion with conservative journalists Tuesday afternoon, DeLay discussed the Republican primary he faced last month, which he won with 62 percent of the vote. While some observers called that an impressive win, given the controversy that surrounds DeLay, the congressman himself said that was when he knew he had a problem. "After the primary — you get a sixth sense about this stuff,"...

Four decades ago, Kevin Phillips, a young political strategist for the Republican Party, began work on what became a remarkable book. In writing "The Emerging Republican Majority" (published in 1969), he asked a very big question about American politics: How would the demographic and economic changes of postwar America shape the long-term future of the two major parties? ...(clip)...A stronger Republican Party, he believed, would restore stability and order to a society experiencing disorienting and at times violent change. Shortly before publishing his book, he joined the Nixon administration to help advance the changes he had foreseen. Phillips has remained...

March 20, 2006, 8:09 a.m. March to the Senate How it’s looking. As we head into spring, this year's Senate races come into sharper focus. Democrats need to gain six seats to secure control of the chamber — a tall order, even as they stand poised for a good fall. Here's a quick tour of nearly two dozen contests, updating a report from January. ARIZONA: Before it's over, developer Jim Pederson, a Democrat who once headed the state party, will spend a bundle to defeat Republican senator Jon Kyl. A Pederson upset is not inconceivable, but it will take an...

Painting the Map Red: The Fight to Create a Permanent Republican Majority At Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0895260026/sr=8-3/qid=1142574815 Book Description Painting the Map Red, the insider's guide to the 2006 elections and the crucial messages GOP candidates and activists will be adopting to foster the spread of Red States, is a must-read from Hugh Hewitt, nationally syndicated talk show host and political strategist. From the Inside Flap How to Win Everywhere Warning: this is the book the Democrats don¹t want you to read. Painting the Map Red is the insider¹s blueprint for achieving a permanent Republican majority. Bestselling author, political strategist, and...