Free Republic

Given the conventional wisdom that “elitist” derision towards her only makes her supporters support her more adamantly, you’d think savvy Beltway consultants who don’t like her would keep that fact to themselves. And yet. Here’s their answer to the question, “Which voice in your party would you most like to mute?” That’s among “political” insiders, i.e. consultants. Among senators and congressmen polled, she finished second behind “no one,” tied with Michele Bachmann and Glenn Beck, among others. These insiders are the same people, mind you, who earlier this year voted her seventh among Republican governors with the brightest political future...

There are very few brave politicians in the world. Most of them mince their words and tell you what they think you want to hear. Brave politicians are ones who speak their mind. They tell you exactly how they feel, consequences be damned. Iowa 5th District Congressman Steve King is among that rare breed.

Barack Obama began his presidency with an open hand toward the man he had just defeated in a race that was at times bitter. "There are few Americans who understand this need for common purpose and common effort better than John McCain," said Obama at an inauguration-eve tribute dinner to his former foe. But in the year since that evening of comity and collegiality, McCain has emerged as one of the leading critics of the new president. On foreign policy, his traditional area of expertise, and domestic affairs, where McCain has shown new passion, the 72-year-old Arizonan is making it...

Sarah Palin may draw ecstatic crowds in "real America," but among Republican insiders in Washington, she's not so popular. National Journal's annual Insiders Poll issue will come out Friday, but we've got some early results; the most interesting finding is how many GOP insiders and members of Congress listed Palin as one of their least favorite members of the party. Palin was the top response when 85 GOP strategists and insiders were asked, "Which voice in your party would you most like to mute?" 28 percent listed Palin; Republican National Committee Chairman Michael came in second, with 12 percent. [...]...

Republicans like to point to Ronald Reagan for inspiration. However, we have to resign ourselves to the fact that Ronald Reagan is dead. Worse, his legacy was killed off by his own party, the same Republicans who say he inspired them. The only lasting legacy to George W. Bush was the nomination of two constructionist judges and a fading response to terrorism. For eight years, we saw GW insist more on getting along than being right. Even the war in Iraq was fought on the cheap, probably out of fear of the cost of waging war, which defies the logic...

Tea Party Support and the Social Security Institute Tell GOP Senate: “Stop Putting Your Christmas Vacation Ahead of Our Country” Posted : Tue, 08 Dec 2009 18:14:19 GMT Tea Party Support ( http://teapartysupport.com ) and the Social Security Institute ( http://socialsecurityinstitute.com ) joined forces yesterday to blast out a million-and-a-half email messages asking people to demand that Republican Senators stop assisting Harry Reid to ram ObamaCare and the Reid health bill through the Senate by year’s end. The email campaign has generated more than 25,000 letters and emails to Capitol Hill so far. Tea Party Support President Matthew Perdue...

I'm all for Ralph Nader running again. I'd love for Howard Dean to get fed up or some other Democrat to get fed up with Obama and I'd love for a third party of Democrats and liberals to establish itself. I want all kinds of liberals to line and up run in third parties. That's how we weaken their side. As for our side, the focus must be to take back the Republican Party. That's the way you win. You can draw attention to yourself by denouncing both parties at the same time, and you can think that you're relating...

In a three-way Generic Ballot test, the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds Democrats attracting 36% of the vote. The Tea Party candidate picks up 23%, and Republicans finish third at 18%. Another 22% are undecided.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney said Sunday that Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty has his facts wrong in criticizing the health care plan Romney instituted in his state. Pawlenty has repeatedly pointed to the Massachusetts plan of his potential rival for the 2012 Republican nomination as the perfect example of how not to do health care reform. The Minnesota governor has made that case in numerous interviews, speeches and op-eds that, while not focused on the Massachusetts program, make his criticism of it clear. Presented with a clip of Pawlenty arguing that the Massachusetts plan did not come close to meeting...

(snip) “Why did I do this? I want my time to count. I want to be seen as someone who can solve a hard problem by working with my colleagues across the aisle. I want to do something that matters. I can’t think of a better use of my time than to work with Democrats and Republicans to break our dependency on foreign oil, to create jobs for our next generation of Americans that will never go to China. And yes, leave behind a cleaner planet.” (snip)

Sen. Lindsey Graham may be under fire from conservatives back home in South Carolina. But the Republican got a personal assurance from President Obama yesterday that the White House is supporting his efforts to craft a sweeping Senate energy and global warming bill. “The president told me personally he was very open, that nuclear power would be part of the mix, that clean coal would be part of the mix, that he’s for offshore drilling in a responsible way,” Graham said today in describing his Oval Office meeting with Obama. “But we have to have a price on carbon,...

Republicans Pay Tribute at ‘Tea Party’ Movie Premiere Members of Congress Mingle With Activists at D.C. Film Debut By David Weigel 12/3/09 10:08 AM Presenters at the premiere of "Tea Party: The Documentary Film" Wednesday in Washington (Photo: David Weigel) Getting into Wednesday’s Washington, D.C., premiere of “Tea Party: The Documentary Film” meant walking through a steady rain into the Ronald Reagan building, a sprawling downtown trade and convention center where the economic conservative group FreedomWorks, which helped organize a number of Tea Party protests, had rented a foyer and a sizable auditorium. The stars of the film relaxed and...

In an interview with the Baltimore Sun today, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele publicly rejected the candidate “litmus test” proposed by a group of national conservatives. The concept behind the proposal is to force a certain “conservative ideological purity” on to candidates and elected officials in the Republican Party so that Republicans don’t end up supporting socialist-statist policies. The RNC will vote on the proposal next month when it holds its annual meeting. While well intentioned, the litmus test proposal would do little to solve the two fundamental problems within the Republican Party: bad leadership and conservative acquiescence to...

HELLO FREE REPUBLIC AND WELCOME TO AN EXCLUSIVE FREE REPUBLIC CALL TO ACTION BURNIN' DOWN THE TENT!!! We have all been frustrated and angry at the way we have been treated by the political elite in this country. They have ignored us, belittled us, overlooked us, and singled us Conservatives out for their special brand of contempt. It is bad enough when liberals and Democrats do it, but the betrayal of our Constitution and of our whole system of Conservative values and morals at the hands of the party we built and supported for lo these many years has...

Most Mormons have long suspected what three political science professors have confirmed: Increased knowledge about Mormons and their faith helps remove stigma attached to them. That news comes as the nation's highest-ranking Mormon risks his political future on heath care reform. Writing in USA Today, Professors David E. Campbell, John C. Green and J. Quin Monson, wrote "Americans still have a bias against Republican Mitt Romney, according to a study conducted during last year's election. Not a political bias, but a religious one. The good news: When people understood his Mormon faith, the bias melted away. The trio teach political...

RomneyCare is big government forcing its will on a formerly free people. It's anti-American, anti-free-markets, anti-Liberty and unconstitutional. Listen to the Reagan tape. RomneyCare is the socialism he's talking about. RomneyCare = ObamaCare. No difference. Government is not the solution, it IS the problem!! Free Republic will not support gun grabbing, abortion pushing, gay rights pushing, big government socialist RINOS!! In fact we will actively campaign AGAINST them!! Free Republic is a pro-Life & Liberty small government conservative site for pro-Life & Liberty small government conservatives!! Take a freaking hike if you don't like it. RINOS be damned!! Hope this...

In a men’s room in Minneapolis, former Senator Larry Craig indignantly asked an undercover police officer: “Do you know who I am?” The cop didn’t know who Craig was, and many beltway bigshots should learn a lesson from that: time to lose the ego and take a hard look at how little you matter to the American voter. I thought of Craig when reading how Grover Norquist has issued orders to potential Republican presidential candidates. Mike Huckabee is supposed to make sure that Republicans defeat Senator Blanche Lincoln or Arkansas, and Rudy Giuliani needs to run for governor of New...

When the Charleston County Republican Party censured South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham last month, the official statement read that Graham: “in the name of bipartisanship — continues to weaken the Republican brand and tarnish the ideals of freedom, rule of law, and fiscal conservatism.” That some Republicans-any Republicans-would dare treat Graham as a traitor for his bipartisan efforts, was portrayed by the national media and liberal pundits as yet another example that “fringe” elements were taking over the GOP. (Accompanying YouTube video)When Connecticut Democrats sought to censure Joe Lieberman in 2008 they cited the senator’s “extraordinary disloyalty to countless Connecticut...

I hope Mike Huckabee meant it when he said recently that he's not sure he wants to make a second run for president. Though he's right up there with Sarah Palin in polls of the prospective Republican field for 2012, his odds of success are suddenly slim to none. You could argue that the former Arkansas governor is a victim of bad luck. You could argue that he's a victim of his own bad judgment. What's inarguable is that Huckabee commuted the prison term of a man killed by police after he allegedly shot and killed four police officers Sunday...

Under fire for commuting the sentence of suspected cop-killer Maurice Clemmons, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee on Tuesday called some of the criticisms “disgusting” and suggested they were attempts to score political points. “It really does show how sick our society has become that people are more concerned about a campaign three years from now than those grieving families in Washington,” Huckabee said during an interview on Joe Scarborough’s radio show. “It is disgusting, but people use anything as a political weapon.” Huckabee granted Clemmons, a suspect in the killings of four police officers in Washington state over the weekend,...

I lurk this forum way too much. But it does give me my news fix and some interesting tidbits as well. I am in here enough to get a good gauge of the political celebs Freepers don't like. That would be pretty much everybody. I'm kinda sure nobody likes Mitt Romney. And as of 11/6/08, John McCain is a favorite whipping boy. Overall, the bulk of characters who stood on stage in the early GOP debates last year is tainted in some way. Giuliani, the cross-dressing gun-hater. Ron Paul, the anti-war drug-legalizer. Huckabee, the soft-on-crime wingnut. Yada yada... I'm aligned...

If Sarah Palin runs for president in 2012, can she win? Pundits have been buzzing about the possibility since the release of her book two weeks ago, and the itinerary and politics of her book tour suggest she hasn't ruled out a bid. Palin has said she "cannot predict what doors will be open in 2012," but can recent polling provide an answer? Can Palin Win a General Election? Ultimately, the potential for any Republican in 2012 will depend on voters' future assessments of President Obama. But even if he is vulnerable, Palin will face some huge obstacles, as the...

Mike Huckabee was on The O'Reilly Factor tonight and apologized for releasing cop killer Maurice Clemmons from prison as governor in Arkansas.

I’ll just leave this here… Before a defense of any kind of religious discrimination, one ought to make all of the necessary disclaimers: of course I oppose government-sponsored discrimination, and I certainly would not support the kind of absurd treatment described by Steven Reinhart in his piece featured below. That being said, there is a legitimate case to be made for judging any candidate for office by his religious convictions. In late 2007, Mitt Romney made his somewhat-famous speech on religion, where he spoke the following words: “Freedom requires religion just as religion requires freedom. Freedom opens the windows of...

MONTGOMERY, AL (WSFA) - Former Republican presidential candidate endorses Montgomery's gubernatorial candidate. WSFA 12 News confirmed overnight that Mitt Romney will endorse state treasurer Kate Ivey in her Republican race for governor. Romney cited Ivey's conservative background as the main reason for his support. Ivey served as Alabama chair-person of Romney's 2008 presidential campaign.

(CNN) -- Catholic, Orthodox and Evangelical Christian leaders last week issued a bold political statement. They intended to target the Obama administration. Inadvertently, they may have also hit probable Republican presidential candidate, Mitt Romney. Mitt Romney ought to rank atop the Republican candidates for president in 2012. He finished second in votes cast in the primaries of 2008. He is a candidate with immense private-sector economic expertise in a time of urgent economic debate. But Romney has a political problem: his Mormon religious faith. A Gallup survey in December 2007 found that 18 percent of Republicans would not vote for...

(snip) Trey Grayson, a Republican candidate for US Senate, was the keynote speaker on the issue of global warming last year at Eastern Kentucky University as part of the National Focus the Nation event. Now, why is that such a big deal? Well, the Special Adviser for Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation for Focus the Nation is none other than Van Jones. Yes, that's right, the self-proclaimed communist Obama hired to be the Green Jobs Czar that had to tuck tail and resign at midnight. WHOA Now, let's back up a bit. Here's a bit of history on Focus the...

Romney's Legacy: Socialized Healthcare RomneyCare

Just days before Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislators finalized a water package, including an $11.1 billion bond issue, state Treasurer Bill Lockyer warned them not to do it. California is already deeply in debt, Lockyer warned, has huge budget deficits and can't afford another big bond issue. "The days of blithely heaping more and more debt burden on the general fund are over – at least they should be," Lockyer said. The earmark-laden bond issue, the package's single most controversial element, raises an interesting question: Just how deeply in debt are our state and local governments? The answer: No one...

She's a God, Country, Family, small government, no nonsense traditional Christian conservative. She's an outsider not corrupted by business as usual Washington politics. They hate her. She's pro defense. An army mom. She's pro-gun. Hunts, fishes and enjoys the great outdoors. She eats corrupt office holders and wasteful spenders for lunch. She drills for oil. She's a fighter. A winner! She's the exact opposite to Obama in all respects. She's an American patriot! In short, she's exactly what we the grassroots tea party patriots are looking for.

Reversing his previously stated belief that none of the Republican candidates for the GOP presidential nomination have all three legs of the conservative stool, Rush Limbaugh told his listeners Monday that Mitt Romney is indeed a three-leg conservative. Describing the three legs as "national security/foreign policy, the social conservatives, and the fiscal conservatives," Rush said, "The social conservatives are the cultural people. The fiscal conservatives are the economic crowd: low taxes, smaller government, get out of the way... The foreign policy crowd is obviously what it is. I don't think there's anybody on our side who doesn't care about national...

Monday, Dec 31, 2007 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASECONTACT: Kevin Madden (857) 288-6390Boston, MA – Today, Bay Buchanan announced that she is endorsing Governor Mitt Romney for President of the United States. Buchanan most recently headed Congressman Tom Tancredo's (R-CO) presidential campaign. "I am proud to be supporting Governor Romney. Throughout this campaign, he has distinguished himself as the one Republican presidential candidate who not only speaks to the challenges confronting the American people, but can also win. He will secure the border, strengthen the economy and ensure that America remains strong. I believe that with Governor Romney's vision, values and experience,...

SAN YSIDRO — With the San Ysidro border fence as her backdrop, Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman spoke out on immigration policy issues yesterday, saying it is “simply not practical” to deport the estimated 12.5 million illegal immigrants living and working in the United States. The candidate, 53, said the solution is to find a mechanism that allows them to live here legally. “Can we get a fair program where people stand at the back of the line, they pay a fine, they do some things that would ultimately allow a path to legalization?” she asked. Whitman also urged tougher...

The Western Conservative Political Action Conference has always been a smaller sibling to the annual Washington, D.C., CPAC. It’s gained some strength this year with the addition of speakers like Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R-Minn.) and California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman. But it’s also attracted some notable “birthers.”

There is still confusion over whether Govenor Palin supports amnesty for illegal aliens. In this article read at Newsbusters, Palin does support a "pathway to citizenship" for illegal aliens. But what is not clear is if she supports a pathway to citizenship only "after" they return to their country of origin. And then, get in the back of the line to come to America "legally" for citizenship. Or, if she supports a pathway to citizenship while illegals are still here. Without first requiring them to return to there country of origin. Does anyone have an answer to that question? Excerpt...

Today Americans for Tax Reform, a non-profit taxpayer advocacy group, gave the first ever “Richard Rich Backstabber Award,” to current California State Senator and newly appointed Lt. Governor, Abel Maldonado. For those unfamiliar with Rich and why Abel Maldonado should be bestowed with an award in his name, Rich was Lord Chancellor during the reign of Henry the VI of England and Solicitor General under Henry the VIII. Rich is best known for perjuring himself in order to secure a death sentence for Saint Thomas More (who happens to be the patron saint of those who work in politics and...

What should Diedre Scozzafava want to accomplish by Sunday's appearance on Face the Nation on CBS? Is it just another post-election 'poor poor pitiful me' about being beat up by tea party thugs led by Dick Armey, who will be on the same show? Well, I hope not. Ms. Scozzafava knows politics aint bean bag and there is something for all to learn from the NY23 GOP meltdown. In retrospect, which is a lot like hindsight, Ms. Scozzafava was not the best hope for North Country Republicans and her selection by a handful of county chairs was another example of...

Republican gubernatorial candidates Steve Poizner and Meg Whitman are looking forward to a better week, the previous seven-day period featured a bothersome news-cycle highlighting a few fiscal conflicts. For Poizner it was his use of CHP for security detail while on the campaign trail, and the fact that he WILL receive a paycheck as governor. For Meg it was a $45 million Charity Foundation's gift to environmentalists, and her $3 million hedge fund in the cayman Islands. You can read more at Hogue News today.

This is a surprising result from Public Policy Polling, the occasionally partisan group which nonetheless called the New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial races accurately. Mitt Romney’s favorable rating among Republican voters has fallen to 48 percent–a plurality, but a weak one. And the trend lines are even more interesting. Since April, when PPP started asking the question, Sarah Palin’s favorable number has moved from 76 percent to 75 percent; Mike Huckabee’s has moved from 67 percent to 65 percent. Romney, alone, has seen a statistically significant drop from 60 percent down to 48. The results are so strange that PPP’s...

Apparently there are still some posters on FR who are fast asleep. Wake up! Dammit! We are in the middle of a conservative rebellion! While you were sleeping we, along with millions of other freedom loving grassroots Americans have participated in hundreds of tea parties all across this great land and fully intend to keep it up until all of America is awake. We are fed up and mad as hell! We grassroots Americans are delivering a message to the ruling class: NO MORE!! No more big government! No more high taxes! No more government bailouts! No more government takeovers!...

Attempts to locate a statement or press release from Senator John McCain concerning Climategate have, so far, met with negative results. Senator McCain’s website indicates that his most recent press release (Oct 19) was a joint statement issued with Senator Russ Feingold (D.WI) that begins: "A day after a U.S. District Court Judge ruled that the Army Corps of Engineers displayed 'gross negligence' that contributed to the breaching of the levees in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, U.S. Senators Russ Feingold (D-WI) and John McCain (R-AZ), who have led efforts to reform the Army Corps of Engineers, released the following...

A Republican political hopeful interested in serving as governor of Massachusetts announced Monday he has chosen Richard R. Tisei, an openly gay state legislator, to be his running mate in the 2010 gubernatorial election. "Want you to be the first to know: I've chosen State Senator Richard Tisei as my running mate," Republican Charles Baker wrote on his Twitter account. "Excited about this team." In the photo at left, Baker stands to the left of Tisei outside the civic center in Wakefield, Mass. Baker is the former CEO of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and a former adviser to two Republican...

The Republican party wonders why conservatives are so disappointed with it?Another glowing example of the problems confronting the Republican party occurred yesterday.  The Senate Republicans had the opportunity to force a full reading of the Senate's proposed health care bill so that every bit of the 2,200 pages would be made public by the reading, and so the people could become much better informed about its contents before it is passed...if it is passed.  It had the opportunity to really hold the Democrats' feet to the fire over this abominable excuse for legislation that is being crammed down the throats...

AUSTIN – Here's what I did not hear at the annual confab of Republican governors held here this week: The words socialist, extremist, or government takeover. With the focus on jobs, jobs and jobs, the only red meat was the Texas barbecue. And by design, there was no Obama-bashing. [snip] Barbour cautioned Republican candidates to refrain from attacking the president, period: "People want the president to succeed; good Lord, they want the country to succeed, and particularly the first African-American president has a lot of goodwill. . . . We need to be careful, we need to treat the president...

Recently New York Times designated conservative columnist, David Brooks, advised Republican candidates to avoid talking about their “conservative bona fides." Instead, Mr. Brooks wrote, Republicans should talk about other things, like balanced budgets and small business-led job creation. Mr. Brooks didn’t seem to understand that economic prosperity and job growth are not distinct from conservative principles. They are the result of them. This sort of muddle qualifies as cutting edge conservative thought in today’s New York Times. The Brooks recipe for GOP victories in 2010 and 2012 is for our candidates to be non-combative, non-ideological, and non-conservative. This, of course,...

"Bruce Walker recently wrote a piece in American Thinker with the memorable title 'Of RINOs, Moderate Democrats, and Men.' In it, he argues the G.O.P. should target red-state RINOs, while giving blue-state RINOs a pass. His premise is familiar--in a blue state, a RINO is the best we can do. And as always, this premise is dead wrong. The danger to Walker's line of thinking--if we apply no pressure from the right, our RINOs will only feel pressure from the left. And we simply can't afford to cede our people to the left, no matter how liberal their constituents are...

Conservative Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, who is emerging as a top contender for the GOP presidential nomination in 2012, is gaining some attention this week for his comments in defense of President Obama. As first reported on the Huffington Post, Huckabee said some of the recent criticisms of Obama have been unfair and even "shameful." Huckabee made the comments to the Hudson Union Society. "When he [Barack Obama] was at Dover the other day, and went there to pay respect for soldiers, I heard a lot of people on the Right say "Aw, that's just a cheap photo-op."...

(1) The final stop on the tour is Sandpoint, Idaho, where Palin was born. Almost every stop on the tour has some kind of meaning to Palin (including places the McCain campaign would not allow her and Todd to go during the 2008 race, as well as Phoenix, Arizona, which is McCain’s hometown and the place she was not allowed to deliver a concession speech on Election Night). Stopping off in the place you were born sure feels like a presidential campaign sort of move. It’s also interesting Palin’s hitting Salt Lake City (Mitt Romney’s town), Minneapolis (Tim Pawlenty’s town),...

We may not be sure of Sarah Palin’s ability to assume a political office of national scope, but we can be certain she is polarizing. Obviously there is a gap between left and right, but, interestingly, the conservative commentariat itself is deeply divided. Even within the Weekly Standard crowd, Palin inspires vastly diverging reactions. Matthew Continetti has emerged as a Palin stalwart, while both David Brooks and Charles Krauthammer have taken to criticizing her regularly. The standard reproach against Palin is that she is toxic to the GOP’s brand among independents and unfit for higher office. At the same time,...

Reminds me of Jim DeMint notoriously saying that he’d rather have 30 pure conservatives in the Senate than a centrist Republican majority, presumably so that he could lose with honor on every single vote. Remember that old commercial about pollution where Iron Eyes Cody turns to the camera and a single tear rolls down his cheek? That’s Frum when he reads this. The poll indicates that a slight majority, 51 percent, of Republicans would prefer to see the GOP in their area nominate candidates who agree with them on all the major the issues even if they have a poor...