Free Republic

LEBANON, N.H. -- Can you discern, deep in the new Republican Party -- amid the conservative warriors and tea-infused crusaders -- a faint moderate heartbeat? Hardly anyone is asking that question this month, in the wake of the Republican tsunami that swept Democrats out of office and swept a Republican majority into the Senate chamber. But two unrelated events this month make the question worth posing, if only to explore the possibility and to understand the political landscape here in the state that only 15 months from now will hold the first presidential primary. The first of those events took...

According to BarackObama.com, President Obama's official website, Jon Gruber "helped write Obamacare." The post was written in 2012 and was about specific quotes from President Obama trying to tie Mitt Romney to ObamaCare by saying that "RomneyCare" was the model for the Affordable Care Act. In an act to hide the connection to Barack Obama after Gruber's quotes about the "stupidity of American voters" went viral, the article has been taken down by Organizing for Action. However, it was online as recently as August of this year, and a cached version still exists that clearly shows its original content. Here...

While Obamacare’s proponents continue to insist that the program presents no threat to Americans’ healthcare, new comments from Obamacare architect Jonathan Gruber demonstrate that Obamacare was designed to do just that. Gruber stated: You get a law which said healthy people are going to pay in, it made explicit that healthy people pay and sick people get money, it would not have passed…Lack of transparency is a huge political advantage and basically, you know, call it the stupidity of the American voter or whatever, but basically, that was really, really critical to get this thing to pass. In other words,...

... 1. We are not “The Establishment” or “RINO’s”, and you are not “The Base”. We are THE Republican Party founded in 1854. The Tea Party is a MOVEMENT that began inside our party sometime between 2007-2009, and if anyone must be referred to as a “RINO”, it’s the members of this movement, because they seemingly have a strong dislike for most of what occurs within our party. In 1854, the Whigs that were against slavery didn’t solve the problem by calling the others WINO’s, they courageously founded the Republican Party. That is what a Republican does. We don’t run...

One way to look at Dubya’s claim that Jeb Bush is 50/50 about running is that that means Romney is 50/50, or close to 50/50, too. If Jeb says no, the door is open. And more importantly, even if it’s only open a crack now, Romney’s inner circle is working hard to kick it in. You guys need to stop resisting this. Embrace destiny. In the days after the election, a group of Romney supporters began circulating a memo that compared the success of his midterm endorsements with those made by Hillary Rodham Clinton, the front-runner for the 2016 Democratic...

Former Presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Friday criticized President Barack Obama over his policy in the Middle East and his attitude towards Israel. Romney, who spoke at the inaugural Israeli American Council National Conference in Washington, accused Obama of being “naive” and of “distancing ourselves from allies”. Commenting on reports that Obama had sent a letter to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei suggesting cooperation against the Islamic State (ISIS), Romney was quoted by The Washington Times as having said, “I was frankly stunned that the President of the United States would write a letter of that nature, in effect...

Yesterday, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals struck a reverberating blow on behalf of natural marriage and the Constitution by upholding bans on sodomy-based marriages in its jurisdiction.It is impossible to overestimate the importance of this ruling.It means, for one thing, that the issue is now on the fast track to the Supreme Court. If the Court accepts a marriage case by January, a decision will almost certainly be issued by next June.From a constitutional standpoint, the 6th Circuit’s ruling is a model of sound jurisprudence. The ruling observes that the Supreme Court has already settled the question of the...

Friday on PBS's "News Hour," syndicated columnist Mark Shields pointed out, "among young Republicans, 61 percent of Republicans -- young Republicans under the age of 30 are in favor of same sex marriage." New York Times columnist David Brooks "applauded," the GOP for "doing absolutely the right thing in withdrawing" and letting the country have its way. Brooks said "I sort of applaud the minimalism here. Sometimes you let the country have its way and you don't try to determine the shape of the country, you sort of modestly step back and let the country figure out what it believes....

Remember when dissent was patriotic? When people like Hillary Clinton screeched that "we have a right to disagree with any administration?" Forget about it. That's so, like, 2003. You know, when George W. Bush was President. Things are different today. Now, criticizing a sitting president is wrong. Very wrong. Just ask Joe Scarborough, who on today's Morning Joe accused Leon Panetta of a "lack of character" for criticizing President Obama in his book and public appearances. View the video here.

If you care that consenting adults can get married, regardless of their genders or colors or sexual proclivities, you're not really a conservative. You use the term to describe yourself because you think some people will favor it, like when people on dating sites call themselves "adventurous." Real adventurers meet new lovers at zip-lining conventions, or even prayer marathons, not online in chat rooms. And real conservatives don't care what consenting adults do with their money or lungs or genitals if it does not intrude on the liberty of others. But worse than the "conservatives" who think your freedom ends...

The radical redefinition of marriage - "gay marriage," so called - is only a single weapon in the homofascist arsenal stockpiled against Western civilization. Many have bought, are buying, the insideous lie that this is just a static change that will affect no one other than the parties involved. Nothing can be further from the truth. Abundant evidence and simple reasoning tells us so. It will not stop with marriage redefinition, the goal is the entire revamping of society, Christianity not excepted. We were constantly lectured only a few years ago that this is a civil issue and that church's...

Tonight on Bill O'Reilly's show, Megyn Kelly was only stating her opinion. She was not espousing gay marriage. This gay marriage is against the will of the American people, against history, and against nature. Time and time again the people voted against it only to be overturned by learned judges who, through their own life experiences believe they know better than everyone else. How will this experiment work out? How will you get muslim, christin and jewish fundamentalists, to whom gay marriage is prohibited by their religion to acquiesce? Will the religious be forced to accept this abomination? Will free...

This MSNBC host appears better at exemplifying “convoluted” than defining it. MSNBC host Alex Wagner celebrated how the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit “struck down two more same-sex bans” in Idaho and Nevada during “NOW with Alex Wagner” on Oct. 7. During a panel, she addressed the “convoluted argument” of religious liberty by calling religious exceptions “carve-outs for bigotry.” To introduce the segment, Wagner gushed that the Court of Appeal’s move “comes on the heels of a landmark Supreme Court un-ruling on marriage equality,” and “is expected to bring the grand total of states allowing gay and lesbian...

This week, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected gay marriage appeals from Indiana, Oklahoma, Utah, Virginia, and Wisconsin, in essence allowing lower courts to legalize same-sex couples. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS), an institution that has vigorously opposed gay marriage for some time now, conceded that the political battle over marriage is over. “As far as the civil law is concerned,” the Mormon Church admitted, “the courts have spoken.” Actually, nothing is over until God says it’s over. At least, this is my understanding of how religion operates. So while I don’t want to accuse Mormons of...

Many people are understandably dismayed by the the Supreme Court's refusal to hear several gay marriage cases effectively codifying gay marriage in several states. While it is certainly disappointing, it isn't really unexpected. I hate to break this news to you, especially if you are one of these people who think that this country, a country founded with limited government, separation of powers, and federalism, is still recoverable by normal means, it isn't. The U.S. as we knew it and understood it is gone and it isn't coming back, at least not by regular constitutional means. Nope. Federalism, limited government,...

Look behind the incredible speed of same-sex marriage judicial victories, including Monday’s Supreme Court decision, and you’ll find federal employees. They are not high-profile politicians or appointed officials. You won’t find them on the Sunday morning talk shows or in the national headlines. But they have been in the vanguard of the marriage equality movement even as they toil in their everyday, low-key jobs. The first lawsuit against the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which prevented the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages, was filed in 2009 by a postal worker in Massachusetts.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints says its doctrine on marriage will remain unchanged despite Monday’s U.S. Supreme Court decision that effectively legalized gay marriage in five states, including Utah, and opened the door for legalization in six more. “As far as the civil law is concerned, the courts have spoken,” the church said in a statement reacting to the Supreme Court’s decision. “Church leaders will continue to encourage our people to be persons of good will toward all, rejecting persecution of any kind based on race, ethnicity, religious belief or nonbelief, and differences in sexual orientation.” In...

Karl Rove recently tried to advise Republicans on how the party can more effectively take back the Senate in November. He made two main suggestions. One was that Republican candidates must “make the case for electing someone new who will be a check and balance in the Senate on Mr. Obama and his agenda, rather than returning a Democratic loyalist who toes his line.” Rove’s second suggestion was that the party should “offer a positive, optimistic conservative agenda to make independents who disapprove of Mr. Obama comfortable voting Republican.” Rove is right on both counts, especially about offering a positive...

Because of the meddling of people like Karl Rove, John Boehner and the rest of the GOPe, what was supposed to be an easy jaunt to a Senate majority finish line next month has turned into a nail biter. Tokyo Rove has forced Tom Tillis on us in North Carolina. Tillis is not doing well and could very well lose to a very vulnerable Democrat. He and Haley Barbour cheated to get another amnesty rubber stamp, Thad Cochran the nomination in Mississippi re-nominated and he too is headed for defeat. This bunch did the same thing in Kansas and forced...

A band of healthcare professionals and charities has warned political leaders that health and social care services are at “breaking point” following “an era of unprecedented austerity”. “Signs of a system buckling under the twin crises of rising demand and flatlining budgets are everywhere,” they claim, highlighting a shortage of GPs, over-stretched maternity services, A&E departments missing waiting times, delayed cancer referrals, and a lack of mental health beds, as well as crippling costs of social care and failing dementia services.