Free Republic

In a Quinnipiac poll, just 30% of independents approve of ObamaCare. This problem will get worse and poses a dilemma for Mr. Obama and Democrats. A March analysis by Healthpocket.com estimated that less than 2% of individual plans comply with ObamaCare's mandates. A Nov. 7 study by McClatchy Newspapers suggests as many as 52 million people, including many covered by their employers, could lose their plan. Until now, many people who disagreed with Mr. Obama's agenda still liked him. But a late October Fox poll found his personal favorability at 45% and his unfavorability at 50%. Duplicity will do that....

Former George W. Bush senior advisor Karl Rove and former Barack Obama senior advisor David Plouffe got into quite a heated debate on ABC’s This Week Sunday. When Plouffe claimed the ongoing Internal Revenue Service scandal wasn’t political, Rove pushed back twice saying “Baloney.” Rove to Former Obama Advisor Plouffe Claiming IRS Scandal Wasn’t Political: ‘Baloney’ DAVID PLOUFFE, FORMER SENIOR ADVISOR TO BARACK OBAMA: But there's been no suggestion. The independent, the prosecutor looked at this - excuse me, the inspector general - said there was no politics involved in this. No one has indicated at all that the White...

The Republican National Committee has chosen a Karl Rove-linked voter data project called Liberty Works to help it compete with Democrats in the digital arena. Liberty Works will team up with Data Trust, whose chairman of the board is former RNC Chairman Mike Duncan, committee spokeswoman Kirsten Kukowski confirmed to POLITICO. “Basically, RNC is going to provide the data, and then Liberty Works will build the platform, and Data Trust will manage it all,” Kukowski said. “This is kind of in the beginning stages. There are legal issues that we’re going to iron out.”

Karl Rove may be trying to quell conservative concerns that his new political group is really an effort to crush the tea party. But actions will speak louder than words – and already, Mr. Rove's group may have a test case on its hands. Rove's Conservative Victory Project has a stated goal of making sure only electable candidates emerge victorious from GOP primaries. But he told Fox News Tuesday: "This is not tea party versus the establishment." So what is it? The campaign of Rep. Paul Broun (R) of Georgia, who on Wednesday filed paperwork to run for the seat...

Karl Rove -- "The Architect," as President George W. Bush called him -- crafted Bush's two presidential campaigns and served as a key player in Bush's White House. Now, with an assist from The New York Times, Rove is presenting himself as a conservative leader. On Sunday, the Times reported that American Crossroads, the super PAC Rove started, was beginning a new program called "The Conservative Victory Project." This project, as the Times put it, will "recruit seasoned candidates and protect Senate incumbents from challenges by far-right conservatives and tea party enthusiasts." But Rove is no conservative. If you give...

Newt Gingrich's remarks Saturday night after the Nevada caucuses and on NBC's "Meet the Press" the next morning proved that presidential candidates should talk policy, not process. Proclaiming "We want to get to Georgia, to Alabama, to Tennessee," Mr. Gingrich said primaries in the South would produce "a series of victories" that by the April 4 Texas primary would make him "very, very competitive in the delegate count." Well, the Gingrich Southern strategy faces big obstacles, starting with Rick Santorum and Ron Paul. Demanding that these two candidates drop out so he becomes the only conservative alternative to Mitt Romney...

Karl Rove isn’t officially affiliated with any of the GOP candidates, but if you listen to him, it’s becoming increasingly clear he has a favorite. We’re not the first to notice, but Karl Rove seems firmly in the Mitt Romney camp. What’s more, he’s goes on TV a lot to lob attacks at just about every other candidate. Rove has taken a stab at just about every candidate other than Romney, and on Tuesday it was Newt Gingrich’s turn. With multiple polls showing Newt Gingrich surging in Iowa, Rove took to Fox News, to undermined the former speaker: “If in...

EUGENE, Ore. – The man known as “Bush’s Brain,” still wields massive power in the Republican Party today -- and is prominently featured on hand-made signs as “the antichrist” by Occupy protesters here in Eugene and nationwide – while it’s no surprise that Karl Rove’s nickname is “the decider” by those who run the GOP inner circle. After serving as President George W. Bush’s “Senior Advisor,” deputy chief of staff, personal secrets keeper and “the president’s right and left hand” in all matters of decision making – state numerous political analysts who’ve watched Rove’s rise to power in America and...

@ 5:50 min.: Greta: "...If you were running for office, which would you prefer..which would you think would be strategically valuable for you tonight: an endorsement by Donald Trump or an endorsement by Governor Sarah Palin, and why? Rove: "Governor Sarah Palin. Look, Donald Trump is an interesting guy. He could have brought a lot to the Republican presidential sweepstakes had he been a serious candidate, but you're not a serious candidate if the first issue you chose to emphasize is the "birther" issue that Barack Obama is somehow not qualified to be president because he was somehow not born...

Herman Cain pushed back hard at Karl Rove's recitation of his recent campaign fumbles and miscues - which he presented on a whiteboard on Fox News this morning - and accused the operative of trying to do him intentional damage in a Byron York interview: "It's a good thing the voters are not looking at Karl Rove's little whiteboard," Cain said in a phone conversation from a stop in Chicago Monday afternoon. "I believe it is a deliberate attempt to damage me because I am not, quote unquote, the establishment choice. But why not go with the choice that the...

<p>We can't yet judge President Barack Obama's speech Thursday before a joint session of Congress. But it's not too early to render a judgment on the run-up to the address: It's been amateur hour in the West Wing.</p> <p>Eight days ago, Mr. Obama announced he would address Congress on the same evening that a Republican presidential debate was scheduled. White House press secretary Jay Carney claimed it was merely a "coincidence." But his denial was soon undermined by comments to reporters by unnamed White House aides, who made it clear they intended to have the president drown out the GOP debate.</p>

Even Karl Rove thinks Republicans should be wary of nominating an "extreme" candidate to take on President Obama. In an appearance on Fox News Monday, Rove warned that presidential aspirants who run too far to the right in the GOP primary could end up reducing their electability in the general election. "You don't want these candidates moving so right in the Republican primary that it becomes impossible for them to win the general election, because it will become a self-defeating message in the primary," Rove said.

The prospective GOP candidates are behaving like Ruling Class. Did they learn anything from 2010? The inestimable Karl Rove (inestimable, in that conservatives either wish to buy him a scotch or label him Ruling Class, dependent on whatever he last said to Bret Baier) published a WSJ op-ed on March 17 claiming “The GOP Race is Underway.” Don’t worry, the piece sums: the failure of anyone to step ahead in the 2012 GOP race is tactical. Mitch “Mitt” Huckaromney is busy analyzing, outreaching, and sweater-testing and any day now he’ll reveal himself as the George Washington you’ve been asking for...

Politico's Martin and Smith remind the political world not to forget about Mike Huckabee when looking ahead to the 2012 GOP presidential contest. Dial down the deafening Sarah Palin buzz for just a moment: The most consequential decision in the 2012 Republican presidential sweepstakes could be whether Mike Huckabee decides to run again – and associates say the former Arkansas governor may well take the plunge. If Huckabee gets in, he will unquestionably be a force to be reckoned with in the fight for the nomination. He’d be the undisputed frontrunner in lead-off Iowa, where he won by nine points...

Via Mediaite, yet another clip of 2012 pot-stirring awesomeness from Laura Ingraham. First she had Palin on and pressed her not only on what Barbara Bush said but on Chris Christie’s dig at her on Leno. Then Huckabee came on and she started pushing his buttons about being looked down upon by the squishy egghead city slickers who don’t know the Real America the way he does. Now here’s Rove being nudged to defend the Bushes from the Huck/Palin populist onslaught. She might as well start calling these segments, “You Gonna Take That?” I can’t wait to see what she...

Here is audio of Karl Rove talking to Laura Ingraham where he blasted Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee for their recent comments characterizing the Bushes (George H.W. and Barbara) as “elitists,” and “bluebloods.” Palin used the term “bluebloods” after Barbara Bush said in an interview she hopes Palin stays in Alaska. Rove was asked what he thought about Palin’s and Huckabee’s remarks, and he flatly said it was “unnecessary.” Rove said Barbara Bush is “entitled to her opinion” and she deserves “respect.” According to Rove, Palin would have been far better off to simply say she loves the former First...

"Expressing the strongest public reservations about the conservative star made by any senior Republican figure, Mr Rove said it was unlikely that voters would regard someone starring in a reality show as presidential material."

Former Bush adviser Karl Rove said Sunday that 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin would be a serious contender if she runs for president in 2012, but he dodged a question about whether she would make a good president. Asked Sunday on CBS's "Face the Nation" whether the former governor of Alaska was strong presidential timber, Rove took a pass. "I don't know if she runs or not and if she would be a formidable candidate. But, look, there are going to be several geological ages that are going to come and go before the 2012 Republican presidential nomination...

Karl Rove seems to be taking some heat for his saying the Tea Party is less sophisticated than the Reagan Revolution - enough heat to tug on Tucker Carlson's chain for a slight walk-back, anyway. That's some leash. I guess it extends to Texas after all. Heh! But pay attention to the bit from Rove in bold below. What he calls progress, we call progressivism of the Republican sort. And that's just the sort of big government Republicanism I would link to Karl Rove. SPIEGEL: But is he so different from other Democratic presidents? Take Lyndon B. Johnson. He introduced...

The GOP-aligned American Crossroads said Wednesday it has raised over $13 million since coming under attack from President Obama. The group and its campaign affiliate, Crossroads GPS, said it had easily surpassed its initial fundraising goal of $50 million to spend on behalf of Republicans, and has increased its target to $65 million, according to spokesman Jonathan Collegio. The boffo numbers come after a week in which Obama led Democrats in attacks on the group, which is affiliated with GOP strategists Ed Gillespie and Karl Rove. Both are veterans of President George W. Bush's White House. Obama accused American Crossroads...