Free Republic

My nine hunting companions last weekend in South Texas didn't look particularly special. Ranging from early-30s to mid-40s, they could be mistaken for the young doctor down the street, the general manager of the car dealership, the guy who builds custom motorcycles. But they are extraordinary. Among them, they had a Navy Cross, four Silver Stars, 26 Bronze Stars for valor and four Purple Hearts. These were Navy SEALs with a combined 150 years of service and more than 67 overseas deployments in the war against terror.

"This is the biggest single Twitter controversy of the campaign. 48,000 mentions!" That was Mike Allen doing his best "look--a squirrel!" impression on today's Morning Joe. Pressed by Joe Scarborough as to whether Politico had any more details beyond its vague allegation that Herman Cain had made gestures "that were not overtly sexual but that made women uncomfortable," Allen's telling first instinct was to point to the story's popularity on a social networking site. View the video here.

Republican strategist Karl Rove says President Barack Obama is taking delight in the fact that Donald Trump is pressing so hard for him to produce his birth certificate, “because that’s exactly what Obama wants conservatives to do.” Speaking to Sean Hannity Thursday on his radio show, Rove also questioned Trump’s conservative credentials. Hannity started the interview by asking Rove why he was going after Trump. “Well, I think Trump’s got a thin skin — I don’t think I’m going after Trump,” Rove said. “A guy who says that he doesn’t know what Ronald Reagan is hiding behind his smile, and...

Donald Trump, fresh from a Gallup poll showing him tied with former Gov. Mike Huckabee for the lead in the Republican race for the White House, is firing back at GOP strategist Karl Rove for calling Trump a "joke candidate." Trump, who says that Rove has proven himself to be out of touch with Americans, released the following statement to Newsmax: "Karl Rove is a loser. He is doing the Republican Party a great disservice by trying to stop the discussion about the president not being able to present his birth certificate to the American people – or to assure...

GOP strategist Karl Rove doesn't think Sarah Palin's reality show will earn her any points for a presidential run, but said Friday that putting three of her 16 book tour stops in Iowa is "a smart thing to do." Palin is hitting the road, including in the early presidential state, to promote her new book "America By Heart: Reflections on Family, Faith and Flag." "It gives her an excuse to be there as something other than a candidate, which is really important," Rove said on Fox News. "That's a pretty smart move if you're thinking about running for president," he...

In a piece earlier this morning An Insomniac's Recap of the Elections, I wrote a brief analysis of the Nov. 2010 elections. During the ensuing discussion, freeper LS came up with a *very* important point which has been lost in the Palin-Rove pissing match by proxy. The relevant quote is:Some good points. I think in DE, CA, AK, and possibly CA, the races were NOT sufficiently nationalized. The feeling was to take it local, so O'Donnell kept talking about DE. Well, the House races for the most part were nationalized. And it showed. So the first rule of successful waves...

Karl Rove, Republican political strategist and the general behind George Bush's presidential victories, has been taking pot shots at some conservative favorites. His latest target, former Alaska governor and Tea Party darling, Sara Palin. Palin, Mr. Rove told Britain's The Daily Telegraph, lacked the "gravitas" to be president in 2012. He dissed her new Alaska reality series as a bad political move. “With all due candour, appearing on your own reality show on the Discovery Channel, I am not certain how that fits in the American calculus of 'that helps me see you in the Oval Office’,” Rove told the...

Rove: Huckabee apologized Ben Smith October 28, 2010 Karl Rove told a New York audience today that former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee e-mailed him to apologize for a public shot at the former White House adviser. Huckabee, in the course of denouncing "elitism" in the Republican Establishment, told WABC's Aaron Klein that he was "disappointed" in Karl Rove's dismissal of Christine O'Donnell. Speaking to the Heritage Foundation in New York today, Rove was asked about the comment. Per The Nation's Neima Jahromi, whose outlet asked the question, Rove said Huckabee had apologized for the jab. Rove has become a target...

Karl Rove, the former senior adviser to George W Bush, has cast serious doubt on Sarah Palin's viability as a White House candidate, questioning if the American people thought she had the "gravitas" for the "most demanding job in the world". 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. In two weeks, the former governor of Alaska launches a cable television series exploring her home state's wilderness. "With all due candour, appearing on your...

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...