Free Republic

John McCain's economic plan is designed from the ground up to raise incomes and create jobs for Americans - especially middle-class Americans - and get our economy moving again. It is in sharp contrast to Barack Obama's plan, which does not treat the middle class well and which will reduce jobs rather than create them. Let's compare the plans. The most worrisome aspect of Obama's economic plan is that he would raise tax rates in a weak economy. ... Raising taxes could turn a recession into a depression, and would significantly harm middle-class families.

Every day, I'm asked whom I'm supporting for President in 2008. I've looked over the potential candidates, and on the Republican side, I believe the best, by far, is Rudy Giuliani, who took the first step toward a run, yesterday, with an exploratory committee. (On the Democratic side, the best guy who's been talked about as a Presidential contender is Senator Evan Bayh from Indiana, who truly understands the Islamic threat and is a more moderate Democrat--which is why he'll never get the nomination.) Yes, I'm pro-life and against gay rights, where Giuliani shares neither of my views on these...

Ladies and Gentlemen, I hope that the carnage experienced last night leaves a very bitter taste in your mouths and that you awaken this morning wiser than when you went to bed. The American people have spoken and they have chosen a new direction not because the Democrats offer anything better but because you failed to offer leadership. People crave leadership and if they do not get it they will latch on to the first person or group they think offers it. Germans craved leadership so badly they elected Hitler to lead them because there was no one who stood...

Over the past decade, the expression public-private partnership has crept into our publiclexicon. What is a public-private partnership? What purposes were they supposedlycreated to serve? What, on the other hand, is free enterprise? Are the two compatible?In answering these questions we shall see that although advocates of public-privatepartnerships frequently speak of economic development, public-private partnershipsreally amount to economic control—they are just one of the key components of thecollectivist edifice being built up around the idea of sustainable development. Within theeconomic arena of sustainable development is the emergence of what we might call softfascism: a system that fits the dictionary definitions...

Democrats Test Themes for `06 and `08 By RON FOURNIER, AP Political Writer 11 minutes ago To hear Democrats tell it, an anxious and isolated public craves a sense of national community and would galvanize behind a leader who asks people to sacrifice for the greater good. John Edwards says he's that leader. Wait a minute, so does Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack. Ditto for Virginia Gov. Mark Warner. Edwards, Vilsack and Warner, all likely presidential candidates in 2008, are toying with the same lofty community-and-purpose message. And that says as much about the sour mood of the country as it...

Worried that the left-wing Democratic Peace Train may be leaving the station without her, Hillary Clinton is scrambling for a seat by moving away from her carefully crafted hawkish support of the Iraq war. But she can’t join the left body and soul because she still needs to show how tough she is on national security issues, so she is trying to craft her own “third way” on Iraq. All she has succeeded in doing, however, is fudging her position, muddying it up, but convincing nobody on the right or on the left. Hillary became a hawk in the first...

Carl P. Leubsdorf:If it's not settled by '08, the 'Iraq question' could split the Democratic Party 10:53 PM CST on Thursday, December 1, 2005 A former Green Party member and professional saxophone player says he plans to challenge Hillary Clinton for renomination to the Senate next year. The reason: her support of the war in Iraq. Steven Greenfield's challenge is unlikely to succeed against the heavily financed New York senator. But it illustrates the growing pressure in the Democratic Party on leaders who backed the war and are trying to distance themselves from its unpopularity. Another sign: Sen. Joseph Biden's...

Democrats of more cynical persuasions believe that George W. Bush took out after illegal Mexican immigrants last week not only for the obvious reason, which was to change the subject from his vast failings. They think Republicans are preparing for 2008 an equivalent of the gay marriage issue of 2004. They surmise that Republicans intend to try to inflame emotions against illegal immigrants to inspire pro-GOP turnout among otherwise unsophisticated voters, sometimes referred to as "values voters" or "red-state voters." The idea would be to mimic the inflammation of emotions against gays that ensued after one isolated state court, in...