Free Republic

If it’s a day ending in “y”, it’s time for some Palin presidential speculation. Via Dana Loesch, who’ll be introducing Palin at the rally: Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck are coming to town for a once in a lifetime event and you don’t want to miss it. FM NewsTalk 97.1 and Hansen’s Tree Service proudly present Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck, Friday October 7th, at the Family Arena. Tickets go on sale through Metrotix this Friday at 10am, but 97.1 Insiders can purchase tickets this Thursday from 10am until 10pm in a special Insiders only pre-sale. If your not not...

Smart politics, both for her own sake and for the party’s sake, from today’s Q&A on Long Island. Even lefties like Jonathan Capehart are praising her for her answer. The reason you’re seeing so many prominent Republicans pressed on Birtherism the past few days is because of this PPP poll from Tuesday claiming that a clear majority of the party’s primary voters (51 percent) don’t think Obama was born in the U.S. Weigel’s read on that is correct, I think: To some extent the issue’s become a proxy for ideology, with more conservative voters who are already deeply suspicious of...

Do note, while HuffPo refers to “common” swipes at Palin in the halls of CPAC this year, their evidence consists of quotes from … two people. And one guy isn’t even guilty of a “swipe.” He says he likes her but simply fears she can’t win. Even so, as I’ve argued many times before, this dynamic in the primaries is inevitable — even if she doesn’t run. Half the field will compete for the principled “true conservative” nomination (Palin, Huck, Santorum), the other half will compete for the moderate/managerial nomination (Mitt, Daniels, Huntsman), and then there’ll be a showdown. (Pawlenty...

I’m highly skeptical — this is a state the GOP’s won in every election since 1964 — but their sample doesn’t seem obviously skewed to me. The partisan breakdown is 48R/38D/14I; the sample in the state’s 2008 exit poll on election day was 42R/36D/22I. If anything, PPP skewed too heavily towards Republicans. The ideological sample is similarly in line. For PPP, it’s 43 percent conservative, 44 percent moderate, and 13 percent liberal. In 2008 on election day, the exit poll had it 35 percent conservative, 50 percent moderate, and 15 percent liberal. Again, PPP’s numbers tilt against Obama. And their...

Most them aren’t definite no’s, but even if they’re holding out for the time being merely to see who else jumps in, that’s … not encouraging. Some, like Judd Gregg, may end up endorsing him anyway but might want to see if Daniels (or Huntsman?) declares first. Others, like DeMint, who have embraced the tea party full-fold almost certainly aren’t going to endorse him unless the entire “true conservative” bench decides not to run. Either way … not encouraging. My favorite part? Hot on the heels of a rumor that Mitt might skip Iowa, there’s now a rumor circulating that...

K-Lo, a Romney fan of longstanding, thinks the unthinkable at NRO. And the Conservatives 4 Palin people are all over it. Given that his path to the nomination is impossible unless Mike Huckabee runs, something no serious person believes will happen, Lopez may be way ahead of the curve. The Daily Kos pollster found that Governor Palin was the top second choice among Romney’s current supporters, a result that I did not find surprising considering that a lot of Romney’s support comes from Mormons and that Palin would likely get their support in the event he did not run for...

I usually don’t write about single-state 2012 polls, but hoo boy. He was at 52 percent in March, more than 30 points ahead of Huckabee, and now? 21 percent, two points behind Huck. What happened? PPP’s theory: Why has Romney fallen so far? I think part of the reason he polled so well earlier in the year is that he was the anti-Palin. Palin’s favorability numbers with GOP voters in Florida are a good deal worse than they are most places and Romney did well in those earlier surveys as one of the few named alternatives to her. As more...

Is the 2012 Republican presidential nomination going to come down to a debate over … how much ice cream kids should be eating? One can only hope, my friends, because that campaign would be simply awesome to blog. What if the final two end up being Huckabee and Romney? Which way would the Hot Air readership break? You guys might not like Mitt’s support for mandates, but hey — if your little one overdoses on tollhouse cookies, at least you know that his hospital stay is covered. Click the image to listen. (VIDEO AT LINK)

I know, I know. Supposedly they already decided to do this, right? Well, yes and no. David Plouffe took a few shots at her the other day and Gibbs called her “the most formidable force in the Republican Party” at today’s White House presser, but no one’s thrown any roundhouses yet. The question: Is it time?There is, in fact, a much better avatar of the Tea Party movement [than Boehner, Beck, or DeMint], someone whose very name provokes disgust among Democrats, someone whose name identification is 100 percent and whose ubiquity is extremely useful. That person is Sarah Palin. All...

Who was it, remind me, who was ahead of the curve on this? Who was it who called on her to gently appeal to the legalization crowd weeks before she ended up dropping that mini-bombshell on Napolitano’s show about marijuana laws being overenforced?C’mon. I have, like, three good ideas a year. Give a man some props. Among Republicans who say they’ve smoked Marijuana:Palin 25 Gingrich 22 Huckabee 17 Romney 17 Paul 8Among Republicans who say they have not smoked Marijuana:Huckabee 24 Romney 23 Gingrich 21 Palin 21 Paul 3 The sample size was only, er, 83 people, but even so,...

That’s actually not the most intriguing data point from this poll, but I know the Palinistas will whine forever if I don’t highlight the fact that she’s leading somewhere, so there you go. Don’t get me wrong: It is interesting that she’d do well in a northeastern state, which traditionally aren’t thought of as “Palin country.” But of course these are primary voters we’re talking about, and Pennsylvania Republicans are sufficiently red-meat that Specter abandoned ship before having to face them in a primary. No shocker, really, that a “true conservative” would fare well with them. So what’s the intriguing...

Where does this fit in the great hierarchy of authenticity politics? Sarahcuda may be the most salt-of-the-earth pol on the American landscape but she’s also an internationally famous celebrity and multimillionaire. Surely a blue-collar Joe who’s been known to fix toilets outranks her. Does that mean she’s now been formally excommunicated from the church of “true conservatism” — as I suspected — or did yesterday’s NASCAR appearance imbue her with some sort of impregnable authenticity forcefield? More importantly, does this mean Meggie Mac was right? Wurzelbacher touched on several different points during his speech, and many of them were surprising....