Free Republic

Donald Trump fired back at Karl Rove on Tuesday for labeling his possible White House bid a “joke,” saying the one-time senior adviser to President George W. Bush “should be ashamed of himself” for the role he played in pushing an agenda that turned voters against Republicans and paved the way for the Obama presidency. Mr. Trump, the billionaire real estate developer and reality-TV-show star still weighing a 2012 race, said in an interview that the Republican brand was so tarnished after the Bush-Rove years that even “Abraham Lincoln couldn’t have beaten” President Obama in the 2008 presidential race. “Honestly,...

I was thinking about it this morning over breakfast. Something hit me.. What happened in September of 2008 was a fatal wound to the heart of capitalism in America as we fix. We need a miracle now folks. I don't think a lot of people knew it at the time. A lot of people still don't understand quite what happened. I am not going to go into conspiracy territory like "info-wars" and some of these other nuts and anti Americans floating around out there. I loved President Bush. His presidency started when I was in Junior High and ended when...

George W. Bush had the misfortune to become president when two long-term trends that predated his presidency reached historical tipping points: First, decades of militant Islamic ferment culminated in 9/11. Second, a combination of a decades-long buildup of debt, reckless financial practices (abetted by government policies) established in the ‘90s, and habitual inflationary policies by the Federal Reserve System, finally culminated in the great financial panic of 2008. Twice, Bush reaped what he had not sown and, fairly or not, those historical events are what he will be remembered for. Of course, this is not to say he hasn’t made...

Former President George W. Bush, outlining plans for a new public policy institute, on Thursday said America must fight the temptation to allow the federal government to take control of the private sector, declaring that too much government intervention will squelch economic recovery and expansion. (snip) In his speech, which set out his goals for a new policy institute focused on economic growth, education, human freedom and global health, Mr. Bush said he entered politics because "because I saw society drifting away from the values at the heart of the American Dream."

President Obama = President Carter That is what Matt Welch and Nick Gillespie argue in their Washington Post article. Barely six months into his presidency, Barack Obama seems to be driving south into that political speed trap known as Carter Country: a sad-sack landscape in which every major initiative meets not just with failure but with scorn from political allies and foes alike. According to a July 13 CBS News poll, the once-unassailable president’s approval rating now stands at 57 percent, down 11 points from April. Half of Americans think the recession will last an additional two years or more,...

KURT Campbell can shoot from the hip and September 11, 2007 was no exception. Writing on a blog on The New York Times that day, having recently returned from a family trip to Australia, Campbell claimed that George W. Bush and "his massive entourage" diverted from a secret trip from Iraq to Sydney the week before just to help out an "old mate" John Howard get re-elected. "While the agenda in Australia also called for a meeting with 21 Asian leaders to discuss weighty policy matters like global climate change and to listen attentively while others opined - just the...

May 1, 2009 -- Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter’s sudden change from the Republican to the Democratic Party has left Republicans with mixed feelings: rage that he is probably handing the Democrats a filibuster-proof Senate at one of the most critical political junctures in modern times and relief that they’re rid of a RINO (Republican In Name Only) who has often been at odds with the majority of Republicans on crucial issues. George W. Bush’s eight years in the White House, during six of which the Republicans controlled both the House and Senate, were actually not good times for the GOP....