Free Republic

Dude, I think this officially makes her a RINO. Welcome to the club, Sarahcuda! "Sarah Palin, McCain’s former running mate and perhaps the most powerful brand in Republican politics, will stump for McCain in Arizona on March 26 and 27, a Palin adviser told CNN. The presence of Palin – and the considerable crowds and media attention she will draw – might give pause to J.D. Hayworth, the former Republican congressman and radio host who opposes McCain’s position on illegal immigration and is mulling a Senate run of his own. The former Alaska governor will also hit the campaign trail...

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Dr. Damon T. Arnold, Illinois Department of Public Health Director, announced there are currently nine probable cases of swine flu in Illinois: five in Cook County (all within the Chicago city limits), one in DuPage County, two in Kane County and one in Lake County. A probable case means the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) has tested a specimen and found that it is positive for influenza A, but it could not be subtyped. The Department has shipped three of the nine probable cases to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to perform final...

WASHINGTON - Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Michael Steele released the following statement today: "Some in the Republican Party are happy about this. I am not. Let's be honest-Senator Specter didn't leave the GOP based on principles of any kind. He left to further his personal political interests because he knew that he was going to lose a Republican primary due to his left-wing voting record. Republicans look forward to beating Sen. Specter in 2010, assuming the Democrats don't do it first."

As a House Armed Services subcommittee surely will discuss this afternoon, Pentagon officials evidently trust military inductees with felony rap sheets more than they do law-abiding gay GIs. Having relaxed academic, age, and weight restrictions to achieve recruitment goals, the Defense Department has granted “moral waivers” to criminal convicts. Simultaneously, it uses the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy to jettison gays in uniform, usually for merely disclosing their sexuality. This policy deserves a dishonorable discharge. Between 2006 and 2007, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee recently revealed, convicted felons accepted by the Marine Corps rose 68 percent, from 208...

Former Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating, in a recent lunch with veteran Republican political consultant Ed Rollins, explored the prospects of his making a run for president. Rollins replied that he should run only if he could raise a sufficient war chest. Snip... The rationale for Keating's presidential ambitions is the absence of a clear and viable right-of-center presidential candidate now that Sen. George Allen has been eliminated by his defeat for re-election in Virginia. Keating is a conservative and a prominent Catholic layman who at one time was a prospect to be George W. Bush's running mate in 2000.

Snip... Of the three Republican candidates who belatedly jumped into the race to challenge Ms. Harris, Windermere lawyer Will McBride is the best choice to represent his party. Mr. McBride also takes conservative positions on most issues. But he has shown admirable independence in calling for a more balanced approach to immigration reform than the security-only plan that Ms. Harris voted for in the U.S. House. He is proudly touting his Hispanic heritage in his campaign. Mr. McBride's declared commitment to ethics and lobbying reform also is welcome, given the ethical questions swirling around Ms. Harris. And he recognizes the...

In the U.S. Senate primary, Rep. Katherine Harris has been touting key political endorsements from fellow Republican lawmakers. The problem is, some of them never endorsed her. Several members of the U.S. House called the Harris campaign to complain Wednesday after the St. Petersburg Times notified them of the endorsements listed on Harris' Web site. Minutes later, their names were removed. The list of politicians whose names came down includes Reps. Ginny Brown-Waite of Brooksville, Cliff Stearns of Ocala, Mark Foley of West Palm Beach and Jeff Miller of the Panhandle. "The congressman has not made an endorsement in the...

In the latest pre-primary straw poll, Will McBride beat Katherine Harris, his primary opponent for the Republican nomination, and incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson. The outcome of the ballots cast at the Winter Haven Chamber of Commerce Hob Nob was 72 votes for McBride and 51 for both Harris and Nelson. Two other candidates for the GOP nomination, LeRoy Collins Jr. and Peter Monroe, received 12 and 2 votes respectively. “This is the sixth significant straw poll in a row, in which we have virtually equaled or run ahead of Katherine Harris, making it very clear that a strong trend is...

2006 YR Hob Nob This 2006 YR Hob Nob was a great success. Thanks to all of the candidates, campaigns, and volunteers that made the event possible. A very special thank you goes to Suzanne Delaney and Kathy Reid. Suzanne and Kathy spent countless hours preparing for the event and did a great job! The results YR Hob Nob straw poll are as follows: Governor Austin Brooks 2 Charlie Crist 117 Richard Paul Dembinsky 0 Tom Gallagher 48 Vernon A. Palmer 0 Berthram B. Samuel 0 Joseph Smith 0 Michael W. St. Jean 0 U.S. Senate LeRoy Collins 26 Katherine...

News that Porter Goss had resigned as director of the Central Intelligence Agency fueled speculation he'd make a bid for the U.S. Senate. Southwest Florida officials expressed their surprise Friday at his resignation as they lined up to praise the longtime former congressman from Southwest Florida for his decades of service. Some expressed the hope that he will run for the U.S. Senate against incumbent Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson of Tallahassee. Soon after the announcement was made in Washington around 1:45 p.m. Friday, rumors began to swirl in the nation's capital and in Tallahassee that Goss resigned so he could...

WASHINGTON - A historian of the Cold War with expertise in presidential recordings has been selected as the first federal director of the Nixon presidential library. Timothy Naftali, 44, who directs the presidential recordings program at the University of Virginia's Miller Center of Public Affairs, will begin his new job Oct. 16, the National Archives and Records Administration announced Monday. By then the library in Yorba Linda, Calif., should have completed its transition from private to public institution. The letter of offer formalizing the hand-over was transmitted to the House and Senate last Thursday, and must remain before Congress for...

Walt Maguire needs bodies to fill jobs in Central Florida's booming construction industry, and he doesn't ask questions. "I ask nothing," he said of the people he hires, about 60 percent of whom are Hispanic. "Of course, they do have to put down a Social Security number and drivers license [on an application]." Maguire, who recruits workers for the Carpenters and Lathers Local Union 1765, said he would rather send all legal workers to every job site. But he knows that's not realistic. During the past three years, one in six new Florida jobs has been filled by a worker...

Been to the movies lately? If you're going to plunk down $8.50 and buy watered-down Coke and overpriced popcorn, is it asking too much for quality entertainment that occasionally affirms life and stirs the soul? For years, my friends in the church and in the pro-family movement and I have decried the products being delivered to our theaters. We have particularly pointed to an anti-religious bias in so many movies. Red-state America's response to movies that are bad in this fashion has been to whine, complain and maybe even call for an ill-fated boycott. Film critic, radio talk show host...

The State Department yesterday condemned as "offensive" cartoons in a Danish newspaper depicting the prophet Muhammad but defended the paper's right to publish them as a fundamental principle of democracy. It also urged Muslims, who have been staging mass protests against the cartoons and their reprinting in newspapers in Europe, to express outrage when they see anti-Christian or anti-Semitic publications. "We find them offensive," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said of the cartoons. "While we share the offense that Muslims have taken at these images, we at the same time vigorously defend the right of individuals to express points of...

UAC Rally Against Islamofascism Strides Forward Los Angeles, CA (UACWIRE) January 17, 2006 -- The United American Committee announced today that with only two weeks remaining before the National Rally Against Islamofascism Day (R.A.I.D.) to be held on February 1st that many more groups have added their support to the event that is to be held at various locations worldwide. At various hours during the day on February 1st, and at different locations across America, a consortium of Christian, Jewish and Muslim groups will all join the United American Committee in sending a clear message across the nation against extremism...

TALLAHASSEE -- In his eighth and final year as the state's chief executive, Jeb Bush is back where he began -- trying to cement his claim to being Florida's "education governor." When the state Supreme Court earlier this month struck down his private-school voucher program, it left Bush and Republican leaders scrambling not only to rescue the program but to preserve the governor's legacy. After a series of closed-door huddles during the past week involving lawmakers and, separately, the governor and his advisers, what's emerging as a likely solution is a plan to ask Florida voters in November to change...

CAMP LEJEUNE, North Carolina (AP) -- John Prazynski stood in the sea of welcome home signs and wondered why he was there. Prazynski's son, Lance Cpl. Taylor Prazynski, wasn't going to be among the 900 Marines from the 3rd Battalion who arrived home Sunday. Taylor Prazynski, 20, was killed May 9 from an insurgent mortar shell. But his father had promised his son he would attend the homecoming, so he rode his Harley Davidson more than 650 miles from Hamilton, Ohio, to Camp Lejeune. "I don't have any sort of agenda. I guess I want to thank his brothers for...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush will hold a prime time news conference Thursday to discuss two "important priorities" for the White House -- Social Security and energy -- a spokesman said. "This is an important period in the national debate over strengthening Social Security," White House press secretary Scott McClellan said. On Sunday, Bush is slated to complete a 60-day, 60-city tour during which he has called for change in the nation's retirement program for the elderly. The tour was billed as an opportunity to educate the American people about the president's ideas to overhaul the Social Security system, which...

SEMINOLE - Three close allies of Lt. Gov. Toni Jennings', including Gov. Jeb Bush, disputed a published report Saturday that Jennings won't be a candidate for governor in 2006. "It's not true," Bush said of a Palm Beach Post report that Jennings would announce this week that she won't run. "It's not true that she has decided not to run." Two other supporters also took issue with the Post story, which cited two anonymous "Republicans who had received word of her decision" late Friday. "She doesn't know who these Republican supporters are," said Edie Ousley, a former press secretary for...

Vermonters From Both Parties Back Jeffords 2 hours, 17 minutes ago By CHRISTOPHER GRAFF, Associated Press Writer MONTPELIER, Vt. - Sen. James Jeffords (news - web sites) may be a man without a party, but he has plenty of high-powered friends. Facing his first re-election bid since leaving the Republican Party, the Vermont independent on Wednesday got an endorsement from Sen. Patrick Leahy (news, bio, voting record), D-Vt., and a boost from Republican Gov. James Douglas, who said he will not campaign against Jeffords because he "has served the state well." Jeffords, whose first 26 years in Washington were as...