Free Republic

There have been more than a few recent articles and editorials attempting to affix blame for the demise of the Republican Party. Peggy Noonan blames President Bush. Rush Limbaugh believes a McCain nomination will kill the party. However, even in a worse case scenario, the Republican Party will probably stagger along for several years much like the last decade of the Whigs. Conservative Republicans should probably be more concerned about the impending demise of the conservative movement within the party. Some individuals can be blamed more than others, but this folly has many fathers. The latest blow to conservatives has...

Let’s face it: the majority of those who supported Fred Thompson did so because they sincerely believed that he was the only reliable conservative in the race. Few questioned his commitment to conservative principles. Not even his opponents, who picked on his speaking style and campaign schedule rather than his policy proposals, questioned his principles. Upon Thompson’s withdrawal, Mitt Romney released the following statement: “Throughout this campaign, Fred Thompson brought a laudable focus to the challenges confronting our country and the solutions necessary to meet them. He stood for strong conservative ideas and believed strongly in the need to keep...

I never thought I would be picky in choosing a Republican presidential nominee. After all, the gap between Republicans and Democrats has become so very wide on issues such as taxes, free trade, abortion, education and foreign policy that it didn’t seem to matter which Republican was nominated. In spite of tiny divergences with conservative principles, I thought, any Republican nominee would be a Godsend against a liberal Democrat. How wrong I was. My assumption was that no candidate would even make the cut to the Republican shortlist without adherence to the principles of the Reagan coalition. But who thought...

The most-recent poll on the presidential race in Tennessee, conducted by the market research firm Crawford Johnson & Northcott Inc. for WSMV TV in Nashville, found that 26 percent of likely Republican voters are still undecided. Of those stating a preference, Thompson had 25 percent, Huckabee 24 percent, McCain 12 percent and Romney 7 percent. The poll of 500 Republicans and 503 Democrats was taken Jan. 19-21. Thompson came in third in the South Carolina primary Jan. 19 and announced his withdrawal Jan. 22.

WASHINGTON -- You would never realize how big the stakes are in Tuesday's winner-take-all Florida Republican primary if you judged only the behavior of the leading presidential candidates these last few days. Their final pre-primary debate was bland to the point of apathy. Mitt Romney, John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee and even iconoclastic Ron Paul were on their best behavior -- as if oblivious to what the 57 delegates available in Florida could mean to anyone who pulls out a plurality victory. A win could establish either McCain or Romney as the man to beat in the massive round...

As I write this, it is about 15 degrees outside my Virginia farm. Nonetheless, my llamas and sheep, deep in snow, seem perfectly cozy in their winter woolens; the peacocks are in their feathered wintered invulnerability to cold; the horses are in their winter hair and indomitable spirit; my cats, all curled up and sleepy; the dogs, slumbering by the fading embers of the fireplace. The Lord provides for his children. But we Republicans shiver in the cold and brace ourselves for the hard winds yet to come. In the aftermath of Sen. McCain's South Carolina victory, it can only...

Fred's Finished. That's $50 and the prospects for a near-term revival of American conservatism right down the tubes. I'm not sure where I go from here, politically. We'll know more after the results from the January 29th Florida primary roll in. I may still vote for Thompson to send a "message" that conservatism is important. If it's a close race in California between acceptable and unacceptable GOP options, I'll likely vote for the acceptable candidate in an attempt to actually make a difference. In the mean time I need to go back to the drawing board and look at the...

When GOP presidential hopeful Fred Thompson dropped out of the race this week, the former Tennessee senator gave no sign that he intends to endorse one of his rivals any time soon. But a sizable segment of Thompson's team of legal advisers quickly signed on with Mitt Romney.

Fox News' Special Report noted that "in recent days, Thompson's aides promoted him as a vice presidential pick." Romney was the first to weigh in." Asked if Thompson would be on his "shortlist," Romney answered, "Anybody who ran for office in this field is a very strong individual and should be considered as a VP nominee for me or somebody else. He is a terrific and highly capable guy."

If any recent day typifies life in this crazy modern world, it was probably this past Tuesday. World financial markets were in a meltdown and the Federal Reserve held an emergency meeting to cut the interest rate a massive three quarters of a point in an attempt to stave off a precipitous stock market drop. President Bush was working with congressional leaders on an economic stimulus package to reduce the likelihood of a recession. Meanwhile the U.S. presidential campaign was in full swing with Hillary and Obama having just ripped each other to shreds at a debate, and Fred Thompson...

John McCain, in addition to being a complete Republican sellout, is also a moron. This is who 'conservatives' want representing our side?!

In his recent memoir, Alan Greenspan says he's been pushing a constitutional amendment of his own devising. It reads: "Anyone willing to do what is required to become president of the United States is thereby barred from taking that office." If the Greenspan amendment is ever enacted, it will at last clear the field for Fred Thompson, who might then become president. But not until then. Thompson withdrew from the presidential race last week. He ended his campaign as he had conducted it, with a minimum of fuss and no wasted words. He released a withdrawal statement over the Internet....

In his recent memoir, Alan Greenspan says he's been pushing a constitutional amendment of his own devising. It reads: "Anyone willing to do what is required to become president of the United States is thereby barred from taking that office." If the Greenspan amendment is ever enacted, it will at last clear the field for Fred Thompson, who might then become president. But not until then.

"I'm encouraging folks who believe in the principles Thompson espoused to vote for Fred and vote for his delegates," said Senate Republican Leader Mark Norris. "I still think that's the clearest choice." If Thompson garners more than about 20 percent of the Republican vote in the primary, his delegates will be sent to the GOP convention and could play an important role.

America is in the midst of an all-important electoral campaign. But, talking to Europeans, I've discovered that there is puzzlement and misinformation on your continent about what's happening on ours. Europeans feel an understandable confusion when faced with a political system consisting of two houses of Congress and a White House, and nobody is home in any of them. Also, America's political parties are indistinguishable to the European eye. A British journalist once described the situation thus: "America is a one-party state, but just like Americans they've got two of them." (I forget which British journalist said that. But there...

That's the name of a new anti-Huckabee web site started by former Thompson staffer Darrel Ng. Jonathan Martin has more on the site: Now that his candidate is out of the race, one Thompson staffer has gone the next stop and is actively working against Huck. Sorta. Darrel Ng, perhaps the heartiest and most dogged of Thompson's aides and somebody who logged many a mile on the Fred bus, has launched a website called "Boycott Chuck Norris." Yup, Ng now wants people to show their disregard for Huck by not patronizing any companies that use Norris as a pitchman. The...

Gannett publication, link only. http://www.jacksonsun.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080125/NEWS01/801250311/1002

Fred Thompson is having greater influence on the Republican presidential race now that he’s out of it than he had when he was in it. In just the few days after he withdrew his candidacy, the tall Tennessean stands out more clearly than ever above the ranks of GOP contenders. By its very silence, the absence of Thompson’s steady baritone is heard above the cacophony he left behind. Nothing else in this campaign is making so obvious the lack of an authentic, consistent, common-sense conservative among the surviving candidates. It calls to mind the tale of the couple tending a...

As soon as Fred Thompson announced he was dropping out of the GOP race, friends, acquaintances and total strangers started trying to win Thompson supporter Rick Moran over to McCain, Huck, Romney or Rudy. Who will he and his fellow depressed Fredheads turn to for their second choice? Less than 10 minutes after Fred Thompson’s announcement that he was dropping out of the Republican presidential race hit the wires, one of my good internet friends IM’d me. FRIEND: Sorry to hear about Fred. Gd mn. (Good man) ME: SUCKS THE BIG ONE FRIEND: He wll b missed. ME: IT REALLY,...

An e-mail, for what it's worth: K-Lo: The Mason Dixon numbers make sense based on what I am hearing anecdotally down here from other conservatives in Florida. Fred was the consensus first choice, followed by Romney, and then distantly Rudy, McCain, and then Huckabee. With Fred out, virtually everyone I've spoken to is shifting their support down to Mitt. A lot of wishful sentiments for a Romney/Thompson ticket as well. Thanks for all that you guys do.