Free Republic

Sarah Palin is being smeared in headlines from the Huffington Post to the Washington Examiner for her 35-minute speech at Saturday’s Iowa Freedom Summit. In 2015, Palinophobia is as palpable as it was in 2008. After six years, the media still tears into the superstar from Wasilla like rabid dogs. The Washington Examiner's Byron York called the speech "long, rambling and at times barely coherent ... By the time Palin finished speaking, it was hard for anyone to believe she truly is 'seriously interested' in running for president." From Huffington Post: "Sarah Palin's Bizarre Iowa Speech Gets Thanks – From...

It’s time to admit that, whatever their motivation was at the time, the Alaska governor’s critics always had a point. Has conservative genuflection at the altar of Sarah Palin finally come to a halt? In case you missed it, her speech in Iowa this week was not well received on the right. The Washington Examiner’s Byron York called it a “long, rambling, and at times barely coherent speech” and National Review’s Charles C.W. Cooke said she slipped into self-parody. And there’s more. The Examiner’s Eddie Scarry, for example, contacted several conservative bloggers who were once Palin fans, but have since...

America Deserves the Best – Sarah Palin, HannityRon Devito Tuesday, January 27, 2015 22:43 EST • Gov. Sarah Palin Details Conservative Agenda for 2016 • Hannity • 1/27/15 •America Deserves the Best – Sarah Palin America deserves the best, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin tonight told Sean Hannity as she weighed in on the 2016 elections. Gov. Palin said in considering her own future, she is a Christian and would first seek inspiration and guidance from God. Following this would be approval from her family. If Sarah Palin were to take action toward a run, her small team would expand, she...

Skipping to the end: ... Consider, if you will, what happens to a person who suggests that Sarah Palin is anything other than saintly. Right off the bat, they are accused of disliking America or Alaska or conservatives or mothers or the working class — or even women in general — and then they are informed that their “hatred” is showing. Next, their motives are questioned and their supposedly secret “agenda” is exposed for the world to see, for no right-thinking person could dislike Palin on the merits, natch. “I hope you enjoy your elite cocktail parties,” the apologists will...

It doesn’t happen often in politics, but every once in a while, someone pulls back the green curtain on a time-honored exercise in democracy and reveals an uncomfortable truth. Such was the case in Des Moines on Saturday when the circus came to town in the form of a dozen potential Republican White House hopefuls and the masses of journalists already following their every move.

It's official: Nicolle Wallace really doesn't like Sarah Palin. On today's Morning Joe, Wallace—who was Palin's chief handler during the 2008 campaign—took the occasion of Palin's speech at the Iowa Freedom Summit on Saturday to jab at the former veep candidate. Wallace had been asked to comment on conservative columnist Byron York's panning of Palin's speech as "long, rambling, and at times barely coherent." York's column also passed along criticism of the speech by a number of Iowa Republicans. Wallace said that it was interesting to see York come "full circle," since back in 2008 he had been a staunch...

RedState assisted in sponsoring Rep. Steve King (R-IA)72%‘s event in Iowa this past weekend. I did not go, but made sure to pay attention to what was going on and who said what. As I have previously written, this is the most substantive field of Republican contenders since 1980. The number of Governors, Senators, and others who are running gives the GOP a deeper bench than any the Democrats can or will muster. They also agree on most topics and are trying to nuance themselves into unique positions. I appreciate Governor Perry’s desire to paint a vision for the country....

The Iowa Freedom Summit this weekend became a major event, with 1,500 voters and 200 journalists crammed into an old theater near downtown Des Moines. It showcased more than a dozen potential Republican presidential candidates, and even though big names such as Mitt Romney, Jeb Bush, Senator Rand Paul, and Governor Bobby Jindal didn’t make it, voters and journalists were able to size up most of the GOP field on the same stage for the first time. The field this cycle is the most open and competitive I’ve ever seen. Traditionally, Republicans have picked as their nominee the candidate...

For the last several months, the likes of Jeb Bush, Mitt Romney, Ted Cruz and Rand Paul have dominated the media coverage of the still-nascent contest for the White House. But when the 2016 Republican presidential race roared to life this weekend with twin events in Iowa and Louisiana, two lesser-known contestants left indelible impressions on the GOP faithful. Former Hewlett-Packard chief executive and current American Conservative Union Foundation Chairwoman Carly Fiorina and battle-tested Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker left the crowds stirring after a nonstop ten-hour festival in Des Moines that exposed voters to 27 speakers and at least 10...

DES MOINES -- Former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum began the 2012 presidential race here trailing badly in both the polls and the money chase, and ended it with a narrow win in the Republican caucuses. Now he's gearing up for another shot at victory in Iowa with a message that's once again geared at courting social conservatives, positioning himself as an alternative to the GOP establishment -- and appealing to disaffected working class voters. Santorum, wearing a navy Air Force One jacket from the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, worked the lobby at the Marriott hotel here Friday night, passing out...

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) lambasted Hollywood liberals in a rambling speech at the Iowa Freedom Summit on Saturday. The party’s 2008 vice presidential nominee, who said this week she’s “ interested” in a presidential bid, took the stage with to Taylor Swift’s “Shake It Off,” feeding off the energy of the crowd as she jumped from conservative topic to topic. Her speech was replete with memories of her own trips to Iowa, but she also focused on one recent controversy — defending criticism over the country’s top-grossing movie, “American Sniper.” Palin detailed how she and her family were...

Ted Cruz wows Iowans with sermon-style political speech and corny Islam jokes: Those 9/11 hijackers 'weren't a bunch of ticked off Presbyterians'  At the Iowa Freedom Summit, he boomed a Reaganesque sermon complete with scripture references and an altar call – just send a text messageCruz had spent all week in Washington, he told a Des moines crowd, 'So it's great to be back in America'He said the US should close the IRS and post all 110,000 employees on its southern border – an army of tax agents to scare illegal immigrantsHis biggest applause line was a call to strip U.S....

Starting Saturday at 10 a.m. ET, the Iowa Freedom Summit will be livestreamed in its entirety. Speakers include: Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Mike Lee (R-UT), former Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-AR), former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA), Reps. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Steve King (R-IA), real estate mogul Donald Trump, former Johns Hopkins neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina and many others.

DES MOINES, Iowa–Saturday will be a “Who’s Who” of Republicans thinking, running or wanting you to think they are running for president in 2016. Congressman Steve King hosts his Iowa Freedom Summit in Des Moines. But pies, books, thank you’s and speeches will fill some of the time away from the summit. The speakers’ list includes some of the most well-known names on the Republican circuit. They include: Sarah Palin, Ted Cruz, Chris Christie, Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum, Donald Trump, Rick Perry, Scott Walker, Newt Gingrich, Marsha Blackburn, Ben Carson, Mike Lee, Carly Fiorina, Jim DeMint, John Bolton and Jim...

I’m pretty sure that Iowa Congressman Steve King thought that his detractors would give it a rest for a while after he defeated his Democrat opponent by 24 points earlier this month.  Yet once again headlines like, “Stay away from Steve King,” have been published this week.  This time it’s not the liberals who are ranting and raving about King, its nameless “Republican insiders” and a conservative blogger from the Washington Post. On Tuesday, King announced that he is partnering with Citizens United to put on a 2016 presidential forum in Des Moines on January 24th called the Iowa Freedom...