Free Republic

It’s probably not the endorsement that incumbent Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch needs right now, as the Republican is locked up in a primary challenge from Dan Liljenquist. But Saturday on Melissa Harris-Perry’s MSNBC show, former Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter, the co-author of “Life Among the Cannibals: A Political Career, a Tea Party Uprising, and the End of Governing As We Know It,” pleaded with Utah voters to keep their senior senator. Specter told Harris-Perry that the current climate in Washington, D.C. isn’t lending itself to electoral success for moderate incumbents, which he said has been the focus of a crusade...

Mitt Romney decided to give a great big hug to… George W. Bush and the bank bailouts: “I keep hearing the president say he’s responsible for keeping the country out of a Great Depression,” Romney said at a town hall in Arbutus, Maryland. “No, no, no, that was President George W. Bush and [then-Treasury Secretary] Hank Paulson.”

(CNSNews.com) - Ener1--a company that manufactures batteries for electric cars, and that received $118.5 million in federal stimulus money, and that Vice President Joe Biden visited last year the day after President Obama’s State of the Union Address—announced today that it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. In last year’s State of the Union Address, delivered Jan. 25, 2011, President Obama set a national goal of having a million electric vehicles on the road in the United States by 2015—a goal that would be achieved, Obama said, by taking money out of the oil industry and “investing” it in...

Less than two weeks before Iowa Republicans make their crucial caucus choices on the night of Jan. 3, George H.W. Bush offered words of support, if not an official endorsement, to an old friend, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, according to a story today in the Houston Chronicle. “I think Romney is the best choice for us,” former President Bush told the newspaper. “I like Perry, but he doesn’t seem to be going anywhere; he’s not surging forward.” The former president’s choice is a blow to native son Rick Perry, the Texas governor who has had a long-standing feud with...

Ed Rollins, former campaign manager and current "informal adviser" to Rep. Michele Bachmann, told MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell moments ago that Bachmann doesn't have the "ability or the resources" to go beyond Iowa. Rollins stopped working for the campaign day-to-day earlier this month in a staff shakeup, and criticized her comments on the HPV vaccine last week. Rollins said Texas Gov. Rick Perry's entrance into the race undercut her campaign, and that she was unprepared for the national stage running as a congresswoman.

Ralph Nader hearts Sarah Palin? We decided to call the longtime left crusader about a speech Palin gave in Iowa earlier this month, one which seemed to mark the transformation of Palin from a standard-issue movement conservative to something more independent and more reformist. And Nader told us he liked what he heard. "I think she's a lot smarter than most people credit her," says Nader. "Judging by her comments, she is squarely in the camp of conservative populism, opposed to corporatism and its corporate state." Palin delivered the speech in question in Indianola, Iowa, on Sept. 3. As Anand...

Gore lauds Romney on climate position By Jordan Fabian - 06/15/11 01:17 PM ET Former Vice President Al Gore on Wednesday praised GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney for his acknowledgement of global climate change. Gore, who has championed climate issues since losing the 2000 presidential race, posted a note on his blog that praised Romney for being consistent on his position that humans have contributed to rising global temperatures. "Good for Mitt Romney — though we've long passed the point where weak lip-service is enough on the Climate Crisis," Gore wrote. "While other Republicans are running from the truth, he...

As she prepares to enter the race in Iowa later this month, Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann has signed on high-profile political strategist Ed Rollins to run her presidential campaign, according to two sources close to Bachmann. Rollins, who was Mike Huckabee's national campaign director in the 2008 campaign, is an experienced political operative with a well-earned reputation for his tough tactics and willingness to play hardball.

Unprompted, Sarah Palin brought up Rick Perry's name yesterday as a strong presidential candidate. "I think he would be a fine candidate.... we have a lot in common. I really like him. But there are so many candidates and potential candidates out there who have so much to offer." Indeed. Except for Palin herself, Perry would probably be the strongest tea party candidate. Meanwhile, here's some vid from the New York Times of her stop in Gettysburg last night, where she reiterated the message that even though the 2012 field is strong, "there will be more strong candidates jumping in."...

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Open Memo To: Nancy Pelosi From Cindy Sheehan Hey Nan, How's that "liberal agenda" going for you these days? You have had quite a run as the first female Speaker of the House, haven't you? In that almost four years now, you have fully funded the wars; rammed through the bankster bailouts and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Modernization Act; refused to hold the criminals of the Bush administration accountable; supported the torture policies of George Bush and wanted even stricter measures against suspected terrorists; obediently supported and defended the murderous Israeli oppression of Palestine; presided over the worst jobs' hemorrhage...

t hasn't been the greatest of months for Sarah Palin when it comes to her political star power. The two candidates Palin backed in Tuesday's primaries lost their bids, making the former Alaska governor 0-for-5 when it comes to endorsements this month. In Washington State, Palin had backed Tea Party activist Clint Didier in his bid for the Senate over businessman Dino Rossi, the favorite of national Republicans. In making her endorsement of Didier last May, Palin said the Tea Party favorite had "inspired" her, and hailed him as a "patriot running for U.S. Senate to serve his state &...

Is this the pot calling the kettle black again?Obama is on the campaign trail this week. After a recent swing in California for Barbara Boxer, who later began to slide downward in the polls, he went off to help Robin Carnahan in Missouri who had to cut the top price ticket at the fundraiser Obama headlined from $250 to $99. Carnahan is behind in every recent poll against Roy Blunt. Next, Obama was off to help Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in Las Vegas, a city which hasn't been as welcoming as it might considering how he repeatedly told people...

An energized state Republican party launched the general election campaign this morning at a victory rally at the Hilton hotel in Anaheim. The theme of the day and perhaps of the campaign: The GOP nominees represent new blood while the Democratic ticket is dominated by career politicians. Without a doubt, the GOP ticket is its most diverse in years in ethnicity and gender. It's led by two women - gubernatorial nominee Meg Whitman and U.S. Senate nominee Carly Fiorina; a Latino - Lt. Gov. nominee Abel Maldonado; and an African-American - Secretary of State nominee Damon Dunn. Fiorina drove home...

In case anyone missed the tea leaves scattered around the country, California’s primary results offer more evidence of voters’ dislike for political parties. The Golden State on Tuesday passed Proposition 14, creating a so-called open primary in which any voter is allowed to cast their vote for any candidate in the primary, regardless of party affiliation. The top two vote-getters would face each other in the general election, even if they were from the same party. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was a big backer of the change, arguing that it would push politics away from the polarized extremes and toward a...

YORBA LINDA, CA – Author and political strategist Dick Morris today announced his endorsement of U.S. Senate candidate Carly Fiorina. “It is my pleasure to endorse Carly Fiorina in the Republican Senate primary on June 8. While I have a high regard for Carly’s record and position on issues, my endorsement is based mainly on the fact that I believe she would be the best candidate to achieve victory for Republicans in November over Senator Boxer. “The conventional wisdom that a moderate does better than a conservative in a California statewide election does not, in my opinion, hold true for...

Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, offered support Monday for embattled Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele, who he praised for trying to build a bridge between the GOP establishment and the libertarian-minded activists who supported Paul's presidential bid. "Generally, the Republican leadership [doesn't] want to have anything to do with me and don't want to have anything to do with the Ron Paul people," Paul said in an interview on CNN's American Morning. "They should be looking to us and saying, 'You know, why don't we help these young people who are so anxious and interested in what I'm talking about?...

This week oil climbed to $87 a barrel, its highest level since October 2008 and prompted concerns that triple-digit crude was once again in the offing. This was after a period of eight months when oil traded between $70 and $80, a narrow band that pleased oil producers without hurting consumers too much. The latest surge seems to have been prompted by rising confidence in a global economic recovery, even if most traders and bankers are still cautious about supply and demand fundamentals. Worries about the Greek economy have pegged prices back over the last couple of days but the...

A little break - after first round of tourney, POTUS has 25 of 32 games right - in the 96.9th percentile of 4.7 million completed brackets

HENDERSON, Nev. (AP) - President Barack Obama turned an economic appearance in Nevada into an extended campaign plug for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, whose re-election fight could have a big impact on the balance of power in Washington and the fate of Obama's own proposals. Obama wrapped his arms around Reid at the start of the event on Friday and embraced Reid's work throughout. The president rarely missed a chance—on the economic stimulus plan, on health care, on the effort to regulate big banks—to put himself and Reid in the same sentence.