Free Republic

Krauthammer declares Romney ‘most conservative candidate who can win’ thus far Jeff Poor - The Daily Caller 1 hr 21 mins ago Although we’re some 14 months out of the 2012 presidential election, knowing who will be facing President Barack Obama is still up in the air. Texas Gov. Rick Perry’a initial splash upon entering the field of Republican candidates garnered him a lot of attention and a bump in the polls, but some are saying that the luster has worn off. On this weekend’s broadcast of “Inside Washington,” Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer, who admitted he wasn’t sold on...

We're in the midst of a great four-year national debate on the size and reach of government, the future of the welfare state, indeed, the nature of the social contract between citizen and state. The distinctive visions of the two parties — social-democratic vs. limited-government — have underlain every debate on every issue since Barack Obama's inauguration: the stimulus, the auto bailouts, health care reform, financial regulation, deficit spending. Everything. The debt ceiling is but the latest focus of this fundamental divide. The sausage-making may be unsightly, but the problem isn't that Washington is broken, that ridiculous cliche. The problem...

Krauthammer: "There is Trump, Trump is the Al Sharpton of the Republican Party – provocateur and clown, unserious. I think he’s going to harm the party if he runs for the same reason Sharpton harmed the Democrats"

There's something cryptic and elusive about Krauthammer, like the coy Waldo in the famous puzzle. (And don't miss Steve Green on "Krauthammer Correcting Krauthammer." )Charles Krauthammer has long been recognized as one of America’s most astute and authoritative political columnists, acknowledged as a cut above the majority of his scrivening colleagues. And yet there is something cryptic and elusive about him, like the coy Waldo in the famous puzzle. Perhaps he resents being put in boxes and wishes to preserve his independence of judgment, or his unpredictability. Still, one detects a growing tendency to pronounce upon critical affairs without sufficient...

Ruh-Roh. This can’t end well… Krauthammer disagreed with Rush Limbaugh’s view of the Obama speech last night saying he has “a condescending view of much of America.” Krauthammer disagreed with Rush’s assessment that the elites were slobbering all over the president’s speech last night.

When I was growing up, my parents taught me that if you want people to think you’re smart, just shut up. They didn’t encourage me to shut up completely – maybe they should have – but the lesson was: never talk about things you know nothing about and people might think you’re smart..... .....For several years now, the elites have been trying to fool us in believing that two people, one on the left and one on the right, are very smart people. On the left, we have the President and on the right, we have Charles Krauthammer. We are...

Is the idea that former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin could be America’s next president laughable? Not only to many on the left, but also to conservative columnist Charles Krauthammer. On Friday’s broadcast of “Inside Washington,” Krauthammer offered several reasons why Palin shouldn’t be considered the presumptive Republican nominee for the 2012 presidential election. “What do you mean if not Sarah Palin in 2012?” Krauthammer said. “Who’s saying she’s going to be the presidential candidate? I don’t even hear her saying it. Her chances of being are smaller than half a dozen other people. If you talk to Republicans, I don’t...

Alternate headline: “Confirmed: Krauthammer’s a RINO.” Seriously, though, he’s making a shrewd point about retail politics, especially given the left’s desperate obsession with “branding” as the source of all of its problems. No matter how expensive ObamaCare gets, no matter how many unintended consequences there are, they’ll never admit that their signature domestic achievement is bad policy. There’ll always be an excuse, be it not enough Obama speeches on the subject or an insufficiently catchy name for the legislation (really!) or, inevitably, the idea that only by making the system more statist via a public option or single-payer will it...

It's Christmas Eve, so let's treat ourselves to something conservative political junkies enjoy: handicapping the 2012 Republican field. On the Fox News Special Report this evening, panelists Stephen Hayes and Charles Krauthammer both singled out Mitch Daniels as a man to watch. Hayes identifed the Indiana gov as perhaps the true Tea Party candidate—someone willing to speak the hard truths about the need for entitlement reform. The ever-interesting Krauthammer found Daniels' lack of charisma appealing--as an antidote to our overdose of hope-and-change. View video after the jump.

Ouch Charles !...., Keep in mind that Obama has huge majorities in both Houses and you've got a lot of Republicans with absolutely no backbone Krauthammer: "He had a unbelievable December, he came back in a way that is quite stunning..He restored himself as a player in Washington, he's relevant and what he's achieved is quite amazing...That's a lot to achieve for a guy that got shellacked and was on the mat, he got off the mat in a way that was not expected." Note: at 5:20 you'll see Stephen Hayes shaking his head in disagreement

McConnell on CNN State of the Union is asked by Crowley about Charles Krauthammer saying 'If Obama wins reelection, his comeback point will be the Great Tax Cut Deal of 2010' McConnel responds: "I think Charles Krauthammer is very smart but on this he's totally wrong"

Why this assignment; why now? With 45 days currently remaining until the November 2, 2010 general elections—unquestionably the single most important elections of a generation in which a president is NOT being chosen—America’s future leaders are being clearly defined by voters across the nation. As this process gloriously unfolds, closet doors are being opened, exposing ghosts heretofore unrevealed to the Conservative voters. These spirits haunt even the MOST Conservative political figures amongst us in these countdown days to the inevitable changing of the guard—and the revelations are shocking. SARAH PALIN AND CURRENT THREATS TO THE TEA PARTY MOVEMENT: Charles Krauthammer...

No sense in letting Rove take all the abuse today among traitorous Beltway RINOs who’ve allegedly never done a thing for “true conservative.” Let’s get Krauthammer into the game. This is actually a useful follow-up to the last post insofar as it’s yet another opportunity to show how Palin implicitly (and wisely) questions the dogma that right-wing candidates can win anywhere, any time, in any circumstances. Krauthammer dares her to go to Delaware to spearhead the O’Donnell campaign. Doubtless many Sarahcuda fans will say “great idea!” but Palin herself knows better: Palin’s comments came after the last major primary night...

The Buckley rule By Charles Krauthammer Friday, September 17, 2010 Tuesday in Delaware was a bad day not only for Republicans but also for conservatives. Tea Partyer Christine O'Donnell scored a stunning victory over establishment Republican Mike Castle. Stunning but pyrrhic. The very people who have most alerted the country to the perils of President Obama's social democratic agenda may have just made it impossible for Republicans to retake the Senate and definitively stop that agenda Bill Buckley -- no Mike Castle he -- had a rule: Support the most conservative candidate who is electable. A timeless rule of sober...

Obamacare Version 1.0 is dead. The 1,000-page monstrosity that emerged in various editions from Congress was done in by widespread national revulsion not just at its expense and intrusiveness but also at the mendacity with which it is being sold. You don't need a PhD to see that the promise to expand coverage and reduce costs is a crude deception, or that cutting $500 billion from Medicare without affecting care is a fiction. But there is an exit strategy. And a politically clever one, if the Democrats are smart enough to seize it. (1) Forget the public option. Whatever the...