Free Republic

It is obvious now, looking back at the post-9/11 and pre-Obergefell era, that the leftward drift of this movement was inevitable. The end of Renn’s “neutral world” and the beginning of a negative world hostile to Christianity began soon after the Supreme Court’s Obergefelldecision in 2015 and accelerated rapidly with Trump’s 2016 victory. Changed circumstances undermined the attractive witness model as previously practiced. The neutral-world ethos could not hold in the negative world; the era of open debate was gone.

Governor’s races in South and Midwest could be lost if party brand becomes too liberal. Centrist Democrats were wiped out in the 2014 elections and in their absence emerged a resurgent liberal movement, embodied most recently by the surprisingly competitive presidential campaign of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. But the suddenly ascendant left — its populist overtones becoming part of the mainstream Democratic pitch — is worrying Democrats who want to compete on Republican-leaning turf. The party lost every competitive gubernatorial and Senate race in the South last year. And Democrats didn’t fare much better in the heartland. Now, as Bernie...

Last week I made the open-and-shut case for John McCain: In a dangerous world entering an era of uncontrolled nuclear proliferation, the choice between the most prepared foreign policy candidate in memory vs. a novice with zero experience and the wobbliest one-world instincts is not a close call. But it's all about economics and kitchen-table issues, we are told. OK. Start with economics. Neither candidate has particularly deep economic knowledge or finely honed economic instincts. Neither has any clear idea exactly what to do in the current financial meltdown. Hell, neither does anyone else, including the best economic minds in...

Sacramento, CA (LifeNews.com) -- First, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger came under fire from pro-life advocates for backing a $6 billion measure using taxpayer funds to destroy human life in cloning and embryonic stem cell research. Now he drawing criticism for suggesting the GOP should become more pro-abortion.In an interview with Germany's Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily newspaper published Saturday, Schwarzenegger said the Republican Party should move "a little to the left" on issues such as abortion -- a shift he claims would pick up more voters.Schwarzenegger told the paper that "the Republican Party currently covers only the spectrum from the right wing...

With all the talk about the former red state, Republican state, California, becoming a blue state -- which is not quite as true as some think -- there is someone talking about it becoming a purple state. That is California Republican Party chairman Duf Sundheim, who talked about his hopes for California during last week’s bus tour kicking off Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s re-election campaign against Democratic challenger Phil Angelides. The Silicon Valley lawyer came on a few years ago to put a moderate face on the party, whose apparatus was traditionally viewed as right wing and increasingly out of step...

(AP) INDIAN WELLS, Calif. -- Governor Schwarzenegger warns the Republican party must move back to the political center or risk losing voter support. Schwarzenegger spoke Friday night at the California GOP party convention in Indian Wells. He says the state party’s percentage of voter registration has been shrinking, and to reverse it the party must tackle issues with broad public appeal, like climate change and building highways, railroads and tunnels. He recently proposed distilling the state GOP platform into as little as a single page focusing on lowering taxes, limiting the size of government and building a strong national defense....

Political fissures divided state Republicans Saturday as they faced questions about the future of a party that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says has lost its way. At a state GOP convention, a committee made only incremental headway trying to craft a new platform while some members angrily complained about being shut out or misled. And a day after Schwarzenegger declared the party had lost the political middle ground and was "dying at the box office," state party Chairman Ron Nehring did respond directly when asked if he agreed with the governor's assessment. "We are a big party," Nehring told reporters, without...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is warning the state's Republican party to move toward the political center or risk losing voter support. Schwarzenegger is speaking Friday night at a state party convention in Indian Wells near Palm Springs. According to excerpts released in advance of his speech, Schwarzenegger says the party has lost the political middle and "will not regain true political power in California" until the GOP gets it back. He argues the party must tackle issues with broad public appeal, like climate change and building highways, railroads and tunnels.

Liberalism as a strategy and philosophy is a failure. Progressivism is meeting a similar fate. To continue to govern as a majority in California, the Democrats have had to again redefine their agenda. The easiest path is to redefine centrism leftward. The Governor is coming right along. He used the word "centrist" several times in his inaugural speech today. Unfortunately, it no longer has the same meaning. It wasn't that long ago when Governor Pete Wilson was known as a "moderate" or "centrist" leader. He ran balanced budgets, applied entrepreneurial solutions to the State's problems, rejected extreme environmentalism, funded education...

Report: Schwarzenegger urges GOP left turn Saturday, December 18, 2004 Posted: 7:34 PM EST (0034 GMT) Arnold Schwarzenegger BERLIN, Germany (AP) -- California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger suggested in a German newspaper interview published Saturday that the Republican Party should move "a little to the left," a shift that he said would allow it to pick up new voters.

WASHINGTON -- Pennsylvania's Sen. Arlen Specter yesterday said Republicans need to move toward the political center if they hope to avoid a repetition of last week's electoral drubbing, which delivered control of both houses of Congress to the Democrats for the first time since 1994.Mr. Specter, a five-term Republican, in January will pass his gavel on the Senate Judiciary Committee to Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., but he argues that he will still play an important role as a moderate in a Senate with 49 Republicans, 49 Democrats and two independents. "I think the moderates in the party have always held...

Among other things, Schwarzenegger signs into law legislation giving discounts on prescription medicines SACRAMENTO - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger trumpeted a season of legislative triumphs with a flurry of bill signings Friday, including bills that will affect everyone from low-income prescription drug consumers to hybrid drivers to television watchers to vendors who sell Vietnamese rice cakes. He signed 179 bills and vetoed 115, leaving around 175 to be signed today, the constitutional deadline to consider legislation. In total, Schwarzenegger has signed 800 bills and vetoed 189. Whether it was environmental protections, raising the minimum wage or providing discounted prescription drugs, many...

It seems Arnold Schwarzenegger can’t get enough of the liberals. From expanded health-care programs at grade school levels to lowering health-care costs and reducing the number of uninsured Californians, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is wooing liberal voters. He has also heaped praise on Al Gore's global warming movie, which should serve the Republican governor well in this otherwise eco-centric, deep blue state. Facing state Treasurer Phil Angelides, his ultra-liberal opponent in the November election, Schwarzenegger is casting his net in a leftward direction. The Los Angeles Times reports that Schwarzenegger aides say the governor is seeking to respond to critics who...

  Pumping Iron PyriteDecember 23, 2004 In response to an ESPN query about Arnold Schwarzenegger’s drug use, his spokesman, Rob Stutzman, said (about Schwarzenegger's steroid use), "If he knew then what we know now, he wouldn't have done it."  In ten years, Schwarzenegger’s “spokesman” will be mouthing the same words for Arnold about Republican politics. In fact, Schwarzenegger’s entire life has been an exercise of his mouth blabbering ahead of his brain...with his bloated ego always in the lead. Schwarzenegger, whose father belonged to the Nazi party, was a strong supporter of former Secretary General of the United Nations and Austrian President, Kurt...

"It's a glow-in-the-dark compass ring. So you don't get lost." -Josh (played by Tom Hanks), in the movie, "Big" Maybe what we need in California is a glow-in-the-dark compass ring. Or, maybe it's just Republicans that need one. Perhaps just Arnold Schwarzenegger. Heck, maybe it's all three. Let's face it...to our fellow citizens, Arnold is the face of California and the State GOP (with all due respect to Ackerman, Plescia and Sundheim). As Jon Fleischman and I wrote on the heels of the Governor's January 5 State of the State address, "Now, 'Mr. Hollywood' has come up with his BIGGEST...

Sequestered at an elegant Newport Beach hotel, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday began an election-year campaign to rehabilitate himself among disaffected supporters. At a closed-door luncheon with about 40 donors in this wealthy Republican enclave, Schwarzenegger sought to ease their fears about the direction his administration has taken in recent weeks. ... ... A contrite Schwarzenegger is attempting to assuage donors who are worried that he has shape-shifted into a Democrat — but he is facing opposition on multiple fronts. Although many in the GOP are angry that he hired Susan Kennedy, an aide to former Democratic Gov. Gray Davis,...

Report: Schwarzenegger suggests U.S. Republicans move leftward Associated Press BERLIN - California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger suggested in a German newspaper interview published Saturday that the Republican Party should move "a little to the left," a shift that he said would allow it to pick up new voters. Schwarzenegger, a Republican, has taken an unorthodox approach since winning office last year - standing by a promise to toe a conservative line of fiscal matters while veering left on social issues such as gay rights and the environment. In an interview with Germany's Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily, Schwarzenegger said that "the Republican Party...

Report: Schwarzenegger suggests U.S. Republicans move leftward Associated Press BERLIN - California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger suggested in a German newspaper interview published Saturday that the Republican Party should move "a little to the left," a shift that he said would allow it to pick up new voters.Schwarzenegger, a Republican, has taken an unorthodox approach since winning office last year - standing by a promise to toe a conservative line of fiscal matters while veering left on social issues such as gay rights and the environment.In an interview with Germany's Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily, Schwarzenegger said that "the Republican Party currently covers...

OPINION When Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed Democrat Susan Kennedy as his new chief of staff last week, it was a shrewd tactical move. State Republicans groused that Schwarzenegger's hiring of the former aide to Gray Davis and former executive director of the California Democratic Party is a betrayal of his constituency. Really? Isn't the constituency of the governor all the residents of California, rather than just the members of one political party? We think so, and so, evidently, does the governor. This is a welcome attempt to reach out to all voters. It affords the Democratic leadership the chance to...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s chief of staff appointment of career leftist and former Gray Davis staffer Susan Kennedy strongly indicates he has accepted the four myths of the Nov. Special Election presently being circulated by California’s liberal pundits. Myth 1: Voters agree with Democrats The voters didn’t hand Democrats any roses Nov. 8. On the contrary, the Donkey Party suffered two important losses. Prop. 79 would have forced price controls and discounts on pharmaceuticals in California. The so-called “Prescription Drug” issue is practically the Holy Grail of Democrat Party these days, with calls for more government intervention and mandatory price caps....