Free Republic

ARLINGTON, VA U.S. Senator John McCain's presidential campaign today announced the endorsement of 11 Republican National Committee members. "Electability is becoming a very important issue in this nomination contest and John McCain is the strongest candidate we could nominate to defeat the Democrat nominee in November," said RNC Vice Chairman Chuck Yob. John McCain thanked the RNC members, stating, "I am honored that these leaders of the Republican Party have endorsed my candidacy, and am grateful for their support," said Senator McCain. Members of the Republican National Committee are automatically seated as delegates at the Republican National Convention. However, the...

Rudy Giuliani Appears To Be The Early Favorite Among Gay Republicans (AP) DENVER -- Justin Meyer admits it's difficult to be a gay Republican these days. The 24-year-old financial manager was excited to see Rudy Giuliani jump into the 2008 presidential race both because of how he led New York City and his support for gay rights. But he's angry at Giuliani for recently coming out against civil unions and doesn't understand why other members of the Log Cabin Republicans, the nation's largest gay GOP group, were still touting him as the group gathered for its annual convention Friday....

Giuliani as the GOP presidential nominee would be a dagger in the heart of the conservative movement (and a knife in the back). The only difference in a Liberal Rudy Giuliani and Liberal Hillary Clinton is the fact of which bathrooms they select to use and there are some who are willing to even question that. Giuliani/Clinton/Dem vs. GOP Platform Comparison Issue Giuliani Clinton Dem Platform GOP Platform Abortion on Demand Supports Supports Supports Opposes Partial Birth Abortion SupportsOpposed NY ban Supports Supports Opposes Roe v. Wade Supports Supports Supports Opposes Taxpayer Funded Abortions Supports Supports Supports Opposes Embryonic Stem...

touched on this in an earlier post, but I'm disheartened by conservatives who continue to lecture that we must ignore serious defects in a Republican candidate's record. Conservatism is about more than tax cuts and the war on terrorism, it's about more than abortion and illegal immigration. These are certainly important policy aspects of conservatism. But conservatism is about a way of life, a way of governing, and a way of bettering society. When a pundit or candidate demands that conservatives limit their critical thinking to one or two subjects or positions, that's self-serving. They're usually putting their own political...

It's hard to offend both major branches of the Republican Party in one fell swoop, but Mayor Rudy Giuliani's confirmation today that he still supports publicly funded abortions has put him at odds with leading social and fiscal conservatives. For example, Grover Norquist, a leading fiscal conservative and president of Americans for Tax Reform, told me this evening: "Some Republicans are in favor of legalized abortions. No Republican is in favor of stealing money from the taxpayers to subsidize abortions." And Dr. Carl Herbster, a leading Christian conservative had this to say: "... Not only are we not in favor...

Let’s see what Romney is really about. Let’s see him having a who’s the real Liberal contest with a King of Liberalism, Ted (I lost her in the lake) Kennedy.

Here's a heads up for the Giuliani campaign. It's coming. It's coming very soon. Beware. Run for your lives! As I write this, there is plotting going among grassroots religious conservatives in New Hampshire, Iowa, South Carolina and many other states. They want to take down Rudy and they plan to do everything in their power to do it. I received this email from an influential Republican activist who, lets just say, has an extensive mailing list among the conservative grassroots network. Here's what he told me: "If Rudy Giuliani is put up for President by the Stupid Party, I...

In January 1996, Democratic President Bill Clinton declared the era of big government over. Eleven years later, government is larger than it ever has been: The federal budget for 2007 is $2.8 trillion, the highest in history; one in six Americans relies on government assistance; we spend $586.5 billion on Social Security, $372.3 billion on Medicare, $268.5 billion on health care, and $93 billion on education, training, employment and social services. If you laid the dollar bills composing the federal budget end to end, the chain of cash would circle the equator approximately 11,000 times -- or reach from Earth...

End Sanctuary for Illegal Immigrants by Michelle Malkin (September 24, 2002) What does fighting terrorism have to do with stemming massive illegal immigration? Much more than government officials have been willing to let on over the past year. When September 11 hijackers Hani Hanjour and Khalid Almihdhar needed help getting fraudulent government-issued photo IDs before embarking on their suicide mission, they hopped into a van and headed to the parking lot of a 7-Eleven store in Falls Church, Va. That's where scores of migrant day laborers -- the kind whom immigration advocates refer to as "undocumented" -- gather to find...

""There must be public funding for abortions...I disagree with President Bush's veto...of public funding for abortion."

They are saying that the next GOP presidential candidate might very well be a pro-abortion Republican who promises not to push that issue and is strong on other issues. They hope that pro-lifers will “be reasonable,” not let the perfect be the enemy of the good, and go along quietly. We won’t. Republicans and Democrats in 1980 took radically different approaches to the right to life. Republicans wrote into their party platform that all abortions should be outlawed. Democrats wrote into their party platform that not only should abortion be legal, but families should be forced to pay for others’...

Robert Ariail had an idea for a cartoon for today that would have shown the GOP going off and leaving John McCain behind. I asked him to explain it, and as is so often the case, he said it had something to do with reports that were all over television -- which he watches, and I don't. If I were to start watching TV news, I would do it as much as anything so that I could raise myself in Robert's estimation. He tends to respect my opinion on cartoons except when I say, "What's that about," and he throws...

J-Pod, You write of conservatives deserting Giuliani on the social issues: "Maybe it will happen. But there's no evidence it's going to." Well, there's some evidence out there, including this from the Wall Street Journal poll today: “Fully three of four Republicans—including a majority of those backing the former New York City mayor—say they would have reservations if they learned Mr. Giuliani supports abortion rights and supports civil unions for gay and lesbians couples.”

When Rudy Giuliani took the stage last Friday at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C., he did so to an overflowing crowd of mainly young, socially conservative activists. But, while his nearly hour-long speech touched on a host of conservative themes -- including welfare, taxes and, of course, the war on terror -- one set of issues was conspicuously absent: social issues, most notably abortion. The CPAC omission highlights a strategy for addressing the concerns of social conservatives that has emerged in the opening stages of Giuliani's campaign: He's keeping his attention, and theirs, focused squarely on...

The National Catholic Register is out with an editorial where they say the following: No deal Rudy. We cannot support you. Here's why: "Rudy’s deal: He’ll promise not to push the pro-abortion agenda, and he’ll nominate judges in the mold of Samuel Alito and John Roberts. Pro-lifers in the Republican Party in return would support him, but keep insisting that the party stay pro-life, and fight our fiercest pro-life battles at the state level, where they belong. We also see the downside of Rudy’s deal. If pro-lifers went along, we’d soon find out that a pro-abortion Republican president would no...

Romney wins narrowly while Rudy Giuliani (a client) finishes a strong second: Romney 21% Giuliani 17% Brownback 15% Gingrich 14% McCain 12% On combined first and second place choices, it's a win for Rudy: Giuliani 34% Gingrich 30% Romney 30% That's not too shabby. Romney's people spent thousands of dollars getting their folks to CPAC. It seemed like every other person in line for Romney's speech yesterday had an official Mitt t-shirt on -- and he certainly was being attacked as though he was the man to beat. Even so, Rudy manages to pull off a near-win by just showing...

In a move to increase its relevance in the presidential selection process, the Golden State is set to jump up its primary from June of 2008 to February 5th, less than a year away. This may benefit New York's presidential aspirants, and especially its Republican one. Last week I noted Giuliani's electric support at the California Republican Party convention. A recent poll has resoundingly brought forth the same message. This morning, the Wall Street Journal's John Fund notes the following numbers: With California moving its presidential primary to Feb. 5 of next year, what Golden State voters think about White...

Long dismissed by Washington insiders as incapable of receiving the Republican Party's presidential nomination because of his pro-abortion rights, pro-gay rights and pro-gun control views, former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani was lavished with praise Friday by an icon of American conservatism. "He is much stronger than anyone could have predicted six months ago," said former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich from Georgia. "New York is four times safer than it used to be. It's one of the greatest achievements of government capability in the 20th century. And Rudy just has to go out and say, 'This is who...

The GOP Should Dump Its Litmus Test By Michael Reagan FrontPageMagazine.com | February 16, 2007 The philosopher Diogenes is said to have wandered around ancient Greece holding a lantern and seeking to find an honest man. My fellow Republicans, sans lanterns, are now wandering around the political landscape seeking to find the perfect Republican presidential candidate. I don’t know if Diogenes ever found that honest man, but I do know that those Republicans are never going to find the perfect candidate, simply because he does not exist. Some Republicans insist that the only perfect candidate would be a clone of...

Given the more liberal tendencies of Rudy Giuliani on abortion and guns, conservatives have expressed serious misgivings about his run for the nomination. However, the main effect that a President can have on these issues involves his or her outlook on the judiciary. The federal court system has been the main battleground for both issues, with Roe specifically precluding any kind of legislative action. Court nominations have become one of the essential considerations for presidential contenders -- and it may be more important for Giuliani than any other Republican candidate. Giuliani has hinted that he would nominate jurists in the...