Free Republic

In more ways than one, followers of traditional Republican orthodoxy are facing an emotional inflection point this week. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), at home battling an aggressive form of brain cancer, will not attend this weekend’s Munich Security Conference, an annual gathering of foreign policy leaders from NATO nations that has become a central clearinghouse for global security matters and a celebration of Western values and democratic institutions. McCain, an avatar of all of the above, has been a regular attendee for decades. Last year, less than a month after President Trump took office, he stole the show with a...

I have a question for you FReepers. In a Primary debate in late January, 2012, Romney tried to get to the right on illegal immigration by proposing that we make conditions so difficult for the illegals that they pack it up and go home on their own (i.e., self-deportation), rather than rounding them up and deporting them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObVnA0nIx_s A Google search finds many columns on this topic, but only immediately after that debate. Then Obama brought it up in an October debate, just before the election and blasted Romney on it. After the election, the Republican 'advisers' (most of them...

Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, in again throwing previous Republican presidential nominees Bob Dole, John McCain and Mitt Romney under the bus of his own White House ambitions, needs to brush up on his political history. The freshman senator took occasion on CNN the other day to dismiss growing talk of a 2016 presidential bid of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush by tossing Bush under the wheels along with that trio of losing party standard-bearers, as a means of advancing his own Oval Office fantasies. After insisting he is “a fan” of the son of the 41st president and brother...

"...Take note: Instead of working to get out the vote, educate voters, and advance Republican and conservative principles in key states, and fire up the base, the establishment has already thrown in the towel. They are trying to shape a narrative about why their candidates lost instead of making sure their candidates win. Their narrative is that tea partiers are… what were those words you used, David? Oh yes. Tea partiers are naïve, sophomoric, and stupid, and this trifecta of character flaws will cause us to behave like petulant children."

Washington » The snows that obliterated Washington last week interfered with many scheduled meetings, but they did not prevent the delivery of one important political message: Take Sarah Palin seriously. Her lengthy Saturday night keynote address to the National Tea Party Convention in Nashville and her debut on the Sunday morning talk show circuit with Fox News' Chris Wallace showed off a public figure at the top of her game -- a politician who knows who she is and how to sell herself. This was not the first time that Palin has impressed me. I gave her high marks for...