Free Republic

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) rejected charges Sunday that President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, Judge Sonia Sotomayor, is a racist. Asked if he agreed with former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) and conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh that Sotomayor is a racist, the South Carolina Republican said he disagreed. “No, they interject themselves in the debate. They have got an audience to entertain and Newt is a political commentator. I’m a United States senator,” Graham said on "Fox News Sunday" with Chris Wallace. “I don’t think she’s a racist. She should be proud of what she has accomplished in...

In another sign that he’s eying a second run for the presidency, Mitt Romney is planning a series of stops in Virginia next week to help Republican candidates running in the commonwealth’s off-year election. Virginia is one of a handful of states with competitive races this year, and one where Republican officials feel best about their prospects for victory. The former Massachusetts governor is the featured guest at the high-dollar gala next Friday prior to the Virginia GOP’s state convention in Richmond — one of the party’s chief fundraising events.

As he demonstrated in his 2008 presidential campaign, Mitt Romney is as variable as the New England weather. Still, Romney positively outdid himself last week. Speaking at a National Rifle Association forum, he blasted President Obama's healthcare plans - proposals that look a good deal like the Massachusetts coverage law Romney helped bring about. But it gets stranger still. "The best path to healthcare reform is to let the American people make their own decisions, not have those decisions forced on them by government," proclaimed the perpetual candidate. This even though Romney's most important contribution to the state's landmark law...

PHOENIX – Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney joined Bush administration officials, including former Vice President Dick Cheney, in arguing today that President Obama’s approach to combating terrorism had left the country less safe. "It's the very kind of thinking that left America vulnerable to the attacks of September 11th," Romney told the National Rifle Association's annual gathering. “And the approval of left-wing law professors and editorial boards won’t be worth much if this country lets down its guard and suffers an attack." Even while declaring an end to past interrogation practices he calls “torture,” Obama has alienated many in his...

PHOENIX (AP) - Sixty thousand people are expected to attend the National Rifle Association's annual convention that starts Friday in Phoenix. Organizers say the 3-day event is a celebration of America's Second Amendment rights and a gathering point for opponents of efforts to limit those rights. Friday's speakers include Sen. John McCain, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour and Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer.

(snip) The latest matchup: Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele vs. Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor and a likely frontrunner for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. Steele cast doubt on Romney's conservative credentials Friday and said the Republican base rejected Romney because "it had issues with Mormonism" and was unsure of Romney's commitment to opposing to abortion rights. Romney's camp took issue with the suggestions that the most reliable Republican voters are intolerant and fired back Tuesday, with spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom saying, "Sometimes when you shoot from the hip, you miss the target." Sen. John McCain, Romney's former rival...

Could it be the latest sign that Mitt Romney is preparing to run for president again? Hotline is reporting that Romney is making moves to establish his legal residency in New Hampshire -- site of the first-in-the-nation primary. The former Massachusetts governor is selling homes in Belmont, Mass., and in Utah, and plans to spend time at his summer home on the shores of Lake Winnipesaukee in the Granite State, notes Hotline, the political blog of the National Journal.

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney headlined congressional Republicans' big new policy conclave over the weekend, stressing the need to listen to real Americans, but also appearing to slap a potential rival for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination. At the National Council for a New America's first "conversation" in Arlington, Va., Romney, who ran for the Republican nomination last year and has kept his name in the conversation for 2012, joined House Republican Whip Eric Cantor and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush in presiding over the panel. "I’ve learned that when you sit in a position of responsibility as you do...

In the latest instance of a high-profile GOP member taking a passing swipe at the party's 2008 vice-presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Governor and GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney jokingly dismissed Sarah Palin’s inclusion on TIME’s list of influential people in an interview broadcast Sunday. He asked, was “the issue on the most beautiful people or the most influential people?” . . . . . Romney, who was appearing with House Minority Whip Eric Cantor as part of a party re-launch the two are organizing with other prominent Republicans under the banner of the National Council for a New America, was...

(NECN: Washington, D.C.) - Former governors Mitt Romney and Jeb Bush joined Congressman Eric Cantor to talk health care, the economy and national security at the first town hall meeting for the National Council for a New America on Saturday. But the group steered clear of abortion and same-sex marriage -- wedge issues that have led to the defection of moderates and independents. "Listening to people can make a difference. We've got ideas on how we can help people get health insurance, how we can improve our schools, how we can make our economy strong today as well as down...

Those old Republican hot buttons are growing cold. For proof, check out a recent interview with Mitt Romney, a former presidential candidate and ex-governor of Massachusetts. According to TheHill.com, a congressional newspaper that publishes when Congress is in session, ''Romney believes that one way to attract more minorities to the GOP is to pass immigration reform before the next election, saying the issue becomes demagogued by both parties on the campaign trail.'' The article also quotes Romney as saying, ``We have a natural affinity with Hispanic-American voters, Asian-American voters.''

QUINCY - In 2006, my last year as governor of Massachusetts, I vetoed a card-check bill that allowed public workers to organize if a majority signed union authorization cards as opposed to casting a traditional secret ballot. The veto was a gain for the rights of employees and employers to a fair election, but the victory was short-lived. After I left office, organized labor had another run at replacing the secret ballot with a card check. With the support of Democrats in the Legislature, that same bill was passed in 2007 – and my Democratic successor signed it into law....

THOSE OLD Republican hot buttons are growing cold. For proof, check out a recent interview with Mitt Romney, a former presidential candidate and ex-governor of Massachusetts. According to TheHill.com, a congressional newspaper that publishes when Congress is in session, "Romney believes that one way to attract more minorities to the GOP is to pass immigration reform before the next election, saying the issue becomes demagogued by both parties on the campaign trail." The article also quotes Romney as saying, "We have a natural affinity with Hispanic-American voters, Asian-American voters." This could be extreme political repositioning, even for Romney. . ....

The former Massachusetts governor is in town today for a $1,000-per person luncheon fundraiser for Bennett's re-election campaign. Romney could prove to be a powerful ally for Bennett in Utah. The former Massachusetts governor's presidential bid excited Utah Republicans unlike any before. He trounced the competition, receiving 90 percent of the GOP primary vote, and raised $5.5 million from Utah donors -- nearly six times as much as they gave to Sen. John McCain, the party's nominee. Romney was tapped to step in and salvage the 2002 Winter Olympics in Utah after a bribery scandal threatened the games. He had...

The decision today by the Iowa Supreme Court that ruled a ban on same-sex marriage in the Hawkeye State unconstitutional is certain to have an impact on the state's critical Republican presidential caucuses in 2012. . . . . . Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who ran unsuccessfully for the nomination in 2008 and is an almost-certain candidate in 2012, did offer a comment on the decision when asked by the Fix. "I believe marriage is a relationship between a man and a woman and the definition of marriage should be left to the people and not to activist courts,"...

For a while now I’ve been saying that Romney is no conservative, and anyone holding him up as the hope for the conservative movement against Obama in 2012 is fooling themselves. During his campaign for the Republican nomination in 2007/2008 Romney held himself up as a rock-ribbed conservative. The reality is that he’s a power-hungry politician. He was one of the first political leaders in America to institute what amounts to a nationalized health care system in Massachusetts, and his various positions on abortion have changed so often in timing so convenient for his political career as to leave one...

Former presidential candidate Mitt Romney gave a pretty philosophical keynote at the GOP fundraiser tonight. At times the 30-minute address sounded like a history lesson or a college lecture. As the crowd welcomed him with a standing ovation, Romney warned that he'd be speaking seriously. This would be no pep rally full of political zingers. "These are critical times," Romney said. "Defining times for the world and the nation." Romney talked about what he saw as competing world philosophies, including that of jihadists, and critical times in history, like the Civil War and the American Revolution. "Republicans are the revolutionaries...

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney praised President Obama at a GOP fundraising dinner Wednesday in front of a crowd that might have been expecting a heavy dose of rally-the-troops conservatism. "I also think it's important for us to nod to the president when he's right," Romney said, after chiding the president's budget. "He will not always be wrong, and he's done some things I agree with." Romney, who spoke at a dinner for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said he's pleased with the president's plans to "finish the job" in Iraq and Afghanistan -- lines that drew...

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) said Wednesday that Republicans shouldn’t oppose President Obama as a reflex and should praise him when he succeeds. Speaking at the National Republican Senatorial Committee’s (NRSC) spring dinner, Romney was thick on criticism of Obama, but also said Republicans shouldn’t root against the man Romney might well face in the 2012 presidential election. After offering a few choice words for Obama’s early conduct in office, Romney suggested it’s OK to hope things go well under the new president. “I also think its important for us to nod to the president when he’s right,” Romney...

Somewhat supportive of Obama and looking forward to bankruptcy.