Free Republic

There has been much talk of the 8 year BDS (Bush Derangement Syndrome) from the left but I think it's time we admitted there are DS's on the right and we have to look no further than our own backyard here at FR to find the most glaring example, McCain Derangement Syndrome. McCain wasn't my preferred candidate. In fact, I'd have to go all the way back to Reagan to find my own preferred candidate victorious. But you never get everything you want in politics so many times you have to work with you got and make the best of...

They call themselves Main Street Republicans, moderates consigned to the back alleys of politics by their own party. But despite a severe bruising in the fall election, this minority within a minority finds itself with new avenues to explore, including working more closely with Democrats. The Republican Main Street Partnership, a leading voice of GOP moderates in Congress, lost seven of its 48 House members to Democratic challengers in the November election. Two other senior members, Rep. Sherwood Boehlert, R-N.Y., and Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz., are retiring. The group also saw Sen. Lincoln Chafee, R-R.I., one of its eight Senate members...

The 2006 election was tragic for conservatives who did lose several key races. But the losses were downright devestating for RINOs (Republicans In Name Only.) The following is a list of the RINOs, who scored under 60% as graded by the American Conservative Union, and how they fared in the last election: SENATE: Linc Chafee, RI: defeated. Olympia Snowe, ME: no contest. Sue Collins, ME: re-elected. Mike DeWine, OH: defeated. HOUSE Christopher Shays, CT: re-elected. Mike Castle, DE: re-elected. Sherwood Boehlert, NY: defeated. Jim Leach, IA: retired. Mark Kirk, IL: re-elected. Nancy Johnson, CT: defeated. Wayne Gilchrest, MD: re-elected. Scott...

“Far Right Soley (sic) Responsible for Democratic Gains.” That’s the title of a hastily written press release I received last Wednesday from the Republican Main Street Partnership. In fact, it had been posted on RMSP’s website Tuesday before midnight. “For the last two years,” wrote RMSP executive director Sarah Chamberlain, “centrist GOPers have warned the leadership of our party of the consequences of pushing a legislative agenda cow-towing to the far right in our party.” (For the record, I also oppose “cow-towing,” and all other forms of bovine abuse.) In the release, Chamberlain argues that if conservatives had only backed...

The classic New England Republican -- fiscally conservative, socially liberal -- is near death, following a long and quiet decline that began more then a decade ago when the GOP nationally began its move to the right. It is a political breed generations old. The Democratic tidal wave in Tuesday's elections claimed several victims in seats that had long been in Republican hands. Scholars say the losses may be the death knell for the traditional "rock-ribbed" New England Republican.

There have been a lot of warm and fuzzy self-congratulations since Tuesday's election about how California voters and candidates -- particularly Arnold Schwarzenegger -- have met in the middle of the political spectrum. The cheery theory is that when the guv and the plucky guys and gals who make up the Legislature return to the front lines in January, they'll all sip cocoa together and make toasts to the wonders of "centrism" and lead the state to new heights. This theory seems to be based on three things: 1. Schwarzenegger was easily re-elected as governor, even though he's a Reep...

Holding to the Center, Losing My Seat By Lincoln D, Chafee LAST Tuesday, I was one of the many moderate Republican casualties of the anti-Bush virulence that swept the country. Despite my having voted against the Iraq war resolution, my reputation for independence, the editorial endorsement of virtually every newspaper in my state, and a job approval rating of 63 percent, I did not win. Why? Back in December 2000, after one of the closest elections in our nation’s history, Vice President-elect Dick Cheney was the guest at a weekly lunch meeting of a small group of centrist Republicans. Senators...

Arnold Schwarzenegger wants to liberalize the GOP. The California governor has told a German newspaper the Republicans should move "a little to the left." "The Republican Party currently covers only the spectrum from the right wing to the middle," the former action hero told Sueddeutsche Zeitung. "I would like the Republican Party to cross this line. ... This would immediately give the party 5% more votes without it losing anything elsewhere." Maria Shriver's husband was guarded when asked about his presidential ambitions, saying only that a debate on amending the U.S. Constitution to allow foreign-born citizens to run was "overdue."