Free Republic

In December of 2012, in the aftermath of Michigan’s Republican Legislature passing a right-to-work law, thousands of union members from around the state participated in a teleconference where their leaders promised “retribution” against the GOP. One union member wondered if Democrats took control of the Legislature, “Could we shove it right down their throats?” Al Garrett, president of Michigan AFSCME Council 25, shot back: “If we were to change the composition of both houses, where we were the majority and had the governor, no question we would be able to get rid of it right away. … In November of...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)There are 65 prominent people who might run for president in 2016. The Democratic and Republican fields contrast sharply. Hillary Clinton is the clear front-runner, while there is no front-runner on the Republican side. Twenty-three Democrats have been mentioned as a candidate or are eyeing a bid, according to an analysis by The Hill. The GOP side has 42. Most of the people on this list won’t run, and some have adamantly claimed that they’re not interested. But many politicians have changed their minds on seeking the White House. Before mounting his 2008 bid, then-Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) said he...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)Former first lady Barbara Bush reiterates in a new interview that presidents don’t have to be members of political dynasties. "If we can't find more than two or three families to run for office, that's silly, because there are great governors and great eligible people to run," Bush says in an interview that will air Monday on C-SPAN. "And I think that the Kennedys, Clintons, Bushes — there are just more families than that. And I'm not arrogant enough to think that we alone are raising" presidential candidates. Her son Jeb Bush, former governor of Florida, is considered a potential...

OK, if you play along nicely, I'll tabulate the results later. So let's assume for the sake of argument that the next electable Republican president will come from the ranks of governors or from a handful of Senators or from an ex-office-holders like Jim DeMint or Mitch Daniels or Jeb Bush or Rick Santorum. PICK YOUR TOP FIVE (electability has to be your first consideration): Republican Governors here: http://www.rga.org/homepage/governors/

To think, we’ve spent two years believing it was Romney that had the nastiest, most relentless seek-and-destroy oppo operation on the GOP side. Now I feel like Frank Drebin discovering the missing evidence in the Kelner case. My god — he was innocent. If you believe the sources in “Double Down,” Team Huntsman feeding a mega-smear of Romney to Harry Reid was the tip of the iceberg. 1994, his wife Cheri left [Mitch] Daniels for a married man, but then the couple reconciled and remarried. “In the years since, she had never spoken publicly about the turmoil, and Mitch had...

In rare political remarks since becoming president of Purdue University, former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels has voiced sharp disagreement with many fellow Republicans over whether the automatic spending cuts known as sequestration should continue. Daniels, once director of the Office of Management and Budget under George W. Bush, dubbed sequestration a "bad idea" during a press breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor. In so doing, the 64-year-old Daniels put himself on the opposite side of such national conservative leaders as Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist, who recently told Newsmax "in the short term, it's important to...

Philadelphia city council members have approved a resolution that calls for socialist historian Howard Zinn’s book “A People’s History of the United States” to be taught in public high schools. The resolution was backed by council members Jim Kenny and Jannie Blackwell, who believe that Zinn’s far-left socialist vision of American history is currently missing from high school textbooks. “Howard Zinn’s ‘A People’s History of the United States’ emphasizes the role of working people, women, people of color, and organized social movements in shaping history; not simply the version retold by those powerful enough to ensure history remembers their actions...

By The Editors Mitch Daniels, whom some Republicans would like to see president of something more than Purdue University, is under attack because as governor of Indiana he objected to the use of Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States in public-school curricula. In recently published e-mails, the plainspoken Governor Daniels described Zinn’s work as “anti-American” and “crap,” which, when expressed in sufficiently polite language, is the professional consensus: “a polemicist, not a historian,” says Arthur Schlesinger; his work a “deranged” “fairy tale,” says Harvard’s Oscar Handlin; a man who traded in “every left-wing cliché with which the...

Did former governor, now university president, Mitch Daniels seek to censor the late Howard Zinn, a Communist prof who wrote the anti-American bestseller A People’s History of the United States? No, but that’s what the AP suggested. “Mitch Daniels looked to censor opponents,” ran the headline. “[E]mails obtained by The Associated Press show Daniels went out of his way during his second term as governor to destroy what he considered liberal breeding grounds at Indiana’s public universities.” The second bit appears to be true. And congratulations to Mitch Daniels for his efforts at swamp-clearing. Public universities should not be breeding...

I’ve never thought of Mitch Daniels as the heroic type; not until now. But he deserves a medal for trying to spare Indiana students the mis-education that comes from reading the execrable Howard Zinn. The Associated Press obtained emails by then-Governor Daniels, now the President of Purdue: Purdue University President Mitch Daniels said Wednesday he never tried to quash academic freedom while serving as Indiana’s governor and criticized an Associated Press report citing emails in which he opposed use of a book by historian and anti-war activist Howard Zinn.

Shortly after Barack Obama won reelection in November, New Jersey governor Chris Christie pointed out that Republicans’ cloudy political prospects had a bright silver lining. “One of the reasons you have 30 Republican governors in America, and why we’re the only organization to add Republican strength,” Christie said, “is because people see us getting things done.” Christie’s stance countered most of the elite postelection commentary, which gleefully pronounced the Republican Party’s political irrelevance. But the governor was right. Since Obama first took office in 2008, Republicans have picked up a net nine governorships, bringing their total to 30 states,...

If the Indiana State Teachers Association had its way, 2011 never would have happened. While much of the focus was on the antics of leftists at the Capitol in Madison, Wisconsin and their efforts to subvert Gov. Scott Walker’s reforms, Indiana endured its share of union silliness, too. Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels and State Superintendent Tony Bennett were pursuing a bold plan to remake the government education system and expand educational options for families. Enacting the first statewide school choice program in the country, the duo led the nation with a comprehensive education reform plan. That program was, of course,...

One area that awareness of the need for freedom from government control has penetrated black attitudes is in education. The chronic failure of public schools to notably improve dismal test scores and high dropout rates of black children has made it clear to many black citizens of good will that there has got to be a better way. Polls show black support for school choice. For example, in a poll done last year in New Jersey by the Rutgers-Eagleton Center at Rutgers University, 54 percent of blacks expressed support for school vouchers compared to 36 percent of whites. Growing grass...

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Gov. Mitch Daniels has been named the next president of Purdue University, a role he'll take on after leaving office in January. Purdue trustees voted unanimously Thursday morning to appoint Daniels to succeed France Cordova, who will leave in July after five years at Purdue's helm.

Police officers in Indiana are upset over a new law allowing residents to use deadly force against public servants, including law enforcement officers, who unlawfully enter their homes. It was signed by Republican Governor Mitch Daniels in March. The first of its kind in the United States, the law was adopted after the state Supreme Court went too far in one of its rulings last year, according to supporters. The case in question involved a man who assaulted an officer during a domestic violence call. The court ruled that there was “no right to reasonably resist unlawful entry by police...

Rick Santorum Backs Richard Mourdock in Indiana Senate Race By Shushannah Walshe | ABC OTUS News Rick Santorum has weighed in on the fierce primary battle in the Indiana senate race. The former presidential candidate tweeted his support of State Treasurer Richard Mourdock over longtime Sen. Dick Lugar. @RickSantorum: I encourage Hoosiers to help GOTV for @RichardMourdock. If I lived in Indiana he'd have my vote in Tuesday's #INSen race. Lugar has held the seat since 1976, but Tea Party favorite Richard Mourdock is waging a serious challenge and is leading in state polls. Mourdock also has the backing of...

Some 20 million Americans in primaries and caucuses will take part in selecting the Republican presidential nominee. One person will choose the vice presidential nominee. This has long struck me as absurd: One person choosing someone who, as a result, might become president for as long as 10 years. But just about everyone in politics says it's the only proper way. Over the last 25 years, presidential nominees of both parties have engaged in conscientious consultation and have mostly made pretty good choices. No more picks at five o'clock in the morning to meet a convention deadline. For even longer,...

Tuesday night, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels signed a bill that would protect citizens who reasonably believe force is necessary to protect themselves, someone else or their own property from unlawful actions by a public servant. While supports believe the proposal strengthens the legal rights of people against public servants or government agents illegally entering their home, police groups are worried that many will use it as justification for attacking officers or will not understand the law fully. "For those who don't take the time to read the law, it is going to be devastating for someone to think they have...

With Mitt Romney increasing his lead over Rick Santorum with a victory in Puerto Rico over the weekend, it is likely, that at the very least, Romney will hold his own or increase his lead over Santorum in Tuesday’s Illinois primary. Mitt Romney now holds a lead of more than 2-1 over Rick Santorum (521-253) -- positioning him as the clear and indeed most likely Republican nominee for president. But while Romney has won 55% of the delegates thus far – and indeed, it seems clear that neither Santorum on his own or Gingrich will be able to individually stop...

INDIANAPOLIS -- State refunds for Indiana taxpayers will likely be bigger than first expected, Gov. Mitch Daniels said Tuesday. The governor signed into law a bill that refines the automatic taxpayer refund that's triggered when the state surplus exceeds 12.5 percent of the state budget, RTV6's Norman Cox reported. "This, of course, makes Indiana a state that says at some point, when budgets are balanced and reserves are full, the state should stop collecting money and leave it with the people who earned it," Daniels said. "We think it's a very important principle." The refunds will come as an add-on...