Free Republic

When Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin announced her resignation two weeks ago it was after a series of strange, petty bouts with her detractors. Many "frivolous ethics violations" had been alleged against her, she noted. David Letterman had told an ugly joke about her daughter. A blogger had posted something that was probably not true. Someone had photoshopped a radio talker's face onto a picture of her baby -- a "malicious desecration" of the image, in the words of Ms. Palin's spokeswoman. Team Palin got duly indignant at each of these. They took special, detailed offense. They issued statements magnifying their...

I've been hearing that some groups of people are not welcome at Free Republic anymore, but I didn't believe what I was hearing because that seems like the complete opposite of "Free". I've heard that supporters of Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, Ron Paul, Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, and more are no longer welcome to post at this site. This site is about uniting people together against the liberal onslaught that is ruining our country and we could use all the help we can get right? Please correct me so I can correct others who have told me that this is...

A number of Palin defenders have argued that Mitt Romney similarly cut and run from Massachusetts. While there is an important distinction between resigning office and declining to run for reelection -- Romney served out the entire term to which he was elected -- I basically agree with this criticism. Romney's abandonment of Massachusetts during a critical juncture in fights over health care, the budget, and the definition of marriage was the single greatest factor that shifted me from a Romney-sympathetic commentator to a critic. (The spin of Romney's flip-flops by some of his overzealous supporters played a role too,...