Free Republic

It's becoming clear that Romney has decided to focus on the economy at the expense of everything else, even issues that could play to his political benefit. He's avoided criticizing the administration's handling of the botched Fast and Furious operation, even as it threatens to become a serious vulnerability for the president. He's been silent in responding to Obama's immigration executive order, not wanting to offend receptive Hispanics or appear like a flip-flopper. He appears more likely to tap a safe, bland running mate like Ohio Sen. Rob Portman or former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty who won't do him any...

“I love Sarah Palin, but … “I’m sure you’ve encountered that expression many times from weak-kneed conservatives in your daily life, on the pages of so-called conservative publications, or from big-mouthed losers who simply want attention. The reasoning that inevitably follows: “Yes, Sarah Palin has all the right ideals, and governed her state bravely and wisely, but she is too damaged by the media to win. So let’s just surrender, and hope the bad people don’t do that again to another one of our candidates.”It’s pathetic really. Man up, conservatives! Over at Hillbuzz , they call these “I-love-Sarah-Palin, but” folks...

LUKE AIR FORCE BASE, Ariz. - A Luke AFB sergeant was awarded two Purple Hearts for two separate injuries she received in a span of three months in Iraq. Staff Sgt. Aime Gaona, a 56th Operations Support Squadron intelligence analyst, was serving an eight-month deployment as a weapons intelligence team member of the 732nd Expeditionary Civil Engineer Squadron at Balad Air Base, Iraq. In October Sergeant Gaona's weapons intelligence team participated in a nine-vehicle operation whose mission was to bring down an improvised explosive device manufacturer and placer. Sergeant Gaona's humvee triggered a pressure switch on an IED that exploded...

Board refuses to consider requiring illegal immigrants to register, pay $200 fee PAHRUMP -- One radical ordinance was killed outright and the other was threatened with repeal on Tuesday, as Nye County's largest town inched back from its controversial entry into the national debate over illegal immigration. Before a large and mostly appreciative crowd, Pahrump Town Board members refused to even entertain a proposal that would have required illegal immigrants to register at the town office, pay a $200 fee and supply the names of their family members and The decision was greeted by thunderous applause from the audience of...

BILOXI - U.S. Sen. Trent Lott doesn't believe Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld should resign immediately, but he does think Rumsfeld should be replaced sometime in the next year. "I'm not a fan of Secretary Rumsfeld," Lott, R-Mississippi, told the Biloxi Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday morning. "I don't think he listens enough to his uniformed officers." Rumsfeld has been criticized since a soldier asked him last week why the combat vehicles used in the war in Iraq don't have the proper armor. Both Rumsfeld and President Bush have said more vehicle armor will be shipped to Iraq. Lott said the...

That's it. I don't give a flying fig if Texas comes back(its 28-14 right now.) Fire the fickle folding fraud that is Mack Brown. Once again, he's couldn't prepare his team for the big game. Once again outcoached. Once again overhyped. Once again his team can't run. Once again his defense is shredded. Once again he ignored an offseason opportunity to replace his coaches who have used smoke and mirrors and early high rankings to fool the media into thinking his team would finally be better than what they are. Same ol' sham. Arkansas first truly exposed the fraud that...

ORLÉANS, France, April 11 — Patrick Lebel watched the television images this week of a statue of Saddam Hussein toppled in Baghdad as joyous Iraqis danced about and he thought, as Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld did, of the Berlin Wall. "It was purely symbolic, of course," said Mr. Lebel, 46, a heating systems technician, "but I thought of 1989." Julien Vazzoleretto saw the same images, yet his reaction was equivocal. "One tyrant less," said Mr. Vazzoleretto, 25, who is unemployed. "But at what price?" Even after the collapse of Mr. Hussein's rule, French disapproval of the war is overwhelming....