Free Republic

Dick Cheney has some advice for Mitt Romney on choosing a running mate: Don't pick another Sarah Palin. In his first interview since receiving a heart transplant in March, Cheney told ABC News, that John McCain's decision to pick Palin as his running mate in 2008 was "a mistake" - one that it is important from Romney not to repeat. It's subject on which Cheney has some unique experience. He helped Presidents Gerald Ford and George W. Bush lead their vice presidential searches and, of course, served as vice president for eight years. He's also privately offered some advice to...

Call me underwhelmed with the two frontrunners in the GOP primary race. It is concerning that the top challenges to Obama, ObamaCare and "crony capitalism" are essentially neutralized by Romney (RomneyCare) or Perry (cronyism). Pick your poison, conservatives, because one of these top challenges will likely be off the table.

While watching Sarah Palin's speech yesterday at Indianola, it occurred to me that she is beloved by her supporters and detested and feared by her enemies for at least one common reason: She is an extraordinary political talent, willing and able to call a spade a spade and to do so with a combination of moxie and panache that is both devastating and funny. She represents a clear and present danger both to the GOP Establishment and to the Democrat left, the two sides of the same false coin which has embedded itself in D.C. as the "Permanent Political Class"....

Executive experience is often seen as a needed criterion when looking for potential presidential nominees, especially among Republicans. It has been more than 130 years since the GOP nominated an eventual winner for President who only had legislative experience (Note: President EisenhowerÂ’s military experience easily qualifies as executive experience). It goes beyond the simply dichotomy of legislative versus executive experience, however. What is even more important is how one used the executive experience that he or she has. Did he or she use such experience to make government smaller or bigger? Did he or she use their executive experience to...

Editor’s Note: This is the second installment in a two-part series on Governor Sarah Palin’s qualifications for the presidency. We hope Barbara Walters reads both of them so she can be more "informed" for her next interview with Governor Palin, whenever that might occur. She might even be able to ask an intelligent question. Qualification: an essential skill, quality, or attribute that makes somebody suitable for a job, activity, or task.In the first part of our series, we explored Governor Sarah Palin’s nearly two decades of experience as a city councilor, mayor and governor, her work as an oil and gas regulator, and...

Editor's Note: This is the first of a two-part series exploring Sarah Palin's qualifications for the presidency. Qualification: An essential skill, quality, or attribute that makes somebody suitable for a job, activity, or task.The opinion leaders sincerely want to know whether Governor Sarah Palin is "qualified" to run for president. Why else would they keep asking the question, right? So ...  let's examine a few of Palin's populist credentials that stack up surprisingly well against the more conventional resumes of five recent presidents. 1. Ten years in municipal government. For all their heroics in state legislatures, governorships, and the hallowed halls of Harvard, Yale and the Naval Academy, none of...

Nicole Coulter, previously known as Recovering Democrat, published an excellent piece discussing Governor Palin's qualifications versus that of the previous crop of US Presidents: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2630162/posts I think it's worth delving into some detail what Palin has accomplished in her early years. One of the stark differences between Palin and Obama is that her early record is open for all the world the see. Contrastingly, Obama's history is obfuscated by the sealing of his records. The second part of this history is about Palin on the Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. This is R. Mansour's take on Palin during this crucial...

Nicole Coulter, previously known as Recovering Democrat, published an excellent piece discussing Governor Palin's qualifications versus that of the previous crop of US Presidents: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2630162/posts I think it's worth delving into some detail what Palin has accomplished in her early years. One of the stark differences between Palin and Obama is that her early record is open for all the world the see. Contrastingly, Obama's history is obfuscated by the sealing of his records. The first part of this history is about Palin and her time on the Wasilla City Council. Wasilla City Council 1992 – 1996 Photo H/T Joe...

Nicole Coulter, previously known as Recovering Democrat, published an excellent piece discussing Governor Palin's qualifications versus that of the previous crop of US Presidents: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2630162/posts I think it's worth delving into some detail what Palin has accomplished in her early years. One of the stark differences between Palin and Obama is that her early record is open for all the world the see. Contrastingly, Obama's history is obfuscated by the sealing of his records. The second part of this history is about Palin as Mayor and City manage of Wasilla. Wasilla Mayor 1996 – 2002 Mayoral Campaign BornIn this doodle...

Governor Sarah Palin’s Record That Gave Her A 90% Approval Rating: Energy Independence, Development, and Environmental Stewardship *Governor Palin’s cornerstone accomplishment is AGIA (Alaska Gasline Inducement Act). During the Palin administration, TransCanada and Exxon formed an alliance to build a natural gas pipeline from Alaska to the Lower 48. Under Governor Palin’s governance, the project was expanded and revised from what previous governors had proposed with an open policy process for the Alaskan people. More progress was made on this effort than in the previous 30 years. This is the largest private sector infrastructure project in North American history and...

Sarah Palin’s guest appearances this week in a 3-part series from Alaska with FOX News Channel’s Greta Van Susteren have hopefully opened some eyes regarding the 20-million-acre ANWR (Arctic National Wildlife Refuge), NPR-A (National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska), the North Slope, Prudhoe Bay and the entire issue of drilling for oil and natural gas in the “Last Frontier.” The recent disastrous deep-water oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is “all the more reason why we (the U.S.) should start looking back to on-shore drilling -- at all the reserves that are rich in oil and gas -- and start tapping into...

I haven't commented on Sarah Palin's resignation as Governor of Alaska since Friday afternoon, when I noted the story and said that her resignation "seems bizarre to me." Here are some additional thoughts on the subject. I am, to begin with, an admirer of Governor Palin--the real Sarah Palin, not the creature of myth. Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of the Palin phenomenon is that the mythical version, a caricature of Palin as arch-conservative, especially on the social issues, and populist almost to the point of know-nothingism, has been embraced by many of her supporters as avidly as by her...

An unintentionally hilarious assertion was made by Alaska State Senator Hollis French on Rachel Maddow's MSNBC cable show Friday night. Maddow and French were discussing the so-called Troopergate scandal and Gov. Sarah Palin's alleged grudge in firing former Alaska public safety commissioner Walt Monegan for not reopening an investigation of a state trooper who went through a nasty divorce with Palin's sister. Hollis, a Democrat who led the state legislature's investigation into Palin's actions in firing Monegan last July, cited "severe logical fallacies" in claims made by Palin and her husband Todd, including the Palins' request for reduced security despite...

WASILLA, Alaska - Long before John McCain made Gov. Sarah Palin his running mate and before her views on global warming became a campaign issue, Palin's environmental priorities were crystallized in a city where she was mayor and where development has long trumped conservation. ............. more at site.

"It's really been like you're going to a Ku Klux Klan rally," said Javis Odom, an Anchorage minister. "Gov. Palin is really showing her true colors on the national stage."..... . ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Alaska's black leaders say they're not surprised to see Gov. Sarah Palin at the center of the controversy over injecting the race issue into the presidential campaign. Palin, Republican John McCain's running mate, has repeatedly insisted that Barack Obama's former preacher, the inflammatory Rev. Jeremiah Wright, is a legitimate issue even though McCain himself has said it's out of bounds. "She has no sensitivity to...

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Alaska's black leaders say they are not surprised to see Gov. Sarah Palin at the center of the controversy over injecting the race issue into the presidential campaign. Palin, Republican John McCain's running mate, has repeatedly insisted that Barack Obama's former preacher, the inflammatory Rev. Jeremiah Wright, is a legitimate issue even though McCain himself has said it is out of bounds.

05:27 PM CDT on Saturday, October 18, 2008 Associated Press ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- As governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin has had an at-times testy relationship with black leaders in her state. They say they've been ignored in their eforts to get more minorities hired in her administration. Now, as the presidential election nears, Alaska's black leaders say they're not surprised to see the Republican vice-presidential nominee at the center of the controversy over injecting the race issue into the campaign. Palin has repeatedly insisted that Barack Obama's former preacher, the inflammatory Rev. Jeremiah Wright, is a legitimate issue even though...

Watching press coverage of the Republican candidate for vice president, it's sometimes hard to decide whether Sarah Palin is incompetent, stupid, unqualified, corrupt, backward or - well, all of the above. In fact, Palin may even have it worse than Quayle, since she's taking flak not only from Democrats and the press but from some conservative opinion leaders as well. Reporters raced to Alaska to look into her family life, including her teenage daughter's pregnancy; into her per diem expense requests; into her controversial firing of the state's public safety commissioner; into her husband's role as informal adviser; into the...

<p>ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- A state legislative panel has concluded that Sarah Palin abused her power in the firing of the state's public safety commissioner.</p> <p>The findings were released after lawmakers emerged Friday from a private session in Anchorage where they spent more than six hours discussing a politically charged ethics report into the firing by Gov. Palin.</p>

Sarah Palin may be the heroine of the religious right, but Rev. Gene Straatmeyer vividly recalls a public run-in he once had with the now Republican vice presidential candidate over clergy support for a crackdown on bars. It was August 1996, just weeks before Palin's election as mayor of tiny Wasilla, Alaska. And Straatmeyer, a local Presbyterian minister and head of two church coalitions, testified at a City Council hearing for a measure to shorten the traditional 5 a.m. last call by a few hours.