Free Republic

Via Greg Hengler and Guy Benson, if this answer doesn’t destroy him, nothing will. I get the sense watching it that he’s so unsure of how to answer this exceedingly easy question that he defaults to Netanyahu’s position on the assumption that prisoner swaps must always be the wise, statesmanlike, conservative thing to do. The alternative, that he knows what he’s talking about yet is still sincerely inclined to release the guy who planned 9/11 plus dozens upon dozens of other jihadi fanatics in exchange for one G.I., is even worse. I’d bet 95 percent of people asked on the...

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, under questioning from voters in recent days, has switched positions on a 2007 executive order he issued mandating the vaccination of all young girls before they enter sixth grade to ward off cervical cancer. Mr. Perry's order that Texas school girls receive the vaccine, Gardasil, made by Merck & Co., was overturned by the state legislature and never got off the ground. But it still has roiled conservatives and Christian groups for years. After long defending the decision, Mr. Perry has apologized repeatedly for the order since launching his bid for the Republican presidential nomination. As...

     THE SUN NEVER SETS ON THE BRITISH WELFARE SYSTEM August 10, 2011Those of you following the barbaric rioting in Britain will not have failed to notice that a sizable proportion of the thugs are white, something not often seen in this country. Not only that, but in a triumph of feminism, a lot of them are girls. Even the "disabled" (according to the British benefits system) seem to have miraculously overcome their infirmities to dash out and steal a few TVs. Congratulations, Britain! You've barbarized your citizenry, without regard to race, gender or physical handicap! With a welfare...

Perry is Bush lite and Sarah Palin in a skirt Todd J. Gillman August 7, 2011 GOP consultant Alex Castellanos dumped all over Gov. Rick Perry this morning on NBC's Meet the Press, calling him "Sarah Palin with a skirt" and a lesser version of George W. Bush - and not in a good way. "He has some challenges. One of them is that people think he's a little bit of a coffee table book. He's kind of Sarah Palin with a skirt. Not a substantive candidate," Castellanos said when host Dick Gregory asked if Perry could give the current...

Gov. Rick Perry's political stock has soared in recent months as he has traveled the country touting a decade of fiscal restraint in Texas under his leadership. Last month, Perry made Texas history by signing a two-year state budget that cuts overall spending for the first time in over 40 years. Perry has long promoted the state's fiscal record as a model for the country and a key to why Texas has weathered the recession better than most other states. He has opposed new taxes and been vehemently anti-Washington, and his message is drawing interest among Republican primary voters nationwide....

If Rick Perry does mount a successful bid for the U.S. presidency, it will be interesting to see whether he can translate his past and present criticisms of the federal government into concrete changes to the sprawling bureaucracy. Perry has yet to say he will or won’t toss his hat into the Republican race for the right to square off against President Barack Obama in 2012. He is, however, making all the moves of a potential candidate testing the waters. Insiders are mixed on the odds. Some say he’s definitely in; others put the odds at 50-50. But the mere...

...With Perry's history of straddling the establishment and tea party wings of the party, [Andrew] Hemingway [chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Liberty Caucus, told RCP] offered a bold prediction for the unique assets that the Texas governor could bring to the table in New Hampshire. "I think ultimately Rick Perry is a candidate who secures Haley Barbour's money with Sarah Palin's endorsement," he said.

Perry's first stop should he announce is almost sure to be Iowa, where voters in its Republican caucuses are nearly all white and roughly 60 percent describe themselves as born-again or evangelical Christians, according to entrance polls from the 2008 GOP caucuses. In Texas, Perry has enjoyed "astronomical support" from protestant Christian conservatives and evangelical white Christians, Henson said. [Jim Henson, a pollster and director of the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin] "You have to count religious conservatives in Texas as among the components of Perry's base," he said. "People that go to church a...

Al Gore, Bill Clinton, Mitt Romney and other Democrats by Steve BarrettWhy is Mitt Romney still running for president?Let me rephrase: Why is Mitt Romney still running for president — as a Republican? Shouldn’t he be seeking the Democrat nomination and snapping up as many center-left votes as possible while Barack Obama forages for support on the MoveOn.org fringe? After all, there’s incontrovertible evidence of Romney’s Democrat credentials. It’s called RomneyCare, and he merrily shepherded it into law as governor of Massachusetts. How’d that work out? Well, it’s estimated that without radical reform of RomneyCare, annual premiums for a typical...

Romney is simply the front-runner (“Romney Wins N.H. Straw Poll”), the “Billion-Dollar Man” and the president’s most implacable foe (“Romney: First Thing I Would Undo Is Obamacare”). A survey of the past 13 months of Drudge headlines found only one debatably negative reference to the 2002 Olympics CEO (“Bachmann Outraises Romney”) — and a survey of aides to his rivals found a rising level of frustration at what one described as “favoritism” by one of the most important, if also one of the quirkiest, referees.

The Democrats are three votes short in the Senate of being able to outright pass the stand alone bill repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, but it looks like that obstacle has been overcome. Word has come down that not only will Senator Susan Collins be voting for it, but so will Senators Olympia Snowe and Lisa Murkowski.

Rove is right. He predicted how O'Donnell would flop and hinted that it could cost the GPO additional senate seats.... In my personal opinion, he was thinking about Alaska, Nevada, Colorado, Washington, etc. All of these should have been captured by the tea party. Personally, I think O'Donnell cost real conservatives senate seats. Say what you will... but Rove was right. Don't hate the messenger.

Retired Gen. Colin Powell, a former chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff, on Sunday made the case for Congress to pass the DREAM Act, a way for young illegal immigrants to become citizens if they attend college or join the military. Republicans in the Senate are strongly opposed to attaching the DREAM Act to the annual defense authorization bill. “Whether it should be part of the Defense Bill or not, is something the Congress will decide,” Powell said on NBC’s "Meet the Press." However he stressed that Republicans should not embrace an anti-immigration platform. “Immigration is what's keeping this...

Cornyn: GOP's stance on social issues alienating independents A striking admission from NRSC chair John Cornyn, buried in today's New York Times article about the GOP and the Tea party: Mr. Cornyn, who has been on the receiving end of anti-establishment anger, argued that the Tea Party had helped Republicans in one important respect, by moving the debate away from social issues. While Tea Party supporters tend to be socially conservative on issues like same-sex marriage and abortion, most say they don't want to talk about them; they believe that by spending so much time on those issues, the Republican...

"This is probably one of the few times we're going to disagree here." -- Sean Hannity to Karl Rove regarding Christine O'Donnell. I'll say. Even after Fox News called the Delaware GOP senatorial primary for Christine O'Donnell tonight, Karl Rove continued to rip the winner, questioning everything from O'Donnell's "rectitude" to her "character." Concluded the pessimistic Rove: "this is not a race we're going to be able to win." Sean defended O'Donnell staunchly, but was met with a litany of Roveian criticism of Christine, including these comments: View video here.

Suddenly, it's becoming less of a stigma for bigwigs to associate with gays in the Republican Party. Not only has former RNC chairman Ken Mehlman's 9/22 fundraiser for gay marriage rights attracted numerous high-octane Republican donors and activists, but Sen. John Cornyn, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, and Rep. Pete Sessions, the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee will help the Log Cabin Republicans, a gay GOP group, raise money for its political action committee. A glossy pamphlet advertising the Log Cabin Republicans' national dinner at the Capitol Hill Club highlights an hour-long cocktail gathering with...

Ken Mehlman's fundraiser for same-sex marriage will be, among other things, a gathering of some of the most high-profile -- and deep-pocketed -- backers of gay marriage on the right. The names of Bill Weld, Christie Todd Whitman, Steve Schmidt, and Mary Cheney's didn't surprise me. Other names did a bit: Bush aides Mark and Nicolle Wallace are on there, as is top GOP lawyer Ben Ginsberg. Most notably, Mehlman's fundraiser extends the reach of same-sex marriage backers to the very top Republican donor pile: The private equity titan Henry Kravis (who's also Mehlman's boss at KKR) is among the...

Former GOP presidential contender and potential 2012 candidate Mike Huckabee said Wednesday that he does not support a repeal of the 14th Amendment -- a part of the Constitution other Republican leaders have called into question recently because it guarantees citizenship for children born in the United States, regardless of their parents' immigration status. Huckabee said in an interview Wednesday that he does not support a repeal, NPR reports. While the former Arkansas governor said, "I'm not for an amnesty program," he added, "You do not punish a child for something the parent did." (snip) Huckabee told NPR that the...

Former presidential nominee slams 'Eastern press' QUEEN CREEK, ARIZ. — It's dark, but still an oppressive 102 degrees, when Sen. John McCain agrees to talk to me in a parking lot next to his campaign SUV (flex-fuel and energy efficient, I'm assured). It's revved and running, no doubt for the air- conditioned comfort of those inside, but perhaps also for a quick getaway if needed. I have a feeling our time will be short, so I plunge quickly into questions about the upcoming Aug. 24 Republican Senate primary . "Why are you spending so much money?" I ask ( nearly...

In a rapid turnaround trying to capitalize on a J.D Hayworth comment at a tea party rally earlier this week, U.S. Sen. John McCain released a new web video drumming Hayworth for reportedly preferring President Obama to the Republican incumbent senator. The video begins with a picture of President Obama and lists a litany of criticisms, from the 9.5 percent unemployment rate, to the $13 trillion national debt and the lawsuit against Arizona’s immigration law. The text interrupts with, “but J.D. says he’d rather have Barack Obama as president.”