Free Republic

Newt Gingrich has told voters in South Carolina not to vote for Rick Santorum because Santorum can’t defeat either Mitt Romney or Barack Obama. In particular, Gingrich made an appeal to conservatives: “If you're a conservative, just look at the polls. I am the only candidate capable of stopping a moderate from winning the nomination.” Indeed, Gingrich claimed, “If you vote for Sen. Santorum, in effect you’re voting for Gov. Romney to be the nominee because he's not going to beat him. And the only way you can stop Gov. Romney for all practical purposes is to vote for Gingrich. That's...

The legacy of 9/11 can’t be fully measured even now, but perhaps the most damaging aspect can be found in our national discourse. Taking the long view, it is possible to see the roots of today’s political dysfunction — the hate, fear, anger and resentment — firmly planted in the soil at Ground Zero.

A coy Sarah Palin talked a lot yesterday about the type of leader this country needs, but in what is turning into an extended national tease, she stopped just short of saying she will be that leader. "I don't know yet," Palin, the former Republican vice presidential candidate turned best-selling author, told the Herald yesterday after her rousing midday speech at a Tea Party Express rally. A fed-up Victor Luebker of the Armed Forces Tea Party Patriots [team stats] - a group of former military men and women who support the Tea Party's platform - said he's tired of Palin's...

Republican activists in early voting states like Iowa and New Hampshire generally speak of Sarah Palin’s presidential prospects in encouraging terms. She’s a star, they say. If she decides to run, she’ll shake up the field. Lately, the praise has been tempered with warnings about how her time is growing short. But on Monday, the day Palin appeared before a large and very enthusiastic crowd at a Tea Party Express rally here, and two days after her much-anticipated speech to the Tea Party of America in Indianola, Iowa, a plugged-in New Hampshire Republican said he believes her window has already...