Free Republic

Although there will no doubt be a winner in their straw poll of Republican presidential favorites for ’08, many participants at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington March 1-3 voiced to me dissatisfaction with the current field -- all of whom except John McCain addressed the conclave of 6,000-plus conservatives at the Omni Shoreham Hotel. “I haven’t given it much thought,” Jennifer Graf, who managed the winning anti-affirmative action initiative in Michigan last November, told me when I asked her favorite for the GOP in ’08. Similarly, Diane Schachterle, who works in the office of affirmative action foe...

Some people tell me that Rudy Giuliani's speech at CPAC today was "terrific." Others say "outstanding." I think they are mistaking Rudy for the previous speaker. Before he came on NRA President Wayne LaPierra warmed up the crowd to such a degree the room was scorching. Five minutes into Rudy's speech the house was crammed to the walls, but all the energy had dissipated. In other words, Rudy flopped. Big time. What did he talk about? Imagine the safest possible thing for a politician to talk about at CPAC. Duh, Ronald Reagan. So, who did Rudy spend his whole speech...

Giuliani has a tough road ahead in South Carolina, which is to host the first Southern primaries in 2008. His moderate positions on gun control and support for abortion rights do not sit well with the state's Christian conservatives, who accounted for a third of the 2000 GOP primary vote. Those voters swung heavily to President Bush that year, giving him a 2-1 ratio margin over Arizona Sen. John McCain, who was viewed as soft on abortion. On Wednesday, Giuliani reiterated his own position. "I'd advise my daughter or anyone else not to have an abortion," Giuliani said. "I'd like...

The Republicans, and even some socially conservative and evangelical leaders, are beginning to adjust to the possibility of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani as the GOP nominee for president. But not all. The Southern Baptist’s Richard Land, for instance, predicts massive defections from Rudy in the event of a Rudy Giuliani vs. Hillary Clinton race. Hugh Hewitt, evangelical talk-meister in the syndicated stream of radio shows doubts this ; "... If Rudy is persuasive on the judges he will nominate, he wouldn’t have a problem with the social conservatives in the general election." So tell us you’ll nominate...

I never mind flying with John McCain on tiny planes in snowy weather on windswept days. And that is because I know as long as he is on board, the plane is not going to crash. "I don't die in a plane," McCain said to me with a smile the other day as he shoehorned himself into his seat on a small charter jet. "I know that." The joke being that if McCain had been fated to die in a plane crash, that would have occurred on Oct. 26, 1967, when his Navy A-4 Skyhawk was shot down by a...

The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library will host a Republican presidential debate May 3 that will feature questions submitted in real-time via Politico.com. Former first lady Nancy Reagan is inviting the leading GOP candidates to the first-ever debate at her husband's library in Simi Valley, Calif. "Ronnie always hoped the library would be a place where policymakers will debate the future," she said. "This presidential debate provides the opportunity to fulfill his wishes." "We are thrilled to partner with MSNBC on what promises to be a historic debate," said Robert L. Allbritton, publisher of The Politico. "MSNBC has established a reputation...

Albany, New York -- Arriving here last night following a weekend of "Rudy-mania" at the California Republican State Convention, I found the attitude toward Rudy Giuliani's '08 Presidential candidacy quite different at the annual conference of the Conservative Party of New York. As it was here in 2000 when he briefly considered a bid for the U.S. Senate for the seat eventually won by Hillary Clinton, Giuliani's name provokes instant and strong response among Members of the 45-year-old Conservative Party, which holds the fourth line (Row D) on the Empire State ballot and whose cross-endorsement has been key to Republicans...

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is poised to trump all comers in New York's presidential primary and general elections in 2008, according to a Crain's New York Business poll. The survey of 600 registered voters across the state also found that Rudy Giuliani would handily win a Republican primary but lose the state in a final race for the White House. In addition, the results show that Mayor Michael Bloomberg, if he runs as an independent, would be little more than a long shot. The results reflect the advantages enjoyed by Ms. Clinton, who is fresh off a $30.8 million re-election...

Less than a year ago, Mitt Romney boasted of his "success” in solving the problem of underinsurance in Massachusetts through the adoption of his controversial, but groundbreaking RomneyCare program. Today, he's disclaiming responsibility for the initiative's failings. Is it another case of flip-flopping on the part of the Rockefeller Republican-cum-supposed conservative? Back in April, 2006, an op-ed ran in the Wall Street Journal. It was written by then-Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, and it was about a health care scheme that, from everything written in the op-ed, clearly was conceived by him and was considered by him to be a landmark...

WASHINGTON -- Eager to head off Rudolph Giuliani's recent gains in the polls, conservative activists this week strengthened their attacks, with some promising to step up their efforts on the Internet, talk radio and "below-the-radar" to discredit him going forward. They are taking direct aim at one of Giuliani's strongest selling points, at least to some backers -- that he is the Republicans' best hope of stopping Hillary Rodham Clinton. These critics argue that his nomination would prompt a conservative third-party candidate to join the race and split the GOP vote, clearing the way for Clinton's election. "There's no way...

The 2008 presidential campaign has already produced the next generation of American politicians. They don't have local accents. That's because they don't have local roots. Nor do they boast legions of home-state friends, teachers and mentors who have spent years waiting for the proud day when their talented native son or daughter would run for president. These are the candidates from nowhere -- or everywhere. With the race still in its early stages, the top tier of contenders in both parties is filled with people who reflect a new brand of post-regional politics. These candidates convey no distinct sense of...

In his next to last State of the Union Address, President Bush once more called for the irresponsible, self-destructive immigration policy of mass amnesty. The President unfortunately showed he has learned nothing from the bitter debate that has churned throughout the nation for the past few years. The "decider in chief" has decided upon the wrong immigration stance, once more. Even worse, he continued to strain credulity -- and stretch thinner his credibility. In the bad old days, President Bill Clinton visited upon himself a credibility crisis by blatant, arrogant abuse of language, even fudging on the meaning of "is."...

As with any historical figure, Ronald Reagan's reputation has been riding both the up escalator and the down escalator. But it's interesting today, on what would have been the 40th president's 96th birthday, to note that Reagan is being increasingly praised by onetime enemies and increasingly criticized by ostensible friends - who at least call themselves conservatives. For most of Reagan's life and career, the liberal/media establishment contented itself with phrases such as "right-wing cowboy" and "amiable dunce" to describe the Gipper. But now, the judgment is changing. For example, Peggy Noonan, writing in The Wall Street Journal, quoted Leslie...

Last month the Czech capital of Prague announced its decision to erect a monument to honor Ronald Reagan. And why not? Similar monuments to the man already exist in Budapest and Warsaw, and elsewhere in Eastern Europe. It is entirely proper that our nation's 40th President be memorialized in cities once shrouded by the Iron Curtain. According to one Czech paper, after his 1983 "Evil Empire" speech, "President Reagan was probably the most hated and ridiculed of all the Western leaders by the former communist regime. The communist media relentlessly condemned what they called 'Reagan's war-mongering' and the arms race."...

I’m happy to be back with you in this annual event after missing last year’s meeting. I had some business in New Hampshire that wouldn’t wait. Three weeks ago here in our nation’s capital I told a group of conservative scholars that we are currently in the midst of a re-ordering of the political realities that have shaped our time. We know today that the principles and values that lie at the heart of conservatism are shared by the majority. Despite what some in the press may say, we who are proud to call ourselves "conservative" are not a minority...

BALTIMORE (AP) - Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Friday accused Democratic front-runner Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of "timidity" regarding the security threat posed by Iran. In a speech to a retreat of conservative congressional Republicans, Romney lashed out at Clinton for telling a pro-Israel dinner that a dialogue with countries hostile to Israel - including Iran and Syria - is needed to promote peace in the Middle East. "At this point, We don't need a listening tour about Iran," Romney told the Republican Study Committee. "Someone who wants to engage Iran displays a troubling timidity toward a terrible threat...

BALTIMORE – Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney laid out his conservative credentials, explained his shift on social issues and took a few shots at two potential opponents Friday. Appearing before the conservative Republican Study Committee, Romney stuck to his usual explanation for his change of heart, but presented himself not as a convert but as a student who had received an education on key social issues. The one-term governor said his time on Beacon Hill had "confirmed some principles and educated me on some principles." Romney told about 50 members of the GOP group that he ran as a fiscal...

The 2008 presidential campaign is starting to take on the contours of the 1980 race. Jimmy Carter was the Democratic candidate back then. He also happened to be the incumbent president. Beyond that difference with today and its term-limited George Bush, there are eerie resemblances between then and now. Yes, the economy stunk in 1980 and smells fairly fragrant now. But recall that the "national malaise" of the economy in 1980 was not the fundamental reason Carter lost. Polls showed he still had a chance. They also pointed to the issue that did him in -- the Iranian hostage crisis....

A speech given by former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney before a National Review-sponsored conference last week may have been panned as unfocused, but in the eyes of those who attended, he at least had one thing going for him: He showed up. Sen. John McCain and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, both of whom face serious skepticism from many conservatives, skipped the National Review event, and neither plans to attend a gathering of the Republican Study Committee, a group of conservative House members, this weekend in Baltimore. Rep. Jeb Hensarling of Texas, the RSC chairman, is "looking forward...

The following speech was delivered on November 30, 2006. Our topic is "Can We Rebuild the Reagan Coali­tion?" The short answer is yes. It is possible if we look at how the Reagan coalition was built and the lessons that he taught us on how to put together and sustain a coalition over the years and then use that coalition to accomplish something important. That's certainly what he did. Particularly since President Reagan passed away two years ago, I'm often asked by people, "What was he really like?" I would have to say -- something that I think is a...