Free Republic

Mitch McConnell is in the headlines again for saying the odds are against those wanting repeal of Obamacare. “[I]t’s a lot harder to undo something than it is to stop it in the first place,” he said in part. For once, let’s give McConnell the benefit of the doubt and suggest he is talking about the present Congress, not the next Congress, though in actual context he seems to mean both. Let’s be charitable. The truth is, I don’t expect Republicans in Congress to be fully committed to repeal next year even if they have Mitt Romney in the White...

President Obama’s re-election campaign has spent weeks trying to drive home the point that Massachusetts was at the back of the pack in job growth under Gov. Mitt Romney. Now, a new campaign TV ad touts a stat on which Romney’s state surged to the front — per capita debt. “Number One,” a 30-second spot, claims Massachusetts debt grew $2.6 billion during Romney’s tenure between 2003 and 2007 to $18 billion, or $4,153 per person, according to Moody’s 2007 State Debt Medians cited in the ad. “First in debt. Forty-seventh in job creation. That’s Romney economics,” the ad says. The...

Now that Mitt Romney has officially clinched the Republican nomination, most of the political Right has rallied around him, out of antipathy for President Obama if for no other reason. Recent polls show that if the election were held today Romney would receive 90 percent of the Republican vote, and three-quarters of the vote from self-described conservatives. One can expect even more conservatives and Republicans to “come home,” as the bitterness of the primary season fades, and the contrast with Obama becomes clearer. Yet, for anyone concerned with the size, cost, and intrusiveness of government, dark clouds continue to hang...

RUSH: Right. So the media was listening intently as I played the sound bite this week, Monday or Tuesday, and said, "Bye bye, nomination." Remember that? I said, "Bye bye, nomination." Well, the media has glommed on to that. They are thrilled. Listen. BASHIR: If Romney stands by his view that the world is getting warmer and that man is an important contributor, then how will he fare when so many Republicans believe that global warming is, in the words of Rush Limbaugh, a "complete hoax"? UYGUR: You've got 99.9% of the scientists in the world in one camp and...

CHICAGO, - Potential Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney finished a day of fundraising in Chicago by sending leftover pizza to President Obama's campaigners. Romney said he enjoyed the deep-dish pizza at Gino's East and sent some to Obama's Chicago re-election headquarters, ABC News reported Friday. "Great deep dish at @ginoseast. Sending the extra slices to @barackobama and his Chicago HQ team," Romney wrote on his Twitter feed. The message was accompanied by a picture of a delivery boy heading out of the restaurant. A source with Obama's campaign confirmed the pizza was received.

The moment of truth has come and gone but the horrified real-time reaction in the conservative twittersphere echoes on. These nuggets from Philip Klein, Jonah Goldberg, and Mollie Hemingway will give you a taste; liberal Ezra Klein came closest to capturing the spirit of the thing while our old pal KP wondered whether Mitt’s ever actually met a Republican primary voter. I’m not surprised that he doubled down, though. Read this post from two days ago about the particular pitfall to Romney in apologizing. Pawlenty can afford to eat crow and say he’s sorry about cap and trade because his...

Here are the first three words Willard Mitt Romney needs to say in Michigan tomorrow, but never will. “I screwed up.” The only way for Willard to move on, get some closure, etc. on this grand fiasco of RomneyCare is to finally man up and admit that in 2006 the Democrats in Massachusetts beat him like a rented mule. Acknowledge the undisputable truth that, thanks to his raw political ambition, we have tax-paying American citizens being fined $2,000 for the crime of having no dough, to quote The Band. Oh, and by the way, illegal aliens still get free health...

An array of Republican heavyweights who backed Mitt Romney’s 2008 presidential bid are not yet committed to - and in some cases, downright skeptical of - the former Massachusetts governor’s all-but-certain 2012 campaign. In each of the traditional early states, top Romney supporters from the last campaign tell POLITICO that they’re hesitant to get behind the nearest thing the GOP has to a frontrunner. His difficulties are particularly acute in Iowa and South Carolina, where his former enthusiasts say they have not heard from him, believe he may be intent on downplaying the states in his second White House run...

Most them aren’t definite no’s, but even if they’re holding out for the time being merely to see who else jumps in, that’s … not encouraging. Some, like Judd Gregg, may end up endorsing him anyway but might want to see if Daniels (or Huntsman?) declares first. Others, like DeMint, who have embraced the tea party full-fold almost certainly aren’t going to endorse him unless the entire “true conservative” bench decides not to run. Either way … not encouraging. My favorite part? Hot on the heels of a rumor that Mitt might skip Iowa, there’s now a rumor circulating that...

When MassCare passed, it was supposed to lower the average cost of health care by getting relatively cheap young people into the system, and ending the inefficiencies of caring for the uninsured. Unfortunately, it hasn't quite worked out that way. The bill for the uninsured only dropped by about 40%; the young, cheap people turned out to almost all need subsidies, and worse, some of them figured out how to game the system by buying insurance, getting a bunch of expensive procedures, and then dropping the insurance again. There was a brief improvement in insurance prices for the individual market,...

Our first national look at who Republicans would prefer as their 2012 Presidential nominee confirms the wide open nature of the field. The leading candidates are all within the margin of error of each other, with Mitt Romney leading at 28% followed by Mike Huckabee at 24% and Sarah Palin at 23%. Ron Paul pulls 11%, 9% say they're undecided, and 6% say their preference would be someone else. Romney's lead speaks to the fact that moderates could actually pick the GOP nominee in 2012. That's because there's gridlock among conservatives about who their preferred candidate is. Huckabee leads with...