Free Republic

"Now, two weeks before publication of "No Apology: The Case for American Greatness," Romney is pivoting again -- this time pitching himself as a problem solver whose background as a successful financier makes him the ideal candidate to rescue the ailing U.S. economy. But the real problem, said the paper, is "the real Mitt Romney — Harvard MBA, political scion, hard-working businessman, super-wealthy master of Wall Street offerings, devout Mormon — might not be what Republican primary voters actually want."

If there was ever any doubt that Sarah Palin is a fool, she has removed it. Once the governor of Alaska and a vice presidential candidate, Palin has left the confines of public office for the more sympathetic offices of Fox News. She has also been acting as something of a de facto leader of the Tea Party movement. Unfortunately, her new roles have not lent her the gravitas she was lacking as a politician. ... Palin has consistently shown herself to be thoughtless, uninformed, impulsive and opportunistic. If these are the qualities people look for in a leader, then...

Kerry, bipartisan bloc discuss compromise. BY MICHAEL KRANISH WASHINGTON — Seeking to resuscitate stalled global warming legislation in Washington’s suddenly changed political climate, a bipartisan group of senators including John Kerry of Massachusetts has been conducting private talks this week with the White House and a key business group over an array of concessions sought by Republicans. The election of Scott Brown as Kerry’s colleague has added urgency to the negotiations for a compromise, which would include the Democrats’ goal of limiting carbon emissions while encouraging development of nuclear power, subsidizing coal mining, and drilling for off-shore oil. Trying to...

Republican Scott Brown portrayed himself as independent of the national party. But his successful bid for a U.S. Senate seat received big support from the GOP leadership in Washington and from the political machinery of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. For Republicans, the Massachusetts win points to a strategy that could help the party bridge the split between grass-roots activists and the national establishment. Mr. Brown effectively ran against Washington and repeatedly vowed to be an "independent" thinker if sent to Capitol Hill. The message appealed to disenchanted voters, especially independents. At the same time, without fanfare, the Republican National...

Scott Brown's victory in Massachusetts has most Republicans hopeful about midterm elections. It has Mitt Romney hopeful about 2012. In many ways, the former Bay State governor never ended his 2008 presidential campaign. From a perch atop his Free and Strong America PAC, Mr. Romney has been raising money, nurturing his team, keeping himself in the national spotlight. With the Massachusetts Senate race, he sensed an unexpected opportunity to step to the front of the GOP presidential ranks. He played it nicely. Aware that many voters have mixed views of his governorship, Mr. Romney stayed in the shadows, leaving other...

There will be much harrumphing and punditry in the next few days about the meaning of Scott Brown's victory and his phenomenal campaign for Ted Kennedy's U.S. Senate seat.... As important as the Massachusetts special election was to the health-care debate, it also represents a come-to-Jesus moment for the GOP. What kind of party will it be? On the surface, Brown's success, especially among independents, suggests that the GOP tent is expanding to make room even for moderate, pro-choice candidates like Brown. Have fiscal conservatives displaced social conservatives as the base?...

Cover Photo: Excerpt: The result, encouraged by ever-willing far-right agitators such as Fox News, Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin, has been the creation of the so-called Tea-Party movement - named after the quintessentially American, anti-British, anti-taxes and anti-big government Boston Tea Party revolt of 1773. Early next month, none other than the 45-year-old Palin - an ambitious lady whom you dismiss lightly at your peril - will reportedly earn a six-figure sum as the keynote speaker at the first conference of a new political entity called the “Tea Party Nation” (TPN), at the Opryland Hotel in Nashville. “We believe in...

John Ziegler posted an editorial on his website highlighting Gov. Palin's decision not to accept an invitation to attend this year's CPAC conference (see yesterday's excellent post by TR and Doug for more on the background to this decision). You may remember that Ziegler confronted David Keene about his anything-but-conservative record as ACU chairman during last year's WCPAC conference, leading him to conclude that [T]he vast majority of the conservative “movement” is “led” by fakes, flakes, freaks, frauds, phonies and sell outs who are far more interested in protecting their own little thiefdoms than promoting the cause. It seems Gov....

David Frum responds to Jennifer Rubin's article in Commentary titled "Why Jews Hate Palin." First off, Frum is right that the poll that Rubin cites doesn't really prove her case because 37% approval from Jews is actually very good . . . Frum then goes on to assert: Palin excites intense support among a core group of conservative Republicans....She polls poorly...among independents. I'll give Frum credit for changing what he considers Palin's core group of support from "social conservatives" to the broader group of "conservative Republicans." After all, with some recent polling showing Palin to hold a robust 79% favorable...

IS RICK SANTORUM running for president of the United States, or isn’t he? I caught him by phone on a people mover at Dulles Airport and posed the question: He’s not running, then again, he’s not NOT running. En route to South Carolina Tuesday to stump for gubernatorial candidate and Republican Rep. Gresham Barrett, Santorum wasn’t being cagey, just practical. Whether the former Pennsylvania senator can raise the millions needed for a presidential bid remains to be seen. In the meantime, he has some things to say. For starters: “I have no great burning desire to be president, but I...

THE day after her autobiography was published, the cover of Newsweek magazine asked the musical question, "How Do You Solve a Problem Like Sarah?" It's a play on the first line of the chorus of "Maria" in the musical, "The Sound Of Music."The nuns sing of their bewildering young charge, who not only marches to the beat of her own drummer, but sings, dances and strums guitar to it. Their solution is to ship her off to a household in need of a nanny, and thus one of the most extraordinary adventures of the 20th century begins. There is a...

I don't get the BCS. Don't get it at all. I don't get why banks are making it so hard to get a loan when the main reason the economy is staggering is because people can't get loans. I don't get why Americans watch so many shows about dancing. I don't get how Taylor Swift can be considered country. But what I really don't get is Sarah Palin. I haven't understood Sarah Palin since I first heard her name as John McCain's running mate in the 2008 presidential election, may it forever rest in peace. She was a first-term governor...

... The so-called purity test is a 10-point checklist -- a suicide pact, really -- of alleged Republican positions... James Bopp Jr., chief sponsor of the resolution and a committee member from Indiana, has said that "the problem is that many conservatives have lost trust in the conservative credentials of the Republican Party." Actually, no, the problem is that many conservatives have lost faith in the ability of Republican leaders to think. The resolutions aren't so much statements of principle as dogmatic responses to complex issues that may, occasionally, require more than a Sharpie check in a little square. It's...