Free Republic

Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp will likely tap business executive Kelly Loeffler to the U.S. Senate despite strong criticism from his conservative base over Loffler’s affiliation with Planned Parenthood, Stacey Abrams, and establishment Republicans, according to a report released Friday. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Friday that Kemp plans to tap business executive Loeffler next week as he will attempt to appeal to Georgia suburban women despite the conservative opposition to Loeffler. Kemp’s potential nomination of Loeffler will defy President Donald Trump, prominent conservative organizations, and Georgia’s conservative base that helped Kemp get elected to the governor’s office. Breitbart News has...

MANCHESTER, NH – Rick Perry’s Granite State headquarters has the feel of a typical campaign office: Red, white, and blue “Perry – President” placards line the walls, young staffers tap away incessantly on keyboards and Blackberries, and dry erase boards are crowded with maps of the state, important dates, and key endorsements. The Texas Governor may have just sustained a series of extraordinary blows in national polling, but you wouldn’t know it from the demeanor of his staffers. The fight goes on, even in rival Mitt Romney’s regional backyard. Unsurprisingly, several staffers I spoke with are upbeat about Perry’s latest...

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....

As he weighs whether to jump into the 2012 Republican presidential race, Texas Gov. Rick Perry has been dialing GOP establishment bigwigs across the country. In phone calls that sometimes stretch more than a half hour, Perry asks the same questions: Is the door open for a new candidate? And how wide is it open? Perry is finding that a vast reservoir of the Republican Party establishment — broadly defined to include elected officials, donors, strategists and activists whose support fuels presidential campaigns — is so far untapped, according to interviews conducted Monday and Tuesday with 19 major donors, strategists...

And, now, the group Americans for Rick Perry reports it has raised a fair amount of money in a short amount of time. Bob Schuman, a senior strategist for Americans for Rick Perry, said Thursday that the group is expanding its fundraising operation outside of Texas to include Miami, Chicago, and Washington, D.C. The group can accept unlimited donations but, under federal law, can't strategize with Perry himself.

Rick O'Donnell, a former special adviser to the University of Texas System who received a $70,000 settlement, this week skewered top UT officials for trying to block the release of faculty productivity data, accusing them of orchestrating a scare campaign to pit donors and alumni against regents pushing for changes at the system. He also took shots at state Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, who chairs the higher education committee, saying she went to bat for university brass due to overly cozy relations between lawmakers and public universities. Faculty and administrators "basically want to be left alone," O'Donnell said. "They push...

SAN DIEGO, CA -- Texas Gov. Rick Perry told a Boy Scouts ceremony on Wednesday that the federal government is rudderless, kicking off a trip to California that has stoked speculation that he will enter the Republican contest for president. Perry fondly recalled his boyhood as a Scout in Texas, including his first visit to Washington, and applauded the group for promoting values such as fellowship, self-reliance, dedication and perseverance. "I really wish we saw more of that sort of courage throughout our society, yep, including in Washington, D.C.," he said. Perry didn't mention President Barack Obama or any politician...

Maybe some of our fellow Freepers down in Texas can tell us about this guy? I believe he's going to run. And if he runs.. what kind of chance does he have? He seems even slicker and more polished than Romney. And what's up with Perry attending the Bilderberg meeting????????????

SALT LAKE CITY -- We're a few days past the official announcement that Jon Huntsman Jr. will resign the U.S. ambassadorship to China, presumably to run for the White House in 2012. At this point, prominent political commentators seem to be generally taking one of two positions: either that Huntsman made a very bad decision to run now, or that this is what he needs to do to set himself up to be a Republican frontrunner in 2016. Almost nobody in the blogosphere who isn't associated with Newsweek believes Huntsman has a legitimate shot at winning the 2012 presidential election....

Now that it's official Jon Huntsman is resigning the U.S. ambassadorship to China effective April 30 (presumably to make a run for the White House), the question du jour becomes whether a candidate's Mormon faith precludes a viable candidacy for the U.S. presidency. Mounting evidence is increasingly pointing to a brave new world where the perceived biases that potentially derailed Mitt Romney's 2008 presidential campaign are dissolving and, lo and behold, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints could realistically be elected president of the United States in 2012. The Washington Post currently has two articles...

Washington is replete with idiots, but Senate Republicans seem to have the highest incidence of political idiocy in the entire capital.

WASHINGTON — Senator Scott Brown’s decision to buck his party leadership in recent days on the “don’t ask, don’t tell’’ military policy and on a nuclear arms treaty has set off a new wave of anger among some of the activists who helped elect him — and renewed talk among conservatives that he might face a primary challenge. Tweet 1diggdiggYahoo! Buzz ShareThis Some Tea Party movement leaders who dislike Brown’s votes acknowledge that the Massachusetts Republican has demonstrated his independent and pragmatic streak, and by doing so may strengthen his chances at reelection in 2012. No primary challenger has emerged,...

Anyone paying attention and doing their own homework knows that the New START Treaty is dangerous and constrains our ability to protect our nation. The treaty gives Russia what they want, ensures America ’s vulnerability, and fails to acknowledge Russia’s alliance with countries like Iran, China, North Korea and Venezuela. Scott Brown’s failure to fully research the national security implications of the treaty as well as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization before voting to ratify the treaty are inexcusable. Now Scott Brown secures his place as one of the 13 Republican Senators who betrayed America by voting Yes on the New...

Senator Scott Brown’s decision to buck his party leadership in recent days on the “don’t ask, don’t tell’’ military policy and on a nuclear arms treaty has set off a new wave of anger among some of the activists who helped elect him — and renewed talk among conservatives that he might face a primary challenge. Some Tea Party movement leaders who dislike Brown’s votes acknowledge that the Massachusetts Republican has demonstrated his independent and pragmatic streak, and by doing so may strengthen his chances at reelection in 2012. No primary challenger has emerged, and it is unclear whether a...

Sen. Scott Brown has done many things recently to publicly show his distain for the pro-family people who supported him. But this is probably the most personally offensive. As the Boston Herald reported this week, Brown went out of his way to contact hardcore anti-family homosexual activist Tom Lang and give him (and his "husband") a personal invitation to the Obama's signing ceremony in Washington D.C. of the "Don't Ask Don't Tell" repeal. Lang had been part of the homosexual lobby's huge 10-month effort to persuade Brown to abandon his position against the repeal, and switch to supporting it. Brown...

WASHINGTON -- Senator John F. Kerry, laboring to achieve a foreign policy victory that would be a highlight of his career, gained crucial support yesterday for a nuclear arms control treaty with Russia from his Massachusetts colleague, Republican Senator Scott Brown. Brown's backing gave Kerry additional momentum heading into a possible vote today. As chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Kerry is President Obama's man in charge of trying to lock down the two-thirds support of the Senate -- 67 votes if every members shows up — required to ratify the New START pact. Kerry and other senators have...

After basically evading reporters all day, the Massachusetts Republican recently announced that he will support the arms reduction treaty. Brown told reporters following a closed-session intelligence briefing that he had given the issue “due diligence” and hoped see the treaty ratified. “I believe it’s something that’s important for our country, and I believe it’s a good move forward to deal with our national security issues,” he said. A cloture vote is expected on Tuesday.

Washington (CNSNews.com) - Texas Gov. Rick Perry has no regrets about his proposal requiring sixth grade girls to get a vaccine protecting them from a sexually transmitted disease, even though reports surfaced that some vaccine recipients suffered miscarriages while others had numbness or paralysis after the vaccine was administered. A year ago, Perry, a Republican, signed an executive order making Texas the first state in the country to require girls entering the sixth grade to get a Gardasil vaccination to guard against Human Papillomavirus (HPV), a leading cause of cervical cancer. It didn't take long for the Texas Legislature to...