Free Republic

Sarah Palin may be a popular pick for Republicans in 2012, but the former Alaska Gov. is staying cagey on her presidential plans. "I've never committed to running for president," Palin said on Fox News Sunday. "That's not where my focus is." Instead, Palin says she is devoting her attention to getting Republicans back in office this fall.

Though the post-election infighting between Sarah Palin and the McCain team has largely died down, the former Alaska governor took one more shot at her former running mate’s campaign on Thursday. In an interview with the Daily Caller, Palin said Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) camp didn’t do enough to defend her record when it came under attack. “To not have had the McCain campaign staff defend my record was an insurmountable challenge, because once a bell is rung, it’s impossible to un-ring,” Palin told the website.

Sarah Palin's recent web video making a pitch to conservative women may have again shifted the political spotlight to the former governor of Alaska, but more than a half dozen other GOP hopefuls are toying seriously with a presidential run this summer. ......................................................... Still, few express much regard for Palin's ultimate chances. One adviser to Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, and, by traditional standards, the putative 2012 frontrunner, says of Palin, "She's not a serious human being." Another Romney intimate warns, "If she's standing up there in a debate and the answers are more than 15 seconds long, she's...

She comes to office in January of 2013 with three priorities in economic policy. These are restoring the health of the private nonfinancial sector, putting entitlements on a sustainable path, and reversing the trend toward centralization of power. 1. A tax bill eliminates the corporate income tax and the employer portion of the payroll tax. It eliminates the tax deductibility of mortgage interest and employer contributions for health insurance. 2. An entitlement reform bill limits Federal spending on health care and social security to 10 percent of GDP, using these proposals or some equivalent. 3. Obamacare and Dodd-Frank are repealed....

From Voice of America: “In Louisiana and other states on the Gulf of Mexico there is frustration over what many residents see as a slow response by the U.S. government to protecting coastal areas. Some critics of the Obama administration cite offers by the Netherlands in April to supply sophisticated skimmers and dredging devices, and the administration’s failure to accept the offer. The issue is as murky as the oil slick now threatening regional beaches. “A Houston-based company is now cleaning oil off surface water in the Gulf of Mexico using sweeping arms that attach to a boat and help...

Sarah Palin 2012? The pragmatic Palin picks show political acumen on her part and have raised questions about her commitment to the Tea Party movement, whether she’s moving toward the political establishment and whether she’s planning a run for the presidency in 2012. I’ve always said, don’t underestimate Palin Power. Read about it below and see photos and a video. The Super-Tuesday primaries were last Tuesday and the winner was …. Sarah Palin. It seems that the power of a Palin endorsement was front and center regardless of who won in any individual campaign. Her endorsements brought controversy within her...

<p>JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Sarah Palin the political pragmatist? Go figure. With a few surprising endorsements in recent Republican primaries, the self-styled rogue of GOP politics has reaped an angry response from some of her own supporters and a fresh round of speculation about her own presidential ambitions in 2012.</p>

After a stretch in which an endorsement from Sarah Palin was considered a rarity, the former Alaska governor has become something of an endorsement machine as of late. In the past week alone, she has endorsed four candidates, ranging from a tea party contender for Senate in her home state of Alaska to the GOP establishment favorite for Iowa governor. Palin has backed both clear winners and decided long-shots; she's weighed in on behalf of "mama grizzlies," but an extra X chromosome doesn't necessarily mean an automatic endorsement (see Hutchison, Kay Bailey). Some candidates (such as former Redskins tight end...

Des Moines Regsiter - title and link allowed only

Do you want Sarah Palin to run for president in 2012?

The hyperbole of Joe McGinniss’ proximity to the Palin family continues apace on two fronts today. First, McGinniss himself decided to grant an interview to NBC’s Today show and Matt Lauer after demanding that ABC leave the premises last week. In the interview, McGinniss goes on offense, offering an absurd rebuttal that even Lauer doesn’t buy and then comparing Sarah Palin’s criticisms of his move to … Nazi Germany? Newsbusters has the transcript: Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy JOE MCGINNISS: Morning, morning Matt. I wish you were here. And before we even start...

Now Carly Fiorina tells us that she regards Jesse Jackson with reverence, and she actually worked with Jesse Jackson. And how many millions of dollars did she authorize for Jesse Jackson when she was CEO at Hewlett-Packard? (Hint: at least $15 million) Yet, minority business leaders themselves have been at the forefront of exposing that Jackson took the money and ran, focusing more on shaking down American corporations to finance his Rainbow Coalition/Operation PUSH gambits than actually to help African Americans, Latinos, and others gain access to meaningful employment in the high-tech community. California Republicans have to consider whether the...

The 2012 Draft Sarah Committee has produced three videos titled “Summoned” calling for Gov. Palin to run for President in 2012. The videos produced by Randy Highsmith, Chairman 2012 Draft Sarah Committee, and Ron Devito, Publisher, US for Palin, come in 30- and 60-second TV ad spots and 2:51 version

I have lost THREE real life friends now in trying to defend Sarah Palin. On one hand I tend to think the people who call her stupid are not the kind of people I even want as friends anyhow. However, I wonder if im being too harsh and going too far. I know our country was divided on President Bush. But the division and the hatred for Sarah Palin has been able to top anything. Before Palin, I had a much more positive outlook on people (especially women, mothers, ect) and life in general. Now I find myself seeing people...

It's crunch time in the volatile battle for the GOP nomination for U.S. Senate, as Chuck DeVore and Carly Fiorina scramble to inherit voters peeling away from Tom Campbell as they become more familiar with his record and philosophy. Every bit helps in the final stretch of a fluid race, and it's my understanding DeVore will soon be announcing former San Diego Congressman Duncan Hunter, Sr., is endorsing him for U.S. Senate. Given that Hunter made his mark as an unwavering advocate for a robust national defense, his endorsement burnishes DeVore's argument that his national security credentials are an asset...

Yesterday, I was interviewed by a reporter for CBS, for a story on the diverse groups of people supporting Sarah Palin online. The reporter authored a book on Palin last year, after being embedded with her vice presidential campaign, following a stint covering Mittens Romney. I can’t imagine how many cucumbers-and-mayonnaise sandwiches this guy had to eat on the Romney Express (to nowhere), but I gave him the same kind of awed respect I grant anyone who’s ever spent more than half an hour with Tim Pawlenty — and didn’t succumb to T-Paw induced narcolepsy. We (the reporter and I,...

Sarah Palin's 'Mama Grizzlies' by Mark McKinnon Sarah Palin (Evan Agostini / AP Photo) The Alaska sensation is recruiting and endorsing GOP women nationwide—spooking the Democrats. Mark McKinnon surveys her 11 top prospects. I like strong women. I like strong women who speak their minds. (I’m married to one of them.) And I’ve worked with and around many in politics, including Ann Richards, Laura Bush and Sarah Palin. No matter your gender or politics, you have to hand it to her: Palin is fearless. “You don't want to mess with moms who are rising up,” the Wasilla warrior said last...

Sarah Palin sure is dropping the f-bomb a lot lately. In a widely noted speech this month to the Susan B. Anthony List, an anti-abortion-rights group, Palin invoked the words "feminism" and "feminist" no less than a dozen times. She called for a "pro-woman sisterhood" and addressed the "sisters" in the audience. If it weren't for the regular references to gun rights, you might have thought you were listening to Gloria Steinem. If this rhetoric seems uncharacteristic of the former governor of Alaska, that's because it is. When running for vice president in 2008, Palin flip-flopped on the feminist question,...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Chalk up another win for the tea party. And another embarrassment for the Republican establishment. Tea party favorite and two-term state lawmaker Raul Labrador defeated Vaughn Ward, a Marine reservist heavily recruited by national Republicans, in Idaho's primary on Tuesday. Ward's loss comes on the heels of several other races in which GOP establishment candidates stumbled as the anti-Washington mood takes hold. National Republicans had coached Ward and had made him one of their first named recruits, known as "Young Guns." He also had the backing of former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. On Wednesday, the GOP...

In the midst of one of the most precipitous political crashes in the Mountain West, Sarah Palin made a mad dash into Boise on Friday, urging the election of a man who had plagiarized his campaign speech from Barack Obama, had been rebuked by the military for misusing the Marine uniform and had called the American territory of Puerto Rico a separate country. And why not? Vaughn Ward, the Republican congressional candidate from Idaho, has the dubious character trifecta of the Palin brand: bone-headed, defiant and willfully ignorant. When told that Puerto Rico was not a country, he said, “I...