Free Republic

As I type this, I am watching former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee on “The Wendy Williams Show” talking about his impending talk show on Fox and am reminded, not for the first time, that quite a few presidential candidates function as if they never expected or even wanted to be president in the first place. They ran to gain a media platform. But few have done so as brazenly as Huckabee, who typically ended his homespun stump homilies with pedestrian pluckings of his bass guitar. Huckabee’s ultimate role in the 2008 race was to assist in the splintering of evangelicals...

Oh boy, here we go again. Mitt Romney has his eyes on a major political office -- if only that damned woman would get out of the way! Romney, of course, is running for president in 2012, and has been from the moment he used a comically red meat-laden CPAC speech to depart from the 2008 GOP race. And his prospects, at least for the Republican nomination, aren't bad: He's the next-in-line guy, he'll have plenty of cash, and there just aren't that many other options. But then there's Sarah Palin. She may ultimately decide not to run, but this...

Former Bay State Gov. Mitt Romney, who’s campaigned hard for Republicans across the country as he eyes a presidential run in 2012, earned high praise but couldn’t secure a solid endorsement from some GOP governors yesterday. “I think he’s going to be one of several people that are going to be seriously considered for the nomination,” said Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, who was recently elected after Romney helped his campaign. “He’s an incredibly talented spokesman for the conservative cause.” Florida Gov. Charlie Crist declined to comment on Romney’s 2012 chances yesterday, saying he’s too busy running his own state. Crist...

Immediately after Nikki Haley's overwhelming victory in the South Carolina Primary, we noted Team Mitt's panic over the credit Governor Palin received: It appears Mitt Romney is getting a bit nervous as a result of all the well-deserved credit Governor Palin received for helping Nikki Haley in South Carolina, both in the media and by Haley herself. In fact Romney is so nervous he feels compelled to return to South Carolina to campaign for Haley before the runoff on the 22nd. [...] This is classic Mitt Romney. When all the mud was flying and Governor Palin publicly and steadfastly stood...

Former Massachusetts governor and 2008 GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney predicted that President Obama's massive health care bill would be passed by Congress, and he outlined a legislative strategy to overturn the bill by cutting off the funding necessary to implement it. Speaking in Dallas yesterday as part of the publicity tour for his new book, No Apology: The Case for American Greatness, Romney said that the key to his plan was for the GOP to reclaim majorities in both houses of Congress as well as the White House. Romney said that those members voting for the health care bill...

SALT LAKE CITY — Mitt Romney brought his book tour Saturday back to the city where he led the 2002 Winter Olympics, telling an enthusiastic audience he could decide by Christmas whether to run again for president. "That's not a decision we've made at this point," Romney told a 12-year-old boy from Bluffdale who said he was "asking a question that a lot of people are wondering and that's, 'Are you going to run for president?' " The cheers the question received were among the loudest during Romney's hour-long appearance at the Salt Palace as part of his national tour for...

t’s page 258 – and suddenly we are back in Campaign Mode. The transition is very abrupt. On pages 256, Romney is describing an interesting program he advocated in Massachusetts: “a Parental Preparation Program for every underperforming school district. In order for parents in these districts to enroll their children in public school, the parents would have been required to attend classes themselves, where they would learn about the value of education as well as ways in which they could support their children’s educational experience.” On p. 257, a funny story about Romney’s business career, about his unsuccessful attempt to...

He was on the "Today" show yesterday and sat with the ladies on "The View" this morning. Over the course of the next two months he'll be pretty much everywhere. Mitt Romney's new book "No Apology: The Case for American Greatness" was released yesterday and you might as well get used to seeing him in the headlines again. His 19-state book tour guarantees a certain amount of media coverage. But early readers of Romney's book suggest that there's no chance that "No Apology" will generate the hot-cake-like sales of Sarah Palin's "Going Rogue." The Boston Herald points out that "No...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the subject of Republican criticism for her mode of air travel, flew home nonstop Thursday night aboard a 12-seat military aircraft set aside for use by lawmakers. Republican House members, aided by friendly radio and television talk show hosts, created a political tempest this week, claiming Pelosi was pressuring the Pentagon for the use of an "Air Force Three" and a "flying Lincoln Bedroom." Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, however, the administration has required the speaker -- then Republican Dennis Hastert of Illinois -- to travel home and on official business using military planes for...

Couple from California face federal charges for alleged airborne antics ANDREA WEIGL (Raleigh) News & Observer RALEIGH - A California couple whose in-flight friskiness on the way to Raleigh was a bit much for other passengers are facing federal charges for harassing the flight attendant who asked them to stop. Carl Warren Persing and Dawn Elizabeth Sewell are scheduled to go to trial Dec. 11 at the federal courthouse in Wilmington for their behavior during a Sept. 15 flight. The indictment states that "the defendants repeatedly engaged in overt sexual activity in the cabin of the plane to such an...

It was March 2003, the eve of the US invasion of Iraq, and into the office of dumbfounded Pakistani newspaper editor Najam Sethi walked an articulate, fresh-faced Vermont woman, saying she wanted to vent her anger at America in his pages. Violence-plagued Lahore teemed with anti-American sentiment, yet Catherine C. Mayo seemed to move about with ease, Sethi recalled. And writing for the Daily Times of Pakistan, Mayo told about her 1960s activism. About her love of Cat Stevens and Howard Dean. About the mountains and lakes of her native Vermont. And about her shame and anger at America.