Free Republic

Ted Cruz has successfully courted Bob Vander Platts, Iowa's main Christian powerbroker, winning his endorsement Thursday that was sought feverishly by about half the Republican field. Now, Cruz in closing in on winning the backing of another top social conservative networker: Tony Perkins."There's clearly movement going toward Ted, and I think he's making all the right moves," Perkins told CNN Thursday. "But from a timing standpoint, I'm still watching, waiting."Perkins, who heads the Family Research Council, sits at the top of a pair of sprawling social conservative networks, the Conservative Action Project and the Council for National Policy, that are...

Late last year, Senator Cory Bernardi published his first major work on political theory, illustrating his vision for a responsible, confident society and the governing principles that will be needed to foster it. The Conservative Revolution (Connor Court) was not intended to be a manifesto but has nevertheless been described as such since it was released for sale to the public. Perhaps the greatest interest to students of politics and to the media was less the content of the volume as the visceral neck-twitching reaction to its public release. There is something to be said for the confidence of Bernardi’s...

Rick Santorum appears to be eyeing the White House again, with the former Pennsylvania senator telling Newsmax TV’s Steve Malzberg that he may run for president in 2016. “I’m certainly leaving the door open for that,” Santorum revealed on “The Steve Malzberg Show” Wednesday afternoon. … “The same advisors who botched these last two campaigns are now saying, ‘Well, you know, since we can’t win with moderate Republicans, we have to now try to be liberal Republicans to win instead of standing up for the values that made our country great,’” he said. …

Hello, for Nov 6, 2012 I vote in Florida my official address, but I am not living there at the moment so I am not familiar with the local issues in the County of Hillsborough, Tampa, FL. I need help on how to fill in the absentee Ballot with social-conservative/conservative choices. I am interested in the "local Issues" (i.e. Judges for FL supreme court, District Court of appeals judges running for re-election; School Board candidates, the amendments, Sheriff, the works). I already picked everyone with the "R" I found; now I need the "unknown" ones. On Amendments (I need opinions...

There was a time, this year, when I was rooting for Rick Santorum during the GOP Primary season. Then, he began to make statements that made me nervous. (Most of them, I worked hard at forgetting.) Since this "Todd Aikin thing", I've begun to wonder if we didn't doge a bullet by not nominating Santorum, who for all practical purposes, came in Second Place. I feared that if he got the nomination he would have a "Macaca/Legitimate rape" moment. To me, he and Aikin seem to be of the same ilk. Dunno.....just thinking out loud. Wonder if we didn't dodge...

As we go about our lives, there is something happening around us that is not deemed “newsworthy” or “important” by many people. It’s toxic, troubling, and traumatic. It’s happening on college campuses. It’s happening next door to you. It’s the white elephant in the room that everybody notices, but does not want to address for countless reasons. It’s what our generation praises and feels empowered by, but refuses to let their parents know about. And shockingly enough, it’s happening at conservative conferences thanks to people who do not practice what they preach. So what is it? It’s the hookup culture....

Taking Aim at Santorum: The Romney Campaign Misfires. FEB 20, 2012, VOL. 17, NO. 22 • BY JONATHAN V. LAST On Saturday, February 4, a national poll from Rasmussen Reports showed Rick Santorum as the only Republican to lead President Obama in a head-to-head matchup. The next morning, a PPP poll showed Santorum suddenly leading Mitt Romney in Minnesota. So the Romney campaign responded with what are becoming its trademark tactics. Having completely ignored Santorum since New Hampshire, on Sunday afternoon the Romney team sent out a press release calling him “a proud defender of earmarks and pork-barrel spending.” The...

On September 23, 2010, House Republicans will release a carefully guarded and much anticipated agenda for the November elections. The chattering class has debated whether the agenda will include what are dismissively referred to as the "social issues"... Our insistence upon recognition in the positive law of the fundamental Human Right to Life is not about one political issue; it is about the foundation of freedom itself. Human rights - such as the Natural Law Right to Life - and human freedoms such as the freedom to be born - are goods of human persons. When there is no human...

The central conceit of the Left is their regard for outcome above principle, results above rights. “Progressivism” repackages the age-old idea that society has a collective right superior to the individual’s. We saw this in the argument for universal health care, where the Left regarded the outcome of “universal coverage” above the principle of personal liberty. Unfortunately, this conceit is not limited to the Left. Social conservatives are willing to borrow à la carte from statist arguments when the results suit their taste. No issue evokes this phenomenon more than drug control policy. NewsRealBlog hosted much debate on the legalization...

Jonah Goldberg once opined, "Whenever I read liberals reporting about the goings-on of conservatives I always get the nature-documentary vibe. A liberal reporter puts on his or her Dian Fossey hat in order to attempt to write another installment of Conservatives in the Mist." In a similar way, I believe many conservatives regard professed libertarians with a combination of academic curiosity and instinctual fear, keeping a healthy distance to avoid contamination.The 2008 Ron Paul presidential campaign and the Tea Party movement have drawn libertarians and conservatives together, attending the same rallies, railing against the same excesses of government and, increasingly,...

.."Over the years, Gov. Perry has established a record that is consistently pro-life, pro-marriage and pro-religious liberty,” said Dr. Dobson. “He has demonstrated his deep regard for the sanctity of life by signing more pro-life bills into law than any other governor in Texas history. He demonstrated his support for the God-given institution of marriage by strongly supporting the Texas Marriage Amendment. And he has helped lead the effort to establish the strongest protections for religious liberty in the state of Texas. No other candidate in this race measures up to the high standards established by Gov. Perry on these...

Add former Sen. Rick Santorum to the list of potential 2012 Republican presidential candidates. POLITICO has learned Santorum will visit first-in-the-nation Iowa this fall for a series of appearances before the sort of conservative activists who dominate the state GOP’s key presidential caucuses. The Pennsylvanian, who lost his 2006 re-election bid, will visit Iowa on October 1st, appearing on a Des Moines radio talk show and speaking to a luncheon and workshop of Iowa’s Right to Life group before heading east to Dubuque, where he’ll headline a fundraiser for the conservative America’s Future Fund PAC and then speak about the...

There is a brooding sense within top social conservative circles that they have become the revolving scapegoat of the Republican Party. Many of the longtime leaders of the Christian right, from Richard Land to Tony Perkins to Gary Bauer, expressed resentment in extended interviews with a singular theme: that the most loyal GOP bloc has been so quickly thrown under many critics' bus.

I have Been seeing so much Post Mortem on the Decline of the Republican Party. Our POST ELECTION First Task was to Identify the ROOT PROBLEM...we agree that it was the RINO Philosophy. Next Since we will have to go out and replace these RINOS with people of true Conservative Principles . Now It is time to identify those RINO's who are Elected to Office be it Federal, State, County and City elected Officials. Appointed, Judicial, The RINO's in Media,Radio Talkers TV, Cable, Print, and Blogs... We need to Identify the RINO talking heads who POP up everywhere when a...

As unlikely as it seemed several months ago, it seems increasingly likely that Mitt Romney should win the Republican primary and win the general election.   Mitt Romney may be the last best hope of conservatives.  Before condemning that statement as un-Reaganesque, consider that Ronald Reagan as Governor of California was once pro-choice.  The Gipper changed dramatically, but change is part of the process that people of the Judeo-Christian tradition undergo when they reflect.  As an enthusiastic supporter of the now ended candidacy of Fred Thompson, whose sentiments on abortion changed, I am willing to concede to Mitt Romney the same...

Senator Fred Thompson is far and away the best conservative candidate to represent those who live in Jesusland, according to David Jeffers, author of Understanding Evangelicals: A Guide to Jesusland. "Evangelicals are looking for a candidate who is strongly pro-life, is for traditional families, and who is an actual Reagan Conservative." Jeffers explains, "Every GOP candidate is espousing Reagan-like characteristics, but only Thompson has the record to back it up." Jeffers claims that many in Jesusland are enamored with Governor Mike Huckabee because of his Southern Baptist roots and strong social conservative values. "There are three important agendas in the...

Many bloggers are opening up and deciding to make presidential endorsements at this stage in the race. After MUCH deliberation, and I mean it was a lot, we have decided to join them. The Duncan Hunter Grass Revolt is endorsing....

I'm not one to go down easy – never have been. Not on my watch! I call upon the conservative army across this nation to rise up and fight the tides of compromise and liberalism by standing strong on the core issues and showing its true colors now! In the spirit of Ronald Reagan, "You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We will preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we will sentence them to take the first step into a thousand years of darkness. If we fail, at least let our...

Duncan Hunter is a strong Values Voter candidate, and here are a few great reasons why: 1) Pro-God: 100% rating from the Christian Coalition; fought hard for prayer in public schools; took on the ACLU and fought for the Mt. Soledad Cross to remain, and more! 2) Strong 26-year pro-life commitment: authored the personhood-at-conception bill; attended the pro-life march in D.C., and more! 3) Pro-family: voted for traditional marriage between a man and a woman through HJ Res 88; 100% rating from the Concerned Women for America, and more! 4) Border security: the only politican that was EFFECTIVE on building...

Fred Thompson Declines to Participate in Social Conservative Debate Also declining to appear are Rudolph Giuliani, Mitt Romney, Senator John McCain By Hilary White WASHINGTON, September 5, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - An umbrella group for US social conservatives called ValuesVoter.org was disappointed to learn that Republican Senator Fred Thompson would not be attending a debate scheduled for mid-September in Florida. Also declining to appear are Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, Mitt Romney, and Senator John McCain. Thompson is a former federal prosecutor who served as Republican counsel on the Senate Watergate committee. He served eight years in the Senate from Tennessee. He is...