Free Republic

In the Republican primary struggle to define the most reliably conservative presidential candidate, Mitt Romney has put his money where his mouth is. Over the past six years and two presidential campaigns, Romney has donated at least $260,000 from his family charity foundation to GOP causes and influential conservative groups that could deepen his ties within the party and establish his credibility on the right. Romney's campaign said there was no hidden motivation behind his contributions.-SNIP-.....the Romney campaign is studded with former Bush political veterans and appears to lead its rivals in financial support from former Bush fundraisers.-SNIP-...Romney gave...

Should Mitt Romney be the nominee of the Republican party for president in 2012? Perhaps. Should voters support him because he's the "inevitable" nominee? No. For one thing, his nomination is evitable - perhaps all too evitable (see below). For another, we are a proud, self-governing people. We're sometimes even an obstreperous bunch—and a good thing it is for the cause of liberty. We often balk at yielding meekly to claims of inevitability. Here in America, we the people rule by electing. We don't bow to those anointed by pundits. But really, you might ask - isn't Romney inevitable? And...

Ed Rollins is at it again. Mr. Rollins, the former campaign manager for Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, has questioned her ability to extend her campaign for the Republican presidential nomination beyond Iowa, the first state in the nation to hold a nominating contest. In an interview on MSNBC, Mr. Rollins told Andrea Mitchell that Mrs. Bachmann does not have the money or resources to compete with her better-financed rivals, like Mitt Romney and Rick Perry. “Right now, she’s competing hard in Iowa,” Mr. Rollins said. But, he added, “she doesn’t have the ability or resources to go beyond that,...

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If liberal New York Times columnist Joe Nocera can apologize for comparing Tea Party activists to terrorists, then The Washington Post can and should apologize for pretending that Nicolle Wallace is someone who should be taken seriously by Republicans. The Post ran a Wallace article on Sunday claiming that Michele Bachmann is too conservative to be president, in part because of her association with the Tea Party. Wallace was headlined as the “former Bush aide” and adviser to the McCain-Palin campaign. The article was the lead in the popular Post Sunday “Outlook” section of opinion. Bachmann, wrote Wallace, “holds views...

An old friend came back to town last week and it was good to see him again after all these years. Because we really needed him, now more than ever. John McCain -- the old straight-talking, tough truth-telling John McCain -- stood up on the floor of the U.S. Senate and picked up just where he'd left off some four years ago: Telling it like it really is. Never mind that he was ticking off fellow conservative Republicans. Even the ones who knew in their hearts he was right. For months, Republican leaders had allowed themselves to be led by...

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Tuesday that a proposed joint deficit committee should discuss fresh revenues — but added that he did not believe Republicans would get on board with tax increases. The Arizona Republican, who backs the compromise debt-ceiling legislation the Senate is poised to vote on today, also predicted the measure would pass. McCain also sounded cautiously optimistic that the 12-lawmaker panel set up by the bill would be able to find some common ground. “Once they sit down and start negotiating and realize if they report out they cannot get an agreement, that is a reflection on...

Our country is in crisis. Not the kind of crisis liberals invent out of mid air but the kind that results from the implementation of their policies and brings a country to its knees (and proves the president a rank amateur and many of the legislators unsuited for office). We are in debt, we have an energy crisis, we have high unemployment, and we’re more worried about whether our enemies think we’re nice that we are with crushing them with our military might. In a word: times are crazy. Yet in the middle of all this, I can honestly say...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Sen. John McCain says he'll vote for compromise legislation averting a government default, although "I will probably have to swallow hard."

Tim Pawlenty’s campaign manager yesterday sent out an e-mail outlining Pawlenty’s accomplishments and assuring supporters that the former Minnesota governor’s fan club will continue to grow, while enthusiasm for other candidates — most implicitly, Michele Bachmann — will fade.“In 2008, voters elected a member of Congress with no executive experience. We can’t afford the cost of inexperience any longer, and Iowans are getting that,� Ayers wrote. “[A]s more Republican primary voters start to tune in to the race, they are finding out that the governor’s record and message will stand the test [of] a brutal campaign. Other candidates’ records (or...

Contrada details how Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney supported the homosexual and transgender agenda on same-sex ‘marriage,’ sexual-radical indoctrination in the schools, and societal transformation – while posing as a defender of the Constitution and traditional family values. Mitt Romney is no conservative, despite his attempts to appeal to that element in the Republican Party. He is an ‘establishment fixer’ – a preserver of the status quo at best, or a promoter of social liberal causes and institutions at worst. In Massachusetts, the establishment – protected and advanced by Romney – was uniquely committed to the radical homosexual and transgender agenda....

<p>Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Tuesday unveiled a “back-up plan” for raising the debt ceiling in case the ongoing negotiations between congressional leaders and the White House fail to produce a result by an Aug. 2 deadline.</p> <p>At a Capitol news conference little over an hour before the latest round of negotiations was set to begin at the White House, McConnell described a plan that would allow the debt ceiling to be raised in three separate stages through the end of next year, for a total of $2.5 trillion.</p>

WASHINGTON, D.C., June 20, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Former Massachusetts governor and leading GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney has refused to sign a pro-life pledge by the Susan B. Anthony (SBA) List, inviting a rash of criticism from more overtly pro-life candidates. The pledge asked candidates to promise to nominate conservative federal judges and appoint only pro-life persons to “relevant Cabinet and Executive Branch” positions. SBA List also called upon the candidates to promise to advance government-wide Hyde amendment legislation and a federal Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, and to “defund Planned Parenthood and all other contractors and recipients of federal...

It could be said that Newt Gingrich's campaign "problems" of late have put the White House beyond the former speaker of the House's reach. The most recent issue was the defection of Newt's campaign staffers, who believed there was a strategy difference between themselves and Gingrich on how to move forward. But not so fast. The departure of Gingrich's staffers is nothing more or less than a breath of fresh air -- after all, it is Newt himself, and not his campaign advisers, who is running for president. The fact is that Newt Gingrich has a vision on how to...

No longer constrained by campaign advisers who insisted on such conventions as “message discipline,” Gingrich fulminated against President Obama, the news media, activist judges and assorted other liberal bogeymen for 41 minutes here Thursday night. It was classic Newt – slashing attacks, an array of ideas, and a few plugs for his website. All jumbled together with little cohesion. The former speaker, it seems, is very much enjoying the post-consultant phase of his candidacy. Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0611/57183.html#ixzz1PVO4yauY

Broadcast on: CNN Broadcast time: 8pm EDT/5pm PDT The Candidates:Michele Bachmann Bachmann is serving her 3rd full term in the U.S. House. Founder of the House Tea Party Caucus, she earned a Master of Laws degree, worked as a tax attorney, and was a foster mother for 23 teenagers. She is a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Herman Cain Cain is the former chief executive of Godfather's Pizza and former chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. He lost the Georgia Republican primary for a U.S. Senate seat in 2004. He was recently the...

Bachmann vs. Palin feud hits Twitter By Matt Lewis A few weeks ago, I pointed out that a prominent Sarah Palin blogger had turned on Michele Bachmann. On Fox News Sunday this week, Palin pointed out that she, unlike Bachmann, had executive experience (though added that Bachmann had strengths, too). The feud was taken to a new level, however, when Bachmann’s new “celebrity” campaign manager, Ed Rollins referred to Palin as “not serious.” This was too much for Palin supporter and talk radio host, Tammy Bruce who took to her Twitter feed. Bruce, who also appears in the new film...

Gannett Rag - Link Only http://caucuses.desmoinesregister.com/2011/05/26/bachmann-to-announce-in-waterloo-next-month/

<p>LOS ANGELES — A Southern California Republican Party official was under fire yesterday after allegations she sent an email that included an altered photo depicting President Barack Obama as an ape.</p> <p>An email reportedly sent by party central committee member Marilyn Davenport shows an image, posed like a family portrait, of chimpanzee parents and child, with Obama's face artificially superimposed on the child. Text beneath the photo reads, "Now you know why no birth certificate."</p>

LOS ANGELES – A Southern California Republican Party official was under fire Saturday after allegations she sent an email that included an altered photo depicting President Barack Obama as an ape. An e-mail reportedly sent by party central committee member Marilyn Davenport shows an image, posed like a family portrait, of chimpanzee parents and child, with Obama's face artificially superimposed on the child. Text beneath the photo reads, "Now you know why no birth certificate." Davenport, when reached by The Associated Press, said she would provide a written statement with her response, but several hours later she had not issued...

The prospective GOP candidates are behaving like Ruling Class. Did they learn anything from 2010? The inestimable Karl Rove (inestimable, in that conservatives either wish to buy him a scotch or label him Ruling Class, dependent on whatever he last said to Bret Baier) published a WSJ op-ed on March 17 claiming “The GOP Race is Underway.” Don’t worry, the piece sums: the failure of anyone to step ahead in the 2012 GOP race is tactical. Mitch “Mitt” Huckaromney is busy analyzing, outreaching, and sweater-testing and any day now he’ll reveal himself as the George Washington you’ve been asking for...

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) -- Egypt's foreign minister has said he was furious at what he described as "confusing" messages from the United States in the early days of Egypt's protests. In an interview Tuesday with "PBS NewsHour," Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said the Obama administration's message is now "much better" because he believes it understands that abrupt change will lead to chaos. Anti-government protesters want President Hosni Mubarak to resign immediately, but he has said he plans to finish his term this year and then not stand for re-election. The White House says it wants an orderly transition in...

Arizona U.S. Senator John McCain says he will not be backing any of the potential Republican presidential candidates as they look to defeat President Barack Obama in the 2012 election. “I think I’m staying out of this for the first time in many years,” Mr. McCain told Politico on Thursday. The comment comes as Mr. McCain returned from a one on one meeting with President Obama at the White House. The Arizona Republican said he viewed the meeting as a sign of increasing bipartisanship on Capitol Hill, adding that his meeting with the president was “cordial” and that Mr. Obama...

The US secretly agreed to give the Russians sensitive information on Britain’s nuclear deterrent to persuade them to sign a key treaty, The Daily Telegraph can disclose. Information about every Trident missile the US supplies to Britain will be given to Russia as part of an arms control deal signed by President Barack Obama next week. Defence analysts claim the agreement risks undermining Britain’s policy of refusing to confirm the exact size of its nuclear arsenal.

National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman John Cornyn (Texas) spoke with Joe Miller over the weekend and assured him that the NRSC will stay neutral in the Alaska GOP Senate primary and support whoever wins, according to Republican sources. Miller, a Fairbanks attorney, led Sen. Lisa Murkowski by nearly 1,700 votes with all precincts reporting following last Tuesday’s primary election in Alaska. The state this week is set to begin counting around 20,000 additional ballots, including absentee ballots and others referred to as questionable.

Rut Roh - a troubling three page letter from the Miller campaign citing multiple potential infractions of election law and procedure by a Murkowski observer, who, after mis-identifying himself, was allowed unfettered access to a computer he should not have accessed. The access presented a clear opportunity for vote tampering. The other problems include trying to access the ballot area with a large bag, an action prohibited by law. Fortunately, security stopped him. Read it all in pdf below.

This evening, I made a call to the same source who told me on August 25th, about the rumor that there were 1000 ballots missing. It seems that there is some concern on how high the percentage is in the returned absentee ballots. Some number crunching has been going on and in the story published yesterday by the Anchorage Daily News, the number of the returned absentee ballots and questioned ballots stood at 23,472 with more ballots coming in. There were more allegations by the Joe Miller campaign of ballot-counting monkey business on Saturday as the absentees continue to pour into the Alaska Division of Elections. State elections officials...

SENATE RACE: Miller's camp says GOP group is preparing for legal battle. There were more allegations by the Joe Miller campaign of ballot-counting monkey business on Saturday as the absentees continue to pour into the Alaska Division of Elections. State elections officials now say there are 23,472 ballots to process, with more coming, and the first count set for Tuesday. Miller currently leads Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski by 1,668 votes in the Republican primary. Miller campaign spokesman Randy DeSoto said in an e-mail Saturday that there are many calls going out to Alaskans who voted absentee ballots, asking them who...

The NRSC has sent its top lawyer to Alaska on Lisa Murkowski’s behalf and Joe Miller went on Fox today to point out the NRSC is inappropriately meddling in the race now, even though Murkowski is flirting with an independent or write-in bid. Well, I’ve just received a copy of a letter (PDF) from Miller’s attorneys demanding the disqualification of Lisa Murkowski campaign observer Bonnie Jack. The Alaska Division of Elections staff and Joe Miller’s staff observed Ms. Jack using confidential voter information and then calling a voter based on that information. The Miller team wants Ms. Jack disqualified.

Just read this from Bloomberg Business Week: "Senate Republicans sent their top campaign lawyer to advise Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski about the state’s count of absentee ballots as the Libertarian Party considered endorsing her if she loses the party primary." I am so pissed at the Senate Republicans and MY Senator, John Cornyn, I'm calling his office tomorrow and tell him what a low-life I think he is. Let the people of Alaska choose their candidate and all you friggin' Senate RINO scumbags butt out.

My letter to Scott Brown via his Senate office web site: ------------ Key observations: 1. Bill doesn't address Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac, which were principal causes of the meltdown by lowering the credit standards for loans for their portfolios. 2. Bill is laced with minority/gender/diversity outreach nonsense, all of which will raise costs, reduce performance, and tilt the system away from fiduciary responsibility to "social" responsibility - if you feel giving loans to people who can't afford them is good policy, why not submit a bill that says that instead of hiding this nonsense in a bill that pretends...

(snip) Elias and other observers say that the day of reckoning for possible McCain support is Aug. 24, when Arizona voters take to the polls to decide the 2008 GOP presidential nominee’s fate against his primary opponent, GOP former Rep. J.D. Hayworth. Many observers speculate that after the primary, McCain may pivot toward the middle and could ultimately back a Schumer-Van Hollen bill.“Perhaps he’s planning on voting for it, but because of political considerations or other things he just doesn’t want to be out front,” Elias said. “At the end of the day, it may very well be that he...

How do I feel? Click the Murtha tab to find out - but until then, our friend Phil can pass the good news.The Navy’s 10th San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock will be named for Rep. John Murtha, the long-serving Pennsylvania Democrat who chaired the powerful House appropriations defense subcommittee before he died in February. According to a Navy memorandum obtained by Navy Times, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus notified Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead that he had selected “John P. Murtha” for the previously unnamed LPD 26. It’s the latest example of the Navy breaking a convention for naming...

Backroom deals have marred the debate over health care reform and poisoned the public’s attitude toward the legislation, Sen. John McCain said Sunday. “Overwhelmingly, the American people are saying stop and start over,” McCain (R-Ariz.) said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “They don’t like these cynical deals.” (snip) McCain said he hoped last week’s health care summit at the Blair House could be “the basis for some good negotiations...” (snip) “Let’s start over,” McCain said, citing malpractice reform and allowing insurers to sell across state lines as reforms Republicans could support. “We want to sit down and have negotiations. We...

Why Sen. Kennedy was offended about his conversation with Bill Clinton: (Page 218): "Recounting the conversation later to a friend, Teddy fumed that Clinton had said, A few years ago this guy would have been getting us coffee." Clinton senior strategist Mark Penn boasted to his staff how many times he managed to say "cocaine" on that famous Hardball segment. (Page 163.) Hillary Clinton was initially pleased when her New Hampshire campaign chairman, Billy Shaheen, mentioned Obama's previous use of drugs: (Page 161):

WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.) urged a group of chief executives on Tuesday to think of ways to help small businesses and extend credit to help heal the economy. The Arizona Republican acknowledged that these aren't the responsibilities of big businesses, but he talked about how angry Americans are about financial institutions getting bailed out while they are struggling, and he said access to credit is a big issue.

(IsraelNN.com) Former minister Rafi Eitan, who recruited Jonathan Pollard as a spy for Israel in the US, expressed regret over the espionage debacle in an interview on Channel 2. "I admit the failure and I regret it,” he said. In an interview to Maariv in 2008, Eitan said that the US intelligence services made a joint decision not to permit Pollard ever to be released until the end of his life. “The reason isn't Pollard. It's Israel... It's connected to the relationship system between the American intelligence services and the state of Israel.” Eitan went on to confirm that the...

(snip) U.S. leadership is crucial. That is why I am encouraged by the spirit of compromise shown in the bipartisan initiative announced last week by John Kerry and Lindsey Graham. Here was a pair of U.S. senators — one Republican, the other Democratic — coming together to bridge their parties’ differences to address climate change in a spirit of genuine give-and-take. We cannot afford another period where the United States stands on the sidelines. An engaged United States can lead the world to seal a deal to combat climate change in Copenhagen. An indecisive or insufficiently engaged United States will...

As Congress prepares to hit the restart button on the health care debate, Senator Olympia J. Snowe does not relish the prospect of becoming a Group of One. “I certainly hope not,” exclaimed Ms. Snowe, about the possibility that she could end up as the sole Republican willing to join Senate Democrats in moving ahead on a broad change in health care. Ms. Snowe and two Republican colleagues, Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa and Michael B. Enzi of Wyoming, have been privately negotiating a health care plan with three Democratic members of the Senate Finance Committee in what has...

Colin Powell appeared on CNN's Larry King Show on Tuesday evening. In the wake of his endorsement of Barack Obama, some conservatives have suggested that he leave the Republican Party. Powell's response to King was defiant, "I decide what party I am going to be in." He then offered advice to the Republican Party for improving its electoral prospects. When one takes to the national airwaves and asserts his allegiance and offers his wisdom to the Party, this assumes both political and moral standing. There must be a perception in the audience of good faith that has been earned and...

The Republican Party is in big trouble and needs to find a way to move back to the middle of the country, former Secretary of State Colin Powell said Monday. Powell said the GOP is "getting smaller and smaller" and "that's not good for the nation." He also said he hopes that emerging GOP leaders, such as House Minority Whip Cantor, will not keep repeating mantras of the far right. "The Republican Party is in deep trouble," Powell told corporate security executives at a conference in Washington sponsored by Fortify Software Inc. The party must realize that the country has...

Europeans aren’t better than Americans—so I can’t figure out why our president is saying sorry to them instead of explaining what makes our country great. I guess I had it coming to me. I mean, I did insult Old Europe this week when I said on MSNBC’s Morning Joe that President Obama’s suggestion that we should celebrate Europe’s union was “ridiculous.” I mocked the idea of celebrating Europe, saying, “What should we do, have a ‘celebrate Europe’ stamp?” What Obama describes as “American exceptionalism” sounds like a political-science professor’s definition of nationalism, not a belief in America’s unique accomplishments and...

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – Many detainees locked up at Guantanamo were innocent men swept up by U.S. forces unable to distinguish enemies from noncombatants, a former Bush administration official said Thursday. "There are still innocent people there," Lawrence B. Wilkerson, a Republican who was chief of staff to then-Secretary of State Colin Powell, told The Associated Press. "Some have been there six or seven years." Wilkerson, who first made the assertions in an Internet posting on Tuesday, told the AP he learned from briefings and by communicating with military commanders that the U.S. soon realized many Guantanamo detainees were...

WASHINGTON – Another Democratic U.S. senator has gone on record as supporting the reinstatement of the so-called "Fairness Doctrine," adding, "I feel like that's gonna happen." Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., told radio host and WND columnist Bill Press yesterday when asked about whether it was time to bring back the so-called "Fairness Doctrine": "I think it's absolutely time to pass a standard. Now, whether it's called the Fairness Standard, whether it's called something else – I absolutely think it's time to be bringing accountability to the airwaves. I mean, our new president has talked rightly about accountability and transparency. You...

GOP Sen. John McCain is positioning himself to be one of President Barack Obama’s strongest supporters, effectively giving Democrats the votes they need to override any GOP attempt to block the new administration’s legislative agenda. Obama heaped warm praise on his GOP rival during a dinner held in McCain’s honor the day before the inauguration, calling him a hero. Insiders duly noted McCain was granted a prime spot on the dais at the inauguration, sandwiched in a seat between White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The day after the inauguration, Obama and...

After days of watching in silence, McCain calms the crowd at his Minnesota town meeting. “I want everyone to be respectful. And let’s make sure we are, because that’s the way politics is done in America.” Tells one supporter who says he’s scared of an Obama presidency: “I have to tell you, he is a decent person, a person that you do not have to be scared [of] as president of the United States.” After a woman calls Obama “an Arab,” McCain interrupts to say: “No, ma’am. He is a decent family man, citizen

I can’t underscore enough what a rotten idea John McCain’s ACORN-like government mortgage buy-up is. I said it during my liveblog. And I’ll say it again: “HE WANTS TO EXPAND THE BAILOUT. He wants to do what ACORN wants to do. We’re Screwed ‘08.” This was his supposed “game-changer.” This was the very first thing out of his mouth during the debate tonight — his big pitch right off the bat. The McCain campaign immediately sent out this fact sheet on the proposal, which will cost at least $300 billion. The proposal involves directing the Treasury Secretary to “purchase mortgages...

WASHINGTON -- If at one time women were considered heretical for swimming upstream against feminist orthodoxy, they now face condemnation for swimming downstream -- away from Sarah Palin. To express reservations about her qualifications to be vice president -- and possibly president -- is to risk being labeled anti-woman. Or, as I am guilty of charging her early critics, supporting only a certain kind of woman. Some of the passionately feminist critics of Palin who attacked her personally deserved some of the backlash they received. But circumstances have changed since Palin was introduced as just a hockey mom with lipstick...

In this election we have very a clear choice to make. A choice between Victory against Islamic Terrorism or surrender to our terrorist enemy. A choice between free market capitalist economy or socialism. A choice between constructionist judges or liberal judges who legislate from the bench. A choice between Life for the unborn or abortion on demand going wild. A choice between lower taxes or higher taxes. A choice between small government or big government. A choice between John McCain or Barack Obama. Let us choose John McCain. A Patriot, a war hero, and would be an excellent President. God...

Alittle more than 50 years ago, George C. Marshall, the greatest American general and statesman since George Washington, turned down an offer to write his memoirs for a national magazine because, he said, it was unseemly to profit from a life of public service. The Saturday Evening Post offered Marshall $1 million for his story at a time when $1 million was real money. Military historians since have learned that at the moment Marshall declined the Post's offer, he and his wife had precisely $1,300 in the bank. Four years ago, Gen. Tommy Franks, who led the American invasions of...