Free Republic

Eight years ago, Dan Rather broadcast an explosive report on the Air National Guard service of President George W. Bush. It was supposed to be the legendary newsman’s finest hour. Instead, it blew up in his face, tarnishing his career forever and casting a dark cloud of doubt and suspicion over his reporting—and that of every other journalist on the case. This month, as Rather returns with a new memoir, Joe Hagan finally gets to the bottom of the greatest untold story in modern Texas politics, with exclusive, never-before-seen details that shed fresh light on who was right, who was...

As Rick Santorum gets off his horse and the general election race between President Obama and Mitt Romney begins, let’s stop the political merry-go-round and write a first draft of the history of the 2012 GOP primaries. Historians are certainly going to ask how a Republican Party that won big in the 2010 mid-term elections became so self-destructive? How could the party’s nominee start out running behind a very vulnerable incumbent? How could it be that in March a clear majority of registered voters, 52 percent, told Fox News they now have an unfavorable opinion of the GOP. Thirty-nine percent...

Arrogance, hostility to conservatives sank the moderate president elected as Reagan's heir. "I want a kinder, and gentler nation." -- Vice President George H.W. Bush accepting the 1988 Republican presidential nomination "Kinder and gentler than whom?" -- First Lady Nancy Reagan on learning of Bush's line There was an uneasiness right from the start. But with the help of a lot of people -- conservatives -- Ronald Reagan's vice president, George Herbert Walker Bush, successfully convinced Republicans that he was in fact Ronald Reagan's philosophical and political heir. With ex-Reagan aide Lee Atwater running the Bush campaign, Bush tore into...

``STUDENTS, faculty and guests of Wellesley College, welcome. As you know, Barbara Bush was supposed to be our commencement speaker. But at the last minute, she was asked to baby-sit for some of her grandchildren. Because she considers that to be a more fulfilling task, she has asked to be excused. ``In her absence, we have invited Chicago columnist Mike Royko to address you. Unlike Mrs. Bush, Mr. Royko has never been a housewife or mother. And he has a working career. So except for not being a female person, he fulfills the requirements of the 150 student feminists who...

I was surprised to see President George W. Bush enter the political foray Tuesday - defending his tax cuts in general at least - so quickly after Ryan/Romney have teamed up to promote the Ryan plan. As I have said, President Bush would become an issue in this election, and Romney would either embrace/endorse Bush or would toss Bush/Bush's policies/Bush-style tax cuts/or quasi-Bush-style tax cuts under the bus. Remember Romney saying that he was an "independent" under Reagan/Bush Sr? He can't be squeamish this time around. With Ryan and Romney recently teaming up together to promote tax cuts, and Bush...

At a pro-growth tax policy conference today, former President George W. Bush offered some brief remarks on the changes to the US tax code made during his presidency. Those changes, widely known as the Bush tax cuts, were so important to the health of the US economy that President Barack Obama signed a two year extension of them in 2010. Despite the seemingly constant barrage of blame the current president has fired at his predecessor, when it came to actual tax policy he followed Mr. Bush's lead. Before signing the bill that extended the cuts, Mr. Obama described it as...

<p>New York (CNNMoney) – Former President George W. Bush said Tuesday he wishes his name wasn't so firmly attached to one of his administration's signature pieces of legislation - the broad-based tax cuts set to expire at the end of this year.</p>

The administration also argued Friday night that the cost of the Western Regional Conference increased sharply under the Bush White House -- from $93,000 in 2004 to $323,855 in 2006 to $655,025 in 2008, then $840,616 in 2010, or just 28 percent under Obama.

Who would have thought it? Given the flack the Chevy Volt has received at Republican hands over the last few months, former Republican president George H. W. Bush dealt the Volt attackers a serious blow, deciding to purchase one of GM’s extended range electric cars. The Volt, which has become a symbol of all that’s wrong with the Obama administration according to a number of conservatives, might finally be getting a break. In addition to Bush Sr.’s purchase of a Volt (for his son Neil), there’s growing sentiment among the right that the car might not be that bad after...

George W. Bush is as hard to find in his father's office, as he is in the 2012 presidential contest. The 43rd president appears in a gold-framed picture tucked into a far corner of the room, partially hidden by a Texas flag and a cabinet door. The placement — whether intentional or not — is a reminder of the Republican presidential campaign and the lengths to which Romney and his rivals have tried to marginalize the two-term president.

Former President George H. W. Bush will formally endorse Mitt Romney on Thursday in Houston, Texas. The endorsement comes a week after the former president’s son, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) endorsed Romney. Former first lady Barbara Bush has also endorsed Romney. In December of 2011 the elder President Bush indicated support for Romney, saying that “Romney is the best choice for us.” The endorsements by most members of the Bush family suggest mainstream Republican heavyweights want the Republican primary to effectively end and for the party to rally around Romney. In his endorsement, Gov. Bush urged the party to...

With the Republican presidential nomination almost in his grasp, Mitt Romney rolled out a notable endorsement last week, from a former governor of Florida. It was notable not because it's likely to change the mind of any voter, but because it required the Romney campaign to utter a four-letter word it has been loath to use: Bush.The presidential candidates never tire of reminding us theirs is the party of Ronald Reagan and Abraham Lincoln. That the modern version is, more than anything else, the party of Bush is something they prefer to omit.The last two Republican presidents were members of...

WASHINGTON — All year long, in speeches and briefings and visits to factories and shops, President Bush and his aides have tried to convince Americans that the economy is in good shape -- and that the president deserves some credit for that. That effort is not making much headway, a Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll has found. Americans are closely divided on whether the economy is in good shape, with 50% saying it is doing well and 47% saying it is doing badly, the poll found. In January, when Bush launched his campaign to spread good news, the national mood was...

This email came my way and I am posting it for a weekend change of pace from the fabricated news dumps. It brings a lot of thoughts to mind, especially in view of the headline incident in Afghanistan two weeks ago. GOD BLESS our men and women in service.

President Bush's list of domestic accomplishments is already pretty thin. No Child Left Behind is now universally despised among conservative activists. Medicare Part D epitomized Bush's big spending ways and arguably paved the way for Obamacare. And even Bush's tax cuts are looking to be pretty temporary in nature. The one saving grace Bush still has on the domestic front is the Supreme Court. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Sam Alito have so far proved to be good reliable conservative votes. But all that may change after Obamacare hits the Supreme Court. Almost everybody assumes that Justices Clarence Thomas,...

Yesterday's endorsement of Mitt Romney by former Florida governor Jeb Bush sent the implicit message that the time had come to wrap up the nomination process and begin focusing on the general election. Bush made that more explicit in an interview with Pittsburgh Tribune-Review’s Salena Zito --- and Bush had an idea how to make the ticket even stronger: Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush says Republican front-runner Mitt Romney has earned the right to take on President Obama in November.“It is time to get behind the nominee,” Bush told the Tribune-Review on Wednesday during a visit to Pittsburgh. “And it...

Some critics continue to assert that President George W. Bush’s policies bear little responsibility for the deficits the nation faces over the coming decade — that, instead, the new policies of President Barack Obama and the 111th Congress are to blame. Most recently, a Heritage Foundation paper downplayed the role of Bush-era policies (for more on that paper, see p. 4). Nevertheless, the fact remains: Together with the economic downturn, the Bush tax cuts and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq explain virtually the entire deficit over the next ten years (see Figure 1). The deficit for fiscal year 2009...

Mitt Romney decided to give a great big hug to… George W. Bush and the bank bailouts: “I keep hearing the president say he’s responsible for keeping the country out of a Great Depression,” Romney said at a town hall in Arbutus, Maryland. “No, no, no, that was President George W. Bush and [then-Treasury Secretary] Hank Paulson.”

ANALYSIS | A day before the Illinois primary, Mitt Romney delivered a blistering attack on President Barack Obama for "assaulting" economic freedom in a University of Chicago speech. Was he right? Using the style of Steven D. Levitt, a University of Chicago economist and co-author of the book Freakonomics, I evaluate that claim by Romney. What is economic freedom? Levitt and his co-author, Stephen J. Dubner, go beyond the politics, bias, and hubris to ask the questions and test the results. For example, what is economic freedom? The Cato Institute has come up with the Economic Freedom of the World...

ANALYSIS | A day before the Illinois primary, Mitt Romney delivered a blistering attack on President Barack Obama for "assaulting" economic freedom in a University of Chicago speech. Was he right? Using the style of Steven D. Levitt, a University of Chicago economist and co-author of the book Freakonomics, I evaluate that claim by Romney. What is economic freedom? Levitt and his co-author, Stephen J. Dubner, go beyond the politics, bias, and hubris to ask the questions and test the results. For example, what is economic freedom? The Cato Institute has come up with the Economic Freedom of the World...