Free Republic

I have read many of the Freeper and conservative analyses of why we lost this election. The ironic thing is they are not all wrong even when they contradict each other. Each element of criticism has an element of truth. The problem essentially comes down to this: How do we get more votes than the Democrats? The fact is that the Republican Party has some inherent contradictions that we have to over-come. Most Freepers want to be a niche party in a country of 310 million people. As a capitalist, this goes against the basic principle that you want to...

Two pollsters, Gallup and Rasmussen Reports, are projecting Republican voters to have a slight advantage on November 6 over Democratic voters. When they add likely voters leaning towards one party or another, they find an electorate that is marginally more Republican than in 2004, when voters narrowly reelected incumbent President George W. Bush. Gallup projects that the demographics of the electorate will nearly mirror 2008, but party support favors Republicans more than the last two presidential election cycles. In 2008, Gallup projected that self-identified Democrats would outnumber Republicans by 39 to 35 percent. When voters who leaned Democratic were included,...

The Gallup national tracking poll now shows a very strong lead for Mitt Romney. As of Friday, he was ahead by six points among likely voters, having led by seven points on Thursday. However, the poll’s results are deeply inconsistent with the results that other polling firms are showing in the presidential race, and the Gallup poll has a history of performing very poorly when that is the case. Other national polls now show a very slight lead for President Obama on average, while state polls continue to indicate a narrow advantage for the president in tipping-point states like Ohio....

The US Senate race in Wisconsin, between former Gov. Tommy Thompson (R) and US Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D), is now in a dead heat. The polarization is true to the state’s political character, but what also might be playing a role is the neck-to-neck race between President Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney. Mr. Romney’s bump in the polls follows a successful performance in the first presidential debate earlier this month. The tightening up of that race has been shadowed in key battleground contests like the one in Wisconsin, which was once considered a lock for Ms. Baldwin. While Baldwin...

thought of my fellow Californian Energy Secretary Steven Chu last week, when I paid $4.89 a gallon in Gilroy for regular gas — and had to wait in line to get it. The customers were in near revolt, but I wondered against what and whom. I mentioned to one exasperated motorist that there are estimated to be over 20 billion barrels of oil a few miles away, in newly found reserves off the California coast. He thought I was from Mars. California may face the nation’s largest budget deficit at $16 billion. It may struggle with the nation’s second-highest unemployment...

Your Questions for the Candidates On October 16, President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney will take the stage again at Hofstra University, in Hempstead, NY, in the second Presidential election debate. This time, they will answer voters' questions in a live town hall forum. This is YOUR opportunity to ask the candidates where they stand on the issues you care about most. The Commission on Presidential Debates will give a selection of your questions to CNN's Candy Crowley, who will be moderating the debate and asking questions of the two nominees. Don't miss out on this chance to have...

What I have learned from the DNC over the last few days: The greatest benefit to society is if every American becomes a ward of the federal government. All social and moral obligations should be outsourced to the state, notably to the federal government. Capitalism is evil. In other words, private contracts between individuals in voluntary economic arrangements are morally reprehensible. Crony capitalism and corporate welfare are evil, except when the Democratic Party continues to get campaign contributions from the benefitted parties. Federalism doesn't exist. Meaning, if the size and scope of the federal government is curtailed, children will starve...

I made some videos. I don't know what the rules are governing these. But my philosophy is if Romney won't fight the propaganda war, we should. http://youtu.be/z382pT8Cqyo http://youtu.be/XiA2dbMJjAY http://youtu.be/JK_cEFC67uE

On the way to B of A, they paused at Citi to scream at the walls. These are college students, acting like 2-year-olds throwing a tantrum. What does that tell you about their critical thinking skills--and about the standards of American higher education? The likes of the New York Times expect us to take such incoherent spasms of rage seriously as a political "movement." What does that tell us about the standards of the liberal media?

Harold Hamm, the Oklahoma-based founder and CEO of Continental Resources, the 14th-largest oil company in America, is a man who thinks big. He came to Washington last month to spread a needed message of economic optimism: With the right set of national energy policies, the United States could be "completely energy independent by the end of the decade. We can be the Saudi Arabia of oil and natural gas in the 21st century." "President Obama is riding the wrong horse on energy," he adds. We can't come anywhere near the scale of energy production to achieve energy independence by pouring...

I think it is a bad political strategy for conservatives to attack Donald Trump this early in the game. The conservative media, many conservative blogs, the liberal media and Freepers are going after Trump for his ideological inconsistencies. The liberal media will use all its powers to destroy ANY GOP candidate for president. That is a given. They want Barack Obama re-elected, even if the entire country is collapsing around them and regardless if the GOP candidate was as spotless as Jesus Christ. But, conservatives are going after Trump also. This early in the game that is a bad strategy...

You know the conventional wisdom. It is that unemployment ticking down, plus the economy inching back, plus the power of the presidency to affect events, equals a likely Obama victory in 2012. Smart people, especially Republicans, believe this. But how about this for a thought: It's not true. It's all wrong. Barack Obama can be taken, and his adversaries haven't even noticed. In fact, he will likely lose in 2012.

A leading Hispanic voting-rights group has filed a redistricting plan for Texas that would create nine Hispanic-majority congressional districts in the state’s new 36-seat map. And since each district would give Democratic candidates a decided advantage, the result would most likely increase the number of House Democrats from Texas to 12 — up from 9. The ambitious proposal would be a dramatic departure from the makeup of the current 32-seat delegation, which has seven Hispanic-majority seats but only four Hispanic Democrats. Texas is adding four seats due to reapportionment. Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0411/52888.html#ixzz1JEdYaVQ5

CHICAGO (AP) -- Every morning, they don their black robes, take their seats and listen to the pleas of a long line of immigrants desperate to stay in America. The pace is fast, the pressure intense, the stories sometimes haunting. The work, these judges say, is exhausting: "The volume is constant and unrelenting.' ... `There is not enough time to think.' ... `Nobody gives a damn about us!' ... `I know I couldn't do this job if I were not on medication for depression or did not have access to competent psychological care myself.' ... `I cannot take this place...

Cuban authorities have banned Michael Moore’s documentary, “Sicko,” as being subversive. Although the film’s intent is to discredit the U.S. healthcare system by highlighting the excellence of the Cuban system, he said the regime knows the film is a myth and does not want to risk a popular backlash by showing to Cubans facilities that are clearly not available to the vast majority of them. When the FSHP showed Sicko to a group of XXXXXXXXXXXX, some became so disturbed at the blatant misrepresentation of healthcare in Cuba that they left the room.

Now, let's take a look at China. It certainly has the labor. It has the capital. It now has the fastest super computer that knocks ours into the dirt. It has raw materials. Not because China is full of the raw materials, but because while we have been taking loans, they have been buying everything up all over the planet, everywhere. They've been in -- I think the Chinese foreign minister has been to the U.S., what, twice in the last few years? Maybe? Once or twice? And he's been to Africa in one six- or eight-month period like four...

Mexican authorities tried to cover up the shooting death of an American who they said fled a military checkpoint, a Mexican investigation into the incident concluded. Joseph Steven Proctor, 32, was shot by soldiers at a checkpoint in the Pacific state of Guerrero in August. At the time, there were conflicting reports about whether he had fired first at the soldiers. But the conclusion of the Mexican military investigation, which was forwarded to the U.S. Embassy in Mexico and obtained by CNN, indicates that an assault rifle found in Proctor's possession was planted. According to the document, a soldier alerted...

Since Premier Wen Jiabao's March 13 remarks at a press conference that China was "concerned" regarding the security of its U.S. Treasury holdings and other investments (ref). At the G-20 ministerial meeting, the head of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) and Deputy Central Bank Governor noted continued Chinese concerns about the inflationary implications of the expansion of the Fed's balance sheet. In a meeting that preceded Wen's remarks, SAFE Director General (DG) Yin Yong noted SAFE's concerns about the potential for U.S. dollar depreciation and U.S. inflation, as both would erode the renminbi(RMB) value of their assets. On...

In a matter of weeks, Congress will go from trying to help young, illegal immigrants become legal to debating whether children born to parents who are in the country illegally should continue to enjoy automatic U.S. citizenship. Such a hardened approach — and the rhetoric certain to accompany it — should resonate with the GOP faithful who helped swing the House in Republicans' favor. But it also could further hurt the GOP in its endeavor to grab a large enough share of the growing Latino vote to win the White House and the Senate majority in 2012. Legislation to test...

Missiles fired from the Chinese mainland could destroy five of the six major U.S. air bases in the Far East. So states a new report of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, adding: "Saturation missile strikes could destroy U.S. air defenses, runways, parked aircraft, and fuel and maintenance facilities. Complicating this scenario is the future deployment of China's anti-ship ballistic missile, which could hold U.S. aircraft carriers at bay outside their normal operating range." Opposite Taiwan, China's missile force has reached 1,600. Beijing is also building rockets, submarines and surface fleets to extend her dominance out to the third...