Free Republic

Though the tea party wasn’t particularly enthused about Mitt Romney’s presidential candidacy during the primary, one tea party leader who was present at the inception of the movement says the tea party will get behind the former Massachusetts governor going into the general election. “Absolutely, the tea party can and will support Mitt Romney in the general election, and with great energy in the door-to-door ground game,” said Michael Patrick Leahy, co-founder of The Nationwide Tea Party Coalition and author of the recently released book, “Covenant of Liberty: The Ideological Origins of the Tea Party Movement.” “It’s important also to...

For many conservative Republicans, the dream outcome of the primary season is a brokered convention. Disappointed in the four remaining choices, they hope to change horses in August, and draft their preferred candidate, be it Jeb Bush, Mitch Daniels, Chris Christie, or Paul Ryan. I've been adamant that such an outcome is extremely unlikely. For a brokered convention to occur, there has to be an almost perfect storm of events; the GOP elites can’t just declare shenanigans on the primary season and select a new nominee. Instead, something has to prevent any of the current candidates from clinching a majority...

Former President Jimmy Carter has sent North Korea a message of condolence over the death of Kim Jong-il and wished “every success” to the son expected to take over as dictator, according to the communist country's state-run news agency. A dispatch from the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Mr. Carter sent the message to Kim Jong-un, Kim Jong-il’s third son and heir apparent. “In the message, Jimmy Carter extended condolences to Kim Jong-un and the Korean people over the demise of leader Kim Jong-il. He wished Kim Jong-un every success as he assumes his new responsibility of leadership, looking...

According to recent polls, Paul ranks among the top three candidates in Iowa and New Hampshire. But unlike most candidates, given the war chest Paul has amassed and his ability to raise money, there’s no pressing reason for him to drop out quickly even if he begins with a string of disappointing early state performances. As of the fundraising quarter that ended Sept. 30, Paul had raised more than $12 million, the bulk of in small donations. Few others in the field can claim an ongoing donor base to raise money from once voting starts winnowing out the candidates. Paul...

One wonders, therefore, if a conservative case could be made for former Utah governor Jon Huntsman, as has been suggested by several conservative columnists recently, including George Will, Jim Pethokoukis, and Joe Scarborough. Indeed, it is interesting that Huntsman was so quickly dismissed as a RINO, when many of his positions actually appear to be to the right of both Romney and Gingrich. On health care, for example, Huntsman flirted with an individual mandate — unfortunately, a lot of conservatives did when the idea was being pushed by the Heritage Foundation — but, unlike Romneycare, the plan he ultimately developed...

“The best ideas are going to come out of the states,” said Republican presidential hopeful Jon Huntsman, speaking to a group of bloggers, online journalists and digital strategists at the Heritage Foundation. Huntsman, who has seen an uptick in interest in his candidacy since the last two Republican debates that showcased his foreign policy strengths, used the event to draw on his experience as Utah’s governor as a way to reinforce his domestic bonafides. Huntsman served as Utah’s governor from 2004 until 2009, when he was appointed by President Barack Obama to be U.S. ambassador to China. In a wide-ranging...

Tax cutter. Those lifetime lessons have made a big impact. Huntsman, like Thatcher, seems to be a conservative of intuition derived from personal experience. Huntsman a conservative? As governor, he massively cut income and sales taxes — instituting a 5 percent flat income tax — while expanding the state’s “rainy day” reserve fund. His approach to healthcare reform relied on markets rather than mandates. As the Club for Growth describes it, “Utah’s main health reform contained no individual mandate, no employer mandate, and has very limited regulatory authority. … It empowers individuals to take ownership of their own health insurance...

(snip) Jon Huntsman inexplicably chose to debut as the Republican for people who rather dislike Republicans, but his program is the most conservative. He endorses Paul Ryan’s budget and entitlement reforms. (Gingrich denounced Ryan’s Medicare reform as “right-wing social engineering.”) Huntsman would privatize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (Gingrich’s benefactor). Huntsman would end double taxation on investment by eliminating taxes on capital gains and dividends. (Romney would eliminate them only for people earning less than $200,000, who currently pay just 9.3 percent of them.) Huntsman’s thorough opposition to corporate welfare includes farm subsidies. (Romney has justified them as national security...

MERRIMACK, N.H. — Jon Huntsman has staked his presidential bid on doing well in New Hampshire. With few exceptions, the former two-term governor of Utah has campaigned exclusively in the Granite State. Two months ago, he moved his national campaign headquarters to Manchester, and he’s beginning to make some inroads there. Huntsman explained his strategy this way: He wants to avoid the meteoric rises and flameouts of Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry and Herman Cain. “I don’t want 15 minutes of fame,” Huntsman told reporters at the Merrimack Town Hall. “I want a sustained rise that isn’t fickle and isn’t short-lived,...

Jon Huntsman is rising in New Hampshire. If Huntsman comes back in New Hampshire, he is in the game. Here’s the funny thing about Jon Huntsman. His record as a Governor is more conservative than Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney combined. He is more pro-life than either of them. He is more economically wedded to the free market than either of them. He has better foreign policy experience than either of them. Huntsman should be a conservative hero in this race. But he is not because of his own campaign’s doing. The campaign made a conscious choice to give the...

This week we also learned more about the underhanded and undemocratic ways in which the Federal Reserve saved big banks last time around. (You should read Ron Suskind’s book, “Confidence Men: Wall Street, Washington, and the Education of a President.” To understand Mr. Geithner’s philosophy of unconditional bailouts, remember that he was president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York before becoming Treasury secretary.) Is there really no alternative to pouring good money after bad? (snip) The goal is simple, as Mr. Huntsman said in his recent Wall Street Journal opinion piece: make the banks small enough and simple...

What do you call a family-oriented former governor who supported and signed every pro-life bill sent his way, passed the largest tax cut in his state’s history, enacted the most expansive school voucher program in the nation and presided over what was cited as one of the most business-friendly states? Many Republicans, and much of the media, call this a “moderate.” That is how they are labeling former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, who officially entered the GOP presidential fray on Tuesday. Whenever Huntsman’s name is mentioned, it is usually accompanied by that most unhelpful of primary season adjectives. But while...

HANOVER, NH—Jon Huntsman walked out of the rear door of a Dartmouth auditorium. His head swiveled as he looked for the black SUV that will take him to his next stop. He had just given a speech emphasizing his claim that the future of America will not be decided on a battlefield in remotest Afghanistan but along the trade routes of the Pacific. The applause had barely died down in the hall as Huntsman exited into the quiet streets of Hanover. He took one second to sigh. He had just launched “Phase Two” of his campaign, and it was a...

With a brand new proposal, Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman is the only GOP 2012er to have moved beyond “repeal Dodd Frank” (which sounds like a return-to-the-status-quo) and fashioned a serious and comprehensive — and bold — financial reform plan. He’s for repealing Dodd Frank, of course, but also a) reducing bank leverage by axing the deduction for interest payments and b) shutting down Fannie and Freddie. But eliminating “too big to fail” is really the core of what he’s trying to do. As Team Huntsman correctly notes, the six largest U.S. financial institutions are significantly bigger than they were...

When I left the White House beat to cover Congress, I told people what the biggest difference was between the two beats. People in the White House and Congress lie to you, I would say; the difference is that on the Hill it’s not the same lie told by the same seven people. That was true until the super committee was created. Now, instead of politicians lying to their constituents and reporters, they are lying to themselves. Not rationalizing, or trimming the truth, or speaking in euphemisms. Lying. Bald. Faced. Lying. The super committee is a thought experiment gone awry....

Herman Cain is theoretically a great candidate for president. He's a smart, black, successful, conservative "outsider." But as the reality sets in, it's clear that Mr. Cain is barely more ready for the office he seeks than Sarah Palin (or Barack Obama) was four years ago. Cain's performance in a long interview on Monday crystallized this view which has been forming in the minds of many GOP voters in recent weeks. Mr. Cain's responses in Saturday's Republican debate in South Carolina -- which focused on foreign policy -- were a bunch of platitudes about getting good advice before making a...

The thought startles. Is Newt Gingrich America's Winston Churchill? The former Speaker has repeatedly dazzled in the ongoing series of GOP presidential debates. He is "the adult in the room," the man Republicans keep saying they would like to see on the debate stage with Barack Obama. The latest polls (Wall Street Journal, CBS, and Marist) have him vaulting into a tie with Mitt Romney behind Herman Cain or leapfrogging Cain to barely trail Romney. This video of a Frank Luntz focus group that appeared on Sean Hannity's TV show following a recent GOP debate is typical of the changing...

It has nothing to do with anything Gloria Allred has her hands in. It’s his continued lack of preparedness on, and familiarity with, basic domestic and foreign policy issues. Sorry, Cain fans. Tried to give him the benefit of the doubt. But like Rick Perry, Herman Cain is just not ready for prime time. The real Cain scandal: He can barely form a coherent thought on Libya when put on the spot and garbles collective bargaining 101 facts. Watch for yourselves. Take anti-depressants or a stiff drink first: On Libya (listen for the part where he excuses his hemming and...

<p>"At the press conference it was brought up that Karen Kraushaar had come out as one of the women, and we've come to find out that her son works at Politico," Block said.</p> <p>Kraushaar told CNN Tuesday that she accused Cain of sexual harassment when he led the National Restaurant Association in the late 1990s. Details of her case emerged through her lawyer last week, but she refused to go public at the time.</p>

New Yorkers are getting an uncomfortable look at the ugly realities behind what we like to think of as the country’s bluest, most European and most enlightened city. A series of trials now underway in the Bronx reveal the harsh truth of embedded corruption and contempt for the public at the heart (if that is the right word) of the New York City police union. A palpably shocked New York Times covered the story last week as union-organized cops hurled their venom and hate at the law they are sworn to uphold: As 16 police officers were arraigned at State...