Free Republic

When it comes to parenting, I find myself siding with the French. Quelle surprise! Allow me to turn your attention to an article in a recent edition of the Wall Street Journal: "Why French Parents are Superior." It's a catchy title, but a more accurate one would be "Why American Parents are Inferior," because it appears that the French are simply doing what one might expect of anyone in the role. We join author Pamela Druckerman after a harrowing vacation weekend in a French coastal city with her husband and toddler, where we immediately get a hint at the nature...

John Hinderaker encapsulates an assumption which has started to take hold among many of Mitt Romney’s backers: that the fault for what appears to be an increasingly likely 2012 election loss lies with conservatives for making this a real primary. Speaking of the see-saw of not-Romney candidates, he writes: The same pattern has been repeated more than once during the current, discouraging presidential nominating process. If the GOP loses this year’s presidential contest, the party will have no one to blame but its own activists. I'm hearing this meme repeated by many increasingly dejected Romney supporters around Washington, D.C. See,...

When Ruth Bader Ginsburg said in Egypt recently that she "would not look to the U.S. Constitution if [she] were drafting a constitution in the year 2012," it was no surprise. In that the Constitution militates against a nanny state and preserves a status quo, it is by its very nature a conservative document. This is why liberals hate it so. And, as the power of the left grows via their control over the culture, their teeth and contempt for the Constitution are displayed ever more (see Obama, Barack et al.). But what of conservatives? Some may say that I...

"This is the point of commie-lib politics. They will use their power to take your power. The commie-libs make demands, not because of the facts and the "progress" toward their utopia, but because if you do what they want you will be weaker and vulnerable to the next demand. Yet, the guileless Conservatives debate the merits of the details of the commie-lib demand, or they'll point out this latest demand is inconsistent with some past demand. The details and the consistency matter only to the Conservatives, yet that is what they spend 98% of their energy discussing. You might as...

The Barack Obama budget document just released is not a budget. It is a work of literature. It is Barack Obama’s published apologia for a second presidential term, in which—as the budget and its tax proposals make clear—he will reset the historic balance in America between the public sector and the private sector. This reset will require large wealth transfers—from individuals and companies to the government, and from the government back to the people. The Obama budget is described everywhere as a “political document,” but it is more than that. Mr. Obama hasn’t assembled these ideas just to get elected....

The registry isn’t entirely gone .... But Wednesday’s vote in the House of Commons, where the bill to scrap the registry and delete its record passed third reading — with two NDP MPs breaking ranks with their party to vote with the government — means it’s all over but for the crying .... This is a major victory for the Tories, who have been gunning for the registry (pun not intended, but acknowledged) since the day it was enacted. Some would argue its demise is a good thing for Canadians. But anyone can see that it’s a good thing for...

Excerpts from American Thinker by Edmund Wright: Couldn’t agree more To be sure, the only reason Santorum has gotten away with this is that no one has taken his candidacy seriously enough to bother to look. He has not been above the fray. He has been off to the side of the fray. Ironically, he has been the “look at me” candidate all along, so now perhaps it is indeed time to look at him. Be careful what you wish for, Senator. Oh My! Rick actually published a Pamphlet in his failed 2006 Campaign which tried to show Pennsylvanians how...

Consider this a corroboration of Gallup and Pew, both of which have recorded a surge for Rick Santorum that makes him the national frontrunner — if not in each state. The CBS/New York Times poll shows Santorum gaining 14 points in a single month, eclipsing Mitt Romney by three points (still within the MOE), whose support stayed virtually unchanged from January. Almost all of the gain comes at the expense of Newt Gingrich, who dropped to fourth place behind Ron Paul among Republican primary voters: Rick Santorum has pulled slightly ahead of Mitt Romney in Republican primary voters’ preference for...

She has the ability to speak about issues that profoundly bother the audience in common ways and words that listeners instantly recognize and wish they had thought to say just that way. Watch in the video below of her full CPAC speech for how this church-going mother of five mocks Obama's Winning the Future program with an almost off-color aside. And prompts shared laughter, not shock. [....] Instead, instinctively Palin doesn't speak at or to audiences. She speaks for them. She tells them what they've already accomplished through the tea party, for instance, and what they can accomplish this year...

Occupy protesters, conservatives clash at CPAC conferenceBy Josh Lederman - 02/10/12 01:33 PM ET A brief altercation broke out between Occupy Wall Street protesters and conservative activists at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Friday. A group of Occupy protesters who infiltrated the hotel by registering and paying for the conference blocked a television screen where an overflow crowd was watching Mitt Romney address the convention, their mouths taped over to symbolize being silenced. There was a brief clash between the protesters and conference-goers, who booed and yelled while shoving them out of the way. Security was summoned to the...

Conservative columnist and Conservative Political Action Conference fan favorite Ann Coulter took to the stage at CPAC Friday afternoon to offer some comments about her frustrations with President Obama, her support for presidential candidate Mitt Romney, and the general unattractiveness of liberal women. In response to an audience question regarding how a person could be both a women and a conservative, Coulter explained that is what true women actually are. “I think all real females are right-wingers,” Coulter said, ” and I can tell you that based on experience — and my bodyguard will back me up on this —...

Republicans are expressing fresh concerns that Mitt Romney is limping toward the presidential nomination, suffering new blows at the very moment he needs to grow stronger if he is to take on President Obama in November. Even before Rick Santorum’s surprising sweep of three contests on Tuesday, the Romney campaign was receiving a steady stream of advice — and warnings — from Republicans who are increasingly anxious about Romney’s performance, which has not improved over nearly six weeks since the state caucuses and primaries began.

For the last three years, the Republican Party has been driven by what it’s against. Since taking office, President Barack Obama has created a target-rich environment for the GOP: an $800 billion stimulus that failed to deliver on promises to reduce unemployment, a $1 trillion health care overhaul that remains deeply unpopular, three years of record spending, and a $5 trillion increase in the national debt. ......................................................... For the last three years, the Republican Party has been driven by what it’s against. Since taking office, President Barack Obama has created a target-rich environment for the GOP: an $800 billion stimulus...

Jay Cost did a little mythbusting Monday regarding conservative support for Mitt Romney: The conventional wisdom is that conservatives are dissatisfied with Romney, whose electoral coalition is comprised mostly of moderates and even liberal voters. That might be true of conservative media elites, but the broader electorate of conservatives have been much more amenable to Romney. No doubt, Romney is dominating among moderates and liberals, but his haul is just as strong among “somewhat conservative” voters. It is only among the “very conservative” that Gingrich has a lead – although even this is much less than what one might have...

Pope John Paul II, surveying from his seat in the eternal hereafter the battle between the American Catholic Church and the Obama administration over mandated contraception services, must be permitting himself a sad smile. The pope knew more than most about the innate tensions between the state and its citizens. The Obamaites will object that it is unfair to liken their government to the Communist Party of Poland. That is not the point. What the former Karol Wojtyla knew is that any state will claim benevolence on behalf of doing whatever it thinks it needs to do in pursuit of...

Movieguide: ‘Conservative’ movies make more money than ‘liberal’ ones Alexandra Myers - The Daily Caller 56 mins ago Being a liberal or a conservative doesn’t only matter in politics — it matters in the box office, too. Movieguide, the Christian family guide to movies and entertainment, did a report showing that conservative movies make more money than liberal ones. The Hollywood Reporter writes that the criteria Movieguide used to rate movies include whether a title promotes capitalism or socialism, or if it promotes or degrades biblical principles. Hot political issues, such as violence, feminism and homosexuality, are also considered. Movieguide...

Do we want a big name blogger - one who is nearly a member of the traditional media - named to the CPAC Blogger of the Year? Or do we want a grassroots, self-taught blogger like you and me to represent us? I know many of the bloggers who will most likely be nominated and would be proud to call them friends, but Sonja Harris better represents me and most of the Pajamas crowd. So read the blog, nominate Red Sonja!EMAIL THIS FORM, FILLED OUT WITH YOUR INFORMATION, TO BloggerAward@conservative.org CPAC 2012 Blogger of the Year Award Please submit nominations...

There are a lot of things NOT to like about liberals, but you have to give them some credit. These are people who are badly, dangerously, and devastatingly wrong on almost every issue of consequence and yet, year after year, they hang in there at a rough parity with conservatives. So, they may do a lot wrong, but there are things we can learn from the Left. 1) Fight Harder: Liberals win a lot of battles just because they're willing to fight harder. Look at what happened to Susan G. Komen for the Cure. Komen decided not to keep giving...

I have been writing for a long time about the real news in the Battleground Poll results over the last decade.  These bipartisan polls predict election results with remarkable accuracy and which also reveal the answers to all the questions respondents provided -- including, critically, how people describe themselves ideologically. In the last twenty consecutive Battleground Poll reports over the last ten years, the overwhelming majority of Americans have described themselves as "very conservative" or "somewhat conservative," although the poll provides six other possible responses:  "moderate," "somewhat liberal," "very liberal," or "don't know/unsure."  On average, about 60% of Americans in...

In the spring of 2011, Donald Trump threatened to start a revolution within the Republican Party, appealing to the naive among Tea Partiers by promising to take on President Obama as no one else could. All too many members of the conservative media, including even some highly reputable ones, took his nonsense seriously.

PRINCETON, NJ -- Mississippi remains the most conservative state in the union, and, along with Utah, Wyoming, and Alabama, is one of four states with 50% or more of its population identifying as conservative. At the other end of the ideological spectrum, 40% District of Columbia residents and 30% of Massachusetts residents identify as liberal; all other states have a liberal population of 26% or less.

Tax questions are among the most commonly polled issues by America’s opinion survey industry. It is important that conservatives use this positive tax polling data to our advantage, since the American people are generally supportive of the conservative message on taxes. "Do you favor or oppose completely eliminating the estate tax, that is, the tax on property left by people who die?" When the Kaiser Family Foundation, National Public Radio and Harvard University asked about the "death tax," 60% favored eliminating it; 54% favored eliminating the tax when it was called the "estate tax" in another question on the same...

The earth has become small, and on it hops the Last Man, who makes everything small. His species is ineradicable as the flea; the Last Man lives longest. -- Nietzsche So it seems it will be Mitt. And good thing he won't be offering his main rival the second spot on the ticket. "Mitt & Newt" sounds like the name of a comedy act or a network sitcom. Not right for something epic or tragic. Which is to say… not right for the times. Not even close.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acpxp93P1M0&feature=g-all-u&context=G277ceb8FAAAAAAAACAA

Bob McDonnell, Ken Cuccinelli to speak at CPAC By Anita Kumar Gov. Bob McDonnell and Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli both will be speaking at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference next month— a gathering that often provides a stage for presidential hopefuls. Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (AP Photo/Richmond Times-Dispatch, Bob Brown) Cuccinelli will be getting the “Defender of the Constitution Award” on Feb. 9. McDonnell will be speaking Feb. 10. Former governor James Gilmore (R) will be speaking on a panel about whether the Arab Spring is good or bad for the United States. McDonnell and Cuccinelli have been...

Ah, yes, Newt Gingrich did in the last days before the Florida primary precisely what I predicted he would do. He hurled wild charges at Mitt Romney that suggested Newt was losing his grip. He charged Mr. Romney with lying and falling into the hands of George Soros and Goldman Sachs, and he did this while seeking the Republican presidential nomination. Newt quoted Mr. Soros as saying, “We think either Obama or Romney’s fine, but Gingrich, he would change things.” Citing Goldman Sachs‘ profiting from the bailout, he linked the Wall Street firm to anti-Gingrich ads, filling in the dots:...

An exuberant Ann Romney said on the evening of her husband’s Florida primary win Tuesday that she was amused by attacks on the former Massachusetts governor that characterized him as a “moderate” or a “liberal.” “It’s been funny to me. What’s next, a communist? I don’t know, it’s been humorous,” she said with a laugh during an interview with CNN moments before the network called the state for Mitt Romney. “We are looking forward to a win tonight.”

Let’s say, hypothetically, for just a moment here, that some of the pundits are right – that Romney’s landslide victory in Florida means he really might be inevitable. I’ve heard more than a few of you Newt and Paul supporters out there; “If Romney wins, I’m staying home on election day”. While I’m not especially passionate about Romney just yet, I’ll reiterate what an awful idea this is. Don’t go there, people. I’ve got ten suggestions for much more-productive responses.

Former President Gerald R. Ford says Ronald Reagan can never be elected president, but Reagan says if Ford thinks he can do better, he should "pack his long johns" and join the fray. Meanwhile, fellow Republican George Bush, who already is trying to head off a Reagan nomination, says he can foresee a Ford challenge if...

This shouldn't surprise many people. According to a Pew Research poll, the liberals who relentlessly advocate higher taxes are three times more likely than conservatives to think it's okay to cheat when paying them. They are more than twice as likely to excuse getting paid under the table so as to keep collecting unemployment benefits. Liberals also have less of a problem with shoplifting and buying stolen goods. A study published in the Journal of Legal Tax Research confirms that liberals take tax evasion less seriously. One in the Journal of Business Ethics found that conservatives have "higher levels of...

The RepublicanParty has a tenuous hold on the conservative movement in America. At present the only home for the 40 per cent of the electorate that identify themselves as conservative is the Republican Party, but it appears that those who are nominally identified as the "Republican Establishment" are doing all they can to alienate the vast majority of the current base of the Party. There is no office on ConnecticutAvenue in Washington with a sign reading "The RepublicanEstablishment" or the "The Democratic Establishment"; rather it is an amalgam of like-minded groups with one common interest: control of the government purse-strings....

[...]If you want to know what’s going on in your community – go to the community barbershop. I did that yesterday. Turns out, my barber has been taking a very unscientific poll on who his patrons would vote for in the GOP Primary here in North Carolina (currently scheduled for May). He has been polling since the South Carolina Primary. The results are interesting and informative.· My barber told me that, to a man, every single patron stated they would vote for Gingrich in May.· My community is heavily Democratic and heavily conservative.· I pressed to learn who those would-be...

In a new study, bound to stir controversy, researchers have found that people with low IQ tend to have socially conservative ideals and prejudiced attitudes toward others, including people of different races and homosexuals. The new study published earlier this month in the journal Psychological Science found that British children with lower general intelligence factor (similar to IQ) are more likely to be racially prejudiced as adults. "We found that lower general intelligence in childhood predicts greater racism in adulthood, and this effect was largely mediated via conservative ideology," lead researchers Gordon Hodson and Michael A. Busseri of Brock University,...

Allen West will normally say anything that will get him onto Fox News, but his latest comments are interesting. Over-the-top, as usual, but interesting.

I happened upon an interesting depiction of everyday life for OWS protesters in Zuccotti Park called “The 99 Percent: Vanguard” on CurrentTV. This documentary tries to show that OWS protestors are striving to promote a brotherhood for America of sorts and bring down the rich corporate systems while promoting globalization. To an uninformed person, the Movement seems like an innocent, humanitarian mission. However, the film is subtly promoting an anti-American way of life. The first flaw in the movement is a failure to recognize actual corruption. The over-regulation and crimes committed by government officials concerning Wall Street and the economy...

Former governor Tommy G. Thompson said Monday that he would not second-guess Gov. Scott Walker for taking steps to greatly limit collective bargaining for most public employees. Thompson, who is running for the Senate seat being vacated by U.S. Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.), also indicated he would not support so-called right-to-work legislation in Wisconsin. Right-to-work legislation forbids forcing workers to join a union or pay dues in order to get or keep a job. It has emerged as an issue in other states, including Indiana. "I think that right now we do not need any further deterioration of labor-management relationships...

Do you enjoy being conservative? Is it fun for you? Do you enjoy constantly being mocked by your self-righteous peers and swaggering college professors as they trample on your cherished values? I know I don't. And yet I remain not merely a conservative, but a devoted conservative. It takes a special kind of courage to stand up for what is unpopular. We know immediately that there is no social reward. Yet we persist in our belief, unable to escape the truth that lies at its heart. Conservatives understand the paradox: the best way for government to improve society is for...

With Newt Gingrich’s overwhelming victory in the state of South Carolina, the former House Speaker is quickly changing the dynamics of this election for the GOP nomination. Before the campaign season began, the conventional wisdom has been that Mitt Romney was a much more electable candidate than Newt Gingrich. We have also repeatedly been told that the former Massachusetts governor would be a more formidable candidate. When it comes to Mitt’s invincibility, they’ve obviously failed to convince Newt Gingrich. Apparently, they are increasingly failing to convince hordes of Republican voters.

"On the economy, the facts are these. When Obama took office, the United States was losing around 750,000 jobs a month. The last quarter of 2008 saw an annualized drop in growth approaching 9 percent. This was the most serious downturn since the 1930s, there was a real chance of a systemic collapse of the entire global financial system, and unemployment and debt—lagging indicators—were about to soar even further. No fair person can blame Obama for the wreckage of the next 12 months, as the financial crisis cut a swath through employment. The job collapse bottomed out at the beginning...

*snip* The reason he'll win? He knows who he is. And the Republican politicians don't know who they are. They've forgotten what they're about, or perhaps like some isolated tribe, they've lost the language necessary to explain it to themselves. Their voters know this and don't really believe them anymore. And that's why Obama will win. And the Republican establishment that seeks to unseat him? Their guy Mitt Romney calls himself a conservative. But he's really a John Kerry in Republican clothing, right down to the phony laugh, and his past flips and flops will haunt him in defeat. Shouldn't...

Conservatives in crisisBy Brent Budowsky - 01/11/12 06:45 PM ET As conservatives prepare for an urgent meeting this weekend to discuss their options in the 2012 campaign, they face an epic crisis of identity and electability that creates rising odds for the reelection of President Obama. Throughout the 2012 campaign, there has not been one credible conservative candidate for the presidency. Conservatives now face a choice between a front-runner of no lasting convictions — who has lost campaigns for two out of three major offices he has previously run for and who champions a predatory capitalism that applauds layoffs when...

Many conservatives are absolutely perplexed by the question of what motivates liberals to take the patently wrong political positions they do. It’s difficult to explain it without believing such obviously wrong ideas like “liberals are just stupid”, or “they want to destroy our country”, but sometimes we resort to those explanations out of pure frustration. But what is the explanation? Why do seemingly good, intelligent people take positions that cause so much harm in the face of all the facts? I’ve finally stumbled upon the answer, and it’s so stunningly simple, yet profound in its implications, that it’s absolutely mind-boggling....

It is with great sadness that we must report the loss of our dear friend Tony Blankley. Tony passed away Saturday after a long battle with stomach cancer. Tony was a longtime friend of our parent organization the Media Research Center, serving as one of MRC's DisHonors Awards judges in the past few years. Tony's syndicated column was also published on NewsBusters. Tony was a veteran warrior for the conservative movement having served as a speechwriter for the Reagan administration, as press secretary to Speaker Newt Gingrich, as editorial page editor for the Washington Times from 2002-2007, and as a...

Tony Blankely, a noted conservative author and commentator and former editorial page editor of The Washington Times, died Sunday morning, according to family sources. He was 63 and had been battling stomach cancer. Mr. Blankley was an executive vice president of the Edelman public-relations firm in Washington, a visiting senior fellow in national-security communications at the Heritage Foundation, a syndicated newspaper columnist and an on-air political commentator for CNN, NBC and NPR. He was also a regular weekly guest on “The McLaughlin Group.” Mr. Blankley was editorial page editor of The Times from 2002 to 2007, and from 1990 to...

Using the measure of positive accomplishments, only one candidate this year has achieved the meaningful, conservative change in Washington that we need. That candidate is the only one whose past performance will ensure the conservative, free market, pro-liberty solutions that will save our country and return us to prosperity. That candidate is Newt Gingrich.

Given that we all usually have room for improvement in our lives, resolutions are always a good idea.  They are even more important when there is so much to be gained (or lost) for not bettering ourselves.  So it is with this coming election year for conservatives.With that in mind, the following resolutions are offered up for conservatives everywhere in 2012:#1) Don't be a cannibal.  No matter who you are for in any given race, don’t “go cannibal� on fellow conservatives over who they support.  You might win for the moment, but you’ll lose productive relationships in the long run.As...

Now that the dust has settled on the 2010 midterm elections, it's slowly becoming clear just how monumental the results really are. We saw an extreme left-wing agenda suffer a crushing defeat. At the ballot box, voters took Obamacare and the stimulus and wrapped them right around the necks of those same House members and senators who had arrogantly dismissed the concerns voiced in countless town halls and Tea Party rallies up and down the country. Voters sent commonsense conservatives a clear mandate to hold the line against the Obama agenda? Does that mean Republican candidates can look forward with...

New study brings to light physiological, cognitive differences of political left and right From cable TV news pundits to red-meat speeches in Iowa and New Hampshire, our nation's deep political stereotypes are on full display: Conservatives paint self-indulgent liberals as insufferably absent on urgent national issues, while liberals say fear-mongering conservatives are fixated on exaggerated dangers to the country. A new study from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln suggests there are biological truths to such broad brushstrokes. In a series of experiments, researchers closely monitored physiological reactions and eye movements of study participants when shown combinations of both pleasant and unpleasant...

Tea party favorite and pro-life conservative Sarah Palin and her family were viciously attacked to the point she chose not to run. Congressional Tea Party Caucus leader and constitutional pro-life conservative Michele Bachmann had early promise, but I guess came across as too "shrill" and consequently her numbers driven down to the point she exited. Successful pro-life conservative Texas Governor Perry hit the race at the top but due to missteps and less than stellar debate performances soon fizzled and is now all but gone. Pro-life conservative businessman Cain and his famous 9-9-9 plan had promise, but was driven out...

At least one well-known conservative has begun speaking out-loud the notion that an Obama re-election might not be the very worst thing that could happen, either to the nation or to Republicans—even to REAL Republicans–that is, conservatives, members of the Party base whose mistrust of Obama is nearly equaled by their mistrust of Mitt Romney and the 2008 ‘Ghost of Romney past’, John McCain. The best-selling author of “Looking out for Number One” and “Restoring the American Dream”, Robert Ringer has been a Libertarian/conservative for decades. And given 5 decades of Libertarian leanings, his support of Ron Paul should surprise...