Free Republic

We've all heard them... Republicans are racist or their bigots or perhaps that conservatives are a bunch of rednecks, maybe even a bit like Cletus the Slack Jawed Yokel from the Simpson's in that episode where Bart and Lisa get to look into the future and there he is the Vice President. The stereotypes and the images are all out there and there are touted for the world to see as if somehow the more you repeat them the more credence they are lent or the more weight that they are given. It's almost become a punchline for a joke,...

David Cameron is to launch the biggest shake-up of the Conservative Party for decades as part of a bold plan to win support across the whole of the United Kingdom. The Tories are to forge a new party with the Ulster Unionists to try to secure broader backing for Mr Cameron before the next election. The move to restore a link severed more than 30 years ago forms a central plank in a new Conservative strategy to broaden the party's appeal outside England.

In fact, as much as he despised Clinton, Barr thinks President Bush is worse. "What George W. Bush has done to the fabric of our constitutional government, to separation of powers, to a government of limited powers is absolutely unforgivable," he said. That prospect is greatest in Barr's home state of Georgia. Obama is already running ads targeting an untapped pool of African Americans and younger voters. State polls suggest Barr's single-digit following pulls mostly from McCain. "If Barr can win 5 or 6 points of the total vote -- it's an if but it's conceivable -- then Obama could...

There seems to be a kumbaya moment occurring on the conservative front, and it’s one that would apply a salve to Senator John McCain’s uneven, unsettled relationship with the religious right. Enter James Dobson, who has at times been blistering in his criticisms of Mr. McCain. The religious right’s more favored candidates — from former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee to even former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson — are no longer options. Thus, The Associated Press is reporting, in a preview of Mr. Dobson’s radio show tomorrow, that he is amending his views to be more embracing of the presumptive Republican...

<p>There seems to be a kumbaya moment occurring on the conservative front, and it’s one that would apply a salve to Senator John McCain’s uneven, unsettled relationship with the religious right.</p> <p>Enter James Dobson, who has at times been blistering in his criticisms of Mr. McCain. The religious right’s more favored candidates — from former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee to even former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson — are no longer options.</p>

Almost anything can happen in an election year, but among conservatives, almost everyone seems to agree that no matter who captures the White House in November, the movement that has ruled the Republican Party since the 1960s and mostly dominated American politics since 1980 has lost its way. Across the spectrum of the right, writers and thinkers have turned their relentless analysis inward, a kind of political EST seminar aimed at self-transformation.

Address on behalf of Senator Barry Goldwater Rendezvous with Destiny October 27, 1964 This speech is a verbatim transcript of "The Speech" given as a portion of a pre-recorded, nationwide televised program sponsored by Goldwater-Miller on behalf of Barry Goldwater, Republican candidate for the presidency whom Ronald Reagan actively supported. 4,626 words Thank you very much. Thank you and good evening. The sponsor has been identified, but unlike most television programs, the performer hasn't been provided with a script. As a matter of fact, I have been permitted to choose my own ideas regarding the choice that we face...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (BP)--Abortion may not be the leading national issue according to the polls but it is a top one to many social conservatives, and Republican John McCain increasingly is going out of his way to make his pro-life views known, even saying at one town hall forum that pro-lifers could count on him being an "active" advocate for the unborn. In at least two town hall forums in recent days, McCain has turned questions not directly related to abortion into answers about his pro-life views. Each time, his answers were one of his biggest applause lines, with many...

President McCain in 2000 I must be one of the few conservative writers in cyberspace who never feared a McCain presidency. When Senator McCain looked like he might win the Republican nomination in 2000, I asked what, exactly, my friends were so worried about. McCain was honest, like Bush, while Clinton and Gore were steeped in moral slipperiness. McCain was pro-life, like Bush, while Clinton and Gore were pro-abortion. McCain, like Bush, supported a strong military, while Clinton famously “loathed” the military and Gore followed him like a trained poodle. McCain’s ACU (American Conservative Union) voting record is conservative and...

Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr praised Al Gore on Thursday for his commitment to addressing climate change and said he has met with the former vice president several times to discuss possible solutions. In a speech Thursday at Constitution Hall in Washington, Gore said that he has also discussed climate change with presidential candidates Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.). Both McCain and Obama believe that action needs to be taken on global warming and have separately criticized the Bush administration for its approach on the issue. Barr said he believes the most effective energy solution will...

A few nights ago, I had occasion to attend an event at a conservative organization here in Phoenix. I will not say which organization, but I have it on good authority—and observed for myself—that the organization is slowly being taken over by libertarians.In many ways, conservatives and libertarians draw from the same ideological well: 18th century classical liberalism. We have much in common when it comes to the notion that government should be limited. Of course, it's a matter of degree; conservatives see a need for a small government, to be sure—but not quite so small as the libertarians.We...

My new book White Protestant Nation: The Rise of the American Conservative Movement places conservatism within the big picture of modern American history. The book traces the origins of modern conservatism to the 1920s. It explains why conservativism triumphed in the late twentieth century and why it is has fallen into disarray under the leadership of President George W. Bush. The review of my book in the New York Times by former George W. Bush speechwriter David Frum shows that at least some diehard defenders of the Bush administration do not wish to enter into in a serious conversation about...

In most lines of work, a person does his credibility real damage by denying the obvious and asserting the manifestly untrue. Yet in the book world, there can be very large rewards for a writer who boldly turns reality on its head. With “White Protestant Nation: The Rise of the American Conservative Movement,” Allan J. Lichtman apparently hopes to claim some of those rewards for himself. Lichtman’s thesis is embedded in his title: American conservatism should be seen as an ideology devoted above all to advancing “an antipluralistic ideal of America as a unified, white Protestant nation.” This breathtaking argument...

The judiciary is becoming an important election issue. John McCain is warning conservatives that control of today's finely balanced Supreme Court depends on his election. Unfortunately, his jurisprudence is likely to be anything but conservative. The idea of a "living Constitution" long has been popular on the political left. Conservatives routinely dismiss such result-oriented justice, denouncing "judicial activism" and proclaiming their fidelity to "original intent." However, many Republicans, like Mr. McCain, are just as result-oriented as their Democratic opponents. They only disagree over the result desired. Judge-made rights are wrong because there is no constitutional warrant behind them. The Constitution...

Despite worsening economic conditions and a news backdrop that supposedly favors Democrats, presumed Republican standard-bearer John McCain remains only 3 points behind rival Barack Obama in the latest IBD/TIPP Poll. But the poll also shows McCain isn't pulling as well as expected from the independents and moderates to whom his "maverick" reputation was thought to appeal. He also has yet to close the sale with his party's conservative base. Compared with the 78% support that McCain has with Republicans in general, conservatives back him by 67%, with 17% still undecided. Obama polls 13% among conservatives. In sharp contrast, liberals favor...

I'm a lifelong Republican - a supply-side conservative. I worked in the Reagan White House. I was the chief economist at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for five years. In 1994, I helped write the Republican Contract with America. I served on Bob Dole's presidential campaign team and was chief economist for Jack Kemp's Empower America. This November, I'm voting for Barack Obama. When I first made this decision, many colleagues were shocked. How could I support a candidate with a domestic policy platform that's antithetical to almost everything I believe in? The answer is simple: Unjustified war and unconstitutional...

Only Liberals Could Believe Government Good at Predicting Prices Whenever conservatives push for developing more domestic energy, liberals respond by saying increased oil production, whether from the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) or Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), would have no effect on prices. And they always trot out the same Energy Information Administration reports predicting that opening up ANWR would decrease the price of a barrel of oil by only 41 cents by 2026. For liberals, such precise predictions of commodity prices decades from now only build faith in the government’s numbers. Conservatives know better. Conservatives know that if the...

John McCain is expected to have New York's Conservative Party line in the November presidential election, which could provide him with symbolic value nationally but not enough votes to win in a Democratic-leaning state where recent polls show Barack Obama with a comfortable lead. New York Conservative Party Chairman Mike Long said in an interview today that the expected September endorsement of McCain would be "a plus" for the Arizona senator among conservative voters around the country because New York is the only place with a statewide ballot line for the Conservative Party. McCain has clear conservative credentials - leadership...

p>Well, you can add another candidate I won’t be voting for in November to my list; Chuck Baldwin of the Constitution party who has all but pulled a John Kerry and insulted our troops by inferring that they are part what he calls the “lunacy� of the Iraq War. By correlation, if the mission is “lunacy� than those that are willingly supporting it and singing up for the job must be “lunatics�. Baldwin decried “the bi-partisan complicity that has allowed the illegal, immoral, unconstitutional war that has resulted in the slaughter of four thousand American soldiers and untold innocent Iraqis�....

Seems like we've lost a lot of conservatives this year: Tony Snow, Charlton Heston, Frank O'Connell, Jesse Helms, E. Victor Milione, Robert Jastrow, and, of course, William F. Buckley, Jr.

National Republican leaders unveiled a Web site Friday that they hope will encourage grass-roots participation in the shaping of the party's 2008 platform. Republican leaders say they think the site, www.gopplatform2008.com, will create an online community allowing anyone with access to a computer to offer ideas, to comment on others' ideas, and submit videos about their views. "I feel certain we'll get some great ideas," said Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., co-chairman of the Republican platform committee. "Will that be the majority? I have no way of gauging."

Conservative activists are preparing to do battle with allies of Sen. John McCain in advance of September's Republican National Convention, hoping to prevent his views on global warming, immigration, stem cell research and campaign finance from becoming enshrined in the party's official declaration of principles. .... McCain is "really out of step with the strong majority of his party," said Myron Ebell, director of energy and global warming policy at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, which opposes McCain's positions on climate change. "He might get what he wants. And he might get a change. But I don't think it's going to...

This day has been a long time coming. We’ve arrived at a time in American history when we have reached the bottom of the barrel in terms of political talent and no decent American truly qualified to lead the free world would ever even consider entering the cesspool of national politics. Americans have never been so disgusted with their federal government - and rightfully so. No matter which party the people have put in power, once in Washington DC, all politicians find a way to sell out the American people for a career ride on America’s best get-rich-quick scheme of...

Conservatives have rarely been comfortable with Sen. John McCain and they're worried that the presumptive Republican presidential nominee will try to mess with the basic GOP platform that "currently reflects the policies and principles of President Bush," Michael D. Shear tells us this morning. Conservatives seem to have particular concerns about McCain's views on global warming, immigration, stem cell research and campaign finance.We don't ask our Readers Who Comment to identify their political leanings, but many of those who have filed on this article seem to be Democrats, because they're enjoying the fight. Some who seem to come from the...

Conservative activists are preparing to do battle with allies of Sen. John McCain in advance of September's Republican National Convention, hoping to prevent his views on global warming, immigration, stem cell research and campaign finance from becoming enshrined in the party's official declaration of principles.

The "Obamacans" that Sen. Barack Obama used to joke about - Republican apostates who whispered their support for his candidacy - have morphed into a new phenomenon, or syndrome, as detractors like to call it: the Obamacons. These are conservatives who have publicly endorsed the presumptive Democratic nominee, dissidents from the brain trust of think tanks, ex-officials and policy magazines that have fueled the Republican Party since the 1960s. Scratch the surface of this elite, and one finds a profound dismay that is far more damaging to the GOP than the usual 10 percent of registered Republicans expected to switch...

John McCain has stepped up his appeal to Christian conservatives, meeting recently with religious leaders in Ohio and making a publicized pilgrimage to see Billy Graham. McCain advisers believe religious-right voters will come around in November. The campaign's internal polls suggest that the Arizona Republican has a 60 percent margin of support among evangelicals over Mr. Obama. But diminished turnout in the group, particularly in close states, could be fatal to Mr. McCain. Mr. Scarborough, who backed Mike Huckabee in the GOP primary, said his primary motivation is not enthusiasm about Mr. McCain but fear of Mr. Obama. "I am...

Sen. John McCain is making surprising headway with religious conservatives - that part of the Republican electoral coalition he was expected to find the most resistant. For a campaign that Republican critics have called ill-managed, disorganized and message-challenged, the Arizona senator's organization has, from all outward appearances, been doing things right in its appeals to evangelicals and other religious conservatives. In the past week, Mr. McCain won over a major group of social conservatives, thanks to personal appeals, and the campaign has made personnel moves appealing to religious voters. In Denver last week, a meeting of nearly 100 religious conservative...

Last week, a conservative magazine reported that I would not vote for John McCain for President. The magazine based its claim on a column I had written in May 2007 about why I could not support John McCain for the Republican presidential nomination. The magazine was wrong. Though I did not support Sen. McCain in the Republican primaries, the moment he became the presumptive Republican candidate I endorsed him wholeheartedly for President Of The United States. Having not been a supporter from the outset, perhaps my endorsement of John McCain will carry more weight among conservatives who are still undecided...

Sen. John McCain should be the next president of the United States. He is wrong on many issues - global warming, campaign finance-reform and immigration (to name a few). But on the central challenges of our time, he has demonstrated the judgment and courage necessary to be the leader of the Free World. In comparison to his Democratic rival for the White House, Sen. Barack Obama, the Republican maverick is clearly the better man - and the better candidate. ..... Mr. McCain is the very opposite of Mr. Obama. The Arizona Republican is a battle-hardened war hero, who spent five...

Libertarian voters make up 4% of the nation’s likely voters and they favor Barack Obama over John McCain by a 53% to 38% margin. Three percent (3%) would vote for some other candidate and 5% are not sure.

A few minutes after ten on the morning of June 26, the Supreme Court gave every conservative a reason to get excited, charged up, fired up, yes, even, if need be, a little wild-eyed about the coming election. Yes, with its decision in District of Columbia et al. v. Heller, the Court has completely and irreversibly extinguished the hope burning in the hearts of Democrats and their Liberal allies that Right of Center voters won’t overcome the malaise affecting them.

At a meeting Tuesday in Denver, about 100 conservative Christian leaders from around the country agreed to unite behind the candidacy of John McCain, a politician they have long distrusted, marking the latest in a string of movement that bodes well for McCain's general election prospects among the Republican base. "Collectively we feel that he will support and advance those moral values that we hold much greater than Obama, who in our view will decimate moral values," said Mat Staver, the chairman of Liberty Counsel, a legal advocacy group, who previously supported Mike Huckabee's candidacy. "There are people who came...

Fox News was the top rated cable news network during Q2 prime time, finishing in sixth place (Live+SD). CNN was 21st and MSNBC 27th. In total day, FNC ranked #9, with CNN and MSNBC at #22 and #28. Fox News Channel had nine of the top 10 cable news programs during Q2 in Total Viewers, with The O'Reilly Factor #1. The top CNN program in Total Viewers was Larry King Live, in sixth place, and the top MSNBC program was Countdown with Keith Olbermann in 20th place. In the A25-54 demo, Fox News had six of the top 10 programs,...

Sen. Barack Obama did patriotism yesterday, today it is faith and by the end of the day both speeches will have been done in back-to-back states that swing: Missouri and Ohio. The Obama campaign said the Illinois senator plans to go to Zanesville, located in eastern Ohio, to visit a church program that provides food and clothing assistance to those in need.

You see, the problem is McCain really doesn’t like us. To a large degree he’s bought into the moonbat caricature of conservatives, thinking we’re bigots and yahoos who lack hearts. But he’s figured out a way to deal with us. He’s going to throw us some red meat during the campaign; he’ll give us some lip service when he has to and once he placates us enough that we vote him into office, he’s stubbornly going to go right back to what he wants to do. You can do that sort of thing and keep a clear conscience when you’re...

A factor that weighs heavily in McCain’s favor is his Senate record. Judicial issues haven’t been his trademark, but he has consistently supported conservative Supreme Court nominees. In 1987 he spoke on behalf of embattled Reagan Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork, saying he supported him “without any hesitation.” In recent years McCain has voted for every one of Bush’s judicial nominees. “He voted for Alito and Roberts despite the fact that he had to know they would vote to strike down McCain-Feingold,” said Levey. “That addresses the concern that he might not appoint strict constructionist judges who are more likely...

Cameron hails by-election victory   Conservative leader David Cameron has hailed an "excellent result" in the Henley by-election, which saw Labour beaten into fifth place.Mr Cameron said his party's win showed people were starting to think of the Tories as an alternative government. But Gordon Brown - speaking a year after he became PM - said "by-elections come and by-elections go". Labour lost its deposit with just 1,066 votes - fewer than the BNP, Greens, Lib Dems and Tory victor John Howell. Mr Howell took the seat with 19,796 votes - a majority of 10,116 to the Lib Dem...

McCain fights for conservative supportFrom Dana Bash CNN Correspondent (CNN) -- Sen. John McCain took his "Straight Talk" straight to conservatives Thursday night as the presumptive Republican presidential nominee looked to shore up support from the party's base. At a Cincinnati, Ohio, town hall meeting, McCain talked in depth about a bevy of issues, from Iraq to taxes. He reiterated his proposal for a gas tax holiday to help Americans deal with soaring prices at the pump. He spoke for more than an hour but never mentioned issues that social conservatives skeptical of McCain want to hear about: his opposition...

Almost two thirds of people now think Gordon Brown is a "liability," compared to only one in four people a year ago when he took over as Prime Minister. A year ago Mr Brown took over from Tony Blair but there has since been an almost total reversal in the fortunes of Labour and the Conservatives. A year ago when people were asked "who do you think will win the next election," 62 per cent said Labour and only 18 per cent said the Tories. But when asked the question now, today's poll reveals only 16 per cent think Labour...

There are election seasons in which playing it safe makes sense. For Republicans, the current cycle is not one of them. When you’re 20 points ahead in the polls, the old adage about not fixing what isn’t broken generally holds true. That’s not a position that either party has been in for a long time and is certainly not reflective of current GOP fortunes, so running a campaign as if it were doesn’t make much sense. Furthermore, when your opponent is making waves for not playing it safe, you don’t want to sit back and be reactive. And while the...

The speaker of the House made it clear to me and more than forty of my colleagues yesterday that a bill by Rep. Mike Pence (R.-Ind.) to outlaw the “Fairness Doctrine” (which a liberal administration could use to silence Rush Limbaugh, other radio talk show hosts and much of the new alternative media) would not see the light of day in Congress during ’08. In ruling out a vote on Pence’s proposed Broadcaster's Freedom Act, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D.-CA.) also signaled her strong support for revival of the “Fairness Doctrine” -- which would require radio station owners to provide equal...

Walter Russell Mead is one of the most revered American foreign policy scholars in the U.S. He has authored some great books (chief among them, Special Providence), as well as many great articles. Last year he wrote the most powerful argument against Walt and Mearsheimer's The Israel Lobby. Now Mead has a new article in Foreign Affairs, entitled "Why Gentile Americans Back the Jewish State". Although I usually refrain from just quoting articles without adding my own take, I think this time I'll do just that. Most people do not read such long articles, and are not Foreign Affairs subscribers,...

(CNSNews.com) - The records of Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.) are very different when it comes to judges and courts. The Republican and Democratic candidates for president are far apart when it comes to judicial philosophy and the votes they cast on major judicial nominations during the 109th and 110th Congresses. McCain wants to appoint judges who hold a constructionist interpretation of the U.S. Constitution, according to his campaign's Web site. "When applying the law, the role of judges is not to impose their own view as to the best policy choices for society but to faithfully...

A Contract With America Retrospectiveby Steven D. Laib It is quite possible that for political parties periodic "revolutions" may be necessary to allow true progress and prevent stagnation.  An opinion piece by former House Majority Leader Dick Armey in the latest edition of Imprimis caught my eye, and for good reason.  It was entitled "Whatever Happened to the Contract with America?"  This is an excellent question, as the "Contract" a statement of principles and intentions introduced by the Republican Party during the 1994 congressional election helped bring that party to control of both houses of the Legislature.  Armey's paper addresses...

When someone starts yammering about transcending partisanship, renouncing “hatred and venom” and “bringing us together” – head for the hills. He’s talking capitulation on the right, with long lines of defeated, dejected conservatives in tattered uniforms being marched away to political POW camps. Former Bush flak Scott McClellan, author of a tell-all book on his White House service, is worse than a rat fink. He’s worse even than a fawning sycophant craving the establishment’s favor. He’s a defeatist who bids his party to stand with him in the middle of a four-lane highway at rush-hour. Can we say “road-kill”? Here’s...

We must hold our leaders accountable for the facts on happiness and refuse to take it lightly when politicians abridge the values of faith, work, family, charity, and freedom. -- Arthur C. Brooks

Liberalism turns people rotten (bumped) By Christopher Cook Over the past few years, we've learned a lot about the differences between liberals and conservatives, Democrats and Republicans. We've learned...Republicans report having better mental health than Democrats, Republicans have a more satisfying sex like than Democrats,Republicans are happier than Democrats (no matter who is in office),Republicans are more likely to graduate from college (and Dems are more likely to drop out of high school) Republicans are more likely to marry and have children And it marches merrily on like that. Study after study shows Republicans and conservatives have it better, or...

You must have seen or heard it. It's been repeated ad nauseum by Democrats on floors of both houses of Congress, before TV cameras and radio microphones and at recent campaign events. "We can't drill our way out of this." The donkey party's latest mantra has been hammered home by the usual suspects from Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid to Barack Obama. Like most Democrat talking points, it's a falsehood. Yes we CAN drill our way out of this. Just the announcement of our intention to drill in any one of the Big Three Forbidden Zones (off the Continental Shelf,...

Return to the Article June 16, 2008Conservatives Must Not Practice the Politics of DespairBy J.R. Dunn "If you see ten troubles coming down the road, you can be sure nine will run into a ditch before they get to you."  - Calvin Coolidge Conservatism is the doctrine of least expectations. Conservatives tend to view the world from the bleakest of perspectives. Man is a fallen creature, a rickety bridge between the beasts and the angels, driven by appetites and urges perhaps best not examined too closely. Mankind takes two steps (and sometimes two hundred) backward for each step forward,...