Free Republic

Republicans are making a huge mistake by turning away from the principle of small government. Is it time for conservatives to give up our fight against Big Government? Some people think so. Mike Huckabee, the Baptist preacher and former Arkansas governor and presidential candidate, complained in May to the Huffington Post that the greatest threat to the GOP is "this new brand of libertarianism" that says "look, we want to cut taxes and eliminate government." That, Huckabee said, is "not an American message. It doesn't fly. People aren't going to buy that, because that's not the way we are as...

Responding to a recent document released by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) that attempted to clarify the denomination's stance on debated issues, conservative Presbyterian leaders say the arguments are irrelevant. "We think there is an unfortunate but clear distinction between what is on paper and what is the working theology of the denomination," said the Rev. Dr. D. Dean Weaver, senior pastor of Memorial Park Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh and co-moderator of the New Wineskins Association of Churches – a network of dissident Presbyterians. PC(USA)'s stated clerk, the Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, and General Assembly Council executive director, Linda Valentine, addressed a...

Sound off Connecticut with Jim Vicevich 10am until Rush Jim Vicevich hosts "Sound off Connecticut" every weekday morning and although he tends to lean to the right "Sound off Connecticut" welcomes and encourages viewpoints from every side. So call in and voice your opinion. This is your chance to "sound off." http://www.wtic.com/pages/13975.php Jim Vicevich Jim Vicevich hosts "Sound off Connecticut" every weekday morning. Republitarian by nature (see Larry Elder, KABC), Jim has more than 20 years experience in broadcast television. With 6 Emmy nominations and 3 Telly Awards, Jim has worked most recently as business and financial reporter for NBC30...

Senate sources confirm for me that Mel Martinez was the famous “Senator Anonymous” from three weeks ago. Martinez, not wanting him name used, told the Politico “I don’t think we have learned much from the election in terms of what people want to see.” This senator said the Republicans needed someone who could “speak from the center” and wanted it known that “Sarah Palin is not the voice of [the Republican] party.”

Return to the Wilderness By R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. AND SO THE LAMENTABLE November 4 presidential election is entombed in history… and in keeping with the benevolent wishes of the mainstream moron media the American conservative movement once again enters the wilderness. In the wilderness, all we shall have to comfort us is the L.L. Bean catalogue. As you might have noted, we have distributed several versions of the renowned Bean catalogue on your tables. My personal favorite is the fishing catalogue. Regnery prefers the hunting catalogue. Pleszczynski is waiting for his very own Polish-language edition. I urge you all...

At the recent Republican Governors Conference in Florida, one superstar (Sarah Palin of Alaska) was center stage, while another (Arnold Schwarzenkennedy of Caleefornia) was conspicuous by his absence. Fresh off her rollercoaster ride as the 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee, Governor Palin gave a speech that was simultaneously humorous and serious, confident yet self-deprecating. Unshackled from the nitwits who ran the disorganized John McCain for President Campaign, she was relaxed and back in her element. She spoke of the states as a proving ground for the future leadership of the nation, and of the governors as the alternative to Washington's...

As Republicans sort out the reasons for their defeat, they likely will overlook or dismiss the gorilla in the pulpit. Three little letters, great big problem: G-O-D. I'm bathing in holy water as I type. To be more specific, the evangelical, right-wing, oogedy-boogedy branch of the GOP is what ails the erstwhile conservative party and will continue to afflict and marginalize its constituents if reckoning doesn't soon cometh. Simply put: Armband religion is killing the Republican Party. And, the truth -- as long as we're setting ourselves free -- is that if one were to eavesdrop on private conversations among...

You know, I had a co-worker today tell me that Obama is a conservative. No, really. As crazy as it may sound, it makes total sense that he would come to that conclusion. This is the conclusion that many other progressives will come to. It is very clear to me that a primary goal of the progressive movement is to utterly destroy the conservative party and they will do it by virtue of abrogating its nomenclature for themselves. "No no no," they will say, "WE are the centrist and the TRUE conservative party. They, those Bush extremists, are the evil...

Let's ROLL!

Last week, Tony Blankley published and Rush Limbaugh publicized what may prove one of the most important articles of 2008. I don't mean that the article was good - very much the contrary. But bad work can be even more important than good, if enough people can be got to believe it. --snip-- If I understand it correctly, the Blankley/Rush argument goes like this: 1) Reagan-style conservatism remains wildly popular with the American people. It was the "blueprint" for winning landslides between 1980 and 1994, and it remains the blueprint today. 2) Yet for some unaccountable mysterious reason, politicians are...

Why the Republicans Must Lose Nothing short of defeat will put the GOP back on its limited government track I grew up in a particularly conservative part of the already conservative state of Indiana. I voted for Bob Dole in 1996 and George Bush in 2000, generally because—though I'm not a conservative (I'm a libertarian)—I'd always thought the GOP was the party of limited government. By 2002, I was less sure of that. And by 2004, I was so fed up with the party that I did what I thought I'd never do—vote for an unabashed leftist for president. Since...

If the election were held today, Barack Obama would be the new President of the United States of America. The latest Real Clear Politics average of national polls shows Obama ahead of McCain by nearly seven percentage points. It looks like the Democrats are going to have control of both the White House and Congress for the next four years. And, mark it down, if there is a Democrat sweep, conservative Republicans will get the blame. The fact of the matter is, however, that President Bush and the Republicans who dominated Congress during most of his administration governed as anything...

When you buy a Lottery ticket, do you buy the "Cash Option" or go for the 20 equal payments from the Lottery over 20 years? At first, I called this my Conservative test. But then I realized that true conservatives probably wouldn't buy a lottery ticket. Now I call it the self-reliance versus government test. The question is a good one to use to help undecided voters and men and women that you believe would vote Republican if they thought the issues through. Compare the payout on Lottery winnings with Social Security, Medicare, and government health insurance. It's amazing and...

The selection of Sarah Palin as Republican vice-presidential candidate has revealed a serious chasm in conservatism, a chasm separating conservative elites – opinion leaders, pundits, spokesmen -- from the vast population of center-right Americans they purport to represent. If this is the choice of the conservative base, one said “Then we need a new base.” (We’ll leave names out of this for the moment, lest this deteriorate into an “I never liked him anyway” discussion. The problem is systemic, and not limited to a few individuals.) “It’s over,” another insisted of Palin’s candidacy (the later “explanation” for this remark was,...

July 25, 2008, 0:00 p.m. In the HeightsA recent musical set in Washington Heights is a rare voice for conservative views. By Monica Mullin Barack Obama is not the only one singing a hopeful tune these days. Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical In the Heights — an exuberant paean to life in a New York City barrio — is overflowing with hope. A hope refreshingly based on essentially conservative values. What a far cry from Paul Simon’s ill-fated 1997 musical The Capeman, the play Ben Brantley of the New York Times once compared to “watching a mortally wounded animal.” Also set...

John McCain is clearly the preferable option for conservative voters come November. Although liberal in his views toward immigration, government intrusion in free speech, environmental issues, campaign finance reform, health care, education mandates, and a host of other issues that run contrary to conservative orthodoxy, McCain is solid on two (alas, two) vital issues that make the difference; spending and judges. From the frustration of eight years of a Republican Administration that began with so much hope and promise it pains one to say it, but there it is. Against the prospects of a President Obama, McCain wins. A victim...

The Dumb Blond: To US Citizens Who Hate the Greatest Country

It's all but settled. John McCain will be the Republican Party nominee for president in 2008. That has caused much anguish among many conservatives who knew Ronald Reagan - who was a friend of theirs. And Senator, you're no Ronald Reagan, or words to that effect. Nevertheless, conservative realists recognize that despite all the chinks in the right side of his armor, John McCain still is far more conservative than either Hillary or B.O. But when President Bush declared that John McCain was a "true conservative" this week - which was kinda like Joan Crawford declaring that Britney Spears was...

Now that Mitt Romney has stepped aside in the GOP presidential race, many conservatives are trying to figure out where to go from here. John McCain will be the Republican presidential nominee. Conservatives are dispirited because on many issues they don't consider him one of them. And it's true -- he is a moderate who considered leaving the GOP in 2001 ... he did think about joining John Kerry's ticket in 2004 ... and he did side with liberals over conservatives on everything from immigration to closing Gitmo. But we have no time to be dejected and have to keep...

The prospect of John McCain as Republican nominee is inspiring sometimes angry resistance from millions of conservative stalwarts. Ann Coulter's famous support for Hillary Clinton  threatens to spark a wave of conservative "suicide voters"  if the Arizona Senator gets the nomination. Other Republicans, variously called insiders, party pros, elitists and worse, blithely assure us the alienated base will come around in the end and vote for McCain and the GOP ticket, particularly if Hillary Clinton is the alternative. Assuming McCain gets the nomination, I am not so sure. It could go either way. Anger at McCain Anger has been a...