Free Republic

Like the Olympics, it's a game that's played every four years. The media march out on the field in their ideologically matching blazers and try to convince the GOP to ditch social issues. Their pitch goes something like this: Republican voters are far more moderate than their party's platform. The day of the religious right has come and gone. With pro-life, pro-marriage stands, the party alienates legions of voters who agree with it on taxes, spending and defense. An article in the July 5 Wall Street Journal ("Giuliani Support Hints at Shift") argues, "Mr. Giuliani's lead in the polls -...

Democrats won both houses of Congress in the 2006 elections in part by arguing that Republicans were incompetent to govern. On immigration, they enjoyed a comparatively united party and cooperation from a Republican White House. More than any other factor, heat from the right killed the bill. But voters elect congressional majorities to solve problems, and Democratic incumbents can expect to pay some price every time they fail. But that fallout almost certainly will pale alongside the damage to future Republican presidential candidates. Hispanics represent the fastest-growing chunk of the U.S. electorate. Their choices help drive the rising swing states...

About me: Lurker - since 1998 Member - since 1999 In self-imposed exile - since April 2007 The tone of the debate and the attacks on long-time fellow Freepers for the cardinal sin of daring to support Rudy Giuliani in early 2007 around here have really saddened me. Instead of fighting the enemy FR is now imposing an 'ideological purity' test on FR members. The well-oiled train has gone off the rails and Mr. Robinson risks becoming the next Joe Farah - a fellow who started a great website for conservative news and opinions, but who gradually drifted off to...

Citing the WSJ, Stephen Bainbridge asks "Did the K Street Gang learn nothing from the drubbing it took in 2006?" Apparently not: One big test of a new minority is to draw the right lesson from its drubbing at the polls. House Republicans have a long way to go, judging by House Minority Leader John Boehner's decision this week to punish Arizona's Jeff Flake by tossing him off the Judiciary Committee. The offense? Porkbusting. Mr. Flake should be getting a promotion to the leadership, given how prescient he was in warning his colleagues about the perils of their run-amok "earmarking."...

Some people get mad at me when I tell them not to vote. But I believe there is a right time to abstain from casting a ballot – particularly if the only choice is a Democrat or Republican who are indistinguishable on the major issues of the day. A good example of a race where a protest vote for a third party candidate or a non-vote would be the right thing to do on Election Day is the New Jersey Senate race between incumbent Robert Menendez, the Democrat, and Republican challenger Thomas Kean Jr. (Column continues below) Pollsters say the...

That carefully crafted political blank slate of Judge John Roberts is getting filled in piece of by piece. And what it reveals is an ugly portrait of a backstabbing establishment Republican who subverted the political will of the greatest American president of the 20th century. Memos drafted by the Supreme Court nominee during his tenure in President Reagan's Justice Department show a distinct hostility to the conservative ideals embraced by his boss and to some of the individuals who championed those ideals. Take, for instance, a Dec. 14, 1981, memo, obtained by the Washington Times, and written to his colleague,...

the (relatively silent) majority of Americans feel(s) that the most compassionate treatment for Terri Schiavo - as well as the proper legal course of action - is to let her vegetative existence end, as advocated by her legal guardian, her husband. For Republicans who consider their party a captive of the religious right on matters like medical research and right-to-die legislation and now legislative intrusion into the judicial system, there is a way to at least feel more comfortable with their political consciences. That way is to leave a party whose leadership is currently attempting to leave behind in the...

XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX SUN JAN 02, 2005 18:00:00 ET XXXXX BUSH BASH BOOK BURSTS IN TIME FOR INAUGURAL Christine Todd Whitman, the former New Jersey governor who was President Bush's first administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, has written a book that touts the importance of moderates to the future of the Republican Party and flays Bush and his team for ignoring the country's middle. Whitman charges on Page 3 that Bush's three-percentage-point margin in the popular vote is the lowest of any incumbent president ever to win reelection, the WASHINGTON POST reports in coming editions, newsroom sources tell...

Goodbye, Barry Goldwater Posted: January 19, 2004 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2004 Creators Syndicate, Inc. "Bush Plans $1.5 Billion Drive for Promotion of Marriage" ran the headline in the New York Times. The story told of how Bush aides were "planning an extensive election-year initiative to promote marriage" and debating whether to float the idea in the State of the Union. "For months," the Times reported, "administration officials have worked with conservative groups on the proposal, which would provide at least $1.5 billion for training to help couples develop interpersonal skills that sustain 'healthy marriages.'" Then came this kicker: "'This...