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Numerous preemptive obituaries are being written for Governor Rick Perry’s campaign. These efforts are premature because they fail to understand and appreciate the fickle winds of political fortune. Governor Perry has substantial political assets that make him a potent candidate and that will give him another chance to prove himself to Republican voters. Each candidate brings their own set of positives and negatives to the game: Mitt Romney has money to burn, establishment support, business experience, and passable debating skills. He also has a record far to the left of the majority of Republicans, a history of changing his position...

I believe that the ruling class politicians see Palin as a real threat to their status quo, and her postponement of announcing her candidacy as a hindrance to their stopping her. One way to force her hand earlier than she intends is to move up the primaries. Anybody else see a pattern here?

In a statement, CNN announces its line-up for the September 12 Tea Party Express co-sponsored debate in Tampa: Gov. Rick Perry, Rep. Michele Bachmann, Gov. Mitt Romney, Rep. Ron Paul, Newt Gingrich, Herman Cain, Rick Santorum, and Jon Huntsman. The network adds that Rudy Giuliani and Sarah Palin were invited: "Giuliani declined the debate invitation, while a Palin representative has yet to respond to it."

No person should be above the law, especially those sworn to uphold our constitution and legal foundation. As you know, the public reaction to the behavior of our elected officials often establishes what is generally accepted and tolerated in our society. Given the serious nature of the incident earlier this month, we believe you should step down from your position as a Wisconsin Supreme Court justice until the investigative process is complete. Clearly, under the law, you enjoy the presumption of innocence. However, the continuing reports of your violent and abusive behavior, including verbal abuse and apparent choking, are deeply...

What does he want? Revenge. For what? Being born. This is the way famous gunslinger Doc Holliday answers equally famous lawman and good friend Wyatt Earp’s inquiry - in their depiction in the movie Tombstone - into why their sworn enemy, Johnny Ringo, is such a misanthrope. Sadly, this description would be equally accurate in explaining the actions of another Arizona transplant filled with endless rage: Senator John McCain. I first encountered the seething side of McCain when I was writing my 2008 book, The Real McCain, which was critical of him while pointing out a then-controversial fact, one no...

This thread is only for freepers who want Sarah Palin to be President in 2012. Please all (TROLLS)other stay out.

The issue isn’t Bristol’s dancing, but her popularity. And because of who Bristol is, that means the issue is the popularity of her mother. The unexpectedly large number of people voting for Bristol contradicts the going mood of the gallery of bubble-wrapped Palin-haters who really believed that Palin was being booed that night in the audience at DWTS, and that all of America was booing her, too. Like the old story of Pauline Kael, flabbergasted by Nixon’s landslide in 1972 when she didn’t know a single person who voted for him, the average Palin-hater has existed until now in safe...

In the New York Daily News on Wednesday, S.E. Cupp theorized "The reason Palin has become such a lightening [sic] rod, a kingmaker and a punching bag, a celebrity and a power player, is simple. It's because she's so gosh darn happy.For her fans, like the ones I had the pleasure of meeting in Chicago, she's refreshingly upbeat and resilient, the bubbly friend from childhood who was always great at cheering you up and cheerleading you on. But for her detractors, nothing raises the ire of cynical liberals more than a happy-go-lucky, totally unburdened, freethinking and self-assured conservative woman who...

After Lisa Murkowski's gracious concession last night, Joe Miller is Alaska's Republican senate candidate. What drama! As a relatively new Alaskan, I watched this contest unfold in the last few months from my vantage point in southeast Alaska, Murkowski territory. What was Palin doing, I wondered, when she endorsed the long shot Joe Miller? I was even more amazed when the Tea Party Express group earlier this summer announced its support for Miller, one of only two candidates in the nation it was actively supporting.(The other is Sharron Angle. The group is now also helping Christine O'Donnell.) Why spend scarce...

According to Dave Neiwert, Eliminationist theorist in chief, when he looked at the crowd at the Restoring Honor rally, he was sure the next Timothy McVeigh was out there: Well, Glenn Beck's eyes certainly weren't dry. He started weeping while telling the crowd that somewhere out there was "the next George Washington". Dunno about you, but when I saw pan shots of the crowd -- which was one of the whitest crowds in D.C. in recent memory -- I mostly thought I saw "the next Timothy McVeigh." I just saw people peacefully exercising their constitutional rights of assembly and free...

Don’t blame it all on Arizona. The Grand Canyon State simply happened to be in the right place at the right time to tilt over to the dark side. Its hysteria is but another symptom of a political virus that can’t be quarantined and whose cure is as yet unknown. If many of Arizona’s defenders and critics hold one belief in common, it’s that the new “show me your papers” law is sui generis: it’s seen as one angry border state’s response to its outsized share of America’s illegal immigration crisis. But to label this development “Arizona’s folly” trivializes its...

(snip) But for all its diversity of land and people, Arizona is also a lunatic magnet. As I drove, I listened to the radio blather of a state in mob-rule frenzy of cranky old men. Once in Phoenix, I saw on television that sign in a car’s rear window, the new image of Arizona to the rest of the world: “I’m Mexican. Pull me over.” Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed the state's the immigration law last Friday in Phoenix. The Associated Press Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed the state’s immigration law last Friday. This week, Jon Stewart called Arizona the...

To those of you who go into every Sarah Palin thread with your anti-Palin talking points and repeating everything you hear on ABC, NBC or CBS. I have a question for you personally. This is a personal question. What are you doing to further our cause in a time of grave national and international crisis ? Have you traveled to dozens of states in the last few months ? (Sarah Palin has) also, How is the view from the peanut gallery ? and How is the breakfast with your Democratic friends down at the local Holiday Inn ? Please get...

(snip) I know the answer. It's my fault. It's because of me, and tens of millions of other Americans just like me. We create the demand for illegal immigrant labor not because of anything we do but because of all the things that we will not do -- at any wage. Even as someone who juggles several jobs, I have to admit that my work ethic -- especially for hard, physical labor -- is a distant second to that of my immigrant grandfather who came from Mexico legally in the early 1900's. My grandfather was a farm worker who would...

FORT WORTH, Texas | Former President George W. Bush turned to his faith amid the tough times during his eight years in office, he said Saturday at a religious school's banquet. "I don't see how I could be president without prayer," he told the crowd of more than 1,100 at the Fort Worth Christian School event at a downtown hotel. "The prayers of the people ... sustained me, comforted me and strengthened me in a way I could have never predicted before becoming president, and for that I am extremely grateful." Bush, who has had many speaking engagements since moving...

WASHINGTON -- Former President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney met for coffee in their first reunion since President Barack Obama's inauguration more than a year ago. Bush and Cheney met Thursday in the Washington area, Cheney's office said in a statement, declining to give the location. ABC News aired video of Bush shaking Cheney's hand in front of Cheney's Virginia home. The meeting came the day after Cheney left a Washington hospital, where he was treated after a mild heart attack. Bush has kept out of the spotlight since leaving office. Bush took Obama up on the...

Contest rules: Create a "Palin Derangement Syndrome" Logo that Freepers and like minded folks can use in replies to all of the stories we are going to see on Sarah over the next three years. The logo must very professional and convey the idea of the "Palin Derangement Syndrome". Contest Winner Reward: You become famous, a living legend here on the FR, and maybe a guest on Hannity (okay, the Hannity part is pushing it but who knows ..) However, I do this this can be effective, and we simply use the winning logo as the official "Palin Derangement Syndrome"...

Depictions ‘took place entirely in her imagination,’ says Wallace. NBC NEWS and NEWS SERVICES NEW YORK - Former McCain campaign senior adviser Nicolle Wallace says Sarah Palin's book "Going Rogue" is "based on fabrications," and that the basis for Palin’s depictions of her and former McCain campaign director Steve Schmidt as villains "took place entirely in her imagination." In a statement to The Rachel Maddow Show, the former McCain spokesperson repeatedly used the word "fiction" to describe Palin's narrative and echoed criticisms by other former McCain staffers. "She [Palin] probably has a legitimate complaint that things could have been better...

When Ron Paul says the following, you know something is seriously screwed up. “Mr. Privates” himself is now calling for a National health care system, as there is absolutely no way the privatization route will work on this one. Paultards will now implode. Dr. Paultard was on CNN yesterday and went stone “WTF?” on the issue of health care. In fact, his statements go so far against his views on pretty much everything that your Editor now has a headache: “Even though I have my ideal system I would like to see, with the government out completely — because that...

Once again, an ethics complaint has been filed and publicly released in violation of state law. This is the sixth complaint filed by Ms. McLeod. In addition, she has filed a lawsuit against the Governor's office and multiple public records act requests. All of her prior complaints that have been ruled on have been dismissed. The Ethics Act serves important state interests in ensuring ethical state government and was intended to prevent the various forms of corrupt misconduct that had plagued the Legislature in prior years and which resulted in the prosecution of legislators and others. It is unfortunate that...