Free Republic

As Americans suffer through the economic crisis since the Great Depression, anger continues to build. Not the manufactured anger and protests that we see at the Occupy Wall Street protests but an anger in middle America, what Richard Nixon described as “the Silent Majority”. These are voters who in 2008 elected Barack Obama and believed in his promise of hope and change. In 2010, after feeling betrayed by the leftward direction of the Obama Administration , they voted Republican believing that a Republican House would rein in the Obama Administration. Their anger continues to build. It is an authentic anger...

Herman Cain refused to wade into the controversy over whether it is accurate to call Mitt Romney a Christian or not. “I’m not running for theologian in chief,” he said on CNN’s State of the Union this morning. “I’m a lifelong Christian and what that means is one of my guiding principles for the decisions I make is I start with do the right thing. I’m not getting into that controversy. He’s a Mormon. That much I know. I’m not going to do an analysis of Mormonism vs. Christianity for the sake of answering that.” When CNN host Candy Crowley...

Interesting segment, not because Coulter’s advancing any new criticisms of Palin but because she’s willing to acknowledge openly the political risk on the right in criticizing her in the first place. According to Coulter, conservatives refuse to challenge Palin publicly because they don’t want to deal with the hate mail from her supporters. That’s part of it, I’m sure — by now, all columnists and bloggers know what awaits after criticizing Palin or, say, Ron Paul — but I suspect the better part is that there’s simply no faster ticket to RINOville among some grassroots conservatives than uttering a discouraging...

How’s this for an impressive Republican lineup? A likable former governor and TV personality; a two-term governor with an unmatched fiscal record; another former governor with the best education-reform credentials in the country; a rising star in the House; and a photogenic senator from the heartland. They are Mike Huckabee, Mitch Danieenvirols, Jeb Bush, Mike Pence, and John Thune. The Republicans sitting out the 2012 nomination battle would themselves make a formidable field. Indeed, more formidable than the actual entrants. The hottest place to be in Republican politics right now is sitting on the sidelines. With Governor Daniels deciding over...

BUT WILL THEY RESPECT HIM IN THE MORNING?July 23, 2008 Back before the Republican Party was saddled with John McCain as its nominee, The New York Times called him "the only Republican who promises to end the George Bush style of governing from and on behalf of a small, angry fringe." The paper praised him for "working across the aisle to develop sound bipartisan legislation" and predicted that he would appeal to "a broader range of Americans than the rest of the Republican field." At the same time, the Times denounced "the real" Rudy Giuliani as "a narrow, obsessively secretive,...

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Democratic political consultant Mark Mellman has a very good piece up today at The Hill on the baffling and illegitimate opposition among voters to Mitt Romney due to his religion. I liked his closing paragraphs: In July of 1958, 24 percent of respondents told Gallup they would not vote for a Catholic for president, almost identical to Gallup’s reading on Mormons today. Two years later, John F. Kennedy became the first Catholic to assume the oath of office. Within eight months, the number refusing to vote for a Catholic was cut almost in half. [snip] Mellman also discusses an interesting...

Yes, Rudy Giuliani Is a Conservative Steven Malanga And an electable one, at that. Not since Teddy Roosevelt took on Tammany Hall a century ago has a New York politician closely linked to urban reform looked like presidential timber. But today ex–New York mayor Rudy Giuliani sits at or near the top of virtually every poll of potential 2008 presidential candidates. Already, Giuliani’s popularity has set off a “stop Rudy” movement among cultural conservatives, who object to his three marriages and his support for abortion rights, gay unions, and curbs on gun ownership. Some social conservatives even dismiss his achievement...

More voters say they would be comfortable with former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani as president than other top 2008 contenders, though majorities would also be comfortable with other leaders from both parties, according to the latest FOX News Poll. In addition, of all the 2008 hopefuls — announced or frequently mentioned as a possibility — voters want to hear more from one candidate specifically: Illinois Sen. Barack Obama. Opinion Dynamics Corporation conducted the national telephone poll of 900 registered voters for FOX News from January 30 to January 31. The poll has a 3-point error margin.

Not since Teddy Roosevelt took on Tammany Hall a century ago has a New York politician closely linked to urban reform looked like presidential timber. But today ex–New York mayor Rudy Giuliani sits at or near the top of virtually every poll of potential 2008 presidential candidates. Already, Giuliani’s popularity has set off a “stop Rudy” movement among cultural conservatives, who object to his three marriages and his support for abortion rights, gay unions, and curbs on gun ownership. Some social conservatives even dismiss his achievement in reviving New York before 9/11. An August story on the website Right Wing...

During the California recall election, when my then-WND colleague Hugh Hewitt was in the forefront of leading a merry band of Republican optimists to reject Tom McClintock – a genuine conservative – in favor of a man much esteemed by the Kennedy family, I wrote a column titled "Satanic Schwarzeneggerians," in which I encouraged eschewing the sacrifice of principle in favor of the "pragmatic" pursuit of power. Now, I quite like Arnold as an action hero, and would consider it an honor to lift weights with the legendary body builder. But there are decent and even delightful individuals in every...

It's that time again, folks. This is our time to send all the liberals searching for their Prozac. It's time we extract our pound of retribution from each of their socialist hides. And the best way to do that is to vote straight Republican. Unfortunately, we rejected some of the most Constitutionally oriented candidates in the primary process. No matter, though. We can still work with those we have running. The Republicans are, after all, an electable bunch. Sure, I can nit-pick and find problems with most of them. Nevertheless, collectively, the Republicans are fielding a pretty good group --...