Free Republic

"Excited" after a meeting Thursday with Mitt Romney, tea party favorite Sen. Jim DeMint urged fellow Republicans to be realistic and rally around the party's eventual nominee, making his plea the same day the ex-governor's chief rival suggested voters would be as well off with President Barack Obama as they would Romney. In addition to fundraising events, Romney was in Washington to hold talks with DeMint as well as legislators from Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, which hold primaries next month. The legislators included House Budget Committee chairman Paul Ryan, according to GOP aides. "I'm not only comfortable with Romney, I'm excited...

Is Mitt Romney an Etch a Sketch? No way, say Romney’s aides. They insist that when Romney adviser Eric Fehrnstrom went on CNN Wednesday morning and compared the campaign to an Etch a Sketch, he was talking strictly about the mechanics of general elections, not about Romney’s malleability. But before you buy that explanation, look at what Fehrnstrom has said in previous years. He’s been erasing his candidates’ positions for a long time. In 1994, Romney ran for the U.S. Senate in Massachusetts. He had been a pro-life abortion counselor in the Mormon Church, but a private campaign poll warned...

I picture Newt Gingrich as an old seasoned sea captain, with the captain's hat and the pipe standing at the helm of the USS America, calmly, with ruthless brilliance righting our ship that has lost it's course. He's the only one who knows where the the reefs and sandbars are and can prevent a ship wreck. If people don't start letting him have the wheel, we're going to all need life jackets.

My friend Paul Cooper ( follow on Twitter ) at Pajamas Media offers Planned Parenthood’s 10 Most Feared Enemies in 2012. Guess who made #1. That’s right. Rick Santorum! Rick has been accused of wanting to fund Planned Parenthood because he has voted for the very same appropriations bills legendary pro-lifer Henry Hyde has voted for which, unfortunately, and against his wishes, included funding for Planned Parenthood. There are some things that are simply not possible to accomplish without a pro-life majority in Congress, and no one has done more to “move the needle” (as Rick says) than Rick Santorum....

Texas is usually flyover country in the battle for the Republican presidential nomination. But this year could be different, even with a delayed primary. Although former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts is leading former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania in the hunt for delegates, it is next to impossible for Romney to wrap things up before the Texas primary on May 29. And Santorum has led most public opinion polls in conservative Texas, which has the country’s second-largest number of delegates at stake, with 155. Two other factors point toward a competitive Texas race: Gov. Rick Perry’s endorsement of...

GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich says he is "staying in the race." CNN's Piers Morgan has more.

Newt Gingrich spoke up in defense of Mitt Romney Thursday night, insisting any Republican presidential candidate would be a better president than Barack Obama. "I want to start with something Rick said tonight that I frankly was very surprised that he said and that I hope he's taking back,” Gingrich told the Baton Rouge Tea Party event crowd referring to Rick Santorum’s comments earlier today. Santorum, speaking in San Antonio, Texas this afternoon took a swipe at Romney, saying, "If you’re going to be a little different, we might as well stay with what we have instead of taking a...

Newt Gingrich at Baton Rouge Tea Party Forum. Straw poll to be taken later in the evening. Newt to also appear on CNN's Piers Morgan program at 10pm eastern.

If Newt Gingrich fails to win five states, he might not be eligible in the first round of voting at the Republican National Convention. That doesn’t mean he can’t be the nominee, and it may not even complicate his chances any further than they already have been... [...] If no candidate wins on the first round of voting, primary and caucus results will matter progressively less. Some states’ delegates are bound by primary results only through the first round of convention voting. Others’ are bound through the second and third. If Gingrich enters the convention ineligible, he can still win...

Perfect name for him! Even better than Huntsman's "well-oiled weathervane"

March 22, 2012 Rick Perry sticking with Gingrich? Former presidential candidate sounds off

Lake Charles, Louisiana (CNN) – During a question and answer session in Lake Charles, Louisiana, Wednesday, a man stood up and said that, among other things, President Obama "is a Muslim." "I believe that Obama is not stupid," the man began. "I also believe that, number one, Obama is a Muslim." The man went on to say he also believes that Obama is a "student of Saul Alinsky," a man known for community organizing and whom Gingrich often calls out for his "radicalism." The man did not pose a question but wanted a response from the presidential hopeful. The former...

March 21, 2012 Gingrich: Obama's no friend of renewable energy GOP presidential candidate on why advocates of renewable energy should be outraged at the Obama administration

While much of the conservative movement has seemingly lined up to oppose former House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s ascent in the contest for the Republican presidential nomination, high-profile defenders of Gingrich have been few and far between. But Gingrich does have one outspoken defender, conservative talker and author of “Ameritopia: The Unmaking of America,” Mark Levin. “I’m going to tell you something. Newt Gingrich was the former Republican Speaker of the House, the first Republican Speaker of the House in almost half a century, and he was fighting the Democrats and to win the House of Representatives before most of the...

Rick Santorum surely knows he has no way to win the Republican race after his thumping in Illinois on Tuesday night. After his commanding win there, Mitt Romney not only has more than twice the delegates (560 to 246), but a third again as many votes nationwide as Santorum (4.1 million to 2.8 million). Newt Gingrich knows he can’t win the nomination; that’s why he was in DC last weekend looking at cherry blossoms with a Secret Service detail surrounding him. The race is over for them. Romney has beaten them. Of the 34 contests thus far, Romney has won...

The media is smearing Gingrich right and left while going relatively light on Santorum. We don't know who he is, we haven't examined his record thoroughly, we blindly believe in faith the statements he as a Christian family man uses to make a quick point, and he is the last one standing to experience the negative carpet bombing from Mitt Romney.

Watch our interview with the former House Speaker...

And they say bipartisanship is dead. Wednesday morning was supposed to be a high point for Mitt Romney, who secured one of the the most sought-after endorsements of the cycle in former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush after an easy win in Illinois. Instead, a coalition of Democratic and Republican political operatives used every possible tool at their disposal, from cutting-edge social media to old-school political theater, to spoil his day completely. The story began with a gaffe by Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom, who responded to a CNN reporter’s question about whether his candidate had moved too far to the right...

On Wednesday, former Florida Governor and Republican Party heavyweight Jeb Bush endorsed Mitt Romney for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination. But some believe the Bush endorsement may actually have more to do with Sarah Palin (and her tacit endorsements of Newt Gingrich) than Mitt Romney. "I am endorsing Mitt Romney for our Party¹s nomination," Bush announced Wednesday. "We face huge challenges, and we need a leader who understands the economy, recognizes more government regulation is not the answer, believes in entrepreneurial capitalism and works to ensure that all Americans have the opportunity to succeed." To state categorically that some in...

A couple of days I ago I wrote a piece arguing from a macro-point of view that conservatives were saying and doing things during this GOP primary season which were essentially causing their own political self-destruction and selling themselves down the river. But before I go any further what does "selling down the river" mean? It means to betray in such a manner that it causes serious difficulty for the one betrayed. Inherent in the phrase as it manifests itself is the feeling of separation or estrangement, the feeling of being uprooted, dislocated, and discombobulated, the perpetration of deceit or...