http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/gopimplosion/ en-us Thu, 31 Dec 2009 17:58:20 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2418479/posts The Democrats’ biggest accomplishment of this decade was getting a package through both houses of Congress mandating that every American have health insurance. Their biggest accomplishment of the next decade will be watching it fail. Then they can get what they really want, a government takeover of health care. That’s my prediction. It’s based on what I call the Frito-Lay theory of health reform: Mandates are like potato chips; you can’t have just one. Just for fun, I ran that theory by someone who has been watching the health care debate up close, Michael Cannon of the Cato Institute, a... The Star-Ledger, Newark, NJ http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2418479/posts#comment Thu, 31 Dec 2009 17:58:20 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2417235/posts GOP U.S. Senate candidate Scott Brown has been all but abandoned by the same national Republican committees that pumped hundreds of thousands in campaign cash to former governors Mitt Romney and William Weld Boston Herald http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2417235/posts#comment Tue, 29 Dec 2009 22:54:30 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2413509/posts This week the Senate grinches stole Christmas. The Obama Nation is getting Obamacare. It’s easy to blame the sixty Democrats, as the Wall Street Journal does, for "the worse bill ever." It solemnly declares: "These 60 Democrats are creating a future of epic increases in spending, taxes and command--and control regulation." True enough. But what's the root cause of this permanent disaster? Sorry, friends, but it’s not the Democrats, nor the American people who elected them. The real culprits are two Republicans who ran the show the previous eight years: George W. Bush and his "master political strategist" Karl Rove.... Human Events http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2413509/posts#comment Wed, 23 Dec 2009 03:29:27 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2406145/posts After Lying Low in Wake of 2008 Presidential-Election Loss, Arizona Senator Mounts Opposition to Obama's Top Priority. BY NAFTALI BENDAVID & GREG HITT Sen. John McCain kept a relatively low profile for months after he lost the 2008 presidential election to Barack Obama. Those days are over. In the health-care battle, the Arizona Republican has suddenly emerged as the John McCain of old -- a vigorous political combatant. He has publicly hammered Democratic proposals, engaged in heated exchanges on the Senate floor and lent his voice to automated telephone calls pressuring Democratic senators in Arkansas, Colorado and Nebraska on their... The Wall Street Journal http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2406145/posts#comment Sat, 12 Dec 2009 17:16:54 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2405250/posts Barack Obama began his presidency with an open hand toward the man he had just defeated in a race that was at times bitter. "There are few Americans who understand this need for common purpose and common effort better than John McCain," said Obama at an inauguration-eve tribute dinner to his former foe. But in the year since that evening of comity and collegiality, McCain has emerged as one of the leading critics of the new president. On foreign policy, his traditional area of expertise, and domestic affairs, where McCain has shown new passion, the 72-year-old Arizonan is making it... Politico http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2405250/posts#comment Fri, 11 Dec 2009 11:49:39 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2403568/posts Republicans like to point to Ronald Reagan for inspiration. However, we have to resign ourselves to the fact that Ronald Reagan is dead. Worse, his legacy was killed off by his own party, the same Republicans who say he inspired them. The only lasting legacy to George W. Bush was the nomination of two constructionist judges and a fading response to terrorism. For eight years, we saw GW insist more on getting along than being right. Even the war in Iraq was fought on the cheap, probably out of fear of the cost of waging war, which defies the logic... The American Thinker http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2403568/posts#comment Wed, 9 Dec 2009 11:24:34 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-backroom/2401229/posts I'm all for Ralph Nader running again. I'd love for Howard Dean to get fed up or some other Democrat to get fed up with Obama and I'd love for a third party of Democrats and liberals to establish itself. I want all kinds of liberals to line and up run in third parties. That's how we weaken their side. As for our side, the focus must be to take back the Republican Party. That's the way you win. You can draw attention to yourself by denouncing both parties at the same time, and you can think that you're relating... Rush http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-backroom/2401229/posts#comment Sat, 5 Dec 2009 23:41:40 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2398000/posts If you liked George W. Bush's brand of big-spending, big-government conservatism, you'll love Mike Huckabee. BY MICHAEL D. TANNER Most of the leading Republicans running for president show some support for Bush's ideology, but no other candidate so completely embodies it. As governor of Arkansas, Huckabee dramatically increased state spending. During his two-term tenure, spending increased by more than 65 percent — at three times the rate of inflation. The number of government workers increased by 20 percent, and the state's debt services increased by nearly $1 billion. Huckabee financed his spending binge with higher taxes. Under his leadership, the... Fox / CATO Institute http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2398000/posts#comment Tue, 1 Dec 2009 23:40:52 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2396485/posts The last time Jim Ryan ran for governor of Illinois, he offered voters a clear choice between a man who never took a dime in public life and Rod Blagojevich. And though many would like to forget it, they chose Blagojevich. "The infrastructure of the Illinois Republican Party has never really been for me," Ryan said over breakfast the other day as we talked about that 2002 campaign and his current run in the crowded GOP primary for governor. "I'm not a deal-maker. And senior Republicans knew my reputation. They knew I wouldn't be flexible." Seven years ago, Ryan, then... Chicago Tribune http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2396485/posts#comment Sun, 29 Nov 2009 22:05:39 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2396004/posts What should Diedre Scozzafava want to accomplish by Sunday's appearance on Face the Nation on CBS? Is it just another post-election 'poor poor pitiful me' about being beat up by tea party thugs led by Dick Armey, who will be on the same show? Well, I hope not. Ms. Scozzafava knows politics aint bean bag and there is something for all to learn from the NY23 GOP meltdown. In retrospect, which is a lot like hindsight, Ms. Scozzafava was not the best hope for North Country Republicans and her selection by a handful of county chairs was another example of... The Governeur Times, Governeur, NY http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2396004/posts#comment Sat, 28 Nov 2009 21:08:02 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2395256/posts Apparently there are still some posters on FR who are fast asleep. Wake up! Dammit! We are in the middle of a conservative rebellion! While you were sleeping we, along with millions of other freedom loving grassroots Americans have participated in hundreds of tea parties all across this great land and fully intend to keep it up until all of America is awake. We are fed up and mad as hell! We grassroots Americans are delivering a message to the ruling class: NO MORE!! No more big government! No more high taxes! No more government bailouts! No more government takeovers!... My day after Thanksgiving message http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2395256/posts#comment Fri, 27 Nov 2009 05:55:25 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2393032/posts WASHINGTON (CNN) - The Republican National Committee will announce Monday that veteran political strategist Alex Castellanos will assume a senior communications role at the committee, an RNC official tells CNN. (snip) "Now the RNC has a new focus and direction - the 2010 elections," Castellanos said when reached by telephone. "And I am happy to help." CNN - Political Ticker http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2393032/posts#comment Tue, 24 Nov 2009 00:43:27 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-gop/2385929/posts Republican Party chairman Michael Steele told Republican National Committee staff to immediately put an end to providing RNC employees with insurance for elective abortions. After learning of the abortion coverage from a news report, late Thursday evening Steele issued a statement: "Money from our loyal donors should not be used for this purpose. I don't know why this policy existed in the past, but it will not exist under my administration. Consider this issue settled." According to RNC spokeswoman Gail Gitcho, Steele then instructed staff to let their insurance carrier know that the RNC wished to opt out of the... The Cleveland Leader http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-gop/2385929/posts#comment Fri, 13 Nov 2009 23:07:02 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2385920/posts Newt Gingrich, the former Republican House speaker and purveyor of the GOP "Contract With America'' that helped his party win control of the House after President Bill Clinton's election, says GOP chairman Michael Steele has started work on a new framework for 2010 that he is calling "First principles.'' "I've been talking with Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele, '' Gingrich said today, speaking with students at C-SPAN's Cable Center Class. "He is developing a first principles model that I think is a very exciting , positive step in the right direction,'' said Gingrich, who has said that he will... Tribune http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2385920/posts#comment Fri, 13 Nov 2009 22:54:47 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2382243/posts During two heated Democratic challenges, U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk of Highland Park was targeted by millions of dollars in TV ads painting him as a far right Republican in his north suburban district. Much of the time, it was the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee paying for and writing those ads. Kirk spent millions of dollars himself on ads to cultivate a moderate, independent brand in the 10th District. Now it seems the DCCC agrees with him. DCCC Chair Chris Van Hollen said during a C-SPAN interview Sunday that Kirk is a "moderate," contradicting his own organizations efforts to paint him... The Daily Herald, Chicago, Il. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2382243/posts#comment Mon, 9 Nov 2009 17:59:58 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2381132/posts If you want to know what's wrong with Sacramento, you need look no further than Orange County. That's where Republican Party insiders have cast aside one of the GOP's most principled members in its drive to fill the 72nd Assembly District seat vacated by disgraced Assemblyman Mike Duvall, who resigned after being caught on tape bragging in lurid detail to another assemblyman about his sexual exploits with lobbyists. The first major candidate to announce his intention to replace Duvall was Orange County Supervisor Chris Norby. If the local GOP were serious about the limited-government rhetoric it constantly preaches, Norby would... OC Register http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2381132/posts#comment Sat, 7 Nov 2009 23:21:33 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2378344/posts Eighteen months later, Nevada Republicans have completed a count of all delegate ballots from last year's state convention. A group of disaffected Republicans says it feels vindicated after a Friday night count of missing ballots from the April 2008 gathering showed three delegates for U.S. Rep. Ron Paul should have been sent to the national convention. Paul supporters said they felt party leaders cheated them out of a place at the national convention when they abruptly recessed the convention before delegate ballots from the state's 2nd Congressional District could be counted. The district was allowed to choose three of the... AP http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2378344/posts#comment Wed, 4 Nov 2009 15:44:57 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2377703/posts And Romney was nowhere to be seen. BY BRENDAN MINITER Amidst the stunning events in New York's 23rd congressional district -- with Republican-turned-independent Doug Hoffman suddenly surging to the front and likely to win today's race -- collateral damage has been suffered by some of the GOP's presidential hopefuls who misread the race and the mood of the Republican electorate. Mitt Romney -- formerly a man who seemed willing to show up and plug for any Republican anywhere to pick up a few chits -- was nowhere to be seen in the district. Mike Huckabee, a favorite for religious conservatives... The Wall Street Journal http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2377703/posts#comment Tue, 3 Nov 2009 21:39:57 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2376221/posts WASHINGTON, Nov. 1 (UPI) -- There is a "political rebellion" going on in America that the Republican Party is hoping to speak for, the U.S. House minority leader says. Rep. John Boehner of Ohio, speaking Sunday on CNN's "State of Union," said an incident in which a GOP-endorsed New York congressional candidate withdrew from an election under pressure from Republican conservatives showed that "we're in the middle of a political rebellion going on in America." Boehner said, "This rebellion are by people who really have not been actively involved in the political process. And they don't really care whether you're... UPI http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2376221/posts#comment Mon, 2 Nov 2009 02:36:16 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2374565/posts Conservatives are sick and tired of being taken for granted, misrepresented, and talked down to by the same "elite" Republicans in Washington who hopelessly screwed everything up during the Bush years.         Everybody knows exactly whom we're talking about here.  The same snobby, elitist, stuffed shirt, squishy, poll-obsessed Country Club Republicans who went to D.C., forgot who put them there, wasted the incredible opportunity they had to change this country for the better, and are now pointing the finger at everyone except themselves for their mistakes.         Here are five messages for those people:         We're not going back to the Bush years:... chron watch http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2374565/posts#comment Fri, 30 Oct 2009 15:04:43 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2373633/posts "Perhaps more ominously for his ( Newt's )rapidly fading hopes for a 2012 Presidential bid, conservatives are beginning to question his integrity. His constant repetition of the false "she's locally selected" mantra seems as off message as Scozzafava's numerous well documented campaign missteps.""Either Newt Gingrich is lying, or someone misled him."But how can "the smartest guy in the room", with a reputation as a scholar and seeker of truth have been so easily misled about a set of facts that could be discerned with half an hour's worth of phone calls?" TCOTR Report.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2373633/posts#comment Thu, 29 Oct 2009 13:30:05 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2373068/posts ALBANY—Former House speaker Newt Gingrich never mentioned Doug Hoffman's name during a radio appearance this morning, but had a clear message for Republicans in the 23rd Congressional District: "The vote you're going to cast for a third-party candidate is going to guarantee the election of a Democrat. If you think that adding another vote to Nancy Pelosi's majority is a good idea, that keeping Nancy Pelosi as speaker is a good idea, then it's fine. But don't kid yourself.""John McHugh is a moderate Republican, he's held the seat for a very long time, I think 20 years," Gingrich, who has... NY Observer http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2373068/posts#comment Wed, 28 Oct 2009 19:02:55 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2372793/posts If vindication means anything its name is spelled George Bush. As former U.S. president George W. Bush spoke to a Saskatoon audience, I stood in the wings, sneaking a peek through the curtains at the spectators beyond the footlights. The crowd was friendly to be sure. But more than that, the relationship was like a musical virtuoso carrying the audience through every nuance, crescendo and dynamic of a composition. With every pause, smile, laugh and down stroke of seriousness, Bush had the crowd in his hand. Before the show, a friend who recently dined with the former Texas governor and... StarPhoenix http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2372793/posts#comment Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:24:21 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2372339/posts BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: In NY-23, Real Clear Politics: "Doug Hoffman, plus five."  Doug Hoffman may in fact win this with nowhere near the amount of money the two Democrats have.  I know there's a Democrat called a Republican, but we actually have two liberal Obama Democrats, one calling herself a Republican, and you've got the Reagan conservative Hoffman in there.  Tim Pawlenty threw in with him today, by the way, so you have Sarah Palin, Fred Thompson, Rick Santorum, who else?  (interruption)  Sue Collins endorsed -- so?  Is that a surprise?  That's going to sway a lot of votes.  Susan... RushLimbaugh.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2372339/posts#comment Tue, 27 Oct 2009 22:55:16 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2368507/posts I’ve taken some heat for posts I’ve written on Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava versus conservative Doug Hoffman in NY-23. My posts have been misinterpreted as supportive of Scozzafava, which they truly were not. Blame that on me, as the posts weren’t clear enough about the thought process going on behind the scenes. But that’s less important than the issue at hand. My conservative credentials are intact. But how conservatives win the current civil war within the GOP is important to me. We must build the party up and become strong, not simply tear things down because we disagree with them. Scozzafava... Pajamas Media http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2368507/posts#comment Thu, 22 Oct 2009 16:40:33 GMT