Free Republic

Elaine McKearn is the kind of socially conservative Republican who used to dominate California Republican Party conventions such as the one that concluded Sunday. The Thousand Oaks resident opposes abortion rights and gay marriage and sees illegal immigration as one of California's main problems. In 2002, the now-66-year-old was so inspired by GOP gubernatorial hopeful Bill Simon that she jumped aboard as a campaign volunteer. At this convention, however, McKearn said she felt lost. All three of the party's gubernatorial candidates are pro-abortion rights social moderates who make only passing references to immigration, gay marriage, religion and other red-meat conservative...

McCain Strategist Warns GOP Risks Becoming 'Religious Party' Steve Schmidt urges Republicans to begin voicing more support for civil unions and gay rights. FOXNews.com Friday, April 17, 2009 John McCain's top adviser from the presidential campaign urged fellow Republicans on Friday to warm up to gay rights and warned that the GOP risks becoming the "religious party" with its opposition to same-sex marriage. Steve Schmidt, in his first political appearance since the election, spoke at the Washington, D.C., convention for the Log Cabin Republicans -- a grassroots group for gay and lesbian Republicans. He urged Republicans, in the near-term, to...

John McCain's daughter, Meghan McCain, 24, has agreed to headline the annual convention of the Log Cabin Republicans, a GOP group which advocates on behalf of gays and lesbians. "Her willingness to reach out to organizations like ours shows her commitment to growing the Republican Party," Log Cabin convention manager Christian Berle told ABC News. "The title of Meghan McCain's speech is 'Winning the Next Generation -- How can the Republican Party attract more young voters.'" Joining Meghan McCain at the conference will be Steve Schmidt, her father's top 2008 strategist. The topic of Schmidt's address is "Moving Forward." The...

H.R.6257 Title: To reinstate the Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act. Sponsor: Rep Kirk, Mark Steven [IL-10] (introduced 6/12/2008) Cosponsors (4) Rep Castle, Michael N. [DE] - 6/12/2008 Rep Ferguson, Mike [NJ-7] - 6/12/2008 Rep Ros-Lehtinen, Ileana [FL-18] - 6/18/2008 Rep Shays, Christopher [CT-4] - 6/12/2008 Latest Major Action: 6/12/2008 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary. TITLE(S): * SHORT TITLE(S) AS INTRODUCED: Assault Weapons Ban Reauthorization Act of 2008 * OFFICIAL TITLE AS INTRODUCED: To reinstate the Public Safety and Recreational Firearms Use Protection Act.

ARLINGTON, VA U.S. Senator John McCain's presidential campaign today announced the endorsement of 11 Republican National Committee members. "Electability is becoming a very important issue in this nomination contest and John McCain is the strongest candidate we could nominate to defeat the Democrat nominee in November," said RNC Vice Chairman Chuck Yob. John McCain thanked the RNC members, stating, "I am honored that these leaders of the Republican Party have endorsed my candidacy, and am grateful for their support," said Senator McCain. Members of the Republican National Committee are automatically seated as delegates at the Republican National Convention. However, the...

Rudy Giuliani Appears To Be The Early Favorite Among Gay Republicans (AP) DENVER -- Justin Meyer admits it's difficult to be a gay Republican these days. The 24-year-old financial manager was excited to see Rudy Giuliani jump into the 2008 presidential race both because of how he led New York City and his support for gay rights. But he's angry at Giuliani for recently coming out against civil unions and doesn't understand why other members of the Log Cabin Republicans, the nation's largest gay GOP group, were still touting him as the group gathered for its annual convention Friday....

Giuliani as the GOP presidential nominee would be a dagger in the heart of the conservative movement (and a knife in the back). The only difference in a Liberal Rudy Giuliani and Liberal Hillary Clinton is the fact of which bathrooms they select to use and there are some who are willing to even question that. Giuliani/Clinton/Dem vs. GOP Platform Comparison Issue Giuliani Clinton Dem Platform GOP Platform Abortion on Demand Supports Supports Supports Opposes Partial Birth Abortion SupportsOpposed NY ban Supports Supports Opposes Roe v. Wade Supports Supports Supports Opposes Taxpayer Funded Abortions Supports Supports Supports Opposes Embryonic Stem...

touched on this in an earlier post, but I'm disheartened by conservatives who continue to lecture that we must ignore serious defects in a Republican candidate's record. Conservatism is about more than tax cuts and the war on terrorism, it's about more than abortion and illegal immigration. These are certainly important policy aspects of conservatism. But conservatism is about a way of life, a way of governing, and a way of bettering society. When a pundit or candidate demands that conservatives limit their critical thinking to one or two subjects or positions, that's self-serving. They're usually putting their own political...

It's hard to offend both major branches of the Republican Party in one fell swoop, but Mayor Rudy Giuliani's confirmation today that he still supports publicly funded abortions has put him at odds with leading social and fiscal conservatives. For example, Grover Norquist, a leading fiscal conservative and president of Americans for Tax Reform, told me this evening: "Some Republicans are in favor of legalized abortions. No Republican is in favor of stealing money from the taxpayers to subsidize abortions." And Dr. Carl Herbster, a leading Christian conservative had this to say: "... Not only are we not in favor...

Let’s see what Romney is really about. Let’s see him having a who’s the real Liberal contest with a King of Liberalism, Ted (I lost her in the lake) Kennedy.

Here's a heads up for the Giuliani campaign. It's coming. It's coming very soon. Beware. Run for your lives! As I write this, there is plotting going among grassroots religious conservatives in New Hampshire, Iowa, South Carolina and many other states. They want to take down Rudy and they plan to do everything in their power to do it. I received this email from an influential Republican activist who, lets just say, has an extensive mailing list among the conservative grassroots network. Here's what he told me: "If Rudy Giuliani is put up for President by the Stupid Party, I...

In January 1996, Democratic President Bill Clinton declared the era of big government over. Eleven years later, government is larger than it ever has been: The federal budget for 2007 is $2.8 trillion, the highest in history; one in six Americans relies on government assistance; we spend $586.5 billion on Social Security, $372.3 billion on Medicare, $268.5 billion on health care, and $93 billion on education, training, employment and social services. If you laid the dollar bills composing the federal budget end to end, the chain of cash would circle the equator approximately 11,000 times -- or reach from Earth...

End Sanctuary for Illegal Immigrants by Michelle Malkin (September 24, 2002) What does fighting terrorism have to do with stemming massive illegal immigration? Much more than government officials have been willing to let on over the past year. When September 11 hijackers Hani Hanjour and Khalid Almihdhar needed help getting fraudulent government-issued photo IDs before embarking on their suicide mission, they hopped into a van and headed to the parking lot of a 7-Eleven store in Falls Church, Va. That's where scores of migrant day laborers -- the kind whom immigration advocates refer to as "undocumented" -- gather to find...

In a recent column titled Are Conservatives Running Scared, I asked conservatives to examine and explain their apparent early support for a presidential candidate who is pro-abortion, pro-gun control, pro-gay rights, pro-illegal amnesty and sitting on a record of appointing 75 judges, 8-1 liberal. The column sparked an interesting debate and it provided some interesting answers to my question. The ’08 presidential primaries are shaping up to be a bout between conservatives and Republicans. We have known for some time that while most conservatives are Republican by default, not all Republicans are conservative. George W. Bush has spent like a...

""There must be public funding for abortions...I disagree with President Bush's veto...of public funding for abortion."

They are saying that the next GOP presidential candidate might very well be a pro-abortion Republican who promises not to push that issue and is strong on other issues. They hope that pro-lifers will “be reasonable,� not let the perfect be the enemy of the good, and go along quietly. We won’t. Republicans and Democrats in 1980 took radically different approaches to the right to life. Republicans wrote into their party platform that all abortions should be outlawed. Democrats wrote into their party platform that not only should abortion be legal, but families should be forced to pay for others’...

Robert Ariail had an idea for a cartoon for today that would have shown the GOP going off and leaving John McCain behind. I asked him to explain it, and as is so often the case, he said it had something to do with reports that were all over television -- which he watches, and I don't. If I were to start watching TV news, I would do it as much as anything so that I could raise myself in Robert's estimation. He tends to respect my opinion on cartoons except when I say, "What's that about," and he throws...

J-Pod, You write of conservatives deserting Giuliani on the social issues: "Maybe it will happen. But there's no evidence it's going to." Well, there's some evidence out there, including this from the Wall Street Journal poll today: “Fully three of four Republicans—including a majority of those backing the former New York City mayor—say they would have reservations if they learned Mr. Giuliani supports abortion rights and supports civil unions for gay and lesbians couples.”

When Rudy Giuliani took the stage last Friday at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C., he did so to an overflowing crowd of mainly young, socially conservative activists. But, while his nearly hour-long speech touched on a host of conservative themes -- including welfare, taxes and, of course, the war on terror -- one set of issues was conspicuously absent: social issues, most notably abortion. The CPAC omission highlights a strategy for addressing the concerns of social conservatives that has emerged in the opening stages of Giuliani's campaign: He's keeping his attention, and theirs, focused squarely on...

The National Catholic Register is out with an editorial where they say the following: No deal Rudy. We cannot support you. Here's why: "Rudy’s deal: He’ll promise not to push the pro-abortion agenda, and he’ll nominate judges in the mold of Samuel Alito and John Roberts. Pro-lifers in the Republican Party in return would support him, but keep insisting that the party stay pro-life, and fight our fiercest pro-life battles at the state level, where they belong. We also see the downside of Rudy’s deal. If pro-lifers went along, we’d soon find out that a pro-abortion Republican president would no...

Romney wins narrowly while Rudy Giuliani (a client) finishes a strong second: Romney 21% Giuliani 17% Brownback 15% Gingrich 14% McCain 12% On combined first and second place choices, it's a win for Rudy: Giuliani 34% Gingrich 30% Romney 30% That's not too shabby. Romney's people spent thousands of dollars getting their folks to CPAC. It seemed like every other person in line for Romney's speech yesterday had an official Mitt t-shirt on -- and he certainly was being attacked as though he was the man to beat. Even so, Rudy manages to pull off a near-win by just showing...

In a move to increase its relevance in the presidential selection process, the Golden State is set to jump up its primary from June of 2008 to February 5th, less than a year away. This may benefit New York's presidential aspirants, and especially its Republican one. Last week I noted Giuliani's electric support at the California Republican Party convention. A recent poll has resoundingly brought forth the same message. This morning, the Wall Street Journal's John Fund notes the following numbers: With California moving its presidential primary to Feb. 5 of next year, what Golden State voters think about White...

Long dismissed by Washington insiders as incapable of receiving the Republican Party's presidential nomination because of his pro-abortion rights, pro-gay rights and pro-gun control views, former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani was lavished with praise Friday by an icon of American conservatism. "He is much stronger than anyone could have predicted six months ago," said former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich from Georgia. "New York is four times safer than it used to be. It's one of the greatest achievements of government capability in the 20th century. And Rudy just has to go out and say, 'This is who...

The GOP Should Dump Its Litmus Test By Michael Reagan FrontPageMagazine.com | February 16, 2007 The philosopher Diogenes is said to have wandered around ancient Greece holding a lantern and seeking to find an honest man. My fellow Republicans, sans lanterns, are now wandering around the political landscape seeking to find the perfect Republican presidential candidate. I don’t know if Diogenes ever found that honest man, but I do know that those Republicans are never going to find the perfect candidate, simply because he does not exist. Some Republicans insist that the only perfect candidate would be a clone of...

Given the more liberal tendencies of Rudy Giuliani on abortion and guns, conservatives have expressed serious misgivings about his run for the nomination. However, the main effect that a President can have on these issues involves his or her outlook on the judiciary. The federal court system has been the main battleground for both issues, with Roe specifically precluding any kind of legislative action. Court nominations have become one of the essential considerations for presidential contenders -- and it may be more important for Giuliani than any other Republican candidate. Giuliani has hinted that he would nominate jurists in the...

Giuliani Strikes a Note With California GOP Testing the Waters, Former N.Y. Mayor Garners 4 Ovations SACRAMENTO, Feb. 10 -- Rudolph W. Giuliani came west to learn whether his brand of Republican politics has a chance among party members significantly more conservative than himself. By the time he had received a fourth standing ovation Saturday at the California Republican Party convention, the answer seemed clear. Equating the U.S. fight against terrorism with the Civil War and the Cold War, Giuliani told about 750 of his party's faithful that failure in Iraq would turn that country into a "massive headquarters for...

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...

Is it time for conservatives to dump the GOP? Mark Tapscott (archive)August 28, 2005 Thanks to the incredible expansion of federal entitlements, regulations and pork spending sanctioned by the GOP leadership in Congress since 2001, there is virtually no chance that Big Government is going to be shrunk even a little any time soon. And since there is no sign the folks running Congress are willing to change course, why shouldn’t conservatives dump the GOP? Now, all you party loyalists who started gasping while reading that last sentence can take a deep breath. I’m not saying we should just up...

PALM BEACH, Fla. – With political junkies looking ahead to the 2008 presidential race, two of the names often mentioned as leading contenders for the GOP nomination – John McCain and Rudy Giuliani – are being called "disastrous" for the Republican Party by Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo. Both of those individuals, of course, would be disastrous for us for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is their position on immigration, which is to open the border," Tancredo told WND in an exclusive interview. "I will do everything I can – whether I'm a candidate for president or...

As Hillary Clinton begins her own preparations to run for the presidency, the deciding factor of who will be the next commander in chief may have less to do with whomever is chosen as the Democrat or Republican nominee, and more to do with the choice of the Constitution Party. This weekend at a national committee meeting in Manchester, N.H., Howard Phillips and the Constitution Party he founded set in motion the plans to launch its own third party candidate for president. "The time has never been better for a third party dark horse candidate to grab the White House,"...

The last election told us many things. One thing that stands out above all others is that the number of people who actually understand what is going on in our country today is frighteningly small. A small group who “get it” Just half of Americans are registered to vote, so right off, we know that half of America doesn’t care what happens to itself or the rest of us. They live in a different world. You know who they are so it is not necessary to expand on this point. Of those who are registered, on a good Election Day,...

http://conservativepresident2008.blogspot.com/2006/12/constitution-party-to-select-candidate.html The Constitution Party, a conservative third party founded in 1992 to serve as a possible ticket for Pat Buchanan to run on, plans to have nominated its candidate for President by July 2007, World Net Daily reports. The party held a national committee meeting last weekend where Howard Phillips, who is the party's founder and three time Presidential candidate (1992, 1996 and 2000), told World Net Daily "The time has never been better for a third party dark horse candidate to grab the White House." Phillips said that the party will nominate candidate next year and among the possibilities...

WASHINGTON - When it comes to the presidency, the Republican Party has a long tradition of nominating the next guy in line. That's John McCain - and the failed GOP presidential aspirant of 2000 is positioning himself as the anointed 2008 nominee. Yet, a full year before the first primary contests, the Republican race is anything but wrapped up. The Arizona senator who once reveled in his reputation for bucking the party line is now running as the establishment candidate, but he faces serious challenges from Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. "Right now,...

A Vote for Rudy Why Giuliani should be president RICHARD BROOKHISER I have voted against Rudy Giuliani, and I have voted for him. Voting for him is better; it’s what I hope conservatives, Republicans, and Americans will do in 2008. Giuliani formed a presidential exploratory committee after the midterm elections, formally entering campaign land, in which every utterance by and about him will be analyzed and its potential effect polled. Not that it hasn’t been going on for years. My favorite of the early reax to Rudy was flagged by columnist Deroy Murdock: An anti-Giuliani website, SayNoToRudy.org, posted by social...

Just breaking.

For all you loony couch conservatives, the General Election is not the time to sit home and cry over not having a choice. If you sit home and the Rats gain the majority in either House, blame yourself. I know I will. A Republican Rino is still better than a Rat. It gives the Republicans majority status. With that status, we control committees and keep the Rats from starting multitudes of witch-hunting investigations and impeachment procedures. Nothing may get done with or without the RINOs, but its better than having the Rats in control. If you don't like the RINOs...

From: Conservatism is Dead By Chuck Baldwin The Covenant News ~ March 2, 2001   Bill Clinton did more than destroy America's moral conscience; he destroyed the conservative movement. What passes for conservatism today isn't even closely related to the true meaning of the term. At one time conservatism stood for limited government and personal freedom. No more. Today, conservatism stands for an ever increasing, ever encroaching federal monstrosity, promoted in the name of bipartisanship and compassion. Nothing illustrates this reality more than President Bush's proposed budget. Hailed by Republicans everywhere as a model of conservative ideology, the Bush budget...