Free Republic

Rick Perry is not the world’s finest debater. Just ask him yourself. “I’m not the best debater up there,” the Texas governor told the Las Vegas Review-Journal as he prepared for his fifth and final debate of the fall debate season. He even tries to make his occasional tongue-tied moments on national television a plus. “I don’t think Americans are looking for the best debater,” he told the paper from Vegas, where tonight’s debate is being held. “We probably have the best debater in the White House, and it’s not particularly serving our country too well.” That’s a good line....

The spectacular rise of Herman Cain over the last fortnight has cheered conservatives and caused no small amount of angst among establishment Republicans who worry that the former Godfather’s pizza executive can’t beat President Obama in the general election. But those fears may be bogus. A recent Rasmussen poll shows Herman Cain beating Obama in a head-to-head match-up 43-41%, the only GOP candidate who beats the president one-on-one in recent Rasmussen surveys. But there are many conservatives who worry that Cain may not be ready for the big time, and that his inexperience in national politics will hinder his campaign...

Sheriff Joe Arpaio made it clear at a Phoenix press conference today that he was not officially endorsing anyone yet in the GOP presidential race, but took a moment to defend Herman Cain’s controversial “electric fence” comment. At a stop last Saturday in Cookeville, Tennessee, along his Memphis to Nashville bus tour, Cain had explained how he would secure the U.S. border by building an electrified fence along the southern border of the country. “I got an electric fence; it doesn’t kill people,” Arpaio said Monday at the press conference. ... “I was impressed with him and I’m still impressed...

PHOENIX - After first apologizing for suggesting an electric fence along the border, Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain told reporters here Monday that he still thinks it's a good idea for controlling illegal immigration. "I'm not walking away from that," he said. Cain has spent the last several days explaining a controversial comment about building an electrified fence along the U.S. - Mexico border that he said could kill people trying to enter the country illegally. On Sunday, he said his comments were "a joke." But talking to reporters here after a meeting here with Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio,...

If there's one thing that the ongoing national debate over Herman Cain's 9-9-9 plan has exposed, it's how much some conservatives love our current tax code and its enforcement arm. Who knew? Okay, that may be an exaggeration -- but it is not an overstatement to say that much of the criticism of Cain's plan coming from the right is based in a stunning comfort with and knee-jerk reliance on our current system. It's as if there is an undercurrent of belief that our IRS system is very, very good and can be replaced only by perfection. At the very...

It’s not just conservatives who are frustrated today. It is every single American who longs to see their nation regain its vitality, restoring freedom and prosperity at home and shining the light of human potential across the planet. What is particularly frustrating is that the party out of power, the Republican Party, is supposed to be carrying the torch for these values. But it’s barely happening. The Party has become bogged down with careerists, rear view mirror thinkers, and its own establishment of inside the beltway elite. Nothing could speak more to this problem than establishment attitudes toward the remarkable...

Businessman Herman Cain may not have raised as much money as his chief rivals for the Republican presidential nomination, but he's been able to advance based on one important edge: a big idea that voters can grab hold of. His momentum on the back of the so-called "9-9-9 plan" for tax reform is strong enough that he's putting serious pressure on both former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Texas Gov. Rick Perry. One poll released this week shows Mr. Cain as the top choice of 27 percent of likely Republican voters, the most of any candidate. The NBC News/Wall Street...

Herman Cain, during some go-arounds with David Gregory, concedes that his "9-9-9" plan would raise some taxes: "Some people will pay more. But most people will pay less," Cain, a former chief executive of Godfather's Pizza who has never held elected office, said on NBC's "Meet the Press" program.

Cain said the rally is simple: “The message is more powerful than money, and the American people like the message.” “... Some of the pundits are finally getting it,” Cain told the crowd, drawing sustained applause. “The voice of the people is more powerful than the voice of the media. ... The voice of the people is going to decide who’s going to be the nominee, and the voice of the people is going to decide who is going to be the next president of the United States of America.”

"I'm the only problem-solver in the group," Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain told Mike Huckabee in an August Fox News appearance. Well, many candidates bill themselves as problem-solvers. In fact, if we asked any candidate running for any office in the entire country, practically every one would likely define him- or herself as able to solve problems. Yet we know that politicians, as a rule, create and worsen problems rather than fix them. .....Overconfidence turns the hopeful campaign pronouncements of otherwise successful people into dismal policy. In the end, Americans usually end up with more laws, less freedom, and no...

Herman Cain’s limited funding and campaign organization will make it difficult for him to survive dozens of state primaries and win the Republican nomination. However, his prominent standing in current polls is real and indicative of strengths he brings to the chase. Our latest IBOPE Zogby interactive poll has Cain leading the GOP field at 38%. Polls continue to be volatile because Republican voters are hard to please, and none of the candidates has yet to meet their standards for pure conservatism and ability to beat Barack Obama. Four different Republicans have led our polls since late last year: non-candidate...

Georgia businessman and talk show radio host Herman Cain isn't shy about his ambitions -- the prospective presidential has drawn attention from Republicans since announcing his 2012 exploratory committee.

Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain on Wednesday said his rival Mitt Romney would have to “deal with” the health care law he passed in Massachusetts, which Cain grouped with ObamaCare as “government-centered” health care. “I do not support the Massachusetts health care law,” Cain said at a lunch sponsored by the American Spectator and held at the offices of Grover Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform. While he didn't explicitly say the two laws were similar, he did mention them in tandem, emphasizing, “I want to get to get away from this government takeover to health care.” He said he preferred...

Herman Cain took a swipe at Mitt Romney's health care record Friday, telling radio host Michael Smerconish that the on-and-off GOP frontrunner isn't a "staunch conservative." Here's how Cain responded when Smerconish asked if he would agree with Rush Limbaugh that Romney's not a "true conservative": I don’t think he’s a staunch conservative because he’s changed his position on too many things over the years. The other thing is, if you just look at Romneycare in Massachusetts, no matter how much he tries to pretend that it was supposed to be good for Massachusetts, a conservative would never have signed...

A pumped-up Herman Cain is promising a rock ’em, sock ’em takedown of Republican presidential rival Mitt Romney, saying he’s already got the Bay State governor on the run and can deliver a knockout at Tuesday night’s debate because voters “can’t get excited about (Romney’s) leadership.” “He got a little defensive last time, so he knows Herman is going to come after him,” Cain said during a phone interview with the Herald yesterday. “We are in a contest here. We are in a battle.” Cain, who has surged to the front of the crowded Republican presidential pack, already locked on...

Bill Maher may be anti-religion, but he's got faith in one thing: Herman Cain won't be the the 2012 Republican Presidential nominee. Maher bet CNBC correspondent Michele Caruso-Cabrera $1 million that Cain won't earn the GOP nomination, and shook hands on the wager during Friday night's taping of his HBO political comedy show Real Time with Bill Maher. Caruso-Cabrera was arguing that Cain's "incredible likeability factor" could carry him all the way when, Maher snarked back that he'd put a million dollars down against her one dollar that Cain won't win the nomination because Republicans can't deal with a non-white...

“I think Nine-Nine-Nine is a wonderful plan. I think a lot of the candidates have very good plans for tax reform, but I love the Nine-Nine-Nine Plan. I think it's a great first step.”-- Economist Arthur Laffer, top tax adviser to President Ronald Reagan, on “ Special Report" with Bret Baier.” Arthur Laffer, one of the high priests of Reaganomics, who told Bret Baier Herman Cain’s Nine-Nine-Nine Plan is “wonderful.” House GOP Budget Boss Paul Ryan told the Daily Caller he “loves” Cain’s plan. In Republican circles those are two very big boosters, especially for a guy who is said...

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The anti-tax Club for Growth is rising to Herman Cain's defense amid growing scrutiny of - and questions about - his "9-9-9" economic plan: “Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 plan is both pro-growth and a good starting point on the way to a flat or fair tax,” said Club president Chris Chocola. “Eliminating taxes on capital gains and dividends and combining that with huge rate cuts in both corporate and income taxes would create an unparalleled economic boom. 9-9-9 also eliminates the regulatory and compliance costs from the current tax code that suck billions out of the economy each year. It is...

When I grew up in the South during the era of segregation, my family had little money. But my father Luther and mother Lenora were rich in ideas, faith and love. They were hard workers and family oriented, and instilled those same values in their children. My father worked three jobs to fulfill his dreams -- a house for our family and a Cadillac. My mother was a maid. They both believed in the American dream, and made their dreams come true. Though their circumstances were tough, they never played the victim card. They never made excuses. From what I’ve...