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In an April 30, 2009 press release, House Republican Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) issued a welcome statement announcing the formation of the National Council for a New America, which is reportedly a forward-looking, grassroots caucus intended to bring together Congressional leaders and the people, with a national panel of “experts.” That’s the good news! (snip) So, who are these “experts” that will lead the pro-American Right, back to its rightful place in national leadership? And, before we start talking about solutions, can we please properly define the problem?

Sexy, Savvy & Real: Sarah Palin appears on TLC ... I know we have seen Sarah Palin's bear skin before, but I love this image of her, taken from a meeting with some celebrity bikers last week in her office. Note the way she casually leans on the dead beast (slain by her father). It encapsulates the love-or-loathe factor about the Alaska governor. Big city liberals will take one look at that bear head and grimace while Conservative hunter types will think 'way to go girl'. It seems many in the Republican Party's leadership are in the grimacing crowd, as...

GOP Tries to Dig Out of Its Hole By GERALD F. SEIB If you're trying to figure how bad things are for Republicans, consider this: More Americans say they are conservatives than say they are part of the Republican Party -- which is supposed to be, after all, the party of conservatives. That picture emerges from deep inside the latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll. The numbers there show the extent of the woes facing today's Republican Party -- woes that came into sharp relief last week with the defection of Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter to the Democrats. Yet the...

Conservative radio entertainer Rush Limbaugh has surveyed the Republican party's field of prospective candidates to retake the White House in 2012, and has, apparently, decided on a favorite with a familiar-sounding name: Sarah Palin.On his show, yesterday, Limbaugh tipped his hat to the Alaska governor, and probably left his former golden boy, Bobby Jindal, feeling a bit left out: Limbaugh defended Palin and heralded her as the "most prominent and articulate voice" for conservatism. Indeed, who can argue that Palin is prominent within GOP circles? But articulate? Did Rush miss Palin's recent performance before an Indiana pro-life group? But Rush...

The GOP has launched a major new effort to remake the party and cast it as forward-looking and constructive, but one person may not be all that interested in participating: Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. Sources in the office of GOP Rep Eric Cantor, who's leading the new effort, tell me that Palin and her staff still have yet to respond to their invitation that she join their effort, which is called the National Council for a New America. No less a GOP luminary than John McCain confirmed last week that the group had reached out to Palin. The new GOP...

It’s supposed to be a listening tour to accompany their launch of the National Council for a New America. So, where do they launch it? With the party at its lowest standing in several decades, Republicans on Saturday launched a listening tour in the heart of the Democratic suburbs, where several of the party’s leading voices steered clear of hot-button issues and instead emphasized the need to advance new policy ideas to revive the party’s prospects. There’s a great idea. Let’s listen to Democrats. That should get the Conservative base involved! House Minority Whip Eric Cantor and former Republican governors...

Yeah. I'm as mad at the GOP as you are -- then again I have been for a long time, not just lately. So, in the hope that something good could come of our losses, I listened in on Eric Cantor's conference call launching the National Council for a New America (NCNA) project and you all saw my immediate report. I patiently listened to Representative Eric Cantor and Senator John McCain and heard the vague overview, I took note of the names that were attached to the project, and I realized the import of the five basic issues that they...

From KTUU Alaska, Sarah Palin has joined the GOP listening tour with Romney and Cantor. Other cities are in the plans and Palin and McCain may be together at some point. Get ready for the media to have a hate fest just like they always do. Chris Matthews and everyone at MSDNC will be making fun of everything she says..Full Story Here

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R), the 2008 vice presidential nominee, will join a new Republican policy group aimed at reshaping and promoting the party brand. House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.)announced Palin’s decision to join the National Council for a New America on Monday night. The group launched late last week and held its first town hall-style forum on Saturday in Virginia. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), the 2008 presidential nominee, indicated during a conference call last week that his former running mate had been invited to join the policy panel. The group, which is made up of prominent Republican leaders,...

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will be part of the National Council for a New America, an attempt by leaders in Congress and potential 2012 presidential candidates to rebrand the struggling party. "I am pleased to announce that Governor Palin has joined the National Council for a New America's panel of experts," said House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (Va.) today. "When NCNA was announced last week, we spoke about a dynamic organization that worked to constantly bring in new people and innovative ideas." . . . . . Palin's involvement in the group will help rebut the idea that the National...

I'm going to try one more time to explain what FR is all about. Free Republic is a conservative site. That does not necessarily mean it is a Republican site. In fact there may be many Republicans we don't support and some Republican issues we cannot agree with. I'll throw in Arlen Specter as a prime example of a Republican we cannot support. Should be obvious to all why not. Should also be just as obvious to all that we cannot support Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins, John McCain and his lap dog Lindsay Graham, Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, et al....

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney headlined congressional Republicans' big new policy conclave over the weekend, stressing the need to listen to real Americans, but also appearing to slap a potential rival for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination. At the National Council for a New America's first "conversation" in Arlington, Va., Romney, who ran for the Republican nomination last year and has kept his name in the conversation for 2012, joined House Republican Whip Eric Cantor and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush in presiding over the panel. "I’ve learned that when you sit in a position of responsibility as you do...

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said Saturday that it's time for the Republican Party to give up its "nostalgia" for the heyday of the Reagan era and look forward, even if it means stealing the winning strategy deployed by Democrats in the 2008 election. "You can't beat something with nothing, and the other side has something. I don't like it, but they have it, and we have to be respectful and mindful of that," Mr. Bush said. The former president's brother, often mentioned as a potential candidate in 2012, said President Obama's message of hope and change during the 2008...

In the latest instance of a high-profile GOP member taking a passing swipe at the party's 2008 vice-presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Governor and GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney jokingly dismissed Sarah Palin’s inclusion on TIME’s list of influential people in an interview broadcast Sunday. He asked, was “the issue on the most beautiful people or the most influential people?” . . . . . Romney, who was appearing with House Minority Whip Eric Cantor as part of a party re-launch the two are organizing with other prominent Republicans under the banner of the National Council for a New America, was...

This week GOP leaders in Congress, including Texas' Sen. John Cornyn, launched a rebuilding effort this week, called the National Council for a New America. It's supposed be a grassroots conversation with citizens, including non-Republicans. Texas' senior Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison joined the effort Friday. "We as Republicans need to show the nation that we have better alternatives to Democratic proposals, and that we understand the very real challenges families are facing during these tough economic times," Hutchison said in a statement. Her joining also reaffirms her GOP credentials.

(CNN) – House Minority Whip Eric Cantor and former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said in an interview airing on CNN's State of the Union Sunday morning that the GOP wasn't directly responsible for much of the party's electoral misfortune in 2008. "I frankly believe that much of what happened in the last election revolved around the fact that the economy fell apart at the time we were, if you will, holding the hot potato. Republicans and Democrats have been playing this game, passing the hot the potato, spending money like there was no tomorrow," Romney told John King. "And...

Republican political figures in recent days announced policy programs to challenge President Barack Obama's agenda and to counter perceptions that the GOP is a listless, leaderless "party of no." In doing so, they're highlighting their differences with the Republican National Committee's political strategy. House and Senate Republican lawmakers were the latest to launch a group independent of the RNC, announcing the formation of the National Council for a New America. The group comprises potential GOP presidential candidates who plan town hall-style meetings to promote ideas different from Obama's. Their aides and allies have been vexed by the lack of comprehensive...

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said Saturday that it's time for the Republican Party to give up its "nostalgia" for the heyday of the Reagan era and look forward, even if it means stealing the winning strategy deployed by Democrats in the 2008 election. "You can't beat something with nothing, and the other side has something. I don't like it, but they have it, and we have to be respectful and mindful of that," Mr. Bush said. The former president's brother, often mentioned as a potential candidate in 2012, said President Obama's message of hope and change during the 2008...

Link only, per FR copyright and excerpt rules

(CNN) — House Minority Whip Eric Cantor tells CNN's John King that the GOP still has a lot to learn from President Obama. "President Obama is a great communicator. We understand that," he said in an interview that aired on CNN's State of the Union Sunday. "He's also been very adept at adopting the technology of today to access the youth vote and the younger population of this country. That's the future, and I believe we've got a lot to learn. The Republican Party can't keep doing things the way it always has in terms of technology." Cantor, along with...