Free Republic

An unfortunate tendency on the right these days is to attempt to win arguments through tendentious and shallow redefinitions of what constitutes “left” and “right.” That tendency flared up in recent days with efforts to rebut any notion that the Holocaust Museum shooter was a right-wing extremist and, instead, to rebrand him as a leftist – or “vile leftist monster,” as Rand Simberg put it in one such creative feat of ideological legerdemain at Pajamas Media. According to Simberg, there’s nothing in James von Brunn’s biography that qualifies as right-wing, “if by that you mean someone who adheres to individualism,...

Conservatives who object to moderate Republican officeholders have over the years asked themselves how far they are prepared to go to rid themselves of their intraparty rivals. In the case of California’s senator Thomas Kuchel, the answer was: very far indeed. Kuchel (pronounced “kee-kul”) was among the last of the California progressives, politicians who had been decisively influenced by the middle-class, moral reform movement of the early twentieth century and leading progressive figures including Republican governors Hiram Johnson and Earl Warren. A key progressive reform, which was still in existence when Kuchel first was elected to the California State Assembly...

Can David Frum forge a new majority? The veteran conservative pundit and former Bush speechwriter has launched NewMajority.com, a group blog intended to heal the wounds afflicting the ailing Republican Party and conservative movement. Just as I wish President Obama the best of luck in leading this country, I wish Frum the best of luck in leading the American right out of the wilderness. Frum’s “Diary” blog at National Review Online has been a must-read for the past few years and, unfortunately, a target of much unfair criticism. Frum has been smeared by the talk-radio world for allegedly being a...

...The Goldwater myth shuts down all attempts to reform and renew our conservative message for modern times. And it offers a handy justification for nominating a 2012 presidential candidate who might otherwise seem disastrously unelectable...

CRAFT is a 527 committee launched by last year by Schwarzenegger donors Larry Dodge and Paul Folino, and former Gov. Pete Wilson to recruit the "next generation" of statewide Republicans candidates. It is run by former California Republican Party Chairman Duf Sundheim. Moderate GOP pundit Tony Quinn opined at the time that CRAFT's formation "...shows the money people in the party have no faith in the California Republican party. This group would not exist if not for the fact that Republicans can't win statewide elections." Judging by CRAFT's financial disclosure, I'm not sure those involved know how to run a...

SAN FRANCISCO -- California Republican and Democratic Party leaders, always at war, finally agree on a common enemy: the open primary. A proposed constitutional amendment would go before voters in June 2010 instituting a "top-two" primary system, which would effectively eliminate party primary ballots, erase candidate party labels in primary elections and allow voters to choose the two candidates - of whatever party - who would compete in the general election. An open primary would dissolve the current political primary system, and has the potential to seriously erode party power and change the entire landscape of state politics.The measure...

Former EBay Chief Executive Meg Whitman joined the race for governor of California this morning, setting off a battle between Silicon Valley moguls for the 2010 Republican nomination. Whitman, 52, has never run for public office, but is banking that Californians will see her corporate background as just what the state needs to break its chronic cycle of fiscal disasters. ... Whitman's chief rival for the party nomination is state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, also a high-tech tycoon. Another Republican exploring a run is a former Silicon Valley congressman, Tom Campbell, now an economics professor at UC Berkeley. With vast...

A new conservative movement that takes libertarian ideas seriously could use the inertia created by the nation's new progressivism to slingshot itself into the future on a platform of reduced government, lower taxes, and limited interventionism, while also respecting climate change (adjusting the tax code to encourage green reform without any expense to taxpayers) and reforming the immigration system (opening the borders as the market demands labor without sacrificing security). The Republican Party has a chance to transform itself into something it has never been: a party of small government based on classical liberal principles. It doesn't have to be...

Nicholas May Soon Fly on Gulfstream G-IV In a decision which could have wide-ranging implications for US law enforcement at all levels, US District Judge Cormac Carney told prosecutors pursuing drug and investment charges against Broadcom executive Henry T Nichols III that they went too far in seizing his Gulfstream G-IV and threatening to impound it indefinitely.As ANN reported last week, the California businessman asked the court's permission for his family to continue flying the bizjet...The 1993 Gulfstream, registry N2107Z, was seized in a July 16 raid at John Wayne Airport. The FBI asserts Nicholas "...distributed ecstasy, cocaine, methamphetamine and...

With the deluge of threads being posted, and slated to increase greatly as the election heats up, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE .. especially if it's a news/breaking thread ... add the appropriate keywords to your posting form. So, if someone's looking for the latest string of "Obama" or "Sarah Palin" articles, let's say, they just click on that particular keyword at the top of the page, and those articles containing the keyword will come up chronologically. Thank you! Popular keyword options at the top of the main page: ~~~~ *110th *2008 *2008polls *ayers *bailout *barackobama *biden *bo *democrat *democrats *demron *economy...

SACRAMENTO — If you want a less-polarized Legislature — if you want lawmakers who can actually compromise to get things done, such as agreeing on a budget — redistricting reform is not the answer. That's the finding of a report released Tuesday night by the Public Policy Institute of California, throwing into doubt the campaign message of Proposition 11, which would take the power to draw political boundaries away from lawmakers and hand it to a 14-member commission. Proponents have argued that the measure, which is on the Nov. 4 ballot, would rid Sacramento of the partisan bickering by setting...

[The Lincoln Club of Orange County is threatening to pull its financial support for Republicans in the House and Senate if they do not replace their leaders.] The grumbling. The head shaking. The anger.Congressional Republican leaders clearly have no idea what we, their fellow GOP members (and financial backers), say to one another when we get together, yet for years one refrain has been constant: our extreme discontent over how the former GOP majority blew it on spending. Budget earmarks, which jumped by 285% between 1994 and 2005 as their cost soared by 60%, stand as the perfect symbol of...

Conservative activists are preparing to do battle with allies of Sen. John McCain in advance of September's Republican National Convention, hoping to prevent his views on global warming, immigration, stem cell research and campaign finance from becoming enshrined in the party's official declaration of principles.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- When House Republican leaders left Washington for their Fourth of July break, they felt good about outwitting the Democratic majority. The feeling was not reciprocated 3,000 miles away, where conservative California Republican activists were drafting an ultimatum. The Lincoln Club of Orange County is telling GOP leaders of both the House and Senate that it is too late to repent. They must go -- or else lose big money. The message: "Come Nov. 5, should the current GOP leadership in either house survive to lead in a new Congress, the Lincoln Club of Orange County will review...

SANTA ANA, Calif. — Federal officials unsealed one indictment today alleging co-founder Henry T. Nicholas III of chip maker Broadcom Corp. spiked the drinks of technology executives and customer representatives with ecstasy and maintained a warehouse for ecstasy, cocaine and methamphetamine.A second indictment unsealed today accuses him of conspiracy, securities fraud and other violations relating to stock options backdating while he was CEO.That indictment also names Broadcom's former chief financial officer, William J. Ruehle, on conspiracy and securities fraud charges but no drug violations. Thom Mrozek, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office, said Nicholas was in custody after turning himself...

Should they decide to enter the 2010 race for governor, former EBay CEO Meg Whitman and State Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner will likely have to explain to Republican voters why in recent years they have donated thousands of dollars to Democratic candidates. Contribution reports show that Whitman gave former State Controller Steve Westly, with whom she worked at EBay, $20,000 in combined donations for his 2002 run for controller and 2006 campaign for governor. In 2005 she contributed $1,000 to state Sen. Joe Simitian’s 2008 reelection campaign. She made contributions to candidates for national offices as well: $1,000 to U.S....

Tuesday's election results highlighted challenges for both Democrats and Republicans. Republicans received a hard shot in Mississippi. Greg Davis (for whom I campaigned and who was a well-qualified candidate) narrowly lost a special congressional election in a district President George W. Bush carried four years ago with 62% of the vote. Democrats pulled off the win by smartly nominating a conservative, Travis Childers, from a rural swing part of the district who disavowed Barack Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and hit Mr. Davis from the right. This blow to the GOP came after two other special congressional election losses...

AND NOW . . . amidst billowing clouds of fragrant, aromatic first- and second-hand premium cigar smoke. . . it is time for . . . that harmless, lovable little fuzz ball, the highly-trained broadcast specialist, having more fun than a human being should be allowed to have, from behind the golden EIB microphone, firmly ensconced in the prestigious Attila-the-Hun chair at the Limbaugh Institute of Advanced Conservative Studies, with talent on loan from G-d, at the cutting-edge of societal evolution, with half his brain tied behind his back — just to make it fair, the all-knowing, all-caring, all-sensing, all-feeling,...

By now, most McCain haters will have already skipped down to the comments section to post their expletives and tell me how it’s a free country and they have a 1st Amendment right, etc. to yammer on and on about how bad McCain sucks, totally missing the point of my post, again. But I’m here to tell you, in this free country, that in my opinion, you should SHUT YOUR STINKIN TRAP! To all you ingrates, rageaholics, and self-absorbed punks, WE KNOW YOU HATE MCCAIN. You can give yourself a rest now and stop posting on every single thread the...

Calling state government dysfunctional, a bipartisan group launched a reform effort Wednesday that it said would be backed by its own political action committee. The group, called California Forward, will push for passage of a proposed November ballot initiative supported by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to take away the Legislature's power to draw political districts and give it instead to an independent panel. Advocates say this will help moderates get elected. The reform group also plans to address the state budgeting process. Leon Panetta, a former Democratic congressman from Monterey and chief of staff to former President Bill Clinton, is leading...

Leon Panetta should have been governor. But at least his talent will be used trying to straighten out Sacramento. Panetta and a new team of Capitol outsiders and periphery players have been staked with nearly $16 million by five foundations that are frustrated with the pathetic performance of Sacramento politicians.

John McCain’s campaign got its first opportunity to show how seriously it wants to avoid getting into the identity-politics meltdown in the Democratic primary. The campaign suspended Soren Dayton, a former blogger now working for McCain, for sending the link to a YouTube regarding Barack Obama and Jeremiah Wright over a Twitter message: An aide to John McCain was suspended from the campaign today for blasting out an inflammatory video that raises questions about Barack Obama’s patriotism.Soren Dayton, who works in McCain’s political department, sent out the YouTube link of “Is Obama Wright?” on twitter at 12:31 today with the...

It’s not the kind of endorsement that a Republican presidential candidate should welcome. But former Clinton State Department official and alleged Russian dupe Strobe Talbott says that Senator John McCain and Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are all “moderate pragmatists” in foreign policy “with the demonstrated ability to reach across party lines.” This is “good news,” says Talbott, who is an advocate of world government. Can our media stop talking about race, sex and gender long enough to examine whether the American people will be given a choice or an echo on foreign policy issues this November?...

There is no doubt that in the eight years since they arrived on the California political scene, the New Majority has made a significant impact. But what is the New Majority? Who are they? And what are their goals? Just the other day, I was invited to participate in a "media roundtable" with the leadership of the California New Majority and the Orange County New Majority Chapter. It was an informative session, and so I thought that I would share some observations with FlashReport readers. The meeting was conducted by four leaders in the New Majority -- Tom McKernan, the...

The name might be more wishful thinking than practical politics, but a group of Republican business leaders calling themselves the New Majority are hoping to reshape the GOP to give it a stronger role in state and local politics. Launched in Orange County seven years ago, the group raised more than $8 million - more than any other contributor - for the effort to recall Gov. Gray Davis and replace him with Arnold Schwarzenegger, who also is a New Majority member. Since then, the group has expanded to Los Angeles County and now has about 90 members in the area....

Dick Armey on the Direction of the GOP By Ryan Sager This week Ryan Sager's new book, The Elephant in the Room: Evangelicals, Libertarians, and the Battle to Control the Republican Party, hits bookstore shelves. Below is an interview Sager conducted with former Rep. Dick Armey one of the chief architects of the Republican Revolution in the 1990's. Armey assumed the position of majority leader after the Republicans took Congress in 1994 and remained in that post until he retired from the House in January of 2003. Mr. Armey, now chairman of FreedomWorks, sat down in his Washington, D.C., office...

Rhode Island's independent-minded Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee (news, bio, voting record) confronted stiff opposition Tuesday in his bid for a second term, the latest race with a moderate targeted by his own party's hard-line critics. Nine states and Washington, D.C., were holding primary elections Tuesday, but Chafee's race has drawn the most attention as another test of the depth of anti-incumbent sentiment and the erosion of the political middle ground. Chafee has a remarkable amount of support from national Republicans, especially for a senator who has often been at odds with the party, bucking the administration on tax cuts, civil...

Few incumbents have been as besieged in this year’s campaign season as moderate Rhode Island Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee (news, bio, voting record), who faces a threatening challenge from conservative Cranston Mayor Stephen Laffey in the Sept. 12 primary. And the final days of that contest have been as rough on Chafee as what came before: He has found himself obliged to disavow some of his own side’s hard-hitting negative ads aimed at Laffey, and facing criticism from Laffey and allied conservatives concerning his indecision over whether to support Senate confirmation of John R. Bolton, President Bush’s confrontational appointee as...

WASHINGTON -- Arizona Republicans in a crowded House primary denounced the national GOP Tuesday for taking sides in the race. "They're idiots," one candidate said. The National Republican Congressional Committee last week backed a candidate in the primary, launching a $122,000 advertising campaign for state Rep. Steve Huffman. The party contends Huffman is a moderate candidate who could win the district in November. On Tuesday, Huffman's four GOP opponents took the unusual step of holding a joint news conference and delivering a message to the National Republican Congressional Committee. "Stay the hell out of southern Arizona," said Mike Hellon, one...

GOP Primary Ad in Arizona Sparks Protest GOP Primary Ad in Arizona Sparks Protest From Other CandidatesBy JENNIFER TALHELM WASHINGTON Sep 5, 2006 (AP)— Arizona Republicans in a crowded House primary lashed out at the national GOP Tuesday for taking sides in the race. "They're idiots," one candidate said. The National Republican Congressional Committee last week backed a candidate in the primary, launching a $122,000 advertising campaign for state Rep. Steve Huffman. The party contends Huffman is a moderate candidate who could win the district in November. On Tuesday, Huffman's four more conservative GOP opponents took the unusual step of...

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...

Like the famous racehorse Silky Sullivan, Sen. Rick Santorum is known as a great closer. Yet, months ago, he had been virtually given up for dead by pundits in his race against Bob Casey, Jr., son of the popular, pro-life, former Democratic governor of Pennsylvania. One poll early this year had Santorum down 23 points, an almost insurmountable deficit. A Strategic Value poll had Santorum down 16 points. Now the senator who had been written off is finishing fast. An average of all polls monitored by the RealClearPolitics.com website finds him trailing by 6 points. The most recent Strategic Value...

Writing in Sunday's Washington Post, Marc Ambinder observed, “Both parties have well-financed internal agitators who yank tight the chains of ideological discipline -- think of MoveOn.Org on the left and the Club for Growth on the right ... The Republican base is fracturing around fiscal probity, immigration and cultural issues.” He's right. And it seems the Republican Party committees are actually working around-the-clock to expedite the process. It has been much noted that the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) has spent millions of dollars against conservative Steve Laffey in Rhode Island. But now, the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) has...

CENTURY CITY - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger pumped up the faithful Sunday at the state Republican Convention in Century City, sounding familiar campaign themes on taxes, immigration and education in a keynote speech. The governor took center stage as the music of "Life Is A Highway" blared and attendees chanted "four more years!" Outside the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza ballroom, where the convention was held, campaign reform and anti-illegal immigration activists protested the governor's appearance. Meantime, his Democratic opponent, Treasurer Phil Angelides, said Schwarzenegger was distorting his record and trying to scare the voters. Schwarzenegger told delegates that November's gubernatorial election...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 18 — Senator John McCain is locking up a cast of top-shelf Republican strategists, policy experts, fund-raisers and donors, in a methodical effort to build a 2008 presidential campaign machine, drawing supporters of President Bush despite the sometimes rocky history between the two men. Mr. McCain’s effort to woo a diverse lineup of backers and scare off rivals has augmented his travel schedule on behalf of Republicans — which this week and next includes trips to Iowa, Louisiana, Virginia, South Carolina, Ohio and Florida. The effort is fueling a fund-raising operation that has helped him build loyalty throughout...

Your trusty FlashReport Publisher has been to every State GOP Convention since 1988 and I can tell you that as far as these events go, this one is perhaps one of the most sparsely attended gatherings to which I have ever been. Why is the attendance so low? First and foremost, it is a weekend in August, which traditionally is vacation time for many people. That has been a factor with a number of people who told me ahead of time that they would not be here. But the "I'm on vacation" cases do feed into a bigger set of...

The state's Republicans are partying hard this weekend at the California Republican Party Convention in Los Angeles, no doubt doing their best to cultivate a unified front for the November elections. A commendable and necessary goal, to be sure, but it's going to take more than hand-rolled cigars and cognac to sway party conservatives, some of whom are still trying to figure out exactly where their GOP stands on the tough issues. Apparently the convention's unofficial theme -- don't rock the boat, get Arnold re-elected -- doesn't cut it for the party's true-blue conservatives who are looking for definitive answers...

LOS ANGELES — Not quite certain what will be on the menu today, delegates to the state Republican Party convention — in the main, a conservative bunch — got their serving of red meat on Friday night. The party's core conservatives hope to maintain their delicate truce with a Republican governor who is not one of their own when Arnold Schwarzenegger speaks at today's luncheon, but the first night of the convention belonged to the candidates who stir their political souls. The down-ticket GOP slate took center stage Friday night, and it features some of the conservatives who help keep...

(Washington, DC) – “Nancy Pelosi should make sure that Pat Toomey is on her Christmas card list. Once again, Toomey and the folks at the Club for Growth are doing Pelosi’s work for her by undermining the GOP majority,” said Sarah Chamberlain Resnick, head of the RMSP PAC. “The Club for Growth’s vicious and deceptive campaign against Congressman Joe Schwarz shows just how far the Club will go to destroy our party. Congressman Schwarz’s loss tonight is a loss for Reagan Republicans everywhere.” “During the campaign, Tim Walberg and his backers at the Club for Growth worked hard to hide...

DETROIT - Republican Rep. Joe Schwarz lost his district's nomination Tuesday, falling to a staunchly conservative challenger in a race dominated by a struggle over GOP principles that attracted more than $1 million in spending by outside groups. Schwarz, a moderate who supported abortion rights, was defeated by former state lawmaker Tim Walberg. With 88 percent of the precincts reporting, Walberg had 54 percent, or 30,592 votes. Schwarz had 46 percent, or 26,441 votes. Walberg, a former pastor, contended Schwarz's views did not represent the rural district in southern Michigan. He vowed to vote against pork-laden spending plans, tax increases...

It is hard to imagine two politicians less similar than Steve Laffey and the man whose job he’s trying to take, Sen. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island. Laffey and Chafee both carry the Republican label. The similarity ends there. Laffey, the mayor of Cranston, R.I., and the challenger in the Sept. 12 Republican primary, is a hyperkinetic, fast-talking son of the working class. “My father was a tool maker, he never went to college. I’m the only Laffey in the history of Laffeys who ever went to college,” he said. He graduated from Bowdoin College and Harvard Business School, before...

JACKSON, Mich. - Republican Rep. Joe Schwarz is backed by President Bush, Arizona Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record) and the National Rifle Association. In most years that would be more than enough to recapture the nomination in this rural Michigan district where the Republican Party blossomed. But this year may be different. Schwarz, a 68-year-old moderate Republican, was a fixture in local and state politics for 25 years before winning a seat in Congress in 2004. But in a primary that has topped $1 million in spending by outside groups and generated bad blood between the two candidates,...

WASHINGTON - Hundreds of thousands of California waiters, hairstylists, bellhops and other workers who rely on tips to boost their incomes could see their wages slashed under federal legislation the U.S. Senate could take up by Friday. The House already passed HR 5790, a far-reaching bill that would raise the federal minimum wage for the first time in nine years, reinstate tax cuts for teachers and those who pay college tuition and reduce estate taxes for the richest of Americans. But Democrats are blasting a provision in the GOP-written bill that would require that tips be counted as part of...

The goal of GOPProgress.com, according to one of its founders, is to provide a counterweight on the web to conservatives sites like RedState and serve as an online forum for moderate/centrist/mainstreet/mainstream/libertarian Republican candidates across the country. Site editor Liz Mair today calls on RNC chairman Ken Mehlman to stop giving interviews to RedState because they're leading a crusade against MI GOPer Joe Schwarz, who faces a competitive challenge from a conservative. Writes Mair: "Mr. Mehlman needs to hear from Republicans--moderates, libertarians, conservatives and everyone else--that the Chairman of the RNC should not be undercutting the efforts of his President, and...

With the California Democratic Party drifting leftward, Republicans had an opportunity this year to claim the decisive political middle by fielding a slate of centrist candidates for statewide office, led by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Curiously, however, Schwarzenegger did not lift a finger to help moderate Republicans in their duels with conservatives for party nominations... The same dynamic that will make it difficult, bordering on the impossible, for Parrish, Strickland, Poochigian and McClintock to win their offices in November is also working against Angelides in his contest with Schwarzenegger. A major party nominee for statewide office can count on party loyalists...

The Terminator wants to terminate road building in California's national forests. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger filed a petition this month with the U.S. Forest Service to bar such construction in 4.4 million acres of roadless areas covering one-fifth of the land in 18 national forests. The targeted areas are not currently protected under federal laws or regulations. The governor's action sets up a battle over proposed new management plans for the four Southern California national forests, including the Cleveland forest of San Diego, Riverside and Orange counties, as well as the San Bernardino forest of Riverside and San Bernardino counties. The...

With Republican majorities in the House and Senate, and a Republican in the White House, the GOP should have picked up where Ronald Reagan left off -- leading the nation as constitutional constructionists. Unfortunately, a cadre of constitutional obstructionists has split the Republican Party, diminished party loyalty and taken public support for the President and Congress to historic lows.

This site translates this La Opinion article about an (English-language) interview with California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger: It was an error to support Proposal 187, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger admitted yesterday during a meeting with the editorial board of La Opinion. The state’s chief executive expressed his positions on immigration, public education, the healthcare crisis, and his vision for California, within the context of his campaign and its engagement of the state's Latin community with a view to his re-election in November. There's audio at the second link, with more to follow tomorrow. I have three statements to make: 1. As before,...

Illegal immigration continues to be a hot button, and Gov. Schwarzenegger has kicked up some anger among conservative Republicans this week on that front. The latest ripple: his statements cautioning that Californians have shown a surprising "intensity of prejudice" and that they shouldn't be angry at people who have crossed the border to look for opportunity in America, but at the federal government for not doing its job in securing the borders. --snip-- "I draw a very big distinction from someone who legally emigrates to American versus someone whose first act is disregarding our laws," said Fleischman. "It goes to...

It seems Arnold Schwarzenegger can’t get enough of the liberals. From expanded health-care programs at grade school levels to lowering health-care costs and reducing the number of uninsured Californians, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is wooing liberal voters. He has also heaped praise on Al Gore's global warming movie, which should serve the Republican governor well in this otherwise eco-centric, deep blue state. Facing state Treasurer Phil Angelides, his ultra-liberal opponent in the November election, Schwarzenegger is casting his net in a leftward direction. The Los Angeles Times reports that Schwarzenegger aides say the governor is seeking to respond to critics who...