Free Republic

I guess it’s time for women to duck and cover, at least according to the mainstream media. For months now, left leaning news sources and politicians have been preaching the existence of the GOP’s “War on Women.” In actuality, it’s nothing but a blatant attempt to pander to women voters. Under the liberal version of “war,” Republicans have been busy targeting women by “denying” us free birth control, aiming to restrict abortion, and defunding Planned Parenthood. However, if that’s what war means these days, then call me a pacifist. Fighting against a socially liberal agenda isn’t exactly the textbook definition...

An online video of a South Carolina union leader pummeling a pinata featuring a likeness of her state's Republican governor is eliciting strong reactions from across the political spectrum. The video shows Donna Dewitt, the outgoing president of the state AFL-CIO, taking a bat to a pinata which bears a photo of Gov. Nikki Haley. The pinata also features a printout of a quote from Haley: "Unions are not needed, wanted or welcome in South Carolina." In the video, posted to YouTube, Dewitt is encouraged by others at the gathering, with calls of "Hit her again" and "Give her another...

A video posted online that shows a former union leader in South Carolina smashing a piñata effigy of Gov. Nikki Haley has riled the national office of the AFL-CIO, which wants it taken down. “Do you think we can get this video pulled,” asked a national AFL-CIO official in an email to Palmetto State union sources. The author of the email also worried the video might get “picked up by tea partiers, maybe even Haley herself, to attack labor again.” The video in question features former AFL-CIO of South Carolina president Donna DeWitt smacking a Haley piñata with a baseball...

Deb Fischer has picked up a major endorsement, as former Vice Presidential Nominee Sarah Palin backs the Valentine rancher for U.S. Senate. Fischer said she was honored to be endorsed by the former Alaska governor and her husband Todd Palin. "I greatly admire their willingness to stand on conservative principle and their resolve in standing up to the political establishment," Fischer said. The two-term state senator is running for U.S. Senate and poll numbers released by her campaign show she may be closing the gap with Attorney General Jon Bruning and State Treasurer Don Stenberg. Bruning has picked up big...

In March of 2011, former Rep. John Leboutiller predicted in a News Max article that, “the tea party will select the 2012 GOP nominee.” At the time, it was a safe prediction given the strength of the tea-party movement in the 2010 elections and the influence it was expected to have on the GOP presidential primaries just over a year later. But something went terribly wrong in the meantime. Many politicians heavily supported by the tea-party movement seem to have switched sides, pursuing their own agenda at the expense of the conservative movement and the tea party. Take Christine O’Donnell,...

In March of 2011, former Rep. John Leboutiller predicted in a News Max article that, “the tea party will select the 2012 GOP nominee.” At the time, it was a safe prediction given the strength of the tea-party movement in the 2010 elections and the influence it was expected to have on the GOP presidential primaries just over a year later. But something went terribly wrong in the meantime. Many politicians heavily supported by the tea-party movement seem to have switched sides, pursuing their own agenda at the expense of the conservative movement and the tea party. Take Christine O’Donnell,...

Washington (CNN) – South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley said Thursday the leading Republican presidential candidate was carrying a "golden bullet" to connect with women voters. Speaking on CNN's "The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer," the Palmetto State Republican said Mitt Romney's wife Ann, along with the candidate himself, would need to answer women with concerns about his platform. Polls released in the past week show Romney trailing President Barack Obama by a large margin among female voters. "If Gov. Romney has not related to women, he needs to get out there and talk about the issues they care about," Haley...

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley was never the subject of an Internal Revenue Service investigation into a worship center her family helps run, according to a letter released by the agency Friday. Haley’s office says the letter is proof that the “totally contrived” rumors that spread across the Internet this week that Haley could be indicted in federal court over the issue are “totally false.” “As we said from the very beginning, there was not an ounce of truth to any of these accusations — they were totally contrived, totally false, and and unaccountable bloggers,” said Rob Godfrey, a spokesman...

ABC News has learned that the Internal Revenue Service never conducted an investigation into South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley’s involvement in a Sikh temple’s finances. Nanette Downing, Director of EO Examinations, stated in the letter, “…we did not conduct an examination for the above period (tax year ended 2009)”. Eric Hill, a program manager at the IRS, said in a separate letter to Haley’s chief of staff Tim Pearson that “we determined an examination was not warranted at that time.” Earlier this week, Logan Smith wrote for a little-known website, The Palmetto Public Record, that Haley, a Republican, faced a...

South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley may be in trouble with the IRS. Specifically, the investigation that is currently underway centers on a Sikh temple built by her father, that she managed the finances for as late as 2003. Fraud is alleged in the handling of the contracts. Palmetto Public Record: ___________________________ Two well-placed legal experts have independently told Palmetto Public Record they expect the U.S. Department of Justice to issue an indictment against South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley on charges of tax fraud as early as this week. A highly ranked federal official has also privately confirmed rumblings of an...

The Department of Justice may indict South Carolina Republican Gov. Nikki Haley on charges of tax fraud, according to the Palmetto Public Record, a South Carolina political blog. PPR reported that a “highly ranked” federal government official “privately confirmed rumblings of an investigation” and the “possible indictment of the governor.” The report said the official, however, could not provide a specific time frame. However, two “well-placed legal experts” said the DOJ indictment could come as early as next week, according to the report. The alleged tax fraud reportedly occurred during Haley’s time managing finances for the Sikh worship center in...

MJ Lee gets an early look at Nikki Haley's memoir, in which the South Carolina governor relates the difference in the way Sarah Palin and Mitt Romney handled allegations of infidelity that surfaced against Haley: She describes Palin in her memoir as someone with whom she enjoyed an “instant rapport” and an immediate “kinship,” as they talked about everything from their children and shoes to the hardships of being on the campaign trail. “She was very friendly and gregarious. She signed books and took pictures with people. There was not one thing about her that was high maintenance,” Haley says....

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, a key supporter of Mitt Romney, received $62,500 in campaign contributions since 2008 from state and federal political committees set up by supporters of Mitt Romney, records show. Funds came from so-called “leadership PACs” in five different states and the nation’s capital. By spreading the funds around, Romney’s supporters were able to give far more than the state limit of $3,500 per election. The contributions came from “Free & Strong America” leadership PACs, run by Romney supporters, a Center for Public Integrity analysis of campaign finance records found. Leadership PACs are separate from campaign committees...

The state’s biggest ethics offender – racking up 106 violations in one political campaign – will not serve time behind bars. Lt. Gov Ken Ard will remain free under a sentence of five years probation, a $5,000 fine and 300 hours of community service. Circuit Judge G. Thomas Cooper Jr. decided Ard’s punishment Friday after listening for 50 minutes to character witnesses and pleas for mercy, including from Ard himself. “I stand here humble, apologetic,” Ard said after pleading guilty to seven charges just a few hours after he resigned the job that had him first in the line of...

WASHINGTON — Gov. Nikki Haley implored President Barack Obama on Monday to find more money to deepen the Charleston port and other Atlantic harbors so they can accommodate giant cargo ships after the widening of the Panama Canal is completed in 2014. Haley, at a White House meeting with Obama and other governors, said she also urged the president to kick the Army Corps of Engineers into higher gear on deepening the Atlantic ports. “I personally talked to him about the ports that we’re all facing – and the fact that why does it take the Corps of Engineers 10...

If you were a campaign strategist for Newt Gingrich, you could not have wished for a better outcome than what occurred in the recent South Carolina primary. Weeks before the election, Mitt Romney seemed like he had a virtual lock on the GOP nomination, consistently leading Gingrich and others in preliminary polling. In addition to having sizeable advantages in funding and organization, the Romney team also captured the early endorsement of Gov. Nikki Haley. But somehow, in the days before the election, Gingrich vaulted past Romney and actually bested his opponent by 12 percentage points on Primary Day. One might...

Special Guests: S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, FOX NEWS HOST: As we noted, we are only about 8 hours and 50 minutes away from the polls opening in South Carolina. And there is only a tiny, tiny, tiny gap between the two front-runners, and the other two candidates could pull off a big surprise tomorrow. That's why this race is so gripping. South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley endorsed Governor Romney and has been hitting the campaign trail for him. Right now, in the latest poll, though, Governor Romney is number two. And she joins us. Governor Haley, welcome....

S.C. Sen. Tom Davis – the leading fiscal conservative in South Carolina state government and one of the most coveted endorsements of the 2012 “First in the South” presidential primary – will announce his support for U.S. Rep. Ron Paul on Sunday. Davis will endorse Paul’s candidacy at a campaign event Sunday evening in Myrtle Beach, S.C. – confirming a report published earlier this week on Buzzfeed. Paul’s campaign has described Davis’ forthcoming endorsement as “consequential” and “game-changing.” Why? Click here. A first-term State Senator, Davis wields a disproportionate impact given his stellar fiscal voting record and his advocacy on...

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said Wednesday he has "an uphill climb" to win South Carolina's presidential primary but is ready to defend himself from the "underbelly" of politics in a state known for bare-knuckled tactics. [Snip] "I hope no one associated with any of my effort, whether it's my own campaign or anyone else that's supporting me, I hope none of them do anything that departs from the truth," he said.

The race for the Republican presidential nomination has pivoted towards South Carolina’s January 21 primary. Because the state’s primary voters have selected the eventual GOP nominee in every contested White House race since 1980, every campaign is putting out a maximum effort. One of the aces that Mitt Romney believes he holds in the Palmetto State is the endorsement of Nikki Haley, the new 39-year-old governor who rocketed to political stardom last year by challenging the good-ol’-boy political network in the state. Fueled by endorsements from both Sarah Palin and Romney, Haley was able to marshal tea-party support to crush...