Free Republic

Rep. Tom Marino (R-Pa.) is consulting with former prosecutors in the House and having statutes examined for ways for the House to indict administration officials in the IRS, Benghazi, reporter spying, NSA spying and other scandals in the Obama admnistration, because it's obvious that Eric Holder is not willing to punish offenders. Speaking during a radio interview on Wednesday, Marino said that he is investigating ways in which the House can file criminal and civil charges against members of the administration, "up to and including the president."

The mainstream media refuses to give it up. ABC News is trying to fool people into believing that Sarah Palin will be a presidential candidate. Check out this graphic and see it for yourself. Before RNC Chairman Reince Priebus was interviewed on This Week, ABC aired a pre-recorded video package with the announcer saying at the end, “There’s no shortage of prospective Republican candidates, and that makes it even more challenging for the party to resolve its ideological divide.” So let’s take a look at who ABC News thinks is a potential Republican presidential candidate: Ted Cruz? Check. Donald Trump?...

In a recent poll of Alaska voters, George Zimmerman -- who was recently acquitted in the shooting death of Florida teen Trayvon Martin -- got a surprising 2 percent support as a hypothetical Republican presidential candidate. The newest Alaska survey from Public Policy Polling shows Hillary Clinton's only chance of winning the state in 2016 would be in a matchup against Republican Sarah Palin, where Clinton would lead 49/40 percent. Clinton trails all other Republican candidates in the survey. Out in front, Chris Christie leads her by 8 points at 46/38, Jeb Bush leads at 49/42, Rand Paul is up...

Former Alaskan governor Sarah Palin doesn’t see any difference between Planned Parenthood and Kermit Gosnell, the provider of illegal abortions who is currently on trial for several counts of murder. Speaking at a Planned Parenthood event this week, President Barack Obama denied rumors that he was distancing himself from the organization, reassuring them that they’re “not going anywhere.” In seeming response, Palin took to Facebook to write a lengthy message in which she tied Planned Parenthood to the aforementioned Dr. Gosnell. “Considering the role Planned Parenthood has played in looking the other way while the mass murdering abortion doctor Gosnell...

Former U.S. Homeland Security Secretary and ex-Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge believes the Obama White House can draw some useful lessons from Wednesday's defeat of a bill extending background checks on most firearms purchases. Ridge took a few minutes to chat Thursday about the lessons of Monday's Boston Marathon bombing, U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey's rising national profile and where gun-control advocates go next after Wednesday's vote. Here's the transcript of the interview: Q: In the hours after the Boston Marathon attacks, there was a rush to judgment, both in the press and in social media, about the identity of the alleged...

The Tea Party Patriots organization is planning protests on Tuesday at the home state offices of several Senators that the group argues are in need of an “intervention” for being sucked up into inside-the-Beltway politics, including Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA). The group is targeting Rubio on immigration reform and Toomey on gun control. “Two Senators in particular are facing Tea Party pressure, as they should--Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Pat Toomey (R-PA),” Tea Party Patriots said in a release. “Both of these men were elected thanks to Tea Party support, yet Senator Rubio is the...

Growing momentum in the Senate for new gun control legislation has failed to flow down to the House, where just a handful of House Republicans have embraced a deal to expand background checks for firearm purchases. Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) and multiple Republican members of the Pennsylvania delegation are backing a compromise brokered by the Keystone State’s Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) that advanced in the Senate on Thursday. Yet in interviews, those lawmakers said they have had no discussions with the House GOP leadership and don’t know what the prospects for the legislation would be in a chamber dominated by...

Barack Obama did not win the election. Mitt Romney and the Republicans lost it. Obama has no mandate. None whatsoever. Here's why: Obama received roughly 7 million fewer votes in 2012 than in 2008. He was perceived to be something much less than he had portrayed himself. No matter what the Democrats did, they could not turn out anything like the 69.5 million votes they got in 2008. The election was handed to Romney on a silver platter, but his campaign advisers — and a couple of Republican Senate candidates — wrecked his chances. Let's give the Republicans some credit....

Is this the case of a broken heart? And, if so, whose? The Huffington Post reports that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie declined attending a Sunday campaign event for Republican Presidential nominee and his onetime best political best bud former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. And from the quote from a Romney bigwig in the HP story, Team Romney is NOT happy: New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who was effusive in his praise of President Barack Obama when the two leaders toured damage from Hurricane Sandy last week, turned down a request by Mitt Romney to appear with him at a...

I really hope you hold accountable every conservative writer you see in the next few days freaking out over “Obama winning Ohio!” because this is ridiculously apocryphal; anyone who has ever lived in the buckeye state should know it is going to award its 18 electoral votes to Mitt Romney this year and it won’t even be close. Look for Romney’s win to be a 54% to 46% blowout for Republicans. That’s because Ohio is not a swing state this time around…since Obama’s deliberate push to the Left over the last four years has forced a pendulum correction shift that...

According to a new poll from Franklin and Marshall, Mitt Romney is just four percentage points behind President Barack Obama … in Pennsylvania. In September, that gap was a full nine points. “Momentum is with Romney,” says poll director Terry Madonna. Madonna thinks that Romney may run out of time to make up that deficit. But the internals of the poll are shocking for Obama. Romney is ahead of Obama in terms of who the public believes can best fix the economy. Obama’s personal favorability is down from 2008; they’re actually at George W. Bush numbers circa 2004. And voter...

Mitt Romney is to travel to Wisconsin, a state Barack Obama won in a 14-point blowout four years ago, as the Republican candidate's surging campaign seeks to expand the 'chessboard' into previously safe Democratic territory. At the same time, the Romney campaign has bought television advertising in the Boston market, which reaches screens in New Hampshire, a state Obama won by almost 10 points in 2008. Asked whether Romney himself would be visiting Wisconsin in the closing days of the race, Eric Fehrnstrom, a senior Romney adviser, said: 'Yes. Paul Ryan was just in Pittsburgh. We'll be back in Wisconsin,...

While all national attention is focused — indeed riveted — on the seven to nine swing or battleground states, a major shift is taking place in the rest of the country: Voters are turning off Obama and onto Romney. In the forty states where the Obama campaign has not spread toxic negative ads against Romney, the Republican is gaining by leaps and bounds and will likely carry a bunch of “non-swing” normally blue states. Specifically, Romney is now three points ahead in Pennsylvania, one point behind in Michigan, and only two points behind in Wisconsin and Minnesota. Together, these four...

ELIZABETHTOWN — Ann Romney, wife of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, will campaign for her husband Monday at Elizabethtown College. Ann Romney will attend a rally at Leffler Chapel and Performance Center in the 900 block of East College Avenue. Doors open at 1 p.m. and the event begins at 3 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. Those interested can register for the event at http://annromneyinpa.eventbrite.com/ All attendees will go through airport-like security and should bring as few personal items as possible. No bags, sharp objects, umbrellas, liquids, or signs will be allowed in the venue....

Protesters mocked attendees at a fundraiser for GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Friday morning at the swanky Union League in Philadelphia. The fundraiser was expected to raise more than $3.5 million for the candidate. As buttoned-up Romney supporters left the breakfast, protesters (who gathered prior to 8 a.m. with bagels, coffee and cheesesteaks) harangued them for wasting their money on a candidate that the polls say is losing. "How's it feel to back a loser?" one protestor yelled. The group, holding signs that said "Mitt 'Rob Me'" and "Lyin' Ryan," chanted: "Save your money, Obama's gonna win!" One Romney...

Give up -- Barack Obama has won. With the election only weeks away, it is clear from recent swing state polling that Mitt Romney has lost this election. According to the Quinnipiac numbers, in the battleground states of Ohio, Florida, and Pennsylvania, the president is ahead by 10%, 9% and 12%, respectively. Romney can't win. Just ask any journalist or newscaster. He is toast -- stick a fork in him. Bull... If anything, the closer we get to Election Day, the more apparent it is that Obama is not only losing, but losing big. The Obama campaign, and by "campaign"...

WAYNE, Pa. With 39 days until the election, Mitt Romney on Friday spent precious time campaigning in Pennsylvania, a state he hadn't visited in more than two months and where polls show him trailing President Obama by an average of 8 percentage points. Brushing aside the numbers, the Republican nominee told a crowd of several hundred people at the Valley Forge Military Academy & College that Obama is taking the state for granted. "I've got a little secret here and that is that the Obama campaign thinks Pennsylvania is in their pocket -- they don't need to worry about it."...

Prominent Middle East expert Dr. James Zogby tells Newsmax that President Obama is polling about 18 percent below his 2008 numbers among Arab-American voters. But those Arab-Americans who are Muslims now “overwhelmingly” support the Democratic candidate compared to four years ago, he adds. Zogby also discloses that Arab-Americans across the board consider jobs and the economy as the most important issue in this year’s elections. Zogby is founder and president of the Arab American Institute, a Washington, D.C.–based organization that serves as a political and policy research arm of the Arab-American community, and author of the book “Arab Voices: What...

CONCORD, N.C. — Former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell warned Democrats today that the Republican attack alleging that President Barack Obama gutted the welfare work requirement is taking hold. "It’s starting to resonate," he told the Maryland delegation at a breakfast. "It’s starting to affect blue-collar white voters.” Rendell predicted that pushing back on the widely criticized attack will be a central component of the last Democratic president's speech. "I think the man that will push back on it will be the man that pushed for it and signed it — President Bill Clinton," Rendell said, "but he can't do it...

The GOP convention was a breath of fresh air and I love the TRUTH.

The Constitution Party has abandoned its bid to get its presidential ticket on Pennsylvania's election ballot. James Clymer, the longtime chairman of the state Constitution Party and the national party's 2012 candidate for vice president, said Tuesday that the party agreed to withdraw its petition amid a court challenge backed by the state Republican Party. Clymer acknowledged that many of the thousands of signatures were invalidated during two days of review...

The Obama-Biden campaign bus tour rolling through Pennsylvania this week, about four months before Election Day, illustrates that the road to re-election runs through the Keystone State. Many political analysts believe that President Barack Obama cannot win without Pennsylvania, so it would seem self-evident that the state should get considerable attention from both campaigns in the upcoming election. Instead, Pennsylvania has been downgraded by some pundits and may have been dropped from the list of top-priority swing states by the Romney campaign. We believe that's a mistake, and that Pennsylvania instead is poised to become the Ohio or Florida of...

President Barack Obama is ramping up a fresh phase of his re-election bid with a bus tour next week, focusing more on direct engagement with voters and less on ritzy fundraisers. Obama's two-day road trip through Pennsylvania and Ohio, two key battleground states in the November election, kicks off July 5, a campaign official said. It will be the president's first bus tour of the 2012 campaign. The bus trip also will coincide with the release of the monthly nationwide jobs report, a key economic indicator that could directly affect the president's re-election prospects...

When Erie County Democrats cast ballots in the Pennsylvania primary, 17 percent either didn't vote for President Barack Obama or wrote in someone else's name. In Crawford County, 23 percent of Democrats at the polls declined to vote for the president. And the website www.PoliticsPA.com recently reported that in 27 of the state's 67 counties, primarily in central and southwestern Pennsylvania, more than 30 percent of the Democratic voters failed to vote for Obama on April 24. Does that translate into a battleground-state problem for Obama against presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney in the Nov. 6 election? Bill Cole, Erie...

My election Shaman paid me a surprise visit today. He was standing just outside my front door as I retrieved the mail. He rattled his beaded stick a couple of times and then said: "Focus on the cost!" He then vanished in a puff of blue smoke, leaving behind only a damp bar napkin with some smudged charts scribbled on it and a few peanut shells clinging to its corners. I thought at first that he might have been talking about campaign finance or the pension plans in San Jose. After reflection, I am pretty sure he was talking...

York County Commissioner Chris Reilly has a slight lead over state Rep. Scott Perry in the Republican race to replace Todd Platts representing the 4th U.S. Congressional District, according to a poll commissioned by The York Dispatch newspaper. However, the poll of 400 registered voters found that 57 percent of the voters are still undecided. There are seven Republicans in the race for the seat, which covers the West Shore of Cumberland County, part of Harrisburg and all of York and Adams counties. In the poll, Reilly was favored by 17.8 percent of voters while Perry was favored by 12.6...

After tonight, Newt Gingrich has to be considered finished. You don't get to be the nominee if you don't win primaries, and if Gingrich can't win Alabama and Mississippi, it's hard to imagine any other state in the country where he can win. While Gingrich may remain some kind of factor, in almost every remaining state, this race devolves to a Romney-Santorum battle. That's great news for Santorum, who has been hoping and yearning for a two-man race. It's acceptable news for Romney, who knows that party donors and insiders dread a Santorum candidacy as likely to lead to a...

Livonia, Michigan—Rick Santorum is running on fumes. His is the curse of insurgent presidential campaigns—too much passion and too little sleep. You could hear it in his voice Monday morning talking to a Chamber of Commerce breakfast in Livonia as the decibel level grew higher, the diction grew muddier, and the logorrhea grew more obvious. An open-ended question on Social Security prompted a nine-minute Santorum monologue. Challenged from the audience about whether he was too conservative for the general election, Santorum out of nowhere unleashed a vicious non sequitur: “They mock conservatives, that’s what the media does. They mock the...

On Monday, America Live host Megyn Kelly invited a panel made up of radio host David Webb and Gotham Ghostwriters president / Democratic strategist Dan Gerstein onto the show to discuss candidate Rick Santorum‘s recent comments concerning Barack Obama‘s values and faith. You may recall that, while speaking at a Christian conference on Saturday, Santorum criticized Obama’s moral compass and suggested the President’s agenda was based on a “phony theology” not based on the Bible. The next say, Santorum appeared on Face the Nation, where he clarified that he hadn’t been talking about the President’s faith, nor about religion convictions...

Mitt Romney, once seen as a sure bet to win the Michigan Republican presidential primary, now appears locked in a surprisingly tight race with challenger Newt Gingrich. Michigan is home turf for the former Massachusetts governor. His late father, George Romney, was a popular governor of Michigan from 1963 to 1969, and the younger Romney grew up in the Detroit suburb of Bloomfield Hills. But with the state’s primary approaching on Feb. 28, Mr. Romney’s lead remains small, given his home-court advantage. A poll released last week by the Detroit Free Press/WXYZ-TV found that 31% of likely voters supported Mr....

HARRISBURG — A Chester County entrepreneur won the endorsement Saturday from Pennsylvania’s Republican Party in what could be a bruising, four-way primary election for the nomination to contest Democrat Bob Casey’s re-election bid for U.S. Senate. The endorsement was won by Steve Welch after an extraordinary show of power by Gov. Tom Corbett, who began calling state party officials to tell them of his support for Welch less than two weeks ago. (snip) The endorsement of Welch will be viewed by grassroots party members “as a poke in the face,” Rohrer said. Welch has been criticized by his rivals for...

With little hope of performing well in Florida next week, Rick Santorum may be cutting his losses. The Republican primary, as predicted, has become solidly a two-man contest between Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney. Santorum is struggling to compete in a state that is much larger, much more expensive and has a more diverse electorate than the previous three contests. The former Pennsylvania senator told reporters in Florida that he was leaving the state after Thursday night's debate for a fundraiser in Pennsylvania and to prepare his tax records to make public at home in Virginia, according to an NBC...

U.S. Rep. Todd Platts, R-York, announced this afternoon he will not seek a seventh term in office. During his time in office, Platts developed a reputation as a political moderate, who strongly supported the military and veterans. He routinely advocated more transparent government. In 2010, Esquire magazine named him one of the top-10 members of Congress. In the last year, Platts has drawn fire from the York 912 Patriots, a Tea Party group that criticized Platts for supporting the bank bailouts and the stimulus program. Platts, 49, is stepping away before a new district map for the state goes into...

IN the five days since his almost-victory in the Iowa caucuses, Rick Santorum’s critics have tried out an unusual line of attack against the former Pennsylvania senator. Not content with the many targets that Santorum’s record presents, they’ve gone after the way he and his wife, Karen, handled the premature delivery and death of their fourth child, Gabriel, in 1996. At 19 weeks of pregnancy, Gabriel was found to have a potentially fatal fetal abnormality. After a risky intrauterine surgery, Karen Santorum came down with an infection that ended up triggering labor. The baby lived for just two hours, and...

On Wednesday’s edition of Now with Alex Wagner, the eponymous host asked MSNBC commentator Meghan McCain if her party was in crisis. McCain trashed the Iowa caucus and dreaded the rise of surging Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum. “My father did not become the nominee having anything to do with the Iowa caucus. I find it completely irrelevant. If Rick Santorum becomes the nominee of this party, I mean, it is going to be bedlam and hysteria like you have never seen.” With her over-the-top prognostication for the pending apocalypse in that scenario, McCain appeared to be channeling Bill Murray...

In Monday afternoon Fox News interview, ex-Alaska Guv praises Santorum again and adds "Donald Trump has a lot to offer." Palin: "I did praise Rick Santorum and I'll praise him again...

Mitt Romney's top ten is made up of Goldman Sachs, followed by Credit Suisse (Switzerland), Morgan Stanley, Barclays (UK), Bank of America and JP Morgan. In contrast Romney's co-frontrunner in Iowa, Ron Paul, has a top three donor list made up of the US Army, US Navy and US Airforce.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) - A new poll shows Pennsylvania Republicans favor Newt Gingrich as the GOP Presidential nominee. In the Susquehanna Polling and Research poll released Tuesday, the former House Speaker has a 17-point lead over former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney. In a hypothetical match-up with Republican voters, Gingrich leads the race with 35 percent, followed by Romney with 18 percent. Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum was the favorite among 18 percent of voters, while eight percent said they planned to vote for former Texas congressman Ron Paul. Minnesota congresswoman Michele Bachman received six percent of the vote and Texas...

Rick Santorum, a former Pennsylvania Senator, is getting some love from conservative luminaries Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck as he struggles to win the hearts of voters in Iowa weeks before the presidential caucuses there. "If voters start shifting gears and deciding they want ideological consistency, then they're going to start paying attention to say, Rick Santorum," the former Alaska governor said as a guest on Fox News Thursday evening. Palin continued with praise for his "hard-line" positions on cutting taxes, dealing with Iran and abortion. Santorum, understanding the implications of her remarks, immediately tweeted his appreciation. "Thank you @SarahPalinUSA...

Rick Santorum‘s bid for the Republican presidential nomination is not going well. While rivals such as Rep. Michele Bachmann, Texas Gov. Rick Perry and now businessman Herman Cain enjoy bursts of popularity, the former Pennsylvania senator can’t seem to get his campaign out of the gate. Endorsements from leading Republicans – say, Sarah Palin - would certainly help. “Her being out of the race and potentially getting involved in a campaign with somebody else could be a big lift,” Santorum said on ABC’s ‘Top Line.” “We’d like your endorsement by the way,” he joked, staring straight to the camera. Palin...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Here's Josh in Pittsburgh. Welcome, Josh. Great to have you on the EIB Network. Hello. CALLER: Hey, Rush. I am in ninth grade, and I'm a very active Tea Party member. I'm involved with some local congressmen, and when I heard about Ryan Rhodes' comments to the president -- RUSH: Yes? CALLER: -- I was very encouraged to see that I am not alone as a young Republican when it seems that most people my age are very, very liberal and Democratic, and it was nice to see that. But. Then when I heard about the elder...

Give your environmental wacko friends something to think about while you promote America's energy independence! (See link.)

York, PA - Just as in 2008, York County will be the site of a pitched battle during the 2012 presidential race, according to local party chairmen. And though the election is more than a year away, both sides are already marshaling their forces. York County Democratic Chairman Bob Kefauver said the national re-election campaign for President Barack Obama has two workers in York County. One is a Dillsburg resident, and the other is an intern from the University of Pennsylvania, Kefauver said. York County Republican Chairman A. Carville "Peck" Foster said local Republicans have not been contacted by a...

A poll unveiled this week from American Research Group shows that three Republican presidential candidates -- U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas and former Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska -- are gaining serious momentum in Iowa, site of the first presidential caucus. Bachmann, who declared her candidacy in June and has been surging in polls at both the national and state levels, topped the poll with 21 percent. Former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts placed second with 18 percent. Paul, who was the Libertarian candidate in 1988 and ran for the Republican nomination in...

This is a personal experience so indulge me. Also, I still have a bit of Guinness hangover, so forgive the vague details. However, what I do write is the truth from the events that took place. Last night, after doing a performance at the Iota Club in Arlington, VA, I needed to relax, to get rid of the adrenaline built up from performing. So, a buddy who came to see me perform invited me to go to a hookah bar nearby. For those who do not know what hookah is, it is a communal pipe, cooled by water, that you...

Sarah Palin draws crowds with her hide-and-seek bus tour. Michele Bachmann says Palin’s plans won’t dissuade her from her likely presidential bid. Iowa GOP activists travel to New Jersey to implore Gov. Chris Christie to run, and Texas Gov. Rick Perry weighs a campaign. The Republican presidential field is far less settled than it seemed just a week ago, and it shows few signs of jelling soon. With campaigning off to a slow start in early-voting states, half a dozen potential candidates are mulling whether to jump in. So keen is the interest, among journalists at least, that two news...

Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin was met by a gaggle of reporters outside of Philadelphia's Independence Hall Tuesday, on day three of her "One Nation" bus tour. The question du jour: Will she or won't she run for president? The would-be-candidate once again refused to "put a timetable" on when she will announce her decision, but when asked by CBS affiliate WKYW if she could beat President Obama, Palin replied, "To put it concisely - yes." Palin also noted her belief that most of the Republicans in the field "have a very good chance" of beating the president, and specifically...

Of all the complaints about Sarah Palin and her bus tour, this one’s easily the strangest. CBS reports that the media has begun to grumble that Palin’s decision to keep them out of the loop on the tour’s stops have created a dangerous working environment for reporters: Since Palin and her team won’t share where the potential candidate is headed, reporters and producers have little choice but to simply stay close to Palin’s bus. This has resulted in scenes of the Palin bus tooling down the highway followed by a caravan of 10 or 15 vehicles – including a massive...

Sarah Palin revealed this much today during a surprise stop in Dillsburg today: she has no plans to appear on Dancing with the Stars. “She assured me she wasn’t,” laughed Carroll Twp. resident Richard Weigel, who questioned her on the subject. That was right after Weigel asked if she planned to make Coffee Express in Dillsburg the site of a presidential run announcement. Palin assured Weigel any such announcement will have to wait for another time and place. Weigel, 69, was among about a half-dozen people sitting in the tiny coffee shop when Palin's tour bus rolled up around 10:30...

GETTYSBURG, Pa. — Sarah Palin has apparently decided that she can treat the media any way she wants — and they will be there regardless. And she might not be wrong. On Monday night, the media following the former Alaska governor were hot and sweaty, sitting in 100-degree weather at the Gettysburg battlefield, when they got the word: Ms. Palin was at the Courtyard by Marriott a few minutes away. Within a half-hour, about a dozen reporters were lined up at the Courtyard counter, asking for rooms overlooking the hotel’s parking lot. As a reporter noted, one could keep an...