Free Republic

Perry to End Bid for Presidency By JEFF ZELENY 9:51 a.m. | Updated CHARLESTON, S.C. — Gov. Rick Perry of Texas will end his bid for the Republican presidential nomination on Thursday and endorse Newt Gingrich, two campaign officials confirmed, a decision that could influence the South Carolina primary on Saturday

In a campaign speech late Tuesday night, Governor Rick Perry stated that he is "returning to Texas" to reassess whether he is going to continue running for President. The speech contained several emotional moments, in particular two moments. The first was when he read a letter from an adoring supporter who called him a "great man." The letter described a conversation that Mr. Perry had had with a soldier and how his supporter looked on in awe as he watched Governor Perry call the veteran his "Christian brother." The second was when Perry announced that he would be returning to...

Herman Cain tells National Review Online that he will launch a new political-action committee in January. The outfit, whose final name remains under wraps, will be Cain’s main project next year. Its mission will be to enact his “9-9-9” economic plan. “We continue the campaign without a candidate,” says Cain, who hinted at the endeavor during his departure speech. “There are a lot of people who are willing to support the campaign for solutions without the end objective being my election as president of the United States.” As Cain transitions to private life, “Friends of Herman Cain,” the financial force...

Herman Cain, the insurgent populist whose candidacy has been ensnared by allegations of sexual impropriety, said Saturday that he is leaving the race for the Republican presidential nomination, saying that the allegations have cast a "cloud of doubt over me and this campaign." "As of today, with a lot of prayer and soul searching, I am suspending my presidential campaign," he said at an event in Atlanta. "I am suspending my presidential campaign because of the continued distraction, the continued hurt . . . on me, on my family, not because we are not fighters, not because I am not...

Herman Cain is expected to make a "major announcement" today, anytime between 11am and 1pm EST in Atlanta. The media is assuming he will quit the race. Politico is positively glowing with anticipation of this. Will he fold, or FIGHT? He is also opening a new Atlanta HQ. Twitter reports that people are jamming in early to show their support. We simply don't know what will happen, or when it will happen. What are your thoughts? Do you think he should quit? Or do you think Cain should stay in the race and deny the State-Run Media yet another GOP...

Multiple sources familiar with the discussions told POLITICO Friday that Herman Cain is “leaning toward suspending the campaign,” in the words of one, who stressed no decision has been made. “He’ll probably get out, but nothing’s been decided,” another source said. The one-time leader in the Republican presidential polls is scheduled to address supporters at the opening of his Georgia state headquarters Saturday. He was set to meet with his wife Friday to discuss the future of his candidacy at the end of a week at which he and aides repeatedly said he was “reassessing” his candidacy. Cain himself has...

The absolutely incredible and historic opportunity presented to you has now been squandered. Governor, what was the point? You accomplished great things (for which I thank you) after resigning but keep in mind that the reason for the support was that people believed you were going to run for President yourself. Do you honestly believe that people and supporters surfaced for any other reason? You allowed the 'illusion' to continue knowing full well you were not going to run.. Some people uprooted their lives and some, spent their savings because of the belief they had in you. You would have...

Take it for what you will...posted on Mark's page just now: BREAKING: GOVERNOR SARAH PALIN TELLS MARK LEVIN SHE IS NOT RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT IN 2012.

After just four days on the road, Sarah Palin’s bus tour is going dormant again. In a note posted on her Facebook page Monday, Palin said she’s headed “back to Alaska for the start of the school year.” What’s next for the former Alaska governor and 2008 vice presidential nominee? “While kids crack open their school books, I look forward to continuing my own writing and research on strategies and plans to help move our country forward,” she wrote. Palin noted that she’ll be back on the road before long — she’s scheduled to keynote a Sept. 3 tea party...

Lancing the “She Quit!” Boil One Last Time © 2011 By Gargantua One of the more unsettling hallmarks of the unfair, often deceitful, and always unprovoked attacks on Sarah Palin is the way in which she is frequently castigated for doing things commonly accepted when done by others, but which somehow rise to a level of unconscionable effrontery when she does them. A good example is the way that she was excoriated for having posted on her website a map of the United States which used surveyors marks to denote vulnerable Democratic congressional seats for The Tea Party to “target”in...

As Governor Sarah Palin prepares to launch her campaign for the Presidency, and the waves of disinformation about her intentions begin to subside, the next predictable narrative, as night follows day, is: “She’s a quitter.” How will she handle this charge? In a sense, she already has, with the statement at the time of her resignation, which provided cogent reasons for anyone fair minded enough to consider them. But in our popular culture of sound bite journalism, a pithier response is no doubt appropriate, a reply that can be employed within the context of a thirty second answer in a...

Today marks the two year anniversary of Governor Palin’s resignation.This bulk of this post was originally posted in July of 2010 a year following Governor Palin stepping aside from the Governor’s office. Additional commentary is included following the blocked quote portion. It is July 3th, 2010. Governor Palin is in Wasilla with her family, having just returned from a fishing trip in Dillingham. She has just been informed that a fortieth frivolous ethics complaint has been filed against her for talking with reporters at an Anchorage 5K race about her best selling book that had been released just in the...

Former half-term Gov. Sarah Palin has reportedly packed in her bus tour...halfway through. Real Clear Politics is reporting that Palin and her family have returned to Alaska from their "One Nation" bus tour, despite tentatively scheduled stops in Iowa and South Carolina. From Scott Conroy at RCP: Though Palin and her staff never announced a timeline for the remaining legs of her trip, aides had drafted preliminary itineraries that would have taken her through the Midwest and Southeast at some point this month. But those travel blueprints are now in limbo, RCP has learned, as Palin and her family have...

What's with the hatred of Michele Bachmann at Free Republic lately? I've seen some psychotic paranoid drivel about her secretly working for Mitt Romney, but apparently there's more to it than that. Please help me out here, folks.

Shortly after Republicans swept last November to a historic victory in which Sarah Palin was credited with playing a central role, the former Alaska governor pulled aside her close aide, Rebecca Mansour, to discuss a hush-hush assignment: Reach out to conservative filmmaker Stephen K. Bannon with a request. Ask him if he would make a series of videos extolling Palin's governorship and laying to rest lingering questions about her controversial decision to resign from office with a year-and-a-half left in her first term. It was this abdication, Palin knew, that had made her damaged goods in the eyes of some...

Newt Gingrich was on Meet the Press this morning in his first Sunday show appearance since announcing his intention to… challenge President Obama for the Democrat nomination, apparently. Andrew Stiles at NRO has the details: Newt Gingrich’s appearance on “Meet the Press” today could leave some wondering which party’s nomination he is running for. The former speaker had some harsh words for Paul Ryan’s (and by extension, nearly every House Republican’s) plan to reform Medicare, calling it “radical.”

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — The problems continue for Tiger Woods, only this time it's his livelihood, not his image, in the balance. Woods withdrew after shooting 42 on the front nine at the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass on Thursday, citing pain in his left leg that has plagued him intermittently throughout his career. "The knee acted up and then the Achilles followed after that, and then the calf started cramping up," said Woods, who triple-bogeyed the par-4 fourth hole and made three bogeys and no birdies. "Everything started getting tight, so it's just a whole chain reaction." The...

I have observed that the polls and the news readers have taken to reminding us that Sarah Palin's nomination spells certain defeat for the GOP in 2012. Let's examine the question of Sarah Palin's prowess as a candidate, measured against the current field: It has been noted that former Senator Rick Santorum won his Senate seat in a big GOP year (1994) and lost it big in a Democrat year (2006), sweeping in with one tide and out with another. This is evidence of weakness as a candidate. Let's examine the rest of this field, using 2006 as the barometer....

It's on the minds of virtually everyone watching the 2012 GOP presidential field: Is Sarah Palin in or out? ------------------- The storyline has been building since John McCain lost to Obama in 2008. From that moment, Sarah Palin has been courted by the grassroots tea party movement and lampooned by both the Left and the GOP establishment. Despite being constantly in the media's crosshairs, Palin has managed to keep any thoughts of a 2012 run for the White House under wraps, which ironically has fueled the Palin rumor mill even more. The the May issue, which is shipping to subscribers...

Sarah Palin may be having some trouble with the voting demographic from her own home state of Alaska. According to results released Wednesday, the Dittman Research Corporation’s AlaskaPoll showed the former Governor and potential 2012 Presidential candidate rated at 61% unfavorably by a survey taken between March 3 and March 17th of approximately 400 Alaskans.

Former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura says Sarah Palin will be the GOP nominee for president in 2012, and she'll "be controlled by the status quo." Appearing on CNN's "Piers Morgan Tonight" Monday at 9 p.m. EST, the one-term Reform Party governor said that former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is being groomed for the role, though he doesn't care who the presidential nominees are for either party.

The question on everyone’s mind loomed throughout Sarah Palin’s hour-long appearance in North Naples on Wednesday: Will Floridians see more of the former Alaska governor and Republican vice presidential candidate in 2012? The answer was simple: You betcha. “I’m thinking about it and praying about it,” Palin said when asked whether she’d run for president in 2012. “(But) whether I’m a candidate or not … I’m going to stay engaged.” Palin spoke to a sold-out audience Wednesday as part of the Naples Town Hall Distinguished Speakers Series at the Ritz Carlton Naples Beach Resort. Her speech focused on issues facing...

In front of an Alaskan backdrop of mountains and a lake, Sarah Palin had a busy, busy night on television Friday. She found time to tweak a fellow Republican, dismiss the president, and scold a top rated Fox News talk show host. Palin opened by questioning New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's toughness and attacking President Barack Obama for naivete. After that, she preached about cutting various government programs to Bill O'Reilly before telling him not to interrupt her. All in a night's work. On America's Nightly Scoreboard, host David Asman informed Palin that Christie had told Fox Business News that...

He’s taken a couple of shots at her in the past, all of which went ignored, but I guess the latest iteration of “she needs to be less scripted� finally demanded a response. Ace’s co-blogger, DrewM, makes a nice point: Her critique of Christie on spending at the beginning here is actually a non sequitur vis-a-vis the question she’s being asked. David Asman mentions Christie but all he wants to know is if, unlike him, she finds anyone in the field inspiring. To which she responds by … comparing their records on spending, forcing Asman to repeat the question when...

Palin says that Christie is forced to cut budgets because NJ is broke. But she points out that when she became Governor of Alaska, she cut even though she had a surplus:

DENVER -- A Centennial-based organization has canceled an up coming charity event featuring Sarah Palin, citing safety concerns. The Sharon K Pacheco Foundation announced Saturday that the 2011 Patriots & Warriors Charity Gala scheduled for May 2 would not be held. "Due to an onslaught of personal attacks against Governor Palin and others associated with her appearance, it is with deep sadness and disappointment that, in the best interest of all, we cancel the event for safety concerns," said the Foundation's Director.

To the dismay of all but hard-core political junkies, the endless campaign is a reality of modern politics. With some midterm races still unresolved, voters’ attention is already turned to 2012. And no potential presidential candidate now garners more attention than former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. Love her or hate her, admire her or fear her, respect her or ridicule her, it seems no one in the chattering class is without an opinion on Palin. Virtually every part of her life is dissected — sometimes by her own choice. Each word is scrutinized, and each misstep — no matter how...

Sarah Palin has not even come close to announcing that she is going to run for President. But, doesn't it seem inevitable? We know this because of her current and past actions. She knows this because of the impact her very presence makes everywhere. Every time she stirs the passions of supporters and detractors she generates political gold in the form of attention. That alone gives her a seemingly significant chance to win any election, because swing voters in these times seem to be choosing fighters, not diplomats. Palin also knows she is going to run because of the Hillary...

In a surprising move given her reputation as a political outsider, Sarah Palin is helping the Republican National Committee raise money ahead of November's elections. Palin has attached her name to a letter and survey being mailed to RNC donors soliciting contributions for the committee's Victory 2010 program, a nationwide get-out-the-vote effort. "Millions of Americans are expressing their frustration with the state of our government. I join them and seek to return our country to greatness," reads the letter, obtained by CNN Friday.

Sarah Palin can't expect anyone to take her seriously as a presidential candidate--not after what she said this week. In recent days, the former Alaska governor and Tea Party fave has been on a tear against Journolist, a listserv for nearly 500 journalists, policy wonks, and academics, most of whom are self-identified liberals working for self-identified liberal outfits. The participants on this off-the-record email chain promoted their work, debated politics and policy (occasionally quite sharply), and traded and tested ideas for articles and columns. Last month, The Daily Caller, a conservative website, began running articles based on Journolist archives it...

Ridiculing it as "a silly question," Democrat Barack Obama pledged Wednesday he would resist any overtures to run for president or vice president before the end of his six-year term as a U.S. senator. "I was elected yesterday," Obama said. "I have never set foot in the U.S. Senate. I've never worked in Washington. And the notion that somehow I'm immediately going to start running for higher office just doesn't make sense. "So look, I can unequivocally say I will not be running for national office in four years, and my entire focus is making sure that I'm the best...

There are some events that you will always remember where you were when they happened. The events of July 3, 2009 is one of those times. It was an average Friday, the day before our nation’s 233rd birthday. It would have been a slow news day, normally, and on this weekend, the 24 hour news channels had coverage of Michael Jackson’s death playing on an endless loop. What would happen that Friday afternoon would knock Michael Jackson right off the TV and send the political world reeling. We got word “something” was about to happen in Alaska. Now as a...

Come 2012, Palin must not let Romneycare, Pawlenty, Gingrich-scozzafava, and ultimately Obama get away with the "you're a quitter" mantra--especially Obama, who essentially quit his barely 2 year term in the Senate before it even started so he can run for President. It's not about the time one serves in office, but what one accomplishes IN THAT TIME. As governor, Palin accomplished more in two years than most governors do in 4 to 8-- and she didn't leave her state in debt or with a failed universal healthcare system like Romney did! In the 2012 primaries, she needs to have...

She was FORCED out for financial reasons. If anyone tells you she quit let them know otherwise. Her legal fee had accumulated higher than 500K. Her personal income was JUST OVER 100K a year. Financially her family was going under quickly. And they were filing another ethics complaint everytime she left the state. She was afraid to give interviews in the governors office. She was afraid to allow anyone other than staff in the Governors office after the TaserGate ordeal. They were destroying her. So, what were her options ? She tried to set up a legal defense fund. At...

I have lost THREE real life friends now in trying to defend Sarah Palin. On one hand I tend to think the people who call her stupid are not the kind of people I even want as friends anyhow. However, I wonder if im being too harsh and going too far. I know our country was divided on President Bush. But the division and the hatred for Sarah Palin has been able to top anything. Before Palin, I had a much more positive outlook on people (especially women, mothers, ect) and life in general. Now I find myself seeing people...

Yesterday, I was interviewed by a reporter for CBS, for a story on the diverse groups of people supporting Sarah Palin online. The reporter authored a book on Palin last year, after being embedded with her vice presidential campaign, following a stint covering Mittens Romney. I can’t imagine how many cucumbers-and-mayonnaise sandwiches this guy had to eat on the Romney Express (to nowhere), but I gave him the same kind of awed respect I grant anyone who’s ever spent more than half an hour with Tim Pawlenty — and didn’t succumb to T-Paw induced narcolepsy. We (the reporter and I,...

LONDON -- British Prime Minister Gordon Brown says he will resign by September

Washington is patting itself on the back for having orchestrated an amazing economic recovery. But Washington lawmakers are a delusional bunch of boneheads, say Marc Faber and Mike "Mish" Shedlock, editor of the Gloom, Boom, and Doom Report and investment advisor at SitkaPacific Capital Management, respectively. The economy is NOT recovering, they say, and the U.S. faces a depressing "eventuality" of either crushing deflation (Shedlock) or runaway inflation (Faber). The timing and type of this eventuality is uncertain, say the gurus, but they are certain it's too late for America to change course. "It's beyond repair -- it's too late,"...

Desiree Rogers, the White House social secretary, is resigning her position just a few months after she was roundly criticized for a security lapse that led to uninvited guests crashing the president's first state dinner. "It's been a tremendous experience and honor to serve this president and first lady in what is really a historic presidency for all Americans but particularly for African-Americans," she said in a brief telephone interview. "That is part of the reason I came out to do the job." Ms. Rogers was a newcomer to politics as well as to Washington, and in her first year...

Page 349: "The chief qualification of a mass leader has become unending infallibility; he can never admit an error. The assumption of infallibility, moreover, is based not so much on superior intelligence as on the correct interpretation of the essentially reliable forces in history or nature, forces which neither defeat nor ruin can prove wrong because they are bound to assert themselves in the long run. Mass leaders in power have one concern which overrules all utilitarian considerations: to make their predictions come true."

Time for me to leave FR.

WASHINGTON -- A former Marine who fought in Iraq, joined the State Department after leaving the military and was a diplomat in a Taliban stronghold in Afghanistan has become the first U.S. official to resign in protest of the Afghan war, the Washington Post reported early Tuesday. Matthew Hoh, who describes himself as "not some peacenik, pot-smoking hippie who wants everyone to be in love," said he believes the war is simply fueling the insurgency. "I have lost understanding of and confidence in the strategic purposes of the United States' presence in Afghanistan," Hoh wrote in his resignation letter, dated...

WSVN just had a special report saying Mel Martinez was resigning...Crist could appoint himself to Senate.

From SarahPAC, via Governor Palin's Facebook: As repeatedly stated to several in the media over the last week, former Governor Sarah Palin is not committed to attend the Simi Valley Republican Women’s event at the Reagan Library and in fact is not attending the event. Neither the Governor’s state staff nor SarahPAC has ever committed to attending this event or speaking at this event, and even requested that the Governor's name be removed from the invitation several weeks ago. The Governor has other work and commitments to take care of at that time. She looks forward to visiting her friends...

Here is complete video of Gov. Sarah Palin's interview with CNN in which she said "I'm not a quitter; I'm a fighter." Palin granted the interview, her first since announcing she will resign as Alaska Governor on July 26. Palin explained that everything changed for her in Alaska when she was chosen as John McCain's vice-presidential nominee. She said a "new political bloodsport" began in Alaska that day - that of attacking Palin and her family. Palin would not say whether she plans to run for President in the future. . . . . (Watch Video)

<p>What can you say about a public official who ridicules those who would take the "quitter's way out" -- as she faces reporters to announce that she's quitting? A governor who claims that "the worthless, easy path" would be to serve out the remaining 18 months of her term? An ambitious politician who says that "life is too short" to worry about, you know, boring things such as responsibility or duty?</p>

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (CNN) -- Sarah Palin's not a quitter, she wants the public to know. "I am not a quitter. I am a fighter," Palin told CNN on Monday while on a family fishing trip, on the heels of her Friday bombshell announcement that she was resigning as Alaska's governor. Palin did her interview standing on the shores of Dillingham, Alaska, wearing hip waders. She granted 10-minute interviews to CNN and three other news networks Monday. She resigned because of the tremendous pressure, time and financial burden of a litany of ethics complaints in the past several months, she said....

If you thought that Alaska Governor Sarah Palin was going to just fade into the background you are very very wrong. One day after announcing her resignation, Palin became showed everyone what she meant by the little Hockey Mom/pit bull joke. On face book she released a message that smacked the mainstream media for its response to her resignation and hinted that she will be running in 2012..........Later in the day the Governor's attorney Thomas Van Flein on warned legal action may be taken against bloggers and publications that reprint what he calls fraudulent claims...

The jokes of David Letterman and the article in Vanity Fair perhaps were the straw that broke the camels back but it is the total lack of fairness the media showed that is a scathing indictment against them. If the country had a media czar it would seem appropriate that at this point he or she would be offering a public apology to Palin and that very humbly. Perhaps the czar could hang his head in shame as the proxy for the entire band of media thugs who reveled in the indignities. We have a media that thinks the story...

Why did Sarah Palin step down? Theories abound. But some of the people closest to the Alaska governor say she wanted to regain control of a political script that slipped out of her hands the moment she burst onto the national stage. She also wanted to shield herself and her family from the attacks that seem to have been aimed permanently at them in the 311 days since Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) announced her as his running mate, according to some former campaign aides and other advisers who speak regularly with Palin or her husband, Todd. The Sarah Palin who...