Free Republic

“We, the members of the New Republican Party, believe that the preservation and enhancement of the values that strengthen and protect individual freedom, family life, communities and neighborhoods and the liberty of our beloved nation should be at the heart of any legislative or political program presented to the American people... Our task now is not to sell a philosophy, but to make the majority of Americans, who already share that philosophy, see that modern conservatism offers them a political home... The job is ours and the job must be done. If not by us, who? If not now, when?...

When American voters think of the term "maverick," they often think of Senator John McCain because McCain has spent decades associating himself with that term. To some degree, McCain is right to call himself a "maverick," having independently departed the company of both his party and his constituents on many issues over the years. The fact is, not so long ago every Republican was a "maverick," an independent thinker prone to placing the long-term interests of freedom and liberty far ahead of partisan politics aimed at only serving the party interests at the expense of national interests. Every Republican should...

The conservative Republicans in Congress are massively outnumbered by liberal Republicans and ultra-liberal Democrats. And the liberal policies are ruining are nation. We need to get more conservatives in office (w/o regard to party affiliation), and to accomplish this, we should turn weaknesses in the current system into a strength. The weaknesses in the current system are:1) fewer people vote in the primaries2) most of the voting public is unfamiliar with the candidates and their stances and they vote strictly on party lines in the general election The strategy would be this:1) Re-register as Democrats for the Democratic primaries2) Put...

Senators Warn Bill Could Spike Gas $1.50 to $5 a Gallon Inhofe, Sessions blast massive costs of global warming legislation. By Jeff Poor Business & Media Institute 5/15/2008 5:44:34 PM Worried about gas prices hitting $4 a gallon and beyond? Imagine if they were $6, $7 or even $8 a gallon. Those levels are a certain possibility should Congress pass cap-and-trade legislation, which could face a vote in early June. Oil is trading at record levels, in excess of $120 a barrel. Leading Republican Sens. James Inhofe (Okla.) and Jeff Sessions (Ala.) both told the Business & Media Institute (BMI)...

The Democrats aren't the ones falling apart, the Republicans are. The Democrats can see daylight ahead. For all their fractious fighting, they're finally resolving their central drama. Hillary Clinton will leave, and Barack Obama will deliver a stirring acceptance speech. Then hand-to-hand in the general, where they see their guy triumphing. You see it when you talk to them: They're busy being born.

TWO DAYS after former Republican Rep. Bob Barr announced his candidacy for President as a Libertarian, and one day after a Republican lost a special election to a Democrat in a strongly GOP Mississippi district, more than half of House Republicans voted for the pork-saturated, $300 billion farm bill. Idiots. Three weeks ago, a Rasmussen Reports poll found that 48 percent of Americans trusted Democrats more than Republicans on the economy. Only 40 percent trusted Republicans more. That is the legacy of big-spending Republican policies pushed by leaders like Tom DeLay and President Bush and continued by the current GOP...

Republicans are and should be panicked over the fact that conservative Democrat Travis Childers just defeated Republican Greg Davis by a margin of 54%-46% in the race for a vacant Mississippi congressional seat. That seat is in a conservative district that had given President Bush a 25-point margin of victory over John Kerry in 2004 - it never should have flipped Democrat. This is the third double-digit loss in a row for Republican candidates in conservative districts across the United States. Childers' victory came one week after Rep. Don Cazayoux won a House seat in the Baton Rouge, La., area...

William Daroff is vice president for public policy and director of the Washington office at United Jewish Communities, an organization representing America's Jewish federations. In other words, he's a lobbyist. Daroff is also one of the country's better-connected Jewish operatives. In recent months, he has been called upon to moderate dozens of panels aimed at Jewish activists and professionals, dealing with the hot topic of the day: the 2008 election and the Jewish community. This election has reignited an old debate: Which party is better for Israel—the Republicans or the Democrats? Assuming that Jewish voters care about this question, the...

Soul searching Republicans are turning to an unlikely savior, one-time party heretic and now presumptive White House nominee John McCain, as they try to stave off an electoral disaster. Stung by the Democratic seizure of three staunch conservative seats in Congress, Republican lawmakers fear a shellacking in November's general election, after losing control of both chambers of Congress in 2006. The rise of McCain as their champion is not without irony, since the 71-year-old Arizona senator has quarreled with his own party for years on issues as diverse as immigration, campaign finance reform and global warming. But it is precisely...

Things are so ugly for the members of the GOP right now, it’s worth pondering their political mortality: Put bluntly, can this party be saved? We talked to some of the smartest minds in Republican politics, and their prognosis is pretty grim. They think it will take pretty big changes — and possibly many, many years — to repair a Republican brand sullied by excessive spending, an unpopular war and an even more unpopular president. Republicans are deeply divided over how dramatic changes should be and how precisely to change things. But there appears to be an emerging consensus on...

From the GOPNation.com Editors: GOP voters need to realize this: unless GOP leaders in Congress are replaced, the best we can hope for this year is a President McCain with large Democratic majorities controlling both sides of Capital Hill. And let’s be frank: even a McCain election is an uphill battle at best. Consider this: In three recent special House elections, strong GOP seats (one belonging to the last GOP Speaker of the House) have gone to the Democrats, two of those in the Deep South. Plus, at the latest count, 25 GOP representatives will retire at the end of...

I am not an expert on campaign strategy, but I know a losing game plan when I see one. The Republican Party’s strategy in a series of special House elections this year has been to tie Democratic candidates to Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi. How’s that working? Three straight losses, all in congressional districts President Bush carried easily in 2004. Some strategy. John McCain may well win the presidential election, but at the congressional and grassroots level, I don’t think I’ve ever seen the GOP in a more severe state of disarray. The worst result yet has come from the...

Special election races for Congress have arguable value as bellwethers for upcoming general elections. Mostly these races get decided on local issues rather than national themes, as in Louisiana, where the Republicans ran a lousy candidate, considered the only person who could have lost the seat. They do demonstrate the strength of national party efforts, though, and when one party loses three special elections in districts previously thought safe, that sends a message — and rightly has Republicans worried about their chances in November: A Democrat won the race for a GOP-held congressional seat in northern Mississippi yesterday, leaving the...

DEMOCRATS' HYBRID PICKUP TRUCKSMay 14, 2008 On the very day of a special election to fill a vacated congressional seat this week in Mississippi, The New York Times accused the Republican candidate of running racist ads against his Democratic opponent. Talk about dirty tricks! By The New York Times, that is. The Republican thus accused of racism narrowly lost the election the night the Times article appeared, so I guess the Times can proclaim: "Mission Accomplished." The ad in question, on behalf of Republican Greg Davis, pointed out that Barack Obama had endorsed Davis' opponent, Travis Childers -- another in...

Dems score a hat trick with specials TRIBUNE-REVIEW By Salena Zito Democrats scored a hat trick with their third special-election win in GOP-held House seats by winning tonight in Mississippi’s 1st District. This win follows Democratic victories in special elections in Illinois' 14th District in March and in Louisiana's 6th District 10 days ago.

Oh, dear Lord. The hapless Republican establishment has gone and made a public embarrassment of itself again. Can your hearts take much more of this? Mine can’t: Hoping to get things moving in a positive direction, House Republicans will on Wednesday begin rolling out their own policy agenda, trying to showcase their differences with Democrats on issues such as health care, the economy, energy and national security. In a memo to be sent to Republican members today, the leadership hints at a new slogan building on the change message that has already been shown to have political resonance with a...

As Senate Republicans today completely abandoned him on the issue of suspending deposits to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, President Bush reversed himself and said he will consider a suspension, which he only recently outright rejected.

Rockefeller vs. Goldwater in 1964. McCarthy vs. LBJ in 1968. Muskie vs. McGovern in 1972. Reagan vs Ford in 1976. Kennedy vs Carter in 1980. Hart vs Mondale in 1984. As history buffs would know each of the above Presidential primary contests was in varying degree long, expensive, emotive, distracting and a delight to the opposing party which invariably triumphed in November usually by a landslide. Today Republicans watching the Clinton-Obama slugfest are weeping- tears of joy. In a year in which every indicator points to a Republican disaster of potentially monumental proportions, history offers hope to the GOP. If...

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md) will testify tomorrow afternoon in an unprecedented hearing before the Select Committee investigating how the Democrats violated House rules to produce a fraudulent result on August 2, 2007. According to a “notice of hearing” obtained by HUMAN EVENTS, and as explained to us by House sources, Hoyer – along with Cong. Michael McNulty (D-NY) – will be the first members to testify in such a hearing in the history of the Congress. Members often testify in behalf of bills they introduce or in behalf of presidential nominees they favor (or against those they oppose)....

Texas Gov. Rick Perry wants to build a big highway through the Lone Star State. No, make that a really big highway, as in a monstrously big highway. The exact route hasn't been determined. The mega-highway would run roughly from Laredo on the Rio Grande River through the Hill Country and the Piney Woods and then through Texarkana in that tiny portion of the state that borders Arkansas. Imagine for a moment if that thoroughfare would be pointed in the other direction - from the Valley, through the South Plains and then through the heart of the Panhandle, right past...

Three days after last Tuesday's primaries seemingly tilted the Democratic presidential nomination decisively toward Barack Obama, the surprising fact was that almost half the party's senators had not announced a choice between him and Hillary Clinton. Twenty-one of the 49 Democratic senators were publicly silent as the last six primaries approached. Those senators, along with most other Democrats, desperately want the race to be over so the winner can start focusing on John McCain. But Dick Durbin understands their reluctance to step forward ahead of the other 200-odd uncommitted superdelegates who have the power to bring this marathon to an...

McCain has recently been making efforts to reach out to all sorts of people not traditionally associated with the GOP. He appeared on the View, the Daily Show, before black civil rights activists in Alabama, etc. When is he going to make a serious effort to reach out to conservatives? How about promising to appoint strict constructionist judges? How about re-assurances on gun ownership rights? What about reducing the out-of-control spending of this administation? Does he take conservative support for granted? Does he even want them? Maybe he sees that Obama and his kooky spiritual advisor have totally freaked most...

No, not the lesson the national press is pushing, that Mr. Jenkins's loss is a sign of GOP disaster this fall, or that it demonstrates how difficult it will be for Republicans to link local competitors to the liberal Mr. Obama. Republicans face tough odds, yes. But that's because they've yet to prove they've learned a lesson, as they demonstrated again with Mr. Jenkins. By the lazy standards of the GOP, Mr. Jenkins should've been a cinch to win a Baton Rouge district in Republican hands for 34 years, and that President Bush won with 59% in 2004. Their candidate...

Last week on the Larry King Show, Michael Moore took the high road. He simply could not bring himself to pronounce judgment on the Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s tirades. “I’m a white guy,” explained the rotund film-maker. “And I mean, you have to ask yourself, Larry, what’s it like to be black in America? ….And I do not believe, as a white guy, that I am in any position to judge a black man who has had to live through that.”

Anteiglesia is not a term with which today’s politicians are particularly familiar. But, perhaps, they should be. In the Spanish Basque country, in the Middle Ages, anteiglesia was the name given to the periodic meetings of the local townspeople who gathered “in front of the church” to robustly discuss the important issues of the day and vote the people’s will. It was in some ways similar to the “town meetings” some politicians stage today – but not really. At the ancient anteiglesia, what was said actually mattered. This was brought to mind earlier this week when former House Speaker Newt...

Sen. John McCain as the Republican presidential candidate doing everything he can to show how liberal he is, to the point where it's very difficult to find any significant difference between him and the two Democratic candidates. Speaker Nancy Pelosi running roughshod over House appropriation rules, trade agreements signed in good faith, and doing everything else in her power to run out the clock on this year until, presumably, a newly inaugurated President Obama or Hillary can sign everything President Bush would veto. And last, but certainly most, a Republican Party that has gone completely supine and offers no opposition...

A week or so ago, I found a great pic (painting) of the Republican Presidents playing poker. Bush 41 & 43, Reagan, Ford, Nixon, Eisenhower, Teddy Roosevelt and Abe Lincoln. My POS Dell laptop crashed and I had the pic as my desktop. Anyway, lost it in the crash and am hoping somebody can post it for me again. Any help would be much appreciated as well as the artist's name. Thanks in advance!

At least one political party is acting like it knows who the Democratic nominee will be: the Republicans, who have greatly stepped up their criticisms of Senator Barack Obama in recent weeks while practically ignoring Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton. For weeks, Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, has directed his most pointed barbs at Mr. Obama. The Republican National Committee prominently features an anti-Obama advertisement on its Web site’s home page, which has no mention of Mrs. Clinton. And at least one independent group that had prepared advertisements attacking Mrs. Clinton is compiling material to produce new ones attacking...

Shellshocked House Republicans got warnings from leaders past and present Tuesday: Your party’s message isn’t good enough to prevent disaster in November, and neither is the NRCC’s money. The double shot of bad news had one veteran Republican House member worrying aloud that the party’s electoral woes — brought into sharp focus by Woody Jenkins’ loss to Don Cazayoux in Louisiana on Saturday — have the House Republican Conference splitting apart in “everybody for himself” mode. “There is an attitude that, ‘I better watch out for myself, because nobody else is going to do it,’” the member said. “There are...

...The Democratic push on Capitol Hill for more budget-busting spending and greater protectionism bleeds into the presidential campaigns of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, who promise to deconstruct NAFTA and to avoid almost all new taxes from here to eternity. Perhaps they dissemble. But even this causes allies and rivals abroad to water down expectations that changing administrations will automatically make for a more reliable and cooperative American partner. A clear advantage that the Democratic Party had in world opinion is withering, according to foreign officials and professionals I have encountered recently. ...Fred Bergsten, director of the Peterson Institute for...

The Log Cabin Republicans of California, a gay GOP organization, has endorsed a number of Inland candidates in the June primary. The group said it didn't focus on "gay issues" in making its decisions because gays and lesbians already have many rights in California. Instead, the group looked at candidates' positions on issues such as lower taxes and public safety, said James Vaughn, the Log Cabin Republicans' state director. "The gay wars are over. We've moved on," Vaughn said. "We want to support Republicans who want to win elections, not fight losing battles." The group took neutral positions on some...

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A recent secret survey of the House Republican minority by the party's whip organization showed a two-to-one margin opposed to imposing a moratorium on earmarks. House Republican John Boehner, who personally sponsors no earmarks, has indicated the party's position should be based on what GOP House members want. That led to the whip check. Reformers had contemplated calling for a vote on earmarks by a closed-door session of the House Republican Conference, assuming it would be difficult for many members to vote no. But the lopsided outcome of the whip check dissuaded reformers from requesting a vote....

Republicans seem lost as a party and here's one solution to bring them back into focus, since the Democrats are falling all over themselves to lose. They are LOSING NATIONALLY ergo Republicans need a WINNING NATIONAL STRATEGY. Hello, MR. NEWT redux...

WASHINGTON, April 25 (Reuters) - Republican U.S. presidential candidate John McCain accused North Carolina's Republican Party of being "out of touch with reality" over its refusal to pull an advertisement criticizing Democrat Barack Obama. In an NBC interview aired on Friday, the Arizona senator said he has done all he can to persuade the state party to cancel the television ad that criticizes Obama as "too extreme" because of controversial remarks made by his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

As the Democratic race continues, here are four things conservatives should keep in mind. First: Today’s Democratic party is well to the Left of where it was in 2000: on health care, on taxes, on trade, on foreign policy. On social issues it has moved right only cosmetically. A very few conservatives have flirted with endorsing the Democrats this year, out of their frustration with President Bush or Senator McCain. Their cases are fanciful. Second: Even though he just lost Pennsylvania decisively, Senator Obama is still likely to win the Democratic nomination. Hillary Clinton’s supporters will argue that she is...

Exasperated Republicans accused Democrats on the Senate floor this morning of raising wide-ranging fees on ordinary Coloradans in order to avoid seeking voters' permission for a tax hike. The debate erupted amid discussion of ... a new fee to birth certificates--and came only days after a proposal by another Senate Democrat... to slap a $25 fee increase on marriage licenses. The Republicans point to numerous fee hikes authored by Democrats ...to one that would assess higher fees on ozone-depleting compounds. "Will enough ever be enough?" the GOP's Sen. Josh Penry, of Grand Junction... "When do we stop the fees? We...

Woo hoo!! Even though Free Republic operates on a shoestring budget that is a tiny fraction of most others listed here, Hitwise still ranks us as the number one conservative site on the Net! Rank Website Market Share 1. www.huffingtonpost.com 6.12% 2. www.freerepublic.com 4.38% 3. politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com 4.17% 4. www.politico.com 4.1% 5. www.realclearpolitics.com 3.02% 6. elections.foxnews.com 2.76% 7. www.dailykos.com 2.72% 8. www.barackobama.com 2.47% 9. www.townhall.com 2.1% 10. www.democraticunderground.com 2.06% Source: hitwise.com Congratulations FReepers!! Great job!! Thank you all very much for your participation and support!! God bless.

An exquisitely sleazy scandal in the Ohio Attorney General's office could ripple through the November election with potentially disastrous consequences for the Democrats' national ticket. The tawdry unfolding story involves Democratic Attorney General Marc Dann and a pair of close associates who share an apartment in Columbus. The three men all are married and also have residences in Youngstown, which is three-plus hours from Columbus. There are several tentacles to the saga, but the core of it involves alleged sexual misbehavior on the part of Dann's chief of administrative services, Anthony Gutierrez. At least two female employees in the AG's...

Despite having about 100,000 job openings in the state, many residents do not have the proper training or education to fill those positions, Labor Secretary Tim Barfield said Monday. Legislators are considering bills to overhaul the state Labor Department, to coordinate worker training programs across the state, and to better align training with available jobs. Before starting the regular session last week, Gov. Bobby Jindal said about 40 percent of the state’s population over age 16 is unemployed or underemployed. “Educational attainment, or lack of attainment, keeps a significant amount of potential employees unemployed or underemployed,” Barfield told the Baton...

Some Republicans groaned at Gov. Rick Perry's announcement that he plans to seek another term in 2010, but Mayor Bill White's camp reacted with glee. White has made no effort to hide the fact that he is looking to run for governor after being term-limited out of the mayor's office next year. And Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, the biggest vote-getter in Texas history, has been more than hinting that she plans to "come home" to run for the same office. She outlined to Texas Monthly last November a plan to resign the Senate in 2009 to make the race, while...

Huckabee & The Club friends at last? TRIBUNE-REVIEW By: Salena Zito When former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee was running for the Republcian nomination for president, no one attacked him more often and with more conservative muscle than the uber-economic conservatives from The Club for Growth. Pat Tommey, chairman of The Club, wrote last October in The National Review that a flirtation with Huckabee even as a vice presidential candidate did a "great disservice to the conservative movement if it overlooks Huckabee’s stunning record of big-government liberalism.” So, it came as a bit of surprise to receive a blast e-mail from...

Monday, April 14, 2008 To: Friends & Supporters From: Gary L. Bauer Obama & Small Town America Senator Barack Obama had a bad weekend. It all started in San Francisco when the senator shared with an audience of liberal left-coast elitists his view of “small town” Americans. Here is what he said: “You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them. …And it’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to...

CONFER: Why your loved ones have left NY The chances are very good that you know someone who has left New York. According to the US Census Bureau, from July 2006 to July 2007 the Buffalo-Niagara region lost 5,166 people and since 2000 the Rochester area has lost over 7,300 of its residents. The numbers are staggering but they tell little of the toll on our society. Emotionally, it can be quite taxing for families to be torn apart by this mass exodus with many older parents and grandparents wondering if they’ll ever see their children and grandchildren again. Socially,...

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) - A poll shows Republican presidential hopeful John McCain is holding a sizable lead in Arizona in matchups against either of his two Democratic rivals. The statewide poll by the Social Research Laboratory at Northern Arizona University found that 55% of likely voters supported McCain in a race against Barrack Obama, who was favored by 33%. Twelve percent of voters were undecided. A matchup between McCain and Hillary Clinton shows the Arizona senator has a similar lead, with backing of 56% of voters to Clinton's 34%. Ten percent were undecided. The poll of 369 likely voters was...

Several Oklahoma legislators are concerned that individuals and organizations are quietly working on plans to create a privately-operated tollway in Oklahoma. Many referred to Spain-based Cintra, which has been involved in the development of a proposed Trans-Texas Corridor. Cintra also took over the operation of the Indiana East-West Toll Road from the Indiana Department of Transportation in 2006. Oklahoma State Sen. Randy Brogdon and state representatives Eric Proctor, Richard Morrisette, Scott Inman and Charles Key all expressed concern that efforts to open up Oklahoma to a privately operated tollway system were being kept out of the view of the general...

In 1988, I promulgated what I now call Cohen's Law of Racial Politics. It goes like this: In states where there are few African Americans, the liberal candidate can win the white vote. In states where there are many African Americans, the liberal candidate will lose the white vote. I forgot about my rule until Barack Obama came along. More and more, he seems haunted by the political ghost of Michael Dukakis.. ...In states with substantial black populations -- Texas, Ohio, Tennessee, New Jersey -- the white vote went to Hillary Clinton. In Mississippi, she took 70 percent of the...

A great deal has changed since President Reagan left the national stage. Our enemies have come to our shores, the rising tide of our economy has not "lifted all boats" and our government has increased, not lessened its intrusion into our lives. However, many of the issues that united us during the Reagan Revolution in the 1980s — lower taxes, less government spending, free markets and strong national security — are the same issues that motivate voters today. Reagan’s successes were in large part due to his ability to focus on those things that unite us. Rather than trying to...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. presidential candidate John McCain plans a wide-ranging campaign that would go after voters often ignored by his Republican party, which in the past has focused on getting conservatives to the polls. "We need to go all over America ... (and) compete hard in every section of the country," McCain, the party's presumptive nominee, said on "Fox News Sunday" in an interview taped on Friday. McCain, who still has not won over many conservatives, made clear he planned a broader campaign than those waged by President George W. Bush when he faces either Barack Obama or Hillary...

Who's an Uncle Tom? By Bruce Walker As the Democrats' nomination process descends into the ugly area of racial politics, it may be helpful to explore and to learn about the origin of some of the equally ugly racial mockeries that have become a part of American political life. The term "Uncle Tom" was used extensively during the decade of civil rights reform to describe a black man who simply did what white people wanted. Where did this term come from? The literary reference, of course, comes from Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin, the passionate and simple anti-slavery novel...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Republican White House hopeful John McCain promised on Saturday to cooperate with his Democratic rivals if he is elected president, despite deep divisions between the two parties. "Despite the increasing harshness of our debates, and the lack of respect it often occasions for each side's good will, I still believe we can and must come together on issues that cannot be addressed without our cooperation," McCain said in a speech in Prescott, Arizona, the last stop on his biographical tour over the past week. "Let us argue with each other then. By all means, let us argue....