Free Republic

Republicans are making a huge mistake by turning away from the principle of small government. Is it time for conservatives to give up our fight against Big Government? Some people think so. Mike Huckabee, the Baptist preacher and former Arkansas governor and presidential candidate, complained in May to the Huffington Post that the greatest threat to the GOP is "this new brand of libertarianism" that says "look, we want to cut taxes and eliminate government." That, Huckabee said, is "not an American message. It doesn't fly. People aren't going to buy that, because that's not the way we are as...

Richard Viguerie: Bush White House hides true scope of federal deficit (Manassas, Virginia) The following is a statement by Richard A. Viguerie, Chairman of ConservativeHQ.com, regarding the White House projection of a $482 Billion deficit for Fiscal Year 2009: “The White House has issued figures indicating that President Bush and his enablers in Congress will leave his successor with a budget deficit of $482 Billion for Fiscal Year 2009, which is a record. How’s that for a legacy? “As shocking as this deficit figure is, that’s still not the true scope of our budget woes because it excludes $80 Billion...

John McCain is a hero for his service in Vietnam. Most conservatives would be thrilled to support him, if only he would give them reason to. Why is it that conservatives have such a hard time lining up behind John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee for president? Is it, as some liberals suggest, just "pique" -- that we didn't get our way, and now we're throwing a tantrum? Or are the differences between McCain and conservatives very real, very serious matters that go to the heart of the principles of conservatism? The truth is that the differences with McCain are...

<p>But his passionate, Web-savvy supporters have always forged a community online, where sites independent of his campaign such as Daily Paul, Primarily Paul and Ron Paul Nation have continually popped up.</p>

When you're running behind, that's when to quit. That's the message the president is getting from those who urge him to make a go-along-to-get-along appointment to replace Alberto R. Gonzales as attorney general. His decision may be announced as early as today. After Gonzales' resignation speech, it took less than five minutes for CNN to suggest that President Bush had a chance to "reach out to Democrats." And less than 15 minutes after Gonzales' speech, MSNBC put Democratic strategist Richard Goodwin on the air to suggest that Bush pick "a moderate Republican or even a Democrat. That would not be...

MANASSAS, Va., Aug. 27 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following is an open letter to President Bush from Richard A. Viguerie, author of Conservatives Betrayed (Bonus Books, 2006), suggesting 10 persons for consideration as replacements for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales: Dear Mr. President: I know you and I have had our differences in the past, but the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales gives you a great opportunity to energize the Republican Party, the conservative movement, and your approval ratings all at the same time. As I explained in a news release, the Democrats will not be appeased by the nomination of...

He disappointed conservatives during his eight years in the Senate. Is there any reason to think this Washington insider and veteran trial lawyer would be any better as President? The frustration of conservatives is understandable. Faced with the prospects of Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, or Mitt Romney as the next Republican presidential candidate, many are pinning their hopes on former Senator Fred Thompson of Tennessee. Could this actor-politician be the new Ronald Reagan? Mainstream media types assure us that he is. His record suggests otherwise. This is the second time conservatives have pinned their hopes on Thompson. When he was...

Are you a conservative? Someone who historically has harbored, shall we say, a decided aversion to the former First Lady turned senator and presidential candidate? Do you find that in recent times your feelings toward Hillary have undergone a change? Do you perhaps see her in a more kindly light? 'Today' ran an unusual segment this morning suggesting that, indeed, conservatives may be "softening on Hillary." With David Gregory narrating, we were first treated to the bad old days. Hillary making her infamous "vast right wing conspiracy" allegation to Matt Lauer back in 1998. A clip from The Clinton...

Every single member of the Republican leadership in the House should be replaced,” Richard A. Viguerie said Wednesday. "They have failed the conservatives who put them in office, and they have failed the people of this country.” In a press release issued by the conservative fund-raising guru, he continued: "Yesterday’s mid-term elections were a referendum on George W. Bush and his war on Iraq. "Voters couldn’t vote to fire Bush, so they did the next best thing — they fired his party, in the House, in the Senate, in the statehouses around the Nation." He says conservatives and value voters...

With their record over the past few years, the Big Government Republicans in Washington do not merit the support of conservatives. They have busted the federal budget for generations to come with the prescription-drug benefit and the creation and expansion of other programs. They have brought forth a limitless flow of pork for the sole, immoral purpose of holding onto office. They have expanded government regulation into every aspect of our lives and refused to deal seriously with mounting domestic problems such as illegal immigration. They have spent more time seeking the favors of K Street lobbyists than listening to...

With Republicans controlling Congress and the White House, conservatives these days ought to be happy, but most aren’t. They see expanding government, runaway spending, Middle East entanglements, and government corruption, and they wonder why, exactly, the country should be grateful for Republican dominance. Some accuse Bush and the Republicans today of not being true conservatives. Others see a grab bag of stated policies and wonder how they cohere. Everyone thinks something’s got to change. Now seven prominent conservatives dare to speak the unspeakable: They hope the Republicans lose in 2006. Well, let’s be diplomatic and say they’d prefer divided government—soon....

Conservative activist Richard Viguerie — who pioneered direct mail in political fundraising — argues in Sunday's Washington Post that conservatives feel betrayed by President Bush, and urges them to avoid the polls in November, saying, "Nothing will change until there's a change in the GOP leadership." Viguerie may no longer hold much influence with the Republican Party, but he has a history of disillusionment with its leaders. In 1981, Viguerie said Ronald Reagan's Cabinet choices, "gave conservatives the back of the hand" and complained that Reagan allied himself with "the liberals, the Democrats and the Soviets." Viguerie later said of...

CAIRO, May 21, 2006 (IslamOnline.net) – The patriarch of US conservatives urged his followers on Sunday, May 21, to learn their lesson and stop their financial and logistic support of the Republican Party whose leaders throughout the years have "betrayed" conservative voters by failing to honor their election promises. "Conservatives should dedicate their money and volunteer efforts toward conservative groups and conservative candidates," Richard Viguerie wrote in an opinion piece in The Washington Post. "They should redirect their anger into building a third force -- not a third party, but a movement independent of any party. They should lay the...

< /snip> Mr. Viguerie, in his first public statement of opposition to the nomination, said Mr. Bush "has broken his word to his conservative base and has greatly diminished his credibility." "If the president does not quickly withdraw the nomination," Mr. Viguerie said, it will reflect "a shaky will" on his part to engage the Senate and the nation "in one of the most important debates of our lifetime." Mrs. Schlafly and Mr. Viguerie added their names to a growing list of respected conservatives who have expressed disappointment or outright disapproval of the choice of Miss Miers. None, until now,...

By the time Election Day arrives, millions of Americans will have contributed to a presidential candidate this year. Hundreds of political organizations -- from the Sierra Club to the NRA, from MoveOn.org to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth -- will have taken an active part in the campaign, supported by Americans from every part of the political spectrum. All of this is democracy in action, and it is so commonplace that we take it for granted. Yet this kind of mass citizen involvement in the political process is a relatively recent phenomenon, spanning less than a half-century of our...

On C-SPAN's Booknotes tonight at 8:00pm. Liberal media activists beware! Richard A. Viguerie, venture capitalist of the conservative movement (described as the “funding father of the right”) and David Franke, a founder of the conservative movement, detail how conservatives—shut out by the liberal mass media of the 1950s and ’60s—came to power by utilizing new and alternative media, and then created their own mass media. Viguerie and Franke give a first-hand account of how the right took power by using direct mail, talk radio, cable news TV, and later the Internet. Can liberals do the same? This is the first...

Suppose, for the sake of argument, that you are called into the boss's office and asked to help sell the citizens of the United States on one of two presidential candidates in the 2004 campaign. Hard work, but what makes it especially tough is that you've been directed to try something experimental, something that's never been done before in a national election. Instead of creating a traditional political narrative for your candidate -- one that highlights charisma or character, for instance, or one that hews to a message on taxes or Social Security -- you've been told to focus on...

<p>The conservative movement has scored historic gains but has yet to achieve several of its basic goals.</p> <p>That's the verdict of some of its founding fathers (and one important mother).</p> <p>"We won the battle against communism, but I guess we've largely lost the battle against big government," says Eagle Forum President Phyllis Schlafly, 79, who defied conventional wisdom by leading a women's crusade that defeated the Equal Rights Amendment in the mid-1970s.</p>

With Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff For the story behind the story...     Click Here Click Here Wednesday, July 16, 2003Viguerie Right About Sandra Day O’Connor Conservative direct-mail guru Richard Viguerie is crowing about a prediction he made back in 1981. At the time he warned that President Ronald Reagan's first Supreme Court nominee, Sandra Day O'Connor, would turn out to be a liberal vote. Others including the elderly Barry Goldwater proclaimed O'Connor to be a conservative stalwart. Another Republican who has a history of using his conservative credentials to help liberals was Kenneth Starr, who as independent...

<p>Conservatives say the Monday affirmative-action rulings by the Supreme Court make them all the more convinced that President Bush must be careful in picking a Supreme Court nominee.</p> <p>"We're living with judges appointed not by Democrats but by Republicans, so that just really makes us nervous about President Bush now," said Richard Viguerie, one of those credited with building the New Right movement.</p>