Free Republic

Today in the "Politico," Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen offered "six ways" the GOP could "save itself." There are a couple of good ideas; there's a lot of junk. Here is the link (sorry, I'm html-handicapped): http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=E9CE165D-3048-5C12-0076A085B3FE4630 PREFACE: Let me begin by saying I think that for too long we have avoided being blunt because of a (false) view that we have to be "sensitive" and because people don't want "partisanship." I think people DO want partisanship and combat, only will never say so. But it is very clear from their voting behavior that when one side fights and the...

It’s not as if we haven’t tried this one on for size before. A GOP incumbent senator convinces himself he’s landed gentry, rather than a public servant. He disses his constituents and could care less what he at one time proposed a conservative should stand for. He then gets challenged in a senatorial primary and thanks to generous support from the NRSC, holds on by the skin of his teeth and runs in the general election. This scenario has played out twice in recent election cycles. In 2004, Arlen Specter wore out his welcome with a baronial arrogance that made...

A Vote for Rudy Why Giuliani should be president RICHARD BROOKHISER I have voted against Rudy Giuliani, and I have voted for him. Voting for him is better; it’s what I hope conservatives, Republicans, and Americans will do in 2008. Giuliani formed a presidential exploratory committee after the midterm elections, formally entering campaign land, in which every utterance by and about him will be analyzed and its potential effect polled. Not that it hasn’t been going on for years. My favorite of the early reax to Rudy was flagged by columnist Deroy Murdock: An anti-Giuliani website, SayNoToRudy.org, posted by social...

U.S. Senator Lincoln Chafee may lose his seat to challenger Steve Laffey, according to a new statewide Republican primary voter poll released today by the Bureau of Government Research and Services at Rhode Island College. The survey was conducted August 28-30, 2006, at Rhode Island College by Victor L. Profughi, director of the Bureau of Government Research and Services. It is based on a statewide random sample of 363 likely Republican primary voters in Rhode Island. The sample was proportioned among the state’s geographic regions to reflect the likely voter contribution from each portion of the state. Overall, the poll...

Is there room left in the Senate for a courageous moderate Republican? Not if Steve Laffey, who wants to oust Lincoln Chafee in Rhode Island, has anything to say about it "I just saw you on television," the elderly woman is saying from behind her screen door. "Were they attacking me, or was I talking?" Steve Laffey, a Republican running for the U.S. Senate from Rhode Island, asks. It was an ad, the woman says. About your parents. Alzheimer's, she says. Laffey's father has Alzheimer's. The ad is about the working-class modesty of the Laffey family. The candidate is going...

Over the past year, conservative discontent in Pennsylvania has continued to fester - aimed squarely at a handful of so-called Republicans in the state legislature. At the head of the class - Senate President Pro Tem Robert Jubelirer (pro-abort, tax-hiking squish) and Senate Majority Leader Chip Brightbill. Thanks in no small part to the tireless efforts of folks like Chris Lilik at GrassrootsPA and conservative activists across the state - both of these worthless politicians have big fat bullseyes on their backs on this primary night. Keep tuned into GrassrootsPA for results. Update [2006-5-16 21:22:53 by krempasky]: WOW. Chip Brightbill...

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Republican Main Street Partnership today praised Rhode Island Senator Lincoln Chafee (R-RI) for his decision to vote against Judge Samuel Alito's nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court and blasted his critics for "playing politics" with the Senator's decision. Senator Chafee showed incredible courage by weighing long and hard Judge Alito's outstanding legal qualifications and judicial philosophy against Chafee's own principles (...)

ALASKA SEN. Ted Stevens threw the senatorial version of a hissy fit on the floor the other day. The issue was a proposal by his Republican colleague, Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn, to block $453 million earmarked for two Alaska bridges in the recent highway bill and instead use some of the money to rebuild the Interstate 10 bridge across Lake Ponchartrain wiped out by the recent hurricane. Mr. Stevens is one of the masters of the Senate at steering federal money in the direction of his state, but he was not going to stand for this reverse flow. "I will...

Rhode Island's Sen. Lincoln Chafee, who opposes much of President Bush's agenda, including the tax cuts that pulled the U.S. economy out of a slump, is the Senate's most vulnerable Republican. With good reason, just the mention of Mr. Chafee's name in the West Wing triggers scowls. To say this renegade liberal, who admits he didn't vote for Mr. Bush, is not a team player is putting it mildly. But in the battle to keep the Democrats from making gains in the Senate next year, Mr. Bush's election strategist Karl Rove and Senate Republican campaign chief Elizabeth Dole are clearly...

There is one obvious possible result of the Abu Ghraib fiasco, and it affects the presidential election profoundly: It has, I think, made the possibility of a Kerry-McCain ticket much more imaginable. In fact, in some ways, a Kerry-McCain pairing would be an almost painfully appropriate response to the recent loss of confidence both in the war and in the Kerry candidacy. Such a bipartisan ticket remains highly unlikely, but recent events make it less so. Here's why. There is no one better suited in the country to tackle a difficult war where the United States is credibly accused of...

A Lehigh County commissioner Thursday accused an aide to U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter of playing politics over public rail projects. The dust-up came as Roman endorsed Specter's foe, U.S. Rep. Pat Toomey of the Lehigh Valley, in the April 27 Republican primary. Roman said he phoned Baker Green on April 7 to discuss the possible restoration of passenger rail service between Philadelphia and Bethlehem and touching on other area rail proposals. Baker Green supported the concept, Roman said — until he confirmed his support for Toomey. At that point, Roman contends, ''the demeanor of the conversation dramatically changed … basically...

WASHINGTON | -- A new attack ad, set to the tune ''Pop Goes the Weasel,'' portrays Sen. Arlen Specter as a clownish jack-in-the-box who votes blithely for tax increases. But the 10-second spot doesn't come from his Republican primary opponent, Rep. Pat Toomey of Allentown. It's the work of a maverick political group that calls itself the Club for Growth, which stands to boost its own clout if successful in Pennsylvania. If Toomey wins, he'll owe a huge debt of gratitude to the club, which says it has helped him raise nearly $1 million for his Senate bid and has...

WASHINGTON (AP) — An international labor union is urging its Democratic members in Pennsylvania to switch their voter registration to Republican to vote for Sen. Arlen Specter in his tough primary fight against conservative Rep. Pat Toomey. The registration push comes as national groups scramble to sign up voters for November's presidential race in Pennsylvania, a battleground state and the nation's fifth-largest electoral prize. Voters who don't switch back risk falling through the cracks during Democratic get-out-the-vote drives and other outreach efforts. Specter, a political moderate who generally supports labor issues, is the only sitting senator in the nation to...

Rex Sinquefield gave all the campaign donations he could to U.S. Rep. Patrick Toomey, the Republican trying to unseat U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter. But he did not stop there. The California investment banker then dropped $40,000 on the Club for Growth, a conservative Washington group that considers Specter's defeat its top priority. The cross-country contributions highlight a central component of Pennsylvania's U.S. Senate race: It is playing to a national audience. In the face of a clash between the moderate and conservative wings of the Republican Party, Toomey and Specter are raising a large portion of their money outside the...

It looks like John McCain might actually serve Kerry better as an off-message Bush supporter than as a Kerry running-mate. Here are some excerpts of what McCain said this morning on "The Today Show": McCain on whether Kerry is weak on defense: I do not know. I do not believe that he is, quote, "weak on defense." He's responsible for his voting record and we all are responsible for our records and he'll have to explain it. But, no, I do not believe he is necessarily weak on defense. I don't agree with him on some issues, clearly, but I--I...

A recent survey of likely Republican primary voters in Pennsylvania conducting by the polling company™, inc. on behalf of The Club for Growth shows that Congressman Pat Toomey has cut four-term United States Senator Arlen Specter’s lead by more than half since January, pushing Specter below 50% in a ballot test. Toomey has taken a substantial lead among the nearly half of likely voters who have formed an impression of both candidates, and a strong plurality of voters say they would rather support an unnamed “new person” than vote to re-elect Arlen Specter. In the latest head-to-head ballot, Arlen Specter...

The folks at Republican National Committee's research department work pretty hard. They have reams and reams of dirt on the Democratic candidates, including the nominee-apparent John Kerry. One particularly ghoulish portrait they have of the senator from Massachusetts is a list on their website of some of his worst votes. The RNC website shows that John Kerry has voted to gut the Bush tax cuts, extend "hate crimes" special treatment to homosexuals, keep cloning legal, block tort reform, kill school choice, cut defense spending, oppose parental-notification rules for minors getting abortions and sink the nomination of Judge Robert Bork. With...

Now that John Kerry is the slam-dunk Democratic presidential nominee, all of the political speculation turns to the selection of his running mate. He needs to pick someone who is an ideological soul mate and agrees with him on most big issues. Someone with an unimpeachable record of successfully and consistently arguing the case for left-of-center policies: liberal judicial appointees, smaller tax cuts, bigger investment in social-welfare programs. Someone from a large and competitive state. Someone who will further energize the left-wing base of the Democratic party. Someone who knows how to pick fights with conservatives on key issues of...

  The REAL Republicans!COMPTROLLER(Vote for One)Augustus AlzonaCPA, manager, civic leader, trusted family man  REPUBLICAN CENTRAL COMMITTEEAT LARGE(Vote for Three)Augustus AlzonaConservative activist, coalitions leaderJeff BrownSmall businessman, gun rights patriotMary Greta PattenLibrarian, Daughter of the American Revolution  DISTRICT 14(Vote for One)Joseph SladkiEducation & Technology Management Consultant  DISTRICT 17(Vote for One)Robert E. BrandDecorated Vietnam War Veteran, Security Specialist  DISTRICT 39(Vote for Two)Mark Alan BoothDecorated Gulf War Veteran, Trans. OperationsRobert HoldenDecorated Vietnam War Hero (2 Bronze Stars)  BOARD OF EDUCATION AT LARGE(Vote for One)Robert HoldenTeacher, small business owner, MENSA member  Authority: Augustus Alzona, Campaign ManagerThe Real Republican SlateThePatriot@ToughGuy.Net THE REAL REPUBLICAN SLATEThese REAL Republicans are...