Free Republic

AUSTIN – Here's what I did not hear at the annual confab of Republican governors held here this week: The words socialist, extremist, or government takeover. With the focus on jobs, jobs and jobs, the only red meat was the Texas barbecue. And by design, there was no Obama-bashing. [snip] Barbour cautioned Republican candidates to refrain from attacking the president, period: "People want the president to succeed; good Lord, they want the country to succeed, and particularly the first African-American president has a lot of goodwill. . . . We need to be careful, we need to treat the president...

Recently New York Times designated conservative columnist, David Brooks, advised Republican candidates to avoid talking about their “conservative bona fides." Instead, Mr. Brooks wrote, Republicans should talk about other things, like balanced budgets and small business-led job creation. Mr. Brooks didn’t seem to understand that economic prosperity and job growth are not distinct from conservative principles. They are the result of them. This sort of muddle qualifies as cutting edge conservative thought in today’s New York Times. The Brooks recipe for GOP victories in 2010 and 2012 is for our candidates to be non-combative, non-ideological, and non-conservative. This, of course,...

"Bruce Walker recently wrote a piece in American Thinker with the memorable title 'Of RINOs, Moderate Democrats, and Men.' In it, he argues the G.O.P. should target red-state RINOs, while giving blue-state RINOs a pass. His premise is familiar--in a blue state, a RINO is the best we can do. And as always, this premise is dead wrong. The danger to Walker's line of thinking--if we apply no pressure from the right, our RINOs will only feel pressure from the left. And we simply can't afford to cede our people to the left, no matter how liberal their constituents are...

Conservative Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, who is emerging as a top contender for the GOP presidential nomination in 2012, is gaining some attention this week for his comments in defense of President Obama. As first reported on the Huffington Post, Huckabee said some of the recent criticisms of Obama have been unfair and even "shameful." Huckabee made the comments to the Hudson Union Society. "When he [Barack Obama] was at Dover the other day, and went there to pay respect for soldiers, I heard a lot of people on the Right say "Aw, that's just a cheap photo-op."...

(1) The final stop on the tour is Sandpoint, Idaho, where Palin was born. Almost every stop on the tour has some kind of meaning to Palin (including places the McCain campaign would not allow her and Todd to go during the 2008 race, as well as Phoenix, Arizona, which is McCain’s hometown and the place she was not allowed to deliver a concession speech on Election Night). Stopping off in the place you were born sure feels like a presidential campaign sort of move. It’s also interesting Palin’s hitting Salt Lake City (Mitt Romney’s town), Minneapolis (Tim Pawlenty’s town),...

We may not be sure of Sarah Palin’s ability to assume a political office of national scope, but we can be certain she is polarizing. Obviously there is a gap between left and right, but, interestingly, the conservative commentariat itself is deeply divided. Even within the Weekly Standard crowd, Palin inspires vastly diverging reactions. Matthew Continetti has emerged as a Palin stalwart, while both David Brooks and Charles Krauthammer have taken to criticizing her regularly. The standard reproach against Palin is that she is toxic to the GOP’s brand among independents and unfit for higher office. At the same time,...

Reminds me of Jim DeMint notoriously saying that he’d rather have 30 pure conservatives in the Senate than a centrist Republican majority, presumably so that he could lose with honor on every single vote. Remember that old commercial about pollution where Iron Eyes Cody turns to the camera and a single tear rolls down his cheek? That’s Frum when he reads this. The poll indicates that a slight majority, 51 percent, of Republicans would prefer to see the GOP in their area nominate candidates who agree with them on all the major the issues even if they have a poor...

Sarah Palin is the beneficiary of the vast left-wing conspiracy. Palin is selling a book. Nothing sells books like attention. Lefties love to attack Palin. Attacks create more attention for Palin and her book. I suspect she will show as much gratitude to her critics as she has shown to the person who made her, John McCain. --snip-- I noticed Kate Snow’s report on ABC News’ website about a conference call that McCain held with his top aides. Snow quoted an aide describing the call this way: “He apologized to everyone on the call for people having to go through...

(snip) There’s a list of issues being hammered out, but at the top is finding money for South Florida’s cash-strapped Tri-Rail. Republicans are targeting a $2 fee on rental cars as the source and discussing whether to let county commissions approve the charge or require a referendum.“That’s sort of one of the issues we’re dealing with,” Crist said. Florida’s Republican leaders believe they need to settle funding issues for Tri-Rail and a host of insurance and money issues for a proposed Central Florida line known as SunRail before the state has any chance at securing $2.5 billion in federal stimulus...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrats and Republicans in Congress are working together to craft an immigration reform bill that could become law as early as next year, a senior White House adviser said on Sunday. That legislation could create a path to citizenship for the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants already in the United States, David Axelrod, senior advisory to President Barak Obama, told CNN's State of the Union with John King. "I think some good work is being done on both sides of the aisle to achieve that," Axelrod said, referring to the partisan divide on Capitol Hill.

After the New England Patriots disasterous decision Sunday night not to punt on fourth down with the ball on the Indianapolis Colts' 28-yard line, former Massachusetts Governor, Mitt Romney, had every right to be ticked off. Especially considering that the Pats had the lead with little more than 2 minutes left in the game. Is it possible that the team's supposedly brilliant coach, Bill Belichick, got confused and thought the Manning brother waiting patiently on the opposing sidelines was Eli and not Peyton? Whatever the case, the Colts went on to win the game with 13 seconds left in the...

There are few organizations in the United States as steeped in tradition as the military. And one of the oldest customs is the giving of "challenge coins," privately made medallions stamped with a unit or service emblem. The ritual reportedly started during World War I, when new aviators were given coins from officers upon joining a squadron. According to one tale, a pilot was saved from execution in France after proving his identity with his coin. In a memorial ceremony this week, President Obama placed the commander in chief's coin in front of the photos of the 13 soldiers slain...

(CNN) -- The Republican fratricide in the Nov. 3 special election in upstate New York may prove just an opening round of an even more spectacular bloodbath in Florida in 2010. In New York, Republican feuding lost the party a seat in the House of Representatives. At stake in Florida is not only a senatorship -- but very possibly Republican hopes for 2012 as well. The battle in Florida pits Gov. Charlie Crist against former Speaker of the Florida House Marco Rubio. Both men claim to be conservative, pro-life, tax cutters. On the issues, they would seem to agree far...

Dis gustin' Cease all those donations to Joe Wilson.

The self-described 'rogue' is anathema to the party establishment but manna from heaven to the grass roots. In a Republican Party hoping to rebound in 2010 on the strength of a newly energized and ideologically aroused conservative grass roots, Sarah Palin's influence is now unparalleled. She was the one who popularized the notion that Democrats advocated "death panels" as part of their healthcare plan, a charge that helped ignite conservative opposition to reform. More recently, in a special congressional election in upstate New York, Palin's endorsement of Doug Hoffman, an unknown, far-right third-party candidate, helped force a popular moderate Republican...

* What can we all do, every day, to make sure we are ready to prevent fraud in the Iowa Caucus in 2012? PLEASE take this seriously. A massive effort was launched on Dr. Utopia’s behalf from Chicago to game the Iowa Caucus. A good portion of Chicago rolled across the Illinois border to vote in Dubuque, Waterloo, Des Moines,you name it to ensure Dr. Utopia won that Caucus in 2008. The caucus centers are chaos hatcheries. Dr. Utopia’s goons, most of whom certainly appeared to be ACORN or SEIU, marched in, took over, and told anyone who wouldn’t stand...

WASHINGTON (CNN) - John McCain's former presidential campaign manager Steve Schmidt is the latest McCain adviser to cry foul over accusations Sarah Palin has penned in her yet to be released memoir "Going Rogue." Excerpts obtained by The Huffington Post characterize Schmidt in an unfavorable light, particularly in reference to the prank phone call Palin received from someone pretending to be French President Nicolas Sarkozy. "Right away, the phones started ringing," Palin writes. "One of the first calls was Schmidt, and the force of his screaming blew my hair back. 'How can anyone be so stupid?! Why would the president...

Newt Gingrich, the former Republican House speaker and purveyor of the GOP "Contract With America'' that helped his party win control of the House after President Bill Clinton's election, says GOP chairman Michael Steele has started work on a new framework for 2010 that he is calling "First principles.'' "I've been talking with Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele, '' Gingrich said today, speaking with students at C-SPAN's Cable Center Class. "He is developing a first principles model that I think is a very exciting , positive step in the right direction,'' said Gingrich, who has said that he will...

Liberals refuse to admit Obama's policies look a lot like Bush's. During last year's Republican National Convention, South Carolina GOP leaders were regularly calling in to talk radio station WTMA to provide event coverage. On the day they were supposed to talk to me, I was informed that Republican Party officials did not wish to speak to Jack Hunter. A denouncer of big government and all its works, I never saw any reason to make special exceptions for Republicans, and for my anti-GOP sins I had become persona non grata. Today, everyone is denouncing big government. Since Obama's election, tea...

Let’s keep this simple. Word got out today via Politico that the RNC’s health care package for their employees covers abortions. At the risk of belaboring the obvious, if you at any time have donated to the RNC since 1991 (when this policy apparently took place), some incremental portion of your donation went to the administrative costs of running the RNC, including employee salaries and benefits packages. Part of “benefits packages” in this context is apparently a health care package that pays for abortions. For thirty years, we have fought tooth and nail to prevent our tax money from being...

With local Republicans trying to censure Lindsey Graham over his apostasy on, in particular, energy and climate issues, the state's highest-profile conservative is standing by him.

The TERRY ANDERSON SHOW.. Articulating the Popular Rage! A warrior in the fight against illegal immigration and those who promote it for over a decade! From the streets of Los Angeles to the halls of congress, Terry has been there. No one has the passion and common sense of Terry Anderson...He is A MUST listen! The BEST one hour of radio you'll find anywhere. Sunday Nights- Listen on the radio! 12-1 AM EDT, 11-12 PM CDT, 10-11 PM MDT, 9-10 PM PDT KRLA - 870 AM - Los Angeles -- KDWN - 720 - Las Vegas -- KFNX -...

Oh, how the tables have turned.Nervous Democrats are on defense and emboldened Republicans sense opportunity heading into 2010 and the midterm elections. It was just three years ago that the GOP lost the House and Senate as well as governors' races in a cross-country Democratic wave.Now, with most states under their control and comfortable majorities in Congress, Democrats must protect far more seats than Republicans: 19 governors' mansions, 17 Senate seats and as many as 60 House districts in moderate-to-conservative regions and swing-voting areas.At this point, Democrats must do it in a more troubling political environment than in 2006 and...

Where is the loyalty of the RINOs?  Arlen Specter joins the Democrats.  Colin Powell endorses the Democrat.  Dierdre Scozzafava endorses the Democrat.  I'm not opposed to the Democratic Party out of some sense of style or family history.  I'm opposed to the Democrats because I think they are wrong.  I think the Democrats are wrong in their basic view on the role of government and my place in society as a citizen.  The government isn't there to solve all my problems. I changed my political affiliation to independent ten years ago.  Not because the Republican Party was too far to...

Now we know what the mainstream media mean by “moderate Republican.” A moderate Republican supports gay marriage, which would savage the family – the foundation of society. This puts him at odds with an overwhelming majority of voters. On Tuesday, Maine became the 31st state to reject marriage substitutes via the ballot. On marriage referenda, the score is 31-0 for the home team. A moderate Republican is so dogmatically pro-abortion that she gets awards from Planned Parenthood. As a state legislator, a moderate Republican votes to raise taxes more than the average Democrat. A moderate Republican supports Card Check, which...

Isn't it funny how quickly politicians abandon their original positions after being on the wrong side of an issue is used against them? Charlie Crist is the latest culprit of the phenomenon, revisionist history. During an appearance yesterday on CNN, Crist had this to say about the president's stimulus package: "I didn't endorse it. I didn't even have a vote on the darn thing. But I understood that it was gonna pass and I wanted to be able to utilize it for the benefit of my fellow Floridians." Are you sure you didn't support the stimulus Governor Crist? Because if...

November 05, 2009, 4:00 a.m. Republican Civil War?Our experts respond. An NRO Symposium The NY-23 race has political commentators abuzz: Is there a Republican civil war going on? If so, who started it, and can there be a truce? If not, why is everyone saying there is one? National Review Online asked a few close observers of the Right to report in on these rumors of war. KEN BLACKWELLDede Scozzafava’s record in the New York State legislature was pro-tax, pro-abortion, and anti-marriage. She even accepted the endorsement of ACORN. But she got the local party elders’ support, based on...

After pumping more than $1 million into an upstate New York House race to elect the Conservative Party’s Doug Hoffman, the Club for Growth is on the hunt again. Chris Chocola, president of the conservative political action committee, made it clear the PAC is looking for more GOP targets who don’t embrace the Club’s limited-government approach. Priority No. 1 is likely to be the Senate contest in Florida, where Republican Gov. Charlie Crist, who embraced President Barack Obama’s stimulus package, is being challenged by former State House Speaker Marco Rubio. . . . . . Beyond Florida, other establishment Republicans...

WASHINGTON – It was a big election night for Republicans overall. But their lone disappointment – the loss of a New York congressional seat in a crossfire between moderates and conservatives – could portend struggles next year for GOP leaders. Channeling the Tea Party-inspired energy is a particular headache for Dallas Rep. Pete Sessions, whose costly effort to keep the New York seat was a casualty of the civil war. "There's a huge revolt going on in the country against the political establishment," said former Virginia congressman Tom Davis, who once held the challenging political job that Sessions now has...

A day after Tim Pawlenty took a few shots at Olympia Snowe, RNC Chairman Michael Steele came to her defense. Asked on Morning Joe whether there was room for the Maine centrist in the GOP, Steele responded "absolutely." Welcome! Welcome! Because--you know why that's important? Because every footprint of this party is different from region to region, from county to county. I can't win in the northeast with someone who'd be a better candidate suited in the south....So the reality of it is I'm looking to find my candidates where they are. And I want to lift them up because...

From a New York political observer: The biggest defeat for RINOs in New York wasn't the pre-election collapse of Dede Scozzafava in the 23rd CD. It was tonight's stunning victory by conservative Republican Rob Astorino in the race for County Executive of Westchester County—the affluent and heavily taxed suburb just north of NYC, which has been solidly Democratic for more than a decade. Astorino's victory is a stinging rebuke to the brand of New York Republicanism personified by Assemblywoman Scozzafava, former Gov. (and Westchester native son) George Pataki, and Westchester's famously liberal former state Sen. Nicky Spano of Yonkers, who...

There is a fight going on for the soul of the Republican Party, and the Tea Party protestors are its face. We are not going to be swayed by pleas not to rock tthe boat. We are not going to stop until the Republican leadership embraces candidates who will fight for smaller government, less regulation and a balanced budget. As I said in an earlier post, we may lose some battles, but we are out to win the war. Our tent is big enough to accomodate those with different social views, but when a competent conservative is running in a...

In what could be a nightmare scenario for Republican Party officials, conservative activists are gearing up to challenge leading GOP candidates in more than a dozen key House and Senate races in 2010. Conservatives and tea party activists had already set their sights on some of the GOP’s top Senate recruits — a list that includes Gov. Charlie Crist in Florida, former Rep. Rob Simmons in Connecticut and Rep. Mark Kirk in Illinois, among others. But their success in Tuesday’s upstate New York special election, where grass-roots efforts pushed GOP nominee Dede Scozzafava to drop out of the race and...

RUSH: I'd like to share with you what I think, my friends, are -- and it was tough to limit this to ten -- the Top Ten Republican Moderate Moments. Number ten: Newt Gingrich does a PSA on global warming with Nancy Pelosi in 2008. Number nine moderate moment in GOP history: Bush-Quayle '92. The number eight moderate moment GOP history: Dole-Kemp '96. The number seven most moderate moment in Republican history: Ford-Dole '76. Do you see a pattern here? Top ten moderate moments in Republican history number six: Jumpin' Jim Jeffords jumps from the Republican Party. Top ten moderate...

Earlier this month, Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) stirred up a tempest when they announced that they could overcome their political differences and agree on the critical need for a national policy that addresses the threat of climate change and moves the United States toward energy independence. Since the publication of their opinion piece, “Yes We Can (Pass Climate Change Legislation)” in the New York Times, pundits and policy experts alike have declared the Senators’ announcement a “game-changer” and possible tipping point that could lead to the passage of a bipartisan climate change bill — maybe even...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: How about Dede Scozzafava? You know what? Dede Scozzafava has just screwed every RINO in the country by showing everybody who they are. It's what I say about radio, people say, "Rush, does it matter AM, FM?" No, no. Content, content, content, content. Content determines what people will listen to, and in politics, principle, principle, principle. Moderates by definition have no principles. They're wishy washy. A typical moderate is Lindsey Grahamnesty. A typical moderate. They're all over the place. They go with the flow. They think of themselves first. They are not guided by principle at all,...

Following a Monday night look at Tuesday's special election to fill New York's 23rd congressional district seat in which Republican Dede Scozzafava dropped out after falling behind the Democrat and the Conservative Party nominee, ABC anchor Charles Gibson -- instead of wondering why the GOP establishment failed to pick a candidate who upholds basic Republican principles -- delivered the usual liberal media upset over the GOP's lack of a “big tent,” a phrase you never hear when Democrats pick left-wing candidates: A liberal Republican gets forced out of the race by a more conservative guy who was actually not a...

It is being reported today that Dede Scozzafava is endorsing Democrat Bill Owens. In one fell swoop she proved her detractors right. Her actions also speak to the Republicans that made excuses for her such as Newt Gingrich; they were dead wrong. When Dede withdrew from the race on Saturday, many (including me) thought she was doing the right thing for Northern New York, and the Republican Party. Instead we have been presented with the quintessential example of what the label RINO means. "Scozzafava dropped out after Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman experienced a late-in-the-game surge. The move was expected...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 1 (UPI) -- There is a "political rebellion" going on in America that the Republican Party is hoping to speak for, the U.S. House minority leader says. Rep. John Boehner of Ohio, speaking Sunday on CNN's "State of Union," said an incident in which a GOP-endorsed New York congressional candidate withdrew from an election under pressure from Republican conservatives showed that "we're in the middle of a political rebellion going on in America." Boehner said, "This rebellion are by people who really have not been actively involved in the political process. And they don't really care whether you're...

NOVEMBER 2, 2009 GOP Set to Propose Its Own Health Bill By GREG HITT WASHINGTON -- Republicans are preparing an alternative health-care bill to Democratic legislation, House Republican Leader John Boehner said, marking a shift in strategy as the full House is set to begin debate on the issue this week. Mr. Boehner said Sunday the Republican bill would extend health-insurance coverage to "millions" of Americans but wouldn't try to match the scope of the House Democratic bill unveiled last week. The Democratic legislation, if passed, is estimated to expand coverage to more than 30 million Americans now without insurance....

ALBANY, N.Y. – In a Republican Party struggling to find its identity, the surprise withdrawal of the chosen GOP candidate for a New York congressional race amid a rising conservative upstart renews a lingering national debate: Are moderates welcome in today's Grand Old Party? The question became even more relevant Sunday when the ex-candidate, state Assemblywoman Dierdre Scozzafava, threw her support behind the Democrat in the race rather than the Conservative Party candidate favored by fellow Republicans. The GOP leadership insisted on Sunday political TV talk shows the party is strong and inclusive while Democrats described a Republican party out...

"Republican Dede Scozzafava today endorsed Democrat Bill Owens, her former opponent, in Tuesday's election to fill the North Country congressional seat formerly held by John McHugh. Scozzafava suspended her campaign for the 23rd District seat Saturday, citing weak poll numbers and inadequate campaign funds. In a statement released this afternoon, she called Owens ''an independent voice devoted to doing what is right for New York.''"

Check this out:Watertown, NY paper: Scozzafava urging supporters to vote for the Democrat During the day Saturday, she [Scozzafava] began to quietly and thoughtfully encourage her supporters to vote for Democrat William L. Owens. - Watertown Daily Times

With Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman running neck and neck with the Democrat in Tuesday’s special election in New York, some other disaffected Republicans are seeing the third-party route as more viable. And it could hurt the Republicans in those races. In Virginia’s 5th district, state Sen. Robert Hurt’s entry into the GOP primary has spurred little-known candidate Bradley Rees to switch to the Virginia Conservative Party. And in Ohio, another GOP primary contender said this week that he’ll run as a Constitution Party candidate. Both will go at the GOP nominees from their right flanks and try to expose...

The events of the last 24 hours have pretty much clinched it: NY-23 is now officially a two-man race between the Democratic nominee Bill Owens and the Conservative Party upstart Doug Hoffman. From NRCC Chairman Pete Sessions to former Gov. George Pataki to former Mayor Rudy Giuliani (through his operative, Jake Menges), Republicans are quickly abandoning their nominee, Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava, and backing Hoffman in a last-ditch effort to keep former Rep. John McHugh's seat in GOP hands and, perhaps more importantly, deny the Obama administration a much-needed political victory. "I think it’s now to a point where we’ve got...

Conservatives are sick and tired of being taken for granted, misrepresented, and talked down to by the same "elite" Republicans in Washington who hopelessly screwed everything up during the Bush years.         Everybody knows exactly whom we're talking about here.  The same snobby, elitist, stuffed shirt, squishy, poll-obsessed Country Club Republicans who went to D.C., forgot who put them there, wasted the incredible opportunity they had to change this country for the better, and are now pointing the finger at everyone except themselves for their mistakes.         Here are five messages for those people:         We're not going back to the Bush years:...

On Wednesday, President Barack Obama introduced former Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel and former Oklahoma Sen. David Boren as co-chairmen of the President's Intelligence Advisory Board. The goal of the board, Hagel said Wednesday, is to provide "thoughtful, informed and independent advice" to the president regarding America's intelligence-gathering agencies and how they can best work effectively to collect and share information to make critical decisions. In a phone interview from his Georgetown University office, he said intelligence directs America's security efforts, informs policy and ultimately protects the country from not only terrorist and militaristic threats, but also energy and economic crises....

If vindication means anything its name is spelled George Bush. As former U.S. president George W. Bush spoke to a Saskatoon audience, I stood in the wings, sneaking a peek through the curtains at the spectators beyond the footlights. The crowd was friendly to be sure. But more than that, the relationship was like a musical virtuoso carrying the audience through every nuance, crescendo and dynamic of a composition. With every pause, smile, laugh and down stroke of seriousness, Bush had the crowd in his hand. Before the show, a friend who recently dined with the former Texas governor and...

Pretty good ad.I think just about any voter will understand THIS.LOL! The name "Scozzafava" (RINO), is not even brought up!!

A team of conservative bloggers with 73Wire.com arrived in upstate New York's 23rd District this morning and visited the headquarters of liberal Republican candidate Dede Scozzafava: Not only is the NRCC pumping hundreds of thousands of dollars into the media campaign of Dede Scozzafava, they're also organizing and coordinating teams of GOTV volunteers in the district. And they're picking up the tab. Our team just finished meeting with a NRCC volunteer named "James" who works out of the Watertown office for the Scozzafava campaign. James informed us that he was sent to Watertown, NY from Washington D.C. as a volunteer...