Free Republic

Illinois Sen. Mark Kirk hasn't endorsed a GOP candidate for president, but it's looking more and more like he's on Mitt Romney's team. Kirk said Monday the field is getting down to "Romney and the anti-Romney," listing all of the GOP darlings -- Palin, Bachman, Trump et al -- that have fallen by the wayside. "The underlying story is the rise and rise of Mitt Romney," Kirk said. In regards to the Herman Cain sexual harassment controversy, Kirk said Cain "needs to respond and respond completely." "I do think his story is largely ending," Kirk said. "The critical thing is...

Who wants to be Paula Jones? Or Kathleen Willey or Anita Hill? All three women have accused political icons -- Bill Clinton, Bill Clinton and Clarence Thomas -- of sexually harassing them. And what did they get for sticking out their necks? Jones squared off against skater Tonya Harding on "Celebrity Boxing." Willey and Hill wrote books. They can't prove their allegations, and for the rest of their lives, they will have to live with the consequences. They are not in an enviable position. On Sunday, Politico reported that two women had accused GOP presidential hopeful Herman Cain of "inappropriate...

Editorial by John Ziegler Cain 2012 Looks a Lot Like Obama 2008, Except with a VERY Different Outcome 11/2/2011 Much has been written about the almost primal desire among conservatives to find the next Ronald Reagan, or at least someone they can get excited about, when it comes to choosing an opponent for President Obama in 2012. A huge number of Republican primary voters and Tea Party members now consider it almost a betrayal of their sacred honor to “give in” and vote for Mitt Romney, even if the evidence is overwhelming that he would have the best chance to...

Conservatives vs. 999ers -By: Larry Walker, Jr. -Under the 9-9-9 Plan, “95 percent of people making $1 million or more would get a tax cut that averaged $487,300.” ~Tax Policy Center -At a Michigan website entitled, North Star Writers Group, Herman Cain attempted to address some of the criticism to his 9-9-9 Plan. The article, dated October 16, 2011, is entitled, "9 responses to 9 false attacks on the 9-9-9 plan". But somehow Mr. Cain has confused what is merely constructive criticism with “attacks”. I mean it’s as if when one asks Mr. Cain a valid question these days,...

To say Ann Coulter had a political crush on New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie might be putting it mildly. So when Christie announced he wasn’t running for president, and then endorsed former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, the natural thing for her to do would have been to push for a Romney-Christie ticket. Not so fast. On Thursday night’s “Hannity,” the author of “Demonic: How the Liberal Mob is Endangering America” elaborated on her endorsement of Romney last week, but also endorsed Cain for his signature “9-9-9” tax plan. “I am so glad you asked about Herman Cain,” Coulter said. “I...

"I believe the world is getting warmer, and I believe that humans have contributed to that," Mitt Romney told a crowd supporters at a town hall meeting in Manchester, New Hampshire. "It's important for us to reduce our emissions of pollutants and greenhouse gases that may be significant contributors." Immediately the "See! He's a RINO emails" began to flow in, but Romney is just saying what every serious GOP contender will have to say, and what the best voice conservatives have on the subject, AEI's Steven Hayward says. (Here's a recent Weekly Standard piece from Hayward that updates the surveys...

"Dang, Dang, Dang notin' but xenophobes in this here dang ole' place.. I tell u what, i try to help ..uh..er...u well...uh.. u know...er...mexican kids..and these here xenophobes hatin' on me. gosh dangit."

This week, Sarah Palin stoked a late, brief flurry of speculation that she might enter the 2012 presidential race. I wont try to predict the former Alaska governor's decision. But I will predict this: If Palin does enter the race, she won't be any kind of factor. Over the past three years, Palin has systematically laid waste to the basis for a presidential campaign. By her own words and actions, she has discredited herself and alienated her one-time supporters. But before Palin vanishes into her hard-earned obscurity, Republicans need an assessment and an accounting. Had John McCain won in 2008,...

On the eve of Republican Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s announcement that he will be a candidate for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, Ann Coulter continues to push for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to enter the competition. On Sean Hannity’s Friday radio show, Coulter, author of “Demonic: How the Liberal Mob Is Endangering America,” made a prediction on how she thought things would shake out. But, she remains optimistic on former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s chances against President Barack Obama should Romney be the Republican nominee. “This is a prediction for the future — that Republican primary voters are desperate,...

The latest trend in the media world is “trending.” That is, monitoring what people are buzzing about and directing coverage accordingly. Just as the unspoken sometimes reveals more than the spoken, what’s not trending suggests more than what’s trending. In all the many thousands of words written in the immediate aftermath of the Republican debate in Iowa, two words were scarce: Sarah Palin.

Some rock-solid Granite State voters for Sarah Palin are carrying a torch for the former Alaskan governor as presidential material — despite the straight-talking reality star’s plummeting popularity in New Hampshire and uncertainty over whether she’ll run — their hopes renewed last weekend as Palin vowed, “I can win a national election.” Warren Rasmussen, who chairs the New Hampshire chapter of Organizers 4 Palin, said the Newsweek interview confirmed what he’s long believed. “We have a crew of volunteers, and we’re anxiously awaiting her announcement,” Rasmussen said. “Everything that she’s doing right now leads me to believe she’s in

Sarah Palin, the woman who put enough sizzle in McCain's 2008 presidential bid to make Republicans think they were finally cooking, now finds herself a few matches short of stoking her own political fire.  Palin has managed to maintain the conservative and national spotlight for three years since that failed White House bid.  She has won over the Fox News Channel, Rush Limbaugh, the Tea Party, and Glenn Beck.  Yet a coveted demographic in her camp continues to elude her: the conservative woman.Sarah Palin is smart, pretty, and adventurous -- a strong red-white-and-blue conservative.  Truth be told, conservative women...

It was probably not the intention of liberal investigative journalists to expose Sarah Palin as a figure far more sympathetic than her public image. Twenty-four thousand pages of e-mail voyeurism reveal a politician who has successfully hidden her virtues behind closed blinds. As Alaska governor, Palin was kind to her staff, responsive to her constituents and protective of her state. She sought God’s guidance in difficult decisions, made time for her family and found media questions on the provenance of her youngest child to be “flippin’ unbelievable.” These revelations read more like a campaign commercial. [snip] Reading through some of...

The vice-chair of Sen. John McCain's 2008 presidential team in New Hampshire told The Washington Times Wednesday that he thinks former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will take a pass on running for president. "I have no inside knowledge, but I would be very surprised if Gov. Palin decided to run this time," said Steve Duprey, a national Republican committeeman in New Hampshire. "She is tremendous at raising money, has a tremendous support in the base, but it would take an incredible allocation of time to do well in New Hampshire and I'm not sure she is gearing up for that."

So Obama could lose if -- and here's the big if -- Republicans do not blow the opportunity by presenting themselves as Medicare-annihilating racist maniacs... Tea Party conservatives complain that Republicans who advocate restraint, responsibility and moderation do so in order to be nice to Obama. That's utterly upside down. Restraint, responsibility and moderation are indispensable to the defeat of President Obama. It is Tea Party conservatism itself that is Obama's last, best hope for a second term.

....if I had a chance to pose just one, here's the one I'd put to some of the major Republican contenders: Newt Gingrich, former speaker of the House: ........Why do Republican officeholders shy away from you in such numbers and with such fervor, and....do you combine a second-class personality with a first-class intellect? Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachusetts:.....So: Do you compete in Iowa? Tim Pawlenty, former governor of Minnesota:......Did your actions as House majority leader and then as governor ease or exacerbate the current fiscal crisis in Minnesota? Jon M. Huntsman Jr., former governor of Utah:.....How could you serve...

Following the Sarah Palin playbook of never admitting error, the ex-governor’s minions are busy flooding the Internet with ’proof’ that Palin did not misspeak when suggesting that Paul Revere warned the British that they would not be taking arms from the colonists during his ride where he, apparently, rung bells and fired muskets. The effort to back up Palin is based on taking bits and pieces of facts surrounding the historic event that, when cut and pasted together, work to make Palin look a little less befuddled than her actual statement would indicate. While I give them credit for the...

Howie thread for the week starting with his Sunday Herald column

Right now, Mitt Romney is on with Greta. And he's knocking it out of the park about our failed trade policy. Hat's off to Mitt, even for when Greta set him up to criticize Trump with a total gimme, he moved the subject back to issues. IMHO the 2012 race is off to a pretty good start.

According to the latest polls, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin’s political popularity trajectory is heading south. It was inevitable given our 24/7 fame-obsessed culture which feeds on new personalities and controversy to fuel the celebrity media machine. Once Sarah Palin resigned from her office as Alaska governor, she left that respected “higher platform” reserved for our elected leaders and crossed over into celebrity jungle. There, she willingly subjected herself to the unforgiving forces of media pop culture, where the masses are easily bored. And now, without a new hit show, movie, book, clothing line, charity cause, or fragrance, Palin is...