Free Republic

With their third straight loss of a House seat in a special election, Republicans are discovering that they’re in crisis. Well, duh! After all, here you have a political party that preaches the old libertarian mantra of “free enterprise, private property, and limited government” while embracing and supporting such socialist, interventionist, and imperial programs as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, income taxation, the drug war, paper money, the Federal Reserve, the war on immigrants, the war on poverty, torture, wars of aggression, military occupations, kidnapping and rendition, suspension of habeas corpus, and denial of due process of law, right to counsel,...

NYT: MCCAIN'S BIRTHPLACE IN CANAL ZONE RAISES ELIGIBILITY QUESTIONS...

There's been a lot of buzz over Des Moines Register columnist David Yepsen's crusade against the possibility of campaigns organizing non-Iowa resident college students to caucus. Most of the talk has been about whether Obama will pull in loads of Illinois college kids. But Yepsen offers another scenario, too: On the Republican side, GOP officials are watching precincts in Council Bluffs and Davenport to make certain people aren't driving across the state line to participate. They are particularly concerned about Ron Paul's over-caffeinated backers. This will be fun to watch--not because Paul has a real shot at winning Iowa (he...

If the CNN GOP debate proved anything, it is that Ron Paul is not going gently into that goodnight, no matter how badly his fellow Republicans wished he would. Not since the days of Ross Perot has a candidate flown in the face of the American political Wehrmacht. The public response has never been as robust as Paul's supporters, who possess every level of education, variety of profession, and personal value structure imaginable.The Paul supporters put their money where there mouths are, and the coffers for Paul's campaign continue to swell. One independent organizer, Trevor Lyman, an online music promoter, was the catalyst...

The freewheeling tactics of his supporters have made the GOP candidate an Internet sensation and an unlikely phenomenon. The late-fall night fairly crackled with energy -- from a persistent Santa Ana wind, the high-tension power lines overhead and, especially, from the crowd packed inside the living room of a ranch house at the west end of the San Gabriel Valley. Eighty people sat elbow to elbow on tight rows of folding chairs, chattering with enthusiasm and ideas. They would produce wall calendars and a concert. They would reenact the Boston Tea Party on the Santa Monica Pier. They would write...

Last month, during a Republican debate, Ron Paul was asked whether he promised to support the GOP nominee next year, no matter who emerges from the primary process. “Not right now I don’t,” Paul said, “not unless they’re willing to end the war and bring our troops home.” Apparently, in the ensuing weeks, “not right now” has become “no.” Paul called his Republican presidential rivals, including frontrunner Rudy Giuliani, “neo-conservatives” whom he couldn’t support in the general election should his own bid fail. “They think we’re supposed to spread our goodness through force,” Paul said. For example, none will pledge...

Apparently, America's greatest patriot was on Loonwaffle/Trooferville's favorite radio show today with the King Nutbar himself, although I'm not sure if anyone grabbed audio. If you want to listen to the rebroadcast stream, go here. I don't feel like it. Have fun.

The WMUR-CNN poll of likely Republican voters conducted by the University of New Hampshire shows Romney with 33 percent support, up from 25 percent in the same poll in September. Giuliani has declined, slipping to 16 percent compared to 24 percent in September. Those polled also described Romney as the most likely to win the nomination, with 39 percent choosing him and 26 percent saying Giuliani could go the distance. Just 8 percent said John McCain has what it takes to win the nomination, but 18 percent of voters said they would vote for him, the same as in September....

Sounds like typical CNN BS to me. Link to today's 26-page New Hampshire poll report (PDF). SCREENCAP:

COLUMBIA, South Carolina (CNN) – In the race for presidential endorsements, Mike Huckabee has the kitschy pop culture celebrity vote on lockdown. First it was martial arts hero and "Walker, Texas Ranger" star Chuck Norris, who appears with Huckabee in his first TV ad. Then hard-rocking hunting enthusiast Ted Nugent jumped on the Huckabee bandwagon, citing the Republican's support for second amendment rights. Now, Huckabee is getting ready to rumble: wrestler Ric Flair, a.k.a. The Nature Boy, is supporting the former Arkansas governor in his bid for the White House. CNN has confirmed the former WWF and WWE star wrestler...

Iowa Republicans have a recent track record of embracing the GOP's establishment presidential candidate in their leadoff caucuses. They've searched far and wide for a such a nominee for 2008 -- but haven't yet found him. Less than seven weeks before the voting, the Republican race here is unsettled. Mitt Romney had held a double-digit lead in polls for months, but his margin is narrowing as voters begin to home in on their choices ahead of January's contest. "The door's open for someone to come in and rally this thing," said Chuck Laudner, the state GOP executive director. Over the...

Memo to: Ron Paul supporters Subject: Your e-mails Okay, enough is enough. Like every other journalist in America, and who knows, maybe the world or even the universe, I've been deluged with your letters and e-mails. So I've done as you asked and taken a closer look at your candidate. Here is what I've found: 1. Ron Paul is inconsistent. Though he calls himself a man of principle and is apparently admired as such by his ardent fans, his principles seem somewhat elastic. He rails against the Bush administration for its supposed assault on civil liberties, yet when he was...

FNC Under Wolf Blitzer's gentle questioning, Hillary was able to avert another debate meltdown in the Nevada Democratic debate held last night, November 15. Asked about driver's licenses for illegal immigrants, a compliant, even subservient, Blitzer accepted Hillary's one word answer, “No,” with no follow up. Had a better journalist been asking the questions — like Tim Russert — he would have followed up the bland negation with probing questions about why she is yet again flip flopping on the issue

First time posting here... but I am growing increasingly concerned by the trend i see among conservatives. As Americans get bombared with all the nutcases using their 1st ammendment freedoms to spew their idiotic conspiracy theories on the internet... it becomes easy for the week-minded to buy into these nutjobs. Many just want to believe that our government is working to establish a New World Order. Many are mistakingly blaming Republicans for not doing anything about immigration. I see these fringe hippies on the left and the consipracy theorists who i guess are from the right... coming together in support...

Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul is forcing polls to adjust and quickly. A poll released Tuesday by CBS and NY Times shows Paul at 8% in New Hampshire ahead of Fred Thompson and tied with McCain in Iowa. This follows polls released by the Boston Globe in association with the University of New Hampshire Survey Center, and the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion that also showed Ron Paul passing Fred Thompson in New Hampshire. “The polls confirm what we already know: Congressman Paul is catching on in the early primary states,” said Paul campaign spokesman Jesse Benton. “His unifying...

I realize everything can change fast in Iowa and New Hampshire, and some are rightly skeptical about the value of polling in a caucus state. I also recognize that some pollsters' methods of figuring out who's a "likely voter" are better than others. But if I were a Romney guy, I'd be pretty pleased about the trends in those two primary states. Romney's had a lead in the Hawkeye state for a while, but that lead seems to be growing, across several pollsters. Romney is up 16 on his nearest competitor (Huckabee) in Zogby, up 8 on his nearest competitor...

Anti-war presidential candidate Ron Paul says his campaign is about "restoring the vanishing American dream." And he is criticizing what he calls "the cartel controlling the banking and monetary system" in the United States. Fresh off his third-quarter fundraising surprise of $5 million, Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul says the libertarian "revolution" he has started is growing across America. Paul told conservative activists at the "Defending the American Dream Summit" in Washington, DC, that the conference would be more aptly called the "Defending the Vanishing American Dream Summit." The Texas congressman said his Republican rivals often talk about a "flat...

Paul faithful flock to Spartanburg appearance A little-known Texas congressman seeking the Republican nomination for president visited Spartanburg on Saturday and seemed to arrive with all the makings of rock-star candidate for his party — despite polling low, little name recognition and a relatively small campaign staff. Supporters call it the “Ron Paul Revolution.” You might’ve seen it on signs or T-shirts. Or MySpace. Paul received no less than 16 standing ovations during his hour-plus speech and question-and-answer session at the Summit Pointe Event Center — first, when he entered the room, a second one when a re-entered after...