Free Republic

That’s basically Jonah Goldberg’s take on the Republican Party’s conduct regarding the Continuing Resolution and the government shutdown. And I basically agree with him. Certainly, mistakes were made — either by Ted Cruz and House hardliners (as I believe) or by Republicans who disagreed with Cruz’s approach. And, in principle, it is time to move on.

1) We can contribute to the Lonegan campaign HERE. ( https://loneganforsenate.com/secure-contribution.php ) 2) Anyone living in or close to New Jersey can GET INVOLVED HERE. ( http://www.loneganforsenate.com/volunteer-sign-up/ ) 3) Anyone with a telephone can volunteer to make calls from home HERE. ( https://www.loneganforsenate.com/phonefromhome/ ) Sarah wrote on Facebook today: The momentum is on Steve Lonegan’s side coming into next Wednesday’s election in New Jersey! Please visit Steve’s website to find ways to help out. It was such an honor to rally for Steve yesterday in NJ. Thank you again to everyone who came to join us – including “The Great...

The key bit comes at the very end, in response to a question about who’s responsible for the temporary suspension of death benefits to families of fallen troops. McCain’s answer: Everyone in Congress — but, implicitly, especially the “defund” caucus. You can tell how eager Maverick was to make that point by how quickly he turns a segment about the administration giving short shrift to the military — normally an easy lay-up for a Republican against a Democratic president — into a lament about Cruz et al. I’m not sure a guy who’s positioned himself as the lead Republican opponent...

Via RCP. Wait, wait, wait — before you start shaking your first at him, isn’t his point here oddly simpatico with what tea partiers say every day about Beltway squishes like King himself? It all depends on what benchmark you use to define “Republican.” The Republican establishment of the past 10 years has been fiercely interventionist, willing to bend on civil liberties in the name of fighting terrorism, and happy to back new entitlement programs like Medicare Part D so long as their guy’s in the White House. Rand Paul, by contrast, tilts towards isolationism, wants to sue the NSA...

Senator John McCain has been one of the strongest Republican voices in Congress opposing the conservative efforts to repeal, defund, or delay Obamacare. He took to the Senate floor on Tuesday to continue pressing that point, as well as scolding Congress and saying they should all be “ashamed” for allowing the government shutdown to keep going. McCain was set off by the news that during the shutdown, military benefits are being held up. He said Congress is so unpopular that “we’re down to blood relatives and paid staffers” at this point, asking his colleagues, “Shouldn’t we be embarrassed about this?...

A Johnson County Republican and second cousin of President Barack Obama is expected to move ahead Tuesday with planning for a primary challenge to U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts, of Kansas. Milton Wolf, who advocates for a divinely inspired return to limited government and individual liberty, invited supporters to a "major announcement" regarding the 2014 Senate campaign at an Overland Park hotel. The event will feature a performance by “American Idol” singer Krista Branch. Wolf, a 42-year-old physician and a political novice, could highlight in Kansas the division playing out nationally among tea party conservatives and others in the Republican Party....

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid should do the job he was elected to do and quit lecturing Republicans, says former Florida GOP Rep. Joe Scarborough. "Harry Reid should really be quiet and go back and do the job that he was hired to do, and, at least, pass one appropriation bill. And then come out lecturing us," Scarborough, the host of MSNBC's "Morning Joe," said on his program Tuesday. "I hear Harry Reid lecturing [House Speaker] John Boehner every day about getting things done. And Harry Reid's Senate that Harry Reid runs, first of all, went four or five years...

Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski told fellow panelists Monday she thought that Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) and Republicans like him don’t love the country because of their battles to defund Obamacare that she believes led to the government shutdown, drawing the ire of host Joe Scarborough. “That shows just how much they hate him and don’t love the country, and that’s what’s scary about this,” she said. “If they actually go through with this, this is about something else.” “Are you saying they don’t love the country?” Scarborough asked. “Are you saying they do? Ted Cruz and his group...

Simple and unadulterated hatred for Obama has driven the party to alienate the electorate by shutting the government down over their opposition to Obamacare.As I watched the deadlock over the approval of government expenditure finally lead to a partial shutdown of the US government, I could not help thinking how unfortunate it is that US lawmakers are behaving in ways unbecoming of their great and dynamic democracy. At stake in this incomprehensible showdown between Republicans and Democrats is the much-needed Congressional approval to government expenditure. The Republicans, under the sway of a minority of right-wing diehards, decided to use blackmail...

The vision of democracy is that the federal budget—and all activities of the federal government—reflects the values of a majority of Americans. Yet most people feel that the federal budget does not currently reflect their values and that the budgeting process is too complex to understand. It is indeed a complicated process. Many forces shape the federal budget, some of them are forces written into law—like the president’s role in drafting the budget—while other forces stem from the realities of our political system.

Dear Ms. xxxx: Thank you for contacting me regarding the Continuing Resolution (CR) and defunding of Obamacare. I know how passionately Texans feel about this issue, and I appreciate the benefit of your comments. All Americans should be exempt from the onerous and costly provisions of Obamacare and the best way to do this is to repeal and defund the law in its entirety. Texans continue to share with me real-life examples of how this law is hurting businesses, killing jobs, and burdening individuals with costlier premiums. All Americans should receive relief from this law, so I was pleased when...

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell tells Newsmax TV in an exclusive interview that Democrats are feverishly raising money to defeat his re-election bid because "I'm a thorn in the side of the president," especially when it comes to trying to defund Obamacare. "I'm sure they'd like to defeat me," the Kentucky Republican tells Newsmax. "I'm frankly proud of my enemies." Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is among several prominent Democrats and their supporters who are raising millions to stop the five-term McConnell in his election next year against Democratic Senate candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes.

Sarah Palin, former Republican vice presidential candidate and a prominent voice of the right, has endorsed New Jersey U.S. Senate candidate Steve Lonegan, his campaign announced Wednesday night. Palin's endorsement took aim at Newark Mayor Cory Booker, the Democratic candidate, who leads in polls. She said unemployment, taxes, and violent crime all have grown during Booker's term in office. "In fairness, [he] may not have noticed these facts between his constant tweeting and trips to Hollywood," Palin said in a statement released by the Lonegan campaign. She praised Lonegan for cutting taxes as mayor of Bogota and his work as...

A House minority from white districts want to destroy the first black president, and the GOP majority abets them. On the day the Affordable Care Act takes effect, the U.S. government is shut down, and it may be permanently broken. You’ll read lots of explanations for the dysfunction, but the simple truth is this: It’s the culmination of 50 years of evolving yet consistent Republican strategy to depict government as the enemy, an oppressor that works primarily as the protector of and provider for African-Americans, to the detriment of everyone else. The fact that everything came apart under our first...

Writing from her new home in New York, Louise Mensch argues that Britain needs more politicians like Chris Christie and Arnold Schwarzenegger.It’s strange watching the parallels develop between British and American politics. After the disaster of the 2008 McCain-Palin campaign (think William Hague as Conservative leader), the Republicans were at least respectable under Mitt Romney (think Michael Howard). But they now have no hope of victory, with no light in sight down a long, dark tunnel and a clear need for major reform. The Grand Old Party needs to learn the lessons of Nate Silver and actually read the polls....

On Friday, MSNBC host Ed Schultz insisted that Republicans threatening to pass a budget which defuneds Obamacare, which could possibly result in a government shutdown, is motivated by the fact that President Barack Obama is “other.” Schultz said that the GOP is moved by “hate” and that an “element of serious racism” was clearly evident. “This is all about one thing: obstructing this president,” Schultz said. “To come to the conclusion and to have a big summary to the American people that this president is not legitimate. He is other. We’re not going to let him succeed.” Schultz said that...

“If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan. If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.” - Two of the biggest lies so far in Barack Obama’s mendacity-filled presidency On Halloween Day, 2008 — appropriately enough, since his tenure as president has been a nightmare that makes Freddy Kruger look like Santa Claus — candidate Barack Obama told the American people, “We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America.” Well, guess what. He meant it. As I write this column, we are now five days away from...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK) Former Vice President Al Gore accused Republicans Friday of engaging in "political terrorism" by using a government shutdown as leverage to defund ObamaCare. "The only phrase that describes it is political terrorism,” Gore said at the Brookings Institution, according to ABC News. “Why does partisanship have anything to do with such a despicable and dishonorable threat to the integrity of the United States of America?” The former vice president also criticized Republicans for threats to link defunding ObamaCare to the debt ceiling, which is set to expire Oct. 17. "Now you want to threaten to not only shut down...

Mitt Romney thinks Obamacare is a bad law that will hurt the country, but disagrees with how conservatives in Washington are trying to get rid of it. In an exclusive interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee said using the politically charged Affordable Care Act as a wedge in Washington’s fiscal wars is counterproductive. "We're more effective tactically not to use a shutdown of some kind to pursue the ... anti-Obamacare objective. I don't think that will be as effective," Romney said in the interview conducted on Friday in Boston. "The tactic of using a government shutdown...

•Fresh (95%): Rush Limbaugh — "Ted Cruz is fighting for freedom in the greatest tradition of American freedom fighters." •Fresh: (90%) Sarah Palin — "Maybe if Ted had worn pretty pink running shoes he'd have gotten more respect from the same leftwing media that gushed over the Texan state senator who filibustered in the Texas legislature." •Fresh (85%): David French — "While the leftist outlets (and, sadly, some Republicans) spew forth their vitriol, I can’t help but think that moments like this and Senator Rand Paul’s “Stand with Rand” filibuster represent key turning points for the conservative movement." •Fresh (82%):...

Amid the lowlights of the media coverage of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s speech (actual Politico.com headline: “Experts: Dr. Seuss Would Be ‘Offended’ ”), it’s easy to skip how the press was overlooking the obvious accomplishment happening before their eyes: Cruz was winning. No, Cruz wasn’t winning the vote count in the U.S. Senate to defund Obamacare. That was never going to happen. And even if the John McCain surrender caucus had stood strong, bringing five red-state Democrats with them, Cruz still would have lost. President Obama would have vetoed, and the bar in the Senate would have risen to 67 “no”...

MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” host Joe Scarborough is waking up to the fact that despite all the hype that accompanied President Barack Obama when he made his 2008 presidential run, he wasn’t ready for primetime. “Barack Obama has proven over the past five years that he wasn’t ready to be president of the United States,” Scarborough said on his show Tuesday, according to Newsmax. “And he proves it still today.” Scarborough said Obama “came out of nowhere” as a freshman senator, and “a couple years later, people elected him president of the United States.” Obama served less than a decade in...

<p>Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) heard Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) argue last night that his critics remind him of Nazi appeasers, and to his credit, the Arizona Republican criticized his right-wing colleague this afternoon, calling Cruz's comments "a great disservice."</p> <p>But that's not all McCain said (thanks to my colleague Mike Yarvitz for the heads-up).</p>

The many hours Ted Cruz & friends spent in their overnight talkathon (not really a filibuster) in the Senate has thrilled conservatives who feel the GOP establishment consists of careerist sell-outs.Is Ted Cruz now the leader of US conservatives? That’s a fair question in the wake of his lengthy overnight talkathon against Obamacare on the Senate floor. As of mid-morning on Wednesday, Texas Senator Cruz, along with Sen. Mike Lee (R) of Utah and assorted allies, had spoken for some 20 hours. That constitutes one of the longest Senate speeches since record-keeping began in 1900, and it has thrilled those...

The Republican base must not require its representatives in Congress to run off a cliff and commit suicide as the price of avoiding a primary challenge in 2014. The Tea Party must not eat its young. Polling shows that there are nowhere near the pre-conditions in place that would be necessary for a government shutdown over defunding ObamaCare. Americans oppose defunding it by 44 percent to 38 percent, according to a recent CNBC All-America Economic Survey — and when it comes to shutting down the government to force its defunding, opposition swells to 19-59. To force Republican congressmen to side...

Former John McCain strategist Steve Schmidt criticized former running mate Sarah Palin for throwing her hat into the "defund Obamacare" campaign. Schmidt, McCain’s 2008 campaign strategist, told “Hardball” host Chris Matthews that Republicans need to rid themselves of the "asininity" of both Sarah Palin and Sen. Ted Cruz, the Texas Tea Partier carrying the banner for defunding the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Sarah Palin wrote an op-ed for Breitbart in which she claimed that if Cruz is unsuccessful in his fight against Obamacare it will be failure on the part of the GOP “because there weren’t enough principled...

On Monday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) compared Tea Party Republicans to Thelma and Louise for their "foolhardy plan to drive the economy off the cliff" by risking a government shutdown over ObamaCare. In this drama, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is Louise, foot on the accelerator. The more moderate members of his party are like Harvey Keitel, watching in horror from a distance. From a certain standpoint, there would appear to be no method to Cruz's madness. First, there is no scenario in which Senate Democrats and Obama accept a budget that defunds ObamaCare. Second, a government shutdown would...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)Sarah Palin for Senate might be back on the table. The former Alaska governor and 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee could be inching closer to running for US Senate against incumbent Democrat Mark Begich. Palin appeared on the Fox News Channel today and expressed strong support for Sen. Ted Cruz (R – Tex.) who is leading an effort to remove funding for Obamacare through the legislative process. In July, Palin noted that Cruz, Sen. Mike Lee (R – Utah) and others on Capitol Hill (perhaps including Sen. Rand Paul) need reinforcements to limit the growth of government and cut federal...

Sarah Palin ✔ @SarahPalinUSA We have your backs @SenTedCruz @SenMikeLee http://shar.es/K0pv8 Please RT to #DefundObamacare & support these good senators. 6:23 PM - 21 Sep 2013 729 Retweets 133 favorites Sarah Palin is back to the “violent rhetoric” today, writing at Breitbart.com that the battle to defund Obamacare is headed to the Senate. Palin even offers to compare “shiv marks” with Sen. Ted “Wacko Bird” Cruz to see who’s more often been the victim of what she calls the “anonymous sources” backstabbing game. Cruz and Sen. Mike Lee have her full support in their push to hold off the Obamacare...

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the Communications Director (!) of the Sacramento, CA Democratic Party, responding to an anti-Obamacare tweet from Ted Cruz staffer Amanda Carpenter (content warning): @amandacarpenter May your children all die from debilitating, painful and incurable diseases. — allanbrauer (@allanbrauer) September 20, 2013 Busy blocking the tapeworms that have slithered out of hellspawn @amandacarpenter‘s asshole. How’s your day so far? — allanbrauer (@allanbrauer) September 20, 2013 After doubling-down on hate, Brauer performed an abrupt about-face and apologized: Hi @amandacarpenter I am truly sorry for my tweet. I was very upset and lashed out. Your kids...

The regular guests on MSNBC’s Morning Joe are in perfect agreement: the Republican Party is walking into a trap of its own making. The internecine feud within the GOP over whether to pursue a strategy of defunding the Affordable Care Act in the political fight over a continuing resolution to fund the government is, in the eyes of Morning Joe’s guests, a self-inflicted wound from which the GOP may never recover. Sure, the panel guests on Washington D.C.’s favorite morning show have predicted the imminent demise of the Republican Party in the past, but this time it’s different. On Thursday,...

A new political action committee is hoping to convince former Speaker of the House and presidential candidate Newt Gingrich to run for the U.S. Senate in Virginia next year. Draft Newt PAC insists Gingrich, now a host of CNN’s Crossfire, is Republicans’ best hope for retaking the Senate seat currently held by Sen. Mark Warner (D., Va.), who is vying for his second term.

GOP House speaker John Boehner is making a strained effort to check House Republicans in their hell-bent charge against President Obama on the budget, continued government funding and their pet loathing, the Affordable Care Act. His effort is fruitless for one simple reason. The Tea Party, which backed House Republicans loudly, and the GOP establishment quietly, will never shed their obsessive dream of making the Obama presidency a failed presidency. GOP leaders in and out of Congress have been relentlessly hectored, harangued, badgered and even politically threatened by GOP ultra-conservatives to not give an inch on any issue that Obama...

This report is coming from The Hill and relies pretty much on “Republican lawmakers” and staffers “speaking on condition of anonymity” so factor that in. But given what we’ve heard from some other members over the last couple of months, I wouldn’t find it terribly surprising if this were true. Republican lawmakers are growing increasingly frustrated with what they say is a lack of communication from their leaders. Both centrist and conservative members in the House believe that Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and his lieutenants could have done more earlier this year to counter the Tea Party’s effort to defund...

Allahpundit asked an interesting exit question at the end of his post on John McCain’s possible retirement: Exit question for righties who think a McCain endorsement of Hillary over Paul would mean nothing to anyone: You sure? Actually, yeah, I’m pretty sure it won’t mean anything, but not because of McCain’s relative draw within the GOP or with independents. I just don’t think endorsements at this level have any impact on the fortunes of candidates with near-total saturation with voters already. Endorsements matter for obscure candidates, perhaps especially in local elections, but also in House and Senate races for newcomers....

The 43rd Annual Legislative Conference of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation will gather under the theme “It Starts With You” from Sept.18-21 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. About 10,000 persons are expected to attend the yearly gathering of Washington power players, industry leaders and ordinary men and women in the nation’s capital. With an eye to developing leaders, informing policy and educating the public, the conclave will comprise more than 70 forums and brain trusts on the critical issues facing African-Americans and the African Diaspora. Most notably, this year’s national town hall meeting, “From Poverty...

Lindsey Graham’s reportedly polling under 50 percent in South Carolina and now here’s Maverick wondering aloud if this is his last rodeo in the Senate. Without the two of them around, who will speak for the dubious “pro-democracy” Sunni insurgents of tomorrow? At long last, the day of rejoicing is at hand. Or is it?[At this point two supporters of President Obama cut in to thank McCain for being on "our president's side for once in your life." McCain tells them, "The president and I, he's in his last term, I'm probably in mine, the relationship we have had over...

Several times a day, especially if he’s out travelin’ and talkin’ to folks, as he always is when the U.S. Senate isn’t in session, Ted Cruz will stand before an audience and reflect, seemingly for the first time, about the generational shift taking place in the Republican party. “I call them the Children of Reagan,” he says. He means the rising group of Republican officeholders who came to political consciousness during President Reagan’s two terms. He rattles off their names: “young leaders” like Paul Ryan, Rand Paul, Nikki Haley, Mike Lee, Scott Walker .  .  . and then sometimes he’ll pause, letting...

Multiple people confirm to me that just a few hours ago Pete Sessions blew up about Ted Cruz and made sure everyone in the room knew he held Cruz in absolute contempt. It might be because Ted Cruz just called BS on Eric Cantor and Pete Sessions trying to screw conservatives. Cantor and Sessions are pursuing a plan to make it very easy for the House to vote for defunding Obamacare while ensuring Obamacare is still able to get funded. Cruz, in a press release earlier today, called on the House of Representatives to not get cute and actually defund...

War Hawks are getting so desperate that they are using fear tactics in order to motivate constituents to support the war in Syria. Syria and Iran maybe allies, but Sen. Lindsay Graham's analysis of their connection is simplistic and misguided. According to the senator, if the US does not intervene in Syria, Iran will not take the US seriously and will have a nuclear weapon by the end of 2014. If Iran gets nuclear weapons, such weapons will end up in the hands of terrorists. He ended his analysis by describing the fear-inducing-if-unrealistic situation of a nuclear bomb dropping on...

What are we going to do with John McCain who is helping Obama “save-face” by supporting his phony war on Syria? It is clear Americans do not want to get involved. Like Sarah Palin says, “Mr. President, please give America justification before you spend blood and treasure to intervene.” Sarah Palin and John McCain don’t have much in common, except being on the same ticket in 2008. They don’t agree on much politically, especially Syria. The Governor does what the Senator is supposed to do, but that is as far as it goes. John McCain’s transgressions seem to be getting...

A woman at a McCain town hall explains that she used to live in Syria and has family and friends still in Syria. She becomes extremely passionate in her rebuke of McCain’s stance to back the rebels against Assad. McCain’s expressions are very interesting during this exchange. At the start of this exchange, McCain is sporting his typical simpleton smile. But the smile quickly turns to an uncomfortable frown as he realizes there is sufficient support in the audience for the woman’s statements. The clip ends with an extremely frustrating response. McCain proceeds to spew the typical statist talking points...

Certain norms have held together America's legislative governance for nearly a century. They're now being destroyed. Late in August, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, traveled to a private residence in Dublin, N.H., to headline a fundraiser for the state Republican Party. Cruz’s spiel lasted about an hour, and was packed with the mix of straw men and inflammatory nonsense we’ve come to expect out of the junior senator from Texas. But before he really got into it, he took a moment to say a few nice words about his GOP colleague from the state, who was also in attendance. “Kelly Ayotte...

Dear Patriots. Though apprehensive upon hearing Obama tell Joe the Plumber that he wanted to spread the wealth around, I understand America’s extremely emotional response to electing its first black president. White America naively thought, finally, we can never be called a racist nation again. My 100 year old black grandmother wept. Never in her wildest dreams could she imagine a colored man sitting in the president’s chair in the Oval Office. But little did America realize that the beautiful articulate shiny golden black man that they opened the gates of our country and housed in the White House was...

Moderate Republicans are, were, good things. I use the past tense "were" because as they became rarities, the centrists' chief function was preserving majorities in Congress for their radicalized party. New England used to send lots of moderate Republicans to Washington. No more, and it's not because there aren't attractive Republican candidates. It's because the ones representing liberal-to-moderate regions became scapegoats at which party extremists directed their primal screams. There arose the stupid "RINO (Republican in name only) Hunters Club," courtesy of the National Federation of Republican Assemblies. In 2005, Rush Limbaugh pounded away at Republican "traitors" in the Senate,...

There was a time, not long ago, when former semi-Governor Sarah Palin (R-AK) could cause a stir just by Facebooking her own bad dystopian Obamacare fanfic, but hard times have fallen on the giving a rat’s winking ass about Sarah Palin industry. How bad has it gotten? Barely a month into her serious consideration of a bid to replace Senator Mark Begich (D-AK), Palin announced that she is “not planning to run for the U.S. Senate,” and not only did nobody care, they actually cared more about Palin’s thoughts on Ashton Kutcher than her senatorial ambitions, or lack thereof. In...

In the run-up to the 2016 presidential election, the Republican Party will explode. When the smoke clears, there’ll be four (4!) new parties. First, there will still be the Republican Party, sort of, but it will change its name to the GOPPPP (Grand Old Party of Perennial Pathetic Putzes). The new name, though, won’t change the fact that the party has failed to win a majority of America’s voters in five of the past six elections or that it keep running candidates even its own members don’t like! It’s top contenders? Sen. Marco Rubio; Rep. Paul Ryan; Gov. Rick Perry;...

Nationally syndicated talk-radio host Steve Deace, an Iowa native who has built a national brand as an in-house critic of the conservative movement, says Democrats are out-gunning Republicans on strategy and message. “Say what you will, the Democrats offer solutions,” Deace said. Meanwhile, the GOP issues statements that come across like sponsors’ patches on NASCAR drivers or scout badges, he said. Deace, 40, spoke for about two hours to a crowd of 80 people at the Santa Maria Winery in Carroll last week, an event organized by the Carroll Area Tea Party. His central theme: Republicans shouldn’t get mad with...

Bill Kristol once referred to himself as a “squish” (VIDEO-AT-LINK)Yet for some reason the GOP establishment holds Kristol in high regard when I think the man projects the intestinal fortitude of a sponge. Kristol is what passes for masculine strength in today’s Republican Party. So it’s no wonder the Party has become a collection of cream puffs who have abandoned their conservative principles. The only time the GOP shows some fight is when they attack conservatives. They never seem to muster that kind of moxie against Barack Obama and the Democrats. But, with conservative Republicans they become junkyard dogs. So...

Steve Flesher has an interesting post over at American Thinker about “rehabilitating” Sarah Palin, or more specifically, how she can help rehabilitate the GOP. Goodness knows, the GOP needs all the help it can get. Between the very public “war” between Chris Christie and Rand Paul, the fall from grace of Marco Rubio, John McCain’s unveiled attacks on the only actual conservatives in Congress, and the lackluster, waffling of GOP leadership, the Grand Old Party is looking more old than grand. Is Sarah Palin the answer? Or at least part of it? Flesher, linked above, sure seems to think so:...