Free Republic

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Haley Barbour is the latest potential Republican presidential candidate to suggest that social issues like abortion should be taken off the table while making the economy the main focus. Despite the fact that polls show Americans strongly oppose the pro-abortion health care law, Barbour says fiscal issues should take priority. At a breakfast with reporters this morning sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor, the Mississippi governor said those who focus on social issues like abortion are taking the GOP off message this election cycle. “Any issue that takes people’s eye off of unemployment, job creation, economic...

Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels has disappointed many social and cultural conservatives with his call for a "truce on the so-called [sic] social issues. We're going to just have to agree to get along for a little while," until the economic issues are resolved, Daniels told the Weekly Standard's Andrew Ferguson. But as the American Spectator's Joseph Lawler has observed, it's doubtful that Daniels' truce would change anything. After all, Lawler rightly asks: "What typical Republican policies would he [Daniels] have to suspend and they [social and cultural conservatives] have to sacrifice? It's not clear to me that it would be...

Are our bishops all Republicans?! By Phil Lawler | November 12, 2009 1:14 PM On the Commentary blog, Eduardo Peñlaver reports that he is uncomfortable with Bishop Tobin's public denunciation of Patrick Kennedy.Bishop Tobin’s attitude towards being Catholic — accept teachings X, Y, and Z, or go to another institution that does not affirm them — strikes me as nothing if not supremely un-Catholic in its ethos.Peñlaver's argument is profoundly confused, I think. But it is not an unusual one; you'll find roughly the same reasoning put forward by many other liberal Catholics. And Peñlaver is not an unintelligent observer...

As recently reported by the Associated Press, liberal blogger Geoffrey Dunn accused the Alaskan Governor of stealing the words from a 2005 Newt Gingrich speech in a recent introduction the Governor made in Alaska for talk show host Michael Reagan. Like a typical liberal, Dunn found a friendly venue at the Huffington Post to spew his slanderous statements, and then later edited his post to soften his accusation of Palin as a plagiarist to someone who failed to give complete and proper attribution. In retrospect, Dunn grudgingly reported later that Palin had given verbal accreditation to Newt Gingrich in her...

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A two-parter from David Frum’s new site, the New Majority; the key bit comes near the end of the second clip. He’s not asking the party to abandon social conservatism, just to nudge it towards the background and make foreign policy and fiscal responsibility the core of the platform. Which … is essentially the approach McCain took. He’s right about the dwindling numbers of the base, though. I think the GOP’s tacit strategy now is to wait and hope for (1) a messianic figure of its own to emerge and build a new coalition through the sheer force of his/her...

Last week in Terre Haute, Ind., Mr. Obama explained that the people he had in mind “don’t vote on economic issues, because they don’t expect anybody’s going to help them.” He added: “So people end up, you know, voting on issues like guns, and are they going to have the right to bear arms. They vote on issues like gay marriage. And they take refuge in their faith and their community and their families and things they can count on. But they don’t believe they can count on Washington.” This is a remarkably detailed and vivid account of the political...

Senator Barack Obama fought back Saturday against accusations from his rivals that he had displayed a profound misunderstanding of small-town values, in a flare-up that left him on the defensive before a series of primaries that could test his ability to win over white voters in economically distressed communities. For a second day, Mr. Obama sought to explain his remarks at a recent San Francisco fund-raiser that small-town Pennsylvania voters, bitter over their economic circumstances, “cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them” as a way to explain their frustrations. Acknowledging Saturday that “I didn’t...

I attended the Council for National Policy meeting last week in New Orleans and listened to John McCain address the who's who of Hillary Rodham Clinton's vast right-wing conspiracy. It was another chance for McCain to, in his words, "not just unite, but reignite the base." How did the crowd think he did? Let's just say it's hard to ignite anything with cold water and no fire. He talked about two legs of the Republican stool - spending/taxes and national security. But the third leg - social issues - went unmentioned. When questioned, he failed to connect with the people...

G.O.P party-line bombast has failed to generate the level of buzz needed to effectively counter the looming Democrat invasion on the Presidency and Congress. I do admit it is a tall order overcoming an irrelevant American Idol side-show addicted to whether a black or woman might become the first to attain the Presidency. Republicans would not be playing third fiddle to a freak show if they had anything of substance for voters to chew on. Even Drudge has been headlining Democratic races with only cursory attention paid to Republicans. If Republicans had individuals running on truly visionary policies energizing the...

MCLEAN, Va., Nov. 5 /Standard Newswire/ -- Today the Fred Thompson campaign announced the addition of Shannon Royce, an experienced social conservative coalitions director and former Executive Director of The Arlington Group, who will be joining the Thompson Campaign to serve as Grassroots and Special Projects Director. Shannon Royce most recently served as Executive Director of the Arlington Group where she managed a coalition of over 70 organizations advocating on numerous pro-family initiatives. In that capacity, she coordinated coalition efforts on behalf of Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito. A former Legislative Assistant to Senator Slade Gorton and...

..Until recently, its pastor, Terry Fox, was the Jerry Falwell of the Sunflower State — the public face of the conservative Christian political movement in a place where that made him a very big deal. ...So when Fox announced to his flock one Sunday in August last year that it was his final appearance in the pulpit, the news startled evangelical activists from Atlanta to Grand Rapids. Fox told the congregation that he was quitting so he could work full time on “cultural issues.” Within days, The Wichita Eagle reported that Fox left under pressure. The board of deacons had...

Success in politics depends on the ability of a candidate or a party to forge and maintain coalitions. One of the most successful coalitions in modern political history has been the "Reagan Coalition", which brought together economic and social conservatives under the umbrella of the Republican Party. Preserving that coalition brought the Republicans great success, including occupancy of the White House and twelve years of control over the House of Representatives. The coalition that Reagan fashioned is fraying, however, and is on the verge of unraveling. The causes are many, but the coup de grace is likely to be the...

Why is the forum endorsing a specific point of view for a Republican candidate for President by placing a link to anti-Guiliani articles on the header?Giuliani Truth File - In his own words and deeds. There are folks on the forum with both points of view and one should not be supported over the other.

JACKSON - A bill designed eventually to outlaw abortion in Mississippi is on its way to Gov. Haley Barbour. The state Senate gave final approval to the bill Thursday, accepting a version passed by the House last month. Senate Public Health Committee Chairman Alan Nunnelee, R-Tupelo, earlier this session steered to passage a bill that would ban all abortions unless the life of mother is in jeopardy and in cases of rape. Had that bill become law, it probably would have resulted in a court challenge to Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortions. But the...

The Libertarian Vote by David Boaz and David Kirby David Boaz is executive vice president of the Cato Institute. He is the author of Libertarianism: A Primer and editor of The Libertarian Reader, Toward Liberty, and Left, Right & Babyboom: America's New Politics. David Kirby is executive director of America's Future Foundation and a graduate of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The main theme of political commentary in this decade is polarization. Since the battles over the impeachment of President Clinton and the Florida vote in 2000, pundits have been telling us that we're a country split down the...

Pragmatic Americans Liberal and Conservative on Social Issues Most Want Middle Ground on Abortion Released: August 3, 2006 Summary of Findings Americans cannot be easily characterized as conservative or liberal on today's most pressing social questions. The public's point of view varies from issue to issue. They are conservative in opposing gay marriage and gay adoption, liberal in favoring embryonic stem cell research and a little of both on abortion. Along with favoring no clear ideological approach to most social issues, the public expresses a desire for a middle ground on the most divisive social concern of the day: abortion....

Important issues abound in the nation's capital, but the "moral" ones tend to be the most difficult to resolve. It is hard to compromise on abortion, stem cell research, and gay marriage. Yet the answer often is easy, if not obvious. Government should just do nothing. Consider the battle over stem cell research. I don't claim to know the value of embryonic stem cell research. Given the wonders of modern medicine, new discoveries are likely to emerge. However, those who would benefit from bountiful federal subsidies have an incentive to oversell their cause. Surely opponents are right to raise a...

by Mark Finkelstein June 29, 2006 Do you know the joke about the guy who goes to the doctor and is informed he needs an operation that would cost $25,000? When he asks if there are any cheaper alternatives, the doc responds, "well, for $75, I can touch up your X-rays." That's Barack Obama's approach to healing the Dems' affliction when it comes to dealing with religious conservatives on social issues He's not looking to change the substance, only the appearance. In introducing Obama, GMA's Robin Roberts did describe him as "one of the Democrats' rising stars." But I think...

One of my favorite tidbits about Hollywood that I've gleaned from the starstruck press is that a great many of its most accomplished stars don't allow their staffs to look them in the eye. I'm not making this up. It has been reported that Barbra Streisand not only discourages eye contact among staff, but that she required hotel workers to leave her presence only by walking backward. Jennifer Lopez - who had 75 attendants help her prepare for a cameo on "Will & Grace" - is also reputed to forbid her subalterns to look into the windows of her soul....