Free Republic

Mitt Romney Former Governor of Massachusetts 32 Rick Santorum Former Senator from Pennsylvania 30 Newt Gingrich Former Speaker of the House 16 Ron Paul U.S. Representative from Texas 8

Embattled Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman has been hit with another ethics complaint — this time from the group that defended Milwaukee's mandatory sick leave ordinance. The group 9to5 Milwaukee alleges that Gableman violated state ethics laws when he accepted free legal services from Michael Best& Friedrich, a high-powered law firm with offices in Madison and Milwaukee. The group is asking the state Government Accountability Board to investigate the financial arrangement between Gableman and the firm. The complaint alleges the deal may violate state law prohibiting public officials from using their positions for financial gain or accepting anything of...

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who trails former House Speaker Newt Gingrich by double digits in key early states, told The Washington Examiner on Wednesday that he believes he can still clinch the nomination by winning contests later in the primary calendar and by waiting for Gingrich’s newfound popularity to fade. In a wide-ranging interview with The Examiner’s editorial board, the former Massachusetts governor said he couldn’t explain why his poll numbers have remained stagnant while a succession of other GOP candidates have surged ahead of him. But he predicts Gingrich, the latest to supercede him in the polls, will...

Retiring Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison refused today to soften any of the criticisms she leveled at Texas Gov. Rick Perry when she challenged him in last year’s GOP gubernatorial primary. “I’m not going to backtrack on anything I said,” Hutchison told CNN’s “State of the Union” when asked whether her criticisms still stand against Perry, who is running for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination. “I tried to give Texas a choice. ... He was pretty brutal on my record, and I took on his record. And so that’s the way politics is, and it does come back.” Hutchison lost by...

Unfortunately, it looks like the forces of smear, slander, and threat have finally claimed their intended victim. With Palin's announcement that she won't run for president, the election is essentially over. The calculus is fairly simple: the media and GOP establishment want Romney to be the nominee. Once a progressive is at the head of the Republican ticket, low turnout for Republicans will hand a narrow victory to Obama. So here is how the election will go. The media hasn't seriously opened up on Herman Cain, but most assuredly they will. Cain has been in business for decades, and the...

The result of the Iowa straw poll doesn't mean much, but it will hasten the departure from the race of some of the long-shot candidates.So now we know — Michele Bachmann has bested Ron Paul by 152 votes to win the Iowa straw poll. Just over 16,000 Iowans cast votes, a bit more than 1% of the number of Iowans who voted in the 2008 presidential election, and less than 20% of the number who will likely vote in the Iowa GOP caucuses in early 2012.Does the result mean much? In terms of determining the eventual GOP nominee, I think...

For crying out loud. Hannity has some maroon on now, promoting his Palin-bashing book. For why?

The Royal Wedding has divided the nation - some breathlessly counting down the days, others rolling their eyes over the growing excitement. And now Jerry Seinfeld has weighed in on the upcoming nuptials of Prince William and Kate Middleton, calling the wedding 'a circus act.' The comedian, promoting his stand-up show at the O2 on June 3, will undoubtedly Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1376827/Royal-Wedding-Jerry-Seinfeld-ridicules-Kate-Middleton-Prince-William.html#ixzz1JVxMgwtn

Acrimony of budget battle not waning 2011 began with the Green Bay Packers winning the Super Bowl. Then things got really exciting in Wisconsin. Weeks of protests at the state Capitol in Madison over the Republican budget proposal were followed by a contentious campaign to turn out a state Supreme Court justice. Now the state Senate is facing a total recall. Sixteen state senators — eight Republicans and eight Democrats — have been targeted by recall committees stemming from the contentious budget-reform debate in March. That’s half of the 33-member Senate, and it might have been more but for a...

Outgoing Rep. Bob Inglis (R-S.C.) said Thursday that a "credible conservative" movement that doesn't focus on "hatred" of President Obama is needed. Inglis was defeated in a landslide by Trey Gowdy in the June primary runoff. Gowdy, a staunch conservative and Tea Party favorite, went on to win the 4th District seat in November. Inglis lamented on CNN that the current wave of populist conservatism is unlike that of Ronald Reagan. "We'll get through and we'll get back to optimistic conservatism," he said. "We just got to get through this unfortunate period." The congressman said he was wounded in his...

MSNBC, worried that its reputation as a fair broker of the news hung in the balance, sent Keith Olbermann to the woodshed on Friday for an unpaid suspension because he had donated $7,200 to some of the Democratic politicians he had championed on his hit show “Countdown.” Golly, that ought to take care of everything. If MSNBC were really worried about coming off as impartial, don’t you think it would have chosen somebody besides Mr. Olbermann, one of the most rabidly partisan figures in national news, to anchor its election coverage? Even Fox News knows better than to do something...

Dear xxxx, Sometimes you fight the good fight and lose... and keeping up the fight becomes even more important. Yesterday, Republicans took control of the House of Representatives riding an electoral wave of economic frustration stemming from the Great Recession, along with an energized right-wing base and unprecedented -- and undisclosed -- corporate cash. We lost some progressive heroes, like Senator Russ Feingold and Rep. Alan Grayson. It's a solemn day, indeed... it's important to pause and reflect on the service of these great Americans and to assess the challenges ahead. But it's also important to acknowledge the hard work...

In a sign of the utter futility of her write-in campaign Lisa Murkowski, through her attorneys, is attempting to prevent Alaska media outlets from running campaign ads against her candidacy

The U.S. Senate race in Alaska was turned on its head in August, when Tea Party Express-backed candidate Joe Miller upset incumbent Lisa Murkowski in the Republican primary. On Friday evening, Murkowski stunned the state again with a decision to mount a write-in campaign to hold on to her seat. "This is a statement we must make for Alaskans. Together we can do what they say cannot be done. Alaska is not fair game for outside extremists. We are smarter than that … and we will not be had," Murkowski said as cheering supporters in Anchorage shouted, "Run, Lisa, run!"...

Sources at the Christine O’Donnell victory party revealed to The Freedomist that in December of last year Karl Rove met with Tea Party leaders in Dover, Delaware trying to get them to cut a “deal” in which they would leave Mike Castle alone and NOT support O’Donnell. The Freedomist has also learned that Rove was allegedly acting as an operative, although in what capacity it is not known, even as he is playing the role of a political analyst on Fox New in a fair and balanced way.

Two weeks ago Dr. Rand Paul, an ophthalmologist and the Republican U.S. Senate candidate from Kentucky, appeared on the Rachel Maddow show to clarify statements he had made, which seemed to suggest that he would have opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. For 20 minutes Paul and Maddow engaged in a less-than-graceful pas de deux on the theme of discrimination and private property rights. Maddow asked Paul whether he believed private business people had the right to discriminate against black people, or any other minority group. Paul responded that once you allow the government to dictate how citizens can...

Over at the Daily Paul blog, we learn that Rachel Maddow has been circulating an inaccurate transcript of her conversation with Rand Paul. As you can see in the above clip (starting about the 8:00 mark), the candidate for U.S. Senate in Kentucky gave an answer to Maddow's question on civil rights that included various interjections and interruptions. Someone in Maddow-land edited this down to the following exchange: Maddow: Do you think that a private business has the right to say, "We don't serve black people"? Paul: Yes. I'm not in favor of any discrimination of any form. As you...

He has made himself a target, and a fool, and he is going to set us back miles. He is a godsend for Obama and democrats. This is why rookies are a problem. just IMHO

"The editorial board of Louisville's Courier-Journal didn't mince words following its sit-down with Rand Paul last month. Much of what the Republican Senate candidate supports, it wrote, "is repulsive to people in the mainstream," including "an unacceptable view of civil rights." The Newsroom Blog (A Yahoo! News Blog) 05-20-10 ===================================================="What is terrifying the GOP establishment, is that he plans to get rid of the IRS, the Federal Reserve, the Department of Education, and many other federal departments. He is likely to advocate pulling the US out of the UN. He plans to cut the federal budget to the bone, and...

Apple is using its strong patent portfolio to fight iPhone competitors in court. Its latest target is HTC. Apple has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against the cell phone manufacturer. The suit involves “20 Apple patents related to the iPhone’s user interface, underlying architecture and hardware.” Steve Jobs is quoted in a press release saying: “We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it. We’ve decided to do something about it. We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours.” The lawsuit itself is...

Sen. John McCain was concerned about his former rival's plan to buy a new fleet of Marine One helicopters that will cost $11.2 billion, an amount that is over-budget. Obama responds (via AP): Obama said the helicopter he has now seems adequate, adding that he never had a helicopter before and "maybe I've been deprived and I didn't know it."

To my fellow bloggers: The next time you get an e-mail from someone saying it’s time to organize a conservative netroots, bear in mind that it’s these morons, by and large, whom that person wants you to support. The same people who couldn’t muster a judgment on the bailout independent of Nancy Pelosi being a big meanie, the same people who can’t organize a press conference without having it descend into backbiting and recriminations. Some Republican governors tell CNN they were not particularly happy with the way the Republican Governors Association press conference was executed Thursday, saying that they agreed...

Cindy McCain's half sister is planning on voting for Barack Obama, she tells Usmagazine.com. "I'm not voting for McCain," Kathleen Hensley Portalski tells Us. "I have a different political standpoint. "I'm voting for Obama," the Phoenix resident says. "I think his proposals to improve the country are more positive and I'm not a big war believer." Portalski, 65, and the potential first lady, 54, have the same father: Jim Hensley, the founder of the beer distributor Hensley and Co. that Cindy McCain now chairs. In an interview with NPR News' All Things Considered last week, Portalski said she felt "like...

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson slammed GOP presidential candidate Sen. John McCain today, calling his criticism of Barack Obama's trip to Europe and the Middle East as nothing more than "sour grapes." Richardson, one of Sen. Obama's most high-profile surrogates, also said that the Obama campaign was considering a trip to Latin America sometime prior to the November election. "There are discussions about it. He wants to emphasize that his administration would not be Europe-centric or only focused on the Middle East," said Richardson in an interview. The trip would also likely generate excitement among many of the country's Hispanic...

Former White House press secretary Scott McClellan writes in a new memoir that the Iraq war was sold to the American people with a sophisticated "political propaganda campaign" led by President Bush and aimed at "manipulating sources of public opinion" and "downplaying the major reason for going to war." McClellan includes the charges in a 341-page book, "What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception," that delivers a harsh look at the White House and the man he served for close to a decade. He describes Bush as demonstrating a "lack of inquisitiveness," says the White...

Groom, many guests of one wedding will be on call for another - that of the president's daughter Saturday, May 10, 2008 WEST — Nora Bartosh has been waiting for her wedding, scheduled for today, for the past six years. Now, the 34-year-old West drugstore clerk is worried that a president's daughter could steal her groom and thus her special day. The groom, all eight groomsmen and about 150 of the guests work in McLennan County law enforcement. That leaves Bartosh hoping that everything goes smoothly in and around President Bush's Crawford-area ranch today as first daughter Jenna says her...

I just got finished watching Mitt Romney's performance on "Meet the Press." Snip.. --On guns, he may have gotten himself in trouble, in an attempt to diffuse the flip-flop label, by standing by his support for the Brady Bill and the 1994 assault weapons ban. He even said he would have signed an extension of the assault weapons ban when it expired in 2004. He also employed the odd phrase "weapons of unusual lethality" to describe the type of guns he would ban. --On immigration, Romney was utterly Clintonian. He said that when in November 2005 he described the Bush/McCain...

Helen Mirren has described the traumatic moment that influenced her decision not to have children. The Oscar winning actress revealed in a new interview that a sex education film she watched as a convent school girl was so "disgusting" it put her off motherhood for life. She said: "I went to a single sex convent school, and even in Biology classes we weren't taught about sexual reproduction. I was about 13, 14, just at that age where you begin to be self conscious about your physicality and about boys and all of that. "They sat us all down, girls and...

House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D.-Calif.) blamed “hate radio” for demeaning children who were being used to lobby for an expansion of federally funded health insurance in a press conference late Tuesday morning. In the run-up to a House vote to override President Bush’s veto of a $35 billion increase to the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, children like the 12-year old Graeme Frost---who suffered brain injuries after a car accident-- have been pushed to the forefront of the debate. Frost’s position as a so-called “poster child” for SCHIP became controversial when his family’s assets were investigated. This reporter asked...

For the last 24 hours, I've not been able to turn on the television or pick up a newspaper without hearing about Clarence Thomas. I can't put my finger on the exact reason, but I find it unbecoming for a Supreme Court justice to publish a memoir to coincide with the new term of the court. I will concede, it's difficult to offer an intellectual argument to support my distaste; it's based on my emotional reaction rather than any wrongdoing on his part. I have a great appreciation for the Supreme Court and the justices. Their job is to operate...

The Associated Press NASHVILLE -- Tennessee's two Republican senators on Thursday voted in Washington against a non-binding resolution calling for continued support of the Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion. Sen. Bill Frist said the landmark decision is flawed; Sen. Fred Thompson said the Supreme Court should be left alone on the issue."I'm The vote came on a resolution by Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa. The resolution said: "It is the sense of the Congress that Roe v. Wade was an appropriate decision and secures an important constitutional right and such a decision should not be overturned." A...

Here is Fred Thompson speaking on why he is running for President. He was speaking to the Des Moines Register Editorial Board.

When two Tunisian men were sent home after five years in Guantanamo, they thought they would be free. Instead, they faced imprisonment, abuse, threats and solitary confinement. Now they say things were better back in the US prison camp.Many of the detainees sitting in Guantanamo Bay hail from countries with a terrible record of torturing and abusing prisoners. While they may want to see an end to their ordeal in the US prison camp, they also have reason to dread the treatment they could face back home. According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), the US government is not doing enough...

Rove's Departure No Loss For America, Leaves Office Before Clearing the Air Karl Rove, chief architect of Bush's failed and reckless policies, resigns under a cloud of suspicion, refusing to testify before Congress regarding the US Attorneys scandal. Like so many senior Bush Administration officials before him, Rove's departure is marked by controversy -- not only over the US Attorneys scandal but his involvement in the Valerie Plame scandal where he leaked the name of the covert CIA agent. Undoubtedly, Rove's departure will not end the Bush White House's policies of putting what's best for the Republican Party ahead of...

WELLINGTON (AFP) - They say you are what you eat, and growing numbers of vegans are shunning sex with meat-eaters because they see them as "a graveyard for animals", a New Zealand researcher says. These vegans not only refuse to eat meat or animal products but refuse to have sexual contact with meat-eaters because their bodies are made up of dead animals, the researcher was reported saying in The Press newspaper on Tuesday. Annie Potts, co-director of the New Zealand Centre of Human and Animal Studies at New Zealand's Canterbury University, said she coined the term vegansexuals during her research....

It's hard to believe that, in 2007, you can put 1,000 adults in one room and nobody is divorced. But that was the scene yesterday in the polished magnificence of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Northeast Washington, where more than 500 married couples from throughout Maryland and the District gathered to renew their wedding vows. And these weren't vows they had originally made five or 10 years ago. We're talking Olympic-level marriage achievement here. The ceremony for Catholic couples, hosted by the Archdiocese of Washington, was for couples who had been married 25 years...

NORTH CANTON, Ohio (AP) -- Kristina Schneider tried to persuade a customer at the BP station where she works to buy the last ticket on a roll of the Magnificent Millions lottery game. "I always joke that the last ticket is the winning one, but he said he only had enough money for three tickets," Schneider said. This time, her advice was no joke. The single mother -- with nine maxed-out credit cards and $8,500 in debt for her associate's degree -- bought what turned out to a $1 million winning ticket with a $10 bill she found in the...

War on Terror: Whatever ex-CIA chief George Tenet's book says he meant by "slam dunk" regarding pre-Iraq War intelligence, there always were lots of good reasons to oust Saddam Hussein — and to finish the job today. In the nearly 550 pages of Tenet's "At the Center of the Storm," there's no shortage of bitter complaints from the intelligence chief on whose watch 9/11 took place. He says the Washington Post's Bob Woodward distorted and took out of context the phrase that has come to define Tenet. While conceding the CIA believed that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction before...

Before the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and the false-pretense Iraq war, the American way of life was already a global symbol of gluttony. If anything, the post-9/11 period has resulted in even more hoarding. In 2000, the size of the average American home was 2,266 square feet. Now it is 2,434 square feet, according to Census data, with the highest regional average right here in the Northeast at 2,556 square feet. Our homes are on average double the size of those in other Top 10 richest nations such as Japan or Switzerland according to the New York Times and the...

NEW YORK - Randy Johnson could be leaving the New York Yankees after just two seasons. The Yankees have started trade talks with several teams, including the Arizona Diamondbacks, although it is too early to tell whether the discussions will lead to a deal. Talks were confirmed yesterday by a baseball official who had knowledge of them and spoke on condition of anonymity because they are in the preliminary stage. The Yankees’ discussions with the Diamondbacks, Johnson’s

The Washington Post recently published a harshly anti-Bush op-ed by Douglas Brinkley, who does not bother disclosing his John Kerry connections. Shortly after Thanksgiving I had dinner in California with Ronald Reagan's best biographer, Lou Cannon. Like many historians these days, we discussed whether George W. Bush is, conceivably, the worst U.S. president ever. Cannon bristled at the idea. Bush has two more years to leave his mark, he argued. What if there is a news flash that U.S. Special Forces have killed Osama bin Laden or that North Korea has renounced its nuclear program? What if a decade from...

[Final two pharagraphs] So in the nature of things conservatives and libertarians can conclude no friendly pact. Conservatives have no intention of compromising with socialists; but even such an alliance, ridiculous though it would be, is more nearly conceivable than the coalition of conservatives and libertarians. The socialists at least declare the existence of some sort of moral order; the libertarians are quite bottomless. It is of high importance, indeed, that American conservatives dissociate themselves altogether from the little sour remnant called libertarians. In a time requiring long views and self-denial, alliance with a faction founded upon doctrinaire selfishness would...

The "runaway bride," who took off days before her lavish wedding in 2005, is suing her former fiance for $500,000, claiming he defrauded her out of her share of their assets, including a ladder, a gold sofa and gifts. read more at foxnews.com http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,219125,00.html

Just About the Dumbest Thing I’ve Ever Read smalldeadanimals.com 21 September 2006 In its attempt to sway, manipulate, and form world opinion to fit with editorial boards, the MSM now has a new tool: World Opinion Polls. In case you missed that, I’ll rephrase it. The MSM now conducts WORLD opinion polls so that we can be enlightened by knowing what the world thinks. The concept is so flawed that I won’t insult the intelligence of readers here by even bothering to debunk it, but I will say this. What does it say of news media editorial boards, when...

Brokeback Mountain author Annie Proulx recalls a bitter night at the Oscars.ON THE sidewalk stood hordes of the righteous, some leaning forward like wind-bent grasses, the better to deliver their imprecations against gays and fags to the open windows of the limos - the windows open by order of the security people - creeping towards the Kodak Theatre for the 78th Academy Awards. Others held up sturdy, professionally crafted signs expressing the same hatred. The red carpet in front of the theatre was larger than the Red Sea. Inside, we climbed grand staircases designed for showing off dresses. The circular...

Chapter & worse Book finds plenty to rip Rudy for on 9/11 BY DAVID SALTONSTALL DAILY NEWS SENIOR CORRESPONDENT Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani is taking a lot of hits in a new book about 9/11. Rudy Giuliani's image as America's Mayor is harshly questioned in a new book that takes to task the city's preparedness on 9/11 - with some of the most pointed criticism coming from current Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly. Kelly, who was dismissed from the post by Giuliani in 1993 and later reappointed by Mayor Bloomberg, offers several dramatic and remarkable observations in "Grand Illusion: The Untold...

About two-thirds of the 150 attendees at a Television Critics Association’s gathering walked out of the room before Fox News Channel chairman and CEO Roger Ailes took the stage for a news conference. Several critics even openly voiced their scorn for what they view as Fox News’ conservative spin. But Ailes was unfazed – and enjoyed gloating. He aired a promotional film featuring comments from critics who predicted a quick death for Fox News when it was launched in 1996, the Miami Herald reports. Ailes then gleefully reminded the critics who did remain that Fox News has led all cable...

At the confirmation hearings for John Roberts, there were two theories about what kind of a chief justice he would be. His critics maintained that he was an extreme conservative whose politics would drive his legal rulings. Judge Roberts, on the other hand, insisted that he was "not an ideologue," and that his judicial philosophy was to be "modest," which he defined as recognizing that judges should "decide the cases before them" and not try to legislate or "execute the laws." Judicial modesty is an intriguing idea, with appeal across the political spectrum. For all the talk of liberal activist...

No one who's seen Tom DeLay operate over the years could have expected the Texas Republican to go gently: The Hammer always comes down hard. But DeLay's farewell address on the House floor last week was nonetheless stunning for its sneering, belligerent partisanship. This was not the case of a politician who happened to hit a jarring note at just the wrong time. DeLay made clear that he wanted to leave the way he behaved throughout his 22 years in Washington -- contemptuous of the opposition and unrepentant about his cutthroat tactics. "In preparing for today, I found that it...

ONTARIO - The City Council is looking for ways to limit public comment after council members said one speaker's remarks at this week's meeting went too far. When Pastor John Sabbath, of Liv in Christ Christian Center, got up to speak during the public comment portion of the meeting, he said he was placing a curse on City Manager Greg Devereaux, Devereaux's wife and his family. His comments were interrupted by Devereaux, and then Mayor Paul Leon admonished the pastor, as did Councilman Jason Anderson. "It touched a nerve for me," Anderson said in a later interview. "Not that criticism...