Free Republic

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Members of the Occupy Nashville movement had some company Thursday at their nightly meeting as some Vanderbilt College republicans moved in to have their voices heard. Occupy Nashville's general assembly started Thursday, like most nights with announcements, but during the meeting the Vanderbilt College Republicans were preparing a protest of their own. "We hope to show Nashville that all the youth, and all the college students aren't with this movement, as is portrayed often," said Vanderbilt Junior Stephen Siao....

A funny and sadly true video from our friends at the Tennessee Republican Party. Highlighting Joe Biden's trip to Tennessee for a fundraiser. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vbodl8qvgdI

Good video from friends @TNGOP. Shows Obama being a hypocrite on national debt. Looks like he's on vacation again. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9yV2kgbUKE

East Tennesseans — both Democratic and Republican — agree that the release of more than 20,000 pages of Sarah Palin’s email messages by the state of Alaska last Friday will not affect her possibility of running for president in 2012. Those involved in local and state-level politics did, however, disagree on what weight should be given to the email and how much probing the government should do into one woman’s life. “Sarah Palin is an interesting case study,” Brandon Puttbrese, director of communications for the Tennessee Democratic Party, said in an attempting to explain why the country is fascinated about...

Early voting in Tennessee starts tomorrow, October 13

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Sixth Congressional District candidate Diane Black has won the support of former Alaska Gov. and vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. Palin announced her endorsement Thursday. She said Black understands the problems with the nation's health care and understands why the country needs "real health care reform and why Obamacare is not it." Palin recently endorsed 20 conservatives who have committed to voting to repeal and replace the health care reforms passed earlier this year by President Barack Obama.

Girlfriend says Barack needs some help! Early voting begins Wednesday (Oct. 13) Michelle Obama and I had a conference call Wednesday. Ok, Michelle, me and several thousands of other people. That didn’t make it any less special. The First Lady, who polls show is one of the most popular figures now in the White House administration, has been given campaign duty ahead of the November general election. She’s busy stumping for candidates and motivating the political troops. So, when I got an email this week from Organizing for America saying that Michelle Obama wanted to talk to me about voting,...

The influential group represents the largest county in Tennessee’s Fourth Congressional District and is dedicated to bringing responsibility back to government. The group advocates for fiscal responsibility, limited government and free markets by supporting candidates and initiatives to further those principles. “I am proud to announce the Maury County Tea Party’s endorsement of Dr. Scott DesJarlais. We have reviewed the candidates in this race and his campaign will truly represent the people of the Fourth District. He has a platform dedicated to less government, lower taxes and more freedom,” said Bowen Pratt, Maury County Tea Party Chairman. “That message resonates...

This space never has had anything negative to blog about Former Congressman Harold Ford Jr. until today. His statement about Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin was so grating the television set was turned off. Ford said that Palin was going to run for President and that she was "formidable." That was when this space wondered if Ford was being paid by a Republican operative. Sarah Palin has so many errors and mistakes that will be tossed back at her in the middle of a presidential campaign it would be embarrassing. Ford saying she was "formidable" just gives hope to her...

Stephen Fincher is the Republican candidate for Tennessee's 8th congressional district seat. The seat has been held by democrats for over 100 years, most recently by John Tanner. Fincher is a cotton farmer who has received nearly $3,400,000 of taxpayer subsidies - see http://farm.ewg.org/persondetail.php?custnumber=010829265 This amount is dwarfed by the amount taken by the rest of his family. He has known eating from the government trough all his life. It stretches credulity to believe that one so accustomed to the dole can be a real conservative capable of the fiscal austerity required to turn the country. Will he cut for...

Gospel performer Steve Fincher has won northwest Tennessee's 8th District Republican primary. With 68 percent of precincts reporting, Fincher had 30,228 votes, or 50 percent of the vote, to Jackson physician Ron Kirkland's 14,873, or 25 percent. Memphis radiologist and broadcaster George Flinn had 13,431 votes, or 22 percent. The three waged the most expensive House race in the country, spending more than $5 million. Fincher, also a farmer, faces Democratic state Sen. Roy Herron in fall. Incubent Democratic Rep. John Tanner is retiring, and Republicans think the seat is one they could pick up in November.

With just two weeks to go before early voting begins in Tennessee, state Sen. Diane Black has released a poll showing her far ahead of the six other candidates vying for the Republican nomination in the 6th district. Black was the preferred candidate of 41 percent of likely primary voters surveyed. Her closest competitors, former Rutherford County GOP Chairwoman Lou Ann Zelenik and state Sen. Jim Tracy, polled at 22 percent and 20 percent, respectively. Four other Republicans garnered support in the low single digits, and just 12 percent of those surveyed said they were undecided. The poll was conducted...

Al's a scumbag like BJ.

LENOIR CITY - A candidate for state representative photographed partially unclothed on a website said today the photo has been removed. Julia Hurley, 28, of Lenoir City, a Republican candidate for the 32nd Legislative District in the Aug. 5 primary, today refused to describe the photo. She also said she doesn't know who removed the photo from the website, ModelMayhem.com. "It's not my website," she said. A media report describes Hurley's pose in the photograph as "pantless" while wearing high-heel boots. Hurley disputes that description but declined to give her own depiction of it. Hurley today said the photo was...

NASHVILLE – Anger over the skyrocketing national debt, which topped a stunning $13 trillion today, is fueling record contributions to Jeff Hartline’s campaign against incumbent Congressman Jim Cooper in Tennessee’s Fifth District, the campaign said today.

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has a lot going for her at the moment, but a lot to prove, too, if she hopes to build her conservative grassroots support beyond the tea party movement that is fueling her meteoric rise as one of the GOP’s top presidential contenders. Palin has been drawing big crowds during her unending Going Rogue book tour, strategically hitting all of the major red states that will be critical to any 2012 campaign. She has stepped up her whirlwind speaking tour as well, almost exclusively in venues that are packed with adoring fans. She has been...

Cannot be posted due to copyright issues: Link only http://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/2010/sarah-palins-side-trip/

Sarah Palin, the former half-term governor of Alaska, threw plenty of red meat to a ravenous Tea Party audience in Nashville last night, reminding the political world that she's still a hero to confused, unhinged right-wing activists. There wasn't anything especially surprising about her 40-minute diatribe -- apparently, she does not hold President Obama in high regard -- but there were a few interesting remarks of note. For example, it was pretty amusing to hear Palin trash the financial-industry bailout, which she just so happens to have supported at the time -- a detail she hopes her adoring fans won't...

State Senate speaker and gubernatorial candidate Ron Ramsey said Tuesday he doesn't know whether President Barack Obama is a U.S. citizen, but that it's not an issue that voters care about. Ramsey was asked after a speech to a Republican group about his views on the president's citizenship by Maclin Davis, a former state lawmaker and attorney for the state GOP. "I don't know whether President Obama is a citizen of the United States or not," Ramsey responded. "I don't know what the whole deal is there. "But I'm going to tell you something. When you walk out on the...

TN/OK: Polls Close In Special Elections The polls have closed in Tennessee. The first results are in for early voting and absentee and can be found here. The polls have also closed in Oklahoma. The first results are also in for early voting and absentee and can be found here.

So here we were in 2007 worrying about who would take the Reagan "mantle of conservatism" forward. John McCain, Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani, Duncan Hunter, Mike Huckabee, Ron Paul and others were already in the race to become the next GOP nominee for president. And you know what? Conservatives were freaking out! Was this really the crop we had to choose from? None of these guys, with the exception of maybe Duncan Hunter or to an extent Ron Paul, really understood what conservatism was. Then a grassroots draft campaign was initiated to bring someone into the race that really understood...

i think we could form a more perfect union if we could find peace in the nation and abroad.we should not be dictators.dictatorship ended in the early 1960's.some say cummnuism is where you share your countrys' wealth.i'm more in favor sharing wealth with the united and free world.

NASHVILLE — Over the weekend, Republican National Chairman Michael Steele ventured into Tennessee House Speaker Kent Williams’ backyard in upper East Tennessee and pledged to oust Williams next year. The Kingsport Times-News quoted Steele as saying: “I got a bull’s eye right on his back and we’re taking him out.” Williams is the second-term legislator and Elizabethton restaurateur who stunned fellow Tennessee Republicans when he joined the House’s 49 Democrats in voting for himself for speaker Jan. 13 to defeat his own Republican Caucus’ nominee. For that, the Tennessee Republican Party declared he was no longer a member of the...

Bradley County Sheriff Tim Gobble has the field in Tennessee’s 3rd Congressional District largely to himself for now as he runs for the 11-county district’s first contest with no incumbent in 16 years. “We feel like we’re starting to build a little momentum, and hopefully we’ll be able to carry that through the election,” said Sheriff Gobble, who last week visited with Hamilton County Republicans and attended a U.S. Department of Energy forum in Oak Ridge. Other would-be candidates continue to weigh their options on the seat that incumbent U.S. Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., says he is giving up to...

Jeff Woods reports the reaction of some lawmakers upon hearing that Rep. Eric Swafford had joined a fringe movement that questions President Obama’s citizenship: “I actually asked Eric for his [birth certificate] this morning. I told him I wanted to see his. He said he had it in his office. I think it’s shenanigans. I don’t see how some of these people get elected. I’m just tickled to death I’m not in a leadership position in the Republican Party. That heart attack I had yesterday would have been for real probably.” Later, Miller launched into a tirade against the state...

The Tennessean reports that three more Tennessee Republicans are demanding President Barack Obama show them his birth certificate and other vital documents to prove he’s an American. Tennessee Reps. Eric Swafford, Stacey Campfield, Glen Casada and Frank Nicely have all agreed to be plaintiffs in future legal action from a Russian immigrant in California who has challenged whether Obama meets constitutional criteria to be president. Advertisement The lawsuit from the Defend Our Freedoms Foundation, which has not yet been filed, will be among several court challenges to Obama’s citizenship. Tennessee Republican Reps. Stacey Campfield (R-18th), Glen Casada (R-63rd) and Frank...

With veteran Third District Congressman Zach Wamp planning a race for governor in 2010, potential candidates for his seat in Washington are already lining up. Rep. Wamp just won a new two-year term, but the seat comes open again in 2010 - when Rep. Wamp says he plans to shift his focus to the governor's seat. Observers say Republican state Sen. Bo Watson might be a likely candidate. Another possibility is the county's other state senator - Democrat Andy Berke. Sen. Berke would be in the middle of a four-year term, while Sen. Watson's Senate seat is on the ballot...

Despite election wins that shifted control, it could be difficult NASHVILLE - The 106th General Assembly convenes this week with Republicans controlling both the House and Senate for the first time in 140 years and the state facing the biggest financial shortfall in all of Tennessee history. The session, which officially begins at noon Tuesday, will be devoted largely to Republican moves to transform the election victories that provided the party a shaky 50-49 majority in the House and solid 19-14 advantage in the Senate into governing power. They may have some problems in the process. The state faces an...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Democratic House Speaker Jimmy Naifeh is calling on Tennessee Republican leaders to renounce former state GOP leader Chip Saltsman in the wake of a music parody of President-elect Barack Obama. . . . He sent committee members a CD this Christmas featuring a 2007 song called "Barack the Magic Negro." The parody is sung to the music of "Puff, the Magic Dragon."

NASHVILLE - Republican state Rep. Kent Williams says he is considering voting for the state's Democratic constitutional officers. Republicans gained majorities in both the House and Senate in last month's elections, giving them a combined 69-63 advantage when a joint session convenes next month to decide who will be the state's comptroller, treasurer and secretary of state.

The room was a little fuller than it had been in years this past Monday night at the joint fundraiser for the State Senate and House Republican caucuses. In what one legislative leader said was a “record setting” night for the event, the caucuses raised about $350,000 and saw around 550 people come through the door at Flyte. “It was a fantastic event,” said Rep. Jason Mumpower, House GOP Minority leader and likely future House Speaker. “We had old friends and a lot of new ones.” The new friends were apparently the source of a great deal of amusement to...

The year is almost over, and 2008 was a wild one in Tennessee. While our state was largely left out of the national political picture this year, the state topography was changed drastically in last month’s balloting. After a year of change and consternation here in the Volunteer State, here are three things we know about the political players in Tennessee that hold lessons about the past and clues about the future of state politics here. 1. Gov. Phil Bredesen has absolutely no electoral coattails. If there was any doubt left lingering after 2004 as to whether Tennessee’s very popular...

Tennessee Republicans served notice Wednesday that the legislature is under new management, all but promising to replace the three state constitutional officers and challenging Democratic Gov. Phil Bredesen to open talks on state budget issues. Although Republicans won a one-vote majority in the state Senate two years ago, they built it to a 19-14 margin Tuesday and, unexpectedly, won a 50-49 majority in the House, which Democrats held 53-46 until Election Day. Legislative historian Eddie Weeks confirmed it's the first time the GOP has held a majority of both chambers since 1869, during Reconstruction after the Civil War. Both parties...

Former Tennessee Senator and one-time Republican presidential candidate, Fred Thompson tells Newsmax TV that the polls showing Obama leading are closing rapidly in all the bellwether states and McCain has reason to be optimistic. Hear his views on Republican defectors and John McCain's qualities.

WASHINGTON -- In an economy that appears to favor Democrats and in a year when Republicans are expected to lose seats in the U.S. Senate, one of them almost certainly will not be Tennessee's. Popular two-term governor Lamar Alexander is seeking re-election this year with a low-key campaign reminding voters that he has proposed concrete solutions, sometimes opposed by President Bush, even as he's climbed to the third spot in the Senate's GOP leadership. His opponent, Nashville lawyer Robert D. Tuke, is lesser known and stresses Alexander's partisanship and ties to Bush and, most recently, to an unpopular vote bailing...

Cannot be posted due to copyright issues: http://www.theleafchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008809210332

ROGERSVILLE, Tenn. - A Republican candidate in a campaign central to GOP efforts to gain a majority in the state Senate next session has been accused by a member of his party of having an extramarital affair with her. Republicans have expressed confidence that Church Hill attorney Mike Faulk could oust Sen. Mike Williams, who left the GOP last year to become an independent and sometimes sides with Democrats on key votes. A victory by Faulk on Nov. 7 in the rural, conservative and overwhelmingly Republican state Senate District 4 would be key for the GOP in breaking a 16-16...

UPDATED at 9:20p.m. Roe, Davis running close in 1st District primary UPDATES with early returns in 1st District, Blackburn leading, Davis and Wamp winning. From the Associated Press: By WOODY BAIRD Associated Press Writer MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) - Early voting returns show congressman David Davis and challenger Phil Roe running close in the Republican primary for the Tennessee’s 1st District seat. With 21 percent of precincts reporting in the northeast Tennessee district, Roe was barely ahead with 8,901 votes to Davis’ 8,843. Each candidate had just over 49 percent of the vote. The 1st District GOP primary and the 9th...

Freshman Rep. David Davis (R-Tenn.), who won a crowded Republican primary in 2006 with just 22 percent of the vote, is in a two-man race this year with one of his vanquished foes. Johnson City Mayor Phil Roe (R) finished fourth in 2006 with 17 percent of the vote, but has quietly become one of the few challengers in the country this year to out-raise an incumbent. He reported collecting $120,000 between January and March, compared to $80,000 for Davis, who still holds a 2-to-1 advantage in total cash. Better still, with the 2006 runner-up to Davis deciding against another...

Shelby County Register Tom Leatherwood said today he will challenge U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn in this year’s Republican primary for the 7th Congressional District seat she has held since 2002. His entry gives Blackburn her first intra-party challenge since she won the congressional seat by defeating six opponents in the GOP primary of 2002, including three prominent Shelby County Republicans -- lawyer David Kustoff, state Sen. Mark Norris and Memphis City Council member Brent Taylor. “Yes, I’m in (the race),” Leatherwood told The Commercial Appeal today. “This is something that began to brew with me maybe a year or so...

NASHVILLE - Tennessee Republican Chairman Robin Smith says she stands by the state party's use of "Barack Hussein Obama" in party criticism of the Democratic presidential candidate - even though John McCain says it's inappropriate. McCain, holding a big lead in the Republican presidential race, Tuesday apologized for criticism of Obama by a radio talk show host who introduced McCain at a rally. Asked if it was proper to refer to Obama by using his middle name, the Associated Press reports that McCain replied: "No, it is not. Any comment that is disparaging of either Senator Clinton or Senator Obama...

I ask the question because it isn't out of the question. They are good friends with a history. It would be a smart move on the Maverick's part to stilt up his lacking on conservative credentials. Could Thompson serve as the conservative concience? The ideological gravitas? Even...power behind the throne? How would the conservative base/blogosphere react? Serious thought from Scott Ott: Bring Fred Thompson on as vice president to serve as the Constitutional conscience of the administration -- an ideological gravitas behemoth -- who can do for President McCain what Dick Cheney has done for President Bush on foreign policy....

That's the name of a new anti-Huckabee web site started by former Thompson staffer Darrel Ng. Jonathan Martin has more on the site: Now that his candidate is out of the race, one Thompson staffer has gone the next stop and is actively working against Huck. Sorta. Darrel Ng, perhaps the heartiest and most dogged of Thompson's aides and somebody who logged many a mile on the Fred bus, has launched a website called "Boycott Chuck Norris." Yup, Ng now wants people to show their disregard for Huck by not patronizing any companies that use Norris as a pitchman. The...

A far as legal-brained firepower goes, the chief beneficiary of Fred Thompson’s decision to pull out of the presidential race is Mitt Romney. The Romney campaign Thursday announced that a host of conservative lawyers_and_scholars who were backing Thompson have joined the Romney camp. Among them is Victoria Toensing, who made her mark as an anti-terrorism_policy-maker at the Justice Department during the Reagan administration. Toensing is joined by her husband (and fellow regular on the cable news circuit) Joseph diGenova, the former U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C. To date, Romney’s conservative legal cabal has been notable for the presence of Catholic_scholars...

From: Gabrielle S. Avedian on behalf of Friends of Fred Thompson < Gabrielle.Avedian> Date: Jan 21, 2008 1:51 PM Subject: URGENT: Email campaign for Fred! To: “Gabrielle S. Avedian on behalf of Friends of Fred Thompson” < Gabrielle.Avedian> Hey all, First, I want to thank each and every one of you for the fantastic job of calling you’ve been doing to South Carolina all week. It has been a long, hard week and I know you have really sacrificed for this campaign. I truly appreciate all you’ve done and I know Fred and Jeri appreciate it also. BECAUSE OF YOU,...

Fred Thompson's political career might very well be over tomorrow. If so, take this post as a postmortem of his candidacy. It is obvious that Senator Thompson has squandered a great deal of good will during the interminable run up to the announcement of his candidacy and his less than stellar performance in the period September through mid-December. The easy analysis is that Thompson was lazy but I don't think it was laziness. I think it was a misguided attempt to run an issues oriented campaign. Thompson's Socratic style of addressing those early crowds was a good way to discuss...

As has been reported elsewhere today, Fred Thompson's mother is gravely ill right now. Our prayers ought to be with Sen. Thompson, his mother, his wife, and their family. This must be a very difficult time for them. All of this political stuff is of only secondary importance right now. That said, here is what I would do, politically, if I were Thompson: I would just lay low. Just wait. See what happens in Louisiana's caucuses tomorrow. See what happens in Florida next week. See who drops out of the race at some point. And then consider reviving my campaign,...

Fred on the Issues (from www.Fred08.com) National Security The first responsibility of government is to protect the American people, the homeland, and our way of life. Today we face the urgent threat of radical Islamic terrorists. Al Qaeda is committed to attacking us here at home, and wants to use weapons of mass destruction (WMD) to kill millions. We must never give them that opportunity. We must defeat the terrorists abroad, and that begins in Iraq and Afghanistan—the central fronts in this global war. We must show the world we have the will to fight and win. A weakened America...

Oh boy one has to believe that Huckabee will be getting some blow-back from this. These push polls have even brought out the South Carolina Attorney General to make this statement: “Last evening the Associated Press reported that that an out-of-state special interest group, Common Sense Issues, had launched a massive push polling effort disparaging John McCain and other candidates for president. In their push poll, Common Sense Issues makes several misleading claims regarding John McCain’s record.“Allow me to set the record straight. In the U.S. Senate, John McCain has been an unwavering voice for the rights of the unborn....

As we move on to South Carolina team Thompson is doing something a little different and fun. They are putting up a fun set of videos from their tour down there. They are getting video snapshots of folks who have flipped to Fred from other Candidates. Here is Riley, who flipped from Romney to Fred. Karen flips from Romney to Fred: Ann flips from Huckabee to Thompson: Jason goes from Romney to Fred: Well you get the idea. There is plenty more here. Meanwhile Fred layed the smackdown on the field on Fox News last night. So much so that...