Free Republic

IÂ’d like to address a question to all the people I hear from who tell me how bad U.S. Sen. Scott Brown is, how heÂ’s a turncoat, sellout, backstabbing, snake-in-the-grass Republican in Name Only (RINO). My question is, if Scott Brown is so damn liberal, how come the Democrats already are spending millions upon millions of dollars to knock him out of the Senate next year? Granted, I donÂ’t think there are that many of these Brown haters out there, but they are way overrepresented in the universe of talk-show radio callers. When the first words out of their mouths...

Mitch McConnell didn't like the Tea Party from the get go. He is a strategist -- a chess player. You could tell from the start that the Senate minority leader saw no upside whatsoever in having the party of Lincoln, Eisenhower, and Reagan represented by idiots like Christine O'Donnell, borderline personalities like Sharron Angle, or know-nothings like Rand Paul. But, ever being that strategist, he also realized that the Tea Party was poised to have a good run for a couple years. So he never got fully on board with them, but he did make room for them, and he...

"...The story of how same-sex marriage became legal in New York is about shifting public sentiment and individual lawmakers moved by emotional appeals from gay couples who wish to be wed. But, behind the scenes, it was really about a Republican Party reckoning with a profoundly changing power dynamic, where Wall Street donors and gay-rights advocates demonstrated more might and muscle than a Roman Catholic hierarchy and an ineffective opposition. And it was about a Democratic governor, himself a Catholic, who used the force of his personality and relentlessly strategic mind to persuade conflicted lawmakers to take a historic leap....

New York Republicans are responsible for passing gay marriage. The party will pay a grave price. Here is what we know. In state after state, Democrats who control a chamber in support of their base have prevented votes favorable to marriage: Iowa, West Virginia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania. When Democrats are in the minority, they’ve demonstrated an extraordinary commitment to their base — in Wisconsin and Indiana fleeing the state to prevent a vote. N.Y, Republicans did not have to bring gay marriage up for a vote: What does it mean that they passed gay marriage in N.Y.? Michael Long, the...

David Frum takes Sarah Palin to task for not being more public in her reaction to the shooting of Congresswoman Giffords, not being sufficiently empathetic, and not grasping the scope (no pun intended) of the accusations against her, What Palin Needed To Say After Giffords' Shooting: "Palin failed to appreciate the question being posed to her. That question was not: “Are you culpable for the shooting?” The question was: “Having put this unfortunate image on the record, can you respond to the shooting in a way that demonstrates your larger humanity? And possibly also your potential to serve as leader...

Obama's Gifts to the GOP Republicans own the political center for now. Not because they deserve it. Democrats are down, and sniping at each other. That's the way it goes when parties lose. What's interesting is the mood this week among Republicans on the ground. It's not triumphal. They all seem to have in the back of their minds a question: Is this election the beginning of the big turnaround? Is this when the GOP comes to the fore as its best self and soberly, shrewdly pursues policies that will help dig our country out of the mess? Or will...

Republican political strategist Mark McKinnon – veteran of McCain and Bush presidential campaigns – acknowledged in an interview with David Frum that a third-party presidential effort for 2012 was not far off, and hinted at his involvement in one. In the podcast interview, McKinnon, who was discussing his recent Daily Beast column “A Centrist Manifesto”, lamented that “there’s nobody that gets rewarded for bipartisan behavior, [and] in fact they get punished.” To that end, he said, “there is a very real possibility for a legitimate third party effort for 2012 … American voters are so hungry for more voice, and...

(snip) Elias and other observers say that the day of reckoning for possible McCain support is Aug. 24, when Arizona voters take to the polls to decide the 2008 GOP presidential nominee’s fate against his primary opponent, GOP former Rep. J.D. Hayworth. Many observers speculate that after the primary, McCain may pivot toward the middle and could ultimately back a Schumer-Van Hollen bill.“Perhaps he’s planning on voting for it, but because of political considerations or other things he just doesn’t want to be out front,” Elias said. “At the end of the day, it may very well be that he...

Being reported by Huffington What took the think tank so long?

David Frum made headlines by branding Obamacare the Republicans’ Waterloo. Tunku Varadarajan on the rise of the ‘polite-company conservative’—and how Frum gets it all wrong.. Yesterday, I got an email from a prominent conservative academic; it was, I think, a touch harsh on the object of its attention. Here’s what it said: “Frum's pathetic, desperate whining reeks of self-loathing. At least that shows good judgment: I loathe him, too.” The Frum in question is David Frum, former speechwriter for George W. Bush, and the “whining” that so goaded my correspondent was a blog by David, written on the day the...

Debbie Schlussel posted a long piece last evening about a charity that Sean Hannity is affiliated with, accusing them of malfeasance and mismangement. FrumForum has done an exhaustive investigation of the charity in question, Freedom Alliance, and found enough evidence to substantially rebut each of Schlussel’s claims. I’ll approach them one by one.

Gov. Mitch Daniels of Indiana offered a piece of advice to fellow Republicans: “Lay down the philosophical swords” to begin rebuilding the party and tackle the nation’s immense challenges. But he urged Republicans to not become too emboldened by the discontent in the electorate. “Somebody said anger is not a strategy,” Mr. Daniels said in an interview today with editors and reporters from The New York Times. “We have to preach that in our own congregations.” Mr. Daniels, who is in the middle of his second term as governor, said the politics of a midterm election year would likely prevent...

Commentary’s Peter Wehner rightly draws attention to George Will’s superb speech at CPAC last week. Although the speeches of other speakers, such as Newt Gingrich, Andrew Breitbart, Glenn Beck and, yes, even Ron Paul were covered extensively in the blogosphere, Will’s speech has largely been ignored. This is, as far as I’m concerned, a shame, because Will truly “knocked one out of the park,” as Wehner puts it. Will’s main point was that the Left’s main goal is to make Americans dependent on the government for pretty much everything. He succinctly called this “the dependency agenda.” I strongly encourage you...

Gov. Charlie Crist and other governors were at the White House this evening for a dinner. The following is a press "pool" report: Governors and first spouses from around the country were in black-tie attire in the State Dining Room. Gov. Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota was seated to the right of FLOTUS (First Lady Michelle Obama). In the back row: Gov. Charlie Crist of Florida – well beyond hugging range – at Table 3 with Govs. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and Mike Beebe of Arkansas, and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of Calif. sat beside Wisconsin Gov Jim...

(Newser) – It's time to get past the incessant partisan potshots being taken at President Obama and forge some progress, Colin Powell told Face the Nation today. "I don’t think the country will be well served if the next three years are attempts to bring him down and destroy him as a political figure," said the Republican, who added that "Americans will want to see some progress" and said he doesn't regret voting for Obama in 2008. Powell also dismissed Dick Cheney's suggestions that the country was less safe under Obama as bunk: "To suggest that somehow we’ve become much...

Speech by George Will to CPAC 2010.

The Republican presidential nominee, an Arizona senator, was a maverick, which was part of his charm. He spoke and acted impulsively, which was part of his problem. Voters thought his entertaining dimensions might be incompatible with presidential responsibilities. For example, he selected a running mate most Americans had never heard of and who had negligible experience pertinent to the presidency. This was 1964. Barry Goldwater, whose seat John McCain occupies, chose to run with Bill Miller, a congressman from Lockport, N.Y., near Buffalo. Miller, Goldwater cheerfully explained, annoyed Lyndon Johnson. After the Goldwater-Miller ticket lost 44 states, Miller retired to...

Today Matt Patterson takes on The New York Times’ David Brooks for his infatuation with Obama and the “limits of [Brooks’] understanding.” The jumping off point for his piece at Big Government is Brooks’ “continued fascination” with Obama’s perfectly creased pants. So let us jump off Obama’s lap and begin this discussion with a bit of history. You are likely not aware that trousers with creases were once sneered at. They announced to everyone that your pants were “store bought” — creased from sitting on a store shelf, a sign they were factory-made and of inferior quality. Those weren’t “creases”...

There is a specter haunting America: the specter of a saner, updated version of Ross Perot. He is lurking out there, ready to ride the free-floating anger and distrust of Washington. He is out there now in one of his homes or private jets, getting madder by the day. He is large of ego, full of money and cranky in mien. When he enters the arena, he’ll say that Washingtonians, all of them, are a bunch of failures. Over the past five years, Washington has tried to reform Social Security, immigration, health care and energy policy. All of these efforts...

When you watch a president give a State of the Union Address on television, you're always watching three people: the president at the podium, and the vice president and House speaker on the rise behind him. As a TV shot it's awkward. The vice president and the speaker have been instructed by media professionals not to let their eyes do what they want to do, which is survey the doings in the chamber. Instead they must stare unwaveringly at the back of the president's head. This is so that they appear to be fascinated by what he's saying, as if...