Free Republic

(Washington, DC) -- Republican congressional leaders are reportedly agreeing to billions of dollars in revenue increases as federal deficit discussions continue. Republican Senator Jon Kyl announced the move today saying revenue increases don't necessarily mean tax hikes. On the Senate floor Kyl said, quote, "If the government sells something and gets revenue from it, that's revenue." He also suggested user fees for government services could provide additional revenue. He says all the revenue increases Republicans have agreed to amount to between 150 billion and 200 billion dollars.

Oops! Markos Moulitsas, founder of the Daily Kos, has discovered that his endorsement can be political poison. Such was the case with his endorsement at the beginning of this month of the very liberal Republican candidate, Dede Scozzafava, in the New York 23rd CD special election: Club for Growth darling Doug Hoffman is running on the Conservative Party line, and has even garnered the endorsement of Fred Thompson. The guy has legitimate traction, fueled by the fact that Dede Scozzafava, the Republican, is actually the most liberal candidate in the race. (Heck, she has run on the very liberal Working...

Conservatives are sick and tired of being taken for granted, misrepresented, and talked down to by the same "elite" Republicans in Washington who hopelessly screwed everything up during the Bush years.         Everybody knows exactly whom we're talking about here.  The same snobby, elitist, stuffed shirt, squishy, poll-obsessed Country Club Republicans who went to D.C., forgot who put them there, wasted the incredible opportunity they had to change this country for the better, and are now pointing the finger at everyone except themselves for their mistakes.         Here are five messages for those people:         We're not going back to the Bush years:...

CFA Executive Director: "While I admire Newt's intelligence and respect him as a fellow Catholic, his crass, political calculation in endorsing such a pro-abortion candidate sends an unfortunate signal that party loyalty is more important than morality. Newt needs to examine his conscience for so publicly flouting the Church's doctrine on abortion and gay marriage."

SAN YSIDRO — With the San Ysidro border fence as her backdrop, Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman spoke out on immigration policy issues yesterday, saying it is “simply not practical” to deport the estimated 12.5 million illegal immigrants living and working in the United States. The candidate, 53, said the solution is to find a mechanism that allows them to live here legally. “Can we get a fair program where people stand at the back of the line, they pay a fine, they do some things that would ultimately allow a path to legalization?” she asked. Whitman also urged tougher...

"Perhaps more ominously for his ( Newt's )rapidly fading hopes for a 2012 Presidential bid, conservatives are beginning to question his integrity. His constant repetition of the false "she's locally selected" mantra seems as off message as Scozzafava's numerous well documented campaign missteps.""Either Newt Gingrich is lying, or someone misled him."But how can "the smartest guy in the room", with a reputation as a scholar and seeker of truth have been so easily misled about a set of facts that could be discerned with half an hour's worth of phone calls?"

Doug Hoffman's insurgent campaign in New York's special House race, which had already split national Republican leaders, is now turning into a litmus test for other Republican congressional candidates running in 2010 to prove their conservative credentials. Liz Lauber, running in the Republican primary for a House seat in Missouri, this week made support for Mr. Hoffman a campaign issue, calling on five-term Republican incumbent Rep. Todd Akin to endorse and donate money to the Conservative Party nominee who is running in a special election Nov. 3. Mr. Akin did endorse Mr. Hoffman, though his office said it was not...

The free-for-all House race in New York’s 23rd district has turned into a nationally watched referendum on the state and direction of the national GOP — and now the heavy-hitting left is entering the race, with MoveOn warning its massive membership that the right-wing candidate must be defeated in order to weaken the “Palin wing of the Republican party.” The race — a three-way contest between conservative Douglas Hoffman, moderate GOPer Dede Scozzafava, and Dem Bill Owens — has drawn the attention of Palin and other big name conservatives who hope a Hoffman victory will boost their influence within the...

A New GOP Patrick J. Buchanan 10/27/2009 "Sometimes party loyalty asks too much," said JFK. For Sarah Palin, party loyalty in New York's 23rd congressional district asks too much. Going rogue, Palin endorsed Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman over Republican Dede Scozzafava. On Oct. 1, Scozzafava was leading. Today, she trails Democrat Bill Owens and is only a few points ahead of Hoffman, as Empire State conservatives defect to vote their principles, not their party. Newt Gingrich stayed on the reservation, endorsing Scozzafava, who is pro-choice and pro-gay rights, and hauls water for the unions. Scourged by the right, Newt...

WASHINGTON (CNN) – Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is acknowleding that the health care plan he famously implemented as governor did nothing to address costs. "We were unable to deal with - and didn't have any pretense we would somehow be able to change - health care costs in Massachusetts," Romney said in an interview with CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta. "We still have a fee for service, a re-imbursement system here like every other state in America. That's the way Medicare and Medicaid are structured, that's the way the insurance industry is structured." Romney said "Massachusetts is not the model"...

A brand-new organization calling itself Common Sense in America is up with a major television ad buy in the New York special election, praising Republican Dede Scozzafava as the “best choice for progressives.” At first glance, the group’s ad looks like it’s an endorsement of Scozzafava. But it’s a dirty trick engineered by Hoffman supporters, looking to render her unacceptable to many Republican voters by detailing her liberal position on gay marriage, support of President Obama’s stimulus and connections to labor. “On Tuesday, progressives have one candidate to vote for with pride: Dede Scozzafava,” the ad says. “Dede supports President...

Newt Gingrich can officially be put on the RINO list. Actually, he should be given the crown! In the first true test of the conservative movement, the former Speaker was one of the first to show his true colors by going AGAINST the grassroots movement. Recently, Gingrich formally indorsed Dede Scozzafava, a very liberal Republican candidate in the New York special election. Politico reports that Gingrich told tea party organizer Lisa Miller that “conservatives are inadvertently hindering the cause by backing Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman over Dede Scozzafava.” Scozzafava was not nominated by the public in a primary, she...

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who's eyeing another White House bid in 2012 after an unsuccessful run in 2008, endorsed former Virginia Attorney General Bob McDonnell for governor on Wednesday. -snip- Romney was also asked whether he would make an endorsement in the House of Representative race in New York's 23rd district, where Republican nominee in New York's 23rd is Dede Scozzafava, a state assemblywoman, is facing a threat from the right. "I have chosen not to endorse the Republican candidate in New York's 23rd District, "Romney said, "and that should speak a certain amount of volume. I can't endorse...

The 2010 election, the future of the GOP; The future of America stand at a very important crossroads at this moment. Once before, Speaker Gingrich changed the course of American history. For the better.

THE promise of immigration reform benefiting the undocumented Irish in America took a quiet but very important step forward in Washington, D.C. last week with a pivotal meeting between Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Ciaran Staunton, president of the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform (ILIR) and South Carolina Ancient Order of Hibernians board member Jim Lawracy. The meeting, also attended by ILIR consultant Bruce Morrison, discussed immigration reform proposals and their impact on the Irish American community. Graham was very interested to learn of the Irish dimension to the immigration reform debate and urged Irish and Irish American...

RNC Chairman Michael Steele needs to do his homework before going back on Sean Hannity's radio show. Today, Hannity asked him about the Republican National Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee's support of the liberal Republican in the race against Conservative Party and Republican Doug Hoffman for the House seat vacated by John McHugh. Here's a brief excerpt; listen closely to Steele disputing Hannity about Scozzafava's position on card check: The two sources of proof that Michael Steele is mistaken are Dede Scozzafava and Dede Scozzafava, in writing and on tape. On Oct 19, 2009, the all things liberal...

National Legal and Policy Center President Peter Flaherty tells Newsmax that his group is calling on corporations to end their support of Al Sharpton's organization in response to his role in the Rush Limbaugh-National Football League controversy. Flaherty is also urging former House Speaker Newt Gingrich to cut his ties with Sharpton, a Baptist minister and civil rights activist whom Flaherty calls a "despicable figure" responsible for racial "antagonism" in the U.S. See Video: National Legal and Policy Center President Peter Flaherty: Gingrich must sever his ties with Al Sharpton - Click Here Now After Limbaugh announced on Oct. 6...

As high-profile Republicans (other than Newt Gingrich) flock to endorse Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman in New York's 23rd district special election over the Republican in the three-way race, Dede Scozzafava (R) still has one prominent supporter besides the former Speaker: Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele. "I support the republican nominee as the republican party chairman, and that's the way it should go, right?" Steele told NBC's Chuck Todd this morning during an interview on MSNBC's Morning Joe (video here--fast forward to 4:55). Conservatives far and wide have alleged Scozzafava is too liberal, as Hoffman has won endorsements from...

ALBANY—Former House speaker Newt Gingrich never mentioned Doug Hoffman's name during a radio appearance this morning, but had a clear message for Republicans in the 23rd Congressional District: "The vote you're going to cast for a third-party candidate is going to guarantee the election of a Democrat. If you think that adding another vote to Nancy Pelosi's majority is a good idea, that keeping Nancy Pelosi as speaker is a good idea, then it's fine. But don't kid yourself.""John McHugh is a moderate Republican, he's held the seat for a very long time, I think 20 years," Gingrich, who has...

Despite George W. Bush's many failures as president, in one area he was an unqualified success: demonstrating the impossibility of big-government conservatism. For decades, clever pundits and Republican apparatchiks have been touting this self-evident oxymoron as the path to political success. After eight years in practice, it has proved to be the road to irrelevance and ruin - politically as well as financially. Ideologies that celebrate the swollen state while traveling under the name "conservative" are nothing new. As the Old Right faded into the modern American conservative movement, Eisenhower-era "Modern Republicans" preached a "dynamic conservatism" that was to be...