Free Republic

"It doesn't sound like her when you read the materials," former White House press secretary said on "FOX News Sunday" today.Dana Perino: Palin Doesn't Sound "Authentic"

On the same day that it was announced that Oregon remains mired in a 10.6 percent jobless rate, Republican Mitt Romney published an op-ed piece saying that unemployment insurance ought to replaced with a privatized insurance system. Of course, Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, is looking toward running for president again in 2012. And his piece in USA Today - which denounces the tax deal President Barack Obama reached with Republican leaders - was aimed at inciting a little buzz among conservative activists. It may not have the short-hand verve of one of Sarah Palin's tweets, but Romney is...

As Republicans consider their presidential options for 2012, they ought to discard two dangerously misleading pieces of conventional wisdom: that Sarah Palin and her tea party supporters represent a triumphant, even dominant force in American politics, and that more centrist, veteran GOP officeholders exert little appeal to the electorate. National results in the last two election cycles conclusively disprove both assumptions: Palin's power as king (or queen) maker in 2010 produced spotty, unreliable results. And Sen. John McCain ran a stronger race and drew more votes in 2008 than outspoken conservatives who shared the GOP ballot with him.........

Sarah Palin wasted little time firing back at Barbara Bush, who used an interview with Larry King early this week to express her hope that Palin will stay in Alaska. "I think the majority of Americans don't want to put up with the blue bloods," Palin said on Laura Ingraham's radio show on Wednesday. "And I say it with all due respect because I love the Bushes. The blue bloods who want to pick and choose their winners instead of allowing competition to pick and choose the winners." While it's true that Barbara Bush remains a well-liked figure, particularly within...

Former Gov. Mitt Romney, a likely GOP presidential candidate for 2012, told supporters he won’t announce his candidacy before the end of the year — but political analysts said yesterday the discussion is the strongest indicator yet that he’ll run. “We know who is running, they’re just doing everything but coming out and saying so,” said Andy Smith, director of the Political Center at the University of New Hampshire. Romney held a conference call with 245 of his top supporters Thursday and told them that unlike his failed 2008 run, he won’t be announcing until later in the cycle, according...

Meghan McCain had a few choice words for Christine O'Donnell on 'The Talk' (weekdays, syndicated), questioning the GOP Senate candidate's state of mind, but declining to comment specifically on Sarah Palin. "I ... called her a nutjob," McCain said tersely of O'Donnell. "I feel the same way right now." When asked by Julie Chen whether she thought Palin was unfair to father John McCain's campaign team after the 2008 Presidential election, McCain was cagey and instead mentioned who she plans to support in 2012. "It's irrelevant at this point. I've so moved on," she said. "I'm looking at 2012. I've...

George Martin has got to be still kicking himself today. Not because of his exceptional Bakersfield Business Conference: I am not aware of any event that compares to what George has been able to create. I am referring to him getting caught up in the moment and introducing Sarah Palin as "the next president of the United States." Come on! I always look forward to the Republican love fest that we call a business conference. It is the only time that I hear so much rational thought about how to clean up the mess in our state and federal governments....

Court documents obtained Saturday by THE WEEKLY STANDARD reveal surprising new details about the gender discrimination and wrongful termination lawsuit filed by Christine O'Donnell in 2005 against her former employer, the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, a conservative non-profit based in Delaware.* O'Donnell, who is now challenging moderate congressman Mike Castle in the September 14 Delaware GOP Senate primary, sought $6.95 million in damages. In a court complaint, she extensively detailed the "mental anguish" she suffered after allegedly being demoted and fired because of her gender. And, although she didn't have a bachelor's degree until this year, O'Donnell implied she was taking...

Conservative superstar Sarah Palin opened the door yesterday to joining forces with Mitt Romney for a 2012 White House run - a hot ticket that has some Republicans licking their chops at the prospect of unseating President Obama. “Sounds pretty good,” Palin declared at yesterday’s Tea Party Express rally on the Common when asked about pairing up with the former Bay State governor - giving the idea a big thumbs-up as she left the stage after her headline speech.

Newsweek reports that Mitt Romney is taking a different and unique approach than other potential 2012 candidates are. Unlike other politicians, including Obama himself, who feel compelled to offer their opinion on every issue that stirs controversy, Mitt Romney remains focused on the core issue that worries, as well as, unites Americans: the economy. But now, while Palin and Co. are using the Ground Zero mosque controversy to burnish their far-right bona fides, Romney is seizing on the kerfuffle as an opportunity to do something else entirely: prove that he’s the only potential Republican nominee with the fortitude to ignore...

Former Bay State Gov. Mitt Romney - believed by many political observers to be a clear GOP front-runner in the 2012 presidential race - is virtually in a dead heat with contender Sarah Palin, according to a new CNN poll. The poll shows Romney only 3 percentage points in front of former Alaska Gov. Palin, within the margin of error. “It’s a pretty open contest, and that’s interesting in and of itself,” said Suffolk University political professor John C. Berg. “It means the primary contest will be tighter.” Only months from the unofficial start of the 2012 presidential campaign, Romney...

A tantalizing bit of 2012 gossip dropped way, way down in an otherwise fun piece about amnesty shills boo-hooing over having (temporarily) lost McCain. Note to Politico: This is what’s called “burying the lede.” Their hope now is that Republican presidential candidates and former operatives under Bush, a reform proponent, can convince GOP congressional leaders that the issue needs to be dealt with before 2012 — or that they could risk alienating the burgeoning Hispanic vote in the crucial swing states of New Mexico, Colorado, Nevada, Arizona and Florida.Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a front-runner for the nomination, has signaled...

The relentlessly rising cost of health insurance is prompting some small Massachusetts companies to drop coverage for their workers and encourage them to sign up for state-subsidized care instead, a trend that, some analysts say, could eventually weigh heavily on the state’s already-stressed budget. Since April 1, the date many insurance contracts are renewed for small businesses, the owners of about 90 small companies terminated their insurance plans with Braintree-based broker Jeff Rich and indicated in a follow-up survey that they were relying on publicly-funded insurance for their employees... The issue is coming to a head as the Patrick administration...

Huckabee’s taken potshots at her from time to time, but between this fusillade from unnamed Mitt advisors and the furious counterattack on Romney at Conservatives 4 Palin, I’d say that the 2012 primary is now, at long last, officially on. In the immortal words of Greg Stillson, “The missiles are flying. Hallelujah.” Still, few express much regard for Palin’s ultimate chances. One adviser to Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, and, by traditional standards, the putative 2012 frontrunner, says of Palin, “She’s not a serious human being.” Another Romney intimate warns, “If she’s standing up there in a debate and...

To understand why Democrats ever picked Mondale, you have to understand where the party — and where the country — was in 1982 and 1983, when the nation’s verdict on Reagan and his policies was far less positive. In those days, with unemployment surging over 10 percent and the president’s popularity slipping to sub-Carter levels, Democrats mistakenly assumed that the ‘80 election had been a mirage. The electorate, they figured, had acted in haste and was rapidly returning to its senses. The results of the 1982 midterms, when Republicans (who had begun the cycle with claims that they’d win...

Yesterday, I was interviewed by a reporter for CBS, for a story on the diverse groups of people supporting Sarah Palin online. The reporter authored a book on Palin last year, after being embedded with her vice presidential campaign, following a stint covering Mittens Romney. I can’t imagine how many cucumbers-and-mayonnaise sandwiches this guy had to eat on the Romney Express (to nowhere), but I gave him the same kind of awed respect I grant anyone who’s ever spent more than half an hour with Tim Pawlenty — and didn’t succumb to T-Paw induced narcolepsy. We (the reporter and I,...

Truth in advertising: I've been an off and on, Mitt Romney supporter. By and large, off. But I'm beginning to wonder if maybe Mitt deserves a second look.

DES MOINES — There was no doubt about the sentiments of many of those at author Mitt Romney’s book-signing at the Des Moines Public Library Monday. “I’d be interested if he ran” for president again, Scott Newland of Des Moines said as he thumbed through Romney’s “No Apology: The Case for American Greatness.” Among those waving Romney campaign-like signs and wearing Romney t-shirts, Shirley Woodruff was more direct about wanting to see the former Massachusetts governor make another run for the Republican nomination. “He’s at least honest,” she said, displaying a photo of herself and Romney’s wife, Ann. “He has...

Critical Mass   [Mark Steyn] Kathryn, Grace-Marie Turner's analysis is well worth reading. I sympathize with Mitt Romney (his health-care plan was really the only big signature legislation of a very brief time in executive politics), but what he did is part of the problem, not the solution.According to what he's told at least a couple of NR audiences I've been among, he sought to solve a problem that doesn't exist — ie, that the uninsured are using emergency rooms as their family doctor, and supposedly the rest of the populace has to pick up the tab for that in...

An ABC News review of Mitt Romney’s new book ends thus: “If history is any guide, however, Romney stands a decent chance of getting his party’s nod. Although he was hurt last time by questions about his authenticity, Republicans have a long tradition of nominating second-time candidates: think Richard Nixon in 1968, Ronald Reagan in 1980, George H.W. Bush in 1988, Bob Dole in 1996, and John McCain in 2008″ This is the conventional wisdom; we’re all used to hearing it. It’s the idea that Republicans nominate the “next-in-line” candidate, or the runner-up from last season’s primaries. It’s superficially plausible....