Free Republic

Obama’s Foreign Policy Of Reconciliation Lies In Tatters The President appears to be rethinking his stance on American interference abroad. Will he let the electorate know before the election? A spectacularly successful White House spin operation saw to it that the only topic for debate in the media after the killing of American ambassador By Janet Daley 15 Sep 2012 What exactly is the nature and intention of Barack Obama’s foreign policy? What has the net effect been of his emphasis on apology and reconciliation with the Muslim world? How does he now see America’s global role? Bizarrely enough, none...

Some Republicans Try Out a New Campaign Theme: Bipartisanship By JENNIFER STEINHAUER and JONATHAN WEISMAN September 15, 2012 WASHINGTON — A woman who appears in an advertisement supporting Representative Jon Runyan, a New Jersey Republican, boasts about how he works “with both parties.” Richard E. Mourdock of Indiana, whose Senate campaign has been most notable for his derision of legislative compromise as feckless, now says he would “work with anyone.” While out and about on the campaign trail, Representative Bobby Schilling, Republican of Illinois, talks so much about all the great things he has done with Representative Dave Loebsack, a...

“Deadly assault weapons … are not made for recreation or self-defense. They are instruments of destruction with the sole purpose of hunting down and killing people.” - Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney --IMAGE HERE-- As the Republican National Convention comes to a close, it is time for me to live up to the promise I made when I wrote about Why gun owners should fear a second term for President Obama. That promise was to give the Republican nominee the same skeptical scrutiny that I gave to President Obama. And just as in that previous article, I am limiting my discussion...

Thanks to the personal finance disclosure that members of congress are required to submit — and the folks at the Center for Responsive Politics who maintain a database of the documents — we were able to look into the investment decisions of Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan, who as of last week, is now the official Republican vice presidential nominee. According to the documents, Ryan has benefited from a number of trusts and inheritances that make up most of his wealth, but his investments over the years have cemented his net worth somwhere between $927,000 and $3.2 million. A brief stint...

Thanks to one of my Facebook friends, I was just today alerted to the interview Romney gave CBS news on 8/27/2012. The video is here. In the interview, Romney says, "My position has been clear throughout this campaign. I'm in favor of abortion being legal in the case of rape and incest and the health and life of the mother." The health of the mother exception is universally recognized by authentic pro-lifers as a loophole you can drive Roe v. Wade through. Then Romney makes the following statement, clearly putting an end to any notion that he is pro-life in...

Determined to neuter the grassroots and head off future insurgencies like those of Barry Goldwater, Ronald Reagan, and Ron Paul, Republican party bosses have pulled off an audacious coup, high-handedly turning the GOP into a much more top-down, centralized party. Boehner with gavel Yesterday, the Republican National Committee in Tampa adopted some rules changes that shift power from the state parties and the grassroots to the RNC and the GOP presidential nominee. Former Governor John Sununu of New Hampshire touted the new rules as providing “a strong governing framework” for the party over the next four years. But in fact...

Ann Romney strongly advocated that her husband consider Condoleezza Rice as his vice-presidential running mate, according to campaign fundraising sources. 'I know that Ann Romney was intrigued by the idea of having Condi on the ticket,' a top Romney fundraiser with close personal ties to the Romneys told MailOnline. 'At the Utah fundraiser, she gave an unbelievable speech. 'Ann is a sounding board for Mitt. He values her intuition. Their relationship is the real deal. After the fundraiser, Condi was vetted and she filled out all the forms but she was reluctant and I don't think she was ever going...

Is the tea party changing the Republican Party from the inside -- or selling out to the GOP? As Republicans prepare to officially roll out Mitt Romney as their party's presidential nominee at the Republican National Convention this week, major tea party groups and figures have descended on Tampa, Florida, to schmooze with party bigwigs and rally for Romney. But Romney's conservative credentials have long been viewed with suspicion by the movement. So it came as a surprise when, before at least one event, tea party organizers committed what some activists would consider heresy: seeking approval from establishment Republicans to...

The Republican Party’s platform committee declared war on pornography ahead of this week’s Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla. In a Monday morning press release, advocacy group Morality in Media revealed that “new language replaces previous platform wording, which only opposed child pornography.” According to MIM, the new wording will read, “Current laws on all forms of pornography and obscenity need to be vigorously enforced.” The party platform was drafted by a 112-member committee and will be unveiled early this week. Existing obscenity laws “not only prohibit distribution of hardcore pornography on the Internet but also on hotel/motel TV, on...

TAMPA, Fla. – Republican leaders may want to turn the page on Rep. Todd Akin’s comments about women and rape, but Democrats won't let them. Phone calls started Monday in 20 congressional districts held by the GOP, linking the incumbent lawmaker to the six-term Missourian’s suggestion that pregnancy “rarely” results from “legitimate rape.” Akin is running for Senate, in a close race against Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill

The latest line of attack from the left against Ryan. He needs to own it, and agree it was the wrong thing to do; chalk it up to a youngster's misguided party loyalty. The more R&R distance themselves from Bush's Keynesian flights of fancy the better.

Although I’ve been attacked by fellow conservatives, FINALLY someone is speaking the truth about Paul Ryan lack of true fiscal conservatism. And John Boehner’s reply – together with complicit cover ups by some conservatives – had better damn well wake the rest of you up who are partying as if the Ryan nomination means the election is over.The entire 50 second video is here, but I will paraphrase it:Greta Van Susteren: Ryan’s supposed to be a fiscal hawk. How does he explain his vote for the stimulus in ‘08, the auto bailout, and TARP?Speaker John Boehner: He’s not a knuckledragger...

A former White House speechwriter, Mark Thiessen, has jumped to the defense of his former boss, writing for the Washington Post that George W. Bush “established a conservative record without parallel.” Even by the loose standards of Washington, that is a jaw-dropping assertion. I’ve been explaining for years that Bush was a big-government advocate, even writing a column back in 2007 for the Washington Examiner pointing out that Clinton had a much better economic record from a free-market perspective. I also groused to the Wall Street Journal the following year about Bush’s dismal performance. “Bush doesn’t have a conservative legacy”...