Free Republic

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s criticism Saturday of fellow party member and Arizona Sen. John McCain for being “captured” during the Vietnam War brought sharp rebuke from others in the GOP field. “He was a war hero because he was captured,” Trump said at the Family Leadership Summit, in Ames, Iowa. “I like people who weren’t captured.” Most of the 14 other GOP candidates, including some at the summit, immediately criticized Trump’s remarks. Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry tweeted that McCain “is an American hero” and that all U.S. prisoners of war “deserve our nation's highest debt of gratitude” and...

In Pittsburgh for a fundraiser Friday night, Sarah Palin defended her firing of an Alaska official shortly before a report was released alleging her action was an abuse of power and a violation of state ethics law. The Republican vice presidential candidate spoke to the Tribune-Review after the fundraiser, but before the Alaska Legislature released an investigator's report into whether the governor acted improperly in the firing of Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan. Critics said Palin fired Monegan because Monegan would not fire Palin's ex-brother-in-law Michael Wooten, a state trooper.