Free Republic

WASHINGTON (AP) - Chalk up another win for the tea party. And another embarrassment for the Republican establishment. Tea party favorite and two-term state lawmaker Raul Labrador defeated Vaughn Ward, a Marine reservist heavily recruited by national Republicans, in Idaho's primary on Tuesday. Ward's loss comes on the heels of several other races in which GOP establishment candidates stumbled as the anti-Washington mood takes hold. National Republicans had coached Ward and had made him one of their first named recruits, known as "Young Guns." He also had the backing of former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. On Wednesday, the GOP...

JUNEAU, Alaska — Sarah Palin's administration paid close attention two years ago to how the public perceived her plans to bring a massive natural gas pipeline to Alaska, with one aide worrying the then-governor would face criticism of grandstanding for traveling out of state at a critical time for the plan's prospects. E-mail exchanges also show at-times close communication between staff and representatives of the Canadian company Palin picked to build the line. In June 2008, after her recommendation of the company and less than two months before the Legislature voted on the contract, Palin agreed to host people involved...

Glenn Beck Talks To Governor Palin May 26 2010

Has Sarah Palin learned anything since she was plucked from obscurity almost two years ago? Not that I can tell. It was not Palin's fault that she was woefully unprepared to be the Republican vice presidential nominee. For that one, blame the petulant, impetuous John McCain. But Palin has had ample time now, outside the crash course of a presidential campaign, to develop and exhibit some understanding of the issues. Her learning curve, from all the available evidence, is a flat line. Three unattractive Palin traits have, if anything, been amplified since the election: her unwillingness to buckle down and...

Mark Levin is sick and tired of the abuse that Sarah Palin is having to put up with, so he has distributed the email address of Joe McGinniss, but encourages people to be polite: Mark Levin Audio

"It's called legwork, it's called immersion journalism, and it doesn't look pretty. But it should come as a surprise to only naive newspaper readers that every day journalists treat the subjects of investigations the way [Joe] McGinniss is treating Palin," Slate's Jack Shafer argued in a May 26 post subheadlined, "In defense of a journalist's stalking of a politician." Shafer wrote his post because, after all, he felt he had to in some way publicly "commend the writer for an act of journalistic a**holery —renting the house next door to the Palin family in Wasilla, Alaska." Far from crossing any...

Fox News Video: Is It Legal? Megyn Kelly & legal panel takes on Sarah Palin's new neighbor Joe McGinniss

As a single mom to baby Tripp and the new owner of her own Anchorage condo, Bristol Palin has become domestic. But when the 19-year-old mentions "dirty laundry," what she's referring to is her past with Tripp's father, Levi Johnston. "He is a stranger to me," Palin tells Harper's Bazaar for its June/July issue about her former fiancé -- whose public behavior, including posing for Playgirl, she claims to ignore. For now, there is only one man in Palin's life: 17-month-old Tripp. Still, the young mom does express hope about finding a partner, saying, "One day I will find a...

Some of Sarah Palin’s riskiest endorsements scored major victories Tuesday for the former Alaska governor, showing off her power in Republican primaries. Palin had four primary endorsements in play – Carly Fiorina, Nikki Haley, Terry Branstad and Cecile Bledsoe – and three won or moved on to a runoff. Palin served different roles for each candidate – sometimes spotlighting conservatives not well known to the national scene while at others validating conservative credentials to an unsure grassroots and even stepping in to deflect nasty attacks. Perhaps Palin’s most powerful demonstration came in South Carolina, where her endorsement propelled a major...

It looks like not even two scandalous allegations of extramarital affairs can stop Sarah Palin's candidate, Nikki Haley, in the Republican primary for governor of South Carolina. Haley holds a 20-point lead over Rep. Gresham Barrett one day before the vote. According to North Carolina-based polling firm Public Policy Polling, Haley has emerged unscathed from recent lascivious rumors simply because voters don't believe the gossip. "Only 13 percent of voters believe the allegations levied against her, and 54 percent of people just don't believe the rumors at all," said PPP director Tom Jensen. "The view is, if you can't prove...

Peter Beinart makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up: The Netanyahu government is filled with Americans. The prime minister himself attended high school in the Philadelphia suburbs. Ron Dermer, one of his closest advisors, was born in Miami Beach. His ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, hails from New Jersey. In addition, prominent Americans like Abrams regularly appear in the U.S. media to echo the Netanyahu line. But paradoxically, this familiarity breeds overconfidence and ignorance. When Netanyahu travels to Washington, he speaks before Jewish audiences that mostly dislike Barack Obama’s Israel policy, even though according...

U.S. Tort Liability Index: 2010 Report (Foreword By Sarah Palin) My home state of Alaska offers incredible beauty, amazing wildlife, abundant natural resources, friendly people, and no individual income tax. Alaska also has the best tort climate in the United States according to the U.S. Tort Liability Index: 2010 Report from the Pacific Research Institute (PRI). In this top-notch report, PRI scholars analyze the costs and risks of each state’s tort system and conclude that Alaska is best overall. The report, now in its third edition, has been influential because the rankings are based on hard data, not opinions or...

Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, the only Republican U.S. Senate candidate in the state who could afford a significant television advertising campaign, has opened up a 15-point lead over her nearest opponent just days before Tuesday's primary, according to a Field Poll released today. The first-time candidate, who campaigned up and down the state and was endorsed by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, has the support of 37 percent of voters compared with 22 percent for former South Bay Rep. Tom Campbell - who led Fiorina by six points in a Field Poll in March. Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, R-Irvine, more...

After a stretch in which an endorsement from Sarah Palin was considered a rarity, the former Alaska governor has become something of an endorsement machine as of late. In the past week alone, she has endorsed four candidates, ranging from a tea party contender for Senate in her home state of Alaska to the GOP establishment favorite for Iowa governor. Palin has backed both clear winners and decided long-shots; she's weighed in on behalf of "mama grizzlies," but an extra X chromosome doesn't necessarily mean an automatic endorsement (see Hutchison, Kay Bailey). Some candidates (such as former Redskins tight end...

Feminism is about a lot more than one’s stand on abortion. It shouldn’t be a single-issue movement or a tribute to collectivism. However, the feminist Left in America has decided that marginalizing a whole segment of the female population because they’re pro-life conservatives is what it’s all about these days. This issue is far bigger than Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann, or any other female conservative figure that is unapologetic about her pro-life stand. However, Jessica Valenti’s recent column in The Washington Post, “The fake feminism of Sarah Palin,” merits a direct response. Valenti seized the opportunity to malign Palin’s speech...

Audio of Sarah Palin robocall commercial: Nikki Haley - Governor of South Carolina

“Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out.” - Coach John Wooden Ever since we were kids, Todd and I have looked at Coach John Wooden as a true hero. His quotes plastered our bulletin boards, school notebooks, and locker doors. Realizing this mutual admiration of Coach Wooden when Todd and I first met about 30 years ago was a sure sign that we were on the same page. From afar we have admired Coach’s wit and wisdom, we’ve absorbed his writings and the life lessons he’s taught from the basketball...

Sometime around the time Barack Obama won the White House, I started wondering who would inherit the Republican Party. I have to admit I felt a little schadenfreude when George and Dick drove the GOP off a cliff, but I also named this space “Common Ground” for a reason. We need to focus on what unites us more than the things that divide us. Here’s some common ground: We need two functioning political parties to continue to meet the challenges of our times. Unlike Karl Rove, I don’t want one party to run the country. Hammering out public policy through...

We're not sure if this is "lamestream" news or not, but CBS News's Scott Conroy has written a long profile of ex-Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's most loyal and vocal Internet supporters. The profile centers on people working on a few of the most well-known Web sites making no bones about being totally in the tank for Sarah (HillBuzz, Conservatives4Palin, Texas4Palin and Motivationtruth). The ways these online activists came to their unconditional support for Palin may surprise you. Our favorite part came when Nicole Coulter (of Conservatives4Palin, no relation to Ann Coulter) compares herself and Palin's most passionate supporters, "Palin-heads," to...

I am thrilled that former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin has chosen to endorse my campaign for the United States Senate. We share the belief that our nation is at a crucial juncture. It is time for true change away from the long discredited notion that Big Government knows best and back towards our Constitutional moorings, rooted in individual freedom and personal responsibility. I look forward to getting this message out to the people of Alaska and, with their