Free Republic

AUSTIN — Taking a page from the playbook of social conservatives, the “tea party” movement is trying to change the Republican Party of Texas from the ground up. Tea party activists in the major cities and suburbs across Texas have been recruiting and training candidates for precinct chairs as the building blocks to shift the emphasis of the state GOP from social issues to fiscal restraint by the federal government and individual freedom. “It's going to shock the world,” said Austin Tea Party activist Dean Wright

The Collins Report today notes that Wenzel Strategies, a well thought of, and of course accurate, pollster, reported the above. This is stupendous and when supported by subsequent polls will rock the foundations of the Democrats. Perhaps I should write “further rock” as the entire liberal structure is already precarious. Blacks, who voted for President Obama in record numbers are now divided 62/38 believable. That is a thirty point drop among a group that is as essential as air to national Dems and all Dems in tight races. Native Spanish speakers, who also bought President Obama’s “hope and change”, are...

Ronald Reagan the actor once famously screamed on screen "Where's the rest of me?!" after waking in a hospital to discover that a sadistic surgeon had amputated both of his legs. My guess is that Ronald Reagan the national leader would express similar horror at what is happening to his beloved conservative movement as some in its ranks seek to sever from its agenda the priority "the Gipper" consistently gave to the national security. One need look no further than the various functions held in the Washington area last week to see why Mr. Reagan would be so alarmed. On...

Brothers and Sisters in the Lord - There are many threats to the United States on the horizon i. Some of them include: Nuclear Annihilation - A nuclear exchange over Taiwan with China which is building both missile defense ii and civilian fallout shelters iii. Earthquake – If the Lord wanted, could he not send an earthquake powerful enough to bring crippling destruction to the West Coast? Terrorist Attack – As we saw by the Christmas bomber, we are no safer since 9/11, given we still don't screen for Muslims at airports. Also, the Department of Home Security considers a...

In September 1960, several dozen young conservative intellectuals descended on National Review editor William F. Buckley Jr.'s estate in Sharon, Conn., to draft a manifesto. Terse but sweeping, it demanded victory over rather than coexistence with "international communism," and declared that when "government interferes with the work of the market economy, it tends to reduce the moral and physical strength of the nation." Known as the Sharon statement, it helped forge the modern conservative movement. Half a century later, many of the movement's elders -- including former Reagan administration Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III, Heritage Foundation President Edwin Feulner Jr....

When rubber must meet road, the GOP is as clear as the mud in a Louisiana swamp. Oh, they talk a good game; but, in the end, they act no different than the Democrats. Somewhere in Washington D.C. there must exist a vast graveyard of detached spines... since I have yet to encounter a sitting Republican who is still in possession of his, and the Democrats never had one to begin with … except when it comes to screwing the American people – then they are indefatigable juggernauts, while the Republicans practice their knitting. The GOP is infested by a...

With the tension brewing between the Tea Party movement and the Progessive/statist RINOs, and given the fact that out best chances may require working for change within the GOP, I would like to hear the ideas of fellow FReepers in the form of four proposed federal-level planks for the GOP. I'll offer mine, based on my limited understanding of the original intent of our Founding Fathers, and how that might fit with our current mess, but I'm hoping to hear the thoughts of greater minds and deeper thinkers here. Thanks. Top Four Federal-level Planks for the Republican Party 1. Fiscal...

Since Richard Nixon was president, the Conservative Political Action Conference has provided the American Right with an annual occasion for self-evaluation. On Thursday, when some 10,000 activists gather in Washington for this year’s conference, they will find themselves part of a conservative movement significantly different than it was during the Bush administration, or even in 2009. A jolt of anti-Obama populist energy has upended the movement’s traditional hierarchy, lifting some new or previously low profile groups to unprecedented heights while leaving traditional powers struggling to adapt.

Politics: The faster history moves, the more rapidly time-tested principles assert themselves. A year ago America seemed headed toward democratic socialism. Now George Washington's spirit rises to cry "Halt!" On Wednesday, on the bank of the wide Potomac, on a parcel that once was part of the indispensable Founder's estate, a group of conservative thinkers and activists unveiled a concise summation of principles: "The Mount Vernon Statement." http://www.themountvernonstatement.com/) Some of these conservatives — former Atty. Gen. Ed Meese and Heritage Foundation President Ed Feulner among them — for months had been cobbling the document out of the public eye. Through...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (BP)--A coalition of leading conservatives has unveiled a document promoting a "constitutional conservatism" and affirming the three legs of the movement: social, economic and national security conservatives. The Mount Vernon Statement, released at a news conference Wednesday (Feb. 17) at the Collingwood Library and Museum in Alexandria, Va. -- on land once owned by George Washington -- was modeled after the 1960 Sharon Statement, which was released 40 years ago and spearheaded by the late conservative leader William F. Buckley.

The Republican National Committee has pulled off the Web a site that some tea party leaders saw as evidence the GOP is trying to "hijack" the grass-roots conservative movement.

Looks like FREEDOM is catching FIRE again! The Mount Vernon Statement is set to be signed today by 80 leading conservatives on the eve of the Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC) event in Washington this week. Some call it a manifesto, some a resurgence of the Contract with America. May I remind readers of the true conservative manifesto? Michelle Malkin just hit on this topic and I thought it was worthwhile to write some commentary. The United States Constitution is a fantastic document written by great leaders who ensured the document would work well centuries into the future. They provided...

Evan Bayh's surprise announcement that he would not seek a third term has sent shockwaves through the pundit class on an otherwise quiet President’s Day. It also upset a year’s worth of comfortable predictions that Republicans would never take back the Senate in 2010. This, combined with other recent political developments, places a 50-50 Senate within reach for the Republican caucus.

Sean Hannity had Ann Coulter as a guest on his show on Monday night and he asked her the question “how can we screw this up?” referring to the GOP. I can tell you exactly how we will screw this up and at the end of this column – how we can AVOID screwing this up. The way we can screw this up is the same way we screwed it up last time around. We can screw this up by..."

'Tea Party' Activists Filter Into GOP At Ground Level The conservative movement is urging its members to seek positions as local Republican precinct representatives. Their goal: Remake the party - and U.S. politics - from within. By Kathleen Hennessey February 15, 2010 Reporting from Washington - First there was the "tea party" protester. Now, meet the Tea-publican. Conservative activists who once protested the political establishment are now flooding the lowest level of the Republican Party apparatus hoping to take over the party they once scorned -- one precinct at a time. Across the country, tea party groups that had focused...

If the Republican Party wins every Senate seat in which it now holds a lead, according to Rasmussen’s polls, it will capture eight Democratic seats while holding all of its own. The two remaining pickups, to assure control, could be in Indiana, where former Sen. Dan Coats may run against Sen. Evan Bayh, and in California. Even if Coats does not run, former Congressman John Hostettler is behind Bayh by only 44-41 percent. And, in California, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina is only 3 points behind Sen. Barbara Boxer. (This assumes that former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson takes on Sen....

Interesting to see how the "Scott Heard Round The World" is already affecting the run-up to elections in NYC. See this mention about the Conservative Party meeting having its biggest turnout ever: http://www.officialwire.com/main.php?action=posted_news&rid=834&catid=126

If 2010 proves to be a “wave” election for the GOP, conservatives can expect more than a few half-as-much Republicans to sweep into Congress. What’s a half-as-much Republican? One who’s willing to do half as much as liberals on big government initiatives. Guys like John McCain and his sidekick, Lindsey Graham, for instance. Or Maine’s Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe. Or departing Senator George Voinovich. But there’s an effective way to put half-as-much Republicans on notice: defeat a couple of them in upcoming primaries, especially in high-profile Senate contests. Sending a couple of half-as-muchers to summertime defeats would create quite...

Rep. Michele Bachmann told Bill O’Reilly tonight that the tea party members will become the dominant members of the Republican Party. She added that if the Republicans are smart they will embrace them.

KABUL, Afghanistan (Jan. 16) - The Italian-led Herat Provincial Reconstruction Team recently assisted in the construction of a press building for the Herat government. The European Union paid for the exterior of the building while the Italian Ministry of Defense, through the PRT, funded the remainder of the project. The PRT also purchased a new video surveillance and lighting system for the governor's compound to increase its security. The PRT used Afghan workers for all the projects. After the inauguration ceremony for the building, the PRT donated two armoured jackets and two lap-top computers to the government of Herat. The...