Free Republic

Days before he officially becomes a U.S. senator, Mitt Romney took to the Washington Post to fire a shot across President Trump’s bow, saying Mr. Trump had made a “deep descent” in December and is hurting the national character. In an op-ed column published online Tuesday evening, Mr. Romney, now a Republican senator-elect for Utah, came down hardest on recent moves in foreign policy and Cabinet positions related to that. “After he became the nominee, I hoped his campaign would refrain from resentment and name-calling. It did not. When he won the election, I hoped he would rise to the...

One of the few Republicans in the country who's been tirelessly pushing for the implementation of Obamacare at the state level has been tapped to head Mitt Romney's transition team, should he become president. Former HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt, and his consulting group Leavitt Partners, are the primary advocates within Republican circles for implementation of Obamacare's exchanges. It just so happens that his consultancy is one of the major beneficiaries of the taxpayer funded gold mine of hundreds of millions of dollars in exchange implementation grants. But that's a coincidence, of course.

Goode said that "amnesty in any form only encourages more illegal entry." Before Mitt Romney's visit to Salem on Tuesday, former congressman and Constitution Party presidential candidate Virgil Goode held a morning news conference in Roanoke calling on Romney to take a stronger position on illegal immigration. Goode said Romney "essentially gave no response" when it comes to the issue. Goode also criticized President Barack Obama's stance on immigration, including a new policy that would allow some younger illegal immigrants to stay in the country. "Unlike Romney, if I was elected president, I would immediately rescind the direction of President...

Now that Mitt Romney has secured the GOP nomination, he is obviously free to be himself. His masquerade as a conservative is over as he has returned to many of the moderate to liberal stances he held as Governor of the People’s Republic of Massachusetts. He has also returned to being the polite politician who treats his Democratic opponents with respect. Mitt Romney only gets nasty against other Republicans. In the GOP primary, the Governor eviscerated his opponents with high priced, non-stop, hard hitting attacks. He is not employing the same tactics in his general election showdown against President Obama,...

In Arizona v. United States, the Supreme Court unanimously agreed that the federal government has no basis to nullify the "show me your papers" provision of Arizona's immigration law. Conservatives Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, moderate Anthony Kennedy, liberals Stephen Breyer and Ruth Bader Ginsburg -- even Obama appointee Sonia Sotomayor -- all shot down the administration's effort to stop that part of the law. (Obama appointee Elena Kagan stayed out of it because she had taken part in the action as a member of the administration.) Yet even with that unanimity -- a position supported, if the polls are...

Remember when Romney turned away Stimulus funds because they were wasteful and infringed on the Tenth Amendment? Remember when Romney led the fight against Obamacare with his bold op-eds, inviting scorn and being called a liar for daring to mention the unavoidable rationing of services ("Death Panels") ? Remember when Romney led the GOP to an astonishing victory in the 2010 mid-terms? Remember when Romney inspired thousands across the nation to sleep outside book stores in hopes of meeting him? Remember when Romney Flew to Arizona to stand by the embattled Governor Brewer as she was targeted by the Administration...

Mitt Romney may be attempting a shift to the center on immigration, but word has yet to trickle down to the hardcore nativists of the Arizona Republican Party. As the GOP presidential hopeful was in Florida yesterday trying to woo the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials with his softer, gentler, made-for-the-general-election immigration stance, a civil war of sorts erupted in local Republican ranks over statements made by conservative-blogger-turned-state-GOP-spokesman Shane Wikfors during a recent appearance on Channel 12's Sunday Square Off. Here's what I wrote in my column this week regarding Wikfors' comments: One moment of Republican clarity...

Mitt Romney will address the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) today, and will no doubt continue his evasions regarding the president’s unconstitutional DREAM decree, which grants amnesty to perhaps 1.4 million illegal immigrants without permission from Congress.One thing that Romney, and the GOP more generally, should consider is what’s next. If the president gets away with this usurpation of legislative authority, what other immigration measures might we expect? After all, Friday’s amnesty decree didn’t happen in a vacuum — it was the result of the administration’s getting away with a whole series of earlier, less...

On Monday, Rep. Allen West (R-FL) said that he was “dejected” after Mitt Romney’s avoided taking a strong stand on President Barack Obama’s directive enacting portions of the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act. “It goes back to what my mother taught me, ‘a man must stand for something, or else he’ll fall for anything,’” said West. Romney appeared on CBS’ Face the Nation on Sunday where he was asked repeatedly if he would repeal President Obama’s directive. Romney avoided taking a firm position on the matter during the interview, but indicated that he supports the underlying...

While our presumptive nominee Mitt Romney has criticized Obama's cynical, politically-timed power grab, he has yet to say whether or not he would repeal President Obama's executive decision to no longer enforce our laws with respect to somewhere around one million Mexican illegals. Instead, first thing this morning, the Romney campaign went right back to talking about Obama's failed economy: A number of my fellow conservatives, many of whom I admire, are hitting Romney for not taking a stand on this, but what exactly is Romney supposed to do? This entire story is, quite obviously, a coordinated trap set up...

Election '12: In his most brazen act of pandering to date, President Obama has dangled de facto amnesty to 800,000 illegal immigrants in a shameless bid to win Latino votes. This is pure banana-republic electoral politics. There's zero doubt Obama's Friday order to hand work permits to hundreds of thousands of illegals who claim they were brought here as children is merely an embattled and unpopular president's bid to gain an electoral edge. Politics trump all other factors that a responsible president would consider, such as the wisdom of dumping nearly a million new job seekers onto the market to...

BRUNSWICK, Ohio (AP) — Mitt Romney is refusing to say that he would overturn President Barack Obama's new policy allowing some young illegal immigrants to stay in the United States. The Republican presidential candidate tells CBS” ”Face the Nation” that if he’s president, Obama’s executive order “would be overtaken by events … by virtue of my putting in place a long-term solution.” Romney was asked three times in the interview if he would overturn Obama’s order, but he didn’t directly answer the question. Instead, he said would work to pass a law to help those young people who were “brought...

Romney "agrees" with Rubio. Wants "long term" solution. Full statement in Comments.

Okay, maybe that wasn’t the best metaphor, but he fumbled an important opportunity. The problem with the president’s amnesty decree is not that it “makes it more difficult to reach that long-term solution because an executive order is, of course, just a short-term matter — it can be reversed by subsequent presidents.” The problem is that it’s u-n-c-o-n-s-t-i-t-u-t-i-o-n-a-l. You would expect Allen West and Steve King to be forceful in denouncing this usurpation, but even Amnesty John McCain and Rick “you don’t have a heart” Perry were strong. Heck, Lindsey Graham — Lindsey Graham — denounced the move as “possibly...

Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor and brother of the ex-president, has warned Mitt Romney that he has boxed himself in politically with rhetoric over illegal immigration and said Republicans need a change of tone on the issue if they are to win over Latino voters. Bush said that immigration was among issues that have seen Republicans become so partisan that even Ronald Reagan would face trouble winning the party's presidential nomination today because he co-operated with Democrats. The former governor, who has been touted as a possible running mate for Romney but who says he does not want the...

Now that Mitt Romney has officially clinched the Republican nomination, most of the political Right has rallied around him, out of antipathy for President Obama if for no other reason. Recent polls show that if the election were held today Romney would receive 90 percent of the Republican vote, and three-quarters of the vote from self-described conservatives. One can expect even more conservatives and Republicans to “come home,” as the bitterness of the primary season fades, and the contrast with Obama becomes clearer. Yet, for anyone concerned with the size, cost, and intrusiveness of government, dark clouds continue to hang...

GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney’s camp is defending a controversial program he created that handed out free wheels to Massachusetts welfare recipients — including state-funded insurance and AAA memberships — even as the plan drew fire from conservatives the former Bay State governor is wooing. “Over 80 percent of participants have moved off of welfare,” said Romney spokeswoman Gail Gitcho.

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Saturday shows that 25% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as president. Forty-four percent (44%) Strongly Disapprove, giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -19 (see trends). Looking at Tuesday's upcoming primaries, the GOP race in Alabama is essentially a three-way tie, while Mitt Romney leads by eight in Mississippi. Nationally, Romney now leads Rick Santorum by 12 points. Regardless of who they want to win, 80% of Republican Primary Voters nationwide believe Romney will be the party's nominee. With the...

Boston, MA - On Tuesday, Mary Maloney, whose son was killed last August by an illegal alien charged with driving under the influence, tearfully addressed the state legislature’s Senate Judiciary Committee in support of legislation which would make it tougher for illegal aliens to remain in Massachusetts. Maloney said: “My son paid the ultimate price with his life because Massachusetts is a safe haven for illegal immigrants. The real question I ask is…Why would illegal immigrants not come to Massachusetts when we are so willing to provide them with jobs and free services they could not get in their native...

Appearing on CNN's State of the Union today, Rick Santorum told host Candy Crawley that his loss yesterday to Mitt Romney in CPAC's annual straw poll was because he didn't pay for votes. From Politico: "Well, you know, those straw polls at CPAC... for years Ron Paul has won those because he trucks in a lot of people, pays for their tickets, and they come in and vote and they leave. We didn't do that, we don't do that. i don't try to rig straw polls." Pressed further on whether or not he felt Romney had rigged the poll, Santorum...