Free Republic

There is a boisterous Oath Keeper leaking alcohol from every pore sitting three seats away from me in a Nashua, New Hampshire, middle school auditorium hosting a Ted Cruz town hall. I'm wondering if it's too late to change seats. The guy is wearing a camouflage jacket that doesn't quite hide the bulging middle-age belly straining at the faded Patriots T-shirt underneath. He's carrying a sign that reads "Like a Cruz missile, Ted will destroy ISIS" on one side and "Cruzin West" on the other, a plea for the Texas senator to pick former Florida congressman Allen West as his...

Marco and the K St. Restoration: I went to see Marco Rubio’s town hall this afternoon in Salem, New Hampshire. It was only a few miles from my hotel–I really had no excuse. I wanted to find out: Was Rubio really as slick and insubstantial in this setting as John Edwards? Answer: No. He’s slicker. He’s slicker, in part, because he at least seems a bit spontaneous,** with a slightly goofy, human quality. I admit this is hard to judge seeing him once — maybe he always lets his 8-year-old son sit on his stool during his stump speech. But...

For President: who is best on national debt, the economy, jobs? Who's the only candidate who hasn't voted to add to our $19 trillion debt, and...hasn't voted for Obama's devastating fast-tracked TPP trade deal;is expert on national and international trade and economics, actually understanding our destructive, unbalanced trade deals that are struck as favors for the cause of crony capitalism;operates in the real world on balanced budgets instead of supporting annual unsustainable deficits, recklessly rolling along spending other people's money;actually creates private sector jobs to secure the middle class instead of supporting bureaucratic agencies that chase our businesses out...

One Red State diarist wonders whether Trump’s four-day journey from gracious concession to sober self-reflection about his ground game to shrieking about fraud and a do-over in Iowa to low-key “it’s in the past” dismissal means that he’s actually insane. Old theory: Trump is erratic. New theory: Trump is bananas.I don’t think he’s bananas. I think this is what it looks like when a candidate decides to test out new lines of attack in real time, with the entirety of the media hanging on his every word, instead of with focus groups behind closed doors. In a striking reversal...

The Iowa Democratic party chair who is refusing to release raw vote totals from Monday’s state caucuses is a long-time Hillary Clinton supporter who donated to the politician’s various campaigns and who reportedly drives a Buick with the license plate “HRC 2016.” Dr. Andrea “Andy” McGuire has shot down calls to review vote tallies from Monday’s contest despite Clinton’s razor-thin win over Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. The former secretary of state squeaked by the democratic socialist, hauling in 49.9 percent of state delegate equivalents versus Sanders’ 49.6 percent. The Clinton campaign claimed complete victory in the caucuses on Tuesday despite...

Listening to these two old angry white hacks is very funny folks. No joke. They are really going at it....

Ted Cruz sounded despondent at the possibility that same-sex marriage could become legal when he called into the radio show of Tony Perkins, a vehement opponent of gay rights, in February 2014. “Our heart weeps for the damage to traditional marriage that has been done,” Mr. Cruz said, urging conservatives to pray but also to fight back. “Be as wise as serpents and gentle as doves,” he said, quoting Scripture. But seven months later, when Mr. Cruz visited the Midtown Manhattan office of a major Republican supporter of same-sex marriage, he sounded almost indifferent: If New York politicians wanted to...

PPP’s newest national poll finds the race on the Republican side tightening considerably in the wake of Donald Trump’s surprise loss in Iowa on Monday night. Trump’s lead has fallen to just 4 points- he’s at 25% to 21% each for Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, 11% for Ben Carson, 5% each for Jeb Bush, John Kasich, and the now departed Rand Paul, 3% each for Chris Christie and Carly Fiorina, and 1% for Jim Gilmore. Rick Santorum had literally zero supporters on our final poll including him.

Former President Jimmy Carter surprised reporters in London Wednesday by saying he would choose Donald Trump over Ted Cruz to win the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, "which may surprise some of you." Carter stated that given the choice, "I think I would choose Trump.... Trump has proven already he's completely malleable,” reports The Atlanta Journal Constitution. "I don't think he has any fixed (positions) he'd go the White House and fight for. On the other hand, Ted Cruz is not malleable. He has far right wing policies he'd pursue if he became president." Still, Carter feels Trump will "fade away"...

As Donald Trump spent his week attacking Ted Cruz while trying to win favor in New Hampshire, Cruz took a much different approach: He praised his Democratic rival, Bernie Sanders. Cruz knew that the state is notorious for its regionalistic voting when he spoke highly of the Vermont senator to a crowd in Henniker this afternoon. “In diagnosing the problem, I agree in many ways with Bernie Sanders,” he said, according to Politico‘s Katie Glueck. “I enjoy watching the media folks. They’re very puzzled when they say, ‘Gosh, Ted, you sound exactly like Bernie, saying it’s all big money and...

I want to start with a few key facts, because they'll be important in a moment: 1. Among left-leaning female voters under the age of 45, Bernie Sanders holds a significant lead in the polls. 2. He's received far more donations from females than Hillary Clinton. 3. The results in Iowa showed that he won handily in the under-45 category, regardless of whether the voter was male or female. As it happens, there is absolutely a gap in support when it comes to Sanders and Clinton. But it's not a gender gap-it's an age gap. ....It's simple: Older people vote...

Is the power of the White House enough to get Pink Floyd back together for one more concert? The obvious answer to that question is "almost definitely not," but that isn't going to stop Republican presidential hopeful John Kasich from doing his level best to reunite the dormant group if he ends up winning the 2016 election. Kasich made his unexpected campaign pledge during a Feb. 1 interview with CNN... "...if I'm president," he decreed, "I am going to...try to reunite Pink Floyd..." First on Kasich's wish list for the reunion set: "Money," from 1973's Dark Side of the Moon.

Fox News host Megyn Kelly defended Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) after Chris Christie accused the freshman senator of being too scripted and avoiding tough questions on the campaign trail. “Do you take offense at him calling you a boy, a boy in a bubble?” Kelly asked Rubio during an interview with him on the campaign trail in New Hampshire.

Accusing Senator Ted Cruz of voter fraud, Donald Trump today argued that Mr. Cruz "stole" the election in Iowa. "That is why all of the polls were so wrong, and why he got far more votes than anticipated," Mr. Trump said on Twitter, suggesting no one predicted that Mr. Cruz would win: Ted Cruz didn't win Iowa, he stole it. That is why all of the polls were so wrong and why he got far more votes than anticipated. Bad!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 3, 2016 Mr. Trump then went further, saying Mr. Cruz committed fraud, suggesting that Cruz's...

It was getting on toward 2 o'clock on Tuesday morning after the bewildering Iowa caucuses, so I can't be too sure about anything. As the TV coverage wound down into nothingness, Chris Matthews of MSNBC became increasingly disgruntled about the lack of clear winners and losers in the Hawkeye State, at least in the Democratic photo finish between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. Getting to hear the losers make concession speeches is what makes our democracy exciting, he insisted. Iowa in 2016, according to the Matthews worldview, was not exciting. "This was just vague," he muttered. He may actually have...

Windham, New Hampshire (CNN)The day after winning the Iowa caucuses, Ted Cruz issued an apology to Republican rival Ben Carson for falsely telling Iowa caucusgoers that the retired neurosurgeon planned to quit the race, calling it a "mistake." Cruz said in a statement Tuesday that his campaign staff saw a CNN report that Carson was dropping out, although CNN had not characterized Carson's actions that way. "Last night when our political team saw the CNN post saying that Dr. Carson was not carrying on to New Hampshire and South Carolina, our campaign updated grassroots leaders just as we would with...

Can Marco Rubio unite the Republican Party? Does it actually want to be united? Rubio previewed this argument all throughout Iowa, and then in an ebullient quasi-victory speech last night. This morning, the surprisingly strong bronze medalist expanded and expounded on his theme of unity on ABC’s Good Morning America:

With just hours left to go before Iowa caucus goers cast their votes, living legend and conservative icon Phyllis Schlalfy warns Iowa voters: 2016 may be America’s last chance.

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  Post Iowa Caucus Results – Winners and Losers… Posted on February 2, 2016 by sundance There may indeed be a feeling of disappointment amid many political followers who support Donald Trump today. A sense of disappointment because he did not win the Iowa caucuses. However, long-time readers here will probably not hold as much angst at the result; and just about all of us are overly familiar with the sense of futility against it all. These 2016 events are predictable, very predictable.  They are so predictable we outlined exactly how they would take place back in 2013, more than two years ago....