Free Republic

US Senator Tim Kaine, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee, said he expects the coming presidential elections in Egypt to be impartial. During a meeting with a number of journalists at a Cairo hotel Thursday, Kaine denied that the US let down Egypt in its war against terrorism, highlighting that the relations between the two countries are strong and that Washington will support Egypt in the coming period. Responding to a question on the US stance regarding the candidature of Defense Minister Field Marshal Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi in the presidential polls, Kaine said that there is no problem at all...

In order to flip the six seats they need to win back control, Republicans now believe they have widened the map to nearly a dozen competitive contests — a marked jump from earlier this year. But while Republicans are feeling increasingly optimistic, they are stopping short of bold public predictions, remembering the dashed expectations of recent election cycles in which Tea Party candidates torpedoed their chances. ...McConnell faces a challenger backed by the Senate Conservatives Fund and the Madison Project.

The presidential election of 2016 will be a defining moment for the nation and for the Republican Party. Not so for the Democratic Party. There’s no controversy among Democrats about what America should be and what their party is about. Big government, welfare state socialism, and secular humanism. The only question about who the Democratic presidential candidate will be is which welfare state socialist, secular humanist they will nominate. The picture for Republicans is more complex and this makes Democrats happy. They see Republican Party intraparty dissension as division and weakness which, in their view, can only help Democrats....

I close my eyes and imagine the coming days. The American public growing skeptical and then outright dismissive of Obamacare. A growing revulsion over the administration's Benghazi deception. A national awakening to the crises we face in spending, especially on entitlements. But then I open my eyes, and I have to look at the real world. Sure, "Saturday Night Live" and late-night comics are poking fun at the disastrous healthcare.gov rollout. But does anyone doubt that these pop-culture jokesters would still vote for Obama by 90 percent margins in the next five elections if they could? Do not fool yourselves....

Should Democrats have at least one presidential primary debate on Fox News? Will Republicans once agin have primary debates on Fox News, MSNBC and CNN, with Democrats only debating on CNN and MSNBC, but not Fox News? And why not have both parties have one presidential debate (once each party has their nominee) on: Fox News, MSNBC, CNN and finally Link TV (for a total of 4 presidential debates), where Link TV can rip into both political parties on the NSA program, interventionism, NAFTA, the federal reserve, etc? Surely the Dem-e and GOP-e would love this...

He may be a right-wing nut, but the Texas senator can beat a Democrat in a general election. Here's whyThere’s been some more buzz this week about Ted Cruz’s presidential prospects. The demagoguing senator took his first trip to Iowa just six months after being sworn in to office, and he’s pretty clearly reaching for the White House. Early reports are that it’s going well. And Rich Yeselson wrote a high-profile (and fascinating) essay arguing that, basically, Cruz is perfectly positioned for reaching the top of the Republican ticket. The focus of this piece is on Cruz’s general election viability....

If you’re wondering whether my Governor is going to try to become our President, I have no magic window to that, even though I have known him for nearly twenty tears. But from here in Texas, where all kinds of political plotlines are getting attention, there are some insights I can share as Rick Perry plans a return to private life that may be only momentary. First, let’s get rid of the dumbest analysis of the past week-- the notion that Perry is not seeking re-election because he feared a loss to pro-choice rock starlet Wendy Davis. Senator Davis may...

Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, popular with conservatives and libertarians in the GOP, said Wednesday he is considering a presidential campaign in 2016 but will not make a decision before next year. Paul said at a breakfast sponsored by The Christian Science Monitor that he wants to be part of the national debate and said that remaining open to a presidential bid would give him a broad audience on a number of policy issues. …

Rick Santorum appears to be eyeing the White House again, with the former Pennsylvania senator telling Newsmax TV’s Steve Malzberg that he may run for president in 2016. “I’m certainly leaving the door open for that,” Santorum revealed on “The Steve Malzberg Show” Wednesday afternoon. … “The same advisors who botched these last two campaigns are now saying, ‘Well, you know, since we can’t win with moderate Republicans, we have to now try to be liberal Republicans to win instead of standing up for the values that made our country great,’” he said. …

Last week former Mitt Romney campaign manager Matt Rhoades and two young Republican sharpshooters, Tim Miller and Joe Pounder, announced they would set up a new organization, America Rising, devoted to the collection, dissemination and deployment of opposition research against Democrats and a counterpart to the hugely successful American Bridge on the left. [snip]

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said his new book, “Immigration Wars: Forging an American Solution,” is aimed at conservatives who might have a hard time embracing the increasingly important path-to-citizenship issue. Bush appeared Sunday in an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” to talk about what has been described as a flip flop on his previous position of enabling undocumented workers to become U.S. citizens. …

"My time in the Obama administration turned out to be a deeply disillusioning experience." It was close to midnight on Jan. 20, 2009, and I was about to go to sleep when my iPhone beeped. There was a new text message. It was from Richard Holbrooke. It said, "Are you up, can you talk?" When I called, he told me that Barack Obama had asked him to serve as envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan. He would work out of the State Department, and he wanted me to join his team. "No one knows this yet. Don't tell anyone. Well, maybe...

New York Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a potential candidate for president in 2016, offered a non-committal response as to whether he backs Hillary Clinton for president. … (Cuomo:) “That’s a long way away. We just elected a president. … There’s no doubt that she’s incredibly popular, she’s got incredible support. … She’s going to have to make her decision.” …

He’ll push to loosen marijuana penalties, legalize undocumented immigrants and pursue a less aggressive American foreign policy. Call it the Rand Paul Evolution. In the wake of Barack Obama’s reelection win and ahead of a possible 2016 White House bid of his own, the Kentucky Republican plans to mix his hard-line tea party conservatism with more moderate policies that could woo younger voters and minorities largely absent from the GOP coalition. It’s the latest tactic of the freshman senator to inject the Libertarian-minded views shared by his retiring father into mainstream Republican thinking as the party grapples with its future....