Free Republic

Last night, Becca Glover Watkins, communications director for Chairman Richard Burr of the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, engaged in behavior that was unbefitting of her position. During the course of the GOP presidential debate, an unfortunate political smear was lobbed at Senator Ted Cruz by Senator Marco Rubio when Rubio falsely asserted that Senator Cruz had disclosed classified information. This lie was then disseminated by Glover Watkins, utilizing her United States Senate title and her official Twitter account. The fact that Senator Cruz has done nothing improper is underscored by the swift announcement of Senator Burr and...

When I was fighting the Gang of Eight bill in 2013, one of my observations was that this legislation provided much more than amnesty for illegal aliens already here. It created a permanent open border policy across the spectrum of legal and illegal immigration. One such provision was Section 2310 (page 426), which would have massively expanded the K-1 fiancé visa program, the very visa that San Bernardino terrorist Tafsheen Malik used to gain permanent residence in our country. While the underlying premise of this program makes sense, it has been rife with fraud and 99.7% of requests for K-1...

It wasn't supposed to go like this. When Jeb Bush announced a exploratory committee for the 2016 Republican primary exactly one year ago Wednesday, the plan was simple: Keep Mitt Romney out of the race, lock up the establishment money early and ride Bush's experience as Florida governor and a big war chest to victory. And for a little while, the plan almost worked. Bush became the front-runner, and though his lead wasn't as strong as his campaign might have liked, he seemed to have locked up the big donors and maintained a steady share in the polls. Then Donald...

Jeb Bush came at Donald Trump with everything he had, turning in his strongest debate performance to date just as much of the party was threatening to tune out his flagging candidacy entirely. He dismissed Trump as a "chaos candidate" who would amount to a "chaos president," said the billionaire had "crazy" ideas about foreign policy and suggested Trump learned about foreign affairs from the Saturday morning cartoons. And, two campaign sources say, Bush may be willing to go even further than he did on stage. Prior to the debate, senior Bush aides began looking into the possibility of making...

Jeb Bush came at Donald Trump with everything he had, turning in his strongest debate performance to date just as much of the party was threatening to tune out his flagging candidacy entirely. He dismissed Trump as a “chaos candidate” who would amount to a “chaos president,” said the billionaire had “crazy” ideas about foreign policy and suggested Trump learned about foreign affairs from the Saturday morning cartoons.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) apologized on Tuesday for Donald Trump’s rhetoric against Muslims. “I am sorry, he does not represent us,” Graham said at the fifth Republican presidential debate at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. “Leave the faith alone, go after the radicals that kill us all,” he added.

Donald Trump is slated to meet with billionaire Las Vegas casino mogul Sheldon Adelson on Tuesday, a Trump spokesman said. Trump is slated to meet with Adelson ahead of tonight's Republican debate, which will be held at Adelson's posh Venetian hotel. Corey Lewandowski, Trump's campaign manager, confirmed the scheduled meeting. Adelson spokespersons did not respond to a request for comment. Adelson is expected to meet privately with multiple Republican candidates gathered here for the debate. While Adelson, one of the biggest GOP donors in the country, is said to be favoring Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, he has made no final...

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)97% smashed Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) 79%, one of his 2016 GOP presidential rivals, for breaking his promise to the voters who elected him that he would not support amnesty for illegal aliens. The aggressive comments from Cruz about came during the last part of his lengthy exclusive interview with Breitbart News in his Greenville campaign office here last Monday. They represent one of the most unreported stories in the 2016 presidential cycle: Rubio's work on not just the "Gang of Eight" amnesty bill, but now the recently discovered unlimited mass Muslim migration provisions in his so...

Instead of trying to grind out a victory by criss-crossing Iowa or New Hampshire the way that underfunded candidates like Rick Santorum managed to do in 2012, the Rubio campaign has explicitly said that it’s relying upon the media to carry the candidate’s message. That may seem ludicrous for a Republican to say, however, that actually appears to be the case as National Review reported as long ago as April. Besides trying to get the senator booked on as many shows as possible (a desire he shares in common with Donald Trump and any other breathing politician), Rubio’s team appears...

Mark Levin spent three hours tonight trashing Trump over his remarks about Ted Cruz, among other things. Levin failed to mention Cruz's attack on Trump behind closed doors with his donors, which he first denied, until an audio popped up proving Cruz did in fact make the comments he denied. Behind closed doors, that's where politicians function best - Ted Cruz is no different. It may be tiring the way Trump puts it all out there, and I feel sure he is outgrowing that, but after Obamacare and so many other things, I will never ever ever support another politician...

TAMPA — Shrugging off national polls as irrelevant, Jeb Bush said Friday he thinks he will win the New Hampshire primary in February, giving himself an open field to pass current Republican front-runner Donald Trump and grab the GOP nomination. “In New Hampshire, we’re making really good strides,” said Bush, who is polling nationally at about 5 percent. “You break the back of Donald Trump and it’s totally wide open in terms of electoral process.”

So I had a pollster challenge me to provide evidence that Cruz was not being honest on immigration. I've actually been doing so for months, but most people haven't seen or considered all the evidence. With the battle picking up between Trump and Cruz, I figured that now, more than ever, would be an important time to highlight this issue with Cruz's record: Okay, so Rubio accused Cruz of having supported an expansion of H1B visas and of legalizing illegal aliens. Cruz called these claims entirely false, and his surrogates have claimed that Cruz didn't actually support the bill in...

More than a month ago, Paul Singer, a billionaire hedge fund manager and one of the biggest donors to Republican candidates and causes in 2014, publicly endorsed Marco Rubio and urged others in the party to get back the Florida senator as well. The endorsement, which the New York Times put on its front page, was interpreted as a sign that the Republican Party establishment was getting behind Rubio as the man to stop Donald Trump. But so far, many key Republican Party officials are not heeding Singer's message. A bloc of top Republicans in New Hampshire, including former congressman...

He also calls the GOP frontrunner a "loser" and a "demagogue."EXETER, N.H. -- As he continues to find new ways to rip into Donald Trump over the Republican front-runner’s proposal to ban Muslims from traveling to the United States, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham may have finally unleashed the ultimate insult to denigrate his rival in the context of a GOP presidential primary. Graham, who has struggled to gain traction in his own long-shot White House bid, said that what makes America great is its religious tolerance, and that Trump’s plan undercuts outreach efforts to Muslim nations and communities in...

Republican presidential candidate Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) says GOP front-runner Donald Trump is doing so well in the polls because nearly half of Republican primary voters think President Obama is a Kenyan-born Muslim. “Well there’s about 40 percent of the Republican primary voter who believes that Obama was born in Kenya and is a Muslim,” Graham told Boston Herald Radio on Friday, according to BuzzFeed News. “There’s just a dislike for President Obama that is visceral. It’s almost irrational,” Graham added. Graham said Trump will not get 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidency if he doesn’t grow support...

**SNIP** Among all millionaire voters surveyed - Democrats, Republicans and independents - Hillary Clinton is still the overall favorite. Clinton was the top candidate among 34 percent of total respondents, followed by Rubio with 13 percent. Trump and Carson tied for third, with 9 percent.

Sen. Marco Rubio has built his presidential campaign around his foreign policy credentials. So why is he now undercutting this reputation by misstating the NSA surveillance reforms passed earlier this year? Two words: Ted Cruz. Sen. Marco Rubio may have framed himself as an expert in national security ,and among the Republican presidential field, he is. But in the wake of the San Bernardino attacks he has been remarkably misleading about American surveillance, even suggesting that those who have tried to rein in the National Security Agency may be responsible for a future terrorist attack. The in-the-weeds nature of NSA...

Jeb Bush's campaign and allies have spent nearly a whopping $33 million in TV and radio advertisements so far this election cycle - almost more than the rest of the current Republican field combined, according to ad-buying data from SMG Delta. The biggest overall advertiser in the 2016 race is Right to Rise, the Super PAC backing Jeb Bush, which has spent $31.7 million in the contest, while the Bush campaign has chipped in an additional $800,000.

“Marco does have a water thing,” said one longtime Rubio associate who has been affiliated with his past campaigns. “I don’t know what it is. He says he just gets thirsty, but it’s clear it’s just a nervous tic. It’s something he just has to have around, like a security blanket or something.” When Rubio addressed CPAC in 2012, event staffers failed to stock the podium with fresh water for his speech. At an early applause line, Rubio — who had been visibly struggling with dry mouth and licking the inside of his mouth and his lips, as he often...

After seven years of the Obama administration, Americans are fed up with their politicians. Americans think their elected leaders have created winners and losers and that the average American is the loser. They think everyone is taking advantage of the system except for them. The electorate is revolting. One presidential candidate they should not be peeved at is Marco Rubio. This has come to the forefront because Sen. Rubio is not a wealthy man. One candidate, Donald Trump, has disparaged him for his lack of financial success. That is particularly fascinating coming from someone who grew up amid great wealth...