Free Republic

-snip- One "Amigo" is in the Bush camp -- and another is being courted. Sen. Lindsey Graham endorsed Jeb Bush this past week, calling him best-prepared among the Republican candidates to be commander in chief. Graham's own presidential campaign didn't get very far, but Bush is hoping his endorsement helps in the senator's home state of South Carolina. And now, the former Florida governor is trying to enlist Graham's help in winning another high profile endorsement: that of Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain. McCain, of course, was the 2008 Republican presidential nominee, and traveled often with Graham and then-Sen. Joseph...

A Tale of Two Shiftys' There is a bigger controversy about to break wide-open that's potentially far more significant than Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell approving Nikki Haley's non-subtle attack on GOP frontrunner Donald Trump. That bigger controversy is the Spanish version of the GOP State of the Union rebuttal containing an "amnesty pledge". As this is written, Governor Nikki Haley is trying to get out ahead of the building expose'. Haley just gave a DC press conference claiming she does not support "amnesty"; however, against her earlier admission of Speaker Ryan and Leader McConnell approving the script - the...

Americans should resist "the siren call of the angriest voices" in how the nation treats immigrants, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley said Tuesday as the GOP used its response to President Barack Obama's State of the Union address to try softening the tough stance embraced by some of its leading presidential candidates. The U.S.-born daughter of Indian immigrants, Haley said the country is facing its most dangerous security threat since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. That was a reference to the Islamic State group, which has taken credit for attacks in Paris and elsewhere and may have inspired...

The super PAC supporting Jeb Bush released a new TV ad entitled "Vane" on Monday - a 30-second spot that attacks Sen. Marco Rubio for changing his position on immigration reform and supporting "amnesty." Politico reports that the ad was first reported by the Washington Examiner on Monday and noted that the spot opened with an animation of Rubio shown as weathervane atop a barn who shifts with the "political winds." "Marco Rubio: He ran for Senate saying he opposed amnesty," the ad says. "Then he flipped and worked with liberal Chuck Schumer to co-author the path to citizenship. He...

These are perilous times. Americans are scared; concerned about the direction our country is headed, and the dangers we face. We need a leader who has the experience and vision to create a freer, safer, and stronger America - and that leader is Governor Jeb Bush. The collapse of hard-won order and stability in the Middle East has unleashed sectarian conflict and the growing threat of radical Islamic terrorism. Iran's bid for regional hegemony, support for terrorism, and pursuit of a nuclear weapons capability has fueled regional tensions and poses a growing threat to America's interests and those of our...

A year ago, when he was just beginning to run for president, Jeb Bush declared that he was "my own man" and suggested he would run as far as possible from his famous last name. Now, stuck near the back of the GOP pack and fighting for survival, the former Florida governor is calling in the cavalry - relatives and hundreds of others with long ties to the Bush clan who are gearing up to flood Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina or Nevada in a push to get back into contention. Bush World has done this before for his father,...

Some of the largest and most influential trade unions in the country are calling out Democrats for boosting guest worker programs and open borders policies. North America's Building Trades Unions--an umbrella organization representing three million workers and 15 major unions, including the Laborers and Teamsters--sent outgoing Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D., Md.) a letter Thursday accusing her of selling out workers by importing foreigners to work for "Close to Slavery" wages. Mikulski pushed for increasing the number of temporary H2B visas that allow companies to bring guest workers to the United States to fill seasonal jobs. "We wanted to express to...

For the first time in 68 years, the Republican Party will need more than one ballot to pick its nominee this summer in Cleveland, Karl Rove predicted in his annual list of prognostications. "Delegates will be fractured-with many legally bound, for at least one ballot, to support the winner of their state or district-and at least two ballots will be required," he wrote in The Wall Street Journal. -snip- Should Donald Trump, the current leader in most statewide and national polling, become the party's pick, Rove predicted that the Democrats would maintain control of the White House for another four...

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said Monday that President Barack Obama's decision to use his executive authority to enact more gun control laws is "another attempt to divide and distract from his failed policies." "We should also better enforce the laws we have on the books now to keep guns out of the hands of violent criminals. Instead, the president is again targeting law-abiding citizens, intruding further into innocent Americans' lives. At a time when the country wants the president to lead the fight against radical Islamic terror, this is yet another attempt to divide and distract from his failed...

Double down on failed strategies and remind everyone it's his turn. There has been a lot of speculation about whether or not Jeb Bush wants to be president. He doesn't seem to have that "fire in his belly" that his brother so often demonstrated on the campaign trail, and he didn't seem to be very interested in his campaign at the outset beyond the massive fundraising efforts and trying to win support from the traditional GOPe "king makers." This, actually, is what convinces me that Jeb does want to be president; he's just doing it the old, tired way, a...

Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), who chairs the Select Committee on Benghazi, endorsed Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) in the 2016 presidential race Saturday. "Marco is a rock solid conservative and a strong leader we can trust," Gowdy said in a statement to Townhall. "I look forward to campaigning in Iowa with him, and introducing my good friend to voters across the state."

After starting 2015 as the presumptive front-runner with a huge bankroll, Jeb Bush has to be ending the year wondering what went wrong with his presidential campaign, what happened to his Republican Party and where all his money went. Mr. Bush and his super PAC burned through more than half of the $133 million they raised in the first three quarters this year. The return on that investment has been a drop in polls from about 15 percent when he entered the race in June to about 4 percent in recent surveys. "He has not been a great candidate and...

Marco Rubio may be the most gifted natural politician to come out of the GOP since Ronald Reagan. But the GOP base seems in no mood to rally around a principled conservative who happens also to be an optimist. That may change, but it hasn't yet. The problem is, Rubio is competing in a primary with two demagogues willing to say pretty much anything to win; several other candidates long on experience but with little personal appeal; and one neurosurgeon who should stick to medicine. Donald Trump tapped into a deep well of anger in the Republican grassroots, driven by...

Former Democratic National Committee (DNC) general chairman Ed Rendell says his party’s scariest opposition in 2016 would be a GOP presidential ticket comprised of Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). “In terms of who we fear the most, the Democratic side, just speaking for myself, I would fear John Kasich and Marco Rubio as vice president,” Rendell told host John Catsimatidis on “The Cats Roundtable” on New York’s AM-970 on Sunday. “That would be the ticket I would fear the most.”(continued)

More Americans favor than oppose a pathway to citizenship for immigrants who are living in the United States illegally, a new Associated Press-GfK poll shows. While most Republicans oppose such a path to citizenship, it doesn't seem to be a dealbreaker issue for them. ...

Madness has gripped a segment of the Republican Party that embraces a war on its own voters as unworthy. Instead of blaming himself for a presidential campaign mired at the one percent level of support, failing to make a ripple even in his home state of South Carolina, Senator Lindsey Graham blames the GOP voters who are too driven by irrational, probably racist beliefs. Caitlin Yilek of The Hill reports: 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...

The Jeb Bush backers who poured more than $100 million into pro-Bush super PAC Right to Rise haven't exactly been getting a lot of bang for their buck. The group has already spent more than $49 million, not including salaries and other operating expenses, only to have its candidate's poll numbers drop to the low single figures, the Washington Post reports. The spending blitz included $18.5 million on Bush ads in New Hampshire, where Politico reports he's still stuck in sixth place. The super PAC still has more than $67 million, according to finance filings, but that may not be...

A billionaire who is backing former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush has launched a personal campaign against fellow billionaire Donald Trump, calling him an insecure, narcissistic bully who needs to be stopped. Mike Fernandez, a Cuban-born major Republican donor from Miami who built his fortune in the health care industry, has bought full-page newspaper ads blasting Trump and planned to run a pro-Latino television ad during Wednesday's GOP debate coverage designed to counter Trump's anti-immigration message. He is also launching a website this week to be called "Stop The Bullyionaire." [...] Fernandez likened the attraction to Trump to the rise of...

Billionaire real estate mogul Donald Trump has not faded in the fall, as Republican professionals hoped, but has his biggest lead yet and support from more than a third of GOP voters, according to a CNN/ORC poll released just 58 days before the Iowa presidential caucuses. Trump has 36 percent support, 9 percent higher than he had in October more than double the 16 percent backing for ultraconservative Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, his closest competitor. In particular, Trump is a runaway choice of GOP voters surveyed who do not have college degrees, his support rising above 40 percent. Ben Carson...

Much like the 1960s comedy "Get Smart," GOP establishment operatives and candidates have formed their own version of "KAOS," the evil organization that continually tried to "get" Agent Maxwell Smart. Except in this case, it's many Republican traditionalists that are trying to "get" Donald Trump. These efforts will backfire on them, as did the best attempts at mischief by KAOS in the comedy classic. To fully comprehend how off-base the pundits and establishment consultants are about the 2016 race for the GOP presidential nomination, let's first examine a tale of two polls taken in Florida recently. The first was conducted...