Free Republic

Oops. In the early morning hours on Monday, Breitbart published a scathing takedown of their now-former editor-at-large Ben Shapiro after he announced his resignation from the conservative media company this weekend. The piece with the headline “BEN SHAPIRO BETRAYS LOYAL BREITBART READERS IN PURSUIT OF FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTORSHIP” has since been deleted; but of course, nothing on the internet ever really gets deleted, so you can read the sarcastic company reply here for yourself. The lede reads, “Former Breitbart News editor-at-large Ben Shapiro announced Sunday evening via left-wing Buzzfeed that he is abandoning Andrew Breitbart’s lifelong best friend, widow, hand-picked...

It was a worrisome question at an inopportune time: Was the nanny to Marco Rubio’s children legal? That issue sprang briefly up during Rubio’s 2010 U.S. Senate campaign, according two people aware of the situation. Yes, the nanny was legal, the campaign tells the Tampa Bay Times, but Rubio had to pay back taxes to reflect her employment, adding a new layer to his history of shaky financial management. “Marco has employed a full-time household employee since 2010 and paid all applicable taxes annually as reflected in his tax returns. She is, and has been, a permanent legal resident during...

A new poll by Rasmussen Reports shows that the overwhelming majority of Republican voters in the primary process do not place any positive value on a candidate endorsement by former GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney. Only 15% of "Likely Republican Voters" say they are more likely to vote for a candidate Romney endorses, whereas 17% are less likely to vote for that candidate, and 67% say Romney's endorsement would have no impact on their voting decision. Among all voters, 10% are more likely to vote for a candidate Romney endorses, 18% are less likely to do so, and 71% say...

Republican elites are begrudgingly embracing Ted Cruz—and hanging Marco Rubio out to dry. Panicked at Donald Trump’s dominance and dismayed by Rubio’s continued inability to do anything about it, some top Republican power brokers are turning to Cruz, putting aside their policy and personal misgivings to back the candidate they now openly label as their best hope to stop Trump’s GOP takeover. “He seems to be the only guy who’s got some momentum, and is probably the best situated if there is anybody out there to beat Trump,” said Austin Barbour, a prominent Mississippi-based GOP operative. “That’s why there are...

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) wants to know if the military would carry out orders illegal under international law after GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump suggested it would if he wins the White House. Graham, who put national security at the center of his failed White House bid, sent a letter Friday to Gen. Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, about potential future presidential orders to intentionally target terrorists' families or reinstate waterboarding. "If issued orders to target noncombatants, including children, or to use waterboarding or other extreme interrogation techniques, would you view these orders as lawful?"...

Donald Trump repeatedly attacked Mitt Romney on Thursday ahead of the speech in which Romney is expected to torch the Republican presidential frontrunner. "Mitt Romney is a stiff. Mitt Romney will not get elected. Mitt Romney failed twice and really failed last time," Trump said on NBC's "Today" show, referring to Romney's two past presidential bids.

The Republican Party was in a state of pandemonium Wednesday as a clutch of independent groups scrambled to throw together a last-ditch effort to deny Donald Trump the presidential nomination, even as some party figures concluded it was now too late to stop the billionaire mogul. The decentralized and desperate stop-Trump campaign found a possible new leader in Mitt Romney, the party’s 2012 presidential nominee, who is expected to deliver a forceful, top-to-bottom indictment of Trump in a speech on Thursday. In a flurry of conference calls and meetings, top Republican donors and strategists laid plans for a multimillion-dollar assault...

Paul Ryan's team has been in contact with Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump’s campaign to discuss the party’s agenda going into the November elections, the House Speaker's office says. Ryan (R-Wis.) is expected to communicate with the rest of the presidential field as well, as the GOP prepares to unveil an official policy platform this spring. “We have heard from the campaign, but the two have not yet spoken. We expect the speaker to be in touch with all the remaining candidates soon to discuss our efforts to build a bold conservative policy agenda for 2017,” Ryan spokesman Brendan Buck...

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch argued Wednesday that Republicans would be "mad" not to rally around Donald Trump should the businessman become the GOP presidential nominee. Murdoch, who suggested earlier this week that Republicans should "close ranks to fight real enemy," shared a tweet Wednesday saying Trump is "reaching out to make peace" with members of the party. "If he becomes inevitable party would be mad not to unify," Murdoch wrote.

In the mid-2000s, Marco Rubio was described as having “represented local governments before Congress” — meaning that he was a lobbyist — for a prestigious Florida law firm. Officials for the Florida senator’s presidential campaign have said in recent days that Rubio wasn’t a lobbyist. The Washington Post first reported that Rubio had registered as a federal lobbyist in the 2003 for the law firm Becker & Poliakoff. His campaign said the senator had no recollection of filing out the registration form, and a former associate who worked with Rubio at the law firm said that he could not recall...

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EXCERPT “I don’t believe it is lost territory,” Rubio responded. “Florida is a unique place to poll for a bunch of different reasons, including a significant number of Republican voters in South Florida who get the majority of their information in Spanish. Cuban-American Republicans are over 10% of the whole electorate.” “Look, Florida, those are not accurate numbers you have seen,” he said. “We have our own numbers, I think we will see other numbers that will show the same. It’s going to be close, but we know how to win in Florida and we will.”

Sen. Marco Rubio Tuesday night rejoiced in the Super Tuesday results, saying “his [Trump] numbers are coming down and our numbers are going up!” He was declared the winner in Minnesota with slightly more than one third of the votes and Ted Cruz and Donald Trump at his heels. But he was third in most of the rest of the states. “We never said Super Tuesday was our night,” he said, “Now the map begins to look really good for our campaign.” (snip) Tapper, however, didn't see it. "Senator, you keep saying that," he said, of Rubio's messaging that Trump...

A reader, Ken Fitzpatrick, read about what has been called a secret recording of Donald Trump’s meeting in January with The Times editorial board. On that recording, an article by Buzzfeed’s editor in chief Ben Smith suggests, Mr. Trump says that his extreme position on deporting immigrants is not anything he would necessarily carry out in real, postelection life, but rather might be a starting point for negotiation. (snip) My take: Having agreed to an off-the-record conversation, The Times (both editorial department and news side) was and is obligated to honor that arrangement, as Mr. Fitzpatrick rightly notes. The trouble...

A video has emerged to settle the back-and-forth dispute between Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)97% and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL)79% as to how the Florida senator voted on a gun-control proposal in 1999. On Feb. 27, Ted Cruz said Rubio voted to “ban guns from city parks” while a commissioner in West Miami City.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL)79% is maintaining a blistering campaign pace, concluding a fourth rally in the state of Virginia last night in Salem, Virginia, in front of a huge crowd of supporters. But he wasn’t finished insulting Donald Trump, mocking the size of his hands — and alluding to the size of his manhood. “He’s always calling me ‘Little Marco’ … and I’ll admit he’s taller than me, he’s 6’2″ which is why I don’t understand why he has hands the size of someone who’s 5’2″. Have you seen his hands? You know what they say about men with small...

Published on Feb 28, 2016 COMPLETE INTERVIEW: Chris Wallace Interviewes Ted Cruz On "Fox News Sunday" (2/28/2016)

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie rallied with Donald Trump in Oklahoma last night, mocking Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL)79% for his newfound willingness to attack Donald Trump. “Let’s have one more message for someone who has had a pretty big mouth today — Marco Rubio your campaign is almost over buddy,” Christie said.

Rick Perry, who has twice dropped out of races for the Republican presidential nomination, isn't ruling out another shot at the White House. The former Texas governor told CNN that he wouldn't be surprised if there's a brokered convention for the Republican nomination this year - and hinted if that happened he might be ready to give it another go. (snip) Perry said if there's a "brokered" convention then it would be "a whole new ballgame for everyone." Without a clear consolidation of the field, many have floated the possibility of Republicans going to Cleveland this summer without a presumptive...

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL)79% is again floating the possibility that Donald Trump, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)97% , or he himself might fail to earn the necessary 1,236 delegates required to win the Republican presidential nomination. That would mean taking the fight to a brokered convention. During an interview on CBS "This Morning," Rubio was questioned about a CNN report that revealed Rubio's campaign manager had prepared donors in New York for the possibility. "If you look at the way it's going now, no one may have that number of delegates and that in and of itself would trigger a convention...