Free Republic

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)Three names are being thrown around as the top contenders in the Republican Party: Governor Chris Christie, Senator Rand Paul and Senator Ted Cruz. With the 2016 presidential election in mind, many feel like the gloves have officially come off and the battle is ensuing to see who will represent the Republican Party in the race to lead our country. Senator Cruz discussed how he feels the complete opposite regarding Christie's recent comments about how he said his goal is to win elections, not arguments. “A big part of the reason why Republicans have been losing elections is because we...

In New Jersey, a moral drama is unfolding. Governor Chris Christie has presidential ambitions. He'd like to be as popular as possible with Republicans voters in important primary states like New Hampshire, Iowa, and South Carolina. He'd also like to do the right thing—or at least be seen as doing the right thing—when a piece of legislation crosses his desk, demanding a signature or veto. And those desires are now in conflict. There's an animal-welfare bill on his desk. Its premise is that slaughtering pigs to be consumed as carnitas or prosciutto or bacon or ham hocks is fine (if...

How do you know you are the governor of a failed state? When more residents there want to leave than want to stay. And that’s the case in New Jersey; the state’s historic high taxes are making life miserable for most and if given the chance, most would vote with their feet.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Making a rare Capitol Hill appearance, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Monday encouraged the GOP's newest members of Congress to embrace compromise and common ground as they shift to a governing role following their party's midterm rout. The Republican governor, who is contemplating a 2016 presidential bid, addressed newly elected House Republicans and their spouses during a closed-door orientation luncheon inside the Capitol. The often-outspoken Christie declined to answer questions from reporters afterward, but attendees said offered a distinctly bipartisan tone. "He did talk about compromise and finding common ground," said incoming Rep. Tom MacArthur, R-N.J....

The chief political strategist of the research firm Potomac Research Group released a new handicapping of the 2016 Republican presidential primary contest on Tuesday morning, and he had a somewhat surprising front-runner: Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida. Though Rubio hasn't been generating as many headlines as many of his competitors, the strategist, Greg Valliere, argued he uniquely benefited from the 2014 Republican landslide. "He flew beneath the radar screen this fall, but actually Rubio campaigned aggressively for GOP candidates," Valliere said. "He has a head start on putting together a campaign organization, and has shown increasing gravitas on key issues;...

There is an idiom that parents and employers likely put in practice when an important task has to be completed correctly; “If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.” President Obama certainly understands that sentiment with a slight variation; if the nation wants anything done at all, the President has to do it himself due to Republicans who have done nothing since January 2009. Sometime next week, after waiting patiently for Ted Cruz to order House Republicans to take up, and pass, the Senate’s bipartisan immigration reform, the President will take action on immigration reform. The...

Looking ahead to the 2016 presidential election, how influential were each of the potential GOP candidates during the midterm election? The Appinions study I wrote about on Monday provides great data to answer this question. The midterms continue to be a highly salient topic, despite the fact that it’s been just over a week since voters drew the curtain on the campaign. Indeed, Appinions "Active Attention Index," a metric based on the quantity and quality of reactions on the topic from opinion leaders across multiple media venues, grew 34 percent, from 129,000 the day after the election to 173,000 on...

Former two-term gubernatorial candidate and Congressman Tom Tancredo is forming a political action committee to “stop Chris Christie” from getting the GOP nod for president in 2016. (SNIP) “I have never liked the guy… [B]ecause he was concerned that I would, in fact, go against the [United States] Chamber of Commerce position on immigration and make it a big deal, and I might win, he chose to … spend a quarter of a million dollars of Republican money…to attack me, here, in Colorado. And launder the money through Attorneys General Association.”

Compared to his 2016 peers, he's on rocky footing going into primary season.Tuesday's GOP victory doesn't guarantee the party's success in 2016. But the race, which began as soon as AP called the midterms for the party, has steeled a few Republicans angling for presidential bids. One likely contender, however, already appears to be behind: Ted Cruz. The Texas senator certainly had a good election night. His party won a majority in the Senate, and he appeared on CNN and Fox News soon after the victory became clear to talk about the GOP's legislative plans with its newfound power. But...

If you only watched the pressÂ’s coverage the week before suspected Ebola carrier nurse Kaci Hickox determined to make a martyr of herself by refusing to abide by even voluntary quarantining regulations in her home state of Maine, you would have thought she was a political prisoner of the aspiring Caesar, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. Hickox became a media celebrity when she insisted that her mandatory quarantine amounted to a violation of both her human and constitutional rights, and that Christie, her implicit abuser, could be subject to legal action as a result. The press, as they are...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)If Republicans regain control of the Senate on Tuesday night, they will have good reason to gloat. They recruited much stronger, more sensible nominees this year -- no more candidates riding broomsticks or hurling insults at women. They also smartly accepted President Barack Obama's implicit challenge to make his record their centerpiece. But when they wake up from their celebrations, top GOP strategists such as Karl Rove will surely warn them: "Don't over-read this election. Yes, it opens up great opportunities for the next two years, but it does not open a clear path to seizing the White House and...

Nicole Colson reports on the stand that nurse Kaci Hickox has taken against the racist scaremongering of U.S. politicians in response to the Ebola crisis.KACI HICKOX went on a bike ride with her boyfriend last week--and it earned her national media attention. This "radical" act was a principled stand by Hickox--a nurse who recently returned from Sierra Leone, where she worked with Ebola patients as part of a team with the international medical group Doctors Without Borders--against the irrational and unproductive policies of U.S. officials regarding the Ebola epidemic. Hickox has been speaking out since her return to the U.S....

Democrats may be making their last stand in Arkansas. At the beginning of the cycle, Democrats touted a dream ticket that could help rally the party back to relevance after a series of stinging losses in the state. They cheered Sen. Mark Pryor’s (D) centrist profile and strong family name. In the governor’s race, they hoped former Rep. Mike Ross’s long string of successes in conservative southwest Arkansas would boost him. But months later, Pryor has trailed freshman Rep. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) for much of the summer in the Razorback State and former Rep. Asa Hutchinson (R-Ark.) has had a...

Hickox isn't backing away from challenging the home quarantine that's been forced on her in Maine. Meanwhile, Gov. Cuomo won't reveal the number of health care workers who have been subjected to the policy upon their arrival from West Africa.Civil rights lawyer Norman Siegel has defended countless victims of government abuse over the years, including people swept up in another hysterical call for health quarantines during the early days of the AIDS epidemic. But even the grizzled Siegel has been struck by the bravery and eloquence of Kaci Hickox, the 33-year-old nurse who telephoned him Saturday from a makeshift tent...

This clip confirms the extent to which condescension on the left has replaced efforts to convince those skeptical of the medical community’s assessment of Ebola’s communicability of their error. In an appearance on CNN on Thursday, Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) sought to assure the viewing audience that everyone (including, presumably, the Democratic governors of California, New Hampshire, and New York) is overreacting to the threat of Ebola. When probed by anchor Carol Costello as to why the president’s freshly appointed “Ebola Czar,” Ron Klain, has not come out publicly and assured the nation that there is no medical need to...

Governor Chris Christie explained to local reporters that he was confident with his quarantine policy to combat Ebola in spite of pressure from the Obama administration, explaining that his policy was based on “common sense.” “If you’ve been a healthcare worker who’s been directly exposed to the virus, active virus, and you come back to the U.S. you should quarantine for 21 days,” he said simply. Referring to Obama’s statement on the quarantine issue, Christie alluded that he was tired of being lectured for taking action in his state. “I don’t know when the White House is going to get...

This administration is fond of saying that its policy of opposing quarantining health care workers who may have come in contact with Ebola but embracing the internment of American soldiers in the same condition is based on “science.” Administration officials reportedly berated Govs. Andrew Cuomo and Chris Christie for imposing a mandatory 21-day quarantine on potentially symptomatic care workers who were exposed to Ebola by saying that this policy “doesn’t comport with science.” White House Press Sec. Josh Earnest insisted that the president’s administration acquiesced to the quarantining of American soldiers who served in Ebola-affected regions only because they...

Even though Amber Vinson has been declared Ebola-free, and has left Emory University Hospital, if this nation is to quarantine those (be they symptomatic or asymptomatic) who came into contact with someone like Thomas Duncan, then should those who have come into contact with Amber Vinson (be it on day 1 to the day she left the hospital) be quarantined? If Kaci Hickox is "obviously ill," per Chris Christie, then she would obviously be symptomatic according to Chris Christie. If she is symptomatic, then Chris Christie would not only have to quarantine her, but anyone who came into contact with...

Offering the first detailed account of how New York State’s quarantine order for travelers returning from West Africa will be put into effect, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s administration has issued guidelines that go beyond federal recommendations but seek to allow people to choose where to spend their enforced isolation. The state protocols show an effort by the administration to portray the quarantine, which has been criticized as excessive by some experts and doctors’ organizations, in a humane manner. The protocols are meant to ensure “a respectful and supportive approach” to arriving travelers, who are supposed to be “treated with the...

Ebola health care worker Kaci Hickox, who was released from quarantine with the support of the White House, is a Centers For Disease Control and Prevention employee, records reveal. The lawyer who helped earn her release is a recent White House state dinner guest.Hickox was released from Ebola quarantine in Newark, N.J., Monday afternoon after the White House pressured New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to release the nurse that was working in Sierra Leone with Doctors Without Borders. Hickox’s case for release was also bolstered by New York civil rights attorney Norman Siegel, who took on Hickox’s case.“I feel like...