Free Republic

Jeb Bush’s likely presidential candidacy will face its first major test on Friday when he addresses a rowdy group of activists at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). It’s a critical moment for the former Florida governor as he looks to convince conservatives that he appeals to more than just the GOP establishment. Jeb Bush’s likely presidential candidacy will face its first major test on Friday when he addresses a rowdy group of activists at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). It’s a critical moment for the former Florida governor as he looks to convince conservatives that he appeals to...

The liberal hold on Hollywood is loosening. A persistent conservative mindset is emerging in the entertainment industry, replacing glitter with some red, white and blue as studios discover that Americans like America, and they pine for fare that uplifts the nation. Money talks. Consider that “American Sniper” has made $428 million at the box office since it opened six weeks ago, largely credited to a devoted heartland audience. A new breed of stars has claimed some turf. Plainspoken “Duck Dynasty” patriarch Phil Robertson was candid about his belief in traditional values and stood firm in the aftermath, despite a media...

Republicans must not let themselves be tricked into picking a moderate presidential nominee in 2016, by demanding their hopefuls have a demonstrated commitment to conservatism, Sen. Ted Cruz told an enthusiastic audience Thursday. Cruz, himself a likely presidential candidate, warned activists gathered at the Conservative Political Action Conference near Washington that voters who pick the GOP nominee are likely to hear a similar pitch: "You betcha. Who-diddley. I'm as conservative as all get out." But, without naming names, he suggested that many of those likely candidates lacked the record to back it up.

Another empty threat or the last straw?This is noteworthy, I think, not so much because there’s a legit prospect of mutiny as because it shows what a total strategic clusterfark the whole cromnibus/DHS/amnesty fiasco has been. Not only are Republicans at each other’s throats, there’s a nonzero chance that DHS may shut down this week because the Republican-controlled House and the Republican-controlled Senate simply can’t get on the same page. Imagine that. Imagine if the first big legislative standoff in the new GOP Congress ends with a stalemate between the two chambers rather than a stalemate between the GOP...

"....The shift in emphasis and tone is noticeable not only on abortion, but also on same-sex marriage, another issue of intense interest to social conservatives. A few weeks before the November election, in an interview with The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the governor sidestepped questions about his earlier opposition to abortion, and declined four times to answer directly when asked if abortion should be prohibited after 20 weeks — a position he had previously embraced. He also declined to restate his earlier opposition to abortion in cases of rape and incest. But in a breakout speech in Iowa on Jan. 24,...

State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf wrote her college honors thesis on “how conservative evangelical support for Israel complicates U.S. foreign policy,” according to Indiana University records. Harf’s thesis further illustrates the collegiate thinking in an Obama administration that has alienated a key American ally in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Harf, 33, previously worked on Obama’s 2012 campaign. Harf’s Indiana University honors political science professor said that Harf did not plan to pursue political science like her professor father Jim, but that she ended up becoming “pretty good” at it.“I always had a soft spot for Jim, since he first...

Here are the 10 most bizarre Tea Party bills currently being debated in the Montana Legislature, which is now controlled by the right wing of the Republican Party. Some of these bills, believe it or not, have a chance of making it to the governor’s desk. 1) Prepare for National Ammunition shortage (SB 122). When Obama comes to get our guns and bullets, Montana will be ready... 2) Establish Armed Militias in Every Town (SB 130). Even if we have enough bullets, Montana could still be in grave danger from the federal government... 3) Require that nipples and areolae be...

For those of us who are sort of fascinated by the rise of Scott Walker as a Republican presidential contender, here's an interesting chart from Jason McDaniel, a political science professor at San Francisco State University. It shows the relative conservative-ness of GOP presidential nominees in the past six contested elections, and it demonstrates what an outlier Walker would be if he won next year's primary: he'd be the first candidate since Ronald Reagan who's more conservative than the average of the Republican field. And by McDaniel's measure, he'd actually be the most conservative recent nominee, period—even more right-wing than...

When Barack Obama was first elected president of the United States, it was hard to predict what the coming years had in store. That’s always the case to some degree, of course — that’s the nature of the future. But even stipulating that predictions about the future are especially difficult, the final months of 2008 were especially tumultuous and uncertain. Through all the chaos, though, at least one thing seemed certain: the Republican Party, which had just gotten blown out for the second election in a row, was in deep, deep trouble. Fast-forward about six years, and the picture is...

".... Lisa Wagner, Romney's 2012 Midwest fundraising director, said that once voters meet Bush, "they see his head and his heart are connected" and they are "very, very taken" with his "sincerity."During a question-and-answer session after the Detroit speech, Bush said losing his first bid for Florida governor in 1994 taught him that winning campaigns requires building an emotional attachment with voters. When he won the job four years later, he said, he campaigned in places—from black churches to public schools in poor communities—where few expected a Republican to go for votes.That, Bush said, allowed him to "to connect on...

"... Among candidates that the conservative base consider “real” conservatives(as opposed to Jeb Bush and Chris Christie, apostates on various key issues),Walker is the most likely to win the Republican nomination.And Democrats should hope he gets the nod.The fundamentals suggest that the 2016 election will be extremely competitive. With economic growth picking up and President Obama’s approval rating trending back toward 50 percent,Democrats have a real chance now to capture a third term in the White House,historically a tough ask. But under all but the best conditions,Hillary Clinton will need every advantage she can get. As John Sides and Lynn...

As February begins, it is time again to look at the rankings of conservative websites.  Using Alexa's web analytics and monitoring a suite of over 100 sites, here are the top 40 conservative websites for February 2015 based on their U.S. rankings. Fox News has moved up into the top 50 of all websites in the United States, and the Wall Street Journal has also cracked the top 100.  Fox News is now ahead of the Washington Post (57th) and The Guardian (101st) for web traffic, and is catching up on the Huffington Post (26th) and the New York...

John Kasich has been making all sorts of news lately, but probably not the type he wants to be showing up in conservative chat rooms. Kasich has a pretty solid conservative portfolio from years past, and he’s still pushing for lower tax rates at home (in most cases) but even some of his more ardent supporters were shocked when he went on tour promoting Medicaid expansion for Obamacare. He also didn’t do himself any favors when he began dancing on the head of a pin for Common Core. (Wait.. this guy wants to run for President as a Republican?)But...

It’s time to admit that, whatever their motivation was at the time, the Alaska governor’s critics always had a point. Has conservative genuflection at the altar of Sarah Palin finally come to a halt? In case you missed it, her speech in Iowa this week was not well received on the right. The Washington Examiner’s Byron York called it a “long, rambling, and at times barely coherent speech” and National Review’s Charles C.W. Cooke said she slipped into self-parody. And there’s more. The Examiner’s Eddie Scarry, for example, contacted several conservative bloggers who were once Palin fans, but have since...

Donald Trump on Saturday slammed Mitt Romney and Jeb Bush as potential 2016 presidential candidates — a move that delighted the crowd of Iowa conservatives and demonstrated the two candidates’ potential liabilities in a GOP primary. The conservative real-estate magnate, speaking at the Iowa Freedom Summit in Des Moines hosted by Republican Rep. Steve King, spent several minutes criticizing both Romney and Bush and labeling them as weak candidates. ‘It can’t be Mitt — he ran and failed. He failed,’ Trump said, to applause….. ‘You can’t have Bush,’ Trump later added, a line that drew even more applause from the...

Mitt Romney’s opening pitch for a third shot at the White House left many Republicans scratching their heads, in part because his plans to fight poverty and tyranny seemed to borrow the lexicon of liberals like FDR, LBJ and Woodrow Wilson. With a full house of Republican National Committee members listening aboard the USS Midway in San Diego, Mr. Romney implored his party last week “to lift people out of poverty” and “to make the world safe.” The first phrase is a favorite of liberals who gush over Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal and Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society programs...

The Vatican and four Muslim leaders jointly condemned attack in Paris as European elites fear conservative wave By Julio Severo Four French Muslim leaders and the Vatican issued a joint declaration Thursday denouncing the Paris newspaper massacre. The declaration stressed that dialogue among religions was the only way to eliminate prejudice. According to the Associated Press, the Vatican has sought to mend relations with Islam that were initially strained under Pope Benedict XVI, who in 2006 made a speech that suggested Islam espouses violence. His suggestion caused storms of protest throughout the Islamic world. Even though Benedict said he...

Have you heard? Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) burned a cross on MLK Jr. day while riding on David Duke’s shoulders waving a Confederate flag soaked in African American and Jewish blood. Oh, and he is in the Republican Leadership as the token Conservative.Actually, everything in that first paragraph was a lie. Well, all except for the part about Scalise being the token Conservative in leadership. Despite the fact that the above is a lie, it is the narrative being set by the media and others for various differing reasons. The actual claim which came out this week, while contextually different...

It has become cliché for conservatives to lament the progressive politics of the writers, directors and actors in Hollywood. Whenever a major star “comes out” as a conservative — Clint Eastwood or James Woods, for example — the right latches on to them and hangs on their every politically relevant word.But Hollywood is a multi-billion dollar a year industry. Box office receipts in the U.S. alone were over $9 billion in 2014. Their goal is to produce films that audiences want to see again and again, not necessarily films that adhere to their progressive worldview. So what kind of movies...

"...........These potential defectors are mostly keeping quiet about it in public, but in a posting on Twitter over the weekend, Kentucky Rep. Tom Massie of Kentucky hinted he would oppose Boehner. He posted a photo of a sign that reads: “Next Speaker Please.” Such an attempt was tried two years ago, but ultimately failed: a group of conservatives tried to overthrow Boehner during the public vote, but only nine conservatives, frustrated with Boehner’s leadership, ended up voting against him. Organizers of that effort said more people had committed to vote against Boehner beforehand, but backed out before the vote. And...