Free Republic

With 2016 rumblings abounding, we forgot about Rick Santorum. The former Pennsylvania Senator threw some early punches last week at his potential rivals, calling Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) “bomb throwers,” who had no real accomplishments on their resumes (via NYT): Discussing Mr. Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor and winner of the 2008 Iowa caucuses, Mr. Santorum raised four policy issues that he said would prompt questions about Mr. Huckabee’s fealty to conservative principles. Mr. Santorum was even harsher when discussing Mr. Paul of Kentucky and Mr. Cruz of Texas, both first-term senators, dismissing them as...

MYRTLE BEACH, South Carolina — Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) tells Breitbart News that he’s “very, very seriously” considering launching a presidential candidacy for 2016. Cruz adds that he thinks a bold conservative needs to win the GOP nomination next time around, or else he fears Democrats are likely to win the White House as they did in 2008 and 2012. “God bless South Carolina. South Carolina has historically played a critical role in helping select Republican presidential nominees,” Cruz said in an interview here at the state’s Tea Party Coalition Convention: South Carolina’s central role has been ensuring that we...

As Jeb Bush and Mitt Romney battle behind the scenes for big money donors, Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz is working to portray himself as the presidential candidate of the conservative base. Speaking to tea partiers in South Carolina over the weekend, Cruz cautioned that Republicans will lose the White House in 2016 if the nominee is insufficiently conservative. “If we nominate a candidate in that mold, the same people who stayed home in 2008 and 2012 will stay home in 2016 and the Democrats will win again,” Cruz told the crowd. His comments come as the Texas senator —...

Sen. Ted Cruz, Texas Republican, reiterated his pitch on Sunday that if Republicans nominate a moderate candidate to be their presidential nominee in 2016, they’ll lose the White House to the Democrats again.He called GOP candidates like 2012 nominee Mitt Romney, Sen. John McCain, the party’s 2008 nominee and 1996 nominee and former Sen. Bob Dole “good, honorable, and decent men” — but not what the GOP needs in 2016.If we nominate a candidate in that mold, the same people who stayed home in 2008 and 2012 will stay home in 2016

 SEE: Cruz: Abolish the IRS January 13th , 2015 ”Republican Sen. Ted Cruz said Monday that Republicans should take advantage of their control of Congress to abolish the Internal Revenue Service. “We need to pass fundamental tax reform making our tax code simpler, flatter, fairer,” he said Monday at Heritage Action’s 2015 conservative policy summit. ”And I’ll tell you, the single most important tax reform, we should abolish the IRS.” What is discouraging is, the above article goes on to say that Senator Ted Cruz ”… acknowledged it’s not really possible to abolish the IRS or adopt a flat tax...

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (AP) - Sen. Ted Cruz urged archconservatives on Sunday to help nominate a Republican from their own ranks in 2016 or risk losing a third consecutive national election. The unspoken message: someone like him.Cruz called GOP nominees like Mitt Romney in 2012, John McCain in 2008 and Bob Dole in 1996 "good, honorable and decent men" but not conservative enough. All lost their bids for the presidency."If we nominate a candidate in that mold, the same people who stayed home in 2008 and 2012 will stay home in 2016 and the Democrats will win again," Cruz told...

Ted Cruz delivered on Sunday what looked like a dry run of his 2016 presidential stump speech to the South Carolina activists who will help decide that election. In his first visit to the state, which will host the third presidential primary in February 2016, since October, Cruz told the state’s Tea Party activists that nominating a moderate in 2016 would lead Republicans to lose just like they have when those moderates led the ticket in the past. “If we nominate another candidate in the mold of a Bob Dole or a John McCain or a Mitt Romney, all of...

If you're not familiar with the following website, you need to. These guys have systematically all of the data concerning the delegates and nomination process for the parties and how delegates are selected, what counts, and what doesn't count. I've reviewed the list and am currently working on an IA projection map of the caucus and potential vote but waiting until the straw poll when I can start filling in candidates. Yet, when I review the total states, I find it difficult to see how the Establishment loses if they are unopposed by other Establishment candidates. Red States for the...

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is apparently causing headaches for his fellow Republican senators once again by pushing what many consider a sensible policy at what some call an inopportune time, according to a Sunday story in the Washington Examiner. Instead of repealing Obamacare or curtailing immigration, Cruz is proposing an amendment to the Keystone XL Pipeline authorization bill that would lift the 39-year ban on crude oil exports. The question, which many Republican senators have, is this the right time and is Keystone XL the right vehicle?As has previously been the case, Cruz has the facts on his side. The...

Tax Reform: Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, a possible Republican presidential candidate in 2016, might have hit on the most important fiscal issue facing the U.S.: the need for major tax reform. But he takes it a step further. Speaking Monday, the senator from Texas threw another thunderbolt: Republicans should use their control of Congress to get rid of the Internal Revenue Service. "We need to pass fundamental tax reform making our tax code simpler, flatter, fairer," he told a crowd at a Heritage Foundation event. "And I'll tell you, the single most important tax reform, we should abolish the IRS."...

Now that the Republicans have taken over Congress, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) will be chairman of the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Science, Space, and Competitiveness, which oversees the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Cruz issued a press release on Wednesday outlining his plans for the space agency. In his statement, which was titled "Focus NASA on Its Core Mission: Exploring Space, and More of It," Cruz said he wants to expand the US space program. "In 1962, President John F. Kennedy laid down a marker for space exploration that inspired a generation of Americans to reach for the stars,...

Editor’s note: Sen. Ted Cruz returned to Harris County on Jan. 9 to respond to a jury summons. As a member of the Senate, Cruz could have gotten an exemption from service. Dear editor: Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse (CALA) applauds Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) for answering the call for jury service. Despite being federally exempt from jury duty, Cruz took the time to show up and stress the importance of this bedrock civic duty. Unfortunately, not every citizen places such value on this civic duty. While nearly 90 percent of Texans believe serving on a jury is important, in some...

Texas senator proposes rolling back ban on oil exports The Republican senator from Texas and likely 2016 presidential contender has started a push to end a decades-old ban on crude exports that could force his fellow Republicans to take tough votes.Cruz hopes to attach an amendment lifting the ban, which blocks most overseas shipments of U.S. oil, to legislation moving through the Senate to greenlight the Keystone XL oil-sands pipeline. The push allows Cruz to cast himself as a free-market enabler of the American energy boom, which has unleashed a torrent of crude oil onto the domestic market as a...

...The new group, which does not yet have a name, is being de-facto led by former RSC Chairman Jim Jordan, although the formal leadership structure could change. It will also include Rep. Mick Mulvaney, who lost an election to become the chairman last year, disappointing many conservatives. The other founders are Reps. Justin Amash, Ron DeSantis, John Fleming, Scott Garrett, Raul Labrador, Mark Meadows, and Matt Salmon. Most but not all of those members are expected to renounce their RSC memberships, along with other members who will join the group. Many of the members will meet Tuesday evening with Sen....

Senator Ted Cruz, R-Texas, railed against the Obama administration for taking a pass on the Paris Unity Rally Sunday, when other heads of state had managed to make the trip after the terrorist attack last week. "How sad was it in the streets of Paris, as 40 world leaders walked down the street, absent was the United States of America? Where was the president? Where was the vice president? Where was the secretary of state? Where was the attorney general, who'd been there moments before, but chose to get on a plane and fly back home?" Cruz asked the audience...

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz took a swipe at Mitt Romney on Monday, saying that Republicans’ path to the presidency doesn’t cut through “the mushy middle.”

Monday at the Heritage Action for America’s second annual policy summit, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said President Barack Obama’s lackadaisical attitude toward radical Islam, as demonstrated by his failure to attend the Paris unity march, “encourages radical Islamic terrorists.”

Republican Sen. Ted Cruz said Monday that Republicans should take advantage of their control of Congress to abolish the Internal Revenue Service. “We need to pass fundamental tax reform making our tax code simpler, flatter, fairer,” he said Monday at Heritage Action’s 2015 conservative policy summit. ”And I’ll tell you, the single most important tax reform, we should abolish the IRS.” “The last two years have fundamentally changed the dynamics of this debate [on the tax code],” he said. “As we have seen the weaponization of the IRS, as we have seen the Obama administration using the IRS in a...

The Republican senator received raves from an audience at a policy conference at the Heritage Foundation Monday.Ted Cruz has already solidified his 2016 agenda. And some conservatives can't get enough of it. On Monday at the Heritage Foundation's Conservative Policy Summit, a two-day policy primer in Washington, the Texas senator and likely presidential contender laid out the points of his platform for the newly sworn in Republican Congress—and urged his colleagues to stick to their campaign promises. "Let's stand up and lead," he said. "Let's lead with a big, bold, positive agenda, that says to the American people, 'You had...

We must never hesitate to stand with our allies. We should never hesitate to speak the truth. In Paris or anywhere else in the world. On Sunday, leaders representing Europe, Israel, Africa, Russia, and the Middle East linked arms and marched together down Place de la Concorde in Paris. But, sadly, no one from the White House was found among the more than 40 Presidents and Prime Ministers who walked the streets with hundreds of thousands of French citizens demonstrating their solidarity against radical Islamic terrorists. The absence is symbolic of the lack of American leadership on the world stage,...