Free Republic

Seizing on Israeli opposition to President Barack Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran, Republicans are working to cultivate Jewish voters, reasoning that a small shift in the margins could help them in battleground states like Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Democrats dismiss the effort as demagoguery from the right, saying that most Jewish voters will remain loyal to the left. The front-runner for their party’s presidential nomination, former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, is among those supporting the agreement. […] The Republican Jewish Coalition’s Mark McNulty said the agreement to restrict Iranian nuclear development in exchange for sanctions relief is “the...

The presidential election is still sixteen months away, but this much is clear: Hillary Clinton is a vulnerable candidate. Since announcing her candidacy in April, Clinton’s stature has steadily slipped. Things got even worse this week. We learned, first, that Bernie Sanders eclipsed Clinton in small, individual donations, which is an indicator of popular support among likely voters. Second, and more problematic, the newest AP poll revealed significant weaknesses among Democrats on a host of issues, including trust, character, and compassion for average Americans. These numbers are alarming heading into the general election, especially for Democrats. Bernie Sanders is running...

“Kennedy was young and appealing and ostensibly liberal, but I think at that point, seeing through Kennedy, and what liberalism was, was probably a significant step for me to understand that conventional politics or liberalism was not what was relevant.” Vermont senator and Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders once said that he was “physically nauseated” by a speech made by President John F. Kennedy when Sanders was a young man, because Kennedy’s “hatred for the Cuban Revolution […] was so strong.” “Kennedy was young and appealing and ostensibly liberal,” Sanders reminisced in a 1987 interview with The Gadfly, a student...

You should go to an Alabama Democratic Executive Committee meeting, even if you are a Republican. No matter what anyone says, racism is not a thing of the past, and there's no better reminder -- of its existence and of its corruptive, disruptive and self-defeating influence -- than attending an SDEC [State Democratic Executive Committee] meeting. Last week Alabama Democrats gathered in Montgomery to fight the same battle they've been fighting for the last several years. Nationally, Democrats have done a good job of cobbling together many smaller constituencies into majorities, and with them winning the White House.

Senior Democrats pushed back Thursday against an undercover government probe of President Barack Obama’s health care law, saying it didn’t uncover any real fraud. Investigators for the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office signed up 11 bogus beneficiaries for 2014 coverage then got HealthCare.gov to continue benefits this year for all but one. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said these were “fictitious cases” and the GAO investigators themselves admit the findings can’t be translated to the 10 million people getting subsidized coverage through the law’s health insurance markets. Wyden spoke at a Finance Committee hearing on the investigation. But GAO’s audits chief Seto...

The media loves to browbeat Republican presidential candidates with "gotcha" questions – questions designed to trip up or embarrass a candidate by making him or her seem extreme, uncompassionate, or incompetent. The questions can be about almost anything, but the darlings are religion, sex, evolution, gay marriage, and abortion. During a February trip to London, Wisconsin governor Scott Walker was asked if he believes in evolution. He responded, "I'm going to punt on that one." In May, Senator Rand Paul was asked about exceptions to his pro-life stance in the abortion debate. He turned the tables on reporters by answering,...

Today, the only pro-abortion Republican running for the 2016 presidential nomination called for the defunding of Planned Parenthood. George Pataki, former governor of New York, has joined forces with nearly the entire GOP field in stating that Planned Parenthood should be stripped of their taxpayer dollars. David Catalfamo, a Pataki spokesman, said: “The video is abhorrent and Governor Pataki would support ending federal funding for Planned Parenthood.” Live Action has previously reported on the statements of most of the GOP presidential hopefuls, who are advocating for the defunding of Planned Parenthood, based on its horrendous selling of baby parts and...

A devastating report by the Heritage Foundation reveals yet another arena where the Obama administration, with the blessings of the Democrat Party, is fundamentally transforming the United States of America. "The U.S. military may be weaker than you think,” the report states. "All but one branch of America’s military and nuclear forces are currently operating at ‘marginal' strength levels.” The Heritage Foundation’s conclusions are strikingly at odds with the 2014 Quadrennial Defense Review, which maintains the U.S. can still fight two major conflicts simultaneously. Yet that same report highlights the reality that beginning in FY2012 the Department of Defense began absorbing the "significant...

Planned Parenthood’s best friends in Congress are rushing to the defense of the abortion business today after a shocking expose’ video caught its top doctor discussing how the abortion company is involved in the sale of body parts from babies victimized by abortions. New undercover footage shows Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s Senior Director of Medical Services, Dr. Deborah Nucatola, describing how Planned Parenthood sells the body parts of aborted unborn children and admitting she uses partial-birth abortions to supply intact body parts. In the video, Nucatola is at a business lunch with actors posing as buyers from a human...

Most Americans think of Iran as an enemy of the United states, but a narrow majority still supported a diplomatic relation in a poll conducted on the eve of the nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers. ... Most Want Diplomacy, Like Sanctions A slim majority of Americans (51 percent) said the United States should have a diplomatic relationship with Iran, the AP-GfK poll found, slightly more than the 45 percent who said it should not. At the same time, sanctions against Iran were still popular... Americans See Iran As Enemy ... Republicans Like A Hardline Approach Among Republicans, 6...

One of the most powerful – if not THE most powerful – political themes in American politics is “send them a message.” Yet, in an election year when the “them” in Washington are the target of voter wrath from both Left and Right, only three of the 20+ candidates running for President are “message carriers.” The three message carriers; Democrat Bernie Sanders and Republicans Donald Trump and Ted Cruz have different messages, but they have one thing in common – voting for them is a clear rejection of the status quo in their parties, and in the conduct of the...

Texas Senator and Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) argued “the Democratic Party supports illegal immigration” on Tuesday’s “On the Record” on the Fox News Channel. Cruz said that sanctuary cities were a “persistent problem” where “you’ve got, often Democratic, mayors who are elected from the far left and who decline enforce the law. Now, it varies in terms of how brazen it is. It’s not always as brazen as San Francisco is, but it’s a problem when you have cities that are in the control of the Democrats and don’t want to follow the law.”

WASHINGTON - Marilyn Mosby, the Baltimore City State’s Attorney, catapulted to national fame when she decided in early May to prosecute six police officers for the death of Freddie Gray. In her remarks, Mosby used her family of Boston police officers as a shield against critics who said she could not fairly prosecute the case. --- snip --- Sources told me to look into Mosby’s family’s personnel records at the Boston Police Department. Two months ago, I put in Public Records Law request for personnel records for Mosby's mother and two uncles. --- snip --- In 2003, Linda Thompson was...

In the wake of last week’s tragic shooting of a San Francisco woman by an undocumented immigrant, front-running GOP candidate Donald (“The Duck”) Trump is fanning the flames of racism and xenophobia among his Republican base. His strategy is to use anti-immigrant hysteria in order to win the White House next year. Why does the issue of immigration resonate with the GOP base, and what will the GOP candidates be pushing this election cycle? The primary divide within the GOP on immigration is primarily between two factions. One faction consists of xenophobic populists (such as Trump and Cruz) who want...

‘My sole focus is to run as a Republican,” Donald Trump told my Washington Examiner colleague Byron York last week, “because of the fact that I believe that this is the best way we can defeat the Democrats.” He went on, “Having a two-party race gives us a much better chance of beating Hillary and bringing our country back than having a third-party candidate.” But when York asked if he would definitively rule out running as a third-party candidate, Trump said, “It’s not something I’m thinking about right now.” And as John Fund pointed out in National Review, it is...

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker announced Monday that he is running for President of the United States. With Walker's announcement, the Republican field of Presidential contenders is expected to include 17 major candidates by summer's end. Consensus among political insiders is that three of those 17 candidates have both a clear shot at winning the nomination and being competitive in a general election matchup with Hillary Clinton. Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush and Walker have been dubbed the three candidates to watch in the coming months. Although Democrats salivate at the thought of facing an unelectable Republican like Ted Cruz or Donald...

This has been a tough few weeks for Republicans. Donald Trump is emerging as a far more complex threat to the party’s future than it first appeared. It remains nearly impossible for him to win the nomination and he probably lacks the attention span for an independent run, but that’s cold comfort. Viability as a candidate is not what makes him dangerous. By loudly embracing the party’s nastiest impulses, Trump threatens to topple a domino that could force the GOP into an open split and a full rebranding. Though rare, there is a precedent for this phenomenon in the Republican...

Soon opening, the Barack Hussein Obama II Memorial Park Much like when Brig. Gen. Montgomery C. Meigs, who commanded the garrison at Arlington House, appropriated the grounds of General Robert E. Lee's mansion on June 15, 1864, for use as a military cemetery. Meigs intention was to render the house uninhabitable should the Lee family ever attempt to return. Much like the punishment that was placed upon General Robert E. Lee and his property to serve as a constant reminder that he was on the wrong side of the war, this Memorial Park is being named in honor of the...

Speaking to a cheering Latino crowd, Sanders promised he would bring justice to undocumented people. Democrat presidential candidate Bernie Sanders spoke out against racism and advocated for significant immigration reform on Monday, contesting media criticism that he has failed to connect with African-American and Latin American communities. Sanders spoke at the National Council of La Raza, the largest Latino advocacy group in the U.S., to share his views on racism, immigration reform and economic inequality in the country. After recognizing the history of racism that “has played in the United States since its inception,” including the near-genocide of Native Americans...

Former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley lashed out at Donald Trump on Monday, arguing that the Republican presidential candidate's recent comments about Mexican immigrants were "hate speech" and that the GOP should do more to distance itself from a "hate-spewing character." The real problem isn't that the Republicans have such a hate-spewing character running for president," O'Malley told the annual conference of the National Council of La Raza in Kansas City, Mo. "The problem is that it’s so hard to tell him apart from the other candidates."