Free Republic

The head of Numbers USA says the Republican presidential candidate who's the strongest proponent of immigration enforcement may not be on the debate stage this week. When you listen to Rick Santorum versus the other candidates, says Roy Beck, "you want to say, Why are these other candidates not standing for the American worker and the American family?" While Donald Trump has made headlines by for pushing stronger border enforcement, it's Rick Santorum who has the highest marks at Numbers USA. In fact, the former Pennsylvania senator is the only presidential candidate of either party to score an "A" on...

Ahead of Monday night’s Voters Forum featuring 14 Republican presidential candidates, the state Democratic Party chairman attributed the surge of Donald Trump to the top of GOP polls to a rise in the number of “low-information voters who don’t want to deal with the facts.” Raymond Buckley said there has been a “transformation” of the Republican Party, including in New Hampshire, from a more moderate base to a “monolithic entity that is really controlled by either the Koch brothers or the tea party extremists.” The reference was to conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch, who fund numerous conservative organizations. “There...

A new oligarchic era of American politics came into full view on Friday, as super PACs disclosed fundraising details showing billionaires bankrolling the 2016 presidential race to an unprecedented degree. The unlimited-money super PACs account for one-third of all federal election funds raised in the first half of 2015 -- up from 4 percent at this time in the last presidential election. Three-quarters of all super PAC money came from more than 500 wealthy donors, corporations and unions in contributions above $100,000. More than half the money in the presidential race so far -- to super PACs and to campaigns...

Maureen Dowd's column over the weekend -- which reported that Beau Biden's dying wish was that his father run for president in 2016 -- has started anew a debate over whether the Vice President should or will make the race. There's tons of conflicting reporting on that question; some people are highlighting the fact that a longtime fundraiser for Beau has signed onto a draft effort for the vice president while others note that Biden has done nothing that would indicate he is moving toward the contest. Divining what's accurate and what's wishful thinking in all of this is made...

With Hillary Clinton's multiple misdeeds coming to light and causing her political problems, reflected in her declining support in the polls, both she and the Democratic Party have reason to be concerned. But both of them may yet be rescued by "The Donald," who can turn out to be their Trump card. Donald Trump has virtually no chance of becoming even the Republican Party's candidate in 2016, much less being elected President of the United States. The reason is not hard to understand: Republican voters simply do not trust him, as the polls show. Nor is there any reason why...

If “The Donald” loses the Republican presidential nomination and runs as a third-party candidate, he definitely could put a crimp in GOP hopes to reclaim the White House. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 29% of Likely U.S. Voters say they are at least somewhat likely to vote for Trump if he is not chosen as the GOP nominee and runs as a third party candidate. But that includes only 14% who say they are Very Likely to vote for him. Sixty-eight percent (68%) say they are unlikely to vote for the billionaire developer if he runs...

There's one person Hillary Clinton really wants the voters of America to get to know more than anybody else. And her name is Dorothy Rodham. Dorothy is Clinton’s late mother. She died in 2011. But she's playing a starring role in her daughter’s presidential campaign, and is the focus of Clinton’s first television ads. On Tuesday, Clinton’s campaign will begin broadcasting two TV ads in Iowa and New Hampshire. The one-minute spots, which will air over the course of five weeks, emphasize Clinton’s mother’s story over her own. The first ad, titled “Dorothy,” is almost completely devoid of any discussion...

Based on Real Clear Politics’ comprehensive average of data from the nation’s top polling outfits for the 2016 GOP presidential contest, Donald Trump holds a commanding 9.5 point lead against his fellow Republican hopefuls. But that number could be the least of the GOP establishment’s worries. Michael Needham, chief executive of the Heritage Action for America super PAC, said Sunday that Trump’s popularity has a great deal to do with Republican voters’ overall dissatisfaction with the GOP establishment. “Most Republican voters hate their party, and that’s what needs to be addressed,” Needham said on “Fox News Sunday.” The conservative figure...

RUSH: By the way, Joe Biden is... It's looking serious. I don't think there's any doubt about it. Once we learned that after his son passed away -- once they leaked the news -- that on his deathbed the son of Joe Biden, Beau Biden, urged his father to run, we kind of knew that confidence coming. And it looks like it is. Also, just to show you how unsettled the Democrat side -- and there's apparently big time panic (finally; should have been in there a long time) settling in regarding Hillary. Because now there's news out there that...

We were warned…In January 2008 Barack Obama told the San Francisco Chronicle: “Under my plan of a cap and trade system electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket. Businesses would have to retrofit their operations. That will cost money. They will pass that cost onto consumers.” He promised that his plan would cause electricity rates to skyrocket. He wasn’t kidding.On Saturday Obama announced his new energy plan that will squeeze energy companies and force consumer prices to necessarily skyrocket. President Obama will release details on his anti-business plan later on Monday.Today Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) said Barack Obama’s new EPA regulations are...

p>At a standing-room only event in Beverly Hills on Saturday, Presidential Candidate and Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) spoke to a packed synagogue of people angry about the Obama Administration’s newly inked deal with the Republic of Iran.In his statements, Cruz took time to differentiate what a Cruz Presidency’s foreign policy would look like as compared to the current administration.Here are some excerpts from his speech: “Today the threats facing Israel, the threats facing America, the threats facing the world have never been greater.When we call evil by its name, it has a clarifying power that has never been more needed...

What goes around comes around, as the saying goes. A cellphone number belonging to real estate mogul Donald Trump became public knowledge on Monday. Trump’s campaign confirmed that it was indeed a cellphone number belonging to the Republican presidential candidate, albeit one that he doesn’t use anymore. A call to the number immediately goes to voice mail after a voice says, “Please leave your name and message and we’ll get back to you shortly.” “It’s a very old number. This is not one he uses. Mr. Trump has several numbers so this is not an issue,” the campaign said in...

Rep. Mark Meadows put John Boehner on the spot with his “motion to vacate” the speakership last week, and now it appears that the challenge has legs. According to an exclusive report by Matthew Boyle of Breitbart, Boehner’s forces have been “whipping” members (calling them up, asking them how they would vote, and possibly applying pressure) and as a result have concluded that they would lose a vote if the matter were taken up before the August recess. Perhaps Speaker Boehner imagines that the members will return to their districts and hear an outpouring of support for the speaker. If...

Presidential candidate said he would create and project American jobs Companies owned by GOP frontrunner Donald Trump have sought at least 1,100 foreign worker visas since 2000—a practice that stands in stark contrast to Trump’s self-portrayal as a presidential candidate who would create and project American jobs. A Reuters’ analysis of Department of Labor data shows that nine Trump-majority-owned companies have applied to bring waitresses, cooks, vineyard workers, and other laborers into the country on foreign worker visas. Most of the visa applications have gained approval, Reuters says. Palm Beach, Fla., resort Mar-a-Lago Club has sought the most foreign workers...

Securing the Border and Enforcing Our Immigration Laws When Clint Bolick and I published Immigration Wars in 2013, we presented a number of proposals to strengthen AmericaÂ’s immigration policy. Border security and the interior enforcement of immigration laws, including a greater role for states, formed key parts of this package of reforms. We emphasized that finding a practical solution to the status of the people who are here illegally today is a nonstarter if our borders are not secure against future illegal immigration.I believe that for those already in the country, we need to put in place a rigorous path...

According to Germany’s most influential political magazine, Spiegel, Angela Merkel has decided to run for a fourth term in power and has already started talks on who will run her campaign. […] If Merkel were to be re-elected in 2017 and then serve a whole four-year term, she would have been chancellor for 16 years, thus tying Helmut Kohl (CDU), who was chancellor from 1982-1998, as the longest serving chancellor in the history of the Bundesrepublik (the post-1945 German state). …

This isn't a glorious summer for Hillary Rodham Clinton. She's running for president as hard as she can, rolling out wonky policy proposals, holding town meetings, even talking with reporters now and then. But her poll numbers are down, especially on whether she's trustworthy and honest. Surveys that once had her trouncing any Republican opponent (Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, for example) show the gap has narrowed.

RJC Demands Obama stop demonizing Jews for opposing the Iran deal. Last week President Obama held a conference call with interested Americans, seeking to directly sell them on the nuclear deal the U.S. and its P5+1 partners made with Iran. Many Jews who listened on the call were taken aback by what they heard as coded anti-Semitic language being used by the President to attack those who are critical of the deal. On Friday, the Republican Jewish Coalition issued a statement demanding that Obama stop demonizing the critics of the Iran deal with code words for Jews. Matt Brooks, the...

President Barack Obama has a “blind spot” towards anti-Semitism that is evident in his administration’s outreach to Iran, Ruth Wisse, a scholar of Yiddish and comparative literature, wrote in an op-ed (Google link) published Friday in The Wall Street Journal. Yet when it comes to the world’s most widespread and ideologically driven racism, President Obama seems to have a blind spot, initiating a nuclear deal with the fanatical anti-Jewish regime in Tehran, despite what he calls Iran’s “bad behavior.” The euphemism this time is his, not that of the perpetrators, and it camouflages their intentions even if they won’t. Perhaps...

Six months before a single primary vote is cast, Fox News and the RNC are making a historic move — they have decided to make the decision for the voters and arbitrarily limit the GOP field to ten. They have chosen who constitutes a serious candidate and who constitutes a B-lister based on the average of several early national polls. The use of national polling itself is problematic, as it gives a clear advantage to well-funded candidates with a clear national presence, while putting grassroots movements at a significant disadvantage. It also prioritizes celebrity over substance. In spite of her...