Free Republic

Could you imagine the uproar that would occur if the Democrat Party appointed as its CFO someone with a long history of supporting marriage as only between a man and a woman, the sanctity of life, and the Second Amendment? No, you can't imagine it for the same reason you can't imagine riding your unicycle to Saturn. Both are impossible. Unless the literal hand of God swooped down and made it so, in no known universe would today's Democrat Party put someone who was an anathema to the values enshrined in its platform in charge of the mother's milk of...

Despite a torrent of deceptive push polls showing that Americans are agog over amnesty, politicians in both parties understand Americans are overwhelmingly against their amnesty agenda. After all, 67% of blue state voters in Oregon rejected an effort to grant drivers licenses to illegal aliens, even though proponents of the ballot measure outspent opponents by 10-1. Accordingly, all of their amnesty bills will be couched in faux border security parlance, much like they did with the Gang of 8 bill in 2013. The latest Trojan Horse for amnesty is the “McCaul border bill,” which is authored by Rep. Michael McCaul...

Republican operatives linked to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have launched a new super PAC focused on keeping the Senate in GOP hands in 2016, when they'll face a much tougher map and a political climate that favors Democrats. The new super PAC, called the Senate Leadership Fund, will work with American Crossroads, another major GOP super PAC, to defend Republican-held seats and help nominate the most electable candidates in primaries to contest Democratic-held seats, according to a source familiar with the group's plans. American Crossroads will also be heavily engaged in the GOP presidential primary fight, however, and Republicans...

Upon opening their legislative sessions in 2015, these states have Article V applications in one or both houses: AZ MA MO MT NH NJ ND SC VA WY

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — The past year has not been kind to the tea party: Its most prized candidates were crushed in primary elections to establishment-backed foes, then it watched in dismay earlier this month as conservatives in Congress failed to block John Boehner from another term as House speaker. Five years into its existence, the tea party is a movement adrift, interviews with conservative activists at this weekend’s South Carolina Tea Party Coalition Convention show. Its members are at odds over what went wrong in the 2014 election and on how to move forward in 2016; there’s even disagreement...

A vote on Trade Promotion Authority (TPA, better known as "Fast Track") is likely to come up in March as Senator Mitch McConnell (left, R-Ky.), Repressentative Paul Ryan (center, R-Wis.), Senator Orrin Hatch (right, R-Utah), and other GOP leaders line up Republican votes to push for Obama’s U.S.-Atlantic-Pacific merger pacts. "The first thing we ought to do is pass trade promotion authority," new House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Paul Ryan said at a committee hearing on the U.S. economy, according to a January 14 report on politico.com. Ryan argued that TPA would allow the White House to bring back...

U.S. Sen. Rob Portman (R., Ohio) enjoys an unbroken record of election success, has a campaign war chest that is one of the Senate’s deepest, and claims the endorsement of just about every Republican party officer and elected official in the state. But he’ll still face a Democratic opponent in the general election, and possibly a primary opponent. Two weeks ago Mr. Portman released a list of endorsements with about 250 names including elected Republicans, county chairmen, and state central committee members. snip Matt Borges, chairman of the Ohio Republican Party, said that even though Republican voters will decide in...

Speaker of the House John Boehner has rewarded Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX), one of the most well known candidates who challenged him in his successful effort to be re-elected Speaker, with a powerful Subcommittee Chairmanship. The news that Gohmert and others who publicly rebelled against Boehner have received gavels to chair powerful House subcommittees rather than one-way tickets to the House basement has angered several Boehner loyalists. On Thursday, Gohmert said he had been named chairman of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee of the Natural Resources Committee. According to current practice in the House, committee chairmen have the authority to...

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...

Greetings from the “delusionally insane right.” Senator Cruz has used the term “mushy middle” in describing Mitt Romney the other day, and certainly some of the people in that Breitbart article fit the description. The exact sentence in the Breitbart piece by Matt Boyle was: “While posting Lord’s article, (Grover Norquist aide Ryan) Ellis described Cruz and Lord as “from the ‘delusionally insane’ wing of the for-profit Right.” It is certainly amusing if nothing else as this Breitbart story, the nominal focus of which is immigration, comes amid all the sudden maneuvering between the Jeb Bush and Mitt Romney camps,...

On Thursday, the Mexican government began issuing birth certificates to its citizens at its 50 U.S.-based consulates, a move that will make it easier for illegal immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses and work permits and to stay in the U.S. under President Obama’s executive amnesty decision. In the past, Mexican citizens had to obtain their birth certificates from offices in Mexico. Individuals would often have relatives and friends obtain the documents and send them into the U.S. But with the Mexican government’s help, its U.S.-based citizens will receive documents more quickly, which will help them apply for amnesty under Obama’s...

The GOP’s most outspoken proponent of comprehensive immigration reform let loose in an interview with reporters here, detailing quiet efforts to draft far-reaching legislation, saying House leadership is “committed” to bringing the hot-button topics on the floor and criticizing President Obama for carrying out too many deportations. “We’re the party of deportation? Look at this president’s numbers!” Rep. Jeff Denham said. The California Republican says he is part of a working group laying the ground work to bring forward comprehensive immigration reform, and that top-ranking Republicans are supportive of addressing the full gamut of immigration topics in legislation in 2015....

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who repeatedly clashed with GOP leaders in the last Congress, has not been asked to return as vice chairman of grassroots outreach for the Senate Republican campaign arm. National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) said neither Cruz nor Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), who was the NRSC’s finance vice chairman in the last election cycle, would serve additional stints in the committee’s leadership. “No, Rob is up for reelection. We wouldn’t ask him to do that,” Wicker said. “I think we’ll be releasing some names in the next week of people willing to do this.”...

Conservative movement leaders are unveiling the mandate they say Republicans have heading into this new Congress, after voters gave them a majority in both the House and Senate for the first time during President Obama’s tenure. The document, obtained exclusively by Breitbart News, details how the conservative leaders expect Republicans in Congress to “stop” Obama’s “fundamental transformation of America,” something they say the American people made clear in the 2014 midterm elections with such resounding GOP victories. “The November 2014 election was a repudiation of the complicity of the United States Congress in President Obama’s dramatic and unconstitutional expansion of...

Mitt Romney told donors that he's running for president in 2016. Many have speculated that this hurts Jeb Bush, and some have really had a good time dreaming about an epic fight between the two men who won't be getting any base support. I know this isn't breaking news, but it really should be understood. Both Jeb and Mitt are prime examples of where the beltway wants to take the Republican Party. When you read Jeb, think: amnesty. When you read Mitt, think: Obamacare. As if after this country has been beaten into mediocrity and submission to the state, by...

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), a likely 2016 presidential contender, took a shot Wednesday at a possible rival, saying it was "the definition of insanity" for Mitt Romney to launch a third White House bid. "It’s sort of what Einstein said, that the definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over again and expect a different result,” Paul told the New Hampshire Journal. “A couple of months ago he said that he’d had his chance and it was time for somebody new. He was probably right when he said that," Paul added. "I think we do need...

The House adopted an amendment Wednesday to freeze a 2012 program allowing illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. as children to apply for work permits. Passage fell largely along party lines by a vote of 218-209. But 26 Republicans, many of whom represent districts with large minority populations, voted against the amendment. Adoption of the amendment onto a $40 billion base funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security makes it unlikely to pass in the Senate, where it will need 60 votes to advance. The amendment would prohibit funds for new or renewed applications for the Deferred Action...

More than two dozen House Republicans broke with their party on Wednesday to oppose defunding a program that lets those who entered the U.S. illegally as children to stay in the country, a sign of tension within the party on immigration. A total of 26 GOP lawmakers bucked leadership and voted with Democrats against an amendment to defund Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. snip Freshman Reps. Ryan Costello (R-Pa.), Carlos Curbelo (R-Fla.), Crescent Hardy (R-Nev.), John Katko (R-N.Y.), Tom MacArthur (R-N.J.) and Martha McSally (R-Ariz.) all voted with Democrats on the amendment, as did perennial Democratic targets including Reps....

Some Democrats will likely join in a plan to defund President Barack Obama's executive action on immigration, Sen. Mike Lee says, but he isn't speculating whether enough will actually cross the aisle and vote to block the plan. "There is an instinct of many Democratic senators to want to support the president because he is a member of their political party," the Utah Republican told The Daily Signal. "But there are people all over the country who, regardless of how they feel about the underlying policy, there is a lot of discomfort with what the president has done." Most Democrats...

Conservatives backing immigration reform aren’t quite done trying to lobby Hill Republicans on an overhaul. Key leaders on the right, including anti-tax activist Grover Norquist, will host a briefing for lawmakers and aides on the Hill on Tuesday to provide information from “trusted conservatives” about how to tackle immigration reform from a “faith, law enforcement and business perspective,” according to a notice obtained by POLITICO. Story Continued Below . . “We all know the struggles our broken immigration system causes our nation,” Norquist, along with the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission’s Barrett Duke, wrote in the email sent...