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Republican presidential candidate Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said he stands by his outspoken criticism of fellow candidate and reality show star Donald Trump because he is worried about the country succumbing to an obsession with celebrity over substance. "My fear ... is that there are countries that do succumb to celebrity... often in the developing world, celebrities and very wealthy people will win," said Paul during a 22-minute pre-taped interview posted on the web site of NBC's "Meet the Press." "I worry about the country because I don't believe that there's any sincerity to what [Trump's] message is." "And even...

Attending Congressman Jeff Duncan's 5th. annual Faith and Values BBQ/fund raiser this evening.Scheduled speakers include: Dr. Ben Carson, Scott Walker, and my personal favourite; Sen. Ted Cruz. I more than likely will not receive any one-on-one time with these gentlemen but if given the chance to ask any or all of these a question, I respectfully ask my much more learned FReeper colleges what best and poignant question(s) to ask?

In order for a candidate to attract supporters, he needs at least one of two things: to show that he is winning, or to show that he has the potential to win. In the early stages, which we are now, a candidate can be viable and still be in single digits in the polls, as long as people think he has potential to move up. The minute he concedes that he's not going to win, he's lost. And that's just what Rand Paul has reportedly done. In March, U.S. Sen. Rand Paul put his odds of winning the Republican presidential...

Who are the leaders in this crowded race for the GOP nomination? If you look at national polls, the top three are Trump, Bush, and Carson. If you look at New Hampshire, it's Trump, Kasich, and Bush. If you look at Iowa, it's Trump, Carson, and Walker, though I don't know how proud Scott Walker can be to be third in a state that should almost be giving him a home-state advantage. But these polls by themselves don't show who the leaders are in the race. To know the answer to that question, you have to look at all the...

The clear hatred of the Republican establishment for Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and the mainstream media’s genuine fear that the articulate Cruz could be the nominee of the Republican Party in 2016 were clearly revealed in a telling exchange on NBC’s Meet the Press. Charlie Black—who worked on Ronald Reagan’s presidential campaigns in 1976, 1980, and 1984 before serving as senior political adviser to the 1992 re-election campaign of George H. W. Bush and chief campaign adviser for Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) in 2008—bluntly told host Chuck Todd that Donald Trump will not be the nominee of the Republican Party....

How meaningful is Donald Trump’s impressive lead in the polls, really? Not very meaningful, think most people in the know. Here’s why.Donald Trump’s authoritative lead in early polling in the 2016 Republican race for the presidential nomination has left Americans excited, confused and afraid. Trump hasn’t been out of first place in national polling since he filed as a candidate with the Federal Election Commission in mid-July. Most polls have him leading in the double digits. He is not only ahead on paper. He draws the biggest crowds, too. A rally for the candidate in Mobile, Alabama, on Friday night...

Donald Trump is a racist, sexist hypocrite who doesn't understand the economy (or basic math) and probably doesn't have anything resembling an inner life—but the man sure can put on a good show! Good enough that thousands of people who get off on the xenophobic, hate-filled subtext of his blathering will pack half a stadium to watch his combover blow in the wind. Which leaves one question for the sane among us: why is a television punchline appealing to people now? Andrew Kaczynski ✔ ‎@BuzzFeedAndrew Pro-Trump Twitter is such a weird place 11:30 AM - 23 Aug 2015 · Big...

Link only due to copyright issues: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2015/08/21/ted-cruz-power-gop-presidential-candidate/31995527/

Donald Trump continues to lead all Republican candidates in the latest Economist/You Gov Poll – despite criticism of some statements he made during the GOP debate earlier this month. His closest competitor (far behind Trump) is another candidate without a political resume – former neurosurgeon Ben Carson, narrowly ahead of two Floridians, former Governor Jeb Bush and current Senator Marco Rubio. Trump is just about as likely to be named as the Republicans’ second choice as each of the other top four. His ride at the top of opinion polls more than four months before the first official presidential nominating...

Charles Krauthammer and George Will continue to showcase their insane alignment with the DC Machine writ large. You might think of them as pundits, until you realize their punditry is expressed alignment with the policy positions of: John Boehner, Mitch McConnell, Jeb Bush, Carly Fiorina, Mike Huckabee, Ben Carson, Scott Walker, Chris Christie, Marco Rubio, John Kasich, Rick Perry, Lindsey Graham, Rand Paul, George Pataki and Jim Gilmore. Laura Ingraham scratches the surface on the “anchor baby” issue, but more directly frames the discussion around the larger picture of failed immigration enforcement which has led to the crisis. We are...

While thousands streamed into a football stadium Friday evening in Mobile, Alabama to see Donald Trump, a much smaller crowd of committed conservatives unwound at a bar and mused over the good, the bad and the unknown of the unlikely Republican presidential front-runner. They were volunteers and staff for Americans for Prosperity, a non-profit group funded by industrialist billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, two of the most effective conservative activists in U.S. politics. According to AFP, 3,600 people came to this year's annual Defending the American Dream Summit from around the country Friday and Saturday, taking in appearances by...

Link only due to copyright issues: http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-08-22/trumpus-maximus-goes-to-mobile

The Daily Mail writes: Leading Republican candidate for the White House Donald Trump hasn’t officially begun scouting running mates – the first primary is still six months away. Two of his 2016 competitors come to mind for the position, however: Ben Carson and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX). Trump’s campaign said he has ‘cordial’ relationships with both men based on ‘mutual respect.’ An ex-aide to Trump, Roger Stone, was also seen meeting with Carson’s campaign chief Jake Menges yesterday in New York. Stone says he did not set up the meeting at the behest of Trump, however. Stone told DailyMail.com that...

COLUMBUS, OHIO — Texas’ Sen. Ted Cruz was the hands-down favorite of the Americans for Prosperity annual summit in Columbus, Ohio, this weekend, if the number and volume of ovations during the speeches of five presidential candidates who addressed the annual convention of tea party activists was the measure. The reception to former Gov. Rick Perry’s energetic appearance at the event was somewhat muted by the fact that he was its very last speaker. At the other end of the spectrum was former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, a newcomer to events financed by conservative industrialists Charles and David Koch. Bush...

Everyone thought that Donald Trump was way in over his head when he decided to throw his hat in the ring for 2016 presidential election. Now, there are not nearly as many people who think the same way, and that was evident when 30,000 people turned out for a Republican pep rally in Alabama on Friday. Now, he’s beginning to pull away from the rest of the field and very well could widen his lead in the 2016 presidential polls. Topped off in a red hat, Donald Trump stepped out before 30,000 supporters in Alabama on Friday night, and it...

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Casting himself as a tax-cutting, passionate government reformer, Jeb Bush drew merely polite applause Friday from thousands of the nation's most-active tea party conservatives gathered at the billionaire industrialist Koch brothers' summit. Only when the Republican presidential candidate wrapped up his 20-minute speech by calling for a military buildup did the more than 3,000 conservatives from around the nation join in a sustained cheer for Bush, a familiar face in American politics but a newcomer in front of the tea party crowd. "I promise you, if I'm elected president of the United States, I will restore the...

Jeb Bush is sticking with the plan. Despite Donald Trump shooting ahead in the polls and Bush’s debate performance getting bad reviews — and amid signs of frustration on the campaign trail from the former Florida governor himself — his supporters aren’t panicking, multiple sources close to the candidate insist. The Bush camp is projecting confidence that the Summer of Trump will fade to winter, and that Jeb will prevail when it matters. Here are five reasons Jebworld isn’t freaking out: 1. ‘TRUMP V. SOMEBODY’ Trump is the man to beat, the undisputed leader in national and early-state polls. Even...

Des Moines, Iowa — Republican presidential candidate Texas Sen. Ted Cruz criticized former President Jimmy Carter's administration during a stump speech in Iowa, one day after Carter announced he was suffering from cancer that has spread to his brain. Speaking on a political soapbox at the Iowa State Fair Friday, Cruz said there were parallels between the Obama and Carter administrations. "I think the parallels between this administration and the Carter administration are uncanny. Same failed domestic policy, same misery, stagnation and malaise. Same feckless and naive foreign policy,"(continued)

Next year will be the most consequential presidential election in two generations. Given how difficult it is to hold the White House for three straight terms, and given President Obama's shaky approval numbers, Republicans will have a good chance to win. On the other hand, Democrats had a good chance to win in 1988, taking on an uninspiring successor to a twice-victorious incumbent. Indeed, the Democratic nominee was ahead in the polls into the summer of 1988. But that nominee was Michael Dukakis. Are we sure the GOP isn't on course to nominating their very own Dukakis? Are we confident...