Free Republic

Once the Cold War ended it didn't make much sense for neoconservatives and small-government conservatives to remain in a coalition. But breakups take time, and post-9/11 politics briefly created the illusion that Bill Kristol and George Will belong in the same political party. I am here to tell you that they do not, even if many people who identify as small-government conservatives still don't realize it. There are kind, intellectually honest neoconservatives who genuinely believe that their hawkish, imperial approach to foreign policy would bring about a better world. Their notion of the good is still incompatible with small-government conservatism...

SAUKVILLE – Representative Duey Stroebel (R-Saukville, 60th District), told WisPolitics on Thursday that he will be making a decision by April 7th on whether to challenge Congressman Tom Petri (R-Wisconsin, 6th District) for the Republican nomination in the 6th Congressional District. In an e-mail sent to WisPolitics, Stroebel said: “ The 6th Congressional District needs strong, dynamic, common sense conservative leadership that is firmly rooted in the community. I believe I can provide that leadership, and know regardless of my final decision that we need more Wisconsin ideas in Washington. It is my intent to arrive at a decision no...

Republican Congressional leaders, less than three hundred miles from Fort Sumter where the Confederates fired on the federal government and launched a horrific four-year American Civil War, are meeting to declare a civil war against conservatives who are the base of the Republican Party. Since the purpose of the weekend meeting at the Ritz Carlton on Amelia Island in Florida is to raise money and strategizing as to how to defeat limited-government constitutional conservatives in Republican primaries, this meeting is an act of war by Eric Cantor and the Republican Congressional leadership. By fighting conservatives, Republican congressional leaders are publicly...

The concept that the whims of public opinion, the fads of the moment, or the opinions of an ideological opponent should fundamentally alter what a particular political party stands for has always seemed rather odd to me. It is an argument I see trotted out in articles from Left leaning sites on a regular basis. The argument is always, without fail, that the Republican Party needs to become more like the Democratic Party. Yet the reverse is never suggested for consideration. Great "concern" is showed time and time again by often very radical and liberal writers, as well as general...

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the darling of the Tea Party movement, tops a new list of women other than Hillary Clinton who Americans want to run for president. A series of Economist/YouGov polls, wrapped up in an article released this week, found overwhelming support for women candidates and a woman president, and has Palin on top of eight women most often mentioned by voters as their top choice to run. Because Clinton is the runaway favorite potential woman candidate in a number of polls, the Economist/YouGov poll asked this question: “Other than Hillary Clinton, is their any other woman...

In the beginning, over there where you can see Russia, there was former Gov. Sarah Palin (R-Alaska). And now there is Joni Ernst (R-Iowa). What I saw in the now-famous campaign clip for her Senate run in Iowa — in which she promised to "make them squeal" in Washington and said her Washington skills would include castrating pigs — was confidence and fearlessness. It was a clever ad, and amusing. But with the kind of heartland self-assurance and righteous country confidence that you find in a mountain preacher like Billy Graham or in Johnny Cash and June and Mother Carter:...

How do political movements end? And how do we assess the impact they had on the political sphere? In the case of the Tea Party, it seems to me that some smart analysts are focusing too much on horserace politics, and less on the bigger picture of how public policy is made. More than one smart journalist is writing this spring that the less aggressive approach of grassroots groups in this year’s Senate and House primaries means that the Tea Party movement is essentially coming to an end. In a piece at National Journal titled “The Tea Party’s Over”, Josh...

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker on Thursday signed a measure into law that eliminates absentee voting on weekends ahead of elections but vetoed a provision that restricted weekday voting hours across the state. Wisconsin law allows voters to cast absentee ballots by mail or hand them in to their polling places before election day. Supporters have said the new law creates uniform and fair rules, while critics have said it disenfranchises voters. Walker, a Republican who is seeking re-election, vetoed a part of the bill the majority Republican legislature approved that capped voting at 45 hours per week. Voting will be...

DETROIT (WWJ/AP) - U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers of Michigan, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee who has been a prominent voice as President Barack Obama attempts to overhaul U.S. surveillance, said Friday that he won’t seek re-election after his term ends this year.

Sen. Rand Paul has become the first Republican to assemble a network in all 50 states as a precursor to a 2016 presidential run, the latest sign that he is looking to build a more mainstream coalition than the largely ad hoc one that backed his father’s unsuccessful campaigns. Paul’s move, which comes nearly two years before the primaries, also signals an effort to win the confidence of skeptical members of the Republican establishment, many of whom doubt that his appeal will translate beyond the libertarian base that was attracted to Ron Paul, a former Texas congressman.

Republicans say the “liberal media” has two world powerhouses all wrong: Barack Obama — and the pope. Democrats believe Pope Francis is their guy, arguing he’s softened the Catholic Church stance on gay rights and abortion and taken GOP economic theories to task. When he meets with Obama in Rome on Thursday, they’re hoping it’ll seal the deal. But many big-name conservative Catholics say Francis is no liberal, only painted as one by a biased media that wants a liberal Holy See alliance — even though it doesn’t exist. “What I’ve learned to do is ignore what the newspapers write...

A push by the casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson to outlaw online gambling has ignited a bitter civil war in the gambling industry, dividing one of Washington’s most powerful interest groups and posing a major test of the Republican megadonor’s political clout. Mr. Adelson’s effort officially kicked off on Wednesday, when lawmakers, including a senator, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who has accepted tens of thousands of dollars from the businessman and his family, introduced legislation originally drafted with Mr. Adelson’s lobbyist. The bill would close a three-year-old loophole in federal law, banning online gambling — a growing industry that Mr....

Republican starlets Rick Perry and Sarah Palin are both known for their personalities, love of guns, sexiness, and moments of TV humiliation, but only one of them is doing something to avoid forever being labelled an idiot. After his intellectual humiliation during the last presidential election cycle — during which he was unable to remember his own policy points — Perry is becoming considerably more wonkish than we’ve previously known him, fashioning himself as something of an elder statesman, in stark contrast to Palin. The Texas governor, a pair of smart-person glasses now permanently attached to his face, has been...

The ultimate party litmus test: given a veto-proof legislature, will Republicans finally start to reduce the scope and size of government?  It looks like the answer is no.In 2013, North Carolina was just one of 25 states where Republican governors were given historic opportunity to govern alongside Republican-controlled legislatures.  Despite conservative voters’ best hopes, any sensible mandate to restore individual and economic freedom flew out the window when the FY 2013-14 budget was approved, reauthorizing the formerly Democratic state’s blueprint budget with a tragic 2.0-percent increase in general fund appropriations. North Carolina’s state spending is increasing at a record pace,...

Jeb Bush is thinking about running for president in 2016. Like, really thinking about it. He's the headliner at an event hosted by mega donor Sheldon Adelson in Las Vegas on Thursday. He was actively involved in Rep. David Jolly's special election victory in Florida earlier this month. And he is breaking with his party's orthodoxy on Common Core. So, as Jeb mulls a bid whose advice does he seek? Who does he trust to give him an unvarnished view of what the race might look like? Well, everyone even close to Jeb insists that he largely keeps his own...

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Monday that Republicans may have helped Russia annex Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in a surprisingly sharp attack ahead of a test vote on a bill authorizing more U.S. sanctions on Russia and $1 billion in loan guarantees to Ukraine. […] Reid’s charge comes despite widespread support among Republicans and Democrats in Congress for providing Ukraine with much-needed economic assistance and hitting Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government with sanctions. …

When FiveThirtyEight last issued a U.S. Senate forecast—way back in July—we concluded the race for Senate control was a toss-up. That was a little ahead of the conventional wisdom at the time, which characterized the Democrats as vulnerable but more likely than not to retain the chamber. Our new forecast goes a half-step further: We think the Republicans are now slight favorites to win at least six seats and capture the chamber. The Democrats’ position has deteriorated somewhat since last summer, with President Obama’s approval ratings down to 42 or 43 percent from an average of about 45 percent before....

Since Howard Dean’s 2004 primary campaign first showed us the potential of online organizing, the political world has been taken over by technology designed to spread messages and organize supporters. This transformation has caused technology to go from a side-show within normal campaign operations to a mainstay of any operation worth its salt. The Obama reelection campaign, the gold standard of technology in politics, raised an astonishing $504 million through digitally generated donations. It also showed Republicans that our data and digital “game” needed improvement. In 2011, the Republican State Leadership Committee (RSLC) saw a unique opportunity to secure a...

It is like something out of a mobster movie. Eric Cantor’s Young Guns and the GOP Establishment are systematically going around to the local GOP county units in Virginia and snuffing out the votes of the conservative grassroots. The Young Guns Godfather puts out the hit and the deed is carried out. It has already happened in Virginia Beach, Richmond City, Charlotte, and now Campbell County. Last night Mike Thomas, who is the First Vice Chairman for the Republican Party of Virginia, was involved in coordinating the takeover of the Campbell County Republican Committee with the enlisted help of an...

The George Washington Bridge scandal has subtly reshaped the contest for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, hurting New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s chances and leaving the field without a clear front-runner. The pack is now huddled in the low teens, according to polls of GOP voters.How rare is such an evenly divided field? I checked polling since 1976, the first year in which both the Republican and Democratic nominations were decided completely by voters and not by party leaders.It’s rare.In surveys conducted from January through March of the preceding midterm election year (so for the 2012 election, we’re looking...