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Talk radio host and author of “The Liberty Amendments,” Mark Levin, said that while he agrees with Mitt Romney that the GOP needs a “clear vision,” Romney is “not the guy” on Monday.

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)On Monday’s “The Daily Show,” host Jon Stewart scolded former Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-AR) for quitting his Saturday night Fox News show to take another shot at the White House as a Republican candidate. According to Stewart, Huckabee had made a mistake and should go to back to Fox News and be a show host. Partial transcript as follows: STEWART: I want to talk to you. This is — the book is called “God, Guns, Grits and Gravy.” You have a show on Fox News — you had a show. HUCKABEE: I had a show. STEWART: How long did you...

GOP ESTABLISHMENT FORGETS POWER OF PARTY’S RIGHT The 2012 election has had a searing effect on the Republican Party. The 126-electoral-vote defeat of its nominee by an incumbent thought to be highly vulnerable may have altered the trajectory of the GOP even more than the similar, though narrower, defeat Democrats suffered in 2004. The question is: To what end? The 35-vote loss John Kerry suffered in 2004 left many Democrats, as James Taylor might say, “down and troubled,” and looking for the way forward (or back) to success. The party eventually decided to sprint farther leftward and reject triangulation, with...

The U.S. ocean, atmospheric and space agencies affirmed on Friday what the planet has been telling us every way it knows how: 2014 was the hottest year since record keeping began in 1880. That means average land and sea temperatures, worldwide, have never been hotter in modern times, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (the gold standard for global climate data) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (the guys who put a man on the moon). This isn't about whether we believe in science: It's about whether we believe the thermometer. In fact, the 16 hottest years...

Reince Priebus, Republican National Committee chairman, says that potential presidential contenders will have to poll above certain levels to earn a spot in the GOP debates. In a radio interview on the "Hugh Hewitt Show" Monday, the conservative host asked Priebus how the debates would work if there were 20 candidates vying to be heard. “You can’t,” Priebus said. “You can’t do 20 people. … You have to have certain thresholds in place, so you have to be at 1 percent of the vote in Iowa, and that threshold can move like a slide rule based on the proximity to...

Via Guy Benson. A few commenters torched me after this post last week about a YouGov poll claiming that 55 percent of the public wants the GOP to let Obama’s executive amnesty stand. The question YouGov asked was way too vague, they insisted. Rephrase it so that it gets more specific about what O’s action would do and the numbers will drop.Yep. According to today’s WaPo result, you guys were right. Here’s how YouGov asked the question about the merits of Obama’s policy:After putting that to the respondents, they followed up by asking, “Do you think Congress should try...

President Obama and his Democrat allies are back to their usual Eat the Rich strategy, one which will be on display at the State of the Union. Noah talked about this last night and left some interesting questions on the table. Even though some of these tax increases will do the middle class no favors, it is not clear they will be rejected by a majority of the public. Pollsters increasingly find that the Democratic PartyÂ’s message of economic populism is resonating with a public that has not seen their incomes increase in years. This is a message which...

An MSNBC UP show panel on Saturday gleefully recounted Mitt Romney’s tentative moves toward a third White House run. “What is he thinking?” is one way to summarize the discussion. “He is delusional” is another. Not one panelist could imagine a scenario under which Romney could win, but each was highly entertained by the idea. Beware the Popcorn Syndrome. It seems to be spreading among left leaning social media and chattering classes. Right now it is centered on the 2012 Republican nominee and his refusal to go away, but is being expressed as well on a more endemic level. Pundits,...

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...

With Republicans in Congress split over the best approach to President Obama’s executive amnesty – and with many establishment Republicans splitting from grassroots Republicans on the issue of illegal immigration more generally – it’s clear that immigration will be a hot-button primary issue in 2016. That’s nothing new: Governor Rick Perry of Texas saw his campaign flounder not on his “oops” moment, but on his proclamation that those who didn’t back in-state tuition for illegal immigrants were heartless. But the base’s passion on the immigration issue has only escalated thanks to President Obama’s precipitous and illegal actions in failing to...

Some crank apparently has it in for John Boehner. No, I’m not talking about Ted Yoho; rather, the bartender who supposedly threatened to poison the House Speaker’s drinks – a low blow. Seems like there’s no end of folks eager to attack the GOP leader. Only Republicans could celebrate one of the great moments in the party’s history by falling on each other like cats in a laundry bag. Weeks after securing one of the GOP’s most convincing electoral sweeps, Tea Partiers in the House, egged on by the likes of Mark Levin and Rush Limbaugh, decided to humiliate Speaker...

Fox gets three (two on Fox News, one on Fox Business), CNN gets two, and CBS, NBC, ABC, and CNBC get one apiece. MSNBC gets some magic beans. Of note: The NBC debate will be co-sponsored by Telemundo and will be held in Florida in February 2016, shortly before the primary. If Jeb Bush is still in the race by then, that’s his time to shine. Lotttt of pressure on McConnell and Boehner, meanwhile, to do something on immigration reform by then so that the remaining GOP candidates have something to tout to Latino voters tuning in.If this seems...

Republican lawmakers determined to counter President Barack Obama on immigration want to advance solutions of their own, starting with a border security bill and perhaps moving on to tackle other aspects of the broken system. It's a goal House Republicans have tried and failed to achieve for the past two years, even as the Senate passed a comprehensive, bipartisan bill that ultimately died because of inaction in the House. But as House and Senate Republicans met for a joint retreat in this capital of chocolate and sweets, lawmakers said that with the Senate now under GOP control, they have a...

Republicans are shifting their tactics on ObamaCare, an abrupt change from the party’s repeal-only rhetoric that dominated the last five years of debate. The GOP is coalescing around the idea that incremental changes, rather than a sweeping repeal effort, can be more appealing to voters — while also holding out the possibility of hollowing out the law from within.

If the Republican presidential campaign were “American Idol” or “The Voice,” this would be the out-of-town auditions phase. Governors across the country are giving State of the State addresses, unveiling their visions. Let’s spin the chairs and grade the contenders, to see who deserves a shot at the big show. John Kasich: A. The Ohio governor is easily the most underestimated Republican this year. He just won a landslide victory in the swingiest of the swing states. He carried 86 of Ohio’s 88 counties. He won Cuyahoga County, which includes Cleveland, and which President Obama won by 40 points in...

he Republican National Committee will announce Friday that it has sanctioned nine presidential primary debates, starting this August in Ohio and continuing through March 2016, with the potential to add a few more. The schedule will be rolled out at the party’s winter meeting here later this afternoon, but POLITICO obtained a first look at the line-up from insiders. Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/01/rnc-2016-debate-schedule-114329.html#ixzz3P0qSfxLm

President Obama told Senate Democrats in a private meeting that he plans to "play offense" against the new GOP-controlled Congress, showing little hesitation about clashing with Republicans for the next two years. Congressional sources confirmed the comments, made Thursday during a summit in Baltimore, as Republican lawmakers held their own summit in Hershey, Pa. The president, who already has issued a string of veto threats in the opening days of the 114th Congress, indicated he's prepared to keep opposing legislation he finds objectionable. This includes legislation with bipartisan support. Not only has Obama threatened to veto bipartisan legislation authorizing the...

The Republicans won the 2014 midterms in a landslide. They have the most House seats since World War Two and they won the Senate. We’re two weeks into the new term and the Republicans are already losing to Obama and the Democrats. What is the Republican agenda? Rather than having bills up and ready to go, the Republicans have dithered. Rather than taking the fight to the Democrats in the Senate, McConnell is balking at the House’s effort to defund executive amnesty. Keystone XL should have been a simple bill to pass onto the President, it still hasn’t happened. What...

"....the number of potential contenders for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination exceeds two dozen. It's actually a somewhat ridiculous situation.........Now it is my assertion that the vast majority of GOP politicians over the last century can be classified into one of the following three categories:RINOs–meaning that they do not really believe that progressivism and big government are bad for America–it's just that the Democrats are screwing it up and Republicans should be entrusted with the task of implementing the progressive agenda because they will do it more efficiently and cost effectively than liberal Democrats have or could.CRUELs–that is,confused Republicans who...

Americans for Prosperity, the most prominent arm of the Koch brothers' organization, put Republican lawmakers on notice Thursday, setting out a conservative agenda for Congress. AFP leaders say it will be pushed by the group's grassroots supporters in 34 states. Tim Phillips, president of AFP, said at a Washington press conference that congressional Republicans "failed miserably" a decade ago, especially on cutting the federal budget. "They've been given a second chance by the American people," he said, "and we're going to hold them accountable. We're determined about that." The agenda covers three areas: taxes, including repeal of the estate or...