Free Republic

As jihadis murdered more than 100 innocents in Paris, Matt Drudge used his twitter account to focus attention on President Barack Obama’s policy of encouraging Islamic migration into the United States. Since 2009, Obama has admitted more than 250,000 Muslims each year, via family reunification sought by new Muslim citizens and government invites to Muslims fleeing wars in the chaotic Islamic heartland of the Middle East. In 2013, for example, Obama’s government admitted 280,276 people from Muslim-majority countries where the notion of jihad against non-Muslims is a conventional belief. But many migrants have brought their belief in jihad into the...

It occurred to me last night, as random strangers were tweeting this story at me, that I’ll be expected to commit ritual seppuku if Romney somehow ends up jumping into this clusterfark. Even though I have no influence over anyone, I took the joke too far. I planted the seed. And I watered it with the tears of thousands of bored readers who sat through post after post about it. All I want is a trial. I admit guilt. I just want to contest the sentence. The party establishment is paralyzed. Big money is still on the sidelines. No consensus...

There seems to be an issue with the GOP in DC, and let me tell you, it isn't pretty. Establishment GOP seemingly would rather have the likes of Shrillary than a non vetted (by them, of course) politician that isn't hand picked by them. What the heck is this all about? Less than three months before the kickoff Iowa caucuses, there is growing anxiety bordering on panic among Republican elites about the dominance and durability of Donald Trump and Ben Carson and widespread bewilderment over how to defeat them. Party leaders and donors fear that nominating either man would have...

It’s no exaggeration to say that the next six months will determine the viability of the Republican Party. The demographics of this country are changing. This will be the last presidential election cycle in which the G.O.P., in its current form, has even a shot at winning the White House. And so the large question Republicans must ask themselves is: Are we as a party willing to champion the new America that is inexorably rising around us, or are we the receding roar of an old America that is never coming back? Within that large question the G.O.P. will have...

Jeb! Bush, Marco Rubio, Donald Trump and Ben Carson all set to speak, along with Ted Cruz, Lindsey Graham, and Mike Huckabee.

Rumors are starting to fly that Republican elites are considering adding Mitt Romney to the Republican primary in a last-minute attempt to destabilize the popularity of non-traditional candidates Donald Trump and Ben Carson, The Washington Post reported. But this seems to be mostly rumor and speculation from his friends, since Romney himself has said he won’t run again and no one has gone on record yet with specific plans to draft him. What’s really going on? Here’s what you need to know....

"Rory Cooper: Under President Obama, Democrats have lost 900+ state legislature seats, 12 governors, 69 House seats, 13 Senate seats. That's some legacy." Ouch. The context for Cooper's tweet is last night's elections, which should come, as Greg Sargent writes, as a "brutal reality check for the Democratic Party" — and one with real consequences for Obamacare and climate change.

Young, telegenic and media-savvy, State Auditor Adam Edelen looked like a shoo-in for re-election when Democrats gathered in a horse barn here for a buffet dinner late last month. Most figured he would go on to challenge Senator Rand Paul, whose Republican presidential bid is faltering even as he seeks re-election. Now a Paul-Edelen matchup is off the table. Kentucky Democrats, including Mr. Edelen, were trounced last week in an election that swept aside decades of their dominance over state government — and added Mr. Edelen to a growing list of Democrats across the country who have suffered painful defeats...

The latest presidential debate vividly captured how the 2008 financial crisis has reshaped the Republican Party by unleashing a potent populist strain that could further scramble an already unpredictable primary contest.

First, the moderators were unintrusive, so they were not part of the story. Therefore, an excellent job -- about as well as any moderators could do, and certainly better than most. Let's take the candidates in alphabetical order. Bush: I feel for him. His eyes seem anxious and overly polite, his smile unsure, and such is his demeanor. It's a pity, for his governorship in Florida was sound enough. But his campaign is slowly dying. Carson: He was very strong this time, but he still comes across as uninformed and inexperienced outsider. People believe that Washington is the problem, but...

Republicans need to make gains with Hispanic voters in 2016, but that reality is complicated by the fact that more adults support Donald Trump’s hard-line stance on immigration, a new Economist Group/YouGov Poll finds.A whopping 49 percent of Republicans and independents who lean to the GOP say Trump is the presidential candidate who can best handle the issue — well ahead of Marco Rubio with 10 percent GOP support, Ted Cruz with 7 percent and Jeb Bush at 5 percent.The divide in the GOP over how to address issues stemming from illegal immigration spilled over in the fourth Republican presidential debate...

To win the crown, you have to knock out the champ. That would be Trump. Nobody came close last night. Apparently John Kasich and Juan Ellis Bush didn’t get the paraphrased memo from Harry S. Truman: If you give people a choice between a Democrat and a Democrat, they’ll pick the Democrat every time. Kasich had no business even being on the stage last night. He belonged in the kiddie debate, from whose bourn no traveler returns. Ditto Juan Ellis Bush. Who exactly did the son of a mailman think he was kidding when he said the U.S. couldn’t deport...

Overall this was the best debate of the four. Hands down. 1. Jeb Bush is, like, the love child of John McCain and Mitt Romney. He's running on entitlement to the nomination, he a human gaffe machine, and has no idea how to articulate a conservative message because he's not particularly conservative. If he were to lie his nose would Pinocchio into a rhino horn, if he were to tell the truth about what he believes...then his nose would Pinocchio into a rhino horn. Someone please find the DNR for this campaign and pull the plug already. 2. Remember the...

Louisiana isn’t anywhere close to belonging on a list of swing states, yet Republican David Vitter is at risk of losing not only his gubernatorial race this month, but also his Senate seat next year. The Pelican State’s senior senator has struggled to unify the Republican vote after finishing second in the Oct. 24 jungle primary with just 23 percent. He trails Democrat John Bel Edwards in multiple public polls heading into the Nov. 21 runoff. Vitter’s numbers have dipped to a point where, should he lose, some Republicans will want him to drop his bid for re-election to the...

There are a few things we can get out of the way about Tuesday's Republican presidential debate. First, after months of decline, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul had his first great night, challenging Sen. Marco Rubio on tax expenditures and defense spending, pushing Donald Trump on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and stepping into his father’s role as the libertarian gadfly in the race. "If you're a profligate spender and you spend money in an unlimited fashion for the military, is that a conservative notion?" Paul asked in his closing statement. "We have to be conservative with all spending, domestic spending and welfare...

The already-bitter divide between Republican presidential candidates over immigration is deepening, a struggle that’s going to keep the party in turmoil well into 2016 – and jeopardize its chances of winning the White House next year. The clash over how to deal with immigrants in the country illegally sparked the ugliest exchanges of Tuesday's debate, as the two sides showed little taste for even a hint of compromise. They may show agreement on the basic outlines of other core conservative issues, notably tax policy, but the schism on immigration shows no signs of fading. If anything, it's deepening. Monday, a...

Ohio Governor John Kasich fought for more time during the Fox Business debate this evening, but as he grew increasingly agitated over what he saw as a lack of experience on key issues, the audience got tired of his preaching. At one point, they booed the governor when he was defending the notion of bailing out banks in order to keep them from failing. snip He appeared willing to interrupt any of the non-establishment candidates to remind them about what he saw as the “realities” of serving as an executive, and he frequently charged over the moderators, ignoring the bell...

In the fourth televised GOP primary debate last night, eight Republican candidates for president laid out their positions as they sparred over taxes, immigration, government spending, and to a lesser extent, foreign policy. They clashed heatedly over what it means to be a conservative and the immigration issue, particularly amnesty.

The news that Fox News’s Neil Cavuto will be one of the moderators for this week’s Republican presidential debate should reassure anyone fearing a replay of last month’s CNBC debacle. Mr. Cavuto was known in New York Sun newsroom as “The Great Cavuto.” The other moderators who will be participating — the Wall Street Journal’s Gerald Baker and Fox Business News’s Maria Bartiromo — are no slouches, either. But in case any of the three need any last-minute inspiration, here are some questions that are from by my own reporting in New Hampshire and that might be illuminating to see...

The unfair treatment of GOP candidates by liberal media, especially during debates, must end. The debate was an assault not only on the 2016 Presidential Candidates, but also on our Democracy. A heavily biased media is not fair to the candidates nor the American people. One America News Network is prepared to help. We’ve extended a commitment to replace and fully pay for the February Presidential debate in Houston. One America News is prepared to run COMMERCIAL FREE and provide the LIVE feed to all media outlets to maximize media exposure.