Free Republic

The conservative group Heritage Action slammed Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) late Thursday for mocking Republicans who have resisted taking on immigration reform. “It’s disappointing, but by now not surprising, that the Republican Speaker is attacking conservatives looking to retake the Senate,” Heritage Action CEO Michael A. Needham said in a statement. Needham said the Republican Party should be large enough for “fact-based policy debates,” which he suggested Boehner isn’t interested in having. “Unfortunately, John Boehner is more interested in advancing the agenda of high-powered DC special interests than inspiring Americans with a policy vision that allows freedom, opportunity, prosperity and...

A video clip has been posted of Speaker John A. Boehner mocking his colleagues’ reluctance to take on an immigration overhaul today while campaigning for re-election in Ohio:

The House could come up with a bill to overhaul the country’s immigration system by August, according to the House’s No. 4 Republican. “I believe there is a path that we get a bill on the floor by August,” Rep. Cathy McMorris-Rodgers (R-Wash.) the Republican conference chairwoman, told The Spokesman-Review last week. An August deadline would resolve the troubled issue months before November’s midterm elections, where the GOP is looking to grow its advantage in the House and pick up enough seats to take over the Senate. Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has pushed for a bill and even mocked members...

House Speaker John Boehner hasn't been coy about his interest in tackling immigration reform legislation. Just last week the Republican leader said he was 'hell bent' on doing so before the 113th Congress adjourns at the end of this year, despite facing pressure from members of his caucus not to bring the issue to the House floor. The Speaker's zeal for getting his Republican colleagues to embrace immigration reform took a sharp turn on Thursday from determination to antagonism, however, when Boehner publicly made fun of his Republican colleagues for being too afraid to confront the issue publicly. 'Here's the...

On Wednesday the Illinois Business Immigration Coalition hosted a discussion about immigration reform at the Chicago Club. Republican leaders shared their support for reform, including former U.S. House Speaker Denny Hastert, former Illinois Governor Jim Edgar, State Senator Christine Radogno, State Representative Jim Durkin, State Comptroller Judy Barr Topinka, State Rep. Tom Cross, State Senator Jim Oberweis, and ILGOP gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner. Outside, a group opposing amnesty, protested the meeting. One of the protesters was radio personality Joe Walsh, who criticized the event at "that fancy club across the street," saying those who would be speaking are the "elite...

(CNSNews.com) - Former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, in his new book, recommends six rewrites to the U.S. Constitution. He would restrict gun ownership to militia members; ban the death penalty; and allow government to set "reasonable limits" on campaign financing, among other things. But Stevens says he's no radical: "I think every one of my proposals is a moderate proposal," Stevens told ABC's George Stephanopoulos in an interview that aired Sunday on ABC's "This Week." One of Steven's proposals would add five words to the Second Amendment, which would then read: "...the right of the people to keep...

It’s a textbook example, the officials said, of the military art of deception that Russia calls “maskirovka,” or masking their appearance to blend in with local forces. The Russians have historically been very good at it and are proud of their capabilities. Last year, Russian state-run television news aired a story about the elite teams that train for exactly this kind of cloaked missions abroad.

National Review Online took another gratuitous shot at me Thursday in an article defending Ayaan Hirsi Ali, saying: “Hirsi Ali is no Pamela Geller. On the contrary, for her whole life, Hirsi Ali has used anger as a catalyst to great good.” Is it necessary to smear me in order to defend Hirsi Ali? And this is not the first time that NRO has allowed insults and defamation against me and other freedom fighters to run unedited. I hardly know why. But I do know that NRO has no guts, no spine, and no conviction.

Conservative writer Ann Coulter is enthusiastically endorsing Tea Party-backed candidate David Brat in his primary challenge of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) in the upcoming June primary, citing Cantor's support for immigration reform. In her nationally syndicated column, Ms. Coulter wrote that her endorsement was based on Brat's opposition to Cantor's immigration policies. Ms. Coulter labeled Cantor a "Maniacal Amnesty Supporter" in the column, and described him as "amnesty-addled." "Cantor says 'immigration reform could be an economic boon to this country,'" wrote Coulter. "You don't have to be an economics professor [like Dave Brat] to know that bringing in...

A prominent super PAC of key allies of President George W. Bush and failed presidential candidate Mitt Romney, formed to give Republicans who support amnesty legislation air cover, failed to raise any money during the first quarter of this year. Carlos Gutierrez, the former Bush Commerce Secretary, and Charlie Spies, the co-founder of Restore Our Future, which was the biggest pro-Romney super PAC, formed the Republicans For Immigration Reform super PAC "to provide political support for Republican candidates" backing comprehensive immigration reform. According to its Federal Election Commission report, which was filed on April 15 and covers the period from...

Partisan bickering over immigration reform legislation intensified on Wednesday as President Barack Obama and House of Representatives Republicans accused each other of standing in the way of progress one year after bipartisan Senate legislation was introduced. "I urge House Republicans to listen to the will of the American people and bring immigration reform to the House floor for a vote," Obama said. Obama has warned that a failure by Congress to pass legislation could prompt him to look for ways to use his executive powers to make some limited advances on U.S. immigration policy.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor on Wednesday said he had a phone call with President Barack Obama on the topic of immigration reform. It didn’t sound like it was a particularly friendly conversation. Cantor issued a statement saying, in part: The President called me hours after he issued a partisan statement which attacked me and my fellow House Republicans and which indicated no sincere desire to work together. After five years, President Obama still has not learned how to effectively work with Congress to get things done. You do not attack the very people you hope to engage in a...

The mention of former Florida Governor Jeb Bush was resoundingly booed when Donald Trump brought up Bush's comments about illegal immigration being "an act of love." Speaking at the inaugural Freedom Summit in New Hampshire on Saturday, which was organized by Americans for Prosperity and Citizens United, Trump said he has heard a lot of crazy things but that Bush's comment was “out there.”“And he was talking about people that come into this country illegally, they do it for love,” he said, according to The Hill. “And I said, say it again I didn’t get — that’s one I’ve never heard before…...

For Immediate Release: Contact: Rosanna Pulido April 14, 2014 Rick Biesada tel. 773-771-3927 Chicago, IL – The head of the Illinois Minuteman Project and former Republican candidate for Congress, Rosanna Pulido, announced that her group, along with The Chicago MInutemen Project group and grassroots organizations, is holding a “SAVE THE AMERICAN WORKER RALLY” at 1:00 pm Tuesday, April 22, at the corner of Michigan and Van Buren Streets in downtown Chicago. Pulido said the rally is being held to protest a gathering of well-heeled Republican politicians, lobbyists, and corporate CEOs pushing amnesty for illegal aliens at the nearby Chicago Club...

Stunning a crowded convention, NJ Chris Christie announced to a group of supporters with former President Clinton that he would seek reelection in 2014 as a democrat. The move comes after months of odd behavior from the former NJ republican. Tensions have been mounting between the NJ Governor and the GOP. At this year’s CPAC Convention, which hosts some of the greatest names in the conservative party Christie was denied entrance. Christie struck a sour note with conservatives for palling up with Obama during Hurricane Sandy. The bill to send money to victims was full of pork and republicans wanted...

Say what you will about Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), but they know a train wreck when they see it. They also know when to separate themselves from the cranks and the losers on the right. Although both supported the shutdown and were heartily supported by tea party groups in their own Senate races, neither one has endorsed Matt Bevin in Kentucky, Milton Wolf in Kansas or Chris McDaniel in Mississippi. In fact, Cruz’s office confirms he hasn’t endorsed anyone in the primaries. There are a few important lessons here. First, neither one of these guys wants...

Tea party groups are organizing this weekend to protest the “betrayal” by GOP House leadership and twenty-five other members at a tropical summit organized by a group working to undermine the Tea Party. “Come to Amelia Island for our rally, and if you have time and resources, stay for a weekend of RINO hunting!” a local Florida tea party announcement touted. The summit, sponsored by a sub group PAC of the Republican Main Street Partnership, is taking place at the Ritz Carlton in Amelia Island, Florida. Tea party protesters are expected to begin rallying Thursday evening and throughout the weekend...

Republican members of Congress are criticizing Jeb Bush’s comments on immigration, highlighting the challenge he’d face in winning over the GOP’s conservative base in a 2016 presidential primary. The former Florida governor made headlines this weekend, when he said people coming to the U.S. illegally were doing so out of an “act of Bush’s comments at an event marking the 25th anniversary of his father’s presidency come as he is weighing his own bid for the White House, but they weren’t warmly received, even among Republican members who want to see the system changed. Rep. Raúl Labrador (R-Idaho), a conservative...

Former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour defended Jeb Bush’s recent comments that some illegal immigration is an “act of love,” saying it’s very similar to what former President Ronald Reagan thought. “What people want you to do: Tell the truth,” Barbour said Tuesday at the LBJ Presidential Library’s Civil Rights Summit. “And if Jeb feels that way about it — it sort of reminds me of my boss, Ronald Reagan.” Barbour, who was an aide in Reagan’s administration described what the president used to call the “gates test” during a panel Tuesday with Democratic San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro. “Ronald Reagan...

Two House GOP moderates—Reps. David Joyce (R-OH) and Mike Simpson (R-ID)—made comments this week that are sure to infuriate the House GOP conference. In an interview published on YouTube as part of a series called “Solon Speaks” in Solon, Ohio, hosted by Terry Dean, Joyce said Obamacare is the law of the land—and here to stay: "The Affordable Care Act, like it or not, is the law of the land. The Supreme Court passed it. Now we’re struggling to implement what is the law of the land. In the last Congress, they put up 23 odd bills that tried to...