Free Republic

Rep. Michael Grimm announced late Monday that he plans to resign, one week after the Republican Staten Island congressman admitted to federal tax evasion. Grimm, who was re-elected to a third term representing New York's 13th District in November, said in a statement that he would step down effective Jan. 5. "This decision is made with a heavy heart, as I have enjoyed a very special relationship and closeness with my constituents, whom I care about deeply," he said. "The events which led to this day did not break my spirit, nor the will of the voters. However, I do...

Leaders of the GOP-led Congress that will be sworn in next month are facing a large question: whether or not to defund President Obama’s unilateral executive amnesty. But as 2015 dawns, it isn’t clear whether they’ll be willing to take up the fight. During December’s lame duck session, Republicans surrendered by passing a 1,774-page, $1.1 trillion so-called “cromnibus” spending bill. That measure funds most of the federal government through September, and the Department of Homeland Security for the next two months. Conservatives wanted Republicans to attempt to roll back Obama’s amnesty by defunding DHS this month. But the incoming, bicameral...

First Of All, Its A "CNN Poll". So already we can assume they probably did not call people in "Crucial Purple" States". Maybe the far left media is already working on their own version of "Operation Chaos"?.Making sure they keep Ted Cruz and Scott Walker out of the race and polls. As the media keeps bringing up the 2016 race and potential candidates, they seem to be focusing on Bush, Christie, Romney and Paul. And please! enough of the biased polls with GOP candidates against Hillary! We all know that most Conservative candidates will beat Hillary. Lets just wait till...

Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.), the House majority whip, acknowledged Monday that he spoke at a gathering hosted by white nationalist leaders while serving as a state representative in 2002, thrusting a racial controversy into House Republican ranks days before the party assumes control of both congressional chambers.The 48-year-old Scalise, who ascended to the House GOP’s third-ranking post earlier this year, confirmed through an adviser that he once appeared at a convention of the European-American Unity and Rights Organization.That organization, founded by former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, has been called a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Not only does the U.S. Chamber of Commerce think it is the only reason the GOP won in November, it is now threatening Republicans with opposition next go round if they don’t lay down and give the Chamber precisely what it wants, including on immigration, increased spending on transportation, and economic deals that sweeten the pot for big business.Naturally, the Wall Street Journal is there to carry the Chamber’s water: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce flexed its muscle in the midterm election, winning 14 of 15 Republican primaries in which it was involved and helping the GOP recapture the Senate. Now it wants...

The "CRomnibus" government funding bill passed handily last weekend, but not before Senators Lee and Cruz had their say. In a controversial move, the two senators managed to put their colleagues on record voting for or against funding President Obama's latest unconstitutional executive power grab. Many Republican senators, however, protest too much, claiming that Lee and Cruz may have allowed the Democrats to pass a number of executive nominees because of their insistence upon making their point. As the story goes, Democrat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid had promised to adjourn the Senate after passing the CRomnibus and a couple...

We here at CHQ have observed an interesting phenomenon about former Florida Governor Jeb Bush – hardly a week passed after he met with Senator John McCain to discuss how to obtain the Republican presidential nomination without being a conservative until testimonials started flowing about how conservative Jeb is. Of course these testimonials are mostly coming from Democrats and the establishment media, but they are slowly, but inexorably filling the top pages of Google, so that soon they will become the conventional wisdom. Typical of this remaking of Jeb Bush were the comments former Democratic Florida State Senator Dan Gelber...

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) is resigning his position at a healthcare company that reportedly profited from ObamaCare, as he lays the groundwork for a potential 2016 run.Bush will step down from the board of directors for Tenet Healthcare Corp., on Dec. 31, the hospital operator announced this week, according to the Wall Street Journal.Bush earned close to $300,000 from the company in 2013, according to filings reviewed by the Los Angeles Times. He also sold $1.1 million in company stock that year.It's the second business post Bush is leaving this month. Last week, the former governor announced he...

Some prominent moderate establishment Republicans in Utah are plotting to target conservative icon Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) with a primary challenge in 2016. Lee’s offense? He didn’t drink the Washington Kool-aid and see the D.C. cesspool as a jacuzzi after he ousted incumbent Sen. Bob Bennett (R-UT), who had supported the TARP bailouts, in 2010. When Lee prevailed over Bennett, he gave other conservatives across the country hope that they could also defeat entrenched incumbents who cared more about preserving the status quo above all else. Once Lee arrived in Washington, he didn’t turn his back on the base, which...

So Karl Rove was involved in a cover-up. Well, leave it to Karl -- the “boy genius” and the “architect” -- to orchestrate a cover-up that actually hides information exculpatory to his President and his party. He did just that on the issue of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs) in Iraq. This is not an outlier either -- this is just Rove being Rove. And ‘Rove being Rove’ has sewn the seeds of destruction that gave us Barack Obama in 2008, and again in 2012, and has scattered political germs that still haunt Republicans to this day. This goes back...

For most of the past year, Mitt Romney supporters have publicly said he should consider running again. And for most of the past year, Romney has seemed uninterested. Until recently. While some people close to Romney insist he hasn’t moved from saying he has no plans to run, the 2012 Republican nominee has sounded at least open to the idea in recent conversations, according to more than a dozen people who’ve spoken with him in the past month. In his private musings, Romney has sounded less than upbeat about most of the potential candidates in the 2016 Republican field, according...

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush called on Congress to pass bipartisan comprehensive amnesty legislation after President Barack Obama unilaterally granted nearly five million illegal immigrants executive amnesty on Thursday.

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Here's Bob in Nashua, New Hampshire, as we head back to the phones. Great to have you with us, sir. Hello. CALLER: Yeah, thanks, Rush. Yeah, this theme of the GOP establishment that the Tea Party and conservatives are the main enemy not the Dems, it's nothing new. It goes back, really, to the 2008 presidential election when the Republican establishment -- or at least many in the establishment -- sabotaged McCain-Palin. Because, to them, Palin was the bigger threat, the bigger enemy than the Democrats winning. You know, the funny thing is now more than six...

Now this is just pathetic. Some of you turned Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC)87% into the hero of the day because of his Benghazi investigation. He could do no wrong. What happens when you build a cult of personalty around any politician is then they can go BOHICA on you. Bend over America. Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC)87% is now on record admitting he’s going to help shove President Obama’s amnesty plan right where you don’t want it. (SNIP) So, Hemmer asked Gowdy who he’d stop the President. Gowdy’s answer? He wants to let Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)Heritage ActionScorecardSen. John McCain52%Senate Republican...

Appearing on Glenn Beck‘s radio show this past week, Dr. Benjamin Carson took a vastly different stance from most conservatives on the issue of gun control, claiming you shouldn’t be able to own semi-automatic weapons in large cities.Carson became a newfound conservative hero last month when he spoke at the National Prayer Breakfast and laid out a series of criticisms of ObamaCare, political correctness, and tax policy right in front of the president himself. Many called the speech “inappropriate” given the apolitical nature of the event, but many conservatives lauded Carson for his “bold” and “sensible” suggestions for policy...

Reclusive billionaire David Koch, a powerful donor in American conservative politics, says he’s a “social liberal.” “I’m basically a libertarian, and I’m a conservative on economic matters, and I’m a social liberal,” Koch told ABC News’ Barbara Walters.... Koch, who supports abortion rights and gay marriage, said he isn’t concerned with candidates he supports who don’t share some of his views. He said his primary concern when choosing a candidate to support is their fiscal policies.

Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions is out as chair of the Senate Budget Committee. **"Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) is giving up his bid to become the next Budget Committee chairman — deferring to Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) and eliminating the only competitive chairmanship battle in the incoming GOP Senate majority. "Sessions has been the panel’s top Republican for the past four years but Enzi technically retains seniority over the Alabaman on the committee and said several weeks ago that he would challenge Sessions for the chairmanship."** This is going to portrayed as a simple matter of seniority. It isn’t. That story...

Cokie and Steven Roberts: Jeb, Hillary mirror each other Posted on December 21, 2014 COKIE and STEVEN ROBERTS Syndicated columnists Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton badly need each other. They cancel out each others’ greatest weaknesses and deprive their foes of some of their strongest arguments. Both have similar flaws and are vulnerable to the same charges: that they are too old (Jeb would be 63 on election day 2016; Hillary, 69), too out of practice (Jeb was last elected governor of Florida in 2002; Hillary was last elected senator from New York in 2006), too tied to previous presidents...

Trent Lott wasn’t always this way. He was once a conservative champion, who came to Washington to change the ruling-class narrative. But now he’s a profile in what Washington does to you if you stay too long — unless you have Winston Churchill-like courage of conviction, and few mere mortals do. Mr. Lott was originally part of a group that included former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Rep. Vin Webber, who were dubbed the “Young Turks.” They were among the chief lieutenants of the Reagan Revolution back in the day. Best known for fighting the Fraternal Order of Establishment Republicans....

Former Massachusetts Governor and failed presidential candidate Mitt Romney is not yet ready to relinquish his title as the head of the pale-pastels establishment wing of the Republican Party to former Florida Governor Jeb Bush. "A senior Republican who has met with Mitt Romney" tells Politico that Romney is telling donors on Wall Street "not to commit to a candidate that is not their first choice and that they aren’t excited about. He does not think much of the current field and does not think it is jelling. He still views himself as the leader of the establishment wing of...