Free Republic

<p>While the Senate majority leader is blowing up his institution, House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) held an interesting press conference, giving some broad hints as to where that body is going.</p> <p>First, Boehner suggested that the House isn’t merely going to club the president over Obamacare.</p>

Rep. David Valado is the third House Republican in four days to sign on to co-sponsor a Democratic comprehensive immigration bill. While the House isn’t likely to take up that measure, Republicans signaling support for such legislation could pressure leadership to address the issue. On Wednesday, the California Republican became the latest GOP lawmaker to co-sponsor the Democrats’ bill, which is similar to a bipartisan measure creating a pathway to citizenship that passed the Senate earlier this year. Republican Jeff Denham of California was the first to attach his name to the bill sponsored by Florida Democrat Joe Garcia. On...

PRINCETON, NJ -- Hispanics in the U.S. identify with or lean toward the Democratic Party over the Republican Party by about a 2-to-1 margin, regardless of whether they were U.S.-born. Hispanics born outside the U.S. do have slightly less attachment to either party, and are more likely to be politically independent, but these differences do little to alter the basic underlying advantage Democrats enjoy across the entire Hispanic population.

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Wednesday offered an endorsement for a proposal to grant citizenship to children who were brought to the U.S. illegally by their parents. “This is about basic fairness,” Boehner said one week after convening a two-hour meeting to discuss immigration with his conference. “These children were brought here of no accord of their own, and frankly they’re in a very difficult position,” he said. “And I think many of our members believe that this issue needs to be addressed.” Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) are crafting a bill to...

WASHINGTON — The hide-out has no sign on the door, but inside Dirksen 201 is a spare suite of offices the White House has transformed into its covert immigration war room on Capitol Hill. Strategically located down the hall from the Senate Judiciary Committee in one of the city’s massive Congressional office buildings, the work space normally reserved for the vice president is now the hub of a stealthy legislative operation run by President Obama’s staff. [Snip] “We are trying hard not to be heavy handed about what we are doing,” said Cecilia Muñoz... ...[Snip] this time, high-profile help from...

<p>Donald Trump said the Republican party will lose elections if it reforms the nation’s entitlement programs and will hand Democrats 11 million votes if Congress grants citizenship to illegal immigrants, likening the reform efforts to a “suicide mission.”</p> <p>Mr. Trump has been a fierce critic of the Obama administration and established himself as a voice in Republican ranks when he badgered Mr. Obama to release his long-form birth certificate to prove that he was born in the United States. More recently, Mr. Trump has taken aim at the administration’s decision to halt White House tours because of the automatic budget cuts, known as sequesters, that kicked in earlier this month.</p>

Don't anyone tell Marco Rubio, John McCain or Jeff Flake that nearly 80 percent of Hindus voted for Obama, or who knows what they'll come up with. I understand the interest of business lobbies in getting cheap, unskilled labor through amnesty, but why do Republican officeholders want to create up to 20 million more Democratic voters, especially if it involves flouting the law? Are the campaign donations from the soulless rich more important than actual voters? Without citing any evidence, the Rubio Republicans simply assert that granting 12 million to 20 million illegal aliens amnesty will make Hispanics warm to...

NEW ORLEANS -- Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour told a crowd of conservative activists at the Republican Leadership Conference Friday that they should not "get hung up on purity" when it comes to the Republican nominee for president. "In politics, purity is a loser," said Barbour, a well-connected GOP insider who earlier this year decided to forgo a presidential run in 2012. (snip) Barbour said that this was the first time in his decades in politics that people are regularly telling him that "I'm afraid my children and grandchildren are not going to inherent the same country I inherited." "Those are...

Newly-installed Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus has a message for Donald Trump and other so-called "birthers": Shut up! Priebus, who's starting to score some fundraising and organizational victories inside GOP HQ, having taken over for controversial former Chairman Michael Steele, says the debate over President Obama's birthplace and whether he can be president is a huge distraction away from the party's effort to fight Democratic spending and tax plans. In an interview, we asked if he, like Trump, is a birther. "I'm not," says Priebus. "I believe that the president was born in Hawaii." [Read 10 things you didn't...

A good friend of mine (let's call him Bob) is convinced that unless the GOP puts abortion "aside as its focal point, it simply cannot win and regain power." That's especially interesting in light of Kathleen Parker's latest column, which disses the evangelical wing of the GOP. Bob's point is that "we've lost a majority of women over this issue as they have become one-issue voters." It's not only liberal women but also others who believe it's simply not the government's business. Kathleen Parker broadens the point considerably beyond abortion: "The evangelical, right-wing, oogedy-boogedy branch of the GOP is what...

Short but serious question: So, what's it gonna be folks? Turncoat RINO or America hating Marxist?

Temper, temper. Republican John McCain is known for his. He's been dubbed "Senator Hothead" by more than one publication, but he's also had some success extracting his hatchet from several foreheads. Even his Republican Senate colleagues are not spared his sharp tongue. "F--- you," he shouted at Texas Sen. John Cornyn last year. "Only an a------ would put together a budget like this," he told the former Budget Committee chairman, Sen. Pete Domenici, in 1999. "I'm calling you a f------ jerk!" he once retorted to Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley. With Cornyn, he smoothed things over quickly. The two argued during...

Legalization for aliens a 'must,' Bush announces President keeps status talks going while entrance laws remain unenforced Posted: October 11, 2006 © 2006 WorldNetDaily.com President Bush says that part of the solution to illegal immigration "must" include a way for those already in the United States but without legal authorization to be given that status. "We will conduct this debate on immigration in a way that is respectful to our heritage," he said at a recent White House event honoring Hispanic Heritage Month. "We are a nation of law, and we will enforce our law. "But at the same time,...

Harris saga points to turmoil within GOP, observers sayBy JOE FOLLICK [jfollick@earthlink.net]The SHT (that's "Sarasota Herald-Tribune")May 12, 2006 TALLAHASSEE -- Gov. Jeb Bush's failure to salvage the Republican Party's uphill quest for the U.S. Senate race this year points to a future of questions for the party. Bush's force of personality and intellectual rigor have dominated the Republican Party of Florida for most of the past decade, creating a cohesive machine that controls the state. But the signs of fraying are evident. Senate Republicans bucked his heavy lobbying and killed his plans to protect vouchers and soften the limits on...

By Washington Bureau WASHINGTON -- Arnold Schwarzenegger has given Democrats thousands of dollars in political donations over the past two decades, including $1,000 to Massachusetts senator and liberal lightning rod Ted Kennedy. At the same time, campaign reports show, the GOP actor and gubernatorial hopeful has been a lukewarm financial supporter of Republican candidates. Ultimately, say political observers, Schwarzenegger's history of political giving indicates little beyond what already is known -- that he is a moderate Republican who married into the Democratic Kennedy clan via NBC news correspondent Maria Shriver. But conservative activists argue the pattern underscores a questionable political...