Free Republic

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)SEN. CLAIRE McCASKILL (D-MO): Frankly, Darrell Issa is so over the top. He is like the lead drum major of the Hillary haters. And they're a legion out there. But let's get to the policies. And that's what the American people are going to do, Chris. They're going to look at these people, and they're going to decide who has the stable of a resume that is incredibly varied and strong? Who is confident? Who has gravitas on the world stage, and who cares about them in terms of the policies? This parade of characters they have, none of them...

A group of conservative activists will meet privately next month in suburban Washington to hear from potential Republican presidential candidates and determine who among them to support, a Republican involved in the effort said on Monday. Many conservatives want one of their own as the 2016 Republican presidential nominee and would prefer to avoid establishment candidates such as former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, who is expected to seek the nomination. The session at a hotel in Tyson's Corner, which is in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, will take place on May 15 and 16, according to the source, who spoke...

In the last week or so we are beginning to see the outlines of the 2016 Presidential campaign. Ted Cruz is showing Jeb Bush that he can raise a lot of money by coming up with $31 million in a short period of time. According to the “National Review”, Long Island billionaire Robert Mercer will control one of the four Super PACs donating money to Cruz. Mercer’s hedge fund has been accused of underestimating what it owes the IRS by $6 billion. And Cruz has called for the abolish of the IRS. So Mr. Mercer’s support of Cruz is just...

On March 23rd, Ted Cruz became the first to throw in his name to run for the Republican presidential nomination. On Tuesday, March 31st, enthusiasts from all over the state came to the Grand Opening of his presidential headquarters in Houston, Texas. It was a ‘joyous’ occasion. Americans are hungry for a ‘change’ from doom and gloom to a new dawn. His presidential campaign logo signifies this very premise, "Reigniting the Promise of America." Cruz is a dynamic courageous conservative that will energize the many angry, restless and hurting Americans into a positive force against progressivism. The response to his...

“I was dreamin’ when I wrote this Forgive me if it goes astray… But when I woke up this morning Could’ve sworn it was Judgment Day. The sky was all purple, There were people runnin’ everywhere Tryin’ to run from the destruction You know I didn’t even care ‘Cuz they say 2000 zero zero party over, oops, out of time!” So begins the classic Prince song “1999.” Although it’s Monday morning as I’m writing this, yesterday was Judgment Day for conservatives throughout America. Hillary Rodham Clinton – former First Lady, former distinguished Senator from the great state of New...

No matter how much their adversaries have tried to pin them as the "party of no," the GOP is far and away the most dynamic of the two major American political parties today. As evidence of this, just look at how the 2016 primary campaigns are shaping up on either side of the ideological divide. Conservative voters will get to choose from the youngest and most philosophically diverse group of GOP candidates I’ve seen in my lifetime, while the left will get to choose—wait, there is no choice. Yes, that’s right: Unless something drastically changes, the very same liberals who...

Is this anecdote from Byron York new or did I miss it when he first published it? Either way, can’t wait until Rubio gets asked whether he still believes this at his first presidential campaign townhall. Oh, by the way: What he says here is 100 percent correct. “Here’s my big worry,” Rubio told me during an interview while the bill was making its way through the Senate. “I fear that if this thing fails, the president will basically say to anyone in the U.S. who has been here more than three years, who has not committed a serious crime…he’ll...

Studies find sexism slips into political coverage.Hillary Clinton is a presidential candidate, former first lady, twice-elected U.S. senator, ex-secretary of state – and a grandma. She is not the first candidate with some of those qualifications, including the grandparent part. When President George H.W. Bush – a former congressman, director of the CIA, ambassador and White House wingman - took office he had 12 grandchildren. While Mitt Romney was campaigning, two more grandchildren were added to his brood. Yet Bush and Romney’s roles as gramps were never headline worthy. Grandma Hillary, however, already has become part of the discourse. Sure,...

Link only due to copyright issues: http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-04-13/the-7-gop-long-shots-who-still-have-a-chance

If Ron Paul weren’t Ron Paul, I’d assume this denunciation was just a stunt orchestrated by him and Rand to put some foreign-policy distance between them before the primaries. Are you a mainstream conservative worried that President Rand would be too much like Ron in office? Well, here you go. Let your conscience be eased. The nation’s most famous isolationist thinks his boy’s a bit of a warmonger. But c’mon. With the possible exception of his vote for the Afghanistan AUMF in 2001, has Ron Paul ever endorsed a position that he didn’t sincerely hold? Of course he thinks the...

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio’s campaign, which officially kicks off Monday, has so far attracted paltry support from Republican voters, according to polls in Iowa and New Hampshire, as well as nationally. He’s down near Chris Christie! Yet, when we talk about him in the FiveThirtyEight office, we usually put Rubio in the top tier, in front of everyone except Jeb Bush and Scott Walker, the two candidates at the top of the polls. Why? Rubio is both electable and conservative, and in optimal proportions. He’s in a position to satisfy the GOP establishment, tea party-aligned voters and social conservatives. In...

Ted Cruz remains a conservative favorite in 2016. In 2012, the establishment backed his Senate opponent in Texas, then Lt. Governor David Dewhurst. The conservative grassroots backed Cruz and pushed him over the finish line. Cruz has since remained a favorite of the grassroots with a continually antagonist relationship with the Republican establishment. In 2010, Rand Paul, before Cruz, was a grassroots favorite. The Republican Establishment backed his rival, Trey Grayson. Paul rallied a coalition of conservative grassroots and Ron Paul acolytes to trounce Grayson and win the Kentucky Senate seat. Since then, Paul has wobbled between maintaining grassroots support...

Robert Mercer, a Long Island hedge fund magnate, has made some lavish investments over the years: There's his 203-foot super yacht, called the Sea Owl. There's the $2 million model train set he had custom-built in his mansion—and the lawsuit he filed against the builders, saying they'd overcharged him. And now there's the money he's putting behind Ted Cruz's presidential ambitions. Mercer is the main bankroller of a ring of four super-PACs supporting Cruz for president, the New York Times reported Friday. The PACs have collected $31 million in the four weeks since Cruz launched his campaign, giving the freshman...

Presidential bid could be first in US history to make global warming key election issue, highlighting differences with Republicans. John Podesta, who recently quit his job as advisor to President Barack Obama, tweeted this would be “top of the agenda” for Clinton as she prepares her run for the White House. John Podesta ✔ @johnpodesta Helping working families succeed, building small businesses, tackling climate change & clean energy. Top of the agenda. #Hillary2016 3:45 PM - 12 Apr 2015 A Washington veteran who was also advisor to Bill Clinton, Podesta is widely credited as the brains behind Obama’s climate change...

As the ex-secretary of state announces her White House bid, Sky News looks at who she could be up against from both parties.Hillary Clinton is widely seen as a front-runner for Democratic Party's presidential nomination, and her resume makes her a strong rival to any Republican. Here is a look at some of her likely opponents in the White House race. The Republican field is already crowded. :: Ted Cruz Ted Cruz became the first candidate to launch the 2016 White House bid when he announced his campaign last month. The Texas senator, 44, is a conservative firebrand who frequently...

The Women’s Defense League of NH is co-sponsoring an event featuring New Hampshire first-in-the-nation presidential primary candidate, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-TX, according to a press statement. The event will be held from 11:45 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sunday, Arpil 19, at the Londonderry Fish and Game Club, 5 Lund St. in Litchfield. Cruz will be coming to speak to the 2nd Amendment Community in New Hampshire. He was the first candidate to formally announce his 2016 Presidential candidacy. The event is free but space is limited and pre-registration is required. Tickets are available via EventBrite. Event is sponsored...

*VIDEO-AT-LINK) They're both Spanish-speaking Republicans from Florida. And they both want to be president. There's a battle brewing between Marco Rubio and Jeb Bush over who is best-positioned to help the GOP make inroads with Latino voters, a crucial voting bloc for the party if it hopes to win the White House in 2016. Rubio will make his case on Monday when he formally announces his presidential campaign. He'll speak from Miami's Freedom Tower, where Cuban exiles who fled Fidel Castro's regime stood in line for processing, and introduce himself as the son of Cuban immigrants whose candidacy is the...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)Hillary Clinton announced her second run at the presidency Sunday afternoon in an email message and a video posted on social media. “I’m getting ready to do something, too. I’m running for president,” Clinton said toward the end of the two-minute video. “Americans have fought their way back from tough economic times, but the deck is still stacked in favor of those at the top. Everyday Americans need a champion, and I want to be that champion so you can do more than just get by, you can get ahead and stay ahead. Because when families are strong, America is...

It’s never been a secret that the politically regressive “progressives” on the New York Times editorial board hate freedom. And so, in last Sunday’s lead editorial, they came out full square for a totalitarian state under the iron boot of Supreme Leader Barack Obama. The Times is concerned that, as the failed Obama presidency heads into the final stretch and his policies become a greater concern to voting Americans, frightened citizens, especially those that have never voted before, will continue replacing tangential establishment Republicans in Congress with robust conservative-libertarian-tea partiers. That is why the Times finds the return of a...

I just love it when a Republican candidate who is currently serving in Congress explains why Republican policies fail. Lindsey Graham did it twice on CNN's State of the Union this morning. First, when asked about Ted Cruz, Graham criticized his decision to shut down the government over Obamacare, saying it "hurt our party." He also intimated that Cruz doesn't have the temperament or experience to bring about consensus on policy issues. He begins by blaming Hillary for everything that's wrong in the Middle East, as though she was a puppetmaster while serving as Secretary of State. When he gets...