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Announces August 21st Rally for Religious Liberty in Des Moines, IAHOUSTON, Texas – Today, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, released a video telling the story of Dick and Betty Odgaard, the Iowa couple who recently had to shut down their business as a result of the Iowa Civil Rights Commission’s efforts to force them to host a same-sex wedding ceremony in violation of their religious beliefs. The video highlights the Odgaards’ experience with government-sanctioned religious intolerance, as well as their reaction to being targeted. Cruz will host a special event in Des Moines, IA, next month featuring the Odgaards. “It...

One analyst thinks former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) is the clear front-runner to win the Republican presidential nomination in 2016. Greg Valliere, the chief political strategist at the Potomac Research Group, now pegs Bush's odds of winning the nomination at 50%. That's up from the 35% odds Potomac gave him in June. "His campaign has stabilized after a terrible spring slump," Valliere wrote in a research note. Bush has been leading most Republican polls of the race, but has faced an insurgency in recent weeks from real-estate magnate Donald Trump, who doubled Bush's support nationally in a poll released...

The most amazing data point in this poll? He was near 30 percent when they first started polling on Thursday — and then dropped off the table after his comments about McCain as a prisoner of war. Hmmmm. I’ve been through enough online episodes of “criticizing Republican X makes you a RINO” to enjoy this one before it inevitably fades this fall. May President Trump reign for a thousand years, and may all the no-class RINO establishmentarians with their loser net worth in the low seven figures weep at his feet. His views on immigration are not widely shared. Just...

The celebration of Obama's capitulation to the dictators is in full swing when you watch the local media in Miami. Looks like the ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC stations all sent reporters have "journalists" up there singing the praises of Castro and Obama.

Congress will hold the first of several hearings on Obama’s Iran deal this Thursday, with some Democrats likely to join unified Republicans in opposing the disaster negotiated in Vienna. Getting the votes to send a disapproval to Obama’s desk should be doable. The two-thirds majority needed to override a certain Obama veto is harder to obtain, but not impossible. GOP aspirants to the presidency have all expressed opposition to the deal. When he joined the race last Monday, Wisconsin governor Scott Walker promised to end the appeasement scheme with Tehran on “day one” of his administration if elected. (Full disclosure:...

A smoldering policy dispute over the Iran deal between two frontrunners for the Republican nomination caught fire over the weekend, as the campaigns of Wisconsin governor Scott Walker and former Florida governor Jeb Bush traded accusations of bad faith and the candidates themselves engaged in a pointed back-and-forth about how a newly elected president should handle the deal. -snip- The following day, Michael Doran, a former National Security Council official and a well-regarded scholar at the Hudson Institute who has been briefing Walker and is close to his team, tweeted a link to a Politico article about Bush’s comments and...

Monday marks the first in a series of speeches by Jeb Bush “that will outline what his priorities will be as president, beginning with taking on Mount Washington and reforming the way D.C. works” — this according to his campaign. The inaugural speech itself is titled “Taking on Mount Washington,” in fact. While it is an interesting metaphor, the tone and tenor of it also could mark a change in demeanor for Mr. Bush which could help him fend off critics who frame his campaign as inconsequential or tepid.

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker joined the crowded field of Republican contenders vying for the White House in 2016 on Monday, and immediately stands out for having one of the poorest records on environmental and climate issues, according to green groups and political experts. Since taking office in 2010, Walker has dismantled several longstanding policies protecting wetlands and waterways, fast-tracked mining projects, fought climate action, slashed funding for dozens of state scientists and environmental education positions, and impeded development of wind energy in Wisconsin. "He's one of the worst," said Heather Taylor-Miesle, director of the Natural Resources Defense Council's Action Fund,...

July 20, 2015John Kerry, who knows something about having his war record attacked, savages Donald Trumpby Brett Logiurato Secretary of State John Kerry came to the defense late Saturday night of Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona), whose combat record had come under fire earlier in the day by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. Kerry served in the US Senate with McCain for nearly 30 years before replacing Hillary Clinton as secretary of state near the start of President Barack Obama's second term. "I have known John McCain for more than 30 years. We've had our share of disagreements and still do...

Isnip)......I truly, honestly, and with all my heart and mind think Donald Trump’s most ardent supporters are making a yuuuuuuge mistake. I think they are being conned and played. I feel like a guy whose brother is being taken advantage of by a grifter. I’m watching helplessly as the con artist congratulates him for taking out a third mortgage......(snip)

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said Sunday he’s not sorry and he’s not withdrawing from the race over remarks he made about Arizona Sen. John McCain‘s status as a war hero. Mr. Trump drew fire after he said Saturday that Mr. McCain, the party’s 2008 presidential standard-bearer who spent five years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, was “not a war hero.” Mr. Trump explained his dislike of seeing Mr. McCain was described that way by saying that Mr. McCain was “a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.” The New York developer and...

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — Bernie Sanders told veterans in Iowa Friday that unlike some other politicians, he doesn't pay lip service to their concerns. "It is very easy to raise the flag at a troop deployment, it is very easy for a politician to give a moving speech on Veterans Day," Sanders said. "But it is very hard to go down that long road with the men and women who served and make sure that they continue to get all the benefits, all the healthcare, that they are entitled to for the rest of their lives." The Vermont senator told...

Jeb Bush condemned Donald Trump's attack today on Sen. John McCain, saying "enough with the slanderous attacks." Trump in Iowa today said of McCain: "He was not a war hero. He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren't captured." He later tried to explain his remarks but not really.

Something strange has happened to the Republican presidential field since Donald Trump joined it a month ago: Mr. Trump and Jeb Bush are rising. Everyone else is falling in the polls, or seems stuck in place. The numbers suggest Mr. Trump is shaking up the GOP primary electorate in a meaningful way. He seems to be taking support from the most conservative and anti-Washington rivals in the field, particularly Mike Huckabee, Scott Walker, Ted Cruz and Rand Paul. Mr. Bush’s rise in the polls suggests that his base of support has little overlap with Mr. Trump’s, and he therefore may...

In the fall of 1967, when a 14-year-old Texan named John Ellis Bush arrived on the bucolic campus of Phillips Academy in Andover, great expectations preceded him. -snip- A few weeks after graduation, on July 16, 1971, Bush filled out an index card on which he registered for the draft. (A copy of the card was obtained by the Globe under the Freedom of Information Act.) On the line requesting a contact, he listed his father, who continued to serve as Nixon’s United Nations ambassador: “Amb. George H. W. Bush, Waldorf Towers . . . New York City.” Bush received...

Jeb Bush reaffirmed the idea for Puerto Rico statehood on Tuesday during a visit to Puerto Rico, winning great applause. The former Florida governor and 2016 GOP presidential prospect delivered a speech on economic opportunities peppered with Spanish. He's fluent in the language, and often uses it in Florida, but it's rarely heard in Republican presidential campaign politics.

Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush says he's "fine" with transgender people openly serving in the military – as long as it doesn't compromise morale, Yahoo News reports. Bush's view – echoing that of Defense Secretary Ashton Carter, the Washington Post has reported – marks the first time he has commented on the issue. And it comes in the wake of the Defense Department decision this week to issue two directives bringing the Pentagon closer to rescinding its ban on open service by transgender people. Carter ordered a 6-month review to examine how allowing transgenders to serve openly in the military...

Donald Trump doesn’t just want to appear on Fox News — he’d like to program the network too. The presidential candidate and active Twitter user fired off some tweets Thursday to criticize FNC for its use of political analyst Karl Rove. “.@FoxNews You shouldn’t have @KarlRove on the air — he’s a clown with zero credibility — a Bushy!” Trump tweeted. “.@KarlRove wasted $400 million and didn’t win one race — a total loser. @FoxNews.” The $400 million number cited by Trump represents the amount of money Rove’s Super Pac, American Crossroads, raised in a failed attempt to defeat President...

Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush told Yahoo News today that he was “fine” with transgender people openly serving in the U.S. military so long as the Pentagon determines that doing so would not compromise morale within the armed forces. The Obama administration announced this week that it would start the process of lifting military’s ban on transgender service. Defense Secretary Ash Carter has ordered a 6-month review to develop guidelines for implementation and study the policy implications of the move. He called the ban “outdated.”

If you had to vote in your state primary/caucus today, knowing what you know now about the various declared and probable candidates, who would you vote for? Why? Who would you like to see as the running mate for your preferred candidate? If you could help staff your candidates cabinet and other top appointments, who would you choose? If you could recommend different congressional leaders than we have now, who would they be? And who would you like to see on the Supreme Court and why? And finally, feel free to donate to Free Republic.