Free Republic

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....

First Democrats, now a former Senate GOP leader is attacking Sen. Ted Cruz for standing his ground instead of compromising on key issues. Trent Lott, a former Senate majority leader from Mississippi and now a lobbyist, dubbed Cruz one of the “problems” in the Senate and urged incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to quickly “co-opt” new Republican senators before Cruz and others in the “Far Right” deputize them. “There are problems,” said Lott, pushing bipartisanship at a media roundtable hosted by the Christian Science Monitor. “Yes, we’ve got the Ted Cruzes in the Republican Party, and we’ve got Elizabeth...

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is not a turtle. Ian Ziering of “90210” was in the movie “Sharknado.” And Sapphire from the movie “Almost Famous” is a “Band Aid.” Those are among the anonymous edits to Wikipedia that have originated from IP addresses in Congress during the August recess, when lawmakers take their annual hiatus from Washington and life around the Capitol quiets down. Changes to Wikipedia from congressional IP addresses became a mini-controversy around this time last year, when more than 100 edits were made. […] The McConnell edit that came from Senate this month actually removed a prank...

Many advocates for revamping immigration laws have tried to coax Congress into action over the years, but a particularly powerful one will be arriving next month: Pope Francis. Lawmakers and immigration activists expect the pontiff’s message will resonate beyond Capitol Hill and inspire members of Congress and their constituents. The pope's U.S. schedule includes an address to Congress on Sept. 24 and a meeting two days later with immigrants and Hispanic families at Philadelphia’s Independence Mall. “He’s been clear on our failure to respond appropriately to immigrants and refugees,” Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., told CQ. “I don’t think anyone will...

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is moving ahead with his pledge to defund Planned Parenthood at any cost this fall, a move that puts him directly at odds with Senate leadership.In an op-ed published Thursday by USA Today, Cruz declared that he will “lead the fight” to defund Planned Parenthood after a series of undercover videos raised questions about its fetal tissue donation program.Cruz warned Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell not to “schedule or facilitate” any legislation that doles out federal dollars to Planned Parenthood – referring to a bill that must pass Congress this fall to fund the government.“Instead, the...

Accounting gimmicks can’t hide the fact that federal support ultimately pays for abortion.HOUSTON, Texas — Today, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, wrote an op-ed in USA Today responding to the latest horrific videos showing Planned Parenthood callously discussing killing unborn children in order to sell their body parts. The full op-ed is available here and excerpts may be viewed below: Over the past few weeks, Americans have seen a series of videos come out of Planned Parenthood that are nothing short of horrifying. The footage shows senior Planned Parenthood officials laughing, swilling chardonnay and casually, callously, heartlessly discussing killing unborn...

Democratic Attorney General Jack Conway launched the first negative ad from a gubernatorial nominee on Tuesday, hitting Republican Matt Bevin on seemingly every tax issue that has emerged this year and in last year’s U.S. Senate primary. The 30-second spot, titled “30 Times,” begins with Bevin’s press conference upon launching his bid to unseat then-Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, telling reporters that he had “no tax delinquency problem, nor have I ever.” The ad then transitions to reports of more than $100,000 owed by Bevin Brothers Manufacturing in East Hampton, Conn., earning the company a spot atop a listing of...

I heard on Bill Bennett this morning that we still have the medical device tax thanks to Democrat/Obama/MitchMcConnell Care. I thought that part of the beast had been ripped out, but apparently it was tabled like so many other conservative efforts thanks to McConnell not using Harry Reid's "nuclear option" to get the bill to the floor for a vote. Bills only takes 51 to pass the senate, but Reid's buddy Mitch won't let them come to the floor for a vote. What good is he for us?

First, an admission: I have seriously underestimated Donald Trump. After spending more than three years tracking the construct of the GOPe strategy to elect Jeb Bush, and having lost the most single important battle in May 2014 to stop it, I was deflated and disenfranchised. Few were willing to accept the road-map and sheer level of Machiavellian strategy deployed by the professional political class. Every single prediction (tripwire) which stems from understanding the construct was triggered in the exact sequence. We resigned ourselves to the outlook that Tom Donohue, Mitch McConnell and their team were going to pull it off....

Rank-and-file GOP House members are now confronted with an important question: do they want to head into a presidential election with a leader who is unpopular with their own voters and hated by Independents? Gallup released a poll today showing that just 23% of Americans view Speaker John Boehner favorably. A clear majority have an unfavorable view of him. What is more revealing is that Boehner is under water in terms of approval with his own party. Just 37% of Republicans have a favorable view of the Speaker, while 42% view him unfavorably. His numbers are atrocious among Independents –...

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell strongly implied yesterday that he wouldn't push to defund Planned Parenthood in the September appropriations negotiations. McConnell seemed to express fears that such a fight could backfire on public perception of Republicans, particularly if it led to the threat of a government shutdown: "We've been down this path before," McConnell said. "This is a tactic that has been tried going back to the '90s and it always has the same ending — that the focus is on the government shutdown and not on the underlying issue that is being protested. We are not doing government...

In Kentucky, gubernatorial candidate Matt Bevin has announced that he intends to defund Planned Parenthood if he wins the election. Bevin is the GOP’s nominee for governor and will be facing pro-abortion Jack Conway in the general election. Currently, Conway is the attorney general for Kentucky and the Democratic nominee. In a press release, Bevin said, “As Governor, I will direct my Secretary of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services not to distribute federal taxpayer dollars from that department to Planned Parenthood clinics. Federal taxpayer dollars appropriated to Planned Parenthood flow through the Governor’s administration. As Governor, I will...

ATLANTA -- Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) avoided the RedState Gathering this weekend. While Republican presidential rivals like Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee faced down questions about Donald Trump in Atlanta, Paul was touring South Carolina, holding meet-and-greets and dropping into a "Pints for Liberty" happy hour. But in Goose Creek, S.C., Paul unloaded on Trump, recapitulating the arguments he'd made throughout Thursday night's presidential debate, saying conservatives were "kidding themselves" if they fell for Trump's brand of anti-establishment politics. "I can't imagine Donald Trump even knowing what a tea party is," Paul said, referring to...

There’s nothing like unilateral disarmament right before a big budget fight. Breathe easy, abortion warriors: If it’s a choice between yanking taxpayer money from an outfit that sells babies for parts and protecting a 2016 talking point that the new GOP majority is too mature for silly things like shutdowns, the latter wins every time. The only suspense now is what form the next exciting episode of Republican failure theater will take. Traditionally what would happen is that McConnell would attach the PP defunding bill to a budgetary continuing resolution, that resolution would then be filibustered by Senate Democrats...

The Republican-controlled Senate is set to vote Monday on halting federal aid to Planned Parenthood, a fast response to the series of unsettling videos exposing the group's little-noticed practice of providing fetal tissue to researchers. The measure is not expected to pass because Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and the other 53 Republican senators will need support from several Democrats to reach the 60-vote threshold, with some moderates on both sides still apparently undecided. However, the effort appears to be another step in the effort by pro-life groups and others to restrict abortions and undermine Planned Parenthood, which provides health...

"These Seven Senators Will Decide if the Senate Totally De-Funds Planned Parenthood" The Senate will vote early Monday evening on a new bill has been introduced that will totally de-fund the Planned Parenthood abortion business. The legislation follows four shocking videos that have caught Planned Parenthood doctors discussing and arranging the sale of body parts of aborted babies. Following pro-life Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s announcement of a working group, Senator Joni Ernst and Senators Rand Paul and James Lankford, along with 21 cosponsors, introduced legislation to protect women’s health and defund Planned Parenthood, S.1881.

FANCY FARM — The annual political picnic here has long been a partisan battle of wits and one-liners, where the politicians trade barbs and laughs and the crowd eggs them on. ... On Saturday, while Democrats, including gubernatorial nominee and attorney general Jack Conway, used their time on stage to remind voters of Bevin's rocky past as a politician, Bevin took the stage to decry the nature of the event and call for unity. In a sharp departure from the theme of the picnic, Bevin said he was glad to be at the event, which primarily serves as a fundraiser...

Is Dana Milbank – one of the Washington Compost’s many leftist columnists – really a girly man or do you think he’s just pretending? "Finally, Senate Republicans are standing up to the bully who terrorized them the past two and a half years — and they’re finding out he isn’t so tough, after all. After Cruz on the Senate floor Friday called his fellow Republican, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), a liar, his GOP colleagues have moved swiftly to shut down his antics. They voted in large numbers to renew the Export-Import Bank (McConnell’s scheduling of the vote, opposed...

Sean Hannity says that three senators confirmed Ted Cruz’s account of a conversation he had with Senate Majority Liar Leader Mitch McConnell about a possible deal with Democrats about the Export-Import Bank. You may recall that Cruz blasted McConnell on the Senate floor for saying there was no deal, while there clearly was one. Although other Republicans have attacked Cruz for telling the truth — without denying his account of the conversation, by the way — a few have come out in support of him. Senator Mike Lee has been willing to go on record to confirm Cruz’s account. Sadly,...

As both the House and Senate consider bills to defund Planned Parenthood — the abortion giant responsible for hundreds of thousands of grisly child-killings every year — pro-life conservatives should ask the members of Congress who claim to stand with them one, simple question: Are you as dedicated to life as the Democratic party is to death? The Democrats’ dedication is unquestioned. They are indispensable in providing Planned Parenthood with $528 million of its $1.3 billion annual budget, and they’ve steadfastly defended the group despite an avalanche of evidence of its sheer depravity. Founded by Margaret Sanger, an unapologetic eugenicist,...