Free Republic

Endorsments can be overrated but in a conservative primary with a lot of noise and mud, could a high-profile name give a candidate the edge? Congressional District 19 candidate Lizbeth Benacquisto recently got the backing of Sarah Palin, who held a fundraiser and sang the candidate's praises on Fox News. Yesterday, Curt Clawson scored the endorsement of Sen. Rand Paul, among the first tea party backed candidates to make it big. "Washington is desperate for outside leadership," Paul said. "Curt Clawson is an outsider who will bring refreshing ideas to the halls of Congress. Today, I proudly stand with Curt...

I don't normally care what a person believes when it comes to one's faith, well I do but I don't argue with them. Last night though .. I was outraged! Am I the only one to have heard the program?

Evolve, adapt or die. That is the fate of our current Republican party. We must evolve as a party and find a way to attract millennials to the conservative movement or we will never succeed in realizing our ideals of individual freedom and freedom from government interference. Initially, I received criticism from political pundits for speaking to non-traditional audiences. I was told it was a waste of time to reach out to these audiences, specifically students from both Howard University and University of California, Berkeley. My response is this: I have never been one to watch the world go by...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Caterpillar Inc. executives defended a tax strategy Tuesday that has saved the manufacturing giant billions in U.S. taxes. They got support from Republican senators, including one who said the company deserves an award. Caterpillar has avoided paying $2.4 billion in U.S. taxes since 2000 by shifting profits to a wholly-controlled affiliate in Switzerland, according to a report released by Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich. Levin chairs the Senate investigations subcommittee. On Tuesday, Levin grilled Caterpillar executives and their accountants at a hearing on the company's tax strategy. "Caterpillar is an American success story that produces iconic industrial machines,"...

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul is hard at work laying the groundwork for an almost certain presidential campaign in 2016, but as he broadens his support among libertarian and younger voters, there’s a budding countercampaign to take him down if he becomes a threat to actually win the nomination. At the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) meeting in Las Vegas this weekend, Paul was nowhere to be found, but his presence was felt in the form of a straw man — and frequent worry. Speaker after speaker, from former Florida governor Jeb Bush to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, laid into Paul’s...

Sen. Rand Paul has become the first Republican to assemble a network in all 50 states as a precursor to a 2016 presidential run, the latest sign that he is looking to build a more mainstream coalition than the largely ad hoc one that backed his father’s unsuccessful campaigns. Paul’s move, which comes nearly two years before the primaries, also signals an effort to win the confidence of skeptical members of the Republican establishment, many of whom doubt that his appeal will translate beyond the libertarian base that was attracted to Ron Paul, a former Texas congressman.

Rand Paul is the most intriguing — and for Democrats, perhaps the most frightening — figure in today’s Republican Party. The Kentucky senator, who is more than flirting with a 2016 presidential run, is making a smart play for the millennial generation that was key to President Obama’s twin victories and that his own party has convincingly repelled. Paul’s unlikely pilgrimage to the progressive precincts of the University of California at Berkeley offered the most convincing evidence so far that he is serious about carving out this (sorry, President Clinton) third way space — and a demonstration of his potential...

It’s about guns, it’s about the midterms, and maybe it’s about the first primary states in 2016, too. Democrats thought they would win confirmation for more of President Obama’s nominees by waiving the 60-vote filibuster hurdle for executive branch appointments, but they didn’t factor in nervous red-state senators afraid of taking tough votes that could sink their reelection in November. The latest apparent casualty is Vivek Murthy, a 30-something British-born American doctor, whose parents are from India, and whose Ivy League credentials and activism on public-health issues includes co-founding Doctors for America, which launched in 2008 as Doctors for Obama....

RUSH: Rand Paul went to Berkeley yesterday, last night. Rand Paul got a standing O from the students at the University of California-Berkeley. Do you know the issue that he hit on that they just jumped out of their seats and applauded him on was the government spying on the citizens? He came out firmly against it, highly critical of it, and they couldn't be quiet. They were just cheering him like Republicans don't get cheered on college campi. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that Rand Paul "delivered a scathing rebuke to the US intelligence community Wednesday, calling it 'drunk...

Rand Paul wowing them at Berkeley

Sen. Rand Paul is set to offer a dark portrait of the intelligence community on Wednesday, raising the prospect of “dystopian nightmares” in a speech at the University of California-Berkeley. The Kentucky Republican, who is heavily weighing a 2016 presidential bid, is speaking at the historically liberal bastion at a time when he is seeking to broaden the GOP base. He has long pointed to privacy concerns as an issue that could woo young people to a more libertarian-leaning Republican brand — like his.

“Every Republican likes to think he or she is the next Ronald Reagan,” he wrote in an op-ed for Breitbart News, responding to an attack by Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz. “Some who say this do so for lack of their own ideas and agenda. Reagan was a great leader and President. But too often people make him into something he wasn’t in order to serve their own political purposes.”“[A]lmost all of us in the party are big fans of Ronald Reagan,” Paul told Sean Hannity on Fox News in yet another defense of his foreign policy. “I’ve always been a big fan...

Washington (CNN) - Rand Paul has done something his father never did - top the list of potential Republican presidential candidates in a national poll. According to a new CNN/ORC International survey, 16% of Republicans and independents who lean toward the GOP say they would be likely to support the senator from Kentucky for the 2016 nomination. Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the 2012 Republican vice presidential nominee, garnered 15%, with longtime Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who's considering another bid for the White House, at 11%. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a 2008 GOP presidential candidate, is the only other...

Washington (CNN) - Rand Paul has done something his father never did - top the list of potential Republican presidential candidates in a national poll. According to a new CNN/ORC International survey, 16% of Republicans and independents who lean toward the GOP say they would be likely to support the senator from Kentucky for the 2016 nomination. Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the 2012 Republican vice presidential nominee, garnered 15%, with longtime Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who's considering another bid for the White House, at 11%. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a 2008 GOP presidential candidate, is the only other...

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul is warning Republicans that if they expect to be relevant in the future and grow the party they will have to soften on social issues. In an interview with vocativ.com, Paul said he had "sort of a Jeffersonian belief in unity, peace and commerce with all" and that the best way to build the GOP for the future is to include people with whom they don't agree on every issue. "I think that the Republican Party, in order to get bigger, will have to agree to disagree on social issues," Paul advised. "The Republican Party is...

In the midst of the war of words between Senators Rand Paul (R-Ky) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) over who best represents Ronald Reagan’s foreign policy, the late president’s son Michael Reagan has weighed in on Twitter. “Rand Paul Gets it” Reagan wrote Tuesday, Tweeting the link to Paul’s Breitbart op-ed, “Exclusive–Rand Paul: Stop Warping Reagan’s Foreign Policy.” Reagan is an author, talk host and adopted son of our 40th president.

Sen. Rand Paul blasted fellow GOP Sen. Ted Cruz’s frequent references to Ronald Reagan on Monday, deepening the rift between the two potential 2016 presidential candidates. In an op-ed for Breitbart News, Paul (R-Ky.) took several shots at Cruz for espousing a foreign policy framework in the mold of Reagan. He also criticized Cruz’s frequent bashing of the GOP for nominating insufficiently conservative presidential candidates like Bob Dole, John McCain and Mitt Romney. “I don’t claim to be the next Ronald Reagan nor do I attempt to disparage fellow Republicans as not being sufficiently Reaganesque,” Paul wrote. “I will remind...

Ames real estate broker A.J. Spiker has informed leaders of the Republican Party of Iowa that he is stepping down as the party’s chairman. Spiker announced that he was stepping down in a letter sent to members of the party's State Central Committee. He said his resignation would be effective upon the election of a new state chairman. In the letter mailed Friday, Spiker announced that the election of a new chairman would take place during the State Central Committee's quarterly business meeting March 29. Spiker served as a member of the GOP State Central Committee from April 2010 until...

Every Republican likes to think he or she is the next Ronald Reagan. Some who say this do so for lack of their own ideas and agenda. Reagan was a great leader and President. But too often people make him into something he wasn’t in order to serve their own political purposes.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) wowed the beltway elite and even Democrats during Saturday's annual Gridiron event, showing why the Ivy Leaguer has confounded and been vilified by many with whom he shares the same intellectual pedigree. The annual D.C. roast is hosted by the exclusive Gridiron Club, which is composed of D.C.'s mainstream and "elite" journalists. Cruz has degrees from Princeton and Harvard, which those in the permanent political class covet, and he can do their social rituals better than they can. Yet Cruz refuses to be co-opted by them politically, instead choosing to be a staunch conservative who represents...

(NEW YORK) -- It may be the opening salvo of the 2016 Republican primary. During an exclusive interview with ABC News’ Jonathan Karl for This Week, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, called Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., a friend, but drew a distinction between himself and the Kentucky senator on foreign policy, saying the U.S. “has a responsibility to defend our values.� “I’m a big fan of Rand Paul. He and I are good friends. But I don’t agree with him on foreign policy,� Cruz said. “I think U.S. leadership is critical in the world. And I agree with him that...

Rand Paul is slightly ahead of Ted Cruz....and most of us know that Rand, through his endorsement of Mitch McConnell, has already sold us out. Go Ted!!!!!!

Come take the Poll...open to guests

Mike Huckabee - "These are the things that I know. I know there is a God, and I know this nation would not exist had he not been the midwife of its birth. And I know that this nation exists by the providence of his hand, and if this nation forgets our God, then God will have every right to forget us. I hope that we repent before we ever have to receive his fiery judgment."

Just a link to a poll currently running on the front page, center, of the Drudgereport.

#CPAC2014 reports 1st day results of straw poll (ongoing): Rand Paul 29%, Ted Cruz 17%, Ben Carson 10%, Marco Rubio 10%, Chris Christie 10%

Have you ever noticed that competitors open their stores next to each other? This seems crazy until you understand a principle called Hotelling’s model of spacial competition. And once you do, you’ll also understand how Ted Cruz is positioning himself to outmaneuver Rand Paul as the conservative candidate for the GOP nomination.

While the establishment hopes for a governor to emerge, he is quietly putting together a formidable operation.Republican strategists like to say the party's next nominee needs to hail from the GOP's gubernatorial ranks. It's a response to how unpopular Washington is—particularly the party's congressional wing—and a reflection of the party's strength in holding a majority of governorships. But another reason for the gubernatorial focus is to sidestep the one formidable candidate that gives the establishment heartburn: Sen. Rand Paul.

Many skeptics assert that Paul of Tarsus (the apostle Paul) hijacked the early Christian religion, changing the theology from what Jesus originally taught. Usually offered as proof for this claim are the doctrines found in Paul's great theological work, his letter to the Romans. Without a doubt, the book of Romans contains the most complete exposition of orthodox Christian doctrines. Are these doctrines contrary to what Jesus taught? Do they conflict with the teachings of the Old Testament from which they were purportedly derived? If Paul really "invented" Christianity, then one would expect that his teachings would be different from...

Tayna Fogle sat just behind Sen. Rand Paul, nodding her head and listening as he pressed the case with Kentucky state senators to restore felon voting rights.

full headline (too long for the title): Bevin offers different explanations of his signature on 2008 report; Responds to Paul's credibility comment FRANKFORT — Dogged for a week about a 2008 report he signed that praised the bank bailout, Republican U.S. Senate candidate Matt Bevin offered reporters at the state capitol Tuesday different explanations about how his signature got on the report. Since the news broke last week Bevin has struggled explaining why he signed off on the company report — and those explanations continued on Tuesday. Bevin told CNHI reporter Ronnie Ellis that his signature was digitally placed on...

Submitted by Ron Paul of the Ron Paul Institute, President Obama’s state of the union pledge to “act with or without Congress” marks a milestone in presidential usurpation of Congressional authority. Most modern presidents have used executive orders to change and even create laws without Congressional approval. However President Obama is unusually brazen, in that most Presidents do not brag about their plans to rule by executive order in state of the union speeches. Sadly, his pledge to use his pen to implement laws and polices without the consent of Congress not only received thunderous applause from representatives of the...

Sen. Rand Paul, who represents Kentucky, said his home state of Texas could easily switch from a Republican stronghold to a Democratic voting block if the GOP doesn’t open its arms and take in more working class and more minorities. “Texas will be a Democratic state within 10 years if you don’t change,” he said at a Houston dinner with Sen. John Cornyn, CNN reported. “That doesn’t mean we give up on what we believe in, but it means we have to be a more welcoming party. We have to welcome people of all races. We need to welcome people...

Promoting Republican outreach to Hispanics, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said this week that the GOP must expand its appeal if it expects to remain politically relevant. "The party has to be bigger across the country, not only appealing to people of various ethnic background but various economic backgrounds," Paul said Friday during a sweep through Texas, CNN reported. The remarks came following a meeting with George P. Bush, the 37-year-old son of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who's vying to become the next Texas Land Commissioner. Paul, a conservative firebrand who's long-been critical of establishment Republicans like the Bush family,...

A few months ago Ron Paul touched off a media flap by agreeing to give the keynote address, on September 11, to a conference of the Fatima Center in Niagara Falls, Canada. The American Jewish Committee said it was “appalled” and “dismayed” and called on Paul to reconsider. Of course, he did not take the advice.The Fatima Center is a Catholic fringe group whose leader, Father Nicholas Gruner, was suspended by the Vatican in 1996.As a Huffington Post blogger noted at the time, the center,has in the past published writing suggesting that Jews should be stripped of certain civil...

It seems that the A&E Duck Dynasty controversy has come to a conclusion. In the aftermath of this dispute, after all the words exchanged have been reviewed, what can we learn? I believe that the public responses surrounding this recent chain of events reveal several observable trends and ideologies about us as a society. Thus, the following theses presented below are based upon what I believe is the trending American ideology and ethos towards scripture, ethics, and what it values. Thesis #1: Society is unable to apply the simple rules of grammar to scripture. In the debated GQ Interview, it...

The Talk Shows January 5th, 2014 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows: FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): Mitt Romney; Mark Rienzi, a lawyer for an organization of Catholic nuns challenging a requirement that some religion-affiliated groups provide health insurance that includes birth control; Ilyse Hogue, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America.MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Former Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano; Rep. Donna Edwards, D-Md.; Gene Sperling, director of the White House's National Economic Council; Dr. John Noseworthy, CEO of the Mayo Clinic; Dr. Delos Cosgrove, CEO of the Cleveland Clinic.FACE THE NATION (CBS): Senate Majority Leader Harry...

In homosexuality's assault on the beliefs of churches that once unanimously identified it as sexual perversion—sodomy being "the abominable and detestable crime against nature"—its most potent weapon has been the counter-accusation that identification of homosexuality as sinful is a detestable offense against charity. By these presents, all who hold to the ancient interdict as God's word may be numbered among the crowing yahoos of Westboro Baptist Church with its "God Hates Fags" placards. The churches, thus accused, have divided into those that hold to the Judeo-Christian teaching and those converted to regarding homosexuality as no sin at all, for where...

Above: Illegal aliens made out like banditos thanks to Harry Reid and Senate Democrats. Disabled vets? Not so much.- They actually did it. They are on the record. Senate Democrats, led by their filibuster-slaying dictator Harry Reid, actually put the interests of illegal aliens above those of our disabled military veterans.Let that sink in for a moment. Now the details: The two-year budget deal brokered by Senate Budget Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray and House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, would cut military pensions by $6 billion over ten years. Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, joined by several others in his party, tried...

In the opening pages of Ray Bradbury’s famous novel Fahrenheit 451, protagonist Guy Montag asks: Wasn’t there a time when firemen used to put out fires? They laugh at him, rebuke him and say: Everybody knows firemen start fires.

In a surprising win on Tuesday night, the White House and top Senate Democrats successfully defended provisions in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would loosen restrictions on transferring detainees out of Guantánamo Bay, advancing President Obama’s goal of closing the facility by a margin of 55-43. . . . . . . As recently as early November, Democratic Senate aides participating in the fight to loosen the transfer rules described the politics of the vote as “difficult” but “not impossible” and said those whipping the vote were five or six votes short of the bare majority they needed...

President Barack Obama is portrayed as Dracula, former congressman Ron Paul plays the role of Professor Van Helsing, and Vice President Joe Biden appears as Renfield. The administration’s scary scandals are lampooned in classic horror fashion, including Fast and Furious, Benghazi, the IRS’ targeting of political opponents, the government shutdown, and more!

In light of a recent report, Senator Rand Paul (R., Ky.) fears the National Security Agency may be spying on President Barack Obama. “They could well be spying on the president, for all I know,” Paul says, in an interview with National Review Online. “He has a cell phone, and, in fact, my guess is that they have collected data on the president’s phone.” Paul also believes the federal government may be tracking Pope Francis. “The most important question we need to ask the NSA is, ‘Are you telling us you’re collecting no data on the pope?’ And, ‘Did you...

Former U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, a tea party and libertarian hero, will campaign for Virginia Attorney General Kenneth T. Cuccinelli II on Monday — a day before voters go to the polls to choose Virginia’s next governor. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and Sen. Marco Rubio, Florida Republican, will also make appearances on behalf of Mr. Cuccinelli in the days leading up to Election Day. Mr. Walker is scheduled to campaign with Mr. Cuccinelli in Prince William and Spotsylvania counties Saturday, and Mr. Rubio is scheduled to appear in Warrenton and Culpeper Monday. News of the appearances was first reported by...

Rand Paul Targets 'Nanny' Bloomberg & McAuliffe at Cuccinelli Rally in Fairfax VA - YouTube

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) took a page out of Sarah Palin’s book on Monday when he brought a 7-Eleven Big Gulp on the campaign trail while stumping for Virginia gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli. At an event in Fairfax, the third and final Paul-Cuccinelli campaign event that day, the Kentucky Senator took the stage with giant plastic cup in hand — but it was simply filled with water, according to reports from Twitter. The gesture was an intentional shot at New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has unsuccessfully attempted to ban large sugary drinks in his city. Bloomberg has spent...

Today in Fairfax, Virginia, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli rallied the crowd eight days before the statewide gubernatorial election. During Cuccinelli's speech, a woman near the front of the room became lightheaded and appeared like she was about to faint. Supporters around her were trying to cool her off by using 'Cuccinelli for Governor' signs as fans. Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) was at the rally campaigning for the attorney general. Noticing the woman's discomfort Paul, who also happens to be a doctor, ran through the confused crowd to help her to her feet before yelling, "Somebody bring a chair!" His orders...

Tea party hero Rand Paul warned scientific advancements could lead to eugenics during a Monday visit at Liberty University, looking to boost the political fortunes of fellow Republican Ken Cuccinelli's bid for governor. During a visit to the Christian school founded by Jerry Falwell, Paul looked to energize conservative supporters by warning that people who are short, overweight or less intelligent could be eliminated through abortion. With one week remaining, Cuccinelli is hoping the joint appearance with the U.S. senator from Kentucky will encourage the far-right flank of his party to abandon third-party libertarian spoiler Robert Sarvis. "In your lifetime,...

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., on Thursday urged Virginia Republicans supporting Robert C. Sarvis, the Libertarian candidate for governor, to come home to the GOP and vote for Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, the party’s nominee. “I consider myself to be a libertarian conservative, a libertarian Republican,” Paul said in a phone interview Thursday. “A lot of things (Cuccinelli) talks about are free-market, limited-government, leave-me-alone government. I think there is a lot to like there. “What I’m excited about in Ken Cuccinelli is that he is smart, he is articulate, and he has a keen sense of justice,” Paul said. Cuccinelli’s attempt...

Forget the Vitter amendment. Rand Paul wants to make sure that Congress can’t ever again write laws with provisions specific to lawmakers. The Kentucky freshman Republican has introduced a constitutional amendment that would preclude senators and representatives from passing laws that don’t apply equally to U.S. citizens and Congress, the executive branch and the Supreme Court. The amendment is aimed squarely at Obamacare provisions specific to members of Congress and their staffs that became a central point of contention during the government shutdown.