Free Republic

John McCain bursts out of the cloakroom and onto the Senate floor. His face red, he rips off his glasses and gets ready to pound a table. Senator Hothead is mad. Again. "He just comes out and blows up every once in a while," says a congressional correspondent, who didn't want to be named. "You can almost see the steam coming out of his ears." (SNIP) STROM THURMOND In January 1995, McCain was midway through an opening statement at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing when chairman Strom Thurmond asked, "Is the senator about through?" McCain glared at Thurmond, thanked...

Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) daughter said on Wednesday that her father and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) "hate each other." Meghan McCain appeared on Howard Stern’s SiriusXM radio show to promote her “TakePart Live” talk show on Pivot TV. When Stern asked the 29-year-old what her father thinks of the Tea Party favorite, she quickly replied, “They hate each other.” She repeated the sentiment before wondering aloud if it had previously been publicly disclosed. “In a fistfight, I’m pretty sure your dad can kick [Paul’s] ass,” Stern quipped to McCain. “Yeah,” the Vietnam War veteran’s daughter said, “My father’s 76 years...

Conservative stars appeal to voters in radically different ways. The most attention-grabbing conservatives in the emerging 2016 Republican presidential nomination race are two freshmen U.S. senators who had never held elective office before. Though nearly equal in their fanfare, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Ted Cruz of Texas are romancing Republican and independent voters in radically different ways. The outcome of their fierce competition could influence the direction of their party. Win or lose, both men have an opportunity to influence a new generation of conservatives in tactics, policy and coalition-building while readjusting the movement’s planks of fiscal restraint, free...

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., a licensed physician and a possible presidential candidate in 2016, is warning that handling Ebola in a politically correct manner will rebound.In an interview with radio talk show host Laura Ingraham, he said decisions such as keeping travel open from Africa and sending soldiers to fight Ebola “have been dominated by political correctness.” “Because of political correctness, we’re not making sound, rational, scientific decisions on this,” he said.Joinging the program by telephone from the campaign trail for Republicans, he started with a quip.“I can’t believe that you don’t think it’s enough of a plan to prevent...

On November 30th, voters in Switzerland will head to the polls to vote in a referendum on gold. On the ballot is a measure to prohibit the Swiss National Bank (SNB) from further gold sales, to repatriate Swiss-owned gold to Switzerland, and to mandate that gold make up at least 20 percent of the SNB's assets. Arising from popular sentiment similar to movements in the United States, Germany, and the Netherlands, this referendum is an attempt to bring more oversight and accountability to the SNB, Switzerland's central bank. The Swiss referendum is driven by an undercurrent of dissatisfaction with the...

Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin will speak at the Values Voters Summit next week in Washington, D.C. http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/09/19/Sarah-Palin-to-Speak-at-Values-Voter-Summit

John McCain’s slip of the tongue won’t help him quell Internet accusations that he once met and took pictures with members of the terrorist group the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

And while my predisposition is to less intervention, I do support intervention when our vital interests are threatened. If I had been in President Obama’s shoes, I would have acted more decisively and strongly against ISIS. I would have called Congress back into session—even during recess. This is what President Obama should have done. He should have been prepared with a strategic vision, a plan for victory and extricating ourselves. He should have asked for authorization for military action and would have, no doubt, received it. Once we have decided that we have an enemy that requires destruction, we must...

Jesse Benton, the GOP political strategist spearheading Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s reelection campaign, resigned from his post Friday amid new details about an ongoing federal investigation into an endorsement-pay-scheme involving a 2012 presidential campaign he oversaw. In a statement issued Friday evening, Benton cited “inaccurate press accounts and unsubstantiated media rumors about me and my role in past campaigns that are politically motivated, unfair and, most importantly, untrue.” “The press accounts and rumors are particularly hurtful because they are false,” Benton wrote. “However, what is most troubling to me is that they risk unfairly undermining and becoming a distraction...

DES MOINES, Iowa — A former state lawmaker accused of accepting payments to change his support to a different presidential candidate in the 2012 election cycle has pleaded guilty to two federal charges. The Department of Justice says Kent Sorenson, a former Republican state senator, admitted to receiving “under-the-table” payments from Ron Paul’s campaign committee in return for switching his support and services from candidate Michele Bachmann. The payments totaled about $73,000 and were made monthly in the amount of around $8,000. They were concealed by first sending the money to a film production company, then through another company —...

Just as Hillary's "What difference at this point does it make" remark about Benghazi during a Congressional hearing will come back to haunt her, Rand Paul's politically correct spasm over Ferguson (his August 14 essay in Time Magazine) should preclude the possibility of Son of Ron getting anywhere near the GOP nomination in 2016. When the left starts swooning over a Republican, it's a dead-giveaway. A posting on the Washington Post's politics blog gushes, "Rand Paul's (Time) op-ed on Ferguson shows why he is the most interesting voice in the GOP right now." In this context, translate "interesting voice" as...

Glenn Grothman launches his second TV ad of the election cycle. Titled "Caving In," the ad highlights the need for strong conservatives in Congress who won't cave in to President Obama.

British jihadis involved in the brutal beheading of American reporter James Foley callously boasted of making personal fortunes from ransoms paid for other released hostages, openly talked of making so much money they could retire to Kuwait or Qatar, The four Islamic State jihadis – nicknamed The Beatles by their Western captives – were reported to be ‘interested in money’ from the start. American hostages – especially Foley, whose brother was discovered to be serving in the US Air Force – were picked out for the most brutal beatings.

FERGUSON, Mo. — Two African-American lawmakers from Missouri met with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Thursday afternoon at the Pentagon to urge him to curtail the transfer of military hardware to local police forces. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D), one of the two lawmakers, said the scene in Ferguson over the past two weeks reminded him of combat footage from Iraq. “It looked like Fallujah. It looked like the Iraqi war,” he said in an interview. “Rand Paul was right. He talked about how we cannot militarize our cities. That what it looked like. “I’ve never seen anything like it, and...

After a week and a half of uncertainty, the Republican nominee to represent Wisconsin’s 6th District will be state Sen. Glenn Grothman. The Associated Press originally declared Grothman the winner of the GOP primary last week but then rescinded its call after additional votes came in and rendered the race too close to call. After the 11 counties in the district verified their vote counts Wednesday, Grothman maintained his lead by 219 votes, or 0.47 percent, but it was unclear whether the second place finisher, state Sen. Joe Leibham, would call for a recount. Leibham announced Friday that he would...

After another night of violent confrontations between police and demonstrators in Ferguson, Missouri, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) argued Thursday that big government has gone too far in militarizing local police forces. Ahead of a potential 2016 presidential run, it was another chance for Paul's liberty-centered philosophy to appeal to libertarians and black voters. After police shot and killed an unarmed black teenager over the weekend, Ferguson residents rioted, looted, and protested this week. The police response has escalated each day, with police on Wednesday firing pepper spray and tear gas and arresting two D.C. journalists. "Americans must never sacrifice their...

Senator Rand Paul was spotted hobnobbing at a party in the Hamptons last weekend after he claimed he could not attend a high-profile conservative event he was listed as a sponsor of because he had a 'family commitment.' Paul told the Family Leader he had to skip the group's annual summit on Saturday because he had to attend an event in New York with his family. The presumed 2016 presidential candidate's absence at the influential Iowa gathering was called into question, however, after the New York Post reported that Paul and his wife, Kelley, attended the East Hampton Library fundraiser...

When a far left Democrat such as Arkansas Sen. Mark Pryor uses his campaign advertising to offer quotes from John McCain to distinguish himself from U.S. Rep Tom Cotton, his conservative Republican opponent, it’s clear there is a trouble in Liberalville. Pryor ‘s latest ad features McCain’s quote that “anyone who calls it amnesty is not being intellectually honest,” fires back at a recent Cotton campaign ad, saying Pryor “voted for amnesty and citizenship for illegals.” “Mark Pryor voted the same way as John McCain and many other Republican senators,” Pryor’s ad defends. “Secure the border first.” Very McCainesque, indeed.

Few seem to have good answers for the question: “Why didn’t God just create us so that we would never have to experience pain, suffering, or sadness?” After all, God has the power to make the world free of evil, yet He chose instead to make us creatures with free will. Thus, free will was the door left open for the possibility of evil entering our lives.What is the purpose of pain, suffering, and evil? Why does God allow humans, who were made in His image, to live on a planet where evil abounds? God could have made us...

Maine Gov. Paul LePage is not thrilled with the way the NFL has handled the suspension of Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice, and said today on a radio show that he intends on boycotting the NFL and will be sending NFL Commissioner Roger Gooddell a letter criticizing the relatively light punishment Rice received for beating his fiancé unconscious. "They care so little about our women and our children that they’re going to hire these barbarians who go and hit their wives and their kids and they’re gonna get a slap on the hand? And some guy got a year...