Free Republic

Kentucky Senator Rand Paul has a Ron Paul problem. Or maybe it's a Ron Paul opportunity. Both sides of that particular coin were on display Friday, when Ron - Rand's father - spoke to the International Students for Liberty Conference in Washington, DC. It was the elder Paul's kind of audience - young and enthusiastic about the libertarian emphasis on robust individual freedoms and miniscule government. Crowds like this had fervently supported the former congressman's quixotic bids for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008 and 2012, where he proved to be a pesky participant in the debates and a headache...

Senator Rand Paul is calling for a declaration of war against the Islamic State, a move that promises to shake up the debate over the military campaign in Iraq and Syria as President Obama prepares to ask Congress to grant him formal authority to use force. Mr. Paul, a likely presidential candidate who has emerged as one of the Republican Party’s most cautious voices on military intervention, offered a very circumscribed definition of war in his proposal, which he outlined in an interview on Saturday. He would, for instance, limit the duration of military action to one year and significantly...

The authorization for the use of military force against ISIS that the Obama administration sent Congress this week is not worthy of the name. Its language is far more about what the president won’t do against the terrorist army that controls much of Syria and Iraq—limits on ground troops and a sunset provision for the authorization after three years—than what he will do. Congress should reject it. If the threat of ISIS is as dire as the president says it is in the preamble of his resolution, if ISIS really does pose “a grave threat to the people and territorial...

The Congressional Black Caucus will forgo no opportunity to retard black progress in America and undermine the ideals that were once understood to be the goals of the civil rights movement. In the latest example, the caucus has issued a press release calling Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) a racist for opposing confirmation of Loretta Lynch as the next U.S. Attorney General. Paul earlier issued a press release stating three reasons for his opposition to Lynch. The caucus ignored two and called the third, her support for civil asset forfeiture, “…nothing but an excuse to keep an African American legal scholar...

The debut edition of our leader board of the Republicans most likely to win the presidential nomination, based on what we know now, shows the field may not be as big as most people think. 1) JEB BUSH (age 62, to Hillary’s 67): He’s got money, momentum, Florida, big ideas. His surprise, early signal that he’s running is THE PLAY OF THE CAMPAIGN so far — pushing OUT Mitt and perhaps Christie by freezing or stealing their money and talent. Jeb will be first Republican to $100 million by a mile. Now, watch for the use of overwhelming force to...

en. Rand Paul (R-KY) re-introduced the Civil Rights Voting Restoration Act of 2015 on Friday, a bipartisan bill co-sponsored by Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) that would restore federal voting rights for non-violent, “low-level” ex-offenders. Sen. Paul explained, “A criminal record is currently one of the biggest impediments to voting in federal elections. The Civil Rights Voting Restoration Act will reform existing federal law and give low-level ex-offenders another opportunity to vote.” Non-violent, so-called "low-level" crimes include: Theft, trespassing, arson, and other forms of property offensesFraud, bribery, and other forms of “white collar” offensesDrug possessionPublic intoxicationProstitution Whether a crime...

The early dinner crowd near the Capitol on Thursday yielded at least one notable pairing, with overtones of the presidential election cycle to come: Sen. Ted Cruz and former Ambassador John Bolton. Sharing a meal at Johnny’s Half Shell before Bolton was set to appear on Fox News, Cruz launched into a discussion of 2016 strategy audible to anyone within earshot, including a reporter for the Washington Examiner. Bolton has himself flirted with the idea of running for president in 2016, but his conversation with Cruz suggested the Texas senator, at least, views Bolton as a source of valuable input,...

e is what you need to remember – Rand Paul is never going to get Andy Cable’s, Don Kass’, or Doug Gross’s vote. Spiker is tasked with organizing the people who he has a good rapport with. This is nothing new to politics. Campaigns of every shape and size target certain coalitions of voters, and Spiker is tasked to work with the libertarian leaning voters. Besides all of that, Spiker proved that he was one of the better organizers in Iowa in 2012. People tend to overlook the fact that his candidate received more votes at the Ames Straw Poll...

Sen. Rand Paul isn't happy that the Federal Reserve is mobilizing against his legislation that would subject the central bank's monetary policy decisions to an audit. "It is alarming that the Federal Reserve, which was granted Monopoly money-making power, is now specifically trying to stop my legislation," the Kentucky Republican wrote in a column published by the conservative publication Breitbart Tuesday. "The Fed, with unlimited ability to print money, now prints that money to lobby against congressional oversight," Paul added. "It is a disgrace and every citizen in the land should rise up and say: We the people are in...

There’s a lot of attention given to the art of explicating the motivations of Rand Paul, and the disparate coalition he’s attempting to bring together in his fledgling 2016 campaign. The latest is from the New York Times, which adopts the classic understanding of Paul, the politician: “As he works to build a broad national following, Mr. Paul is trying to stitch together very disparate worlds. There are those who are young, more affluent and likely to vote Democratic. There are the establishment, center-right elements of the Republican Party. And there are his most ardent libertarian fans who are...

MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa – An early Saturday morning political event on an unusually warm February day might not be the ideal conditions to draw a good crowd. However, 140 Marshall County Republicans packed into the Legends American Grill in Marshalltown to hear their new representative in Congress, Rod Blum, and likely presidential candidate Rand Paul. Most of Rod Blum’s brief remarks focused on his tangle with President Obama’s budget director, Shaun Donovan, last week on Capitol Hill. Iowa’s new First District representative also relayed his controversial first vote in Congress, supporting Daniel Webster over John Boehner for House speaker. Many in...

Although the Pentagon has been required by law to pass an audit every year for almost 20 years, it has been unable to do so. The Pentagon is by far the largest government bureaucracy in the country, with a proposed 2015 budget request of $585 billion. With a budget that large, the Pentagon should be able to tell us how our tax dollars are spent – especially when its leaders keep asking for more money. But a news report in 2013 revealed that the Pentagon had been doctoring its books for years to conceal “epic” amounts of wasteful spending. The...

Potential president candidates like Ted Cruz, Scott Walker and Rand Paul have very real and substantial grass roots support across the country from voters in the Republican base. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush has very little support of that kind, so his well-funded and GOP establishment supported campaign is entirely made of “AstroTurf.” In this context, “AstroTurf” is a description of campaign efforts, almost entirely organized by paid staff and other methods secured by spending money rather inspiring volunteer activists, to gain support for a candidate or cause. The Republican establishment, who have quietly anointed Jeb Bush as their candidate,...

I just saw this interesting graph on Twitter comparing recent polls in NH and Iowa. Scott Walker and Rand Paul are the two who do best in both states, although only around 15%. Jeb and Christie are popular in liberal NH while social conservatives Ben Carson and Huckster have fans in Iowa. The others, like Cruz, are off to a slower start. I can testify that Ted Cruz has no organization yet in Iowa, although several others have been hard at work already.

WASHINGTON, DC - The National Board of the Republican Liberty Caucus (RLC) voted Thursday to rescind its endorsement of Representative Bruce Poliquin, R-Maine 2nd CD, after he voted against the repeal of Obamacare. Poliquin was one of only three Republicans to vote against the repeal because, he claimed, "more than 60,000 Mainers have invested their time and energy in choosing health care plans that work for their families." Poliquin said he would only vote to repeal Obamacare if Republicans had a replacement bill ready to vote on at the same time. "We were both stunned and disappointed by Rep. Poliquin's...

<p>The 2016 primary elections begin in just under a year, but the nation’s T-shirt primary is well underway — and Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin are winning.</p> <p>Mrs. Clinton, who polls show is the runaway Democratic favorite for the party’s 2016 presidential nomination, and Mrs. Palin, the 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee, have sold more T-shirts, coffee mugs and buttons on the do-it-yourself CafePress website than any other would-be presidential candidate.</p>

It may have been Goethe who said there is nothing so frightening as ignorance in action, and it certainly has been active of late, especially when it comes to vaccinating kids against diseases that once killed and crippled and scarred and generally ravaged millions. Like smallpox, diphtheria, mumps, measles ... the whole catalogue of curses. But that was back in medicine's dark ages -- before modern science came to the rescue, thank goodness. For there were giants in the Earth in those days, microbe-fighters who were willing to defy popular superstition and apathy and all the forces of inertia to...

Representative G.K. Butterfield (D., N.C.) accused Senator Rand Paul (R., Ky.) of opposing the confirmation of President Obama’s attorney general nominee because she is “an African American legal scholar.” “The Congressional Black Caucus recognizes Senator Paul’s unfounded argument as nothing but an excuse to keep an African-American legal scholar from holding this high position, and we directly call on him and Republicans to allow the nomination of Loretta Lynch to proceed to an up or down vote in the Senate,” Butterfield, the chairman of the CBC, said in a Thursday statement. Paul says he opposes Loretta Lynch taking over for...

Former Texas governor Rick Perry is benefiting from others’ foibles, as is often the case with a second-time presidential candidate. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) had a miserable week, as did New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (now reportedly under another federal investigation). Meanwhile, Perry released a list of more than 80 top donors and methodically continued his charm offensive with the press and his comeback tour in early primary states. Pundits are reluctant to raise him above the “others” category, and it is true he remains in single digits in state and national polls — but then so do Sen. Marco...

The Friday Filibuster: The one-stop-shop for everything you need to know about this week in politics.Closing Numbers 15% of Iowans said Scott Walker would be their first choice for president, putting Walker in an early lead among potential GOP candidates. 21.2% of likely Republican voters in New Hampshire said theyÂ’d vote for Walker, another lead for the Wisconsin governor. 5.6% - The unemployment rate the administration is touting, but which Gallup points out is one big lie. 68% of Florida Republicans think Sen. Marco Rubio should run for re-election to the Senate. 77% of millennials canÂ’t name one of their...