Free Republic

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) said Tuesday that she will write in Jeb Bush’s name when voting for president in November, according to ABC News. "I think I'll write in the name Jeb Bush," she told the Miami Herald editorial board. "A candidate should espouse optimism." Ros-Lehtinen had endorsed the former Florida governor’s primary campaign before he dropped out of the race in February.

More than 70 Republicans have signed an open letter to Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus urging him to stop spending any money to help Donald Trump win in November and shift those contributions to Senate and House races. The letter comes as a number of Republican senators and high-profile GOP national security officials have come forward saying they cannot vote for Trump. “We believe that Donald Trump’s divisiveness, recklessness, incompetence, and record-breaking unpopularity risk turning this election into a Democratic landslide, and only the immediate shift of all available RNC resources to vulnerable Senate and House races will prevent...

“The names on this letter are the ones the American people should look to for answers on why the world is a mess, and we thank them for coming forward so everyone in the country knows who deserves the blame for making the world such a dangerous place. They are nothing more than the failed Washington elite looking to hold onto their power, and it’s time they are held accountable for their actions. These insiders – along with Hillary Clinton – are the owners of the disastrous decisions to invade Iraq, allow Americans to die in Benghazi, and they are...

Call me crazy, but here is a radical idea that just might work. I always say that the "media" is the root cause of all our problems. The main stream media is how the great unwashed (with all due respect) and the low information voters, get most, if not all of their information. With the media colluding against you, winning becomes almost impossible. Since the Democrat convention, the press has gone full tilt for Hillary and against Trump. A full court press, to the ring. (sorry, couldn't help myself). Things have changed. The media is trying to take Trump OUT,...

Vu will be on the November ballot as an elector – a constitutionally mandated stand-in for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. Should Trump take Georgia, Vu will be one of 16 Georgia members of the electoral college who will formally decide the U.S. presidential contest. Vu has just put out a statement saying that he cannot bring himself to vote for Trump in the November general election. And he might not vote for Trump as a member of the electoral college, either.

Entire platform is a clarion cry to the progressive Left that we have had enough I recall a while back reading a statement attributed to John Boehner, the former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. He was reported to have said that nobody reads the party platform. That may have been the case in the past, but if this one is ignored, there will be consequences to pay (2016 Republican National Platform). After many disgusting years of Republican establishment types telling the American people one thing in its platform promises and proceeding to do other things, contrary to...

Wasserman Schultz delivered where Priebus didn’t. Now the Clinton forces have disowned her on this, their most public of stages, and Wasserman Schultz will be lucky if she can hang on to her congressional seat.

Washington - Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump today hit out at his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton and her running mate Tim Kaine, saying they "do not look presidential" as he claimed that enemies like ISIS are "drooling" over their nomination. "Just saw crooked Hillary and Tim Kaine together. ISIS and our other enemies are drooling. They don't look presidential to me!" Trump said on twitter as he posted a series of tweets wherein he described Kaine as a job killer. "Tim Kaine has been praising the Trans Pacific Partnership and has been pushing hard to get it approved. Job killer!"...

When Ted Cruz refused to endorse Donald Trump in his Republican National Convention speech, he channeled his ideological opponent, Ted Kennedy, whose bitter primary fight with Jimmy Carter made him dodge the opportunity to raise hands with his opponent. It cost Carter the 1980 election, and might do similar damage to Trump.

[Thursday, July 21, 2016/ 7:20 PM EDT] Make America One Again Convention Called to Order Reince Priebus Chair, Republican National Committee Entertainment Heavenly Joy Presentation of the Colors VFW Post #6846 Cleveland, OH Pledge of Allegiance To Be Announced The National Anthem Ayla Brown Singer/Songwriter Invocation Reverend Dr. Steve Bailey Pastor, New Philadelphia First United Methodist Church Remarks Fran Tarkenton Former NFL Quarterback, Media Personality, and Businessman Remarks Brock Mealer Wauseon, OH Video We Win Because Remarks The Hon. Marsha Blackburn (TN) U.S. Representative Remarks The Hon. Mary Fallin (OK) Governor Remarks Dr. Lisa Shin Korean Americans for Trump Video...

CLEVELAND, OHIO—Laura Ingraham electrified the Q more than any speaker of the convention thus far. She shamed flag-burners. She hated on man buns and skinny jeans. She threw shade at Ted Cruz, implying he didn't have the stones to formally endorse Trump tonight. Ingraham, a conservative talk radio host who quite literally makes her living in media, chastised "the media" for being wrong—wrong all along!—about The Donald. She had the crowd roaring, even more jazzed than in the 7 o'clock hour when G.E. Smith and the house band cruised through a nifty mash-up of "My Sharona" and "Gimme Some Lovin'."...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — New Mexico and West Texas oil producers are gearing up for a national effort to draw all major U.S. oil basins into a grassroots movement to restrict crude imports from overseas. Leaders of the Panhandle Import Reduction Initiative, which launched in April in the Permian Basin, are seeking public meetings and rallies in other oil-producing zones to convert what’s now a regional initiative into a national movement, said Daniel Fine, associate director of the New Mexico Center for Energy Policy, who is working with local producers.

The Republican Party has taken a page straight out of the campaign books of Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. What? No, we’re not kidding. In the party’s 2016 platform, the GOP advocates for reinstating the Glass-Steagall Act, a Depression-era law that regulated the U.S. banking industry until it was repealed in 1999. Bringing the law back would lead to the breakup of major U.S. banks like JPMorgan Chase in order to separate investment banking from commercial banking. …

I have seen some stupid things at political conventions over the years. Much like a get together with in-laws after a couple bottles of scotch have been downed, the party atmosphere can get the better of the attendees. I had previously thought the 2004 Presidential Election was the most contentious in my lifetime, but looking back at that season’s convention highlights, it seems rather tame compared to what has transpired in Ohio. From CNN: Delegates in the crowd below began to yell: “Lock her up! Locker her up! Lock her up!” Christie paused for several seconds at it spread throughout...

Wednesday: Make America First Again • 7 p.m.: Speech by nominee for Vice-President • TBA: Speech by Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich • TBA: Speech by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) • TBA: Speech by Eileen Collins, retired astronaut • TBA: Speech by Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi • TBA: Speech by Laura Ingraham, former attorney and host of the Laura Ingraham Show • TBA: Speech by Phil Ruffin, hotelier and owner of Treasure Island Hotel and Casino • TBA: Speech by Michelle Van Etten, entrepreneur • TBA: Speech by Ralph Alvarado, Jr., State Senator for Kentucky and Physician...

Several staffers for the Republican National Convention in Cleveland are reportedly being quarantined after falling ill from the norovirus. Nearly a dozen California Republican staffers are being quarantined an hour outside of Cleveland in an effort to prevent the spread of the virus, according to Stat News. The GOP staffers displayed symptoms of norovirus, but health officials are still running tests to confirm the cause of their illness. “We’ve got about 11 who have been sick over the last few days, and we’ve been out there every day and working with them to eliminate the spread [between] the resort and...

Tuesday, July 19, 2016: Republican Convention, Day 2 Tuesday’s Theme: Make America Work Again • 5:30 p.m.: - Roll call of states • TBA: Mr. Donald Trump will be officially nominated as the party’s nominee for president • TBA: Speech by Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson • TBA: Speech by Eric Trump • TBA: Speech by Tiffany Trump • TBA: Speech by Lt. Gen. (R) Michael Flynn • TBA: Speech by Dana White, President of Ultimate Fighting Championship • TBA: Speech by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) • TBA: Speech by Gov. Scott Walker (R-Wis.) • TBA: Speech by Sharon...

Truncated title. Full title: Matthews: ‘Gross’ To Say Hillary Had Anything To Do With Amb. Stevens’ Death, ‘I Don’t Care’ What Victim’s Mother Felt During MSNBC’s coverage of the Republican National Convention, host Chris Matthews reacted to a speech given by Susan Smith, who’s son Sean was killed in the Benghazi terror attacks, “I don’t care what that woman up there, the mother has felt, her emotions are her own, but for the country, in choosing a leader, it’s wrong to have someone get up there and tell a lie about Hillary Clinton.”

Newt Gingrich spoke with Fox News’s Greta Van Susteren live from Cleveland’s Quicken Loans Arena on Day One of the RNC convention Monday night. At the beginning of their conversation, they addressed the controversy around who is and who isn’t present at the convention as the Republican Party gets ready to crown Donald Trump their 2016 nominee. At least one speaker, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), has yet to endorse the GOP nominee. Susteren asked Gingrich if he believed Trump’s former presidential opponent would finally announce his support for Trump during his speech Wednesday night. “Well I hope he does” endorse...

CLEVELAND, Ohio – Jeff Larson, CEO of the 2016 Republican National Convention, today released an updated program for the “Make America Great Again” convention, July 18-21, in Cleveland. Veterans, political outsiders, faith leaders and presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump’s family members will lead an unconventional lineup of speakers who have real-world experience and will make a serious case against the status quo and for an agenda that will make America great again. Daily Themes & Headliners: Monday: Make America Safe Again Headliners: Melania Trump, Lieutenant General (ret.) Michael Flynn, U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Jason Beardsley and U.S. Rep. Ryan...