Free Republic

Important parts of our two great political parties seem bent on demonstrating that their parties are incapable of governing coherently.

The craziest thing about the Republican presidential contest isn't that Donald Trump is in the lead. It's that Dr. Ben Carson — who truly seems to have lost his mind — is in second place and gaining fast. Trump may be a blowhard, but Carson has proved himself to be a crackpot of the first order. Of all the GOP contenders, he's the scariest. I say this as a longtime admirer of Carson for his stellar medical career. As the head of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Carson not only saved lives in the operating room but also inspired...

#WarOnSanity Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s tireless effort to make people believe the GOP hates women is one of nature’s true miracles. Each year, she makes a harrowing journey to the friendly lands of MSNBC or CNN, where she feathers an exquisite nest of lies and insanity. From her vantage point she surveys the political landscape and, like the swallows to San Juan Capistrano or salmon to their birthplace, she returns to her ridiculous “war on women” meme. It has never worked. Despite her best efforts (or perhaps because of them) elected Democrats have become and endangered species. Nationwide, their numbers have...

Via Breitbart, this is the kind of claim that big-media types would sneer at as right-wing propaganda designed to build grassroots opposition to Ryan becoming Speaker … if it wasn’t a big-media type who was reporting it. Outside groups spent $23 million last year trying to beat tea-party candidates in Republican primaries, with the Chamber of Commerce accounting for nearly a third of that amount. Ryan is an ideal choice for that wing of the party — anti-tax and pro-amnesty, serious about cutting spending but not above voting for TARP amid a financial crisis. He was Mitt Farking Romney’s running...

While official - and unofficial - Washington, DC is barely able to breathe given the turmoil in the Republican Conference of the U.S. House, it is useful to remember that we have been here before. Let me relay the story. It was December 19, 1998. I was in Bangkok, Thailand (which is part of the story) but more importantly the House was voting on the Articles of Impeachment against President Bill Clinton. November 1998 had marked the second midterm election of Bill Clinton's Presidency. It was widely expected that the GOP - already in the majority - would pick up...

At least since the 2010 midterms, it’s been a liberal talking point that Republican extremism is to blame for political polarization and gridlock. In the old days, the argument goes, Republicans were a moderate party, but over the past generation the GOP has been gradually taken over by its far-right wing. Before the last GOP debate, for example, the Center for American Progress launched a “Right of Reagan” campaign to supposedly show “how the extremism of today’s Republican presidential candidates sets them apart from their conservative idol.” But as the debates over issues like the $15 minimum wage, healthcare, and...

The problem with labels is they shut down thought. According to Webster’s, a conservative is someone who embraces “the value of established or traditional practices”. It is hard to find a worse description...

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) says he's tired of questions about whether he’s a socialist, asking why more people don't want Republicans to defend themselves as capitalists. The self-proclaimed Democratic socialist said he is ready to take on Wall St. and corporate America in the first Democratic primary debate on Tuesday. He said he wants to talk about his record in Congress of “standing up for working class families and the middle class" and his willingness "to take on virtually every aspect of corporate America.” If elected president, Sanders said he will force Republicans in Congress to compromise by lining up...

Today 42 House Republicans betrayed the American people and added their names to a discharge petition to revive the now-defunct Export-Import Bank.

I think we have no choice now but to make him Speaker. Apparently, he’s the only man in America who’d accept the job.Good point from Twitter pal “Political Math”: Having Newt back in the House would be a lovely complement to the retro 90s Bush/Clinton election that’s in the offing. “I’m not laughing at it. I’m saying to you — I’m trying to be totally honest with you,” Gingrich told the host. “If you were to say to me 218 have called you up and given you their pledge, obviously no citizen could ever turn down that kind of...

U.S. Senator Ted Cruz’s presidential campaign on Wednesday announced that it has named a chairman in all 171 counties that comprise the first four early states – 99 Iowa counties, 10 New Hampshire counties, 46 South Carolina counties, and 16 Nevada counties. “The only way we will turn our country around is through a grassroots uprising of the American people, and I’m grateful for the many courageous conservatives in the early states who have stepped forward to lead that grassroots movement,” Cruz said. “I’ve always known we would have a great organization, but having a leader the 171 counties that...

The smart folk at Grammarly -- an online grammar checker -- examined Facebook posts written by supporters of the 2016 presidential candidates in a savvy bid to garner free press. It helped that the grammar site's findings confirmed the left's most treasured conceit -- that liberals are more learned than conservatives. Specifically, the study found that supporters of GOP candidates made more grammatical errors than supporters of Democrats, who also displayed a richer vocabulary. Oh, joy, I thought, once again Republicans are the knuckle draggers. I'm with the stoopid party. Supporters of Democrat Lincoln Chafee, the former Rhode Island governor,...

Political hard-liners do better in runoffs than in party primaries. Runoff voters in both parties are the most enthusiastic voters — more likely to show up for every election. Primary elections do a pretty good job of sorting the partisans from the semi-partisans: Most Republicans and most Democrats who vote in general elections do not vote in their own primaries. But the drop in turnout from those anemic primaries to the primary runoffs also is significant, leaving the most ardent voters from the two parties in charge. So it should come as no surprise when political plotters and schemers try...

In the movie, "Swing Vote," the presidential election literally comes down to the vote of one American, Kevin Costner's everyman character, Bud Johnson. It's the stuff of pure, indulgent political fantasy. But the crowded and unpredictable Republican 2016 primary does offer the prospect of an extended battle that could become a very personal, one-on-one campaign for individual delegates, GOP insiders say. Party rules bind most delegates to the winners of each state's nominating contest. But should candidates lose support down the line and suspend their campaigns, the delegates they won immediately become free agents who are permitted to of support...

In 1952, the combatants were Dwight Eisenhower and Sen. Robert Taft of Ohio. In 1964, it was Barry Goldwater and Nelson Rockefeller. Today, they are outgoing House Speaker John Boehner and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas. All have been at the center of an endless struggle that has roiled Republicans for decades as conservatives attempt to yank the party to the political right while more moderate or establishment Republicans try their best to nudge their way toward the center. In the vivid glare of an intense presidential race, party conservatives such as Cruz and Rep. Jim Jordan of Urbana are...

Something is very wrong in China Hong Kong-It’s been a while since I’ve commented on the Kafkaesque dreamscape that life has degenerated into of late. This happens occasionally, when it seems things can’t get any weirder, but they do. I drop back and watch, waiting to see if anybody does anything to make things better. Invariably, they never do. This time it’s been no different. In fact, things seem to be getting exponentially worse, with the supposed Good Guys aiding and abetting the Bad Guys like they were all on the same payroll. Oh…wait…they are. Never mind. The one bright...

For liberals hoping to see Democrats retake the House will be sadly disappointed next year, as House Republicans look pretty solid going into 2016. In January, Stuart Rothenberg had this to say about the chances Democrats might take back the lower chamber: Â…30 seats is a big number. Since 1950, gains that large have occurred six times during midterm elections, when partisan waves often appear, but only twice in presidential years, in 1964 and 1980. And thatÂ’s an important reason why the GOP starts as the clear favorite to retain control of the House in 2016. According to Roll...

Republican Power Rankings – Election 2016 OCTOBER 2, 2015 – The Republican Candidates Power Rankings are back! Thanks again to ESPN, the NFL and the NBA for the inspiration. You will notice some of the lead players in this second round are trending upwards although their ranking has fallen. Inconsistency? Maybe, but the truth is that numbers 2, 3 and 4 all had good weeks. It was hard to choose between them. Number 1 — El Trumpo — was not so hot. But am I predicting him to fall? That’s a fool’s game… until it happens. (NOTE: This will...

WASHINGTON — More than a year before a difficult election cycle when he will be challenged to hold on to his hard-won Republican majority, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky may have already suffered his most significant loss — the pending departure of Speaker John A. Boehner. Over the past six years, the two Republican leaders have developed a bond of the type that has not always existed between House and Senate leaders of the same party, figures who are often pulled in opposite directions. More important, Mr. McConnell and Mr. Boehner agreed that engaging in the kind of brinkmanship that...

I know some of you guys worry that I’ll be trolling you with “Romney 2016?” posts right up until the hour the polls open next November, but I promise you this:You’re right. I will be.Skip to 9:30 below for a choice snippet from Ann’s interview with Brian Kilmeade this morning. The magic is back: “All I can say is, we are in New York City, Mitt’s been with me a lot today, over the last few days and we have been walking the streets and people are screaming out there windows, I mean people on the street, people stop...