Free Republic

Kentucky is one place in America where a tea-party firebrand and a Republican from the governance wing amicably meet.For two Republican senators from the same state, Rand Paul and Mitch McConnell could not be more mismatched. Senator Paul is a man in a hurry, with presidential stars in his eyes after a mere four years of serving Kentucky in Washington. The loquacious libertarian is a darling of young conservatives – a relaxed jeans-and-boots kind of guy. Senator McConnell, after three patient decades in office, has finally reached his dream job of Senate majority leader. A man of few words, he’s...

Signers include former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, Sens. Susan Collins and Mark Kirk and Massachusetts Gov. Charlie BakerMore than 300 veteran Republican lawmakers, operatives and consultants have filed a friend of the court brief at the Supreme Court in support of same-sex marriage late Thursday. The amicus brief, organized by former Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman, was filed for the four same-sex marriage cases the Court will hear on April 28 that could legalize the unions nationwide. In 2013, Mehlman marshaled a similar effort for the case that overturned California’s Proposition 8, which had banned same-sex marriage...

It's over. After bringing us within hours of a shutdown on Friday, congressional leaders backed down and voted to fund the Department of Homeland Security through the rest of the year today. That didn't happen because they suddenly came to their senses and decided to stop playing political games. It happened because they knew they couldn't get away with it any longer. They heard the voices of hundreds of thousands of Americans who stood up to let them know we were ready to hold them accountable. They saw reasonable members of Congress standing united, and refusing to budge. And you...

‘We were never going to win’: House GOP caves on immigration Mar. 3, 2015 9:00am Pete Kasperowicz House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has told Republicans that he would call up and pass a “clean” Department of Homeland Security spending bill this week, and give up the fight to use that bill to defund President Barack Obama’s executive action on immigration. The decision marks the end of a standoff that has lasted for several weeks — a standoff Republicans will lose to Democrats when the clean DHS bill passes.

WASHINGTON — Congress is sending President Obama a bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security through the end of the budget year, without overturning the president’s immigration policies. The House on Tuesday voted 257-167 for the measure that Obama is expected to sign. Without action, funding for the department would have expired Friday at midnight.

GOP is 75 yea and 167 nay Cave complete.

We didn’t really notice the political ineptness of George H.W. Bush. He ran with the great Ronald Reagan who could have picked a name from the phone book as his running mate and won both times. Bush the elder brought little to the ticket as he knew little about politics. When he ran on his own and picked Dan Quayle to run with he proved that point. George W. Bush was different. He had been Governor of Texas and knew things about politics his father never learned. He presented himself to us as a solid Texas style conservative at first...

Which Republican presidential candidates support amnesty? I have analyzed all the major Republican presidential candidates (except Ben Carson and Rick Sanctorum, who are long shots, and Donald Trump, who has undocumented hair). I have found that all the major presidential candidates support amnesty for illegal aliens, except for one. Can you guess which one? Jeb Bush: Jeb, as we all know, supports amnesty for illegal aliens, and he's proud of it. If he were running in Honduras, I would vote for him in a minute. Marco Rubio: Marco Rubio co-authored a bill that would have given amnesty to illegal aliens....

* Farage spoke with Daily Mail Online after a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference* The UK Independence Party leader tried to buck up American right-wingers who see their tea party goals dissolving in a sea of centrist Republicanism * He insisted that UKIP is 'not just retired half-colonels who've always voted Conservative ... We're dragging them from across the spectrum' * Bashed David Cameron for refusing to publicly identify ISIS executioner 'Jihadi John,' saying 'we should have heard it weeks ago' * Complained about 'politically correct' groups like CAGE 'saying and shouting things that if you and I...

Republicans must not let themselves be tricked into picking a moderate presidential nominee in 2016, by demanding their hopefuls have a demonstrated commitment to conservatism, Sen. Ted Cruz told an enthusiastic audience Thursday. Cruz, himself a likely presidential candidate, warned activists gathered at the Conservative Political Action Conference near Washington that voters who pick the GOP nominee are likely to hear a similar pitch: "You betcha. Who-diddley. I'm as conservative as all get out." But, without naming names, he suggested that many of those likely candidates lacked the record to back it up.

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) haven’t spoken to each other in two weeks despite the shutdown fight gripping the Capitol, House Republicans said Wednesday.During a closed-door House GOP conference meeting Wednesday morning, Boehner told Republicans that he hadn’t spoken to McConnell recently despite the looming Feb. 28 deadline to fund the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).“He said he hadn’t spoken to Mitch McConnell in a few weeks. We gave them a good bill. It funds the stuff we’re supposed to do, secure the borders,” Rep. Ted Poe (R-Texas) said after a morning conference meeting.Another...

In 1919, Rudyard Kipling wrote in The Gods of the Copybook Headings, “As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man / That…the Sow returns to her Mire / And the burnt Fool’s bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire.” Likewise, it appears that conservatives return to their disastrous past policies. In outlining his foreign policy plans for America, Jeb Bush recently stated, “I love my father and my brother…But I am my own man – and my views are shaped by my own thinking and own experiences.” He went on to say, “I...

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush may find out that Wall Street money will not buy him the love of GOP primary voters like it does mainstream media elites who are rushing to cast him as the 2016 frontrunner. As soon as Mitt Romney announced that he would not make a third White House run, the mainstream press immediately anointed Bush as the clear Republican 2016 frontrunner. They made their pronouncements even though Bush had not yet proven with his speeches that he can be a successful candidate in the digital age and neither had the best ground game nor the...

If Republican Jeb Bush's political contributions offer any signs, there's little doubt that the former Florida governor plans to seek the 2016 presidential nomination. More than half of the $122,800 Bush contributed Friday is going to candidates and state Republican Party organizations in the four states scheduled to begin the presidential voting next year. The candidates include Sen. Chuck Grassley and Rep. David Young of Iowa, Sen. Kelly Ayotte and Rep. Frank Guinta of New Hampshire, Sen. Tim Scott and Rep. Trey Gowdy of South Carolina, and Rep. Joe Heck of Nevada.

Less than a year before Iowa’s first-in-the-nation caucuses, it appears that every Republican contender is making a serious play to win the state, setting up what is likely to be one of the most active, competitive campaigns here in recent memory. Political observers in Iowa say that the field is wide open and that numerous candidates have a legitimate shot to win or do well enough to come out with momentum. That is partly because moderates in the Iowa Republican Party, led by Gov. Terry Branstad, have reasserted themselves into the caucus process after watching social conservatives dominate in 2008...

Sen. Rand Paul and House Republicans have introduced legislation to strictly limit the ability of unions to force workers to have to pay them dues. Both right-to-work bills would amend the National Labor Relations Act to prohibit contracts between labor unions and businesses that force all of a company's workers to join a union or at least pay it a fee as a condition of employment. (SNIP) "Every American and their employer should have the power to negotiate the terms of their employment, and no American should be forced to pay union dues just to get or keep a job....

Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), a steadfast opponent of the Obama administration’s use of executive actions to grant amnesty to illegal aliens, is facing opposition from members of his own party in his attempt to delay a Senate vote to confirm Loretta Lynch — President Obama’s nominee for attorney general — until the White House reverses itself on the executive actions. Cruz explained his position in a statement made to Politico in the Capitol on February 3: For several months now, I have called on the Senate majority leader to halt confirmations of every nominee executive and judicial, other than vital...

Video at link. (CNSNews.com) -- Despite House Rules Chairman Pete Sessions' (R-Tex.) statement on Dec. 3 that he and Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) were working together to “push a bill” on immigration that would not “remove any person that might be here unless they were dangerous to this country and committed a crime,” Goodlatte would not confirm or deny such a proposal, or discuss the issue of immigration when questioned on Wednesday, Feb. 4. CNSNews.com sent Goodlatte's office via email four question related to Sessions' assertion. On Feb. 5, a spokesperson for Goodlatte’s office told CNSNews.com said Goodlatte “has...

Potential presidential contender Lindsey Graham thinks he can appeal to typically right-skewed Republican presidential primary voters, despite non-conservative views on immigration, climate change and federal spending. Graham, a Republican senator representing South Carolina, is serious about his recently declared interest in entering the already packed 2016 GOP field, even while the move has left the political punditry puzzled. On Thursday, Graham announced the launch of a formal exploratory committee, “Security through Strength,” to determine, he said, if he can enter the race with a viable campaign. Graham last week began selling his candidacy on Capitol Hill, telling reporters if he...

Bristol Palin proved to be as savvy and perceptive as her mom recently by saying: Maybe the GOP “talking heads” are railing against her [Governor Palin] because she called them out? Additionally, in January of 2013, Chuck Heath, Jr., Governor Palin’s brother made a very interesting point about a third party that has always stayed with me: To me, it’s just common sense: a new party working for the best interests of American citizens. A party that looks beyond party lines because there are no party lines, including patriots from every walk of life willing to work for the good of all of us. A party...