Free Republic

If Jeb Bush is to mount any sort of rise in the polls as we close in on the primary season, his best strategy might be to talk about his dad -- specifically, to highlight how popular his once-unpopular father has become 23 years after he lost his campaign for a second term. There is a certain nostalgia afoot for the quiet decency, pragmatism and consensus-building that Bush Sr. represents, suggests Jon Meachem, author of a new biography of the elder Bush, “Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush." The book is the No. 1 New...

Republican donors with links to several presidential candidates - as well as a prominent GOP operative - are pooling their resources in a new effort to go after Donald Trump and keep the party's presidential front-runner from winning the nomination. The most recent bid is a reported "guerrilla campaign" led by a group called Trump Card LLC and run by Liz Mair, former communications official for the Republican National Committee. The group's goal, according to The Wall Street Journal, is to collect money from anonymous donors to "defeat and destroy" Trump, who has essentially led the GOP presidential field since...

Former Florida governor is spending more than twice as much as any other candidate, according to new data With a full year left until the 2016 presidential election it's still unclear who will emerge the winner. But when it comes to millions spent on TV ads, one candidate has already taken the top spot: Jeb Bush. However, other than some gift baskets from local stations in Iowa and New Hampshire, the former Florida governor has little to show for it, with poll numbers stubbornly stuck in the single digits. Bush and his supporters have so far spent an eye-popping $20...

Top Jeb Bush donors will convene on a conference call after Tuesday's debate, a critical moment in the former Florida governor's campaign. Donors from across the country have been invited to participate in the call, according to two sources familiar with the campaign's plans. It will be hosted by senior Bush advisers Sally Bradshaw and Tim Miller. -snip- Bush has been practicing for the Milwaukee showdown with the help of Jon Kraushar, a longtime Republican adviser who has worked with Fox News honcho Roger Ailes.

It would seem that the Republican National Committee has come up with a rather incredible way of making sure anyone covering tonight's GOP debate has to take their side on Hillary Clinton...for a moment. Anyone reporting the Fox Business event who wants to get access the Internet will apparently have to use the password: 'StopHillary.' Numerous reporters have posted notice of the expert-level trolling with pictures indicating that this is, indeed, the case:

The unfair treatment of GOP candidates by liberal media, especially during debates, must end. The debate was an assault not only on the 2016 Presidential Candidates, but also on our Democracy. A heavily biased media is not fair to the candidates nor the American people. One America News Network is prepared to help. We’ve extended a commitment to replace and fully pay for the February Presidential debate in Houston. One America News is prepared to run COMMERCIAL FREE and provide the LIVE feed to all media outlets to maximize media exposure.

Monday on NBC’s “Today” show, Republican National Committee chair Reince Priebus accused the media of having a “‘vendetta” and a “crazy obsession” with the past of Republican presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson.

The weakest President since Jimmy Carter, the "man" who won the Olympic gold medal for Flexibility to Foreign Leaders, mocked the GOP candidates for their response to what is widely accepted as an astonishingly inept and biased set of debate moderators. Obama sneered: "Let me tell you, if you can't handle those guys then I don't think the Chinese and the Russians are going to be too worried about it." Ha ha ha, cooed the idiots in the audience. A couple of things about that. Firstly, the GOP candidates handled the left wing CBNC stooges beautifully. The candidates successfully put the...

Could save America from a Hillary Clinton presidency that in reality is Obama’s coveted 3rd term in office Within a few weeks from now, Barack and Michelle Obama will appear ‘live’ on their very own Christmas card,assuring a peaceful Christmas-seeking world how, down at heart, they really love the U.S., God and particularly the now all but depleted armed forces. It’s called canned streaming and with today’s technology anybody can do it. Breitbart’s savvy editor at large John Nolte’s version of streaming is one that could save America from a Hillary Clinton presidency that in reality is Obama’s coveted 3rd...

On Monday’s “Morning Joe” on MSNBC, host Joe Scarborough reacted to the news that a number of the Republican presidential campaigns have effectively pushed the Republican National Committee aside when it comes to having a role in future debates in this presidential primary cycle.

The 2016 GOP presidential campaigns agreed on Sunday evening to cut the Republican National Committee (RNC) out of the debate negotiation process and instead deal directly with networks moderating debates, Breitbart News has learned. Corey Lewandowski, the campaign manager for frontrunner Donald Trump, confirmed to Breitbart News via phone on Sunday that the “biggest consensus” of five separate points the GOP campaigns agreed on was cutting the RNC out of the negotiations with the networks, as the campaigns would each like to negotiate with the networks directly. In response to the revelation that the RNC will be cut out of...

It does not often happen. On November 1, 2015, rare comity will occur among most of the Republican Presidential candidates. Campaign representatives will meet to plan the best way to handle their common enemy—the mainstream media in future debates. … This was supposed to be a debate about business and economic policies. How was it possible for moderator John Harwood to ask a vacuous touchy-feely question of Mike Huckabee as “when you look at him [Donald Trump], do you see someone with the moral authority to unite the country?” Understandably, the crowd booed the question, and other candidates chimed in...

Finally, the GOP presidential candidates are starting to realize that the RNC has no problem with liberal moderators After the latest debate debacle, Republican presidential candidates have finally had enough. They are meeting this weekend without officials of the Republican National Committee (RNC) to discuss the format of upcoming presidential debates. The final straw was Wednesday night’s CNBC Republican debate. While it was a ratings success, drawing a network record 14 million viewers, it was a political disaster. The three liberal moderators exposed their bias and utter disdain for the candidates. The questions were unfair, trivial and not germane to...

Mark Levin, one of conservative radio’s biggest stars, slammed Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus during his recent broadcast, saying the party leader ought to be fired over his role in arranging the latest presidential candidate debate at CNBC. Levin has been critical of the previous two Republican debates, calling the moderators less than adequate and the questioning and format unfair. But he really ratcheted his rhetoric after this third debate, turning his ire fully at Priebus and calling for his ouster. “Enough is enough,” Levin said, as Mediaite reported. “I say that Reince Priebus should be fired over there...

"In debates rife with confrontation and verbal barbs, there was one thing that wasn't a big surprise: Nobody was speaking above a high school level." "And at least one front-runner was in elementary school territory. That's according to a Big Crunch analysis of the first three Republican debates, looking at the candidates' speech patterns — and matching to them an appropriate school-grade level. We based our analysis on the well-known Flesch-Kincaid readability test. (Some readers might remember playing with this feature on Microsoft Word when writing up school reports — to see how highbrow their writing was.)"

I'm as shocked as you are. In the middle of the CNBC-hosted GOP debate on Wednesday, RNC chief strategist and spokesman Sean Spicer and chief of staff Katie Walsh approached CNBC officials. According to a source familiar with the encounter, the two had a complaint: Jeb Bush wasn't getting enough questions. The same complaint had come from Bush campaign manager Danny Diaz, though Bush spokesperson Tim Miller said he was not aware of the encounter between the RNC officials and CNBC. The source familiar with the encounter said Spicer and Walsh did not bring up any other candidates. Spicer did...

RNC Chair Reince Priebus just told NBC that because of the CNBC debate, the debate scheduled for NBC News in February is now canceled. He said the CNBC conducted their debate in bad faith and since they are an arm of NBC, Reince wants to make sure there is not a repeat performance. Heres the letter: Mr. Andrew Lack Chairman, NBC News 30 Rockefeller Plaza New York, New York 10112 Dear Mr. Lack, I write to inform you that pending further discussion between the Republican National Committee (RNC) and our presidential campaigns, we are suspending the partnership with NBC News...

The Republican National Committee has pulled out of a planned Feb. 26 debate with NBC News after widespread criticism of this week's CNBC debate from both the party and campaigns. "We are suspending the partnership with NBC News for the Republican primary debate at the University of Houston on February 26, 2016," RNC Chairman Reince Priebus wrote in a letter to NBC News Chairman Andrew Lack. ADVERTISEMENT "CNBC network is one of your media properties, and its handling of the debate was conducted in bad faith," Priebus wrote. "I have tremendous respect for the First Amendment and freedom of the...

I write to inform you that pending further discussion between the Republican National Committee (RNC) and our presidential campaigns, we are suspending the partnership with NBC News for the Republican primary debate at the University of Houston on February 26, 2016. The RNC’s sole role in the primary debate process is to ensure that our candidates are given a full and fair opportunity to lay out their vision for America’s future. We simply cannot continue with NBC without full consultation with our campaigns.

This could be a YUGE shift amid the 2016 political continuum. According to media reports the Donald Trump and Ben Carson camps are currently organizing a meeting to discuss future debates. The RNC is not currently invited. There are two aspects inherent within this dynamic that cannot be over emphasized: * First - Similar to the DNC tactics, by RNC Rule the candidates are barred from participating in, or organizing, debates that are outside of the Republican National Committee. * Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, the RNC is Team Bush. The RNC, as a current political construct, is a wholly...