Free Republic

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) says he's glad that American "hostage" Alan Gross has been released from a Cuban prison after five years, but he opposes the process by which his release was secured -- "because it puts a price on every American abroad." "Governments now know that if they can take an American hostage, they can get very significant concessions from the United States." As part of the deal to free Gross, the United States will release three Cuban spies: "They're not just benign Cuban spies," Rubio -- the son of Cuban exiles -- told Fox News on Wednesday. "These...

President Barack Obama's historic move to loosen the U.S. embargo on Cuba opens a political minefield for Republicans with presidential aspirations. The announcement immediately threw two Florida politicians -- Sen. Marco Rubio and former Governor Jeb Bush -- into the spotlight and served as another reminder of the state's enduring importance in presidential politics. Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, quickly took a hardline position, vowing to block any nominee the administration might put forward to be an ambassador to Cuba. He called Obama's announcement "truly outrageous and counterproductive" because there has been no "democratic opening" in Cuba. It is...

Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) criticized President Obama for swapping three Cuban spies for imprisoned American Alan Gross on Wednesday's "America's Newsroom" on the Fox News Channel, calling President Obama the "worst negotiator" since Jimmy Carter.

he leading contender for the GOP's presidential nomination is polling at a measly 3 percent in two new national surveys testing Republican primary candidates. He wasn't even included in Bloomberg's November poll of likely New Hampshire primary voters. He's been overshadowed by the media's obsession with brand-name candidates, like Mitt Romney and Jeb Bush, even though his profile is more compelling than either. But Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida is as well-positioned as any Republican to emerge from the crowded scrum of potential candidates—and his strengths are significant enough that many are forgetting what made him a top Republican prospect...

A few folks are interpreting this Tweet, by Sen. Marco Rubio’s spokesman Alex Conant, as a backdoor suggestion that Rubio will run for president.

In a satisfying moment of intramural recrimination this week, Sen. Charles Schumer of New York pointedly second-guessed President Obama’s decision to push sweeping health care legislation in 2010, when Americans were more concerned with the state of the economy and their economic futures. (SNIP) Even if you don’t think (as I do) that the “gang” bill would actually hurt the economic fortunes of many middle class Americans by importing competing, cheaper workers to bid down their salaries, it was hardly the sort of economic fix Schumer says the middle class was demanding. Even more than Obamacare, it failed to give...

Republican leaders have intensified their planning to prevent a government funding shutdown, weighing legislative options that would redirect GOP anger at Barack Obama's expected action on immigration and stave off a political disaster, according to sources involved with the sessions. Obama plans to use his executive authority to change the enforcement of immigration laws by the end of the year, a move that top Republicans warn could derail efforts to pass a long-term spending bill by a Dec. 11 deadline. Increasingly, some top Republicans believe that it will be difficult to pass the year-long spending package that they originally envisioned,...

We concede: You're exhausted from the election, the hurricane of attack ads and door knockers. Sick of Rick Scott and Charlie Crist. But brush it off, the 2016 presidential campaign is upon us, and Florida is in the spotlight like never before. Sen. Marco Rubio and former Gov. Jeb Bush are seriously considering entering the race and either would stake a formidable claim to the Republican nomination. They will announce their intentions by early next year. For Rubio, it's a decision of whether to give up an almost sure shot of re-election. (By Florida law, he can't go for both.)...

The chief political strategist of the research firm Potomac Research Group released a new handicapping of the 2016 Republican presidential primary contest on Tuesday morning, and he had a somewhat surprising front-runner: Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida. Though Rubio hasn't been generating as many headlines as many of his competitors, the strategist, Greg Valliere, argued he uniquely benefited from the 2014 Republican landslide. "He flew beneath the radar screen this fall, but actually Rubio campaigned aggressively for GOP candidates," Valliere said. "He has a head start on putting together a campaign organization, and has shown increasing gravitas on key issues;...

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) says he will decide on a potential 2016 presidential run "in the coming weeks." He'll do so without the help of a pro-amnesty adviser and former chief of staff who has left his office. "For me, the decision is made based on the following: I have my agenda that I have talked about for more than 4 years, and the decision that I have to make is where is the best place to advance this agenda—as a presidential candidate or continue at the majority in the Senate—that is a decision I will make in the coming...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)If Republicans regain control of the Senate on Tuesday night, they will have good reason to gloat. They recruited much stronger, more sensible nominees this year -- no more candidates riding broomsticks or hurling insults at women. They also smartly accepted President Barack Obama's implicit challenge to make his record their centerpiece. But when they wake up from their celebrations, top GOP strategists such as Karl Rove will surely warn them: "Don't over-read this election. Yes, it opens up great opportunities for the next two years, but it does not open a clear path to seizing the White House and...

The left-wing National Journal ran a piece on Sunday making the argument that the Evangelical choice for 2016 has already been narrowed down to a choice between Sen. Ted Cruz and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. The National Journal is right. Evangelical and pro-family leaders realize that if America is to be reclaimed, conservatives cannot wait to let the filed sort itself out as we did in 2008 and 2012. It is close to midnight in America, and we simply do not have time to think about waiting until 2020. there may be little left of our country to save...

The neocons are back. That is, at least in Marco Rubio’s world. The Florida senator and potential 2016 presidential candidate has, since his election in 2010, regularly consulted with and sought the advice of top neoconservative writers and policymakers, several of whom served in the administration of George W. Bush. His loose circle of advisers includes former national-security adviser Stephen Hadley, former deputy national-security adviser Elliott Abrams, Brookings Institution scholar and former Reagan-administration aide Robert Kagan, Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol, and former Missouri senator Jim Talent. To this group, beating back the rising tide of non-interventionism in the Republican...

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Florida) plans to introduce legislation that would ban new visas for people from the three countries affected by the Ebola epidemic; Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone. In a statement from his office on Monday, Rubio described a visa ban as a "common sense" restriction. "While Ebola’s deadly reach has proven to be a complex and unique international challenge, the many uncertainties surrounding this virus continue to threaten U.S. national security," Rubio said. "Our biggest priority is ensuring that sufficient safeguards are in place to limit the spread of Ebola, contain it at the source, and protect Americans."...

A still from an ad by Tom Cotton, a Republican challenging Senator Mark Pryor in Arkansas.One ad in the Kansas race for Senate depicts shadowy men climbing a barbed-wire fence as a narrator warns that “illegal immigration is threatening our communities and taking jobs away from Kansans who need them.” Scott Brown, the former Massachusetts senator running for Senate in New Hampshire, has run three border security ads, and cautioned that a “porous” border poses an Ebola threat. And in Texas, a Republican candidate for lieutenant governor produced an ad showing a caravan of Middle Easterners waving flags and brandishing...

The owners of a suburban Phoenix dog-boarding kennel and two caretakers, one of them the son of U.S. Senator Jeff Flake, were indicted on animal cruelty charges on Wednesday after the deaths of 21 dogs at the facility in June, county prosecutors said. A state grand jury indicted kennel owners Jesse Todd Hughes and Maleisia Hughes each with 22 felony and seven misdemeanor counts of cruelty to animals and one count of fraud for the incident inside a cramped room at the Green Acre boarding facility, prosecutors said.

Republican candidates are not trotting out Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) in the midterm election campaign, despite his status as one of the party’s rising stars. While Cruz is a hero to many conservatives, some candidates are leery of appearing with him because he is a polarizing figure who could turn off independents and centrist Republicans.

Sean Hannity clarified his position on immigration reform Friday after President Barack Obama cited him while discussing the contentious issue at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute’s annual gala on Thursday. “In 2012, Latinos voted in record numbers. The next day, even Sean Hannity changed his mind and decided immigration reform was a good idea,” Obama said to applause. But Hannity took umbrage and argued on Friday the president misrepresented his position. “That’s not what I said,” Hannity rebutted. “Interview after interview, I’ve said what I’ve said for years: secure the border first. And I said, this is being used as...

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said his experience passing an immigration bill with Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) left him convinced his younger colleague isn't up to the presidency, in part because he's “so afraid of the right.” Graham made the comments to the Weekly Standard's Steven Hayes, and in the interview declared that he may run for president himself, saying he would want to inject his hawkish national security views into the debate. But his remarks about Rubio were perhaps more notable. Graham, for instance, compared Rubio's level of experience to President Obama's before taking offfice – albeit just before saying...

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham (R) says he could be a presidential candidate in 2016. The outspoken two-term Senator, known as a foreign policy hawk, told the Weekly Standard that if the hawks aren't well-represented when the 2016 fields begin to solidify, he might throw his hat into the ring. ... When the Weekly Standard's Stephen F. Hayes asked Graham if he'd back a run by Sen. Marco Rubio, he took a shot at the Florida Republican whom he worked with on the Senate immigration bill. "He's a good guy, but after doing immigration with him - we don't need...