Free Republic

GREENVILLE, S.C. – With the clock ticking toward Saturday's Republican presidential primary in South Carolina, a new poll indicates that former President Trump maintains a large double-digit lead over Nikki Haley, his last remaining major rival in the race for the GOP nomination. Trump, the commanding frontrunner for the Republican nomination as he makes his third straight bid for the White House, stands at 63% support among those likely to vote in Saturday's Republican presidential primary, according to a Suffolk University/USA Today survey released on Tuesday. Haley, a former two-term Palmetto State governor who later served as ambassador to the...

House Democrats on Wednesday were making plans to undermine President Trump at his Jan. 29 State of the Union address. Just past 8:30 a.m., the leadership’s communications arm sent an email to lawmakers urging them to bring furloughed federal workers or other “message-related” guests to the nationally televised event. Unknown to most of her caucus, however, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) had decided on a more confrontational approach. Addressing a closed-door meeting of House Democrats, the speaker read a letter she had just sent to Trump asking him to either postpone the speech until the federal government reopens or deliver...

The first lady of the United States will be sitting with a Syrian refugee at this week's State of the Union Address. The refugee's name is Refaai Hamo."Growing up in Syria, Refaai Hamo lived what seemed to be the kind of life associated with the American Dream - the son of a farmer and housewife, he worked construction at night to pay his way through college on his way to a PhD, married his college sweetheart and built a family together. This life and happiness changed forever when a Syrian government anti-personnel missile tore through the complex Refaai designed and...

WASHINGTON (NBC NEWS) - Alicia Garza, one of the founders of Black LIves Matter, will be the guest of Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) at President Obama's last State of the Union address on Tuesday. Garza is a constituent of Rep. Lee's. The Congresswoman is active on issues of poverty, civil rights and education. "Looking forward to welcoming #BlackLivesMatter co-creator, @aliciagarza, as my #SOTU guest. She's a powerful voice for justice and reform," tweeted Rep. Lee on Friday....

And here we go again.Should we call it "Obama Tears Part Two"? So what will Obama do next time to fake his tears? Have a very large onion three feet away? Put "Hot Mexican Pepper" on some of his right fingers? There has to be at least 12 ways for an actor to cry on cue. So what will Obama do when he gets to the line "First Graders"? Can you imagine if the timing is off when he wipes his eyes and there were no tears falling out "On Cue"?, Hey, didn't Bill Clinton try to pull this stunt...

On Tuesday evening, amid much splendor and spectacle, the president of the United States will be welcomed by a joint session of Congress, there to be cheered and applauded like a homecoming conqueror, and, before an audience of lawmakers, diplomats, military officers, and dignitaries, to deliver his State of the Union oration in a live nationwide broadcast.It is the most preposterous and gaudy ritual in American political life. Thomas Jefferson will be turning in his grave.Like Moses, Jefferson was burdened with a speech impediment and disliked public speaking. Unlike the Hebrew lawgiver, Jefferson wasn't compelled by Heaven to preach to...

Congress's first Muslim member, Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota, and nine other Democrats are inviting Muslim guests to Tuesday's State of the Union address to combat the anti-Muslim rhetoric of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and growing anti-Muslim sentiment in the electorate. Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., said she's helping to organize the effort because "leading political figures have made offensive and outrageous suggestions that we should create a national registry of all people of one particular faith and that we should prevent any person of that faith from even entering this great country."Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis.,...

Sen. Ted Cruz will skip Tuesday's State of the Union, the final such address of President Obama's time in office. "It's not a snub. He's going to be in New Hampshire, working hard to win New Hampshire," Cruz spokesman Rick Tyler told the Dallas Morning News. "No disrespect. It just is going to work out this way," Tyler said. Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., Bernie Sanders, D-Vt., and Rand Paul, R-Ky., plan to attend. Rubio has been criticized in the past for skipping Senate votes and duties. Cruz, though less vocal than other candidates, has at times joined the chorus against...

Out of time to push a new legislative agenda, President Barack Obama will look past Congress and to the American people in his final State of the Union address, aiming to define his presidency and his legacy before others can do it for him. For his seventh address, Obama plans to skips the traditional list of grand proposals, new policies and presidential appeals for new laws in favor of a broad overview of what he has accomplished since 2009 and what is undone in his final year in office. Aides said the president on Tuesday night will give his assessment...

This has got to be the worst timing for a State Of The Union Address, especially when most of the worlds crises are at the fault of the party in power. It seems that every time Obama makes these addresses, he ends it with "The Economy Is Roaring!, We Are Back From The Brink!". Is he really going to say that again after what is going on with the stock market? How will Obama speak of what is going on with Iran,Saudi Arabia and North Korea? What about ISIS? What a Mess ha? Should be interesting to see who Obama...

Montel Williams, Sarah Hekmati, Ramy Kurdi and Rep. Dan Kilee (D-Mich.) speak beforea June hearing on U.S. hostages in Iran.Last year, Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.) kept his guest seat open at the State of the Union address to represent his constituent held prisoner by Iran.This year, with Amir Hekmati today marking Day 1,592 in Iranian custody, Kildee announced that his guest seat for next week's address will be filled by Amir's sister, Sarah Hekmati.Amir, born in Flagstaff, Ariz., was visiting extended family for the first time in August 2011 when he was seized and sentenced on trumped-up espionage charges. Kildee...

After a year of Boehner quitting and Scott Walker fading and Trump rising to the top of the party, the GOP finally enjoys a moment of predictability. Haley will become the first South Carolinian to offer the response, which comes after she was thrust into the national spotlight following the Charleston shooting in June that left nine black churchgoers dead and led to a subsequent national debate over the Confederate Flag.House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., made the announcement Tuesday.“Nikki Haley has led an economic turnaround and set a bold agenda for her...

S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley, coming off a year where she gained national attention for her handling of the Charleston church mass shooting, will deliver the Republican response to the State of the Union address on Jan. 12, The State has learned. Haley is calling her nationally televised speech an “address” rather than a “response” as they have been called since they began in 1966. She is the first South Carolinian to deliver the State of the Union response. The Lexington Republican, considered a possible vice presidential pick, is heading to the middle of her second term as governor in a...

Only the Democrats own the Karl Marx-given right to be the ruling class in present-day America After the last dismal seven, hardly anyone’s interested in tuning in on President Barack Obama’s last State of the Union address, come January 12. So borrowing from social media, the Obamas seek to boost viewership by making the 2016 State of the Union Flash Mob style. What if they threw a party and no one ever came is only Martin O’Malley’s problem. With millions struggling through the current wobbly economy and spending more sleepless nights worrying about what kind of future Obama is leaving...

Barack Obama is preparing for his final State of the Union Address, which he'll deliver January 12. And the president is not looking to slow down as the end of his presidency nears. "I've got 12 months left to squeeze every ounce of change I can while I'm still in office. And that's what I intend to do," Obama writes in an email to supporters. We've done a lot of remarkable things together this year, and it's because of committed citizens like you that this country keeps moving forward. You keep proving the cynics wrong. On January 12, I'll be...

White House officials are pledging that President Obama will deliver a “non-traditional” State of the Union address in January, the last time he will deliver the annual speech as president. The address will still be given in the Capitol before joint session of Congress. But instead of rattling off a laundry list of proposals for lawmakers to consider, a senior White House official said the president will take a “big picture approach to some of the challenges and opportunities that we face” as a country. The plan is a recognition of the limits Obama faces during his final year in...

The White House is promising President Barack Obama will deliver a "non-traditional" State of the Union address next month, eschewing the standard litany of policy proposals for a broader discussion on the challenges facing the country. The format reflects the legislative reality for Obama's final year in office. Much of what the White House and the Republican-led Congress could realistically achieve in an election year is already underway, including discussions on criminal justice reform, and the ticking clock on Obama's presidency leaves little time to jumpstart major new initiatives. ...

December 16, 2015 Debbie Wasserman Schultz: Let's Bring Muslims To State Of The Union By Thomas Lifson Debbie Wasserman Schultz, chair of the Democratic National Committee and Florida congresswoman, has joined with Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), the first Muslim elected to Congress, calling on colleagues to take a Muslim to the State of the Union. The hapless and clueless Democrat wants to align the Democratic Party with Muslims and simultaneously patronize the followers of Mohammed. “Over the past few weeks we have seen a shocking and alarming rise in hateful rhetoric against one particular minority population in our nation,” the...

Debbie Wasserman Schultz, chair of the Democratic National Committee and Florida Congresswoman, has joined with Rep. Keith Ellison(D-MN), the first Muslim elected to Congress, calling on colleagues to take a Muslim to the State of the Union. The hapless and clueless Democrat wants to align the Democratic Party with Muslims, and simultaneously patronize the followers of Mohammed.

The head of the Democratic National Committee is encouraging party members in Congress to invite Muslim-Americans to President Obama's State of the Union next month as a rebuke to Donald Trump. And no, based on Politico's reporting, they don't specifically say it's a rebuke to Trump himself, but it's pretty strongly implied in some of the language they use. DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Congressman Keith Ellison (one of two Muslims in Congress) wrote a joint letter to House Democrats saying that inviting Muslims to the State of the Union sends a message that "we will not be intimidated...