Free Republic

Nearly a year ago, tea party agitators in Arizona managed to get John McCain censured by his own state party. Now, he’s getting his revenge. As the longtime Republican senator lays the groundwork for a likely 2016 reelection bid, his political team is engaging in an aggressive and systematic campaign to reshape the state GOP apparatus by ridding it of conservative firebrands and replacing them with steadfast allies.

Jon Huntsman Sr., father of former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. and a self-described “lifelong Republican,” argued that the tea party has ruined the Republican Party, and that the GOP doesn’t stand a chance unless someone like his son is elected. “The tea party has completely captivated and ruined the Republican Party today and they’ll show this in 2016,” Huntsman Sr. said last week, Yahoo News reported. “Unless a Jeb Bush comes in or John Huntsman Jr., the Republicans don’t have a prayer.” The Chinjunior Mr. Huntsman, who unsuccessfully sought the GOP nomination in 2012, now serves as the U.S....

Yesterday, Limbaugh said that Republicans were elected "to stop the Democrats. Republicans were not elected to govern." Democrats, on the other hand, are elected to govern. (SNIP) A quick scan of some of the newest members of the House shows just how extreme this latest crop of Tea Party Republican members of Congress truly are. From Georgia to Maine, Virginia to Wisconsin, Illinois to Iowa, extreme Tea Party Republicans have been elected to seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. (SNIP) Meanwhile, Illinois Republican Mike Bost (IL-02) once had an outburst while serving in the Illinois House over a pension...

A team of acclaimed filmmakers is spearheading “Unfair”, a ninety minute documentary motion picture intended for all audiences. It will be the first major theatrical documentary to shed light on the certain damage the Income Tax and the IRS have wrought on our liberties, our businesses, our families, and our religious, charitable and civic organizations, while empowering a political agenda contrary to America’s heritage. This film will be promoted to mainstream audiences based on its factual and dramatic content. In addition, the Picture will be marketed heavily to interested grassroots audiences that identify themselves strongly with any and all of...

In February 2013, Move America Forward announced an ambitious fundraising goal. The charity, launched in part by one of the most prominent figures in the Tea Party movement, had adopted the 800 Marines in a battalion fighting in Afghanistan and wanted to send them all care packages. ......................................................... Yet an examination of its fundraising appeals, tax records and other documents shows that Move America Forward has repeatedly misled donors and inflated its charitable accomplishments, while funneling millions of dollars in revenue to the men behind the group and their political consulting firms.

How May I Introduce An Idea to the Tea Party Representatives? Free Republic is an amazing national resource that I think should be able to help direct me. How do I seek the opinion of a Tea Party Republican member of Congress? I have an idea for a legislative proposal that I believe would benefit the Tea Party Movement, the Republican Party, and the nation. I emailed Ted Cruz some time back and received a nice form letter suggesting a later response that never arrived. I have given my idea considerable thought and I of course realize that it may...

GETTYSBURG, PA – One of the hottest-selling t-shirts at souvenir shops outside Gettysburg proclaims, “If at first you don’t secede, try, try again.” While the pun is popular among Civil War re-enactors at the historic battlefield, the message also has growing appeal in contemporary politics, especially among fractious Republicans. On both the Right and the Left, activists are convinced that the Republican Party is not pure enough on their issues, and perhaps it is time to break away and create a new political organization to shake up the system. “It's hopeless; Republicans are as much at fault as Democrats for...

The Tea Party, the popular political movement that grew from widespread public concern over the growth of government, died on Tuesday, June 24, in Mississippi. During its short life, the Tea Party grew from a passionate patchwork quilt of grass-roots efforts to become an important and effective political force capable of altering elections and influencing national, state and local policies. It died a fractured, ineffective confederacy of discordant coteries that bore little resemblance to its original incarnation. (snip) For a time, it appeared possible that the Tea Party would redefine, or perhaps even replace, the Republican Party. Until, that is,...

(Reuters) - A prominent leader of the Mississippi Tea Party who was arrested in connection with photos posted online of U.S. Senator Thad Cochran's bedridden wife died on Friday of an apparent suicide, the man’s lawyer said. Mark Mayfield, 58, was vice chairman of the Mississippi Tea Party and a Central Mississippi Tea Party chairperson, according to those organizations' websites. "This is a terrible tragedy that shouldn’t have happened," Mayfield's lawyer John Reeves told Reuters. Mayfield was one of three men accused last month of conspiring with a blogger who was charged with taking photos of Cochran's bedridden wife in...

By most accounts, going into tomorrow's Republican primary for U.S. Senate, state Sen. Chris McDaniel of Laurel has a commanding advantage over the incumbent, U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran. That is, among likely GOP voters. Over the weekend, Chism Strategies—a Democratic firm that has commissioned several polls since the June 3 primary election that resulted in a runoff—unveiled its latest survey of Republicans that shows McDaniel leading Cochran by eight points. For the first time since Chism began polling, the lead is well outside the 4 percent margin of error. "Unless Cochran expands the electorate with general-election Republicans and crossover Democrats,...

The tea party has claimed its first spot in House leadership with the election of Rep. Steve Scalise to the No. 3 post – majority whip. Will he ease GOP tensions or make them worse? ...The Louisianan will take the position of whip, making him responsible for corralling votes in order to pass legislation. He fills the slot left vacant by Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California, who was elected – and elevated – to the No. 2 job of majority leader, who decides what legislation comes to a vote.

Now they have it. Now tea party-backers finally have a strong conservative in the Republican leadership of the GOP-controlled House: Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, who was elected by party members on Thursday to the No. 3 job in the leadership. The Louisianan will take the position of whip, making him responsible for corralling votes in order to pass legislation. He fills the slot left vacant by Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California, who was elected – and elevated – to the No. 2 job of majority leader, who decides what legislation comes to a vote. The changes were triggered by...

One day after the GOP’s Lee Terry opened the door to closing off compromises on Capitol Hill, Democrat Brad Ashford tells Nebraska Watchdog that Terry’s talk is “ridiculous, it’s disappointing.” Following Eric Cantor’s tea party ambush on Tuesday, Terry, an 8-term incumbent, told CNN, “Do we compromise? How do we work together? All of this is now in question.” Ashford says the “Cantor lesson” is just the opposite. “You can’t find solutions without working together,” says Ashford. Terry, of course, is coming off his own Cantor-like primary—just last month Terry survived a threat from his right wing, defeating Republican Dan...

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) is wading into the crowded Arizona governor's race by throwing his support behind state treasurer Doug Ducey (R) Wednesday morning. "Doug Ducey demonstrates the kind of conservative, common-sense leadership that our party needs in Arizona," Walker said in a statement shared with Post Politics by Ducey's campaign. "He’s not afraid of taking on tough challenges, and that’s why I know he’d be a great Governor."

Just a few miles from his family home, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) felt the wrath of the tea party Saturday, when activists in his congressional district booed and heckled the second-most powerful House Republican. They also elected one of their own to lead Virginia’s 7th Congressional District Republican Committee, turning their back on Cantor’s choice for a post viewed as crucial by both tea party and establishment wings in determining control of the fractured state GOP. Former lieutenant governor Bill Bolling, pushed out of last year’s governor’s race by a similar party schism, said he was “extremely disappointed”...

What might this potential last straw represent, and when and where will it land? Will it spur citizens to become more actively engaged in our political community, or perhaps even further, to the point of outright defiance? “Come and get me if you must, Mr. President. I will not bow before your wicked regulation!” Those were the words spoken by Focus on the Family founder James Dobson at this year’s National Day of Prayer. With this statement, Dobson identified his last straw -- an Obamacare mandate -- and vowed his defiance:

About four in 10 Republicans and Republican-leaning independents classify themselves as supporters of the Tea Party, while 11% are opponents and 48% are neither. This continues to be a significant drop from the Tea Party's high-water mark in November 2010, when 61% of Republicans were supporters of the Tea Party.

Mitch McConnell may have neutered the Senate Conservatives Fund. The organization, founded by former Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) to defeat or dragoon the GOP’s old guard into stauncher conservatism, appears to have been silenced. That’s in line with a warning handed down by the Senate minority leader, who told the SCF after it endorsed his primary challenger, Matt Bevin, that the establishment would “crush [it] everywhere.”

Between now and the end of June, more than two dozen states will hold primary elections. A major subplot of this year’s midterm elections is the competition between the Republican establishment and the tea party wing of the party. The establishment is fighting back, but has the tea party already won? The general election is still six months off. But Tuesday opens the summer preseason of intraparty contests, which starts with an important primary in North Carolina. Between now and the end of June, more than two dozen states will hold primary elections. After a July break, the preseason will...

House Republicans plan to vote next week on a resolution that would urge Attorney General Eric Holder to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the IRS’s improper scrutiny of Tea Party groups. In a statement announcing the vote, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said Republicans have no faith in the investigation that is already being carried out at the Justice Department. “It is time for Attorney General Holder to appoint a special counsel to investigate the IRS targeting scandal and bring the appropriate charges against those responsible,” Cantor said in a statement. “This is far too serious a matter