Free Republic

As America begins the search for a new president in 2016, many people are tired of the status quo and are looking for an authentic conservative, one who can make a difference and who has shown they are determined to make a difference. There aren’t many who fit that description like Texas U.S. Senator Ted Cruz. In fact, there are none in the race so far who can match his record of conservatism. And he’s demonstrated an willingness to do more than just mouth conservative platitudes. When most “Republicans” were busy badmouthing ObamaCare but doing absolutely nothing to stop it,...

Jeb Bush began a talk the other day by addressing the issue of his brother George, noted architect of the Iraq war, and he did not shrink from the challenge. "I can't deny the fact that I love my family," announced Jeb. So if you suspected that the Bush Thanksgivings in Kennebunkport resemble "August: Osage County" -- with lots of screaming, sobbing and clawing -- you probably feel pretty silly right now. On a more pertinent question -- whether the war was a wise idea -- the answer is not so clear. The former governor of Florida first said that,...

Ted Cruz is intellectually arrogant, like Ronald Reagan. The difference is that Reagan masked his arrogance with self-deprecating humor. Sen. Cruz does a Reagan impression that would do a nightclub comedian proud, but he doesn’t have Reagan’s easy and spontaneous humor. One doesn’t think of Reagan as arrogant, but he was in fact the most arrogant leader we have had since Lincoln. He ignored the whole of the foreign policy establishment in his conviction that America stood to win the Cold War and bring down Communism. Then as now, the foreign policy establishment resembled Jonathan Swift’s scientists on the floating...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)The road to the White House goes through downtown Oklahoma City this week as hopefuls in the crowded Republican field audition on a stage ideally suited for their messages about military power, religious liberty and energy independence. Eleven Republicans with presidential aspirations — including some who have not officially declared their candidacy — will speak at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference, which begins at the Cox Convention Center on Thursday and ends Saturday with the release of a straw poll. “This is a huge event for Oklahoma City,” said Gov. Mary Fallin, who will address the conference and introduce some...

Humility from a politician is more easy to come by from those on the Right, but you can completely forget about it from anyone who sides with the Left. Am I wrong? Obama, Reid, Pelosi, are they humble? Exactly. The one person who has taken a beating more than any individual on the planet for the past 15 years or so chooses a different path. Even during his time in office, President George W. Bush recognized that he wasn’t the most eloquent speaker who ever resided at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., but the fact remains that the guy is not one...

Democrat Elizabeth Warren warned Saturday that Republican policies being promoted by its emerging presidential field would create an "American nightmare" that would crush opportunities for students and workers, deepen wage inequality and favor Wall Street banks and huge corporations. Warren's speech before several thousand party loyalists at a California Democratic convention in Anaheim was greeted with thunderous cheers while scores of delegates waved signs emblazoned with her name. The Massachusetts senator and favorite of the party's left wing ridiculed the GOP's potential 2016 field, including Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who has proposed a double-digit cut in state aid for higher...

Reason No. 5: Running for his brother’s “third term” is a losing proposition. After finishing the first draft of this piece I received a late night return phone call from a Florida Republican power player (who asked that his name be withheld). He was responding to a question from me earlier about former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush’s prospects for winning the 2016 GOP presidential nomination. Coincidentally, he had just left a high-dollar local fundraiser for Florida Senator Marco Rubio — the reason he gave for calling so late. Here are some direct quotes from our conservation: “Jeb’s people are now...

Jeb Bush stumbled over questions about the Iraq War this week, unnerving some congressional Republicans who wonder if he has what it takes to win the White House. Steadfast allies to the former Florida governor say Bush is just a bit rusty and insist the gaffes won’t be debilitating ahead of his expected campaign for the 2016 GOP nomination. But others on Capitol Hill were scratching their heads as Bush struggled during four consecutive news cycles to articulate his position on the unpopular war that defined the presidency of his older brother, George W. Bush. “[I’m] flabbergasted at the degree...

Nancy Pelosi is now predicting that Republicans will “rue the day” that the Supreme Court guts Obamacare subsidies for millions in three dozen states. “They’re going to then go out and say we’re going to take subsidies away from people who have health care? No, I don’t think so,” says Pelosi. “It would be really bad news for them.” Meanwhile, if anything, Republicans may be moving away from their previously-stated vow to participate in providing a contingency fix to temporarily keep those millions covered. The Hill reports that GOP Rep. Tom Price, the chairman of the House budget committee and...

Paul Pressler, a former Texas appeals court judge who has long been a supporter of conservative causes and active in Texas politics, announced Saturday that he is endorsing Sen. Ted Cruz (R) for president. Pressler, who in 2012 hosted a large group of evangelical leaders who voted to coalesce their support behind Rick Santorum’s presidential campaign as a challenge to frontrunner Mitt Romney, said he announced his endorsement of Cruz at a meeting of conservatives in Washington Saturday. “I feel that Ted Cruz is electable and he stands by his convictions in an articulate manner,” Pressler said in an interview...

In results that were stunning for several reasons, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker was the runaway winner in a "straw poll" of Republican presidential favorites at Pennsylvania’s largest-ever gathering of conservatives, the Pennsylvania Leadership Conference, on Friday and Saturday.With the "straw ballots" counted and released on Saturday, Walker was an easy winner with 91 votes, followed by Texas Sen. Ted Cruz with 58 votes. Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum was third with 56 votes.Since the first PLC back in 1989, the group has become the most-attended and most-watched conclave of conservatives in the Keystone State. Fueled by the recent campaigns of...

WASHINGTON, D.C., and MIAMI — On the afternoon of July 30, 2013, Marco Rubio walked onto the floor of the Senate to give another stem-winder — the latest in a season of feisty speeches. “Is there an issue on which we are willing to do everything we can and lay it all on the line?” Rubio asked his fellow senators. “If it is not this one, which one is it?” For months, the freshman from Florida had been one of the central figures in American politics. The previous November, Republican Mitt Romney had received only 27 percent of Latino support...

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) wants to kill Obamacare, but he admitted that he might have to sign up for it after his wife took a leave from her job and its benefits. As it turns out, Cruz never signed up for Obamacare. He purchased his family's health insurance off the open market. Cruz and his wife, Heidi, purchased a private health insurance plan from Texas Blue Cross and Blue Shield, campaign spokesman Rick Tyler said Saturday. "They didn't buy it off the exchange," Tyler said. There was no gap between coverage, and the Cruz family never enrolled in a plan...

It’s clear that Jeb isn’t a conservative, but it’s mightily kind of him to be honest about it. He could also do what the Mitch McConnells of this world like to do: lie about it until they get elected after which they ‘suddenly’ become as progressive as Nancy Pelosi. That’s what Senator Ted Cruz recently said on Megyn Kelly’s show on Fox News. Well, OK, I admit I added the last part about Mitch McConnell myself, but I’m sure you get my drift. "I’m a fan of Jeb Bush. I’ll give him credit for candor and consistency. He is running...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)It’s clear that Jeb isn’t a conservative, but it’s mightily kind of him to be honest about it. He could also do what the Mitch McConnells of this world like to do: lie about it until they get elected after which they ‘suddenly’ become as progressive as Nancy Pelosi. That’s what Senator Ted Cruz recently said on Megyn Kelly’s show on Fox News. Well, OK, I admit I added the last part about Mitch McConnell myself, but I’m sure you get my drift. "I’m a fan of Jeb Bush. I’ll give him credit for candor and consistency. He is running...

Last night in Georgia, Ted Cruz (R-TX) 100% spoke to the delegates at the Georgia Republican Convention. Regular readers of RedState know that the Speaker of the House in Georgia, collaborating with gay rights activists, left-wing Democrats, and big business, scuttled a state version of the Religious Freedom Restoration Action in exchange for Democrat votes on a billion dollar tax increase. If conservatives wanted RFRA passed in Georgia, the Speaker demanded they gut the legislation with “anti-discrimination” language that would actually expand protected classes in Georgia for the left. Ted Cruz (R-TX) 100% spoke last night and he called B.S....

It’s not just Iraq: Bush repeatedly insists he won’t yield to popular pressure, until he does.After a week of misinterpreting, misspeaking and mismanaging the media over his position on the Iraq war, Jeb Bush’s hoped-for shock-and-awe campaign-in-waiting looked nothing like a political juggernaut. “It’s the Bad News Bears,” quipped Dave Bossie, president of the Citizens United conservative group. “The problem for Jeb Bush is he didn’t look very agile. He didn’t look smart in the sense of a rapid-response communications system that could get him out of the trouble he was in.” More troubling for Bush is that many supporters...

Let’s assume, as I do, that the Supreme Court finds a constitutional right to same-sex marriage when it decides Obergefell v. Hodges sometime next month. What happens next? It may be a morning-after landscape of more confusion than clarity, with some rain falling on the victory parades. Conservative Christians, claiming victimization by the onrushing tide of marriage equality, aren’t like to be deterred in their quest for the right to withhold goods and services from same-sex couples. Indiana’s retreat last month, under pressure from some leading corporations, from a law that would have given businesses a religious excuse for discriminating...

Sends a letter requesting CFPB disavow Operation Choke Point or any similar effort WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) today sent a letter to Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray requesting that he publicly make clear that the agency will not participate in Operation Choke Point or any similar initiative. Operation Choke Point, as the letter explains, is "an enforcement initiative designed to pressure banks and other financial institutions to terminate the accounts of certain politically disfavored businesses, such as casinos, tobacco distributors, payment processers, and short-term lenders. Even gun stores, which engage in constitutionally protected activity...

ATHENS, Ga. — Presidential candidate Ted Cruz said Friday that he will release in the coming weeks details of his promised "simple, flat tax" to replace existing graduated income tax rates. But the Texas senator told the Associated Press that he's still not decided on key details, such as whether a flat tax would also replace payroll taxes and taxes on investment income....