Free Republic

CNN is not only desperate to absolve itself of its legitimate responsibility for spreading the false idea that Dr. Ben Carson was dropping out of the presidential race last week, CNN is also hoping to complete a three-bank shot that will damage Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) in the process. Saturday night, CNN went so far as to have their phony left-wing "fact-checker" Tom Foreman lie about Cruz. For all of this to make sense, let's start at the beginning. Last Monday night, during the Iowa Caucus, I watched CNN live and saw the Carson segment in question that lit this...

After last week's surprise statements by two top generals that women should sign up for the draft just like men, Sen. Ted Cruz has set himself apart from his Republican rivals in the race for president by saying unequivocally that the idea is "nuts." When questioned at a Senate committee hearing last week, the Commandant of the Marine Corps. Gen. Robert Neller and Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley both said they thought women should have to register for Selective Service when they turn eighteen, just like men. During Saturday's presidential candidate debate in Manchester, N.H., everyone on stage...

Former Massachusetts Republican Senator Scott Brown told Breitbart News Daily host Stephen K. Bannon today he sees Donald Trump winning the New Hampshire primary with John Kasich coming in second and "Rubio right there in third." Brown previously thought Rubio would finish second. That was before New Jersey Governor Chris Christie banged the Florida Senator up pretty good in Saturday's Republican debate. Brown called Rubio "brilliant," adding that he considered him a good friend, but felt the cage match with Christie really hurt him. Asked about Trump's "ground game," Brown said he was confident the businessman has a good one...

A possibly very confused voter at a John Kasich town hall in Windham, New Hampshire, wanted to know why she should vote for the Ohio governor in the "Democratic primary" — and Kasich, a Republican, didn't correct her. The question did not seem to be a slip of the tongue, either: The voter said she was having a hard time deciding between Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton, and John Kasich in the "Democratic primary" and wanted to know why Kasich should have her vote.

Donald Trump continues to lead the Republican presidential pack in New Hampshire by a wide margin, but Sen. Marco Rubio's surge to second place nearly disappeared in a tracking poll released by the University of Massachusetts Lowell on Monday. Trump leads his competitors by 21 points, earning 34 percent support from likely Republican primary voters. The real estate mogul's support in the tracking poll has dropped 4 percentage points since the beginning of last week. After jumping to second place in the tracking poll with 15 percent support at the end of last week, Rubio has dropped by 2 percentage...

"He said he's sorry that this happened and he wants to sit down and talk," Carson said in an interview with The Washington Post. "He wants to discuss the whole thing and clear the air." "To be determined," Carson said when asked where they may meet. "Doesn't matter." The Carson campaign has been critical of Cruz after his campaign spread false rumors during the Iowa caucus, and sent voicemails to Iowa precinct captains suggestings that Carson was dropping out of the race.

Democratic presidential hopeful Senator Bernie Sanders has had a long and apparently often critical relationship with Israel. One mystery that surrounded the 74-year-old senator’s past links to the Jewish state was the identity of the kibbutz on which he spent several months in 1963 as a volunteer. On Thursday, veteran Israeli journalist Yossi Melman announced that the Democratic hopeful had named it in an interview with him more than 25 years ago. In 1990, on the eve of his election to the US House of Representatives as a socialist, Sanders named the kibbutz where he volunteered as Sha’ar HaAmakim, a...

Similarities: Devoted online followings. Popularity. Both were opposed to TARP. Both want to legalize marijuana. Both have expressed views on foreign policy of less involvement. Both cautious of the country's surveillance apparatus. Both say police officers should scale back. Both okay with same-sex marriage. Differences: Basic beliefs about the role of government Sanders doesn't necessarily have a problem with the government getting involved in things — hence "socialist" — and Paul generally does — hence "libertarian." Conspiracy theories Paul has floated several conspiracy theories, including that 9/11 was an inside job and that the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 was connected to Russia. Sanders isn't known for such...

Now that Rand Paul is out of the race for the White House his father Ron Paul, who ran in 2008 and 2012, isn't impressed by Ted Cruz's attempts to pick up the "free market" libertarian banner. "You take a guy like Cruz, people are liking the Cruz - they think he's for the free market, and [in reality] he's owned by Goldman Sachs. I mean, he and Hillary have more in common than we would have with either Cruz or Trump or any of them so I just don't think there is much picking," Paul said of the Texas...

Ground-breaking research by political science experts (actually me, Googling) reveals that a new breed of American politician has been discovered, the first ever "libertarian socialist." And it has a name: Bernie Sanders. Oxymoronic, you say? Call me crazy, but the senator from the Peoples' Republic of Vermont is at least two-thirds of the way there on the road to free minds and free markets. There are three issue frames in politics. Foreign. Social. Economic. Sanders is as non-interventionist as Ron Paul on foreign policy. He is as pro-choice and pro-gay rights as Yahweh on social issues (Yahweh has come a...

There’s a new push by Bernie Sanders supporters to try to lure Rand Paul supporters into the #FeeltheBern fold. Julie Borowski was the first to notice a meme circulating around the web, and put it up on her Facebook page. First off, it’s doubtful Borowski is even considering Sanders as a potential candidate because of her videos on economic freedom and past criticism of Sanders. But it’s not surprising at all to see Sanders supporters go after Paul ones based on the stances listed in the meme. After all, Paul supporters have targeted Sanders supporters over certain issues before turning...

The media coverage of Hillary Clinton is a lesson in paradox: She's the "most admired woman" in America, but no one is "excited" about her presidential campaign. She's inevitable, but she can't win an election. And even when she wins a debate, she still lost it. **SNIP** As much as I would like to see Bernie Sanders become the next Democratic nominee, it does us absolutely no favors to let Hillary hysteria win the day. The response from many among Sanders' white male voter base to Hillary Clinton's continued success in the polls is to refuse to vote for her...

The Iowa Republican winner appeals by trumpeting the gold standard, privacy rights and limits on eminent domain Eric Eastman, a pony-tailed actor from Nashua, N.H., became a coveted commodity here last week. In the hours after Sen. Rand Paul dropped out of the presidential race Wednesday, the libertarian state representative and passionate Paul supporter says he fielded a personal phone call from Jeb Bush and an offer from Donald Trump's campaign promising VIP treatment. Even an aide to Chris Christie reached out. But as he processed his grief over Paul's exit, Eastman already had a new candidate in mind. On...

The Republican National Committee (RNC) was not happy that Ron Paul, who had won second place in Minnesota's February of 2012 caucuses, ended up with over three-quarters of the state's delegates to the Republican National Convention. The RNC was not happy with Paul's delegates' large wins in other states either. The rules had allowed an outsider to win. Therefore, the insiders decided the rules needed to be changed. Well, what do you know! Because of the new rules for allotting delegates to the winner on caucus night, the insiders are now fretting that the winning of the state's delegates...

THE population of nonreligious Americans -- including atheists, agnostics and those who call themselves "nothing in particular" -- stands at an all-time high this election year. Americans who say religion is not important in their lives and who do not belong to a religious group, according to Pew Research Center, have risen in numbers from an estimated 21 million in 2008 to more than 36 million now. Despite the extraordinary swiftness and magnitude of this shift, our political campaigns are still conducted as if all potential voters were among the faithful. The presumption is that candidates have everything to gain...

The San Antonio Observer responded to backlash Sunday by walking back its threat to publish the names and addresses of every police officer in the city. Stephanie Zarriello, the Observer’s publisher and editor-in-chief, made the strongly worded threat while speaking Saturday at a news conference following the death of Antronie Scott, an unarmed man shot and killed by an SAPD officer, a local Fox affiliate reported. “We at the San Antonio Observer newspaper are looking into the future prospects of publicizing the names and the addresses of all San Antonio Police Department officers in order to protect our community,” Ms....

Bill Clinton has lost his fastball. That's an emerging theme from this campaign season, and it was on glaring display on today's Morning Joe. Introducing a clip of Clinton [dressed like a lumberjack] attacking Bernie Sanders in New Hampshire, Mika Brzezinski said the ex-prez had picked up the "hatchet"--not a good image for a would-be statesman. After the clip aired, Joe Scarborough called it "painful." Mike Barnicle said it was a "cringe" moment, with Chuck Todd seconding the assessment. View the video here.

**SNIP** "All of our sources high up are telling us... that this investigation is far more advanced than we the public knows," Scarborough said, before asking the panelists what information they're getting. "Well, there are three things that people are keying off of. First of all, there are a lot of chatter amongst FBI agents, many of whom have never been big fans of the Clintons. But a lot of FBI agents seem to be saying something is happening here," Bloomberg News analyst Mark Halperin said. "Second is from a legal point of view, you look at the recent developments...

Mika Brzezinski has let the cat out of the MSM bag. On today's Morning Joe, Mika admitted that the press corps covering Donald Trump can't be objective about him: "it's like their skin is crawling." Brzezinski said reporters "ooze with a lack of objectivity" when covering Trump, adding "you can sort of see it in their kind of like smiling, sort of slyly and uncomfortably and almost snarkily while they're reporting on his rallies." Of course, what is true about MSM coverage of Trump has been true of the way the liberal media covered many Republicans. Does anyone think, for...

MSNBC "Morning Joe" host Joe Scarborough said Tuesday that if any other candidate had the lead that Donald Trump has, "the mainstream media would have called this race over." Scarborough told the panel that the race is coming down to "who can get the wild card berth for the playoffs. The fact is, Donald Trump is so far ahead in every one of these polls. Massively ahead." Bloomberg's Mark Halperin interjected that Trump is the "number one seed." "Let's just state the obvious," Scarborough said. Trump is "the number one seed. Number one, undefeated. Let's just state the obvious. If...