Free Republic

The Republican party has a problem in the upcoming midterm election and that problem is general un-likability. Most conservative political pundits are willing to concede that point, but one Texas senator has apparently found a new way to boost the Republican party and his own popularity. By combining some religious rhetoric with a little bit of “Reaganite” posturing, Ted Cruz is attempting to be the Republican messiah by playing up religious persecution. In a recent speech to the late Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University, Cruz gave a call to action to the student body that was couched in surprisingly religious terms....

Speaking to reporters on April 3rd, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said the shooting at Fort Hood should revive the gun control push. According to The Washington Post, Reid said, "As I was told today, [Army Spc. Ivan Lopez] bought his gun a day or two before he killed these people. Couldn't we at least have background checks so that people who are ill mentally, or who are felons, shouldn't be able to buy guns?" This is somewhat misleading because "law enforcement officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the pistol used by Lopez... was purchased legally last month......

On Tuesday, Mike Dickinson, the Virginia Democrat seeking the House seat currently held by Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., compared the Tea Party to the terror group al-Qaeda on Twitter and claimed that Sarah Palin, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., are the U.S. equivalent of Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind the 9/11 terror attacks. Ultimately, Dickinson called the Tea Party and Sarah Palin "pure unamerican (sic) trash." "The tea party is Americas version of Al-Qaeda. Ted Cruz/Sarah Palin/Rand Paul all on same level as Bin laden (sic)," he claimed. "Tea party and Al-Qaeda: both resort to...

Braley camp: He knew he was being recorded when he disparaged Iowa farmers and Grassley POSTED AT 9:21 AM ON APRIL 1, 2014 BY GUY BENSON Many of us assumed this recording was made surreptitiously. It must have been. There’s no way a statewide office-seeker from Iowa would knowingly demean farmers and a beloved state political figure on tape, right? Wrong, says the Braley campaign, via the Des Moines Register: Braley’s campaign strategists say the candidate knew he was being videotaped at the private fundraiser when he made the remark that has the political world buzzing, describing Chuck Grassley as...

On the surface, the recent Texas Republican primaries were a race to the right on nearly every issue. But the underlying strength of every successful federal Republican campaign on March 4 was the ability to run an organized campaign. Texas is so big, so complex, so expensive that for any ambitious Republican, conservatism is important but organization is paramount. “The Republican political electorate is clearly looking for strong conservatives up and down the ballot, but money does matter at the statewide level because it takes so much time and resources to get your message out to the voters,” Texas-based GOP...

Editor's note: Julian Zelizer is a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University. He is the author of "Jimmy Carter" and "Governing America." (CNN) -- ...The weaknesses of both men—Cruz in terms of his style and Paul in terms of his rhetoric—point out how desperate the GOP is to find someone who can build a broad coalition, something that is essential for a presidential victory, particularly when Republicans will likely be facing a formidable candidate. The problems of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie have been a huge blow to the party, and there are not many alternatives at...

There is another roadblock on the Democrats' plan to turn Texas blue. On Monday Michael Barone belatedly noted the unexpected showing of Ray Madrigal indicates possible dissatisfaction by Hispanics with the pro-abortion feminists beloved by Democratic Party leadership. What hasn't earned more than a couple of brief mentions, however, is the unexpected development in the US Senate race in Texas. The Democrat plan was to have an attractive, well financed candidate ready for after the Republicans pulled themselves apart in a battle between the establishment and the Tea Party. The reality is the Republican primary was tame but there is...

There are so many good conservatives in and running for office that could take America back from liberal socialists and moderate spend thrifts that it’s hard to know them all without excessive effort. Sens. Mike Lee, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, Reps. Paul Ryan, and candidate Elizabeth Cheney are all known names, but somebody has something bad to say about everybody. Romney was equally conservative but allowed his name to be smeared by moderates led by Boehner in Congress who cost him the election by attacking conservatives. Tea Party members need to stop being churlish when it comes to some of...

Few on the center-right grasp the politics of polarization. The idea is to always have someone more extreme than you making your position closer to the relative center and moving the ball further in your direction. The Democrats and the left have known this for years. Look at all the real crazies they have accumulated over time and molded into an almost groupthink legion. Then note that barely a word of chastisement comes from them when they say wild and crazy stuff or do wild and crazy things. Try the counterpart to the Tea Party - the Occupy Movement. Both...

AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - Texans went to the polls on Tuesday in primary elections where the top candidates for governor were expected to post easy wins and favorites of the conservative Tea Party movement are trying to topple established Republicans in several races. U.S. Senator John Cornyn, a Republican, will win his race easily, opinion polls show. Attorney General Greg Abbott, the leading Republican candidate for governor, and state Senator Wendy Davis, the top Democratic Party candidate, were also expected to win by wide margins. Voting closes at 7 p.m. U.S. Central Time. Run-off elections will be held on May...

Who’s likely to do well in New Hampshire’s 2016 first-in-the-nation presidential primary? It’s a preposterous question, here in 2014, but what the heck? We asked six experts to weigh in on some of the biggest political players. Our analysts are Wayne Lesperance, political science professor at New England College; Phil Boynton, president of the University of New Hampshire College Republicans; Peter Burling, Democratic national committeeman; Dante Scala, professor of political science at UNH; Jess Steever, vice president of the Plymouth State University Democrats; and Brandon Lemay, public relations officer for the PSU Democrats. Today, our panelists consider the Republicans. Tomorrow,...

Senator Ted Cruz (R., Texas) may be the brightest light to adorn the Republican party in many years. He knows how to make the case for conservative ideas, pointing, for example, to the contrasting fates of Detroit and Houston to illustrate the superiority of conservative policies. So it’s particularly galling to see that rather than train his fire at Obama and the liberal machine that cocoons him, Cruz has become a one-man wrecking ball against Republicans. His most recent foray into sabotaging his colleagues concerned the debt-limit increase. Because Speaker Boehner sent over a “clean” debt-limit bill, Republican senators had...

A candidate for Orange County Republican County chair was arrested for beating up a man outside an early voting site Tuesday afternoon. 70-year-old Jerry Wilson was arrested for Class A misdemeanor assault and taken to the Orange County, TX jail. Vidor, TX Police Chief Dave Shows said the victim in the attack was bleeding. He had a bloody nose, and injuries around the eyes and head. Chief Shows said the disturbance started at the early voting poll at the Vidor community center off Interstate 10. The victim was working for another candidate. The argument apparently started with a confrontation about...

After due research, this is my voting list. I came back special to Midland for this vote, so want to make sure I am correct: Would appreciate comments and concerns: 1. Senate --- Stovall (close second, Stockman) The Great Cornholio is a disgrace with what he said and has done to Cruz. He's got to go. 2. Governor --- Greg Abbot 3. Lt. Governor -- Dan Patrick (Do worst has to go) 4. Attorney General ---- Gen Paxton 5. Comptroller --- Harvey Hildebran, hands down (Met Glenn Hegar -- VERY unimpressed.) 6. Commisioner GLO --- David Watts. George P Bush...

Rocker-turned-Second Amendment activist Ted Nugent, who’s just taken to the campaign trail for Texas governor hopeful Greg Abbott, has already irked Democrats with his recent slamming of President Obama as a “subhuman mongrel.” Mr. Nugent called Mr. Obama the term during an interview last month with Guns.com. His full statement: “I have obviously failed to galvanize and prod, if not shame enough Americans to be ever vigilant not to let a Chicago communist-raised, communist-educated, communist-nurtured subhuman mongrel like the ACORN community organizer gangster Barack Hussein Obama to weasel his way into the top office of authority in the United States...

'Cruz missile' strategy propels Stockman toward runoff vs. Cornyn. It is a monumental shift in major race that could be sending shock waves through the GOP establishment. Underfunded and targeted by GOP strategist Karl Rove, Rep. Steve Stockman, R-Texas, has defied the odds in his long-shot bid to topple the second-most powerful Republican in the U.S. Senate, and he’s on the verge of forcing a crucial runoff with incumbent Sen. Jon Cornyn, R-Texas, in the Texas GOP primary. According to the results of a stunning new poll, Cornyn has fallen from 50 percent to 43 percent. That means Cornyn would...

ABC chief White House correspondent Jonathan Karl says many of Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz’s fellow Republican senators despise him — like, really, totally hate him. “The Republicans in the Senate had this all set. This was going to be able to pass with only Democratic votes. He stands up, says ‘I’m going to filibuster’, suddenly they need 60 votes,” Karl explained on ABC’s “This Week” Sunday, speaking of last week’s vote to increase the debt ceiling. “I’ll tell you, Ted Cruz is so hated among his Republicans now — more so than even during the shutdown — that at...

Wendy Davis told the Austin American-Statesman newspaper on Wednesday that “Texas is not really a red state, it's just a non-voting state.” Sure Wendy, sure. Well, she is right about Texas being a non-voting state. Texas is one of the worst performers when it comes to voter turnout. In 2010, just 36.4 percent of registered voters actually voted, making it the worst state for turnout. In 2012, Texas ranked 48th in voter turnout, according to a report from the University of Texas at Austin. In fact, Texas has had lower voter turnout rates than the national average since 1972. But...

It's time to term limit Senator Cornyn. There is no need to pass a term limit amendment to the Constitution If mandatory term limits were in place, then John Cornyn would be out of a job this election. It is up to the voters to effect term limits on long-term incumbents. This is especially true when the incumbent has too often followed the establishment party line of increasing the federal debt, even before Obama was elected. According to Freedom Works here are the ten worst votes cast by Senator Cornyn: 1. Cornyn Voted to Let Harry Reid Fund ObamaCare (2013,...

BANGOR, Maine – U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas on Saturday won an unofficial straw poll to be the 2016 GOP presidential nominee at the Penobscot County Republican caucus at Husson University. Administered by the Maine Republican Liberty Caucus, caucus attendees paid $1 for a ballot that listed 20 potential GOP presidential candidates’ names plus room for write-ins, according to Maine RLC State Chair Vic Berardelli. Balloters were asked to mark their first, second and third choice. Points were weighted at five points for a first place vote, three points for second and one point for a third place vote....