Free Republic

When Mitt Romney selected Congressman Paul Ryan as his running mate, people cheered. He was young, attractive, idealistic, and — doggone it! — he did P90x. Images of him lifting weights bounced across the internet. Surely this is what the GOP needed, they said. New blood. Youth. Strength. The fact that his losing bid against Barack Obama and Joe Biden was the high mark of his career says a great deal about his legacy. His lack of true leadership has grown more and more evident. During the last week, Speaker Ryan's stature managed to shrink in regard to Congress, and...

The leader of a key group of conservatives on Friday said the House healthcare reform bill still doesn't have the votes to pass the lower chamber despite changes. In an interview filmed for C-SPAN's "Newsmakers" program, Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) said there are at least 40 House Republicans who are opposed to the legislation and another 20 to 30 who are undecided. If every member votes and all Democrats vote no, GOP leaders can't afford more than 21 defections. The chairman of the House Freedom Caucus made his comments before House GOP leaders announced Friday they are making modifications to...

<p>Leaders of conservative groups that oppose the House Republicans’ health-care bill met with President Trump at the White House on Wednesday night, part of a high-profile effort to quiet anger from the right. In the process, the conservatives heard the president and his team express some openness to tweaks to the bill that go further than House or Senate leaders might accept.</p>

Dear Mr. President: Do NOT under any circumstances endorse or sign RYANcare. RYANcare will immediately become TRUMPcare and that will destroy your credibility and your presidency. Ryan and the globalist big government GOPe hates you and what you ran on just as much as the democrats and the media. The day you sign TRUMPcare, you own it and they own you. You will be the GOPe's prison bitch. You will also lose your support base and then your tax plan and other trade and economic plans go up in smoke. Do not settle for anything less than full and complete...

These days, the left is just about begging conservatives to surrender on repealing ObamaCare. Immediately after the Supreme Court’s controversial 5-4 ruling upholding its constitutionality, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Steve Israel insisted that, “…Republicans need to drop their partisan obstruction and move on.” President Obama agreed, stating firmly, “…the law I passed is here to stay. …We are moving forward.” A couple of recent polls show that a sizable fraction of the electorate sympathizes with the idea, including some independents. This has been a long fight, so that’s understandable. Let’s retrace where we’ve been. The bitter public debate over...

This morning, the United States Supreme Court released its ruling on the constitutionality of ObamaCare. In a 5-4 decision, the Court found that the individual mandate is constitutional, but only as a tax. Chief Justice John Roberts joined Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Elena Kagan, and Sonia Sotomayor in this majority opinion. Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, Samuel Alito, and Clarence Thomas dissented, arguing that the entirety of the law was unconstitutional. To put it bluntly, this is a very complicated ruling that few expected in its given form.