Free Republic

Mitt Romney's backing helped several candidates emerge from a crowded primary field and be successful in the 2014 midterm elections. He's aiming to do the same for presidential candidates in 2016. Many observers expected Mitt Romney to slink away from politics after his defeat in the 2012 presidential election, but the former Massachusetts governor has instead embraced a new role as an elder statesman and kingmaker within the Republican Party. While he has shied away from open campaigning, Mr. Romney has taken to tacitly supporting the more moderate, establishment-friendly candidates in a packed and ideologically tangled field. “Romney, who flirted...

In baseball, when you get three strikes, you’re out. There have been at least five strikes called against single payer (SP). Shouldn’t we hear from an umpire? Whether you call it single payer, socialized medicine, universal health care, Veterans Administration (VA) Hospital System, ObamaCare, Public Option, or National Health Service, these are all different names for the same thing: government-controlled healthcare. Details vary but all single payer-type systems have one thing in common: a central authority that controls both supply of dollars and providers, as well as demand for goods and services. Strike #1: Italy's price controls In the...

Memo to Rep. Hal Rogers: If you fund President Obama's executive amnesty plan, you will own it with him. Now that the president has announced his executive amnesty order, it puts the spotlight squarely on Republican leaders such as House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers who seems to be at odds with most of the GOP. Rogers suggested last week to a reporter the GOP should pass a long-term spending bill even if it should include funding for Obama's upcoming Executive Order. Mr. Chairman: If the American people wanted Congress to fund amnesty programs, they would have kept the Democrats...

HealthCare.gov, the online portal where millions of Americans must by health insurance, will not display premiums for 2015 until after the 2014 elections ... Americans will not be able to find out if their health insurance premiums are going up "until the second week of November," which conveniently falls after Americans will go to the polls November 4th.

National Review columnist Mark Steyn blasted claims by Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and others that the best strategy is to allow Obamacare to crumble under its own weight and only then seek to repeal it. Filling in as host on Rush Limbaugh’s radio show Monday, Steyn, author of “After America: Get Ready for Armageddon,” explained to a caller named “Joe” that there is no reason to believe congressional Republicans have the will to repeal anything, especially considering that Carter-era institutions like the Department of Education and the Department of Energy have managed to flourish even in times of...

I know a lot of people are giddy at the prospect of Republicans taking the Senate this November, but that’s becoming less and less likely. It’s not because Democrats are rallying around a particular mission or set of candidates; it’s because Republicans and conservatives aren’t. It seems like I’m always writing on issues no one wants to hear are mistakes, such as messaging or social issues. But I don’t care. These things have to be said. If these columns are received like a gaseous cousin on a long car trip through the desert, so be it. Crack a window… If...

Republicans on K street are helping members of their party shift their stance on gay rights issues. Kathryn Lehman, a top GOP lobbyist and partner at Holland and Knight carries a list of 40 to 50 Republican offices in the House and Senate she visits on behalf of Freedom to Marry, a group that backs same-sex marriage. "The issue is losing its toxicity from a Republican perspective," she said, mentioning that the list was a fraction of that size when she first took on Freedom to Marry as a client in 2011. Lehman... helped to write the Defense of Marriage...

Far from being excommunicated by Republicans after his loss to President Obama, 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney is enjoying a brand resurgence of late, drawing several potential 2016 candidates to his "ideas summit" this weekend in Utah and even earning some 2016 speculation himself.Meanwhile, some other potential candidates are in Iowa for the state Republican Party's convention there Saturday. And not to be left out, Gov. Chris Christie, R-N.J., was in California Friday to raise money for the Republican gubernatorial candidate there and participate in a Facebook chat.It all adds up to a busy weekend for the early 2016...

Republicans have voted more than 50 times to repeal or alter Obamacare as the popularity of the legislation continues to be nearly non-existent. In the process, Republicans have been criticized for failing to present an alternative piece of legislation to replace Obamacare. More than a dozen alternative plans have been crafted on the Hill, but Republicans haven't been able to rally around a single plan. Now, that's changing as Republican prepare to present Americans with an official alternative to the Affordable Care Act: The plan includes an expansion of high-risk insurance pools, promotion of health savings accounts and inducements for...

The Washington Post reports that failed establishment Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is gathering his “political brain trust” at a swanky Park City, Utah ski chalet later this month. If political brains were a prerequisite for an invitation it seems like Romney could have held the gathering in the broom closet of one of his mansions, but conservatives should not dismiss the threat to the prospects for a conservative victory in 2016 that Romney revanchists represent. As The Post reports, and we hear from time to time with incredulity, there is chatter among some powerful GOP donors about another Romney...

Yes, it appears that President Obama is gearing up to twist Obamacare like Gumby yet again. Fox News reports: The latest delay, expected to be announced as early as next week, would allow insurers to continue selling insurance plans that would otherwise be banned under the law. Fox News has confirmed the extension, first reported by The Hill. It is unclear how long the extension will be, though one unidentified source told the Hill it could last to the end of Obama's second term, and possibly beyond. The extension would ease pressure on Democratic candidates in the midterm elections by...

How the heck did that happen? Most public polls leading up to Election Day had Democrat Terry McAuliffe coasting to victory, some by double digits, in the Virginia governor’s race. Instead he squeaked by, beating Republican Ken Cuccinelli by less than 3 percentage points. -snip- McAuliffe outraised Cuccinelli by almost $15 million, and he used the cash advantage to pummel him on the airwaves. A lack of resources forced the Republican to go dark in the D.C. media market during the final two weeks. The Republican National Committee spent about $3 million on Virginia this year, compared to $9 million...

Fellow Conservatives, the time has come. The time has come to free ourselves from the lackluster idiocy of the Republican't party and go our own way. The time has come to tell the political operatives like Tokyo Rove to shove it. The time has come to turn off FOX Snooze once and for all. The time has come to tell the crony capitalists on Wall Street to earn a living in an actual free market instead of leeching off the besieged American taxpayer. In short, ladies and gentlemen, it's time for a third party. It's time for a third party...

The House Republican with direct oversight of Obamacare hinted that the GOP might, once again, vote to delay a critical component of the health care law. Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) hinted Friday that the House might vote to delay the sign-up date for Obamacare. The current enrollment period lasts through March.

On his radio show recently, Glenn Beck urged his listeners to “defund the GOP.” Sarah Palin has threatened to leave the Republican Party; Rush Limbaugh calls it “irrelevant.” The Senate Conservatives Fund has targeted mainly incumbent Republican senators for defeat. Erick Erickson, one of the right’s most prominent commentators, wonders if what's coming is “a real third party movement that will fully divide the Republican Party.” Conservatives have declared war on the GOP. Tired of feeling taken for granted by a party that alternately panders to them and sells them down the river, in their view, Tea Partiers and others...

Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell has floated a proposal for a couple years now as a last-chance way to avert a crisis and allow the president to raise the debt ceiling without congressional approval, with Congress having the ability to strip that authority with a two-thirds veto – and that’s sort of what the bill to be voted on tonight provides for (see pages 24 ff. of the bill).Assuming it passes tonight, the debt ceiling will be suspended until February 7, meaning the treasury can borrow what it needs to fund obligations until then. Then within the next 14 days, the House and...

Republican strategist Karl Rove says the GOP should quit while it's not as far behind as it could be. Appearing Tuesday on Fox News Channel's "On the Record," Rove said Republicans fighting for concessions on Obamacare and entitlements are weakening their position the longer they hold out. "At some point you have to focus on, as Ronald Reagan said, getting as much of the pie as you possibly can get," Rove said. Republicans aren't even going to be able to get 80 percent of what they want now, he said, because they have been weakened over the last two months...

Here’s some free market advice to GOP legislators at all levels thinking about introducing bills supporting the state health exchanges under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA): Be prepared to wear the “Care” moniker around your name. You know? As in HillaryCare, RomneyCare or ObamaCare. Colorado’s Amy Stephens, a Republican state representative from El Paso County, was once considered a future Lt. Governor, or member of Congress. Instead, she may have flamed out her career by sponsoring a bill that would opt Colorado out of ObamaCare by implementing a so-called “health exchange” under PPACA. Yet that didn’t stop...

Breitbart News reported that House Republicans have offered a new deal to the White House to end the fiscal stalemate. The GOP plan, authored primarily by House Budget Chair Rep. Paul Ryan according to Hill sources, would meet Obama's demands in exchange for negotiations on a longer-term budget agreement. At least two high-ranking Capitol Hill sources have told Breitbart News that Ryan’s plan would also help protect Obamacare as it is currently implemented. Ryan's office deny the claims. “What your sources are attempting to attribute to Congressman Ryan is not accurate,” Kevin Seifert, Ryan’s spokesman, said in an email. But...

House Republicans, and notably Ted Cruz in the Senate, led the fight against Obama's signature health care law. They made defunding or delaying Obamacare a demand in legislation the House repeatedly sent to the Democratic-controlled Senate, only to see it die there. Apparently, it's now dead in the House, too. "That's currently off the table now," Republican Rep. James Lankford said in an interview on "The Lead with Jake Tapper." "That's obviously not going to happen at this point." Lankford did say that Republicans will now instead ask for a one-year delay on penalties for those who don't sign up...