Free Republic

LAS VEGAS : Ted Cruz knows he'll be a center of attention, if not the center of attention, at the fifth Republican debate here in Nevada Tuesday. In the first GOP debate, back in August, questions went to Donald Trump, and Ben Carson, and Marco Rubio, and Jeb Bush, and Trump again before moderators got around to Cruz. (The first question: "How can you win in 2016 when you're such a divisive figure?") It won't be that way this time, with Cruz now leading the RealClearPolitics average of polls in Iowa and in second place to Trump nationally. The Cruz...

When the school bully starts glowering in your direction, the worst thing you can do is hold up your hands and say, “Please don’t hit me.” It’s a lesson most of us learn in the schoolyard, but one that Texas Sen. Ted Cruz seems to have forgotten.Now, here comes the knuckle sandwich.Cruz, who is making a strong run in Republican presidential primary polling, has done everything he can to put off an inevitable showdown with frontrunner Donald Trump. The reluctance is understandable – Trump’s attacks on other candidates in the race have been devastatingly effective. To avoid them, Cruz has...

The latest Des Moines Register poll shows Texas Senator Sen. Ted Cruz surging to a 10 point lead over his nearest rival, Donald Trump, among caucus goers in Iowa. Cruz's October surge is the largest jump measured over 5 Presidential campaigns. Cruz currently has the highest favorability rating of any Republican candidate for President. Cruz has 31 percent support, followed by Donald Trump with 21 percent. Since October, Cruz has gained 21 points while Trump has gained just 2 percent. Neurosurgeon Ben Carson is in 3rd place with 13 percent, down 15 points since October. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL)79%is...

We are now hearing news of the Empire Striking Back. We are hearing about a brokered convention. Republican officials and leading figures in the party's establishment are preparing for the possibility of a brokered convention as businessman Donald Trump continues to sit atop the polls in the GOP presidential race.More than 20 of them convened Monday near the Capitol for a dinner held by Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, and the prospect of Trump nearing next year's nominating convention in Cleveland with a significant number of delegates dominated the discussion, according to five people familiar with the meeting.Weighing in...

Senator Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) 97% (R-Texas) attended the Iowa Ag Summit over the weekend and stood alone among attendees in his outright rejection of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), the ethanol subsidies that have a significant impact on Iowa's agricultural economy. The Texas Senator appeared along with several other prospective 2016 Republican presidential candidates. Despite the obvious risk of opposing the RFS at an event sponsored by the agriculture industry in a critical early primary state, Cruz was unequivocal in voicing his opposition to the RFS and the crowd applauded his comments. -snip- The Senator responded, "I support biofuels...

White House press secretary Josh Earnest mocked Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz Friday for his tweets regarding the Obama administration's handling of the Islamic State, critiquing the Texas senator for lacking a specific national security policy. Earnest announced that President Barack Obama will be at the Pentagon Monday to meet with his national security team and then make remarks about the fight against the Islamic State. After reporter questions, Earnest insisted the administration would maintain it's current course in the fight. "Those who are most frequent in voicing those calls, do not themselves have alternative solutions on the table," Earnest...

"....Ted Cruz's remarks, which the Times published a five-minute clip of on Thursday, were nowhere near as campaign-shattering as Romney's. The clip did, however, provide some insight into Cruz's thinking about the race and, notably, Donald Trump. The Texas senator has been noticeably reluctant to criticize his flame-throwing rival in the hopes of picking up his supporters when the flames ultimately engulf Trump's campaign. If that was his implied campaign strategy, Cruz says it explicitly to the crowd gathered at a Madison Avenue office. Here's some of what Cruz had to say about Trump and Carson (via the Times): >>>I...

The Texas senator's campaign is beginning to see returns after months of methodically courting evangelical leaders.Ted Cruz increasingly looks like the man to beat in Iowa. He's rising in the polls, building on an already extensive field organization and locking down critical conservative endorsements.Among the biggest yet came Thursday, when Bob Vander Plaats, the head of the conservative group Family Leader, came out for Cruz, citing what he sees as electability in Iowa and nationally. "This is a guy that's been very consistent in principles, in communications, and his campaign has shown ability to slowly gain ground and build momentum,...

RUSH: Ted Cruz. This is a brilliant point, by the way. This morning in Washington at the Heritage Foundation, Ted Cruz reacting to Loretta Lynch. Loretta Lynch said something this week that is far more dangerous than anything Donald Trump's even thinking. Loretta Lynch said she was gonna prosecute anybody criticizing Muslims and Islam. She went on national TV surrounded by a bunch of lackeys and supporters and warning everybody, you better be careful what you say, because we're listening, and if you dare criticize Islam or Muslims, we're coming for you, and we are going to prosecute you. You...

"Divide and conquer" describes an age-old military concept: If your enemies are fighting among themselves, they can't effectively battle you. Phillip II of Macedon, Julius Caesar and Napoleon were among those who employed this tactic to defeat more powerful forces. Would-be conquerors of the 21st century are lucky: Their enemies can't agree on anything not even which barbarians are at the gate. This occurred to me last week -- the afternoon of Wednesday, December 2 to be precise as I was being interviewed by Thom Hartmann who claims to have the "No. 1 Progressive Talk Show" on radio. His goal...

At CPAC Mike Lee called on the conservative movement to unite behind a "principled, positive, and proven" conservative. The coalescing seems to be beginning. Yesterday two influential entities endorsed Cruz, the National Organization of Marriage and Richard Viguerie. Do they represent the beginning of an avalanche of Conservative endorsements? "Richard Viguerie is a hero of the conservative movement," said Cruz. "I couldn't be prouder to have his support, which should send a strong message to conservatives nationwide that our campaign is coalescing the movement. From libertarians to Tea Partiers to social and national security conservatives, people are getting behind our...

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz takes questions after The Family Leader's Presidential Family Forum on Nov. 20, 2015, in Des Moines, Iowa. (Photo by Patrick Svitek) Iowa evangelical leader Bob Vander Plaats on Thursday endorsed Ted Cruz for president, giving the Texas senator's campaign one of its biggest boosts yet in the first-in-the-country caucus state. "At the end of the day, we truly believe that Ted Cruz is the most consistent and principled conservative who has the ability to not only win Iowa but I believe to win the [Republican] nomination," Vander Plaats told the Des Moines Register in an interview...

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz laid into The Wall Street Journal in a recent interview, remarking upon its support for amnesty that it should change its "header to the Marco Rubio for President Newspaper" for the next three months.In an interview with MSNBC's "Morning Joe" taped Wednesday and aired in segments Thursday morning, co-host Joe Scarborough brought up a Dec. 2 editorial in which The Wall Street Journal called out his positions on Syria and his opposition of the bulk collection of phone metadata by the National Security Agency."Mr. Cruz's Syria and NSA gambits seem intended to signal to Rand Paul...

One of the reasons Sen. Ted Cruz continues to climb the polls in the GOP presidential race is because of his proven track record of standing up for conservative principles, particularly social issues.What a lot of folks may not know is that his first major leadership role was economic in nature, and he proved himself to absolutely be a defender of the free market.As if you didn't have enough reasons to love the guy already...From PJ Media: Now that Cruz regularly polls toward the top of an ever-shrinking field, his early tenure bears closer scrutiny. Cruz has gained fame as...

Following his Iowa script, Texas senator reaps support as Carson appears to fade. GREENVILLE, S.C. - He's locking down pastors in every county, held a rally to celebrate religious liberty and is methodically courting Christian grassroots leaders.Ted Cruz has taken his evangelicals-focused Iowa playbook to South Carolina - and conservative leaders in the state say that it's starting to work."Ted Cruz has done perhaps the best job in the state, frankly," said unaligned South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott of the Texas senator's organization, going on to add, "It's not going to help my friends who are serving with me, but...

As President Obama continues to push forward with his insistence that the U.S. continue full steam ahead with welcoming an increasing influx of Syrian refugees — national security, will of the people be damned — one state is taking concrete action to block these plans. Who else but Texas, led by Senator — and GOP presidential candidate — Ted Cruz and Governor Greg Abbott.Introducing legislation that allows the governor of a state to reject the resettlement of a refugee in that state without adequate assurance that the refugee does not present a security risk, the move amounts to a revolt...

Donald Trump has become such a force in the Republican Party that the official overseeing next year's Senate races has proposed a delicate strategy for GOP candidates: tap into Trumpism without mimicking Trump. In a seven-page, confidential memo that imagines Trump as the party's nominee, the head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee urges candidates to adopt many of Trump's tactics, issues and approaches -- right down to adjusting the way they dress and how they use Twitter. In the memo on the "Trump phenomenon," NRSC executive director Ward Baker said Republicans should embrace his tough talk about China and...

Donald Trump has become such a force in the Republican Party that the official overseeing next year’s Senate races has proposed a delicate strategy for GOP candidates: tap into Trumpism without mimicking Trump. In a seven-page, confidential memo that imagines Trump as the party’s nominee, the head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee urges candidates to adopt many of Trump’s tactics, issues and approaches — right down to adjusting the way they dress and how they use Twitter. In the memo on the “Trump phenomenon,” NRSC executive director Ward Baker said Republicans should embrace his tough talk about China and...

Eleven months before the 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump is the undisputed leader in the Republican field, as Dr. Ben Carson, in a virtual tie with Trump four weeks ago, drops to third place, according to a Quinnipiac University National poll released today. Trump gets 27 percent of Republican voters today, with 17 percent for Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, 16 percent each for Carson and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and 5 percent for former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. No other candidate tops 3 percent, with 8 percent undecided.

When President Ronald Reagan was asked how he defined victory in the Cold War he responded simply, "we win, they lose." Now that, folks, is pretty simple and easily understood by everyone: Americans, allies, and the Soviet Union. And Reagan never relented in defining the enemy as the "evil empire" and by commanding at the Brandenburg Gates, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall." It was a profound statement and rallying cry that fomented an emboldening spirit to those who lived behind that wall under the dark specter of tyranny. That was exceptional American leadership at its best. Quite contrary to...