Free Republic

After Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) defeated Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate last month, it wasn’t surprising that Republicans launched a barrage of attacks against Democratic nominee James Talarico. What was surprising, though, and troubling, is that they attacked not Talarico’s record or past rhetoric, but his masculinity. Paxton got things rolling on election night, calling him “Tofu Talarico,” “James Tala-freako,” and “low-T Talarico.” Trump aide Stephen Miller piled on, suggesting that Talarico was transgender. Others insinuated that he was secretly gay and that his girlfriend was fictional. (This is a bold strategy, because...

Too Dumb to Fail Matt Lewis argues, America's inclination toward simplicity and stupidity is stronger than ever, and its greatest victim is the Republican Party. Lewis, a respected conservative columnist and frequent guest on MSNBC's Morning Joe, eviscerates the phenomenon of candidates with a "no experience required" mentality and tea party "patriots" who possess bluster but few core beliefs. Matt K. Lewis is a senior contributor for The Daily Caller and writes regular columns for TheWeek.com, The Daily Beast, and The Telegraph (UK). He records a weekly podcast, "Matt Lewis and the News." 2011 Business Insider Pundits You Need To...

The king of talk radio could take out Trump if he wanted to, so why won’t he sack up and do it?The New York Times recently ran a piece titled, Rush Limbaugh Rallies Listeners to Donald Trump’s Defense. In reading Rush’s full transcript, I found that headline a bit unfair. On Monday, he did cite ex-CBS reporter Sharyl Attkisson’s defense of Trump—which I (and others) found to be unpersuasive. But his comments were far more nuanced than the Times’ headline suggested. Apparently Limbaugh felt that way, too. “Because I don’t join in the condemnation of Trump,” he explained on Tuesday,...

It's hard to believe that three years ago nobody knew who Ted Cruz was, or that during his 2012 campaign to become a senator in Texas, he was accused of supporting "amnesty" and attacked by Laura Ingraham for his stance on China. Today, Ted Cruz is not only something of a household name, but he's considered one of the most conservative Republican lawmakers in the nation. In modern politics, freshness is a virtue, and fortunes can change overnight. Lots of people think Ted Cruz is a phony. Others are just as sure that he's among the most genuine politicians in...