Free Republic

Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.) said on Monday that he will oppose President Trump's attorney general nominee, becoming the first Republican to come out as a "no" vote on William Barr. Paul told Politico that he had concerns about Barr's record on privacy, calling him a "chief advocate for warrantless surveillance of U.S. citizens." A spokesman for Paul didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. The libertarian-leaning GOP senator had previously raised concerns about Barr, who also served as attorney general to President George H.W. Bush.

Democratic partisans are probably concerned at what might happen if the Republicans get over and get past their anti-gay history (though they'll never actually admit it). (SNIP) Actually, the message from NOM is that—given the Republican control of the House of Representative (and there's no chance of that changing in this election)—voting DeMaio and Tisei into office rather than pro-gay heterosexual Democrats is worse because the Republicans actually will have power. Here's what NOM is saying when it encourages voters to select traditional progressive Moulton over business-friendly moderate Republican Tisei: The Republican party states clearly in its platform that marriage...

It looks like what we have here is a classic case of when “keeping it real” goes wrong. On Veterans Day, while most Americans were thanking members of the U.S. armed forces for their service and enjoying their community’s holiday festivities, Michael Schuette of Anniston, Alabama took to Facebook to explain that veterans are not American heroes. In fact, he believes they “kill for profit,” “terrorize” other countries, have “never sacrificed for this country” and do “nothing for the American citizens.”

Evolve, adapt or die. That is the fate of our current Republican party. We must evolve as a party and find a way to attract millennials to the conservative movement or we will never succeed in realizing our ideals of individual freedom and freedom from government interference. Initially, I received criticism from political pundits for speaking to non-traditional audiences. I was told it was a waste of time to reach out to these audiences, specifically students from both Howard University and University of California, Berkeley. My response is this: I have never been one to watch the world go by...

Syria's butcher Bashir Assad could end up toppling British Prime Minister David Cameron and not the other way around, while also giving Russia a big boost back on to the Great Power stage and green lighting Tehran's most ambitious and sparky plans in its mountain tunnel complexes. Along the way he has exposed President Obama as feckless and fearful. The president and his team are scrambling to remind lawmakers of what the Commander-in-Chief ought to have long ago argued to the country: When the good guys blink, the bad guys notice. Lots and lots of blinking. Most of the people...

The AP claimed this morning that Paul was set to endorse a path to citizenship in his speech today. Not so, countered conservatives on Twitter: Read his prepared remarks and you’ll see that citizenship is never mentioned. Which is true, and also irrelevant. The whole point of Paul’s speech is GOP rapprochement with Latino voters; he spends nearly two-thirds of it extolling Latinos’ work ethic, reminiscing about his friendships with Latinos growing up in Texas, name-checking Jaime Escalante and Pablo Neruda, and of course citing the ancient canard that Latinos are really just Republicans who don’t know it yet. (He...

How can I do this? I've become annoyed with all of you as a Libertarian and want out. Can I call out the mods to delete me? I'll admit that I was a good freep member for years (since 2006) but I can't take you all anymore. You are all way too naive--until you all realize this, we are all doomed. John Stossel, Ayn Rand, and Nick Gillespie are my heroes not big government George Bush (I and II), Ronald Reagan, and Bill O'Reilley. Grow up. You are all great people, but I'm done. Out.

A fuller clip of the truncated clip released by Paulbots and propagated by Romneybots at FNC, that both are dishonestly passing off as evidence of Santorum being "against the Tea Party." DON'T BELIEVE IT! Listen yourself and/or see below.

Rick Santorum shows his true colors by tailoring his message to what his audience wants to hear.

Newt then: I supported Rockefeller over GoldwaterNewt now: I supported GoldwaterDrudge had this up on the frontpage earlier today, but now it's gone. Still in the cache though:

Paulbots are flooding Drudge Report poll over tonights debate winner.

LAKE JACKSON, Texas (AP) - The only trail where you might catch Ron Paul this weekend is the biking one here. While the other Republican presidential candidates were campaigning in South Carolina, the Texas congressman whose recent momentum is arguably second only to front-runner Mitt Romney's is home taking a break, just as his often belittled candidacy has never been taken more seriously. Paul's supporters say they don't begrudge the 76-year-old for stepping out of the spotlight after he really seized it. "It's totally OK," said Cindy Lake, 48, a volunteer passing out voter registration forms ahead of Nevada's primary...

Ron Paul Is More Conservative Than Rick Santorum. By Joe Deaux 01/11/12 - 04:02 PM EST NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- During a Republican presidential debate Saturday, Texas Rep. Ron Paul and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum had a spat about who was more conservative as each clawed for blocks of Republican voters needed to topple front-runner Mitt Romney. According to a study done back in 2004 though, Paul was the more conservative of the two by a fairly healthy margin. A list put together at voteview.com found that out of the 3,320 individuals (1 being the most liberal and 3,320...

<p>With his vast trail of scandals and long list of enemies, Newt Gingrich is unlikely to win the Republican presidential nomination, even if he’s leading the polls. But if you were to imagine a path to the nomination for the former House Speaker, it would begin in Iowa. A strong win in the Iowa caucuses would provide Gingrich with the momentum necessary to place well in New Hampshire (or win it, under the right circumstances). With the momentum of two primaries behind him, Gingrich would cruise to victory in South Carolina and Florida, and finish January as the presumptive nominee.</p>

Glenn Beck Smears Ron Paul With Half-Truths About Paul's Earmarks. Today on his radio show Glenn Beck and his staff declared that Ron Paul is the "earmark king", and labeled Paul a hypocrit. Beck correctly stated that Paul adds many earmarks to spending bills, and then votes against the spending bills. What Beck left out (either by deceit or by ignorance) is that earmarks do not increase the size of a budget. The money allocated for a budget is set by the Appropriations Committee prior to any allocation or earmark. All money not allocated or earmarked is not deleted from...

The Herman Cain campaign released details of the revenue expected to be collected from his 9-9-9 tax plan. Here are the estimates for 2010: $701 billion from the 9 percent personal income tax. $753 billion from the 9 percent retail sales tax. $863 billion from the 9 percent business VAT. Yikes! By far the largest tax haul under the Cain plan would be from the business VAT—a tax which would be hidden from most voters. By the way, the Cain business tax is not a tax on “corporate income,” as some media stories are identifying it. The new revenue data...

..."Paul's ad attacks Perry for serving as chairman of Gore's Texas campaign, accusing him of being 'Al Gore's Texas cheerleader.'"..."In his video, Huntsman goes after Romney, who is scheduled to release his job creation proposals later on Tuesday..." Paul's video here...Huntsman's video here...

No! Next question. But really, are we okay with this? An actual newspaper (the Austin Chronicle) is running this full-page ad next week? This seems like an awful lot of money to spend on an ad likely to result in a large number of people saying, “No!” emphatically and continuing with their days, but then again, perhaps this lack of acumen is why I am not the president of CASH. And I’m not sure why he chose the “Star Wars” font. Nothing says effective ad-making like “an ad (hominem) hoping to find someone who has had sex with Rick Perry,...

The Cedar Falls, Iowa city council voted to take the keys of residents to enter their businesses and some residential properties for the sake of "security." This is clearly government in over-reach mode and is unconstitutional. The next meeting is set for June 13th.

Things should have been nice and chummy at CPAC an hour ago. Dick Cheney strolled on stage to cheers and the inspirational tune of Tina Turner’s “Simply the Best” and got began to present the “Defender Of The Constitution” award to Donald Rumsfeld. However, as the chants of “USA! USA!” died down, a voice screaming “War criminal!” could be heard. And then, as Cheney continued to talk up his former colleague, a shouting match began between supporters of Ron Paul and the rest of the convention hall. The Paul supporters eventually walked out in the middle of Rumsfeld’s speech as...