Free Republic

A few months ago, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal traveled to Washington to introduce a new national health care proposal. While there, he arranged to meet privately with a small group of conservative journalists and policy experts at the offices of the Ethics and Public Policy Center think tank. Some of the experts engaged Jindal in debate about one of the plan's more arcane provisions. The back-and-forth between Jindal and his questioners went deep into the proposal's details, and it was soon clear that Jindal could dive as far into the health care policy weeds as any of the wonkiest wonks....

George W Bush has declared his younger brother Jeb "wants to be president", fuelling speculation that the Bush dynasty may soon launch a fresh bid to retake the White House. Jeb Bush, the former governor of Florida, is seen as one of the Republican Party's best hopes of defeating Hillary Clinton in 2016 and many party power brokers are eager for him to run. Jeb Bush has said he's still weighing his options but his elder brother is among those urging him to run.

With his frequent trips to the early primary states and recent staff changes, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Tex., is looking increasingly like somebody intending to run for president in 2016 — and it's easy to see why he would be tempted to do so. The next Republican race is going to be wide open, with no clear frontrunner, and the limited polling that exists on 2016 suggests Cruz would be starting out right in the mix with other candidates. If he declines to run and a Republican goes on to win the presidency, the earliest he'd be able to try would...

FOR nearly three decades, I’ve felt conflicted about presidential salutes. After all, my United States Marine Corps instructors drilled into me the idea that “you never salute without a cover” which, in civilian, meant without a hat. My fellow Marines and I were also informed, in no uncertain terms, that we weren’t to salute out of uniform. (I don’t think that presidential blue suits, white shirts and red ties quite qualify.) So whenever I saw a president stepping off a helicopter and bringing hand to brow, my drill instructor’s unambiguous words came back to me with much of their original...

President Obama is supporting the Secret Service in the wake of a deeply troubling incident in which a disturbed man jumped the White House fence, sprinted across the North Lawn, and actually entered the White House Friday evening. The man, 42 year-old Omar Gonzalez, had a folding knife in his pocket and had left 800 rounds of ammunition in his car not far from the White House. Gonzalez had also drawn the attention of authorities at least twice a few weeks ago — once in Virginia, when he was found with a sniper rifle, a sawed-off shotgun, and a map...

Former presidential candidate Jon Huntsman has engaged in discussions with supporters in recent months about pursuing another White House bid — this time as an independent, according to three sources close to Huntsman. The former Utah governor declined to comment for the record. His daughter, MSNBC co-host Abby Huntsman Livingston, who was a surrogate for Huntsman’s campaign in 2012, said in an email that her father is “primarily focused on family and private-sector endeavors.” She added: “He has no plans to run, but in politics never say never. I know there is a lot of pull out there for him...

Cue the 2016 speculations: The former president and CEO of Ford Motors isn’t ruling out a presidential run. Speaking at a radio industry conference in Indianapolis Thursday, former Ford head Alan Mulally kept his options open when he was asked whether he’d consider running for president, ABC News reported.

More evidence surfaced on Friday which proves conclusively that the 2016 presidential race is not upon us. At the very least, the “invisible primary” remains perfectly invisible for now. On Friday, a CNN/ORC poll was released which misled its readers into thinking that the presidential race is on in the Hawkeye State. That survey revealed that the campaign is a rather predictable one on the Democratic side. The state which rejected Clinton in 2008 is now prepared to embrace her. At least, 53 percent of Iowa Democrats are prepared to make that leap. Another 15 percent of Democrats back...

In 2007, Senator Barack Obama made remarks about the War Powers Act and the war in Iraq. He blamed Congress for giving the president the power to wage war that he later abused. “The American people weren’t just failed by a president, they were failed by much of Washington. By a media that too often reported spin instead of facts… And, most of all by Congress, a co-equal branch of government, that voted to give the president the power to wage war that he uses to this day. Without that vote, there would be no war.” But that was back...

A majority of voters believe Barack Obama’s presidency has been a failure, a new poll says. According to a Washington Post/ABC News poll released Tuesday, 52 percent of Americans say Obama’s presidency has been a failure, compared with 42 percent who believe it has been a success. Thirty-nine percent believe strongly that his presidency is a failure, just 3 points below his total success score.

Toward the end of the romantic comedy film The American President, Michael Douglas’s President Shepherd tells the assembled press corps, “Being president of this country is entirely about character.” This 1995 movie was made as a way of rescuing the scurrilous character of Bill Clinton from accusations of womanizing. It’s a pleasant and entertaining film but this line of dialogue, like just about everything else in the picture, is untrue. Being president of this country is somewhat about character — everything in life is — but it is also, very much, about ideas. There have been times over this past...

A complement to Friday’s post on Jeb Bush. I don’t know how I convinced myself that Cruz probably wouldn’t run, but I did. I think it was a combination of his age, his short tenure in the Senate, and the political damage he suffered from the shutdown (which he’s still trying to undo). Those first two are weak arguments, though. A young nominee is arguably just what the doctor ordered for the GOP against the Clinton dinosaurs, and The One proved that being a Senate newbie is no bar to the presidency. Cruz will have spent as much time...

DALLAS (AP) — Firebrand Sen. Ted Cruz is sounding increasingly like he's made up his mind to run for president in 2016.

Of all the times not to have a president. As Russia casts it eyes across eastern Europe, and as the Islamic State spreads its filth across the Middle East, what a time not to have a president. At least not a functioning president. Because that’s what we have, a non-functioning president. He slams the lectern and condemns Republicans as he calls for a $15 wage for fast food workers, but two days later he seems detached and bored as he discusses an outfit that curses him and beheads us. We don’t have a functioning president. Not just a president with...

A cult of personality, while a great song, is a dangerous thing. They can lead normally smart people to do and say some things that don’t seem so smart.Everyone jumped on board with Dr. Ben Carson when he had the audacity to criticize the president and his Affordable Care Act with the president right there in the room. Not bad, guy. Immediately, the conservative movement jumped on Carson as someone to watch out for. He had a great story – made his way from Detroit to Yale and, in the 80s, was a rock star with some big surgical procedures (included separating...

"A President should not only not be selfish, but he ought to avoid the appearance of selfishness. The people would not have confidence in a man that appeared to be grasping for office. It is difficult for men in high office to avoid the malady of self-delusion. They are always surrounded by worshipers. They are constantly, and for the most part sincerely, assured of their greatness. They live in an artificial atmosphere of adulation and exaltation which sooner or later impairs their judgment. They are in grave danger of becoming careless and arrogant.”

One couple knows all too well the pain suffered by the parents of James Foley, the American photojournalist executed on camera last month by the Islamic State. Billy and Karen Vaughn also lost their son Aaron Carson Vaughn in 2011, when the SEAL Team Six soldier's Chinook helicopter was shot down over Afghanistan. Now the couple are calling on President Barack Obama to step down, citing his reaction to the Foley video and 'lack of leadership' in confronting ISIS.

Ever since Ben Carson famously criticized President Barack Obama's health care policies during a speech at the 2013 National Prayer Breakfast, many conservatives have rallied behind the retired neurosurgeon's conservative, anti-big government rhetorics and urged him to run for president in 2016. But despite passionate support among his fans, how will he overcome the fact that he has no political experience? Carson has not officially announced his candidacy and plans to wait and see how November's midterm Congressional elections pan out, but he has already won a straw poll in Iowa and his book sales have beaten that of Hillary...

In his Tuesday evening interview on the Hugh Hewitt show, Mitt Romney said it over and over again: "I will not run in 2016." Though a determined Hewitt kept finding different ways to ask the same question, in the end the 2012 candidate stood by his claim, saying, "I had the chance of running. I didn’t win. Someone else has a better chance than I do." After Hewitt's relentless questioning, Romney did offer the host his "one in a million" chance of running: if all the other candidates got together and said, "Hey, we’ve decided we can’t do it, you...

British diplomats in the US have been forced to apologise after revealing they were hosting a party to celebrate the anniversary of the burning of the White House. The British Embassy in Washington held a ‘White House barbeque’ yesterday to mark the two hundredth anniversary of Britain capturing the US capital and setting fire to the President’s iconic address. The Embassy even sent a message on Twitter from its official account with a photograph of a White House cake, flanked by British and American flags and surrounded by sparkler fireworks.