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RUSH: This is a fascinating poll result. It’s IBD, Investor’s Business Daily. Headline: “People Like The Senate Health Bill More Than They Realize — Just 33% of the public say they approve of the Senate plan to repeal and replace Obamacare and 62% oppose it, the latest IBD/TIPP Poll finds. However, many of the specific provisions in the Senate bill get majority support. … Unlike other polls, the IBD/TIPP Poll restricted its findings on the Republicans’ Obamacare replacement plans to the 77% who say they’ve been following the health care debate closely.” So this poll is not include people unfamiliar...

Congress hanging The Donald out to dry. Making him do everything alone! Despicable. No tax cuts, no Obamacare repeal. NOTHING Republicans kept repealing Obamacare while O was in office [knowing would go nowhere]. Now... NOTHING!

On Friday afternoon, at an exclusive Republican donor retreat here hosted by Mitt Romney, frustration boiled over. During an off-the-record question-and-answer session with House Speaker Paul Ryan, Meg Whitman, the billionaire Hewlett Packard chief executive officer, confronted the speaker over his endorsement of Trump. Whitman, a major GOP giver who ran for California governor in 2010, compared Trump to historical demagogues like Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini and wanted to know how the speaker could get behind him. At another discussion session during the day, which featured top Romney alumni Stuart Stevens and Matt Rhoades, Ana Navarro, a Republican contributor...

A lot of people are asking for this list so I am going to publish it courtesy of CNS News. Please be advised that I am also putting up some links to what I feel is a better list. It has the same names but if you really want to get to the bottom of the story you will find patterns that were obviously politically based. For instance, we have all likely heard about the money for the dam in Kentucky but what did Nebraska get out of this? Nebraska has 2 senators and 3 representatives who are ALL...

On the surface, the title of this article seems paradoxical. How can any conservative in the USA even contemplate the concept of the government creating a single-payer health insurance system covering all Americans and, in effect, ending private major medical health insurance? In this post I hope to make the conservative case for a single payer incontrovertible for those occupying the centre-right politically. Conservatives are supposed to be the defenders of business. Yet our current health care system works as an albatross around the neck of American business. Likewise, the piecemeal reforms of ObamaCare seem only to make some problems...

Laura Ingraham and Ann Coulter took this segment to basically dismiss Sarah Palin as a serious potential candidate, suggesting that she really hasn’t dug deep into policy because she really isn’t that interested in it. They are both tired of the ongoing ‘tease’ and compared her to Newt Gingrich, who teased for 15 years just to have lackluster support when he actually ran. Coulter adds that Palin, with the poll numbers where they are, probably shouldn’t run because she just won’t have the voter base she’d need to be a serious candidate.

Republicans must "be careful" before nominating a presidential candidate identified with the Tea Party movement, a veteran former senator said Friday evening. Former Sen. Robert Bennett (R-Utah) warned his party against nominating a candidate too quickly after the early caucuses and primaries, urging the GOP to instead pursue someone with more national appeal. "If you're going to nominate a national candidate, don't make the mistake of assuming that those who attend the early caucuses and the early primaries speak for the nation as a whole," Bennett said on Fox News. "If you're going to have a national candidate, you'd better...

Former Utah Sen. Bob Bennett urged Republicans to nominate a presidential candidate with a "national view," and not focus on the ideological purity found in the early caucuses and primaries. "If you're going to nominate a national candidate, don't make the mistake of assuming that those who attend the early caucuses and early primaries speak for the nation as a whole," he said, speaking to Greta Van Susteren on Fox News on Friday. Bennett referred to 2010 midterm Senate races as a "cautionary tale" to Republicans whose candidates fail to attract moderate voters, in particular Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski's write-in...

House Republicans say they’re all on the same page about wanting to choke off funding for President Barack Obama’s health care law, but in their first real spending bill of 2011, it looks like they’re leaving that priority on the cutting room floor. As the GOP writes a continuing resolution to fund the government for the rest of the year, it is likely to leave out language that would shut off funding for new mandates and programs under the health care law, according to Republican aides and lawmakers. They’ll still have a shot at killing health care funding — using...

South Carolina Republican and conservative firebrand Sen. Jim DeMint introduced legislation to repeal Obamacare on Wednesday, the first official step in bringing the House-passed repeal bill fight into the staid upper chamber. But a slew of mostly moderate senators declined to support DeMint’s legislation, raising questions on the unity of the Republican caucus. Backing him are 34 Republicans including Minority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell, Kentucky Republican, and Republican Whip Sen. John Kyl of Arizona. Conspicuously absent from the list of cosponsors are Republican Sens. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Scott Brown of Massachusetts, Thad Cochran of Mississippi, Susan Collins of Maine,...

A vote to repeal ObamaCare is likely to take place in the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday. Therefore, it’s critically important that we keep the momentum going. Why is it so important to keep the momentum going in support of repeal? Simply put, we must not give proponents of Barack Obama's government-run health care scheme – which once fully implemented, will add $1 trillion to $2 trillion to the national debt, lead to health care rationing for seniors, hit everyday Americans with hundreds of millions of dollars in new taxes and limit your health care choices – ANY SLACK....

If you’re a conservative activist or major Republican donor, you have some interesting social options in front of you this month. Tea or cocktails? A small-government rally or a fundraiser for same-sex marriage? Pack yourself in with the grass roots at a mass meeting or rub shoulders with the legal elite in a posh drawing room? But more is at stake than options on a menu of social gatherings. With the same tension that has existed in past efforts by some GOP elites to play down social issues or envelop them in a “Big Tent” — but with far more...

Health care reform repeal activist Michael Tanner complains that none of the Democrats who voted against the Affordable Care Act have signed on to repeal. Meanwhile, Republicans are decidedly lukewarm: Among the six Republicans who have not signed either discharge petition are senatorial candidates Mark Kirk in Illinois and Mike Castle in Delaware. This is particularly surprising in the case of Kirk, who once vowed to “lead the effort” to repeal the health-care law.

"Republicans in the House of Representatives are seeking to force a vote, using a discharge petition, on repealing Obamacare. This has caused some infighting since some Republicans want to simply repeal the monstrosity that passed earlier this year, while other GOPers are in the repeal-and-replace camp (Heritage Action is leading the pure repeal effort and National Review has good coverage here and here). I’m not an expert on the politics of healthcare and discharge petitions, but my gut instinct is that a pure repeal vote is the best short-term strategy..."

Well, it is official. Eric Cantor and John Boehner — particularly Eric Cantor — have decided they don’t need or want conservatives and, more troubling, do not have any intention of trying to win at the polls by forcing Democrat hands on Obamacare. Our leadership is behaving badly. Last week and on Monday I mentioned Rep. Steve King’s effort to repeal Obamacare and start over. He’s filed a discharge petition. If he gets 218 signatures, Nancy Pelosi must hold a vote. At the time, I was hearing that Eric Cantor was desperate to undermine Steve King’s efforts and, sure enough,...

GOP fears backlash over health care stance April 1, 2010 WASHINGTON — Top Republicans are starting to worry about their health care rallying cry “Repeal the bill.’’ It just might singe GOP candidates in November’s elections, they fear, if voters begin to see benefits from the new law. Democrats, hoping the GOP is indeed positioning itself too far to the right for the elections, are taking note of every Republican who pledges to fight for repeal. Such a pledge might work well in conservative-dominated Republican primaries, they say, but it could backfire in the fall if more moderate voters turn...

<p>WASHINGTON — Top Republicans are increasingly worried that GOP candidates this fall might be burned by a fire that’s roaring through the conservative base: demand for the repeal of President Barack Obama’s new health care law.</p> <p>It’s fine to criticize the health law and the way Democrats pushed it through Congress without a single GOP vote, these party leaders say. But focusing on its outright repeal carries two big risks.</p>

I've been a Republican all my life, when I served in the Illinois legislature, when I worked for members of Congress and when I served in Congress. During the 2008 presidential election, I supported Republican Sen. John McCain. I have always been — and still am — a fiscal conservative, an advocate for a smart, but restrained, government. For those reasons and others, most people wouldn't expect me to be an advocate for comprehensive health care reform. But the truth is, I believe there is no bigger issue to solve and no better chance to solve it than now. If...

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) told The Hill he’d be “glad to try to help” out Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (R) in his Senate race but he hasn’t been asked. Crist is in a tough primary battle with former state House Speaker Marco Rubio (R) for the state’s open Senate seat. “Sure, I’d be glad to try to help him,” McCain said in an interview with The Hill Wednesday but added Crist hasn’t yet asked for his help. Crist and then-Sen. Mel Martinez (R) gave McCain a critical endorsement in the waning days of Florida’s GOP presidential primary in 2008 that...