Free Republic

Recently, the GOP passed some Presidential primary and delegate rules changes, in a very shady manner, that enraged conservatives. This rule will lessen the impact of delegates, and soften the voice of conservatives and Tea Party members. I was one of those who were enraged. In fact, I was at the front of the parade. However, in life and especially in politics, not all is as it seems. One of Mitt Romney's closest advisors, a man by the name of James Bopp Jr., led the charge to prevent the rules from being this drastically changed. In a letter he...

Determined to neuter the grassroots and head off future insurgencies like those of Barry Goldwater, Ronald Reagan, and Ron Paul, Republican party bosses have pulled off an audacious coup, high-handedly turning the GOP into a much more top-down, centralized party. Boehner with gavel Yesterday, the Republican National Committee in Tampa adopted some rules changes that shift power from the state parties and the grassroots to the RNC and the GOP presidential nominee. Former Governor John Sununu of New Hampshire touted the new rules as providing “a strong governing framework” for the party over the next four years. But in fact...

Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.) believes that the rule limiting each senator to five minutes when questioning witnesses prevents them from eliciting useful information. “The setup as it is today, with the five-minute rule, is almost guaranteed not to be able to find out anything that someone doesn’t just come there wanting to tell you,” said Thompson, who played a key role as minority counsel during the Watergate hearings. He is not alone. A growing number of senators have expressed frustration at their inability to pursue a line of questioning beyond five minutes, allowing witnesses to filibuster and otherwise evade the...