Free Republic

Earlier this week, CNN asked me to write an op-ed on Ted Cruz, and whether he’s a realistic contender for the presidency. My reaction: Of course he is — but probably not in 2016. And for that matter, neither are the Republicans who seem to get the most mention for that position: No one doubts that Cruz has a bright future in the Republican Party, but that doesn’t mean the future is now.Cruz, like Rubio and Rand Paul, have only barely arrived on the national stage and are many years younger than their sell-by date. None of the three has...

Jeb Bush will enter 2016 with plenty of advantages, but the first-in-the-West nominating contest likely won’t be one of them. Nevada lawmakers this week opted against changing the state’s presidential caucus to a primary, a decision that runs counter to the wishes of Bush, Marco Rubio, and other GOP establishment-types who had hoped a switch would give them a better chance at posting a momentum-building victory there. Caucuses require a good deal more effort and patience from voters than primaries, and as a result the contests tend to favor candidates that have built a network of highly motivated activists. That...

'Where Does Ted Cruz Stand? ' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8nJtP5-cvM

While appearing on Alan Colmes' radio show some months ago, former presidential candidate Ron Paul expressed his belief that Trump is "almost the opposite of a libertarian" candidate. Trump, according to Paul, never expresses his desire to "give you your freedom and your liberty to run your life as you choose." Rather, he in effect assures us: "I know the answers and I'm going to do this and I've done this, I've done this, this and this."Surely, Paul is on to something. That being said, the following considerations should be borne in mind. First, that Paul rejects Trump for not being a...

Diana Orrick was a loyal foot solider in the Ron Paul revolution in Nevada four years ago, fighting to put the libertarian icon's imprint on the 2012 presidential race, and she had every hope his son, Sen. Rand Paul, would be the natural successor. But her dream has been dashed, she said, with the younger Mr. Paul struggling to organize, raise money and find a message to reach voters the way his father did. "Rand is not his father," Ms. Orrick, one of Nevada's two elected Republican National Committee members, said. "I mean the apple hasn't fallen too far from...

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul unleashed on the White House Wednesday after press secretary Josh Earnest suggested Republican front-runner Donald Trump disqualified himself from the 2016 horse race for suggesting the U.S. should temporarily block Muslims from entry.CLIP Today I would like to put a mirror in front of the Obama White House and show them the top ten things that make HIM unqualified: Dr. Rand Paul (@RandPaul) December 9, 2015 Here are the 10 reasons the Kentucky senator and White House hopeful cited: 1. "Tried to take over 1/6 of the economy in Obamacare, wrecked the system and hurt patients...

Veteran conservative voice Patrick Buchanan issued a stern warning to the Republican Party on Thursday: Throw your weight behind GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump now — or prepare to lose next year’s election to Hillary Clinton. Buchanan, an adviser to Presidents Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford, told Newsmax TV the freak-out over Trump's proposal to temporarily bar all Muslims from entering the U.S. is misguided and will make the billionaire developer turn independent as his supporters flee the GOP. And it will open the door to Clinton, the former secretary of state and Democratic presidential frontrunner, to waltz...

Presidential candidates Sens. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) are demanding a halt to immigration from Muslim nations with jihadist movements. Their fellow contender, Sen. Marco Rubio, did not call for curbs to Muslim immigration in his live response to the President address on Fox News – a response promoted by Rubio’s campaign. Cruz tweeted that if elected president, “I will shut down the broken immigration system that is letting jihadists into our country.” Cruz elaborated in a statement: The President should place an immediate moratorium on refugees from countries with a significant al Qaeda or ISIS...

If Rand Paul hoped to resurrect and reinvigorate his White House campaign, he couldn't have picked a better place. In a Saturday afternoon forum here sponsored by FreedomWorks, the libertarian organization that helped fuel support for his father’s presidential runs, Paul was in his element. Wearing jeans and no jacket, the senator roamed the stage and spoke with an ease and effectiveness often missing from his campaign, reveling in an audience of true believers that interrupted him by hoisting his campaign signs and chanting "President Paul! President Paul! President Paul!" It was a reminder of the libertarian movement's influence here...

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) is the latest GOP presidential candidate to jump on 2016 frontrunner Ben Carson's theory that the pyramids were created by the biblical figure Joseph to store grain. "I'm really big into conspiracy theories, so I think they were probably built by the aliens as grain silos, don’t you think," Paul joked, when asked about Carson's idea on 1110AM WBT, as reported by Buzzfeed. Carson has defended the idea that the pyramids were built for grain storage -- not as pharaohs' tombs, as modern archaeology holds -- since Buzzfeed recently unearthed a video of the neurosurgeon making...

Rand Paul shook off an awkward comment comparing same-sex marriage to beastiality and made a trip Friday to the early primary state South Carolina in the early stages of a potential presidential campaign. The Kentucky senator, reacting to a comment from Glenn Beck wondering if the Supreme Court's decision to strike down the bulk of the Defense of Marriage Act could lead to legalized polygamy, Paul extended Beck's logic. "This is a conundrum, and it gets back to what you were saying… whether or not churches should decide this,” Paul said. “And it is difficult, because if we have no...

In a move that will no doubt disappoint many of his political supporters, Senator Rand Paul stated publicly that fellow GOP Senator and presidential candidate Ted Cruz is “done for” in the Senate. Senator Paul’s words appeared to be part of his defense of current Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, himself the subject of increasing pressure from unhappy conservatives to step down from that position due to McConnell’s ongoing unwillingness to more forcefully fight the Obama agenda. It should be noted that at present, the Paul presidential campaign is floundering at just 1% in most polls while Cruz continues to...

...And they're probably right We’re going to ignore the unseemly, obviously biased, glee with which they deliver this news. We’re also going to gloss over the fact that, if the phrase ‘death watch’ had been applied to Hillary, liberals would spin it into wishful thinking on the part of evil conservatives who want her to literally die. Since we’re not progressives, we’ll just look at the facts and say this: When CNN claims that Rand Paul’s campaign is “officially on death watch,” they’re probably right. Barring a miraculous turnaround, Rand Paul’s campaign is nearing the end of the road. From...

Donald Trump boasted several times that the amazing ratings both Fox News and CNN enjoyed while hosting the first two Republican presidential debates is primarily due to his presence in them, and after seeing the viewership numbers from The Donald’s appearance on 60 Minutes the other night, he might be right. Kipp Jones of Breitbart reports. “Trump’s Sunday evening interview with 60 Minutes, in which Russian President Vladimir Putin was also interviewed by Charlie Rose, brought in big ratings for CBS, which finished Rand Paul only behind NBC’s Sunday Night Football.” “…Scott Pelley’s sit-down with GOP frontrunner Donald Trump brought...

Washington (CNN)The rift between Ted Cruz and Rand Paul, political allies turned rivals, widened on Tuesday when Paul decried his Senate colleague's hardline tactics. Paul criticized Cruz for breaching Senate decorum, saying the Texan could not accomplish any of his legislative priorities because of how much his GOP colleagues despise him. "Ted has chosen to make this really personal and chosen to call people dishonest in leadership and call them names, which really goes against the decorum and also against the rules of the Senate, and as a consequence he can't get anything done legislatively," Paul said in an interview...

LEXINGTON,Ky. — Rand Paul was right. In January 2014, the day after The Atlantic anointed Paul, Kentucky’s junior U.S. Senator, as the Republican frontrunner in the 2016 presidential race, Paul told the Herald-Leader “it’s still too early probably to talk about things like that.” “That sounds unlucky to me,” he said. Less than two years later, Paul’s luck, it seems, is running out. Campaigning on Friday in New Hampshire, Paul continues to charge ahead with his struggling presidential campaign, but speculation is growing that he might be the next Republican candidate to drop out of the race. Former Texas Gov....

He cited an online post he had seen from a 17-year-old gay Catholic. "The church has a lot to say about what I'm not supposed to do," the youth wrote. "But ... I couldn't find any church document (about) what a gay person is supposed to do with his life. I feel abandoned by the church." He said the church teaches much about the beauty of marriage, but then tells its gay members they "can't have this wonderful thing."

July 5, 2005 Dear Mr. Derrick W: Thank you for your recent message. On June 14, I spoke on the Senate floor about my heartfelt concern regarding the treatment of prisoners and detainees at Guantanamo and in other places. I noted that many others, including former Secretary of State Colin Powell, have raised legitimate concerns about whether the policies of this Administration are truly making us safer and whether some of those policies might tarnish America's image around the world and jeopardize our soldiers. During that speech, I read an account from an FBI agent describing the mistreatment of prisoners...

A Gallup poll released last Friday found that a full 75 percent of Americans believe that corruption in government is widespread. That’s up by nine percentage points since 2009, when only 66 percent felt that way. So it’s no surprise that a populist revolt is in full swing. Bernie Sanders, a socialist who rails against government ties with Wall Street, is leading front-runner Hillary Clinton in Iowa and New Hampshire. Three Republicans who have never held office — Donald Trump, Carly Fiorina, and Ben Carson — are way ahead of veteran GOP governors and senators in the race for the...

MACKINAC ISLAND, MI — Rand Paul won the presidential preference straw poll this weekend at the Mackinac Republican Leadership Conference, a biennial gather of more than 2,000 Michigan Republicans. With 785 attendees voting, the U.S. Senator from Kentucky received 22 percent of the vote in the MIRS/Detroit News straw poll. Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina finished second at 15 percent. Each of the top five vote-getters spoke at the island event, including Ohio Gov. John Kasich (13.7 percent), Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas (13 percent) and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (9.7 percent). John Yob, national political director and Michigan...