Free Republic

Former Gov. Jesse Ventura says he’s backing Sen. Bernie Sanders in his bid for president. In a blog post on his independent media site, Ventura praised Sanders for challenging Hillary Clinton for the Democratic Party nomination. “I think what Bernie Sanders is doing is extremely healthy,” Ventura wrote. “I love the idea of somebody throwing a fly in the ointment.” This isn’t the first time Ventura backed a presidential candidate looking to shake up the system. In 2008 and 2012, Ventura backed Republican Ron Paul for president. In 2004, Ventura backed Democrat John Kerry against Republican President George W. Bush....

Since Donald Trump announced his candidacy for president, the media have bent over backwards to destroy him. It’s not just the New York Times and CNN, but outlets like William F. Buckley’s National Review, the Wall Street Journal, and other “mainstream” outlets of the right. To these media outlets’ consternation, despite their crazed efforts to demean, discredit, and deny the appetite among Americans for Trump’s message, more and more people are coming out to hear and support the one candidate who appears to have listened to them–and is leading the charge as opposed to opining from behind the RNC’s skirts....

Republicans have had a number of successes over the last few years, even if the successes have been eclipsed by two national failures in presidential elections. The GOP holds more state-legislature seats now than at any time since Herbert Hoover was President, and now controls both chambers of Congress for the first time since 2006. Their grip on the Senate is tenuous, but Republicans now hold a dominating advantage in House seats that may last at least until the next Census, and potentially far beyond that. In the field and on the ground in local elections, Republicans have managed to...

Kevin Williamson of National Review Online attacks the conservative base of the Republican Party in his latest column, “WHINOS: On the Martyrdom of the Holy, Holy Base.” His critique makes the valid point that conservatives who favor ideological purity or populist venting over electability are going to lose a lot of elections. He is as irritated as his colleague Jonah Goldberg is worried about the Donald Trump insurgency in the Republican presidential primary. However, both he and Goldberg fail to note the reason for Trump’s ascendancy. Trump is surging for the same reason that Newt Gingrich enjoyed a brief bubble...

... You know the RINO — Republican In Name Only — but you may be less familiar with the WHINO. The WHINO is a captive of the populist Right’s master narrative, which is the tragic tale of the holy, holy base, the victory of which would be entirely assured if not for the machinations of the perfidious Establishment. Never mind the Democrats, economic realities, Putin, ISIS, the geographical facts of the U.S.-Mexico border — all would be well and all manner of things would be well if not for the behind-the-scenes plotting of Mitch McConnell, John Boehner, and their enablers,...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Top Republicans predicted on Sunday that both chambers of Congress would muster the votes to pass the "fast-track" authority sought by President Barack Obama to negotiate major trade deals, despite opposition from Obama's fellow Democrats. "Yes, we’ll pass it. We'll pass it later this week," Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said in an interview with ABC. Republican U.S. Representative Paul Ryan said on CNN's "State of the Union" that he was confident the measure would also pass the House of Representatives. "We will have the votes," said Ryan, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. "We're...

Humility from a politician is more easy to come by from those on the Right, but you can completely forget about it from anyone who sides with the Left. Am I wrong? Obama, Reid, Pelosi, are they humble? Exactly. The one person who has taken a beating more than any individual on the planet for the past 15 years or so chooses a different path. Even during his time in office, President George W. Bush recognized that he wasn’t the most eloquent speaker who ever resided at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., but the fact remains that the guy is not one...

......One was born into a privileged family in a tony Michigan suburb; the other, onto a flat expanse of West Texas dirt with no indoor plumbing. One spent his youth tooling around his father’s car factory; the other, selling Bibles door-to-door so he could afford to buy a car. One excelled at Harvard University, simultaneously earning law and business degrees and swiftly climbing the corporate ladder; the other, his hope of becoming a veterinarian dashed when he flunked organic chemistry at Texas A&M University, joined the Air Force. [Perry graduated from A&M] Where Mitt Romney is obedient and cautious, Rick...

The Republicans, and even some socially conservative and evangelical leaders, are beginning to adjust to the possibility of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani as the GOP nominee for president. But not all. The Southern Baptist’s Richard Land, for instance, predicts massive defections from Rudy in the event of a Rudy Giuliani vs. Hillary Clinton race. Hugh Hewitt, evangelical talk-meister in the syndicated stream of radio shows doubts this ; "... If Rudy is persuasive on the judges he will nominate, he wouldn’t have a problem with the social conservatives in the general election." So tell us you’ll nominate...

Political observers are falling over themselves trying to determine the cladistics of a newly-emergent population of political animal, the Rudy booster. This appears to be the first new species of Republican to emerge in over two decades in the Family Republicanae (the last being Conservatisi reagani), and displays a particularly odd range of behaviors that call into question the long-term political viability of the new species, as well as that of Republicanae in general if they assume a position of dominance. Some observers have proposed classifying the new population as a subspecies of Rinous rockefelleri, whereas others have made a...

Dear Mr. Nethercutt: I have received and pondered your requests for support for your campaign to unseat the despicable Sen. "Patsy" Murray (so called for her spirited defense of Bill Clinton's infidelities), but I have decided that I will not be supporting your campaign. The reason has nothing to do with you, however. Understand that like most people I have limited resources. For that reason I need to devote my time, money and efforts to campaigns that will make a difference to my life. It has recently become clear that this race is not one of those; it will make...