Free Republic

Louisana governor Bobby Jindal, the two-term Republican and potential presidential candidate, has announced the formation of a new group called America Next. The organization bills itself as a "conservative policy group" that aims to "focus on winning a war of ideas." Here's an excerpt from a mission statement by Jindal on the new group's website: ...here’s the truth – Conservatives have failed to articulate and sell a national policy agenda to the country, a vision of what conservative policies can accomplish when put into practice.. We’ve detailed the awful things the Obama Administration has done, all the failings of the...

About a month ago, the Department of Justice made the bizarre and by almost all accounts counterproductive decision to sue the state of Louisiana for working to turn around the state’s low-performing public school system and allowing low-income students with opportunities to escape from these fail factories with a voucher program. The DOJ’s apparently depraved move to use outdated desegregation decrees to actively block poor and largely minority students from access to a better education went over well with pretty much nobody, and with Gov. Bobby Jindal least of all.After calling the Obama administration out last week for their disingenuous...

No city has embraced the school choice movement more than New Orleans. Yet over the past few weeks, the Wall Street Journal has been taking a close look at how the idea is working out, and the results have been decidedly mixed. The biggest problem is that there simply aren’t enough high-quality schools to go around. The city grades each public or charter school on an A–F scale, and only 14 percent of seats were in schools with a B or higher. Given the the dearth of high-performers and the limited number of seats at these schools, parents are often left to choose...

The first eight-plus months of 2013 have convinced us of one thing: Rand Paul acts and the rest of the potential 2016 Republican presidential field reacts. On drones, Paul led a 13-hour-long filibuster that drew Florida Sen. Marco Rubio (among others) to the floor in support. On Syria, Paul was out front in his opposition to a military strike — a position that 30 of his Senate Republican colleagues shared as of this writing. Those 30 include both Rubio,who voted against the use-of-force resolution in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. ... Below are our rankings...

Marco Rubio Sinking in New Hampshire 2016 Poll BY: KEVIN DERBY | Posted: August 7, 2013 8:59 AM The latest Granite State poll by WMUR and the University of New Hampshire was released late on Tuesday and it shows U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., sinking in New Hampshire, home of the first presidential primary. Rubio is expected to run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016. In recent months. Rubio has drawn fire from conservatives for his prominent role in supporting immigration reform. The poll finds New Hampshire Republicans divided on who they want to see as their party’s nominee...

Bobby Jindal, a Republican, is governor of Louisiana. While President Obama publicly celebrated the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I have a dream” speech last week, his administration took action behind the scenes in Louisiana that was a complete rejection of King’s dream. The Justice Department has challenged my state in court for having the temerity to start a scholarship program that frees low-income minority children from failing schools. In other words, Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder would rip children out of their schools and handcuff them to the failing schools they previously attended. And, in the ultimate...

Before Attorney General Eric Holder and the Justice Department move forward with a lawsuit to block vouchers for thousands of low-income students trapped in failing Louisiana public schools, he ought to speak to parents whose children benefit from the statewide voucher measured called the Louisiana Scholarship Program. One of those parents is Lakisha Fuselier. Fuselier is a single mother of four. Her 8-year-old son, Albert, is a part of the voucher program. A spokeswoman in Gov. Bobby Jindal's office emailed me her story, which first appeared in The Daily Advertiser last December. "Lakisha Fuselier wanted to do something to help...

Article II, Section 1, of the Constitution provides, in pertinent part: No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.**snip**This political season, the eligibilities of Marco Rubio, Bobby Jindal and Ted Cruz are the subject of debate. As much as we want certainty, the term “natural born...

ORLANDO — There was no question who was the favorite among the crop of possible 2016 Republican White House candidates who wooed conservative activists at a two-day conference here this weekend. Loud chants of “Run, Ted, run!” filled a hotel ballroom packed with more than 1,500 people Saturday after Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.) finished excoriating President Obama’s administration and challenging Republicans to use an upcoming budget vote to try to force through a measure to defund the Affordable Care Act. “How do you win this fight?” he asked, and the audience responded in unison with him: “Don’t blink!” Cruz was...

Cruz, one of four potential 2016 presidential candidates to speak to the two-day gathering, got by far the most enthusiastic response from the limited-government, free-market group. He received standing ovations when he called for abolishing the Internal Revenue Service and repealing the federal health care law. Cruz, Rubio, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and Texas Gov. Rick Perry all made speeches to the group and got the most enthusiastic responses when they sounded anti-Washington themes. While the 2016 election is more than three years away, Tucker and other activists said it’s not too soon to size up which candidate can run...

President Obama would like us to believe he is in favor of helping the middle class. How many times did we hear that farce during the 2012 campaign? Enough to make me sick to my stomach, knowing it for the lie that it is. To see another great example of just how big of a lie that claim is, just point your eyes and ears south, to the state of Louisiana. Ask Governor Bobby Jindal if he believes the Obama administration is for the middle class and helping the children. It is being reported the Justice Department is taking aim...

I don’t think there could be any better way to put it. Take it away Governor Jindal: “There are no logical reasons to oppose construction of the pipeline other than an irrational liberal ideology that blindly and unscientifically opposes all forms of energy which they themselves do not deem to be sufficiently ‘green’ or ‘renewable’.“ Governor Jindal made these remarks in a speech to the Oilmen’s Business Forum up in the Canadian Rockies. In his speech earlier this week, the republican governor blamed “blind leftwing ideologues” for holding up construction of the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline. He mentions his left-wing...

Scan the news on any given day in America, and you will invariably find multiple stories about race, racism, ethnicity, and race relations. We can’t seem to get enough of this topic, and correspondingly, the media appetite for all things race-related is unquenchable. Racism is one of the more tragic features of the human condition. Like greed, envy, and other sins, it has been around for thousands of years, on every continent. So here we are, in the most advanced, successful, and powerful nation in the history of the world, and yet we continue to struggle to get past the...

The U.S. Justice Department is trying to stop the state from distributing school vouchers in any district that remains under a desegregation court order. In papers filed Saturday in U.S. District Court in New Orleans, the Justice Department said Louisiana distributed vouchers in 2012-13 to nearly 600 public school students in districts that are still under such orders, and “many of those vouchers impeded the desegregation process.” Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal called the department’s action “shameful” and said President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder “are trying to keep kids trapped in failing public schools against the wishes of...

Democratic senator Mary Landrieu says she's embarrassed to go to places in Europe like France and Spain because some Americans do not have health insurance. Landrieu, who is up for reelection in 2014, represents the state of Louisiana. “People are scared when they’re sick, and they’re much stronger when they’re well,” Landrieu said at a Friday lunch, according to the American Press. “It’s embarrassing to me to go to places like France and Spain ... and their workers all manage to have health insurance that can’t be taken away.” The report adds: Landrieu said Louisiana has “more working people that...

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...

Say this for the guy: He knows what his audience wants to hear.I guess this is going to be his approach, whether or not it alienates righty votes he’ll need in the general election. Being “brash” and confrontational got him two terms as governor in a blue state. Why not let it all hang out and see if it can’t get him the White House too? Besides, with the rest of the field busy distancing themselves from Romney, there are a lot of forlorn, wealthy establishmentarians out there in need of a champion. Here he comes now: “Christie and Paul...

Our most recent rating of Republican presidential contenders features a top tier of three notably different candidates: A Midwestern governor (Scott Walker) who is known best by the activists who will help decide the nomination; a leading national figure (Chris Christie) who has irked conservatives; and a firebrand senator (Rand Paul) with devoted supporters who would shake up the party’s platform and, perhaps, identity.Chart 1: Updated Crystal Ball Republican presidential rankings First Tier Candidate Key Advantages Key Disadvantages Since Last Update Scott WalkerGovernor, WI •Midwest GOP gov. in Obama state •Heroic conservative credentials •Shown political durability •Too bland? Next Pawlenty?...

Immigration Reform Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush …, a longtime advocate of comprehensive immigration reform, said in a statement that the Senate vote was a “strong step for meaningful immigration reform and encouraging legal immigration for those that want to contribute to a better America.” …New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has called for tighter border controls and a pathway to citizenship for legal immigrants. …Texas Gov. Rick Perry … has steadfastly opposed a border fence, saying it would take 10 to 15 years to build, cost $30 billion and wouldn’t work. …Gay Marriage In a speech in June, (Jeb) Bush...

When Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker visited Iowa recently to speak at a well-attended Republican dinner, only one national political reporter (NBC's Alex Moe) showed up. That just proves you don't need national press attention to make a strong start in the 2016 Republican presidential race. There's a Walker boom, or at least a boomlet, going on in the nation's first voting state. When you hear speculation about the '16 GOP field -- Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, Chris Christie, Bobby Jindal and others -- it's rare to hear Walker's name included in the group. But keep an eye on him; politically-savvy...