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Megan McCardle, writing in The Daily Beast, wrote today in an article entitled 'No, Democrats Did Not Just Want to "Count All the Votes" in the 2000 Election': 'Ironically, I suspect that if Gore had simply unilaterally requested a statewide manual recount, or the Florida Supreme Court had forced one upon him, the United States Supreme Court would have probably stayed out of it. But they didn’t, and as they say, the rest is history.' And, it still wouldn’t have made any difference. For all of the rending of garments by Al Gore and the rest of the Left and...

There are times when the words "never" and "always" are the only ones that work. In my case, "never" is becoming the word I must use to describe how I feel about certain candidates for high office. For example, I voted four times for a Bush and once for a McCain — something I will never do again. In 1988, it was Bush the elder over Michael Dukakis. In 1992, I resisted the temptation to punish President "Read-My-Lips" by casting my ballot for Ross Perot, knowing that a vote for the pintsized Texas screwball would simply be handing the presidency...

The battle within the Republican Party over the so-called Gang of Eight’s 844-page immigration bill has often been contentious, but in recent days it has escalated. Despite his plea for cooler heads to prevail in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombing last, Alex Conant, press secretary for Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, likened the current plight of illegal immigrants to that of slaves in 19th century America. Conant made his remarks in a Twitter argument with the Washington Examiner’s Conn Carroll, who accused the Florida Republican of “selling lies.” Conant replied by asking Carroll for suggestions. After Carroll suggested...

Either Sen. Marco Rubio failed to stay awake in his civil procedure class at the University of Miami Law School, or Sen. Chuck Schumer’s lawyers pulled a fast one on him. How else to explain the Florida Republican’s "MYTH VS. FACT" press release purporting to show that his “Border Security, Economic Opportunity & Immigration Modernization Act” does not enable liberal activist groups to nullify the security measures in the bill by tying them up in court. Rubio writes: While it is true that any legislation passed by Congress is subject to potential review by the Supreme Court (see: ObamaCare), it...

The Tea Party Patriots organization is planning protests on Tuesday at the home state offices of several Senators that the group argues are in need of an “intervention” for being sucked up into inside-the-Beltway politics, including Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA). The group is targeting Rubio on immigration reform and Toomey on gun control. “Two Senators in particular are facing Tea Party pressure, as they should--Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Pat Toomey (R-PA),” Tea Party Patriots said in a release. “Both of these men were elected thanks to Tea Party support, yet Senator Rubio is the...

Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio dismissed arguments Sunday that the Senate immigration bill offers amnesty for illegal immigrants and said border security is not the only key issue -- amid scrutiny from some fellow conservatives and the union that represents immigration enforcement agents. Rubio told “Fox News Sunday” that anybody living illegally in the United States and attempting to get a visa would face a long list of qualifications, which includes paying taxes, a fine and an application fee as well as having a job and waiting for at least 10 years. “That is not amnesty,” said Rubio, a Cuban-American...

Sen. Marco Rubio’s approval rating is six points lower with Hispanics than George W. Bush’s, so the Republican Party thinks it is a great idea to put him on all 5 Sunday shows. The Republican “rebrand” strategy is centered around making Sen. Marco Rubio the face of immigration reform. The problem is that Hispanics aren’t flocking to the Florida Republican. A new poll from NBC News/WSJ/Telemundo found that despite months of efforts to elevate Rubio, the senator’s approval rating with Hispanics is 23%. Twenty five percent of those polled were neutral, 12% had a negative opinion, and 40% didn’t know...

Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents’ union president Chris Crane called on Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio to abandon the bipartisan “Gang of Eight” in the U.S. Senate pushing immigration reform on Friday in a statement obtained exclusively by Breitbart News. “Senator Rubio was asked during a recent interview that ‘if you don’t get enforcement first, or securing the borders first, is that a deal killer for you?,’” Crane said. “And he replied ‘Absolutely…Because we will be right back here again.’ But the outline from the Gang of 8 offers legalization, or amnesty, before enforcement is accomplished. Senator Schumer admitted as...

Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) says Democrats are "in the red" because they spent more than "everything we had" to get Barack Obama and others elected last November. In an e-mail to supporters, the DNC chair says: "We spent everything we had to spend in 2012 to win the White House, add seats in the Senate, and pick up seats in the House -- our job was to do everything we could to elect President Obama and other Democrats across the country." "We spent every last penny" - and more - Wasserman Schultz says: "The cardinal...

I have my problems with Jeb Bush, but this passage of his speech at CPAC is not one of them. "It is not a validation of our conservative principles if we can only point to the increasingly rare individual who overcomes adversity and succeeds in America," Bush said. "Here’s reality: if you’re fortunate enough to count yourself among the privileged, much of the rest of the nation is drowning. "In our country today, if you’re born poor, if your parents didn’t go to college, if you don’t know your father, if English isn’t spoken at home, then the odds are...

After a week of Rand Paul dominating the news, and rocking the Obama Administration back on its heels, what we clearly needed on Sunday was six shows filled with Jeb Bush launching a long-shot four-year quest for the White House by explaining why he disagrees with the book on immigration reform he just published. The scheduling is probably a tribute to the aggressiveness of Bush's literary publicists and political team, but the net effect is to defuse the momentum from Paul's filibuster, which stood on the verge of crushing Sunday show producers' favorite Republican, John McCain, into the pavement of...

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush told Chris Wallace on FOX News Sunday that there is no Bush fatigue in America. Chris Wallace: Do you think there would be any Bush baggage? Do you think that would be a problem? Jeb Bush: No. I don’t think there is any Bush baggage at all. I love my brother. I’m proud of his accomplishments. I love my dad. I am proud to be a Bush. And, if I run for president, it’s not because there is something in my DNA that compels me to do it...

Sen. Rand Paul's filibuster against the confirmation of CIA Director and "drone czar" John Brennan offers a "teachable moment" to the media and the left about the Tea Party. As they seethe in outrage and confusion that it took a Republican to question the constitutionality of drone attacks, it is important to remind our friends on the other side that it wasn't just any Republican, but a--gasp!--Tea Party Republican who spoke "truth to power." Not only that, but the Senators who were first to offer their assistance were also Tea Party Republicans--the so-called McCarthyist Ted Cruz of Texas, and Marco...

Via Politico, I … was not expecting that. Neither was HuffPo, which points to this piece from last summer as proof that he was singing a different tune in 2012: “You have to deal with this issue. You can’t ignore it, and so either a path to citizenship, which I would support–and that does put me probably out of the mainstream of most conservatives–or … a path… to residency of some kind,” he said during an interview last week with Charlie Rose on CBS. Bush’s position diverges from that of presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, who oppposes amnesty, supports...

Inside the cozy enclaves of GOP bonhomie—hunkered at the tables of see-and-be-seen Washington restaurants—Republican leaders are sourly predicting a party-busting independent presidential bid by a tea-party challenger, like Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., in 2016. To them, the GOP apocalypse looms larger than most realize. Dueling State of the Union rebuttals and Karl Rove’s assault on right-wing candidates are mere symptoms of an existential crisis that is giving the sturdiest Republicans heartburn. And yet, the heart of the matter extends beyond the GOP. My conversations this week with two Republican officials, along with a Democratic strategist's timely memo, reflect a growing...

Although he fills an obvious gap for his party, the odds are stacked against him With Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) giving the Republican response to President Obama's State of the Union address, many are asking if he's the answer to his party's electoral woes. Time magazine even put him on the cover and asked if he's the Republican savior. But there are three big reasons why it's unlikely the Florida senator is on a fast track to the presidency in 2016. 1. Republicans almost always pick the next guy in line. Ever since the untested Sen. Barry Goldwater (R-Ariz.) lost...

Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) spoke with Buzzfeed's Ben Smith on Tuesday night during a wide-ranging 'Buzzfeed Brews' interview and one of the topics that came up was gay inclusion in immigration reform, CNN reports: Asked Tuesday whether same-sex couples should be covered in any immigration package, Rubio said the group hadn't discussed the "pros and the cons of it." "I can tell you this," he continued. "This issue is so complicated. The immigration issue has so many landmines and pitfalls that it's going to be hard enough to do, as is. I think if that issue becomes a central issue...

WASHINGTON – A Florida congresswoman on Tuesday introduced a resolution honoring Trayvon Martin, the Florida teen whose slaying a year ago this month stirred national controversy. Rep. Frederica Wilson, a South Florida Democrat, introduced a resolution “honoring the life of Trayvon Martin, urging the repeal of Stand Your Ground laws, and calling on the United States government to address the crisis of racial profiling,” according to a statement from her office. “Today, Trayvon Martin would have celebrated his 18th birthday,” the statement read. “We all know the tragic circumstances surrounding his murder: Trayvon was racially profiled, chased, made to fight...

Former Republican star and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and FOX news ended their partnership on Friday after three years, a source close to Palin told the Real Clear Politics Web site, the Morning Joe panel discussed Palin’s exit on Monday morning. “Sarah Palin represented a time and place in American politics and not 2008 so much as 2010. And that time is passing us very quickly. Party leaders are finally understanding that,” Joe Scarborough told the panel. Palin last appeared on Fox on December 19, 2012 when she spoke with the channel’s Greta Van Susteren about Benghazi and the two...

The biggest enemy of conservatism is the Republican Party itself. Get out the TEApots, let's have a Party!!