Free Republic

Mysterious outside groups are asking state parties for personal data on potential delegates, Republican campaigns are drawing up plans to send loyal representatives to obscure local conventions, and party officials are dusting off rule books to brush up on a process that hasn’t mattered for decades. As Donald Trump and Ted Cruz divide up the first primaries and center-right Republicans tear one another apart in a race to be the mainstream alternative, Republicans are waging a shadow primary for control of delegates in anticipation of what one senior party official called “the white whale of politics”: a contested national convention.

There is something very sad about watching a once heralded hero destroy his career credibility because he refuses to accept, acknowledge or admit his preferred candidate, Senator Ted Cruz, has some very serious and factual weaknesses. Today radio talk show host Mark Levin accuses this site of antisemitism. ~snip~ A ridiculous claim that is quickly noted and broadcast by Mediaite.

Heidi Cruz said Wednesday that her husband, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), was showing America "the face of the God that we serve" through his faith-based Republican presidential campaign.

Heidi Cruz said Wednesday that her husband, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), was showing America "the face of the God that we serve" through his faith-based Republican presidential campaign. Cruz said in an interview with South Carolina radio host Vince Coakley that she would support her husband's campaign even if she weren't married to him because of his religious values.

Recalled one attendee: 'She [Hillary] sounded more like a Goldman Sachs managing director.' Mrs. Ted (Heidi) Cruz IS a Goldman Sachs managing director.

NEW YORK -- When Hillary Clinton spoke to Goldman Sachs executives and technology titans at a summit in Arizona in October of 2013, she spoke glowingly of the work the bank was doing raising capital and helping create jobs, according to people who saw her remarks. Clinton, who received $225,000 for her appearance, praised the diversity of Goldman's workforce and the prominent roles played by women at the blue-chip investment bank and the tech firms present at the event. She spent no time criticizing Goldman or Wall Street more broadly for its role in the 2008 financial crisis. "It was...

Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, I asked this question: "We know she was reckless in her handling of national security secrets, but she's assiduously protective of whatever she said in those speeches. Why?" The assumption is that rather than corroborating her implausibly revisionist characterizations of what she said to those elite bankers who paid her six-figures per speech (her typical fee), the hidden transcripts would reveal a very chummy posture toward her supposed mortal enemies, or whatever. Such a revelation would further undermine her credibility among the Democratic base's rabidly anti-Wall Street base, buttress one of Bernie Sanders' central lines of...

When Hillary Clinton spoke to Goldman Sachs executives and technology titans at a summit in Arizona in October of 2013, she spoke glowingly of the work the bank was doing raising capital and helping create jobs, according to people who saw her remarks. Clinton, who received $225,000 for her appearance, praised the diversity of Goldman’s workforce and the prominent roles played by women at the blue-chip investment bank and the tech firms present at the event. She spent no time criticizing Goldman or Wall Street more broadly for its role in the 2008 financial crisis. “It was pretty glowing about...

Appearing as a guest on Saturday's CNN Newsroom with Poppy Harlow, CNN political commentator Carl Bernstein declared that, after spending time talking to the White House about Hillary Clinton's paid speeches to Goldman-Sachs, that they are "horrified" that Clinton is "blowing up her own campaign," and invoked President Richard Nixon's tapes as possibly comparable to the transcripts of her speeches. As he described apparent panic at the White House, Bernstein used words and phrases like "terrified," "dumbfounded," "tied up in knots," and "beside themselves" to describe reaction to Clinton's "unfathomable" behavior that "has endangered President Obama's legacy." Bernstein: Obama White...

Hillary is veering from the truth when she suggests her $225,000 per speech fee, paid three times by Goldman Sachs, was "what they offered." It was not what they offered - it was what Team Hillary demanded. A review of her 2014 tax return posted on her website shows that $225,000 was her minimum fee. She received $225,000 for 34 of the 41 speeches listed on her tax return. Of the remaining 7 speeches, two were for 250,000 and the others for $265,000, $275,000, $285,000, $305,000 and $400,000. In total she received $9,680,000 for these speaking engagements in 2013. Carl...

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton defended her voting record Sunday in an interview on ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos," saying she has never been influenced to vote one way or another by a donor. "I have never, ever been influenced in a view or a vote by anyone who has given me any kind of funding," she said. The defense came in the wake of criticism over Clinton's alleged ties to Wall Street from her rival for the nomination, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. "I'm happy to set this record straight and I really want to, once again, call out...

Aside from "the establishment," there is no bigger boogeyman in the 2016 election than the dreaded "Goldman Sachs." "The establishment" is a bipartisan Freddie Krueger, haunting the dreams of people whose only knowledge of the term is an abstract notion spun by those selling something. Goldman Sachs, on the other hand, is a tangible company, a legal company, but perhaps more demonized on the left than anything this side of the Koch Brothers. If you're inclined to think "Wall Street" is robbing you blind, invoking Goldman Sacks is enough to make you grab a pitchfork. That's why its name has...

Hillary Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, combined to earn more than $153 million in paid speeches from 2001 until Hillary Clinton launched her presidential campaign last spring, a CNN analysis shows. In total, the two gave 729 speeches from February 2001 until May, receiving an average payday of $210,795 for each address. The two also reported at least $7.7 million for at least 39 speeches to big banks, including Goldman Sachs and UBS, with Hillary Clinton, the Democratic 2016 front-runner, collecting at least $1.8 million for at least eight speeches to big banks.

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) - Hillary Clinton told voters in the latest Democratic debate there's "hardly anything you don't know about me." Just minutes later, she got tangled in a question about a part of her resume that is an enduring mystery. In the 18 months before launching her second presidential bid, Clinton gave nearly 100 paid speeches at banks, trade associations, charitable groups and private corporations. The appearances netted her $21.7 million - and voters very little information about what she was telling top corporations as she prepared for her 2016 campaign. What she said - or didn't say -...

Hillary Clinton has a simple explanation for why she accepted $675,000 from Goldman Sachs to give three speeches after she was secretary of state. “That’s what they offered,” Clinton said during CNN’s town hall event in Derry, N.H., on Wednesday. “You know, every secretary of state that I know has done that.” The Democratic frontrunner was asked by moderator Anderson Cooper if taking such a large payment from a Wall Street bank in 2013 was an “error in judgment” considering she knew she’d be running for president in 2016. “Well, I didn’t know,” Clinton insisted. “To be honest, I wasn’t...

By way of a disclaimer, I didn’t watch the Democrats’ town hall last night. (I’ve been sick since Tuesday, sorry.) It doesn’t sound like I missed much in terms of breaking news, new policy announcements or serious fumbles. In fact, the “biggest” moment of the night appears to have come from Hillary Clinton when Anderson Cooper took a swing at her out of left field, asking her why she had to accept all those huge speaking fees for the past several years. (Politico) Hillary Clinton gave no ground to Bernie Sanders over her progressive credentials at a televised forum...

Hillary Clinton on Wednesday night defended accepting huge speaking fees from Goldman Sachs, arguing that it won't influence the way she treats the banking industry. Speaking at CNN's Democratic presidential forum, anchor Anderson Cooper pressed Clinton on whether it had been a mistake for her to reel in more than $200,000 per speech for three speeches to the Wall Street giant. "Look, I made speeches to lots of groups. I told them what I thought. I answered questions," Clinton said. "But did you have to be paid $675,000?," Cooper asked. "Well I don't know," Clinton responded. "That's what they offered."...

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) made a cameo appearance on Saturday Night Live last night, playing a character named "Bernie Sanderswitzky" who was upset at a passenger on a sinking ship was attempting to hop the line for a lifeboat due to his higher economic status. "Sanderswitzky" said that he was not a socialist, rather that the policy was "democratic socialism," and that the difference between the two was "yuge."

There is a short answer to the question: a lot richer than he admits. And the longer answer is even more interesting.  Writing at Doug Ross’s Director Blue, Cliff Kincaid explains: [former publisher of Campaigns & Elections Magazine James] O’Brien has analyzed the financial status of Sanders and his wife, including their financial disclosure report, and has concluded they have a net worth in the range of $1.2 to $1.5 million, not the $700,000 or less that is usually reported by the media. (snip) …his wife, Jane O’Meara Sanders, left her position as president of Burlington College under controversial circumstances and...

Hillary Clinton’s lucrative speeches to Goldman Sachs back in 2013 have suddenly become a political liability for the already beleaguered front runner, as pressure mounts for her to release transcripts of those remarks.