Free Republic

What will be the political fallout of the various scandals in which President Obama is ensnared? Chris Matthews thinks it will be huge. Appearing on today's Morning Joe, Matthews mused that the IRS scandal alone would be worth 5-10 points to Republican candidates. He specifically mentioned Mitch McConnell, Tom Corbett and Ken Cuccinelli as Republicans whom the scandal would aid in their 2014 races. View the video here.

Christopher Kelley said he owns a gun for protection, but had never shot anyone until Monday. "Just lucky I guess I had it with me," a sleep deprived Kelley said. "You get it and you always hope you don't have to use it." A little after midnight he said he and his brother were sleeping on a living room sofa when he heard someone come through the front door. . . In seconds, Kelley fired five rounds before the intruder could ever pull his trigger. Two bullets went through walls and into the ceiling, while the other three stopped the...

Republican operative David Adams filed a lawsuit this week in Franklin County Circuit Court to force a shutdown of the Kentucky Health Benefit Exchange, the state-run option for ObamaCare in the Bluegrass State. Governor Steve Beshear’s immediate response suggests he knows he has a problem. He said through a spokeswoman the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Kentucky grants him authority to create a new bureaucracy that taxes and spends without legislative approval and the the Affordable Care Act is the law of the land. “If Governor Beshear really believes the Constitution grants him the ability to usurp legislative authority on...

RICHMOND, Ky. (AP) - First lady Michelle Obama urged Eastern Kentucky University graduates on Saturday night to reach out to people with different political beliefs, saying the country would benefit from the conversations.

Calling it the single “most important decision in our lifetime” to improve Kentuckians’ health, Gov. Steve Beshear officially announced Thursday that he agreed to expand Medicaid 308,000 more Kentuckians. The Affordable Care Act — also known as Obamacare — allows states to expand Medicaid to cover those who earn up to 138 percent of the federal poverty rate, which is about $31,000 for a family of four. With Beshear’s announcement, Kentucky will be the 22nd state to agree to the expansion, which takes effect Jan. 1, 2014. The move to cover more low-income Kentuckians could nearly cut in half the...

On Monday, Alfonso Diaz-Diaz, 26, was arraigned in Woodford District Court for the death of 5-year-old Blake Cohorn, of Lexington. The little boy's father, Rocky, was also seriously injured in the alcohol-fueled crash, and is still listed in critical condition at the University of Ketnucky (UK) Chandler Hospital. Other family members were also injured. LEX 18 reported: Police say they got a call about a black car heading the wrong way around 10 p.m. on April 21. Just a few minutes later, the report of a head-on collision at US 60 and Midway Road came in. Blake Cohorn was declared...

Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid has essentially agreed with Kentucky U.S. Sen. Rand Paul that the Senate should address weaknesses in the U.S. immigration system in light of last month’s attack in Boston. U.S. Senator Rand Paul had sent a letter to Senate Majority leader Harry Reid after the Boston bombing expressing concern over the refugee program. That program allowed two individuals to move to Bowling Green where they were planning a terrorist attack. “I am not for saying no to an immigration bill, I think the immigration system is broken and we do need immigration reform and I am...

The Rand Machine Ramps Up by Bob Costa Rand Paul’s chief strategist is leaving his Senate post to run the Kentucky Republican’s political shop. Doug Stafford, who is widely seen as Paul’s closest adviser, will soon resign as chief of staff to manage Paul’s national political operation. Today’s news is the clearest sign yet that Paul, a potential 2016 contender, is building a presidential campaign.

Caroline Sparks was playing with her brother, Kristian, when he accidentally fired his Crickett rifle at his sister in their Cumberland County home, police said. Charges have not been ruled out in the case. A single bullet to the chest killed the 2-year-old Kentucky girl shot by her 5-year-old brother clutching a “My First Rifle” — a tragic accident that could lead to charges. Kristian Sparks shot his sister, Caroline, with a .22-caliber rifle around 1 p.m. Tuesday inside the family’s mobile home in rural Burkesville, Cumberland County. Their mother, Stephanie Sparks, was outside on the porch pouring grease out...

Former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin will attend a fundraiser Sunday for the Headley-Whitney Museum in Lexington. Palin and her husband, Todd Palin, will be guests of socialite and museum supporter Marylou Whitney and her husband, John Hendrickson, at the annual Brunch and Bibelots party. The $150-a-seat event is held the day after the Kentucky Derby each year. Museum director and curator Amy Gundrum Greene said she doesn't know whether the Palins plan to attend the Kentucky Derby. The museum's board members and supporters regularly invite celebrity guests, but Palin "is one of the more high-profile ones," Greene said.....

The Republican party is full of rebranding efforts these days. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor has his. And the NRSC is working on appealing to the young and hip with their Buzzfeed-style website. Now there’s Sen. Mitch McConnell, the top Republican in the Senate, whose campaign is out with a new web video that splices inspirational lines from McConnell speeches and argues that the GOP is the party of opportunity for minorities and immigrants. But the video also has a decidedly Tea Party feel at times. It has gotten more than a million views in a day.

WHITLEY CITY — Five years after church officials ordered Carroll Howlin to stop functioning as a missionary priest in southeastern Kentucky, leaders of the Diocese of Joliet, Ill., received a letter from a suburban pastor that illuminated just how little the diocese had done to enforce its own protective measures amid a crippling sex abuse scandal. Howlin, an avuncular-looking priest who moved here more than 30 years ago, had been suspended in 2002 after he was accused of molesting a teenage boy — the second of four such allegations he would face in his career. The Joliet diocese later substantiated...

The 12-year-old daughter of a U.S. soldier deployed overseas was reportedly sent home from school by administrators for violating the dress code. -snip administrators reportedly objected because the shirt did not have a collar, -snip This all happened at Mahaffey Middle School, which is located on Fort Campbell Army Base in Kentucky.

A Kentucky middle school has changed its dress code after a student was sent to the office for wearing a “Support Our Troops” T-shirt, a spokeswoman told TheBlaze. That school would be Mahaffey Middle School, which is actually located on the Fort Campbell Army base. Student Cejai Taylor told Nashville Fox affiliate WZTV she wore the T-shirt right after her dad, Sgt. James Taylor, was sent on his sixth deployment overseas. Mahaffey requires all students to wear collared shirts, but has dress-down days once a month where they can wear jeans and school-approved shirts. The “Support Our Troops” shirt was...

House Speaker John Boehner Monday defended the way he has handled the investigation into last year's attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, insisting a select committee is not needed to probe the incident. The Ohio Republican told the media that he has resisted lawmakers’ calls for a select committee because he doesn't think one is necessary. “The five committees that have jurisdiction over this matter are working closely together,” said Boehner. “They're getting the job done.” As of Monday, The Hill reports, 117 of Boehner's fellow lawmakers have signed onto a resolution from Republican Rep. Frank Wolf of Virginia,...

On Monday, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said that including a "path to citizenship" for illegal immigrants in any comprehensive immigration bill would jeopardize the likelihood of the legislation passing. “I think if instead the bill includes elements that are deeply divisive--and I would note that I don’t think there is any issue in this entire debate that is more divisive than a path to citizenship for those who are here illegally--in my view, any bill that insists upon that jeopardizes the likelihood of passing any immigration reform bill,” Cruz said at the Senate Judiciary Committee's hearing, according to CNS News....

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid United States Senate Washington, DC 20510 Dear Majority Leader Reid, As our thoughts and prayers continue to go out to those affected by the tragedy in Boston, I urge you to incorporate the following national security concerns into the comprehensive immigration reform debate. Before Congress moves forward, some important national security questions must be addressed. I believe that any real comprehensive immigration reform must implement strong national security protections. The facts emerging in the Boston Marathon bombing have exposed a weakness in our current system. If we don't use this debate as an opportunity to...

Rand Paul U.S. Senator, 50 By Sarah Palin When the Tea Party movement wanted to send a message to the Senate in 2010, it elected a clear-sighted eye doctor from the Bluegrass State. In a D.C. too often defined by the venal equivocations of a permanent political class more interested in consolidating its own power than in upholding the Constitution or defending the common good, Senator Rand Paul is a voice of reason awakening the public to what must be done to restore our prosperity and preserve the blessings of liberty for future generations. His brand of libertarian-leaning conservatism attracts...

The collapse of efforts in the U.S. Senate to expand background checks to more gun sales will inspire a renewed effort by Americans to push for reforms, predicted Democratic U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth of Louisville. “I think we’re a long way from finished on this. As a matter of fact, I think the disbelief of the American public over what happened in the Senate will almost guarantee that we get some kind of action,” Yarmuth said at the beginning of his interview with Pure Politics on Thursday night. Yarmuth said he expects the ultimate legislation will be stronger than what...

Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) discusses gun control and background checks with Geraldo Rivera on his radio show and takes calls from listeners. PAUL: This grief is just an unbearable burden. I think people are politicizing and trying to take advantage. Politicians are taking advantage of peoples' grief. And it makes me even sadder to see, gosh this person lost their five year old son, their six year old son, and they're being put as pawns in the middle of a political debate that's been going on for years. And really, one of the the only ways I can think of...

The Republican Party is supposed to oppose tax increases and burdensome, unnecessary government regulations. But sometimes, they lose their way. The most recent example is support by some Republicans for the misnamed Marketplace Fairness Act, which should really be called the Internet Tax Mandate. This mandate is nothing more than a huge tax increase on the American people backed by lobbyists and some state governments. I must admit, I am disappointed that some in my party are backing this ill-advised bill. The Internet Tax Mandate would allow states to force private companies to impose a sales tax on online purchases....

URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 123 NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK 935 AM EDT THU APR 18 2013 THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A * TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF EASTERN ILLINOIS CENTRAL AND EASTERN INDIANA SOUTHERN LOWER MICHIGAN NORTHWEST OHIO OHIO LAKE MICHIGAN * EFFECTIVE THIS THURSDAY MORNING AND AFTERNOON FROM 935 AM UNTIL 500 PM EDT. ...THIS IS A PARTICULARLY DANGEROUS SITUATION... * PRIMARY THREATS INCLUDE... SEVERAL INTENSE TORNADOES LIKELY SEVERAL SIGNIFICANT DAMAGING WIND GUSTS TO 80 MPH POSSIBLE A FEW VERY LARGE HAIL EVENTS TO 2 INCHES IN DIAMETER POSSIBLE THE...

WASHINGTON — The head of a group accused of illegally taping private meetings of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's campaign visited the White House days before the group's Twitter account began actively attacking the Kentucky Republican, according to White House visitors logs.

Victoria McCullough, a staff assistant to White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett, is listed as the official who signed Reilly in. Reilly also went to the liberal-leaning Center for American Progress during his visit to the capital, according to his Twitter feed.

Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, popular with conservatives and libertarians in the GOP, said Wednesday he is considering a presidential campaign in 2016 but will not make a decision before next year. Paul said at a breakfast sponsored by The Christian Science Monitor that he wants to be part of the national debate and said that remaining open to a presidential bid would give him a broad audience on a number of policy issues. …

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — In the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings, more toughened measures are expected as security is calibrated for major upcoming sports events that draw big crowds, such as next month’s Kentucky Derby and Indianapolis 500.

One of the two Democrats implemented in the recording of a strategy meeting of U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell is asking people to donate to help pay legal fees. Curtis Morrison, former member of the Democratic Super PAC Progress Kentucky, has started a legal defense fund setting a goal of $10,000 to pay legal fees. Morrison says he is cooperating in the FBI investigation looking into how the tape was obtained. The website , created by Morrison Monday through gofundme.com, gives a description of the recording of the strategy meeting and asks for donations to help with legal fees. Morrison says...

Top Kentucky and Tennessee officials rallied over the weekend to urge the Army Corps of Engineers Nashville District to halt plans to erect barricades to 10 dams along the Cumberland River because of hazardous conditions near the dam. Republican U.S. Sen. Rand Paul and U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell joined up with Republican U.S. Rep. Ed Whitfield of Hopkinsville and Tennessee Republican U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander push back against the decision, which would prevent boaters from getting near the dams. The Army Corps of Engineers want to restrict access near the 10 dams along the Cumberland River because of powerful currents...

Progress Kentucky is a super PAC that is acting more like a rogue operation in its efforts to unseat Kentucky Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell -- sending out racially sensitive tweets and allegedly making a secret recording of the Senate minority leader’s re-election strategy talks. The group has been around only since December, raising about $1,000 and spending $18, compared to the McConnell campaign that has raised $10 million toward 2014 re-election efforts, according to recent Federal Election Commission filings. Kentucky Democrats have over the past week made numerous, overt efforts to separate their party from Kentucky Progress and its questionable...

Soviet Agent Award for Mother Jones Reporter Cliff Kincaid — April 12, 2013 David Corn, the liberal writer and MSNBC analyst who based a story about Republican Senator Mitch McConnell on a secret and possibly illegal tape recording, is scheduled to accept an award named for Soviet agent of influence I.F. Stone. The identification of Stone as a Soviet agent is not in serious dispute, except among his most loyal and sycophantic followers.Equally scandalous, Corn is being presented the award by Jeff Cohen, who has started a petition through his radical organization, RootsAction, to give accused traitor Bradley Manning the...

April 12, 2013 Secret McConnell campaign recording was allegedly made by co-founders of a liberal advocacy group, including a Democratic National Convention delegate * Potential suspect was longtime Democratic insider, despite party's claim it was blindsided by investigation* Liberal magazine that published recording may have received the product of a federal wiretapping felonyDavid Martosko The activists who allegedly recorded a private conversation among members of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's re-election team are tied to a liberal political action committee whose co-founder was a delegate to the 2012 Democratic National Convention. ... The Daily Caller reported that Reilly was a...

Click Here for Part One: Speaking Of Progress Kentucky’s Shawn Reilly And Other Problems…Shortly after the request for a Special Bailiff was made in the Zachary Scarpellini murder/manslaughter civil suit, Shawn Reilly surfaced in Louisville working on the Congressional campaign of Democrat and Iraq War veteran Andrew Horne. (Full disclosure: I was a part of the Horne Campaign but that’s where my involvement in that part of the story ends)Horne, who lost in the May 2006 primary to now-Congressman John Yarmuth, employed Reilly to staff fundraising events, hold house parties and organize voters. But he wasn’t just handling campaign grunt...

A new ad from the liberal group Americans United for Change links the views of Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell to those of al-Qaeda senior operative Adam Gadhan. The ad attacks McConnell for his opposition to expanding criminal background checks on gun purchases and contends that Gadhan agrees. It goes on to play a clip of the al-Qaeda operative, reportedly used in a recruitment video for the terrorist organization, encouraging Americans to go out and purchase weapons. “You can go down to a gun show at the local convention center and come away with a fully automatic assault rifle, without...

On one hand, Progress Kentucky has succeeded in ways most political-action committees rarely do. In only four or five months of existence, they have driven the national news cycle not once but twice. Unfortunately for Progress KY and Democrats in the state, they’ve been the scandal both times. Their operatives turned out to be behind the racist tweets attacking Mitch McConnell’s wife Elaine Chao, and now they’ve allegedly managed to out-bumble the Watergate burglars in secretly recording a McConnell campaign meeting, in which they were most definitely not participants.BuzzFeed calls Progress KY the “least effective liberal group� in the state,...

April 11, 2013 Kentucky activist denies wrongdoing in McConnell bugging Alexandra Jaffe Progress Kentucky Executive Director Shawn Reilly is denying he engaged in any illegal activity with respect to the alleged recording of a private campaign strategy meeting between Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and aides, his attorney said Thursday. Reilly is also working with federal investigators to locate his associate, Curtis Morrison, the lawyer said."Shawn Reilly has cooperated fully with the U.S. Attorney's office and the FBI, from the date the recording was released by Mother Jones," attorney Annie O'Connell told The Hill. O'Connell added: "Our position, our...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Get this. Let me find it. This is Foreign Policy magazine! Folks, this is highbrow. This Foreign Policy magazine is not quite Foreign Affairs or the Trilateral Commission, but it's not the Walla Walla Sunday Times. I mean, Foreign Policy magazine, they fashion themselves as a serious bunch of people there, think tankers and that. The editor of Foreign Policy, David Rothkopf, says that Mitch McConnell is a bigger threat to the United States than Kim Jong-un. I'm telling you, I can't keep up! I can't connect the dots. Everything is so upside down. Nothing makes common...

FOX NEWS: Jacob Conway, who is on the committee of Kentucky’s Jefferson County Democratic Party, revealed to Megyn Kelly moments ago that members of the liberal activist group Progress Kentucky bragged to him that they had made a secret recordings of a meeting held by Senator Mitch McConnell (R) without his consent. Earlier this week, tapes were released of McConnell and his aides discussing challengers in the upcoming election, particularly actress Ashley Judd. The FBI is now investigating the incident. According to Conway, Progress Kentucky’s Sean Riley and Curtis Morrison were in the hallway of McConnell’s campaign headquarters after an...

George Soros isn't behind everything the left does, but it sure seems like he helps fund it all. The lefty magazine Mother Jones released a tape , reportedly obtained from a Democratic Super PAC in Kentucky, in an effort to hurt Mitch McConnell's bid for reelection in the U.S. Senate. But, Mother Jones has funding baggage of its own.Mother Jones is the news outlet of The Foundation for National Progress, the left-wing "umbrella organization that exists to publish and support Mother Jones." It also founded the Media Consortium. The FNP received $485,000 in Soros funding in 2008. The Media Consortium,...

The FBI will have more details soon on the investigation into how a strategy meeting of U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell campaign staff was secretly taped, according to McConnell’s campaign manager. Three main theories have emerged about how that audio recording was made: 1. That the office was bugged. But McConnell Campaign Manager Jesse Benton said Tuesday in a statement to the press that the staff had not found a bug in the office. 2. That someone in the room recorded the meeting and released it. Benton told Pure Politics on Wednesday he was confident that didn’t happen because the only...

In what was probably the most reported on tweet in political history since the Anthony Weiner scandal, actress Ashley Judd’s run against U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell was put on hold in 140 characters. The brief media frenzy that ensued before she ended speculation could all come back to the commonwealth. Jonathan Miller, the former two-term state treasurer and one-time gubernatorial and congressional candidate, told Pure Politics that Judd might move back to her old Kentucky home. “I do really think she’s thinking about moving back to Kentucky permanently,” Miller said in an in-studio interview with Pure Politics. Miller said Judd...

A secret recording of a campaign strategy session between U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell and his advisors was taped by leaders of the Progress Kentucky super PAC, says a longtime local Democratic operative. Mother Jones Magazine released the tape this week. The meeting itself took place on Feb. 2. Jacob Conway, who is on the executive committee of the Jefferson County Democratic Party, says that day, Shawn Reilly and Curtis Morrison, who founded and volunteered for Progress Kentucky, respectively, bragged to him about how they recorded the meeting. Conway says neither the local nor the state Democratic party had any part...

'We'll have to see what the Howard students thought,' Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul shouted from an elevator Wednesday afternoon, answering MailOnline's question about whether his foray into winning the hearts and minds of black youths was successful. Paul, a Republican darling who is already laying the groundwork for a 2016 presidential run with a coming appearance in New Hampshire, had just wrapped up a two-hour appearance at the Howard University School of Business.

(CNN) -- Congress is debating legislation that will limit Americans' right to keep and bear arms and infringe on the right to privacy. The Bill of Rights was made part of our Constitution explicitly to protect freedoms: the freedom of speech, protection against searches without a warrant, the right to trial by jury and the right to protect oneself with a firearm. I am compelled to stand up for every amendment and right enumerated in the Constitution. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is attempting to push forward with gun control legislation. The chief problem I have is that nothing in...

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) on Hannity's radio show discusses minority outreach, drug laws, immigration reform and gun control Click excerpt link ->

The FBI has been asked to investigate how Mother Jones, a liberal magazine, obtained a recording of political aides meeting with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell discussing opposition research on Ashley Judd, a source close the McConnell re-election campaign tells CNN.

Appearing on the Christian Broadcasting Network this week, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said something that is likely to continue the distancing of himself from the staunch neoconservative types like Bill Kristol and Charles Krauthammer who have actively blasted the senator for civil libertarian views. Speaking with CBN’s David Brody, Paul said that Republicans and evangelical Christians too often seem eager to go to war. “Part of Republicans’ problems and, frankly, to tell you the truth, some in the evangelical Christian movement, I think have appeared too eager for war,” Paul said. “When people come to me and they’re lobbying for...

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul’s threat to filibuster any new gun restrictions is gathering steam, as a dozen of his Republican colleagues have now signed onto his plan. The Kentucky Republican and Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) first wrote to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid late last month to warn him of their intention to try to tie up the Senate if, as planned, Reid moved forward with legislation that would expand background checks and attempt to crack down on interstate gun trafficking. Reid is expected to bring a gun-control bill to the floor as early as next...

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Sen. Rand Paul, the tea party favorite and possible 2016 presidential candidate, is raising money for a conservative gun rights group that’s targeting fellow Republicans, including House Majority Leader Eric Cantor. And when one congressman complained, the message from Paul’s camp was: too bad. The Kentucky Republican has lent his name to fundraising pitches for the National Association for Gun Rights, a group that says the National Rifle Association is too willing to compromise on gun rights. The group has blitzed the districts of Virginia Republicans Cantor and Rep. Scott Rigell with $50,000 worth of TV and radio ads accusing...

The Daily Caller has learned that Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul is endorsing Sen. Mitch McConnell for re-election in 2014, ending speculation that Paul would back a tea party challenge to the Senate minority leader. “Rand Paul has endorsed McConnell,” Jesse Benton, McConnell’s 2014 campaign manager, told The Daily Caller. Benton, who has worked for both Rand Paul and his father, former Texas Rep. Ron Paul, is credited by insiders with brokering Paul’s support for McConnell. The move quashes a determined effort by Kentucky Republican Liberty Caucus chairman David Adams, who launched Paul’s Senate bid and served as Paul’s campaign...