Free Republic

One word, my friends: RINOgeddon. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that Christie earns 21% support when Republican voters are asked whom they would vote for if the party’s primary in their state were held today. Florida Senator Marco Rubio runs a close second with 18% of the GOP vote, followed by former Florida Governor Jeb Bush at 16% and Kentucky Senator Rand Paul with 15% of the vote. Congressman Paul Ryan, the unsuccessful Republican vice presidential candidate in 2012, picks up 13% of the Republican vote, with Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker dead last at six percent (6%)....

Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) recently expressed his concern about Sarah Palin someday becoming president and having control over the information gathered by the U.S government about Americans citizens. In an interview with Shark-Tank.net, Rep. Grayson said he has introduced a bill, 'The Mind Your Own Business Act,' that would ban the U.S. Department of Defense from gathering Internet, phone and other personal information about U.S. citizens without probable cause or evidence of a criminal offense, which is what the Fourth Amendment is supposed to do. Rep. Grayson explained how 'The Mind Your Own Business Act' was modeled "very closely after...

Can anybody unite a party that’s at war with itself? That’s the question Republicans are asking, and the answer might be former vice-presidential contender Paul Ryan, whose low profile amidst the intra-party squabbling suggests he is deftly positioning himself as Speaker in waiting or the GOP’s last best hope for 2016—either way a Hobson’s choice given the demoralized state of the party. Ryan wrote the budget that balances in 10 years, and that helped bring Congress to its knees, unable to find the votes to pass any of its traditional priorities, a farm bill or a transportation bill, much less...

Last week we ran a story analyzing an op-ed piece that one-time Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean wrote for the Wall Street Journal in which the former Governor of Vermont conceded that the Independent Payment Advisory Board was “essentially a health-care rationing body.” ObamaCare has been controversial from long before it passed by the narrowest of margins and probably no facet has drawn more critics that the IPAB. National Right to Life laid out the rationing problems that are part and parcel of the IPAB from the very beginning (www.nrlc.org/HealthCareRationing/ObamaHCRationingBasicDOCUMENTATION.pdf). Thus it was helpful that Dean admitted there really was...

Money line: “This is what I do for a living.” Didn’t he predict a Bush/Clinton race in 2016 just nine months ago? If he believes what he says here about the parties swinging like “pendulums” from moderate nominees to ideologues and then back again, why would he have named Jeb as a strong contender last November? In fact, the roots of the counterargument are in Matthews’s own shpiel here: Most of the time, they head to the center. This is what Republicans did most successfully in 1952 – when, after twenty years of Roosevelt and Harry Truman – they wanted...

The former governor and perhaps future senatorial candidate of Alaska is using her Twitter account to make one thing clear. Ever since she emerged on the national stage, basically everything she has said has been right. She was right about Fannie and Freddie. The tweet: Sarah Palin ✔ @SarahPalinUSA Hey media, now do you get it? http://fb.me/2wOtMgTqo 11:29 AM - 7 Aug 2013 218 Retweets 100 favorites The issue: The "it" to which she refers is her argument in September 2009 that the mortgage companies had "gotten too big and too expensive" for taxpayers. The vindication: The president's announcement on...

If you can’t win, you might as well go down swinging. At senior citizens. At an AARP-Univision mayoral forum this morning, mayoral contender Anthony Weiner pulled out the age card to taunt his most vocal challengers, 69-year-old Doe Fund founder George McDonald. Weiner is 48. Before the debate, Weiner put a hand on McDonald’s back and said hello, prompting McDonald to reply: “I would appreciate if you would never touch me again.” Weiner retorted: “What are you going to do about it, grandpa?” according to two sources. A mild overreaction by McDonald, but in his defense, who knows where that...

Cindy Sheehan is running for Governor of California. Her formal announcement will be made in a few weeks, but the campaign team is being put together now. A very few of the specialized positions may be compensated, but basically everyone involved in the campaign will be donating their labor. Can you help? If you can write, edit, speak to people on the telephone, participate in social media activities, register voters, pass out leaflets, raise money, or organize campaign coffees, here is what you need to do to get involved in Cindy’s campaign: Send a message, with your full contact information...

Freshman Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and some other Republicans think they know why the GOP didn't win the last two presidential elections: They weren't conservative enough. "If you look at the last 40 years, a constant pattern emerges," Cruz told ABC. "Anytime Republicans nominate a candidate for president who runs as a strong conservative, we win. And when we nominate a moderate who doesn't run as a conservative, we lose." It's not a new thought, but it's dead wrong on several different levels. First of all you have to pretty far in right field to think John McCain and Mitt...

Mickey: Stay down, Stay down Rocky 1974 John Rambo: Live for nothing or Die for Something Rambo 2008 I was watching Morning Joe today and as usual the entire table was united in asserting that Ted Cruz and the Tea Party caucus was wrong to consider fighting to de-fund Obamacare highlighting a piece by Krauthammer This is about tactics. If I thought this would work, I would support it. But I don’t fancy suicide. It has a tendency to be fatal. They stressed the wisdom of Krauthammer’s assertion that the GOP should not fight. It seemed an odd assertion since...

A gun-rights group in the bellwether presidential primary state of New Hampshire has warned New Jersey Governor Chris Christie that signing gun control bills passed by his state's Legislature could have consequences if he runs for president in 2016. The Pro-Gun New Hampshire coalition urged its members this week to call and email Christie to ask him to veto the proposed laws, posing a political dilemma for Christie as he seeks re-election in November in the Democratic-leaning state while also eyeing the national stage. Christie has a September deadline to sign a number of firearm-related bills seen by their supporters...

Rent free in their empty heads. There would be no home field advantage in Alaska for Sarah Palin if the former governor made a run for the White House in 2016, according to a new poll released Friday. Hillary Clinton, the front runner for the Democrats in 2016, would beat Palin 49-40 in a hypothetical match-up, according to a survey from Democratic firm Public Policy Polling. Palin is the only potential GOP candidate Clinton topped in poll. Despite it being her home state, only 18 percent of Alaskans think Palin should make a bid for the White House in 2016,...

In a recent poll of Alaska voters, George Zimmerman -- who was recently acquitted in the shooting death of Florida teen Trayvon Martin -- got a surprising 2 percent support as a hypothetical Republican presidential candidate. The newest Alaska survey from Public Policy Polling shows Hillary Clinton's only chance of winning the state in 2016 would be in a matchup against Republican Sarah Palin, where Clinton would lead 49/40 percent. Clinton trails all other Republican candidates in the survey. Out in front, Chris Christie leads her by 8 points at 46/38, Jeb Bush leads at 49/42, Rand Paul is up...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Here's Greg in Nashua, New Hampshire. You're next on the EIB Network. Hello. CALLER: Hi, Rush. Based on what you're saying about the Republican Party abandoning a large chunk of the American population -- including conservatives -- or even being any real opposition to the Democrats on Obamacare and apparently everything else, I'm wondering whether Sarah Palin's recent gambit that if the GOP... I think she calls them the GOP brain trust on the Greta show. If the GOP is indeed abandoning her as well as a large swath of American voters, she's going independent. Palin is...

In a wide-ranging interview with The New Republic published Tuesday, Sen John McCain (R-AZ) praised former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, his running mate in the 2008 presidential race, for "exciting" the GOP base in a way the senator couldn't achieve. Asked if it "bothered" him when people said his legacy was choosing Palin as his running mate in 2008, McCain said "no." "We were four points down when I chose her and three points up afterwards," he told the magazine. "She held her own and, some people said, won a debate with the vice president. She did everything I ever...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)When truth is prevented from ever reaching the ears of the American public during a presidential campaign the consequences can often be tragic. Consider the case of the 2008 mainstream media cover up and strict avoidance of Obama’s long time connection to Black Nationalist minister Jeremiah Wright and his firebrand racist comments. The media shackled the truth and allowed then U.S. Senator Obama to skate all the way to his election as president. What is even worse was former Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin’s recent revelation that the John McCain presidential campaign actually banned her from talking about Rev. Jeremiah Wright...

For the creation was subfected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope... Rom 8:20 The Establishmedia is all atwitter that Obama was able to give speech on the economy and not put the entire country to sleep with his recycled pabulum. He obviously does not have his heart into giving speeches about the economy the way he does about racism. One he thinks he knows something about and the other he has not gotten a clue which the economy proves. Can anybody say they are better off today...

Trayvon Martin's brother Jahvaris Fulton steps down after taking the stand during the George Zimmerman trial in Seminole circuit court, July 5, 2013 in Sanford, Florida. Zimmerman is charged with second-degree murder for the February 2012 shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.The brother of Trayvon Martin, whose shooting death by George Zimmerman gained international attention over the past year, is currently serving as an intern for Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Fla., her office confirmed to NBC News. A Florida jury found Zimmerman not guilty of a crime in Martin’s death on July 13. Martin’s brother Jahvaris Fulton attends Florida International University...

Des Moines, Iowa — The front line of the Republican civil war may be Grand Avenue, a hilly road that cuts through the heart of Iowa’s biggest city. On one side of the street is the gold-domed state capitol, home to Republican Terry Branstad, Iowa’s longest-serving governor. On the other side is a weathered brick building housing the Iowa GOP, which is chaired by A. J. Spiker and David Fischer. Both men are faithful allies of Ron Paul, the retired Texas congressman who twice ran for the Republican presidential nomination. These days, relations between the two camps are as messy...

Fox News just released a nationwide poll in generall in keeping with many others, finding voters are unhappy with the economy and want Obamacare repealed. But what's truly eye-opening are the comparisons of partisan opinions of President Barack Obama and George Zimmerman, who was acquitted July 13 of second-degree murder and manslaughter charges for shooting unarmed Miami Gardens 17-year-old Trayvon Martin on Feb. 26, 2012. Republicans have a more-favorable opinion of Zimmerman, a figure of sympathy to a number of conservatives, than Obama. That's right: The Democratic occupant of the White House is held in less favorable regard by Republicans...

A Marist poll released Wednesday indicates that Hillary Clinton is the clear frontrunner for the Democratic nomination in 2016, and that there is a very crowded and tight field among Republicans. Yahoo asked voters: Which candidate are you backing and why? Here's one perspective. COMMENTARY | The latest Marist poll of potential presidential candidates shows a couple of interesting results. First, Hillary Clinton is blowing away other Democrats. Second, the Republicans appear to be bunched up with no clear front runner. Turning one's attention to the Republican field, one looks upon Ted Cruz, the junior senator from Texas. Hot Air,...

"Not until I went to the churches of America and heard her pulpits aflame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great." Alexis d’ Tocqueville, Democracy in America, 1835 The inspiration for this article occurred while reading "What about a third party candidate" by Rachel Lynn Robinson on Nolan Chart, www.nolanchart.com. Ms. Robinson, a Libertarian, asks: "Is it reasonable to elect a third party candidate simply based on their stance on a few key items?"...

Dear Sarah, I have never asked you for anything, but I am asking you to please lead the charge in helping us stop the Amnesty Bill from passing in the House. RUBIO is R.I.P. for me, so is McCain and the rest of the Gang of 8. Their careers mean nothing. Our country does. We’re stuck cleaning the damage they did by passing Amnesty in the Senate. As if that was not enough, they have the gall to continue working against us by targeting House Republicans to pass it there (see link below). They are disrespecting Americans and disregarding the...

A leading House Democrat questioned Friday whether the Justice Department (DOJ) has the evidence to mount a civil rights case against George Zimmerman, the man acquitted of killing an unarmed black teenager in Florida. Rep. Henry Waxman (Calif.), the top Democrat on the Energy and Commerce Committee, said in a television interview that "it seems unlikely" Attorney General Eric Holder would file discrimination charges against Zimmerman. The killing of Trayvon Martin and Zimmerman's subsequent acquittal have sparked demonstrations around the country. Protests were scheduled nationwide on Saturday as disappointed court-watchers urged DOJ to pursue charges against Zimmerman. Waxman's comments put...

Newly released information shows a very close relationship between President Obama and his man at the IRS, who delayed the Tea party applications. William Wilkins is a long time donor to the democratic party and once fought a case against the IRS in which he defended Jerimiah Wright and the Trinity Church in 2008. Wilkins was a registered lobbyist for Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr since 1988, and was also a member of the Tax Practice Group, where he counseled nonprofits on compliance. As a lobbyist, he spread money around to both republicans and democrats, but Wilkins worked for...

Inspired by the tourism board of Detroit. A "Pure Michigan" parody. It's short, and you'll laugh your head off!

Rep. Andy Harris, Maryland's sole Republican representative in Congress, is receiving attention for comments he made on WMAL radio Tuesday about last week's verdict in the trial of George Zimmerman. "We're hung up on this one case where this one fellow was in fact found not guilty by a jury," Harris said during the interview. "That's the way the American law system works. Get over it." Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer in Florida, fatally shot Trayvon Martin last year in a case that captured national attention. He was acquitted of second-degree murder and manslaughter charges on Saturday, sparking protests around...

Sarah Palin rippled political waters a few weeks ago when she said she would be open to the idea of a new right wing political party. Palin was a guest on Mark Levin’s radio talk show, a popular venue for conservative audiences. A Twitter questioner asked, “Would you & Mark Levin be willing to build a 'Freedom Party' if GOP continues to ignore conservatives?” Her reply: "I love the name of that party, the 'Freedom Party. And if the GOP continues to back away from the planks in our platform, from the principles that built this party of Lincoln and...

“Keep Trayvon’s family in our prayers. Deeply unsatisfying verdict,” Anthony Weiner tweeted.The city's mayoral candidates quickly weighed in on Trayvon Martin case Saturday night, with many taking to Twitter to denounce George Zimmerman’s acquittal in the death of the black Florida teenager. Democrat Bill Thompson, the only African-American in the mayoral race, tweeted, “Trayvon Martin was killed because he was black. There was no justice done today in Florida”(continued)

And so it begins: Sarah Palin suggested she would run for the U.S. Senate seat in Alaska, and 72 hours later has fired the first volley against her potential opponent, one Sen. Mark Begich — a Democrat, former Anchorage mayor and spirited Palin-basher. He’s already questioned whether the former governor was even a resident of Alaska, then dismissed her as a viable candidate. Naturally, Mrs. Palin was charmed by the challenge, immediately deeming Mr. Begich the “Alaska chameleon” for his political track record. “You have voted for Obamacare, for massive tax increases, for carbon taxes which could cost Alaskans 21,000...

On Monday, conservative talk radio host Mark Levin said former officials in the George W. Bush administration attack Sarah Palin because they favor expanding government. "Sarah Palin has spoken out effectively, articulately, with great knowledge and confidence," Levin said, "about the destruction of this federal goliath." He then noted that when Palin speaks out against crony capitalism and the permanent political class, she comes under "personal, vicious, brutal attack," not just by Democrats but by Republicans as well. He said many of the Republicans who attack Palin worked in the Bush administration and disagree not only with her, but with...

A great interview with Governor Sarah Palin on a Tuesday afternoon. Sounding very much like George Washington, the rather reluctant leader, Governor Palin ends the interview with a bold statement about leading the party. Ronald Reagan was a democrat for most of his adult life. He famously said that he didn’t leave the democrat party, the democrat party left him. Governor Palin is saying what the rest of us are thinking. We’d MUCH rather revitalize the Republican Party than go in another direction, but …. and what else can be said but …. we haven’t left the GOP, the GOP...

Amazingly, THIS is supposed to be serious: Earlier this year, Jeb Bush told ABC that both his father George H.W. Bush, and brother George W. recommended he run for president in 2016. Mama Barbara Bush is not keen on the idea, declaring in April that “the nation’s probably had enough Bushes.” But in the constantly shifting equations of potential Republican hopefuls for future president and vice president, the former Florida governor’s name has been tied with another former governor: Sarah Palin. The pair have now been framed as a “the GOP’s only chance” in the race by American Thinker contributor...

<p>What’s possible if only the Geniuses of the GOP™ were smart enough to listen to Governor Palin’s wisdom, and warnings.</p> <p>Recently Stacy Drake exposed the hate-filled, misogynist bunch at RedState’s attack on Governor Sarah Palin, not only did they use a photoshopped pic of Governor Palin’s head on a woman’s body [with considerable cleavage] sitting on Santa Claus’ lap, but the accompanying article was demeaning, mean spirited, and hell …. just plain wrong!</p>

So what is the main difference between the Huffington Post article, shared 2,300+ times, and our post, which elicits a ban? As near as I can tell, one is from a conservative website, and one is from a liberal website. One is pro-abortion, while the other one mocks the pro-abortion writer. Is there something more going on here with Facebook? We haven’t heard similar stories of censorship from the left side of the aisle. And yet, there seems to be an emerging trend for conservatives on Facebook. Fox News reporter Todd Starnes was recently banned from Facebook for what he...

QUESTION OF THE WEEK Sarah Palin rejoined Fox News as a contributor earlier this month, indicating that the polarizing former Alaska governor and Vice Presidential candidate remains a powerful voice in the conservative landscape. Is she beneficial to conservatives and the Republican Party, or does she do more harm than good? Sarah Palin is undeniably useful and important as a face of the conservative movement. She is ineffective and even detrimental as the face of the conservative movement. Unfortunately, that's exactly what she became when John McCain selected her as his running mate in 2008: the face of the GOP...

Sen. Marco Rubio took to the floor of the U.S. Senate Wednesday afternoon, to address concerns that have arisen from some grassroots conservatives over his support of immigration reform. “I have received numerous emails and calls from conservatives and tea party activists,” he said at the beginning of his remarks. “To hear the worry, anxiety, and growing anger in the voices of so many people who helped me get elected to the Senate, who I agree with on virtually every other issue, has been a real trial for me,” he confessed. But he said he told them that he would...

Perhaps we should no longer be surprised when the former half-term Alaska governor jabs at GOP colleagues weighs in on public policy. And yet... It's easy and tiresome to trash Sarah Palin as an uneducated embarrassment to the Republican Party (a party of which I am a member). But when the great anti-intellectual takes ridiculously simple-minded shots at Marco Rubio for supporting immigration reform, something needs to be said. The Sunshine State News asked the former Alaska governor to comment on immigration reform. She took the opportunity to take a giant swing at Marco Rubio: Just like they did with...

Governor Palin posted the following on Twitter this evening: Sarah Palin ✔ @SarahPalinUSA Up next more out-of-touch POTUS policy to weaken USA. Speech tomorrow requires seeking truth in upcoming anti-Made in America energy mandate 11:21 PM - 24 Jun 2013 92 Retweets 35 favorites This was in response to the president’s upcoming speech at Georgetown University tomorrow, where he will announce more ways to destroy our economy. From the Associated Press: President Barack Obama’s national plan to combat climate change will include the first-ever regulations to limit carbon dioxide emissions from existing power plants, as well as increased production of...

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio understood he was taking considerable risk by putting his name on the immigration reform bill currently being crafted by the so-called “Gang of Eight.” He expected to alienate some conservatives, but did he anticipate Sarah Palin to be among them? The former Republican governor of Alaska took to Twitter on Sunday to call Rubio out for his “flip-flop” on immigration reform. Sarah Palin ✔ @SarahPalinUSA Politicians wonder why we can't trust them? Campaign flip-flops like this and carve-out bribes in the Amnesty... http://fb.me/2IsL1uspC 11:30 AM - 23 Jun 2013 497 Retweets 143 favorites As noted by...

Since retiring from her position as Secretary of State under the Obama administration, Hillary Rodham Clinton has been out of the public spotlight. Yet most of the political world still wants to know if Clinton will run for President in 2016. I can’t answer that, but I can say if she did, she would win. Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskil recently organized a potential 2016 Clinton presidential campaign. “Regardless of who you supported for president back then, we can all agree today that there is nobody better equipped to be our next president than Hillary Clinton,” said McCaskil. In addition, there...

Back in January and February, Marco Rubio stood at the top of the heap among prospective 2016 Republican presidential contenders. Sen. Marco Rubio Today? Not so much. In the recently released Ipsos – Reuters poll, for example, Rubio has lost one third of the support he had earlier this spring and is now not even in the top three in the latest poll Ipsos conducted for Reuters. Marco now registers below Chris Christie, Paul Ryan, Rand Paul and Jeb Bush. Another poll in Iowa, a key early voting state in the Republican presidential sweepstakes (conducted by Illinois-based pollster McKeon &...

Two Republicans came to Washington as United States Senators. Both were immediately haled as being the future of the Party. Both were young, charismatic and claimed they were devoted to the conservative cause. Both have been talked about as potential Presidential candidates. The problem is, only one of them is a conservative. One is Ted Cruz and the other is Marco Rubio. Ted Cruz burst on to the scene last year in Texas, defeating a RINO Establishment candidate. He has quickly become a superstar. He has stood steadfastly against Amnesty. Yesterday, after the Supreme Court ruled that states could not...

Sarah Palin, now and always, has the instinct for grass roots; and as consummate strivers in our times see the presidency merely as a stepping stone to $100 million trips abroad and a globalist future with 50 gold watches like Bill Clinton’s, Palin slips in with the crowd to get down with the people. She's not at “Versailles” — as Tom Brokaw called the annual collection of strivers at The White House Correspondents' Association dinner of journalists, apologists, preachers, propagandists and pirates — just a little high school in the hills, where Palin gave a high school graduation speech. And...

Remember all the build-up around the Facebook IPO? Investors wondered when it would happen and how they could get in on it. People were scrambling to be part of the action. Then, it happened, and it flopped. Marco Rubio is fast turning into the Facebook IPO of the United States Senate. There was hype, there was hope, there was sizzle…but there’s been no steak. In his first year in the Senate, Marco Rubio did … what exactly? He was sworn in on Jan. 3, 2011, and didn’t even deliver his first Senate floor speech until June 14. Conversely, Rand Paul...

Louisiana Senator Elbert Guillory (R-Opelousas) explains why he recently switched from the Democrat Party to the Republican Party. He discusses the history of the Republican Party, founded as an Abolitionist Movement in 1854. Guillory talks about how the welfare state is only a mechanism for politicians to control the black community.

GOP Golden Boy Chris Christie is going to run in 2016, and he might not even do so as a Republican. Seriously. So, will he challenge the highly beatable Hillary Rodham Clinton for the Democratic nomination? Maybe. But all signs point to the whalelike New Jersey governor floating himself as a middleman, neither right nor left — the Chosen One to solve all the discord in the nation’s capital: The Independent. Sound insane? Well, the man who clearly can’t control his base impulses (he’s fat) doesn’t know where he fits into the 2016 scheme. (Get it? “Where he fits in”?)...

Every year, thousands of Republicans from all over the country spend hundreds, even thousands of dollars to attend conservative conferences, where they hear from popular party leaders, members of Congress and even celebrities on their issues, the state of the party and where it is headed. These include the popular Conservative Political Action Conference in the spring and the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s “Road to Majority” conference, held this weekend at the J.W. Marriott in Washington. Among the many conference goers are retirees, local tea party leaders and dozens of young conservatives, skinny bespectacled young men and well-dressed, high-heeled women...

Young people are more Democratic and pro-Obama – but they're even more pro-liberty. The GOP should seize this chance.You don't have to be a rocket scientist to know that the Republican party has a problem with the millennial generation. Americans born after 1980 voted by some 25pt for President Obama over Mitt Romney, while the rest of the electorate narrowly supported the Republican candidate. It's my view that Republicans can do little to attract most Millennials – but privacy may be the exception. Our Guardian poll conducted by Public Policy Polling indicated that Democrats were more supportive of President Obama's...

Republican lawmakers say they anticipate a flood of questions in the coming months from constituents on the implementation of ObamaCare, which will pose a dilemma for the GOP. [WATCH VIDEO] People regularly call their representatives for help with Medicare, Social Security and other government programs. Yet, Republicans believe healthcare reform spells doom for the federal budget, private businesses and the U.S. healthcare system. They're also enormously frustrated that the law has persevered through two elections and a Supreme Court challenge and believe a botched implementation could help build momentum for the repeal movement. Some Republicans indicated to The Hill they...