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He pleased fans with his blustery defiance, but others saw anger and ego.Much like the past two months of the presidential campaign, the first Republican debate on Thursday night featured all the hallmarks of a Donald Trump production. But after two hours of blustery denunciation and defiance from the former “Apprentice” star, voters may be inching closer to changing the channel. From the opening bell, the Fox News moderators and his Republican rivals made Trump the center of attention, hammering him with contentious questions — which he would complain afterward were “not nice” — and frontal attacks. So far, the...

Glenn Beck reacted to Thursday’s first Republican presidential debate on his radio program Friday, saying it was the “best presidential debate” he has ever seen. “I expected a complete debacle because there was so many people,” Beck admitted. “But I think not only did I get a feel for every individual, I think some of my opinions were changed or enhanced on some individuals.” Beck’s analysis of the candidates’ performance is below in no specific order. Instead of ranking them numerically, he put them into broader categories like “big winner” and “big loser.”(continued)

“There are more cats…than there are Republican presidential candidates,” Neighbors fed up with cat colonyOne Norman neighborhood is reportedly the cat’s meow, with resident’s claiming wild felines are running amok. “There’s a lot of cats now,” said Nathan Hobbs. “There are more cats in this neighborhood, than there are Republican presidential candidates.” It’s a problem Nathan says has really heated up this summer. While Santa Claus has Donner, Dancer, and Prancer…Nathan has his own team. “There’s big gray, there’s little gray, there’s TFC,” said Hobbs. “You’ve got ring tail one, ring tail two, ring tail three…couple tabbies, and that giant...

Those in the reality-based community may laugh, but in Republican presidential politics, extremism is virtue. Is the way to watch the Republican debates tonight to set out a bowl of popcorn in the expectation that this conglomeration of candidates will produce truly memorable Comedy Central moments? As Bill Schneider at Reuters put it, “Is 2016 the year of the Republican clown car?” Dana Milbank of The Washington Post was quick to answer, “Clown car.” Politico’s Roger Simon said the “clown car has become a clown van.” Sen. Ted Cruz is frying bacon on a rifle barrel. Sen. Lindsey Graham put...

The only difference between Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush is that one’s a demon Democrat and he other a RINO, Republican in Name Only, neither needed by Americans after Obama’s massive plunder Donald Trump who excels at turning the tables on the mainstream media should do the same to the name-calling Jeb Bush and by association the haughty GOP masterminds running his wonky campaign. Bush, who never saw a minority to which he could not pander, has called Trump, “a “buffoon”, “a clown” and an a#*hole”. How sporting and gentleman-like NOT! Trump should counter by getting his fans and supporters...

There is only one way Donald Trump can win the Republican presidential nomination next year. It’s something he’s familiar with from his big business career. It’s called a hostile takeover. Trump’s supporters will have to beat the Republican Party establishment into submission. Wait a minute. Isn’t Trump the frontrunner for the Republican nomination going into the first debate? Yes. But he’s only got the support of a quarter of rank-and-file Republican voters. Nearly one-third of Republicans say they could not vote for Trump. Trump is winning the Tea Party base of the GOP. They’re activist and they’re influential. But the...

A super PAC supporting the presidential campaign of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) launched television ads Tuesday, the start of a seven-figure, nationwide ad blitz for the candidate. One of four super PACs supporting Cruz will spend millions this year on television, digital and radio ads both nationwide and in early primary and caucus states. The super PAC, Keep the Promise I, received $11 million from Robert Mercer, a New York hedge fund magnate. It also received $5,000 from William Lee Hanley Jr. of the Lexington Management Group, which franchises hotels. "Ted Cruz has proven that he won't back down from fighting...

Were Republicans trying to let Obama's Democrats curb-stomp them on the Planned Parenthood vote? The Republican congressional leadership’s embarrassing failure to open fire on the human body-part wholesalers of Planned Parenthood, a group that is at the very center of gravity of the American Left, is symptomatic of a larger, probably deadly pathogen flowing in the veins of the once-proud party of Lincoln. The collapse of the barely-there effort this week to deprive Planned Parenthood of taxpayer support for its ongoing, ever-expanding assembly line of horrors in which the group’s leaders harvest human fetuses before their time in order to...

Four years ago, only one Republican candidate was consistently hitting the same kind of polling heights among the presidential field that real estate mogul Donald Trump is reaching now. His name was Mitt Romney. The fact that Romney went on to capture his party’s nomination should be, at the very least, one basic reason why Trump’s recent surge can’t be dismissed as the aberration that so many pundits and party strategists claim it is. That doesn’t mean, of course, that Trump, who will command center stage at the first Republican presidential debate on Thursday, is going to wind up the...

Every political analyst, every political observer, every politician is absolutely sure that Donald Trump is not going to be the Republican nominee for president in 2016. And we’re all absolutely sure that Donald Trump is not going to be sworn in as president on January 20, 2017. Could we all be wrong? So far, every poll seems to only be giving him more strength. Who would have thought even a month ago that as we enter the first GOP debate of the presidential election that Donald Trump, The Donald Trump, would be the leader in every single national poll and...

Ted Cruz will campaign next week with Chris McDaniel, the insurgent conservative who mounted a high profile but ultimately unsuccessful primary challenge to Mississippi Sen. Thad Cochran last year. Cruz, the Texas senator and GOP presidential candidate, is planning a weeklong swing through the South. While in Mississippi on Tuesday, he’s set to stop in the northern cities of Tupelo and Olive Branch, and McDaniel is expected to accompany him during the trip and ride on Cruz’s campaign bus, Cruz spokeswoman Catherine Frazier confirmed. McDaniel initially edged Cochran in last summer’s primary election but fell just short of the majority...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The head of the Republican Party on Wednesday said its presidential candidates are unlikely to attack each other in the party's first official debate but instead are focused on ousting Democrats from the White House. Seventeen Republicans, led by outspoken billionaire Donald Trump, are seeking the party's presidential nomination. Only 10 will be on stage Thursday night in the first prime-time debate, which could offer a chance to break out of the pack. "Ultimately, the real issue here is Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and the fact that the country's really not in a good place right now,"...

The lowest moment from what was probably the lowest speech of his presidency — so far. David Harsanyi, watching this, asks a good question: Imagine what would have happened if Bush had said that Democrats were caucusing with Saddam Hussein?— David Harsanyi (@davidharsanyi) August 5, 2015 The GOP opposes the nuclear deal because they think it’s too favorable to Iran and not favorable enough to America. The hardliners in Iran’s parliament oppose the deal for the opposite reason. Insofar as they both want the deal to fail, I suppose that’s “common cause.” But then, as Harsanyi says, it must also...

President Obama: I realize that resorting to force may be tempting in the face of the rhetoric and behavior that emanates from parts of Iran. It is offensive. It is incendiary. We do take it seriously. But superpowers should not act impulsively in response to talks… Just because Iranian hardliners chant ‘Death to America” does not mean that that’s what all Iranians believe. In fact, it’s those hardliners that are more satisfied with the status quo. It’s those hardliners chanting “death to America” who’ve been most opposed to the deal. They’re making common cause with the Republican Caucus.

Many headlines over the weekend were dedicated to a CNN/ORC poll showing Donald Trump leading the Republican pack in the race for the GOP presidential nomination and Hillary Clinton maintaining real but shrinking leads against all of the top Republican contenders. One detail, however, got less attention than it perhaps deserved. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, currently Clinton’s most viable rival for the Democratic nomination, wins in head-to-head competitions against all three Republican frontrunners. Among all respondents to the poll, Sanders, a self-described socialist who has been running to Clinton’s left, beats former Florida governor Jeb Bush 48 percent to 47....

Now that we know who will be in on both debates, let's keep an eye out and discuss the various possibilities and then watch the debates. Feel free to talk about anything debate-related and please consider donating to the FReepathon as generously as you can. Anyone who comes up with debate information, please keep us updated.

Most of the Republicans attacking Donald Trump are missing the real significance of the Donald and his popularity. A lot of Republicans and independents don’t like establishment Republicans. They see them as an entitled elite that talks big but then compromises their principles in order to serve the interests of big business and to get along with their fellow social elites in the other party. They look at a Republican Congress’s record so far and see very little legislative pushback against an arrogant, lawless Progressive administration under which the federal Leviathan has waxed ever fatter and more intrusive.

If you had to vote in your state primary/caucus today, knowing what you know now about the various declared and probable candidates, who would you vote for? Why? Who would you like to see as the running mate for your preferred candidate? If you could help staff your candidates cabinet and other top appointments, who would you choose? If you could recommend different congressional leaders than we have now, who would they be? And who would you like to see on the Supreme Court and why? And finally, feel free to donate to Free Republic.

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Like Jonathan S. Tobin at Commentary, I have little doubt that TrumpMania will soon fade away. There has always been a willingness among a part of the electorate to get behind an angry outsider, but when push comes to shove, even those voters opt for a candidate they can trust. Trump simply isn’t that guy. Tobin’s third argument, which I consider to be the most important one, is as follows: "Third, the assumption on the part of some that a public that has been watching Trump on TV for years already knows all it cares to learn about the man...