Free Republic

Robert Draper’s New York Times magazine piece, “Has the ‘Libertarian Moment’ Finally Arrived?” dutifully if rotely runs through the greatest hits: Kennedy was on MTV, Nick Gillespie wears black and quotes Jack Kerouac, people bring guns to PorcFest, David Koch exists, libertarians disagree about abortion, and Rand Paul is not the ideologue his father is. There are some notable false notes, too: Draper describes Glenn Beck as a “partisan gunslinger” when he is if anything the opposite, a man who believes that “the Republicans have betrayed their own values” and who pronounces himself “done with them.” Glenn Beck no longer...

In the August issue of Townhall Magazine, where this column originally appeared, RedState director Bryan Pruitt makes the case for why it's far past time for Arizona Republicans to find a real conservative to represent their state. It seems that you can’t go a day lately without Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) appearing on television advocating the United States invade another country. On a recent particularly snarky appearance, when asked to name one country we absolutely shouldn’t invade no matter what the circumstance, an answer eluded him. Not even Canada, really? Now of course, the context for the conversation was the...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)Wednesday’s political coverage was about as predictable as the drive by media fawning over the Obama regime. The narrative had already been set. Now the media, flush with Potomac fever, a disease far worse than Ebola, announced the tea party is dead. For liberals, the tea party probably is like a monster from a bad horror movie. Unfortunately, liberals never seem to learn. The monster in the bad horror movie never dies. Neither does the tea party. The left picked a curious race to call as the end of the tea party. In Kansas, Dr. Milton Wolf, Barack Obama’s second...

Three events occurred in the tight confines of Capitol Hill last week that underscore the Republican Party’s extraordinary institutional decline and its responsibility for the Congress’ fully deserving its “do-nothing” label. First, early in the week, all but seven Republicans in the GOP – controlled House of Representatives voted to give Speaker of the House John Boehner of Ohio the go-ahead to sue President Obama because they claim his executive orders are in violation of the constitution. The purpose of that “political stunt” – the president’s words for the lawsuit, which he and the Democrats have come to relish for...

Via RCP, I want to believe it, I almost believe it — but I don’t really believe it. All the makings of a Democratic clusterfark are there. If O legalizes five million workers, plenty of blue-collar Democrats are bound to put two and two together and wonder what that means for their wages. And plenty of Democratic Senate incumbents in red states, like, oh, let’s say Mark Pryor, are going to panic, knowing what could happen if the backlash among conservatives is as ferocious as everyone expects. In fact, as Newt alludes to, both Pryor and North Carolina’s Kay Hagan...

Lately, I had been thinking about writing a piece asking the question of whether Senator Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) is more like the late Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) or if he is more like President Ronald Reagan. For those of you who don’t remember — or who weren’t born yet — the irascible Helms served in the Senate from 1973-2003. He was well known for his independent streak, and he was certainly not shy about ignoring the will of Senate leaders when he did not see things their way. Some of his stubborn pursuits and lonely battles in the Senate are...

As many others have noted, the high point here is Rand Paul bailing out mid-bite as soon as he hears the word “DREAM.” He’ll get in your face on foreign policy and he’ll push bold, controversial ideas like restoring voting rights to felons, but put him on camera in the middle of a squabble between Steve “Cantaloupe Calves” King and a pair of illegals when he’s gearing up for 2016 and all that’s left is one of those little dust clouds like in a Roadrunner cartoon. If not for that, my favorite moment would be Erika Andiola reassuring King that...

The Republican Party’s “nativist elements” have successfully undermined Congress’ many attempts to pass comprehensive immigration reform, President Obama griped in an interview published over the weekend by the Economist. Obama’s remarks were made during a broader discussion that covered the health of the U.S. economy, job growth and the responsibilities of business leaders. “There’s a huge gap between the professed values and visions of corporate CEOs and how their lobbyists operate in Washington,” he said, claiming that businesses must be genuine when it comes to being socially engaged and giving back to the community. “And I’ve said this to various...

Chris McDaniel on Monday officially contested results showing he lost a Republican primary to Mississippi Sen. Thad Cochran, revealing what his camp alleges is evidence of voter fraud and other irregularities. "They asked us to put up or shut up. Here we are. Here we are with the evidence," McDaniel said at a news conference in Jackson. McDaniel, a state senator, has refused to concede the June 24 runoff result and filed a formal challenge with the Mississippi Republican Party's executive committee. The case could eventually wind up in court. The challenge outlined claims of more than 15,000 cases of...

Editors Note: The MSM continues to react to the turning point in the immigration debate that occurred last week in DC. We reprint here.Don’t be confused about what happened in the House of Representatives on Friday: It was a huge win for the far right, a major victory for Ted Cruz, an embarrassment for John Boehner, and, potentially, a pivotal moment that will make future dealings between the White House and congressional Republicans, if you can possibly believe it, far worse than they’ve been already. What happened, as you probably know, is that Boehner had a bill ready to go...

Michael Steele thinks House Speaker John Boehner needs to keep closer tabs on Sen. Ted Cruz. The former Republican National Committee chairman on Monday poked fun at reports that some House Republicans changed their minds on crucial border legislation last week after meeting with Cruz, the Texas Republican and tea party icon. “For John Boehner, whenever any of his members says, ‘Hey, I’m about to have pizza and beer with Ted Cruz,’ he should be concerned,” Steele joked. “Really look at the calendar and see if there’s a vote coming up,” he said, adding that Cruz “undermined” GOP leaders. Steele...

Blending a muscular foreign policy with a combative domestic agenda, Sen. Ted Cruz on Tuesday told young conservatives the end of the Obama era will mean a “return of freedom to this country.” Speaking to the Young America’s Foundation in Washington, the Texas Republican reiterated his opposition to Obamacare, the Democrats’ disastrous health care reform law, and tried to channel President Ronald Reagan in urging a tougher American response to Russian machinations in Eastern Europe. “Mr. Putin, give back Crimea,” Cruz said, echoing Reagan’s famous “tear down this wall” to the Soviets in Berlin in 1987, according to Business Insider....

History tells us the “six-year itch” is a very real thing, and there’s little Obama’s Democrats can do to stave off a big loss this November.Time has been cruel to many once-revered political assertions. No, all politics is not local. No, the road to the White House does not lead through New Hampshire. The “solid South” hasn’t been a solid Democratic redoubt since 1944; “rock ribbed Republican” New England has yielded a grand total of four electoral votes for the GOP in the last six Presidential elections. If you’re looking for a truism that remains true, then reach out and...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)Syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks join Judy Woodruff to discuss the weekÂ’s top news, including the struggle on Capitol Hill to find a resolution to the political division on the border crisis before Congress leaves for August recess, as well as how these events will affect the November election, plus the outlook for ending the war between Israel and Hamas. (AUDIO-AT-LINK)TRANSCRIPT JUDY WOODRUFF: In Washington, House Republicans were racing to pass something on the border crisis after a day of confusion and chaos on Capitol Hill Thursday. For a taste of what went on...

House Republicans looked set to pass a bill on Thursday aimed at addressing the crisis on the southern border. After being revised repeatedly in order to appease conservative members who thought the bill did not go far enough, the leadership appeared to have settled on a final version which enjoyed broad support. The package even had the backing of moderate Democrats like Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX). “GOP leaders went to great lengths to secure passage by allowing a separate vote on a measure that would block Obama from any further executive action to stop the deportation of undocumented immigrants brought...

In the short term, the House GOP’s failure to pass an emergency immigration bill on Thursday over tea party opposition was another embarrassing moment for Speaker Boehner in a growing list. But the political damage may be limited: Americans tend to pay little attention to process stories in Congress, and the 2014 elections haven’t been particularly focused on immigration. Something Americans do pay attention to, however, are presidential elections. Here’s where this week’s border skirmish starts to look more significant. The key player in this drama is Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, who has been working to corner the market...

First-term senator wielding such influence in House is sign of ongoing tumult in Republican Party.The beginning of the collapse of House Speaker John A. Boehner’s border bill came Wednesday evening, when Texas Sen. Ted Cruz gathered more than a dozen House Republicans at his office in the Dirksen building on Capitol Hill. It was there, as Boehner (R-Ohio) held his own meetings on the other side of Constitution Avenue, that Cruz heard that the speaker didn’t have enough votes — and realized that if his House allies held firm, he could rupture the fragile coalition supporting the measure. Around the...

You gotta be kiddin' me!!!! ********************************************************* Friend, We’d never doubt you. Throughout the year, you’ve heard from Republican figures – elected officials and other organization heads – asking you to contribute to various campaigns and causes. It’s easy to get frustrated. Your past support is beyond question; through thick and thin, even when Washington has failed you, you’ve stayed true to the cause of building a better future for our country. This is a historic election and we’ll all participate as we can. For some that will mean making phone calls every weekend or walking neighborhoods with friends – for...

The Texas senator convinces all of his enemies to praise his intellect. Here's why they're wrong -- and should stop. Even Ted Cruz’s critics seem to concur on one point: whatever else you might say about him, the man is very smart. Mother Jones magazine has called him the “thinking man’s tea partier.” Josh Marshall, in a mostly withering assessment, made the same obligatory concession to his being an “incredibly bright guy.” Jeffrey Toobin’s recent, ostensibly critical New Yorker profile of Cruz is full of quotes about his being “the smartest guy in the room,” his “sophisticated” constitutional views, and...

While the country has become more liberal in some ways, the Republican Party has moved to the extreme right, and the Democratic Party has filled in the vacuum in the middle by also moving to the right on many issues. As a consequence, many people who previously considered themselves in the middle are finding that the current views of the left are closer to their views. Thomas Ricks, who wrote Fiasco, and excellent look at the Iraq War, described why he moved to the left at Politico: Disappointment in the American government over the last 10 years. Our wars in...