Free Republic

After once declaring he could never support Donald Trump as the Republican nominee, Mark Levin changed his mind with a big announcement on his radio program Tuesday. “I’m gonna vote for Donald Trump. I’m gonna wind up voting for Donald Trump on Election Day," the talk radio host said after reiterating his perspective that Texas Sen. Ted Cruz was a far better choice for conservatives. "I take no responsibility for the dumb things he says or the dumb things his surrogates say," he added of the GOP nominee and his campaign. Levin's endorsement comes five months after unequivocally stating, "I...

I've long said that the differences between so-called establishment Republicans and grassroots conservatives are about more than tactics in budgetary battles with President Obama and congressional Democrats. The current Cruz-Rubio flap validates my position. Establishment Republicans have been enormously frustrated with the grassroots for wanting to call Obama's bluff in these budget battles to the point of allowing the government to shut down. They have maintained this is a fool's errand that will only help Democrats because shutdowns will always be blamed on the GOP, supposedly the party of limited government. The establishment has been particularly derisive of Ted Cruz...

Keene, New Hampshire (CNN)Jeb Bush on Thursday defended using the term "anchor babies" after Democrats hounded the former Florida governor and his presidential rival, Donald Trump, for using the term this week. "No, I don't. I don't regret it," Bush said sharply, growing testy with a questioner while talking to reporters. Pressed further, a more agitated Bush fired off: "No, do you have a better term? OK, you give me, you give me a better term and I'll use it. I'm serious." Interestingly, it was an answer that Trump gave almost verbatim the night before, also in New Hampshire, when...

Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush said Wednesday that blocking federal police money to cities that harbor immigrants in the U.S. illegally would be a way to corral those who have committed crimes. During a campaign event at a VFW hall in southern New Hampshire, Bush said it's not inconsistent for him to support allowing immigrants who overstayed visas to pursue activities that allow them to remain in the U.S., while also stepping up policies to root out criminal offenders who are also immigrants. "We ought to eliminate sanctuary cities," Bush told more than 300 people at an evening town hall...

Washington (AFP) - The rise of the brutal Islamic State group can partly be blamed on President Barack Obama's failure to arm moderate Syrian rebels far earlier, said former US defense secretary Leon Panetta. It comes after the United States Congress on Thursday passed Obama's plan to train and arm moderate Syrian rebels to battle Islamic State jihadists, a key plank of his strategy to smash the militants who have overrun vast areas of Iraq and Syria. Panetta told CBS's "60 Minutes" news program in an interview aired Sunday that he and then secretary of state Hillary Clinton had urged...

Though set to retire from the U.S. House after her term expires at the end of this year, Michele Bachmann may not be done with electoral politics. The Minnesota congresswoman and 2012 Republican presidential candidate told RealClearPolitics on Tuesday that she is considering a second White House run. Bachmann made the revelation during an interview, in which she was asked for her view on whether any Republican women might seek the Oval Office in 2016. “The only thing that the media has speculated on is that it’s going to be various men that are running,” she replied. “They haven’t speculated,...

The Obama administration is stepping up its attempts to court China’s support for isolating Russia over its military intervention in Ukraine. With official comments from China appearing studiously neutral since the Ukraine crisis began, President Barack Obama spoke to Chinese President Xi Jinping late Sunday in a bid to get Beijing off the fence. The call was their first known conversation since Russian forces took control of Ukraine’s pro-Moscow Crimea region. It came amid signals that Russian President Vladimir Putin was hardening his position on Crimea, which is due to vote on joining Russia in a referendum this weekend that...

House Oversight and Government Reform Chairman Darrell Issa has teamed up with Sen. Lamar Alexander to demand that the Obama administration turn over documents related to the deeply troubled HealthCare.gov. In a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Issa and Alexander warn that if documents related to the health insurance exchange website are not turned over to both chambers by Oct. 28, the House may move to subpoena them. “If you do not comply with the Committees’ requests by 5:00 pm on October 28, 2013, the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform will be forced to consider...

Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) today agreed to be the lead sponsor of a Senate bill to ban abortion after an unborn child is 20 weeks old. A similar measure passed the House last month and a state version is now being debated in the Texas legislature, where it is likely to be approved. Marco Antonio Rubio With Rubio’s presence, the bill is certain to gain enormous media attention and thus more national visibility for the issue of limiting late term abortions. Right-to-life groups have urged Rubio to take the lead on the issue, believing he would be the strongest possible...

National Republicans are pulling the plug on Mark Sanford’s suddenly besieged congressional campaign, POLITICO has learned — a potentially fatal blow to the former South Carolina governor’s dramatic comeback bid. Blindsided by news that Sanford’s ex-wife has accused him of trespassing and concluding he has no plausible path to victory, the National Republican Congressional Committee has decided not to spend more money on Sanford’s behalf ahead of the May 7 special election.

Clinic director Fred Bauermeister has watched them pass through his doors for decades: chronically ill, uninsured men, women and children, who have delayed medical care because they are in the country illegally. Now, though, a political deal may be in the works that, after many years, could bring health benefits to millions of undocumented people. A bandwagon of endorsements last week by Congressional Republicans have aligned with vows by President Obama and Senate Democrats to establish comprehensive immigration reform. A road to citizenship for people who entered the country illegally seems more assured by the day, but what is less...

10.30.12 - 08:41 pm By Ray Gronberg gronberg@heraldsun.com; 919-419-6648 DURHAM – A new court filing purporting to be from Crystal Mangum says she can supply evidence in a Duke lacrosse lawsuit that she was paid, up front, to set up Duke University’s 2005-06 men’s lacrosse team. The filing surfaced on Tuesday, a day after federal court clerks in Greensboro received it from the U.S. Postal Service. It was styled as a motion by Mangum, acting as her own lawyer, asking that she be allowed to intervene in the civil-rights lawsuit that exonerated lacrosse players David Evans, Colin Finnerty and Reade...

I don't do vanities, but I guess I do now. My wife and I were talking last night, I was complaining and she said no nation that has embraced homosexuality has stood long. This got me to thinking and meditating on His word. Over the years, we all must admit, socialism of all stripes has taken hold of our Country. Things are getting worse. Why? We have taken God out of our daily lives. This homosexual in the military is simply one of the last strikes against God and He is removing His favor from us. All the natural disasters,...

Newt Gingrich demanded Friday that Mitt Romney stop the barrage of TV attack ads that badly damage him and Rick Santorum each time they seemed poised to make big strides in the GOP presidential race. Admitting to Louisiana voters that he can't match Romney and a pro-Romney super PAC in fundraising, Gingrich repeated a plea that thus far the front-running Romney has ignored. "I challenge Gov. Romney and his super PAC to pledge to take every negative ad about every Republican off the air, because it dishonors them, it weakens the Republican Party, and it helps Barack Obama," Gingrich told...

Just a simple vanity... Have we forgotten? This is intended as a poke in the eye to the GOP Sheeples squeeking for the rest of us to go along and get along. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dc_-L4fyLUo&feature=related

........There remains no one in the GOP field quite like Perry, a plain-speaking governor from a sprawling, Southwestern state who, when he says he's never been a creature of Washington, is telling it straight. With the debates behind him, he's been able to play to his strengths, his record as an 11-year governor, his anti-government attitude, and his capacity to bond with voters through allusions to faith, farm work and military service. But there's no doubt he has altered his approach. Gone are the days when he tried to stand toe-to-toe with front-runner Mitt Romney and boast about his job-creation...

<p>A large number of big name conservatives recently came out in support of Michele Bachmann.</p> <p>Steve Williams at examiner.com did a nice job of piecing together quotes as to why these people want Michele as President of the United States.</p>

Dear Friends, Today a friend who sacrificed much in the effort to lead our great country suspended his campaign. I want to wish Herman Cain, his wife Gloria, and the entire Cain Family the very best and God’s blessings as they move forward. Herman Cain’s appeal was that of a Washington Outsider – someone not beholden to the entrenched Beltway interests, and who hasn’t spent his life cutting deals at the expense of conservative principles. As the race goes forward, with the Iowa Caucuses 32 days away, I am truly the only Washington Outsider left in the race. I haven’t...

My first and probably last vanity. Picture a crowd of people gathered for a political rally. The speaker gives out the old bromide "Why are we here?" The crowd replies in a frenzy. "We want change!" Is this Occupy or a college campus? No, it's Free Republic. Let's face it, we all admire our favorite candidates in the Republican field. They all have their strengths and weaknesses, don't we all. The real problem is that they're unable to differentiate themselves from each other, in a defining manner. Considering the trampling of rights, unemployment, regulation, immigration, crime, education (lack of and...

When Mr Obama was handed unequivocal evidence in the autumn of 2009 that Iran was building a second nuclear enrichment facility at Qom, he preferred to take a soft approach. The inevitable new round of sanctions was implemented, but no meaningful action was taken to curtail Iran’s obsession with developing nuclear weapons. As we know from the 1930s, appeasement achieves little when it comes to confronting a determined foe for whom the normal laws of international conduct do not apply. And next week, the full extent of Iran’s duplicity will be laid bare, with the publication of the latest International...