Free Republic

Guy Benson got a nice scoop at our sister site on a new ad from the National Republican Senatorial Committee highlighting Harry Reid’s attack on people who “dare to complain about ObamaCare.” Consider this just the first salvo in the breach opened by Reid, as I described earlier today:

[1]Last week, there was one of those mommy-and-daddy-are-fighting moments on Fox News as two powerhouse conservatives debated one of the most important issues facing the right. In one corner, was the dagger-sharp and stunningly beautiful and did I mention beautiful Ann Coulter. In the other corner, was the valiant, good-hearted and, you know, perfectly presentable in his own way Sean Hannity. No one can doubt either the patriotism or the fearlessness of these two. You may sometimes disagree with one or the other, that’s fine, but it seems undeniable that both have the good of the country first and...

WASHINGTON, February 21, 2014 – Hang around Republican circles long enough and you will hear, “We have got to stop these circular firing squads.” The logic is simple; Republicans are killing themselves with internecine wars instead of going out and defeating liberals. It is a great theory. Perhaps the best word for it is theory. As conservatives are discovering, though, what Republicans who complain about the circular firing squad really want is a semi-circular firing squad. These voices in the Republican Party want conservatives to stop shooting at them, while they try to take out insurgent conservatives. Texas Senator...

Imagine watching the man marching in front of you taken out by snipers. Scott Walker must know the feeling, having seen what the media did to Chris Christie.Bridgegate did its work. Last December we read this:"Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie are in a dead heat in a hypothetical 2016 presidential matchup with the recently reelected governor leading by 1 point in a new poll.""Christie leads Clinton 42 percent to 41 percent in a Quinnipiac poll released Wednesday. Christie’s 1-point lead is the same as Quinnipiac’s poll in November, but a far cry from...

Moving cautiously to repair his image, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is maintaining a low profile this weekend as the nation’s governors gather in Washington. Republican officials have been eager to change the subject as Democrats link Christie’s troubles to vulnerable GOP governors in a challenging election season. The usually outspoken Christie is scheduled to attend just one public event over the three-day annual meeting. He avoided a media-sponsored forum on Friday, wasn’t granting interviews, won’t attend a White House dinner and was skipping a news conference hosted by the Republican Governors Association, an organization he heads. …

Healthcare industry lobbyists connected with the Republican establishment in Washington are making a concerted effort to sink the campaign of the Nebraska Republican who has been branded the “anti-Obamacare candidate,” Breitbart News has learned....

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Democrats are targeting as hypocrits Republicans who voted against stimulus funding and then sought money for their state’s or districts. A pair in the crosshairs are U.S. Sens. John Cornyn and Kay Bailey Hutchison, both R-Texas. The Environmental Protection Agency received two letters from Sen. John Cornyn of Texas asking for consideration of grants for clean diesel projects in San Antonio and Houston. Mr. Cornyn is the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. One of the letters was signed jointly with Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, also of Texas. The letter said...

The senior senator from Texas predicted little movement in Congress for the rest of the year on immigration reform, or much of anything, during a campaign stop in Longview Sunday. “I think this is going to be about mitigating the policies of the president,” Republican Sen. John Cornyn said, noting the GOP needs a net six-seat gain to win control of the Senate. “We’ll be in strategic position to mitigate some of the harm of some of those policies.” Cornyn brushed off a recent, milder push-back on Obamacare to “mend it, don’t end it.” “You can’t actually update the policies...

he notion that MSNBC is now the most controversial gaffe-a-minute cable news network has been ratified by the Associated Press. AP media reporter David Bauder wrote a story headlined “Loose lips give ammunition to MSNBC foes.” “Since MSNBC is in the political ring, its opponents are always on the lookout for things to attack,” Bauder wrote. “Lately, NBC's left-leaning cable news sister has offered plenty of ammunition.” The firing of a staff member over an obnoxious tweet that the “rightwing” would hate a Cheerios ad with a biracial family comes after Alec Baldwin and Martin Bashir were let go. Now...

Each of the five polls taken since December have had the race tight, but this is the first one showing Alison Lundergan Grimes in the lead. Noise or omen?I know what you’re thinking, but don’t celebrate just yet. “This is not going to be a coast for Mitch McConnell,” said pollster Jay Leve of Survey USA. “It’s going to be a dogfight. Every vote is going to matter. This election is going to have national consequences. We’re going to see a lot of money from outside interests flow into Kentucky.”…Sixty percent of likely voters in the Bluegrass Poll disapprove of...

With Chris Christie still stuck in a traffic scandal at the foot of the George Washington Bridge, the donors and Main Street Republicans who make up the bulk of the GOP center-right establishment can be forgiven for feeling a little nervous. If Christie fades, this cohort, which boosted both Mitt Romney and John McCain to the nomination, fear that a Tea Party-fueled candidate will take over the party, leading to a drubbing at the hands of the Democrats come November 2016. Thus hopes have turned to Jeb Bush as a possible savior, even though the Florida governor has been out...

Democracy is starting to get me down. Oh, I know what you're thinking: I write regularly about American politics, and democracy is only just starting to get me down? Okay, good point. Maybe I should say that democracy is starting to get me down even more than it usually does. And why is that? Because it's beginning to dawn on me that Jeb Bush is probably going to be the Republican Party's nominee for president in 2016. Consider: With the ongoing implosion of Chris Christie's political career, the GOP establishment has lost its best hope for a candidate who could...

The establishment is gunning for Tea Party congressmen who back civil liberties and oppose war, and is putting tens of millions of dollars on the line to defeat them in 2014. Congressman Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) claimed on MSNBC’s Now With Alex Wagner January 15: "It’s often said this is not your father’s or grandfather’s Republican Party. It’s not even the Republican Party of five years ago. These folks have gone Tea Party over the edge and they’re obsessive. They’re extremists, and quite frankly, they’ve destroyed the Republican Party and used it only in name. The fact is, we haven’t done...

One of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie's (R) bodyguards was charged with shoplifting in Berks County, PA. He has since been suspended without pay.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, after a low-key initial response to Friday’s explosive allegations about his involvement in a bridge-closing scandal, mounted an aggressive defense late Saturday afternoon, attacking The New York Times and a former political ally in an email to friends and allies obtained by POLITICO. “Bottom line — David Wildstein will do and say anything to save David Wildstein,” the email from the governor’s office says, referring to the former appointee who reignited the controversy.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was greeted with a scattering of boos when he appeared at a Super Bowl ceremony in New York City on Saturday. The embattled governor wouldn't answer questions from the press about the bridge-gate scandal sparked when his top aides orchestrated traffic gridlock on the George Washington Bridge connecting New York and New Jersey as apparent political retribution. He has denied any knowledge of an plot.

Video at link. The federal criminal investigation into New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez is broader than previously known, NBC 4 New York has learned. The Department of Justice is investigating Menendez's efforts on behalf of two fugitive bankers from Ecuador, multiple current and former U.S, officials tell NBC 4 New York. The probe into Menendez’s dealing with the bankers comes as federal authorities are also investigating his relationship to a big campaign donor from Florida. The criminal investigation is focusing in part on the senator’s ties to William and Roberto Isaias and whether the senator crossed a line in trying...

The former Port Authority official who personally oversaw the lane closings on the George Washington Bridge in the scandal now swirling around Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey said on Friday that the governor knew about the lane closings when they were happening, and that he had the evidence to prove it. In a letter released by his lawyer, the official, David Wildstein, a high school friend of Mr. Christie’s who was appointed with the governor’s blessing at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which controls the bridge, described the order to close the lanes as “the...

The New York Times changed the lede of its explosive story about former New York Port Authority official David Wildstein on Friday. Whereas the original story stated that Wildstein has the evidence to prove Gov. Chris Christie knew about the George Washington Bridge lane closings when they were happening, the new version has Wildstein saying “evidence exists.” […] This seemingly minor change carries a big difference in meaning. The original lede reads as though Wildstein is saying he specifically has evidence that links Christie to knowing about the bridge lane closures. The second lede suggests only that “evidence exists,” not...

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's former campaign manager will plead the Fifth Amendment when he is asked about his role in an apparent plot to create a traffic jam in Fort Lee, N.J., according to a filing from his lawyer. The campaign manager, Bill Stepien, was one of two people disciplined for his actions related to the access lane closures, shortly after the apparent scheme was disclosed in a series of e-mails and text messages...