Free Republic

This wasn’t the revolution the tea party had in mind. Four years ago, the movement and its potent mix of anger and populism persuaded thousands of costumed and sign-waving conservatives to protest the ballooning deficit and President Obama’s health care law. It swept a crop of no-compromise lawmakers into Congress and governor’s offices and transformed political up-and-comers, including Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, into household names. But as many tea party stars seek re-election next year and Rubio considers a 2016 presidential run, conservative activists are finding themselves at a crossroads. Many of their standard-bearers have embraced more moderate positions on...

This wasn't the revolution the Tea Party had in mind. Four years ago, the movement and its potent mix of anger and populism persuaded thousands of costumed and sign-waving conservatives to protest the ballooning deficit and President Obama's health care law. It swept a crop of no-compromise lawmakers into Congress and governor's offices and transformed political up-and-comers, including Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, into household names. But as many Tea Party stars seek re-election next year and Rubio considers a 2016 presidential run, conservative activists are finding themselves at a crossroads. Many of their standard-bearers have embraced more moderate positions on...

The parade of bad GOP candidates since Reagan has one thing in common: they were all rich men with no skin in the game, for whom victory was optional. The Bushes of Connecticut and Texas, the McCains of Arizona and the Romneys of all over the place had no downside to an electoral loss; they were all just as well-off as they were before the start of their campaigns, and could return to their multiple homes with no sense of personal loss, just a little chagrin at letting the team down. By contrast, the Democrats have fielded a succession of...

Sen. Lindsey Graham’s primary challenger retweeted a tweet that calls him “Nancy boy,” according to the Sunlight Foundation’s Politwoops, which monitors politicians’ deleted tweets. Nancy Mace on Tuesday tweeted: “RT @PaulSteel4: @nancymace we support you here in Florida. Nancy Mace vs Nancy boy graham.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham’s primary challenger retweeted a tweet that calls him “Nancy boy,” according to the Sunlight Foundation’s Politwoops, which monitors politicians’ deleted tweets.

Former Republican Congressman and Drug Czar Asa Hutchinson (at right) holds an eight-point lead over his Democratic rival for governor, former Democratic Rep. Mike Ross, D. The two men are vying to replace Gov. Mike Beebe, D, who defeated Hutchinson for the job in 2006 but cannot run again due to term limits. The Conservative Intel poll of Arkansas, whose Senate results were released yesterday, was conducted by Harper Polling and surveyed 587 likely voters in the state...

...Consider it an economics lesson for the ideologues — some workers are more highly valued by their employers than others.

The presidential election ended almost nine months ago, but Mitt Romney re-emerged Tuesday to continue his fight against President Barack Obama’s policies and assert himself as a Republican Party elder at a time when the party is struggling to find its path forward. Romney sought to re-establish himself as a force within the GOP with a speech in the politically crucial state of New Hampshire, weighing in on the fractious battles to play out within the Republican Party since last November. The former Massachusetts governor most pointedly sought to tamp down a charge led by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and...

<p>WASHINGTON – CIA Director John Brennan is making public his letter to CIA employees who survived the attacks on U.S. facilities in Benghazi, Libya, that requests they share their firsthand accounts with the congressional intelligence committees.</p>

Moscow, August 7, Interfax – Delays in the process of suppressing terrorists in Syria can result in setting up an Islamic caliphate in the country, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov believes. "Earlier, we saw how some members of the Security Council didn’t want to condemn terrorist acts in Syria, saying, that, no matter how cynical it may sound, those who carry out these acts struggle against the regimen, which exhausted itself. This position is absolutely unacceptable, terrorism should be treated without any double standards," he said at a press conference summing up his talks with Ghana Foreign Minister Hannah Tetteh....

#BreakingNews - Activists: #FSA downs Iranian cargo plane at #Damascus International Airport. #Syria

Arizona Senator John McCain is in Egypt with South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham just weeks after the new government, run by the Muslim Brotherhood, was overthrown by the military. Former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi was heavily protested by millions of people as he tried to turn the fragile State into a dictatorship under Sharia law. More from The Daily Beast: During their whirlwind tour of Cairo Tuesday, two top GOP senators held the most extensive meeting to date between U.S. officials and senior officials in the embattled Muslim Brotherhood, whose supporters are fighting in the streets to overturn last month’s...

The Syrian Army attacked a large group of antigovernment insurgents near the capital, Damascus, on Wednesday, killing more than 60, according to monitors and state media. The rebels killed near Damascus belonged to the Nusra Front, and some were foreigners, SANA said. It published a series of photographs showing bloodstained bodies in olive drab uniforms lying on what seemed to be open sandy, desert ground. The Nusra Front is an extremist group that the United States has designated a terrorist organization. In recent months, government forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad have been seeking to clear areas around Damascus of...

The FSA's statement said that three military officers, one of them a colonel, were killed. The Free Syrian Army (FSA) shot down a helicopter and 3 military officers in the helicopter were killed. According to a written statement by the FSA, the FSA's troops shot down a military helicopter with a missile near the International Damascus Airport. The statement said that three military officers, one of them a colonel, were killed. There was no statement or comment from the Syrian administration about the incident.

U.S. House Speaker John Boehner, R Ohio, spoke at a fundraiser for U.S. Rep. Scott Perry's campaign committee... Dozens of immigration reform advocates, union representatives, supporters of President Barack Obama and others protested outside a fundraiser for U.S. Rep. Scott Perry's campaign committee. The main target of their criticism was the guest speaker: U.S. House Speaker John Boehner, R Ohio..... Tickets for the private fundraiser started at $500 for an individual and $750 for a couple.... Bob Wilson, chairman of the York County Republican Committee, attended the fundraiser. He said Obamacare and tax reform were two major topics during the...

As a Conservative, I hold these truths to be self evident: (in no particular order) * Life begins at the moment of conception. Abortion, for any reason, real or imagined, is murder. * The Right to Bear Arms is an unalienable right that the government cannot infringe on in any way. Background checks, "assault weapon" bans, magazine capacity rules, and the like are completely unconstitutional. *Global warming is as much of a fraud as the "Next Ice Age" scare was in the 1970's. *Illegal aliens are criminals and should be treated as such. There should be no amnesty for illegal...

Appearing on Fox, Pat Caddell said Monday that John Boehner quietly went-along the harebrained Libya-Syria gun running scheme that blew up in the Obama regime's face last year -without proper congressional approval- and now fears the consequences of his own grave errors.  Thus, the House Speaker is no more interested in a real Benghazigate probe than Hillary Clinton would be- this despite 70% support for the appointment of a Select Committee among congressional Republicans... So how can we force this duplicitous crapweasel to do the right thing? As Mark Levin says, Boehner 'doesn't give a damn', and clearly has NO interest in...

Reince Preibus’ ultimatum to NBC and CNN regarding what appear to be Hillary Clinton infomercials is certainly refreshing evidence of some testosterone within the halls of the GOP establishment, indicating that perhaps there is more than just the starch in their button down shirts -- there may even be some courage. Having said that, this ultimatum is at least one election cycle and one "War on Women" too late, and begs the question: why in the world did the Republican Party ever think it was a good idea to have liberal Democrats moderate – and dominate – GOP primary season...

Unrest in Egypt could turn into “all-out bloodshed” in coming days if efforts to find a political solution fail, U.S. Senator John McCain warned on Tuesday during a visit to Cairo. “Oh my God; I didn’t know it was this bad. These folks are just days or weeks away from all-out bloodshed,” McCain said during an interview in Cairo with “CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley.” McCain and fellow Republican Senator Lindsey Graham met with Egypt’s new rulers as reports said the country’s military-installed government could soon announce that foreign efforts to mediate a peaceful end to the country’s political...

The Egyptian government is set to declare on Wednesday that foreign mediation efforts to end the political crisis in the country have failed, Reuters reported Tuesday night, citing the Al-Ahram newspaper. … It would also declare that Muslim Brotherhood protests against the army’s overthrow of President Mohammed Morsi were non-peaceful—a signal that the government intends to end them by force. The report appeared hours after two senior U.S. senators on a mediation mission said they considered Morsi’s removal to have been a military coup—causing an uproar in the Egyptian media and drawing a strong riposte from the acting president. The...