Free Republic

A top House leader predicted Monday that Washington will avoid stumbling into a government shutdown next week over a tea party-backed drive to take away Planned Parenthood's funding. Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy added, however, that Congress may need additional time to work through a massive, $1.1 trillion catchall spending bill that tops the agenda as lawmakers return to Capitol Hill for a two- or three-week sprint to finish this year's session. McCarthy, R-Calif., told reporters that "I do not hear people shutting the government down over it right now," referring to demands by some conservatives to attach language to "defund"...

The headlines recently have been full of suggestions that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is solidifying his lead while the other real outsider in the race, Ben Carson, is firmly in second place — and that the political class’s favorites, including Jeb Bush, John Kasich and Marco Rubio, can’t gain traction. I don’t buy it. Republicans should not overcommit to the notion that Trump, much less Carson, are serious candidates for the Republican nomination for 2016. I’ll admit to being a little perplexed by the polls right now. When Trump entered the race, I said he would max out somewhere...

Romney rips N.H. official’s ‘vile epithet’ (Calls on town officer to quit) [Mitt Defends Obama] May 17, 2014 - "Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has called on a New Hampshire town official to resign for calling President Obama a racial epithet. The Wolfeboro, N.H., police commissioner who has stood by his comment calling President Obama a racial slur is facing a growing cascade of calls to step down, including from the tiny lakeside town’s most famous summer resident — one-time Obama opponent Mitt Romney. “The vile epithet used and confirmed by the commissioner has no place in our community ,”...