Donald Trump Sets New Pro-Life Standard

The only thing a candidate can ever offer is words. He can’t act on what he will do because he’s speaking about the future, not the present. Yet Donald Trump has actually raised the bar for what pro-lifers can expect from Republican candidates, despite his troubling personal history on the issue. This sounds counter-intuitive: even if pro-lifers support Trump, shouldn’t they feel they’re taking a step backwards? Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry urged this in The Week, saying “If pro-lifers vote for Trump, the Republican Party will never again give them what they want.” But Gobry and others are ignoring Trump’s positions —

Might Cruz and Kasich Form a Ticket?

Political analysts disagree on whether it is more likely Donald Trump will arrive at the Republican convention in July with a 1,237 delegate majority or whether no candidate will have the majority and the convention will be contested. The Dallas Morning News reports that for Trump to get 1,237, he needs to win 60 percent of the remaining delegates in upcoming races starting with Utah and Arizona next week. For Ted Cruz to get 1,237, he would need to win 87 percent of the remaining delegates. And for John Kasich to get 1,237, he would need to win 116 percent of the

Conservatives Debate How to Stop Trump

Conservatives seem to agree on the need to stop Donald Trump’s burgeoning candidacy, but they disagree on a strategy. The first obstacle is how to somehow combine Ted Cruz’s and Marco Rubio’s 20-25 percent of the vote each into a 40-50 percent block to contend with Trump. Various conservatives have urged their allies to coalesce around Cruz, or alternatively, around Rubio. Cruz advocates, such as The Federalist‘s D.C. McAllister, contend “Rubio Needs to Move Aside for Cruz, not Vice Versa.” McAllister cites Cruz’s expertise for picking Supreme Court justices and contends that many Cruz voters would drift to Trump and not

Will GOP Senators Hold Firm to Let Voters Determine Scalia’s Replacement?

As Justice Antonin Scalia’s funeral services take place this weekend, the political clash over his Supreme Court seat is heating up. Thursday evening, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee Chuck Grassley penned a joint op-ed in The Washington Post laying down a bright line: “It is today the American people, rather than a lame-duck president whose priorities and policies they just rejected in the most-recent national election, who should be afforded the opportunity to replace Justice Scalia.” This comes in the wake of a grassroots movement spearheaded by conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, #NoHearingsNoVotes, also

After Justice Scalia’s Passing, Republicans Need a Unified Message

Republicans have a winning message on the replacement of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, and all the candidates need to get on board. It’s a two part message. Let the people decide in November, because President Obama’s (or Hillary’s) appointee would radicalize the country. The Senate is exercising its constitutional duty to withhold consent by holding no hearings or votes, so that it can preserve the people’s right to vote on the court’s direction this November. And what they are voting on is a specific set of issues: a court that would impose partial-birth abortion, delete the Second Amendment, and

Cruz’s Attack on Rubio Over Planned Parenthood Falls Flat

Ted Cruz on Friday claimed that Marco Rubio holds a weaker position on defunding Planned Parenthood than he does, but pro-life leaders quickly contradicted Cruz’s claim. At the Faith and Family Presidential Forum yesterday, Cruz, speaking after Rubio had concluded, claimed that Rubio opposed Cruz’s call “to use the power of Congress to defund Planned Parenthood.” But Rubio cast votes to do exactly that, in both August and December of last year. The latter vote was particularly significant because it is the only bill that the Republicans have successfully put on President Obama’s desk to defund Planned Parenthood. All other efforts

What Republicans Should Learn from Rubio’s Brilliant Pro-Life Answer

Marco Rubio’s second most memorable remark at last Saturday’s debate, answering a question on abortion, may give us more lessons on how Republicans should address the abortion issue. Rubio was confronted by the debate moderator for defending the right to life of babies even if they are conceived in rape. Despite a Thursday letter to all campaigns by Marjorie Dannenfelser of the pro-life Susan B. Anthony List urging Republicans not to attack each other for taking the pro-life view, both Jeb Bush and Chris Christie doubled down on attacking Rubio during the debate. And Rubio again refused to back down, giving an answer

Rubio Bests Cruz in Head-to-Head Matchups with Hillary

A new Quinnipiac University poll, which shows Marco Rubio performing the best against Hillary Clinton in November, got me thinking. How consistent is this result? The newest poll, conducted February 2-4, shows Rubio beating Clinton head-to-head 48-41, Ted Cruz tying her 45-45, and Donald Trump losing to Clinton 46-41. So I went over to RealClearPolitics.com, which lets you look back at all the general election head-to-head polls between Rubio and Hillary, and Cruz and Hillary. (I didn’t bother with Trump vs. Hillary, since he usually does worse than Cruz or Rubio.) Rubio doesn’t always beat Clinton by his latest large margin, nor, sometimes, does he beat her at all.

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