Wayne Allyn Root to Head Libertarian National Congressional Committee (Corrected)

Last month, TWI examined the schism within the Libertarian Party over the rise of Wayne Allyn Root, a showy Fox News staple and recent libertarian convert who embodies the Republican-tinged libertarianism that defines so much Tea Party politics. To the consternation of many of his veteran party colleagues, Root More…

In Its Heterodox Media Star, an Identity Crisis for Libertarian Party

Bob Barr’s 2008 nomination as the Libertarian Party candidate for the presidency triggered something of an existential crisis for the nation’s largest third party. The former Georgia congressman was a strange new face for a group that prides itself on philosophical consistency and allegiance to first principles. Before his More…

The 9.12 Project — or 9mm Project?

For a civic group that bristles at charges of generating even the most suggestive air of violence, the 9.12 Project sure likes its handguns. Around the country, 9.12 Project members routinely prove that they take seriously their leader Glenn Beck’s Three-G triad of “God, Gold and Guns.” They meet at More…

Democratic Challenger Blasts Steve King Over Latest Controversy

Democratic candidate Matt Campbell, who is challenging Republican Rep. Steve King in Iowa’s 5th Congressional District, has issued a stinging response to King’s statement, made to talk show host G. Gordon Liddy on Monday, that President Obama “has demonstrated he’s got a default mechanism in him that breaks down More…

Conservative Koch Industries Makes Top 100 Political Influence List for the First Time

Koch Industries is known to be a major funder of groups associated with the “anti-establishment” Tea Party. But that doesn’t mean the Kansas-based oil and gas giant has given up on beltway politics. Far from it.

A new report by the watchdog group Center for Responsive Politics places Koch More…

Road to Best-Sellerdom: F.A. Hayek’s American Editor on the Latest Boom in Conservative Books

For the past week, “The Road to Serfdom” has been the number-one selling book on Amazon.com. Authored by the Austrian émigré economist F.A. Hayek and first published in 1944, the book has long held iconic status on the Transatlantic right. Most recently, the book has acquired fashionable currency on Fox More…

President Rick Perry? Texas GOP Doesn’t Think So

With the 2012 GOP presidential field wide open, it’s only natural that the eyes of some Republican strategists would turn to the popular governor of a state that has already produced three modern presidents. But don’t hold your breath for a President Rick Perry.

Following more than two dozen interviews More…

Tea Party, Vocal on Domestic Issues, Lacks Foreign Policy Platform

Since mid-May, a grinning Glenn Beck has popped up to greet visitors to the FreedomWorks website. Standing in front of his trademark chalkboard, the conservative host is the official face of FreedomWorks’ newest free offering: the “Take America Back! Action Kit.”

[GOP1] Together with a souvenir Gadsden Flag, the Tea More…

Meet the Tea Party Activists Who Defeated Bob Bennett

From Pennsylvania to Arizona, incumbent Republican senators are increasingly under siege from their right flanks, where Tea Party activists have mobilized to challenge every establishment candidate within charging distance. Tea Partiers rightfully took credit for Rand Paul’s recent upending of the Republican establishment in Kentucky. And they’re not done yet. More…