Good Advice from Jeb Bush
As usual, Jeb Bush is making sense. One of America's most successful (and conservative) governors, Jeb Bush of Florida is (for me, anyway) a kind of heartbreaking figure. He should be president. He would be a great one. But for whatever reason -- it's hard to imagine a third Bush winning the White House -- he's not running.
But that doesn't mean he isn't still a smart, principled, accomplished leader. Here he is, giving some sound and thoughtful advice to the rest of the Republican presidential field, from Politico:
Asked by Fox News host Neil Cavuto if some Republicans go too far in their criticism of Obama, Bush said flatly, “I do. I think when you start ascribing bad motives to the guy, that’s wrong. It turns off people who want solutions.
“It’s fine to criticize him, that’s politics,” said Bush, the younger brother of former President George W. Bush, who again reiterated that he won’t run for president himself. “But just to stop there isn’t enough. You have to win with ideas, you have to win with policies. … He’s made a situation that was bad worse. He’s deserving of criticism for that. He’s not deserving of criticism for the common cold on up.”
“If you’re a conservative, you have to persuade. You can’t just be against the president,” he added.
And then he adds:
Breaking with the GOP field, Bush said he’d be willing to accept new revenues as part of a deficit-reduction package.
“I think the problems are so severe in this country that leadership is required to find common ground and solutions,” he said.
But he pushed back against billionaire investor Warren Buffett’s suggestion that taxes be raised on the rich.
“The problem with Warren Buffett’s attitude is he’s talking about people who are already rich, and his policies I think may create a lid on people who are aspiring to be rich,” Bush said. “There are 10 other aspiring Warren Buffetts that will find it harder to become rich.”
I'm not sure I know exactly what he has in mind here, but I'd certainly like to hear more from Jeb Bush, on spending cuts, debt reduction, education reform, and a bunch of other issues we face. He's a smart guy, and a leader. Republicans would be smart to listen to him.
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Comments :
Jul '10
Re: Good Advice from Jeb Bush
"He’s made a situation that was bad worse."
Is Jeb blaming His Bother W.?
Mar '11
Re: Good Advice from Jeb Bush
Jeb's a squish, no wonder you admire him.
The fact is that compromise with the opposition is what has lead to this dire fiscal situation. Our right of center populace has wildly left-of-center federal government. We may need principled conservative leadership, but we don't need any more advice from the Bush family, they've caused enough trouble.
Feb '11
Re: Good Advice from Jeb Bush
Jeb Bush may make sense but this Presidential race isn't big enough for two Bush's and Perry was in the race first.
But to your point, Jeb Bush has always been a smart man. Notice how little you hear from him. He's not on every talk show spewing random thoughts that he'll have to take back in a distant campaign.
When he speaks we tend to listen.
Re: Good Advice from Jeb Bush
I'm so glad to see someone make this point about questioning motivations. That is something we should never do. Unless we're divine, we can't look into someone's heart and know why they're doing anything, we can only go based on their actions and their words. And that's more than enough to go by. The world would be a much better place if we did less questioning of motivation.
May '10
Re: Good Advice from Jeb Bush
To consider what might have been if Jeb had won the governorship of FL in his first try in 1994 makes for an interesting alternative history. Until that failure, he was the heir apparent to pops. Instead, the prodigal son got the gig.
W and HW are good people and were OK presidents, but Jeb's the talent of that family.
Oct '10
Re: Good Advice from Jeb Bush
If he actually called tax increases "revenues," he's cut from the same cloth as all the other squishes, and he's a useless idiot. They are NOT revenues. The government does NOT produce a g/d thing. They only confiscate the fruits of others' production.
Why in God's name does the Stupid Party insist on acquiescing to the Left's bastardization of our language????
The fact of the matter is, we already know damn well that the Feds know how to raise taxes. What we don't know is whether they know how to cut spending. Which is precisely why tax increases must be off the table for the forseeable future, and the unforseeable future, until and unless the Feds cut spending and reduce the budget significantly for x years in a row (x=5 in my world).
Jeb Bush? Pshaw.
Oct '10
Re: Good Advice from Jeb Bush
I agree with Jeb on taxes, but I would never say that on public television. Democrats believe they can extract tax increases without any spending cuts, and conservatives who go on TV to say they're open-minded on taxes help craft a media environment that makes spending cuts more difficult to get.
Remember Milton Friedman's advice of getting bad politicians to do the right thing with the right political and media environment? This is the opposite of that, it helps the bad politicians do the wrong thing.
Apr '11
Re: Good Advice from Jeb Bush
Mollie,
I am not quite sure I agree with you on this one. I agree we can't look into someone's heart; however, we are often called to make judgements about someone's motives based on their actions. I think in some cases we need to question people's motives especially when they are running purely utopian view of the future while employing means that transfer a vast amount of wealth and power to themselves. I think people are willing to forgive a bad means if they think there is a pure motive. A fact many a charlatan has used to his advantage I suspect.
Jun '10
Re: Good Advice from Jeb Bush
I don't quite understand why we need to increase the cocaine harvest as part of our effort to cut back on our out-of-control cocaine abuse. Now take out the word "cocaine," and put in the word "tax."
Jun '10
Re: Good Advice from Jeb Bush
That is a RINO-squish definition of good advice for sure. That is HORRIBLE advice. Raise taxes? Don't call Obama what he is -- a failure?
That is the kind of good advice that got McCain 47% of the vote, which is, from what I remember, not enough to win. If this is Jeb Bush's advice, please let him stay on the sidelines.
Jun '10
Re: Good Advice from Jeb Bush
And motives can be discerned from evidence. It is done all the time without being divine. The only risk is that you are sometimes wrong but not necessarily often enough to make the exercise futile.
May '11
Re: Good Advice from Jeb Bush
I couldn't disagree more with this post.
Of course we can question motivations. That's the primary part of understanding the man and his ideology.
Let's just pretend that Obama is a marxist. Let's pretend that it's his desire to have a rekindling of the 1920's and 1930's communist movement. Let's just pretend that he would like to create a Hugo Chavez-like style of government here in the United States.
Should we just ignore such motivations if they were real? I think motivations are much more important than actual results (though these are also important).
Bill Clinton believed that the Chinese should be on a military par with the US. His results were pretty limited during his tenure. But we see now the Chinese have a 5000km tunnel in a mountain range to house their own nuclear missiles. His intent was what was important because the results took too long to be seen.
When Obama has bad motives that will result in destroying what is left of our freedoms, I have every intention of questioning those motives.
Edited on Aug 23, 2011 at 10:11pmMay '11
Re: Good Advice from Jeb Bush
George W. Bush will probably be remembered by history as one of the more honest and honorable presidents, but neither him nor his father were very good. They were just the best we were able to get. They both believe in some version of "compassionate conservativism" or thousand points of light, and both believed that government is the answer to almost anything. There's no reason to think that Jeb Bush would be any different. I don't think the country can take a third president so flawed in such a short time. We need someone to start dismantling government, not making it bigger, even though not as big as a democrat would make it.
Re: Good Advice from Jeb Bush
Raxxalan
Mollie,
I am not quite sure I agree with you on this one. I agree we can't look into someone's heart; however, we are often called to make judgements about someone's motives based on their actions. I think in some cases we need to question people's motives especially when they are running purely utopian view of the future while employing means that transfer a vast amount of wealth and power to themselves. I think people are willing to forgive a bad means if they think there is a pure motive. A fact many a charlatan has used to his advantage I suspect.
I'm not saying we can't discern motives. I'm saying we shouldn't question them. Meaning, if there's evidence that someone is doing something for a particular aim, that's one thing. But to say, for instance, that your political opponent is advocating a particular policy because he hates his country -- that's what I don't like. There's plenty to go on with actual words, actual actions, etc. Can we discern that someone's motivation might be flawed? Sure. And we should point that out.
Oct '10
Re: Good Advice from Jeb Bush
Questioning motives speaks to basic survival skills. Need not be done in a voicifeous fashion, quiet observational skills serve well.
A simple example would be two wolves and a sheep deciding whats for dinner.
One of the three did not do their homework....
Sep '10
Re: Good Advice from Jeb Bush
But to say, for instance, that your political opponent is advocating a particular policy because he hates his country -- that's what I don't like.
I'll quibble with that one. I still remember Krauthammer's line from a few months ago:
"That's the most deeply cynical political move I've seen in my lifetime. And that's saying something."
and President Obama cynically saying that "he didn't know how the social security checks would go out" if there wasn't a debt ceiling compromise. He may not hate his country, but he sure despises the intelligence of the voters that comprise it.
Mar '11
Re: Good Advice from Jeb Bush
If his older brother's term didn't completely salt the road for Jeb to the White House, then Rob Long's endorsement certainly will.
Feb '11
Re: Good Advice from Jeb Bush
But what if Obama does in fact have "bad motives"?
For example, I recall that he has been quoted as saying that under his policies electricity costs would "necessarily skyrocket". And Lo! the EPA has adopted policies that will necessarily make that happen.
It seems to me that a deliberate policy goal of vastly increasing everyone's electricity costs is in fact malicious, at least as most people would understand it.
Is it beyond on the pale to notice that? Because I'm sure Obama and his party would shriek if the GOP started talking about it in that way. They'd complain that it was unfair, mean, hateful, racist- and "questioning their motives" in a way that would make Jeb Bush frown. I expect that they would play that clip of governor Bush to help their point.
But all the relentless questioning of motives from the left of every GOP politician would continue unabated- and the establishment GOP would just accept that as normal, just like they always have.
They shouldn't. Politics still ain't beanbag, and turnabout is still fairplay. The GOP needs to give as good as they get and stop worrying about saying mean things.
Oct '10
Re: Good Advice from Jeb Bush
Jeb is intelligent enough to know most of the ground he will ever trod has been salted. His garden will be forever small.
Edited on Aug 23, 2011 at 10:45pmApr '11
Re: Good Advice from Jeb Bush
Raxxalan,
If you can effectively expose the flaws in a policy that should be enough. Logic and evidence don't matter to those of ill-intent, while decent folk tune out when accused of cavorting with scoundrels. Thus, it's best to ask why decent people might support Obama and then politely, yet passionately, address the issue from there.
When confronted effectively the left cannot escape the reality of the crumbling welfare state. However, an emotional, wholly subjective debate over sinister motives will play to their advantage every time.
Conservatives care about actions above thoughts or emotions. We accept that men are not urber-logical angels of pure mind, thus we are duty bound to rise above base desires to do what's right.
For example, I don't give a rat's cast about a business person's motive for getting rich. The founder of a drug company may be motivated by shallow greed, childhood abuse or L. Ron Hubbard. So what? What difference should that make if his actions lead to a cure for AIDS, thousands of jobs and a stock value that funds my retirement?
The same logic applies to politicians.