Jeb at His Campaigning Peak Just Won’t Do

 

This is Jeb at his peak from the 1998 gubernatorial debate–before first winning statewide office against an incumbent party. In a few minutes you can appreciate how he faced a weak candidate and didn’t show in 1998 the qualities that we need in an America thrust to the left by his brother’s successor. Despite the conservative temperament on display, it was a different era: before 9/11, Iraq, the financial crisis, Obamacare and the Tea Party. The wonky folksiness could play in another era.

Does anyone seriously think that this is what is needed against Hillary in 2016?

Published in Domestic Policy, Elections, General
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There are 5 comments.

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  1. Ball Diamond Ball Member
    Ball Diamond Ball
    @BallDiamondBall

    Fewer and fewer, it seems.

    • #1
  2. Roadrunner Member
    Roadrunner
    @

    Paul Singer, neocon, pro gay marriage, open borders advocate and hedge fund manager has thrown his money to Marco Rubio.  What does he expect for those dollars?  There is a lot of competition for those dollars but now that Jeb! is out of the running the next choice of the oligarchs has been made clear.

    • #2
  3. Z in MT Member
    Z in MT
    @ZinMT

    Jeb!’s largest problem is that his last name is Bush. Full Stop.

    Any other reasoning is just avoiding this simple fact. I don’t understand why the media and Ricochet keep trying to use any other reasoning.

    • #3
  4. Roadrunner Member
    Roadrunner
    @

    Jeb!s biggest problem is Immigration.  This is a problem for Marco as well.  If he could have resisted playing the fool to Senator Schumer he would be a distant frontrunner.  Instead he went with the Singer money and will find that he has a barrier that he can’t get over.  It is the only reason the Donald and Ben Carson find themselves competitive in the race.  The Mike Murphy strategy to ignore that issue is a disaster for Republicans and just the right thing for Democrats.  You have to hand it to political consultants; they have found a way to make lots of money and destroy the party at the same time.  That was not easy.

    • #4
  5. Ball Diamond Ball Member
    Ball Diamond Ball
    @BallDiamondBall

    Well, Z and Roadrunner are both right.  In my own calculus, the Bush name is a showstopper, don’t care what else is going on.  I liked W, really did, but I do not accept that another Bush is a good idea.  I like somebody’s suggestion that “one from each generation should be the max”.  Pushing back against Jebbang on those grounds alone should suffice to preserve that as an unwritten standard.  One hopes.  Honest to goodness, if this race becomes Bush vs Clinton, there will be unrest.

    OTOH, many people don’t see the dynasty thing as a problem, or at least not as a fatal one, and for them the issue of immigration swells to fill that role.  Again, no matter what else he may say, his immigration stance suffices as a showstopper.  No need to read further down the page.  His stance on it is clear and clearly unacceptable to a great number of people.

    • #5
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