Jeb Bush Endorses Ted Cruz

 

I thought my iPad was hacked when the WSJ notification popped-up earlier this morning, so I searched the Internet. And what do you know? Jeb Bush endorsed Senator Ted Cruz for president this morning.

I am trying to wrap my head around what this means and how many fun scenarios or reasons there are to contemplate the why? and why now? For what it’s worth, Bush’s non-president brother, Neil, already endorsed Cruz and joined his campaign.

Bush’s endorsement of Cruz — while more robust than Mitt Romney’s last week — is also primarily about stopping Donald Trump:

Ted is a consistent, principled conservative who has demonstrated the ability to appeal to voters and win primary contests, including yesterday’s Utah caucus.

As I said from the moment I launched my presidential campaign, the stakes in 2016 couldn’t be higher.

Washington is broken, too many families are stuck in poverty and Western civilization is under attack from radical Islamic terrorists, as evidenced by the horrific attack in Brussels, which was preceded by attacks in Paris and California.

For the sake of our party and country, we must overcome the divisiveness and vulgarity Donald Trump has brought into the political arena or we will certainly lose our chance to defeat the Democratic nominee, most likely Hillary Clinton, this fall.

While the endorsements may appear luke warm and not-full throated backing of Cruz’s priorities or Senate tactics, I respect both governors for their constructive positive approach.

Published in Politics
Like this post? Want to comment? Join Ricochet’s community of conservatives and be part of the conversation. Join Ricochet for Free.

There are 72 comments.

Become a member to join the conversation. Or sign in if you're already a member.
  1. Pilgrim Coolidge
    Pilgrim
    @Pilgrim

    Mike H: think you become a write in candidate if you miss the deadline to be on the ballot but get your application in before a later deadline. I think people greatly misunderstand write-in stuff. You can’t make some kind of political point by writing in whatever name you want. It just gets lost to the ether.

    So if I write in my own name, I won’t be forever introduced as “2016 Presidential candidate Pilgrim?”  Bummer.

    • #31
  2. BrentB67 Inactive
    BrentB67
    @BrentB67

    skipsul:

    Mike H:Requiring everyone to be a write-in candidate would be a great way to suppress voter turnout and increase the average competence of actual voters.

    No, you’d just get a bunch of Hollywood nitwits written in. Kim Kardashian would end up a senator.

    I would write her in to replace McConnell.

    • #32
  3. skipsul Inactive
    skipsul
    @skipsul

    BrentB67:

    skipsul:

    Mike H:Requiring everyone to be a write-in candidate would be a great way to suppress voter turnout and increase the average competence of actual voters.

    No, you’d just get a bunch of Hollywood nitwits written in. Kim Kardashian would end up a senator.

    I would write her in to replace McConnell.

    Be careful what you wish for.  You’d replace a horse’s a$$ with this:

    [redacted picture of Kim Kardashian’s naked posterior]

    • #33
  4. Mike H Inactive
    Mike H
    @MikeH

    Skip! This isn’t the PIT. For the love of all things holy, CoC!

    • #34
  5. BrentB67 Inactive
    BrentB67
    @BrentB67

    skipsul:

    BrentB67:

    skipsul:

    Mike H:Requiring everyone to be a write-in candidate would be a great way to suppress voter turnout and increase the average competence of actual voters.

    No, you’d just get a bunch of Hollywood nitwits written in. Kim Kardashian would end up a senator.

    I would write her in to replace McConnell.

    Be careful what you wish for. You’d replace a horse’s a$$ with this:

    Yikes.

    I would still write that in over McConnell.

    I didn’t know there was that much baby oil in the world.

    • #35
  6. BrentB67 Inactive
    BrentB67
    @BrentB67

    Mike H:Skip! This isn’t the PIT. For the love of all things holy, CoC!

    Shield your eyes!

    Aaagghhhh, I’m melting!

    • #36
  7. Wiley Inactive
    Wiley
    @Wiley

    War makes for odd alliances.

    • #37
  8. skipsul Inactive
    skipsul
    @skipsul

    BrentB67: I didn’t know there was that much baby oil in the world.

    Well, I guess she’d make things slide through the senate more easily then.

    • #38
  9. Vance Richards Inactive
    Vance Richards
    @VanceRichards

    But can Bush sway his one delegate to vote that way?

    • #39
  10. BrentB67 Inactive
    BrentB67
    @BrentB67

    Vance Richards:But can Bush sway his one delegate to vote that way?

    The Bushes and their supporter are noted for loyalty. Should be an easy get.

    • #40
  11. C. U. Douglas Coolidge
    C. U. Douglas
    @CUDouglas

    I’m gonna take it. Towards the end, Jeb! was going after the front runner Trump before the other candidates realized that was an actual viable tactic. Coming out in favor of Cruz at least makes him somewhat intellectually consistent, unlike another governor of a state that sorta rhymes with Blue Farsi. Cruz is the only candidate with even a hint of a chance of defeating Trump without going to convention. At least so far.

    So we’ll see how this goes.

    • #41
  12. Grosseteste Thatcher
    Grosseteste
    @Grosseteste

    Alternative caption for the picture at the top: “So what are you guys doing with your arms?”

    • #42
  13. Ball Diamond Ball Member
    Ball Diamond Ball
    @BallDiamondBall

    Wait a moment!  I thought it was W who endorsed!  Oh, this is different!

    • #43
  14. Tuck Inactive
    Tuck
    @Tuck

    “Of course, none of this takes into account the potential game-changing endorsement of Ted Cruz by Jeb Bush. You may want to consider the possibility that Cruz will withdraw from the race and join a monastery in Borneo.”

    LOL.

    • #44
  15. JRez Inactive
    JRez
    @JRez

    Ball Diamond Ball:Wait a moment! I thought it was W who endorsed! Oh, this is different!

    BDB raises a valid point:  does this mean W endorses Cruz by proxy?

    • #45
  16. BrentB67 Inactive
    BrentB67
    @BrentB67

    JRez:

    Ball Diamond Ball:Wait a moment! I thought it was W who endorsed! Oh, this is different!

    BDB raises a valid point: does this mean W endorses Cruz by proxy?

    The last time someone handed W a microphone at a fundraiser I think he did all the Cruz endorsing he is going to do.

    • #46
  17. Ball Diamond Ball Member
    Ball Diamond Ball
    @BallDiamondBall

    Heh.  Would be nice to see W clap his brother on the back and say “Whew!  It thought you would never come off it!”

    • #47
  18. C. U. Douglas Coolidge
    C. U. Douglas
    @CUDouglas

    One of the things I’ve liked about George W. Bush is that now that his presidency is over, he’s for the most part been content to stay out of politics in general and out of the limelight as well, unlike the Clintons who crave the limelight. I imagine Pres. Obama will be like the latter once he’s out of office.

    So I don’t mind that he’s not getting too much into this mess.

    • #48
  19. ctlaw Coolidge
    ctlaw
    @ctlaw

    Meanwhile, Cruz was on Fox and Friends this am talking about carpet bombing ISIS.

    When challenged, he said he was referring to the precision form of carpet bombing, not the indiscriminate form.

    Cruz needs a shock collar and a sane person standing 10 feet away with the remote fob.

    • #49
  20. Lucy Pevensie Inactive
    Lucy Pevensie
    @LucyPevensie

    Ctlaw–I know, I know.

    But if Jeb Bush, Mitt Romney, Lindsey Graham, and David Brooks can support Cruz, then somehow we can.

    • #50
  21. John Wilson Member
    John Wilson
    @

    • #51
  22. Roberto Inactive
    Roberto
    @Roberto

    BrentB67:

    The Cloaked Gaijin:What about those 70,000 to 80,000 Rubio votes in Arizona that came in third-place in front of Kasich?

    I think Kasich just got beat by a zombie…

    I don’t know Arizona’s early voting laws and if the polls were open prior to Marco Rubio suspending his campaign.

    Early voting began 02/24/16 and was quite sizable in Arizona.

    In the 2016 presidential primaries, as of March 21 (see below for exact dates county by county) 297,714 Democratic and 371,693 Republican voters have already cast ballots in Arizona. This is according to data obtained from NBC’s data partner TargetSmart—a leading voter-file company in the United States.

    According the TargetSmart data, 29 percent of registered Democrats and 31 percent of registered Republicans have already cast ballot.

    • #52
  23. SPare Inactive
    SPare
    @SPare

    skipsul:

    No, you’d just get a bunch of Hollywood nitwits written in. Kim Kardashian would end up a senator.

    It would increase the IQ of the California contingent…

    • #53
  24. TKC1101 Member
    TKC1101
    @

    Well, so much for Ted picking off Trump supporters. But heck, I hear the short schoolbus with the Jeb! voters has been fixed and is on the way, if Ted can find the gas money.

    Sorry, could not resist that.

    Seriously, I think this is a bit late in the game and stupidly timed.

    To help Cruz, there is time coming up without imminent primaries and this would have been good for him on a slow news day. As usual, the GOPe has the media timing of Milli Vanilli. To drop this during a terrorist attack shows complete stupidity unless you wanted to bury it.

    • #54
  25. Tom Meyer, Ed. Member
    Tom Meyer, Ed.
    @tommeyer

    Mike H:Requiring everyone to be a write-in candidate would be a great way to suppress voter turnout and increase the average competence of actual voters.

    That’s racist. ;)

    • #55
  26. Manny Coolidge
    Manny
    @Manny

    Based on the way things have been going for Jeb, this may have been the kiss of death.

    Ted Cruz: Establishment icon!

    :)

    • #56
  27. Tuck Inactive
    Tuck
    @Tuck

    ctlaw:Meanwhile, Cruz was on Fox and Friends this am talking about carpet bombing ISIS.

    When challenged, he said he was referring to the precision form of carpet bombing, not the indiscriminate form.

    Cruz needs a shock collar and a sane person standing 10 feet away with the remote fob.

    Just out of curiosity, in how many other wars has the US used carpet bombing?

    • #57
  28. Umbra Fractus Inactive
    Umbra Fractus
    @UmbraFractus

    Y’know, I’m gonna throw out a wild theory here, just speculation but maybe Jeb endorsed Ted Cruz because Jeb is a conservative and wants a conservative to win.

    Nah, that’s crazy talk. Everyone knows anyone slightly to the left of Mike Lee hates conservatives.

    • #58
  29. David Sussman Member
    David Sussman
    @DaveSussman

    BrentB67:shutterstock_372526921Joseph Sohm / Shutterstock.comI thought my iPad was hacked when the WSJ notification popped-up earlier this morning, so I searched the Internet. And what do you know? Jeb Bush endorsed Senator Ted Cruz for president this morning.

    I am trying to wrap my head around what this means and how many fun scenarios or reasons there are to contemplate the why? and why now? For what it’s worth, Bush’s non-president brother, Neil, already endorsed Cruz and joined his campaign.

    Bush’s endorsement of Cruz — while more robust than Mitt Romney’s last week — is also primarily about stopping Donald Trump:

    Ted is a consistent, principled conservative who has demonstrated the ability to appeal to voters and win primary contests, including yesterday’s Utah caucus.

    As I said from the moment I launched my presidential campaign, the stakes in 2016 couldn’t be higher.

    Washington is broken, too many families are stuck in poverty and Western civilization is under attack from radical Islamic terrorists, as evidenced by the horrific attack in Brussels, which was preceded by attacks in Paris and California.

    For the sake of our party and country, we must overcome the divisiveness and vulgarity Donald Trump has brought into the political arena or we will certainly lose our chance to defeat the Democratic nominee, most likely Hillary Clinton, this fall.

    While the endorsements may appear luke warm and not-full throated backing of Cruz’s priorities or Senate tactics, I respect both governors for their constructive positive approach.

    Hey Brent,

    Haven’t gone through comments yet so don’t know if repeating, but there are two sides to the endorsement coin. Many are furious at Jeb!

    • #59
  30. BrentB67 Inactive
    BrentB67
    @BrentB67

    David Sussman:

    BrentB67

    Hey Brent,

    Haven’t gone through comments yet so don’t know if repeating, but there are two sides to the endorsement coin. Many are furious at Jeb!

    I’ve not read that. Who is furious and why?

    • #60
Become a member to join the conversation. Or sign in if you're already a member.