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Jeb?
In a column in the Washington Post headlined “Don’t Forget About Jeb,” Jennifer Rubin:
It is still not clear whether Jeb has the yen to run. But sometimes events come together in just the right sequence. Over the last year Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), for whom Jeb is a mentor, has hit the skids. This raises the real possibility that Rubio might not run in 2016 or if he does, could fade fast. Jeb would therefore not feel compelled to defer to his junior senator. Meanwhile, the government shutdown undermined the credentials of far-right senators, immigration reform is back on the radar and the party is searching for an affirmative agenda. Jeb may not have moved closer to the party, but the party is moving closer to him. And, most importantly, it may need a seasoned pro to take on the Clintons.
What about the Bush name? Well, Bush 43 has favorability ratings higher than the president. If Hillary Clinton is going to be the Democratic nominee, the elite media can hardly whine about “dynasty” politics. “Bush” may not be the hardship it once was for Jeb. There is also something to be said for someone with experience who has been elected twice in a swing state, but who is still a fresh face for many voters.
Jen may be on to something here, no?
Published in General
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2014/01/15/RAND-PAC-Director-Paul-s-Fundraising-Strength-Testament-to-Grassroots-Support
NO!
Peter,
I have many specifics complaints about Jeb, such as his preferred immigration policy. However my dislike of him as our nominee comes down to something simpler.
Every time I have seen him speaking to an audience in recent years, he is not attempting to persuade the country that the conservative positions are the ones that are needed, the way Reagan did. Instead he is lecturing the right about how we need to change.
We need a persuader. Pretty badly. And Jeb is talking to the wrong audience.
We know how the game works: when the Dems have one part of one branch of government, their agenda rules; when the GOP controls every branch, they are allowed to compromise.
Perfectly stated.
He’s also heavily pushing Core Curriculum, which is such a good idea that this grassroots state driven initiative is now growing federal incentives and mandates and policies.
At his root, Jeb trusts Washington and distrusts the small government reformers.
And no, I don’t trust him on amnesty.
And the whole dynastic thing is very troubling. Don’t underestimate that and the effect it can have both domestically and in foreign relations. A fresh face does not have three Bush terms to answer for.
Peter,
Can you tell from the hand-wringing, fist-shaking response here to a proposed Jeb run that our Ricochetti are a hard group to please and we are a conservative, mostly GOP-voting group at that.
If you are getting this much flack over Jeb, imagine what the general populace will throw back at the mere thought of another Bush presidential candidate. It won’t be pretty and he’ll run off bruised and battered. If he wants back in the WH, he needs to come quietly in through the back door slightly unnoticed (aka cabinet position).
From http://www.ontheissues.org/2016/Jeb_Bush_Budget_+_Economy.htm
(cont.)
Q: Would you support an amendment to the U.S. Constitution requiring an annual balanced federal budget?
A: Yes
Q: Do you support providing immunity from civil liability to persons who are participating in the process of government?
A: No.
Source: 1998 Florida Gubernatorial National Political Awareness Test , Nov 1, 1998
Peter, Here is the message you can carry back from this thread:
We trusted Republicans in the first decade and they let us down. We are not in a hurry to be fooled twice.
(cont.)
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush was invited to speak to the House Budget Committee by the committee’s chairman, Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., author of a federal budget despised by Democrats in part for its proposed changes to the Medicare program for seniors. Bush’s remarks focused on removing barriers to free enterprise, but throughout the hearing, he was free with his opinions on all sorts of other policy matters.
Bush said that until the hearing, he hadn’t been asked his opinion on the automotive bailout or the bank bailouts. He told the committee he didn’t support the auto bailout–what he describes as “a form of capitalism where the government intervenes in a very muscular kind of way.” The positions puts him in line with Romney. Bush did say, however, say that he thought some aspects of the bank bailout were necessary. Bush worked as a consultant for Lehman Brothers before its collapse, and currently serves as a senior adviser to Barclays Capital.
Source: Tampa Bay Times, “Jeb Bush cools VP chatter” , Jun 1, 2012
(cont.)
Jeb suggested “economic stimulus” money in 2003. Jeb thought big: $310 million. Some in the legislature suggested that such an amount going to a single location was excessive, that the money was to benefit all Floridians, and should therefore have been allocated to various “economic development” projects around the state. But in the grand scheme, Jeb was probably correct that there was more real benefit to spending it all on a single big project, with potentially huge rewards, than on dozens of smaller enterprises.
There was also a more general criticism of giving the money to an already successful entity like Scripps. The goal was not just the 500 jobs Scripps itself would create, but several thousand more generated by bio-tech firms that would want to locate in a science village Scripps would anchor.
In October 2003, he proclaimed: “Scripps is the brand name for biomedical research, and its decision to build a sister research facility in Florida is a seminal moment in our state’s history.”
Source: America’s Next Bush, by S.V. Date, p.142-143 , Feb 15, 2007
(cont.)
This one is special, note the author:
How about Jeb Bush, the President’s kid brother who invested in Enron before he became Florida governor and turned a profit on his personal $91,000 investment? Under his leadership as governor, the state’s pension fund lost more than $300 million on Enron stock–that was the most any public pension fund in the country lost on Enron stock, and Florida, under Jeb, had to work at it. Even after the SEC had already announced in 2001 that Enron was under investigation, Florida–incredibly–kept investing in Enron.
Jeb was in effect the head of the 3-person state Board of Administration trustees who oversaw the pension fund and appointed its members. That made it Jeb’s responsibility to protect that pension money, but he had other priorities.
Source: What A Party!, by Terry McAuliffe, p.316 , Jan 23, 2007
(cont.)
House Bill 1911 includes repeal of the mandatory helmet law for motorcyclists over the age of 21. I signed the bill [because] I believe government oversteps its legitimate role when it excessively interferes with personal freedom. That interference includes regulating an adult’s decisions about his or her well-being if such decisions do not endanger the life or safety of others. Reasonable adults should be trusted to make reasonable decisions. For example, we have no laws requiring an individual to exercise, to eat a healthy diet, to get regular check-ups, or to avoid excess exposure to the sun – even though failure to comply with these habits reflects known health risks, and potential public health costs. Of course, we could significantly reduce deaths, injuries or health risks in Florida through a mandate that all individuals exercise, wear sunscreen, stop smoking, and learn how to swim, yet we impose no such requirements.Source: Approval notification on House Bill 1911 , Jun 1, 2000
(cont.)
Responsibility and self-government [also apply to] programs that are considered by many to be corporate welfare. Limited government does not mean limited for only one portion of society, one economic class. We cannot ask government to do less for the many while doing more for the few. Limited government is about the fair distribution of limited resources, meaning that as we criticize social spending for being no solution to our social problems, we should also criticize unnecessary corporate entitlements as no cure for our competitiveness problems. Creating barriers to competition and sanctuaries for profit is no answer. Many industries realize that they profit from a bigger, more involved government. Yet a return to limited self-government would not be complete without pushing these corporate snouts out of the public trough. Limiting the role of government must be a process that is rational, equitable, and principled.Source: Profiles in Character, by Jeb Bush, p.172-173 , Nov 1, 1995
Unless I’m reading this wrong, that means he reduced the state budget measurably relative to the state economy, in a purple state. Not bad — not great by Cato’s dreams, but not bad.
If our next president can do that with the federal gov’t, we’d be on the path out of our present fix.
I have many specifics complaints about Jeb, such as his preferred immigration policy. However my dislike of him as our nominee comes down to something simpler.
Every time I have seen him speaking to an audience in recent years, he is not attempting to persuade the country that the conservative positions are the ones that are needed, the way Reagan did. Instead he his lecturing the right about how we need to change.
We need a persuader. Pretty badly. And Jeb is talking to the wrong audience. ·26 minutes ago
Edited 26 minutes ago
You are so right!
Until I read your comment, I could not have pinpointed the main reason for my distaste of JB as a potential candidate for President of these United States; you identified it for me.
(cont.)
The power of government to take property is perhaps the most severe of all governmental powers. State government must be frugal in the exercise of this power, and conscientious when it is expanded.
In this particular bill, eminent domain authority is expanded to benefit the North Broward Hospital District. This is undoubtedly a worthwhile and needed project, [and] the hospital has begun negotiations with local property owners to purchase their properties.
My objection to this well-intended bill, however, is that the hospital has begun this process [under the old rules, and] to change these rules [in the middle of the process] would not be in the spirit of fair play.
Additionally, this bill would set a dangerous precedent for one-time expansions of eminent domain authority. I believe this is a poor basis for creating new statutes. If the expansion of quick-take authority is an issue that needs addressing, the Legislature should do so as a policy debate for statewide application.
Source: Approval notification on Senate Bill 1230 , Jun 7, 2000
[End of terrible torrent of spam.]
Unless I’m reading this wrong, that means he reduced the state budget measurably relative to the state economy, in a purple state. Not bad — not great by Cato’s dreams, but not bad.
If our next president can do that with the federal gov’t, we’d be on the path out of our present fix. ·4 minutes ago
Yes. I went for data rather than analysis, although I gleaned maybe 10% of what they had on him, sticking to the hot issues. Overall, if his name was Jones or Smith, I would be interested in seeing more. Could the last Bush redeem the first two?
But the other thing about the source is a “mainstream” view. They may be trying disproportionately to saddle him with ideas and statements we would applaud in order to discredit him with other constituencies. Still, it provides a baseline to data drill from and analyze against.
Can you tell from the hand-wringing, fist-shaking response here to a proposed Jeb run that our Ricochetti are a hard group to please and we are a conservative, mostly GOP-voting group at that.
If you are getting this much flack over Jeb, imagine what the general populace will throw back at the mere thought of another Bush presidential candidate. It won’t be pretty and he’ll run off bruised and battered. If he wants back in the WH, he needs to come quietly in through the back door slightly unnoticed (aka cabinet position). ·22 minutes ago
The best thing Jeb Bush could do, to increase the chances of a Repuplican winning in 2016, would be to announce that he is NOT a candidate for President and to give a strong, early endorsement to the ‘best’ Republican candidate and make a vigorous effort to campaign for that candidate.
This would go a long way to uniting the Republican electorate and neutralizing the skepticism of conservative voters (as noted here on Ricochet) towards JB.
Is Jeb the savior of cap and trade legislation? Politico:
What is the point of cap and trade schemes if we have no level of CO2 targeted? Why cripple industry rather than reviving promising efforts to control carbon biotically quashed in the 90’s by Clinton to avoid destabilizing the Kyoto negotiations?
If Jeb Bush gets the Republican nomination America is lost.
Not because he will lose and a Clinton or some other D will win and send us over the cliff.
No, America will be lost because it will cease being America in spirit. We will have turned our backs on the founding, losing all credibility in the belief that a free people can govern themselves. We will have proved that we are a helpless people that seeks dynastic leaders because we deserve such.
HELL NO!
I share the concerns about Jeb’s statist tendencies, but all the hysteria about “dynasties” makes me wonder about you folks. We live in a republic, people. It’s not like he’d get the job through inheritance. You vote for him, or you don’t vote for him, based on his own merits. Sometimes I think a liberal wind sweeps through this place and gets people talking nonsense.
And nepotism? Better look that one up.
I love it. While we are at it, let’s just drop this presidential pretense and just simply move to a monarchy too. ·4 hours ago
*sigh*
No no no. Look, he might be a great choice, but his brother and father were both president. If we have a Bush Clinton election I am sure to end up sucking on a tail pipe.
Seriously, this nepotism/ dynasty politics has to end. When did we devolve into the late Roman Republic? When only select Patrician families, Scipioni, Julii , Junii, Cornelei, could aspire to the Consulship.No more Bushes, Kennedys, Coumos, Daleys, Clintons.The next step is Caesar if we don’t stop the madness.
…all the hysteria about “dynasties” makes me wonder about you folks…
You dismiss this complaint to easily. Are we really to believe that 3 of the most qualified people to run the country in a 25 year span, were all from the same family?
Don’t be silly. By that logic Obama is qualified to run the country. People get who they vote for, and if that’s another Bush, so be it. I don’t have to like it, but all the ranting about dynasties just makes me chuckle. Plenty of serious objections to Jeb without going there.
So you are ok if the American people vote for a given family in perpetuity, and have no fears that this means that democracy is no longer functioning properly?
Okay in the sense that the American people get who they vote for, sure. Okay in the sense that I’d be happy with individual choices? It would depend entirely on their policies, not who they happen to be related to. If Jeb were the next Reagan, I wouldn’t care a lick that he was the third Bush in a row.
I love it. While we are at it, let’s just drop this presidential pretense and just simply move to a monarchy too. ·8 hours ago
I’ve never heard of a monarchy that worked quite that way. Letting two opposing dynasties alternate regularly would be rather innovative.
No! Thanks to EJ for saying it best with humor and acuity. This is a trial balloon with no helium in it. Remember Peter, “Mother knows best!”
Thank you, Dave. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
… when I, like a lot of us here, am inclined to see the Tea Party as the salvation of the Republic.
While inclined toward the Tea Party, it seems you don’t really understand it.
Here it is. Our only real power is our vote. By withholding favor and votes on Big Government/Crony Republicans even if we are told (by them and the Left) it’s the only way to win, they are forced to listen- and some of the good candidates actually get elected.
I share the concerns about Jeb’s statist tendencies, but all the hysteria about “dynasties” makes me wonder about you folks. We live in a republic, people. It’s not like he’d get the job through inheritance. You vote for him, or you don’t vote for him, based on his own merits. Sometimes I think a liberal wind sweeps through this place and gets people talking nonsense.
And nepotism? Better look that one up.
You dismiss this complaint to easily. Are we really to believe that 3 of the most qualified people to run the country in a 25 year span, were all from the same family?