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Posts Tagged 'Jeb Bush'
JEB Suggests Trump-Clinton Conspiracy; Did Trump Give Clinton a Medal?
Aid and Comfort, JEB?
On Wednesday, NewsMax reported that JEB Bush tweeted about an alleged conspiracy between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. While I'm certainly no Trump fan, and I wouldn't doubt any conspiracy involving Hillary Clinton, I have a question for Mr. Bush: If past entanglements and relationships between Clinton and Trump are the basis for this argument, ought I not consider JEB's own entanglements and relationship with Clinton as the basis for a possible Bush-Clinton conspiracy? Readers might wonder what I'm talking about. I could point to the great and fast friends George HW Bush appeared to become with the Clintons after his defeat in 1992, but no, I needn't reach that far back in time, or even go to Bush relatives. Instead, we need only ask the following: While serving as the Chairman of the Board of the dubiously named "National Constitution Center," JEB stood forth on a public stage to hand out the Center's Liberty Medal. It just so happens that on the 10th of September, 2013, almost exactly one year after the Benghazi terror attack that killed our Ambassador, the woman who asked "…what difference does it make?" in congressional testimony on the matter stood forth on the stage with none other than JEB to receive the Center's Liberty Medal. Hillary received the Liberty Medal from JEB!
Per Mr. Bush:
"Former Secretary Clinton has dedicated her life to serving and engaging people across the world in democracy,"
"These efforts as a citizen, an activist, and a leader have earned Secretary Clinton this year's Liberty Medal."
Now it's all well and good if Mr. Bush wants to assert, along with his lapdogs in the media(Bill Kristol et al) that there is a deep, dark conspiracy between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, and considering the characters involved, I would not doubt it, but I wonder whether JEB understands just how foolish the facts make him look. After all, Donald Trump never stood on a stage on behalf of an organization named "The National Constitution Center," handing out a medal to Mrs. Clinton. Frankly, at the time, I thought it an unforgivable, disqualifying misadventure on JEB's part, but in light of his suggestion of a Hillary-Trump cabal, it now seems all the more ludicrous. Conspiring with the enemy, JEB? That's what he's implying Trump is doing. How about giving aid and comfort, JEB? Isn't that to which hanging a medal on Mrs. Clinton amounts? (The so-called "Liberty Medal," of all things!!!)
While I trust Donald and Hillary roughly as far as I can throw their combined weight, I don't trust JEB either.
Tags:Conspiracy, Donald Trump, Election 2016, Hillary Clinton, Jeb Bush, Medal, news, politics
Posted in Bush Clan, Election 2016, Featured, Hillary, News, Politics, TrumpUnism | 10 Comments »
Obamacare Profiteer Seeks Republican Nomination – And You May Give It to Him
Just a Little Profit?
It should come as no surprise to readers of this site that there are Republicans who sought to use Obama-care as a personal profit center. It's fair to say that some of them, in and out of office, were only too happy to see the new business opportunity the scandalous program represents, and now at least one of them seems poised to run for President. Jeb Bush, son of former President George HW Bush, and brother to former President George W. Bush, just divested himself of Tenet Healthcare in order to conceal this fact or at least make it "old news." I've cautioned readers in the past that the reason Obama-care would be difficult to repeal is that too many Republicans are making too much money from it. Here, a darling son of the DC Republican establishment demonstrates the point: Why on Earth would they repeal a profit center? All that is important to this sort is power, but neither liberty nor any virtue associated with it moves them. What Republicans like Bush should get from us is only our contempt, but given the recent history of Republican primary politics, there's a fair chance that we'll instead reward him with our support. If we wonder why it's so hard to elect a conservative, we needn't look beyond our collective conservative mirror.
Friday, I received a phone call from the RNCC soliciting a donation. In simplest terms, I told the man "Not no, but Hell no!" I took a moment to explain to him that this was because the Republicans had abandoned us on Obama-care and immigration immediately after their victory in November. He offered that it hadn't been the time to expend the "political capital." That's a sorry excuse, and I told him it was because both issues were causes of personal profits for too many inside-the-beltway Republicans who were bought and paid-for by lobbyists on these issues. I asked him why it was that Republicans were saving all this "political capital," suggesting that this was an excuse to cover their profiteering on Obama-care and immigration. He scoffed, so I abruptly told him to tell the RNCC to get bent, and hung up. The last thing I like to do is be rude to somebody the day after Christmas, but this guy earned it.
That it would be less than a few hours later when I would learn that, predictably, Jeb Bush had been among the Obama-care profiteers is perfectly fitting for our current political environment. Frankly, I'm waiting for Karl Rove to affix a crown of thorns to this guy and nail him to a cross if that's what will be needed to sell him to unwitting conservatives. The Bush family is at full tilt, and I knew when Jeb's son ran(and won) office in Texas, 2015 was going to be the year Jeb chose to further pollute the American body-politic and try to resurrect the Bush name among conservatives.
The Bush family has spent most of the last eight years trying to figure out how to weasel Jeb into office. Even before his second term had expired, George Bush's mastermind Karl Rove went to work on the problem: How to recover the Bush name? In order to do so, they needed a patsy, one so dismal that before it was done, people would be begging to have the Bush clan retake power. They found one in Barack Hussein Obama. I have known, and I suspect you have known conservatives who have declared they would vote for the devil if it meant wresting control of the White House from Democrats after two terms of Obama. What do you think had been the point of the "Miss me yet?" campaign designed to compare George W. Bush favorably with Barack Obama? It's all about rehabilitating the Bush family name.
Conservatives had ought to wise up. The Republican establishment is about to pull its usual divide-and-conquer maneuver so that it can saddle the party and America with another "lesser-of-two-evils" choice. The Bush family is gambling that you've become so desperate that you won't care about Jeb's profiteering on Obama-care. They hope you won't notice, or even having noticed, won't care about his continual drumbeat for open borders, or his insane "Common Core" education plans. No, the Bush family is hoping you will let them continue to re-invent America in their communitarian, Utopian vision. Welcome to the New World Order, a regime in which Americans are poorer, and less educated, while uniformly chanting "Bush! Bush! Bush!"
It's already begun, of course, as CNN reports that Bush is now the early front-runner among GOP hopefuls. All of this leads me to a question: When did Americans decide that a monarchy was fine? On the left, we have the Clinton clan, and also on the left we have the Bush clan, both parading as "moderates" with respect to their chosen parties, and both being much more statist than their respective marketing would have you believe. Jeb Bush once [in]famously stated that he "used to be a conservative," while responding to critics of his moderate-to-left policy preferences, but the fact is that nobody named Bush has ever been a conservative, instead having been at war with the conservative grass-roots of the party since the 1970s. If Jeb evinces any confusion by that statement, it is that he hasn't known what conservatism looks like, and had been permitted to wear that label as though it had ever actually applied to him. It doesn't.
If conservatives don't pull their heads out of the sand, and fast, deciding to skip over the pointless candidates who are entirely media creations at this point, settling instead on an actual conservative, get ready for another miserable primary year in which Republicans feed conservatives to the wolves. I'd ask you to consider how many of the currently polling individuals are really just creations of FoxNews, but who are neither conservatives nor crowd-drawing candidates with any hope of victory in 2016. Dr. Ben Carson? Former Gov. Mike Huckabee? The New Jersey Blowhard? Can any of these defeat Jeb Bush? Plainly, no. Are any of these anything much beyond stalking-horse creations of FoxNews? No. There are a number of conservatives who still pine for Rick Santorum. Can he beat Jeb Bush? Not a chance. In all the Republican Party, there exists only a handful of people who have the kind of muscle it will take to derail the Bush train, but if they don't step up to bat, we'll never know for sure. Instead, we'll be shafted with another 4-8 years of diminishing liberties and declining culture under yet another center-left Bush.
I understand that when conservatives get desperate, they will gladly accept another Bush over the leftist bogey-man of the moment, and left with no other choice, they'll board that train, but for Heaven's sake, it is time for conservatives to outsmart these people for a change. If conservatives begging queuing-up behind the litany of second-tier candidates now under consideration, they will be divided-and-conquered just as in 2012. Mitt Romney was effectively a test run for the Jeb Bush strategy, and Karl Rove knows it. If you will recall, Romney stayed around 25% support for the entirety of the 2011 silly season, knocking off conservative after conservative as they rose and fell. Michelle Bachman. Rick Perry. Herman Cain. Newt Gingrich. Rick Santorum. Mitt Romney bested them all because conservatives were so desperate that they hopped from bandwagon to bandwagon at the first sign of weakness. This strategy kept conservatives chasing their tails, while Romney basically survived with his base of support sticking with him through the process. In the entirety of 2011, Romney never rose above 25-30$ support, and never fell below 20%. More conservative candidates, along with relative unknowns, rose and fell like sine waves on an oscilloscope as conservatives rushed from one to the next in order to find a conservative champion who would not falter. By design, I think, there were none.
If conservatives are to have a chance in 2016, they must identify a candidate soon, and must stick with that candidate until victory. At present, I can only think of two or three conservatives with the chops to beat Bush, and as yet, none of them have made any firm indication that they might run. Rather than pursue pipe-dreams, however, settling for the laundry-list of unknowns and also-rans FoxNews is serving-up, conservatives ought to spend some time talking about the kind of presidency they want to see in January 2017, and how to go about getting it. If you're willing to settle for another Bush, or have one thrust upon you, fear not because Karl Rove is busy working on that, and has been since 2007. Even if Jeb fails in 2016, you know they'll try to derail any other Republican candidate who gets the nomination, because they've got another George[P. Bush] warming-up in the bullpen right now in Texas, who they will trot-out in 2024 or 2028.
If electing an Obama-care profiteer is an idea that seems to you too ghastly to consider, understand that if the Bush family has its way, you will soon endorse that action out of desperation. The Bush family doesn't mind providing the presidents America just barely elects, so long as they're in charge. Their continual quest to drag conservatives to the left in abandonment of our principles, one at a time, should be all the reason you need to oppose them and put an end to this seemingly unending American decline under their leadership. It's time for something different. It's time for a conservative. Obama-care profiteers need not apply.
Tags:Bush Clan, Conservatism, Election 2016, Jeb Bush, news, Obamacare, Politics, Profiteer
Posted in Activism, Bush Clan, Election 2016, Featured, News, Obamacare, Politics | 14 Comments »
Hey Jeb: Chirp This!
Fresh off a speech in which he basically complained that Americans aren't fertile enough to keep pace with his desire to grow the welfare state, Jeb Bush told CBN's David Brody (H/T Weaselzippers):
"If I decide to run for office again, it will be based on what I believe, and it will be based on my record. And that record was one of solving problems completely from a conservative perspective."
He went on:
"I will be able to, I think, manage my way through all the chirpers out there," he said.
"Chirpers?"
I think I deserve a promotion to "Squawker"
Hey Jeb, psssst, Jeb, you want a bird? I've got one right here for you, pal…
At least I kept it in the family…
You're no conservative.
Fertilize that...
Tags:Birds, Chirpers, Jeb Bush, The bird
Posted in Activism, Bush Clan, Immigration, Media, News, Politics, Video | 3 Comments »
DC's Legalized Anarchy
Lawful Lawlessness
Jeb Bush tells Americans by implication that we're not fertile enough, either as breeders or as business creators. Meanwhile, Marco Rubio's aide argues on behalf of bringing in more immigrants because American workers "just can't cut it." In truth, they likely agree with Barack Obama's sentiment that we "didn't build it," though as a matter of good politics, they couldn't admit it at the time. Imagine what it must be like to hang out among this band of brigands, who on the one hand seeks to impose their notions of compassion upon us, permitting millions of otherwise able-bodied Americans to languish as dependents on the welfare-state, who if challenged, might well be found to "cut it" very nicely. What Bush really means is that those of you who get up and go to work every day aren't fertile enough, and that since they wish to continue growing the welfare-state, they need more workers who can be slaves to their system. After all, as Marco Rubio's aide reminds us, the American worker just "can't cut it." These people are building a perfect anarchy, in which Americans struggle simply to make it through another day, and all the while, the elite subsist on the backs of our efforts.
The revelations of such a mindset should be all we need to understand why we're losing the country, but as if all this is not bad enough, the Supreme Court has now ruled that Arizona can't require voters to verify eligibility to vote. These people are stealing our country, right alongside the liberals, in league with them, and all we do is sit around watching it happen. Maybe they're right… Maybe we don't "cut it." So let us consider this as we consider the fact that not only are we forbidden from verifying the eligibility of somebody who appears on a Federal election ballot, but we must also ignore the eligibility of those who seek to complete one. There is no effective border, and no effective restraint on anything except the American people, who are told they may not choose their own doctors, their own healthcare plans, or even their own address. Slowly but surely, and it's quickening now, the entire American experiment in liberty is crashing down because we've had a century of organized, planned, anarchical plotting by those who would lead us. Our question, and indeed our demand must be: "Lead us where?" The answer may be as Joe Hakos suggests over at the Dryerreport.
A nation cannot exist without borders. A nation cannot last if its laws are not enforced. A nation will not stand that verifies neither the eligibility of its candidates nor the eligibility of its voters. The United States has been a nation built by immigrants, and always will be so long as we remember that immigration without restraint leads to anarchy. This is the singular aspect the DC establishment class has chosen to ignore, and it is at our great peril that we permit them to do so any longer. This is still our country, and we have every reason to defend its institutions, its legitimacy, and its ethos as established over the last two centuries. We cannot permit the insiders whose interests are best served in other ways to prevail upon us to yield our liberties, our standard of living, the rule of law that has acted as a brake on tyranny and violence, or any of the other facets of American life we have come to take for granted.
Of course, this may be the problem: For too long, too many Americans have take it for granted. For too long, too many of us thought it was all automatic, and if only we trusted the people in Washington DC, it would all work out for the best. It hasn't worked out, at least not for us, and surely not for our children and theirs. This monstrous, decaying system in which the people who bear all the burdens matter least is the most despicable of all. Where else in the world can one go that the citizens of a country get the last crumbs on a table of plenty they have set? I don't care if you're a union laborer, or a white-collar, middle-management employee, but if this is permitted to continue, we will all be eating the table scraps at the feet of the anointed. No country can survive a collapse of law and lawfulness from the top downward, no matter how great and courageous its people may have been or may remain.
Notice that our nation suffers not from a lack of laws, but from the will to enforce them. Notice that in a country of 320 million souls, the twenty million of them who are here illegally are being served by a class of people who intend to profit from the efforts and exertions of another million-score of suckers. Even if our economy were booming, and it's far from that, we shouldn't permit people to come into this country in order to be exploited any more than we should permit them to be exploited for their votes. That isn't what America is about, because done right, immigration can provide a nation with an influx of new ideas, renewed dedication to purpose, and fresh eyes on a whole universe of old problems, but this immigration bill, crafted by and for the lobbyists does nothing but undermine the republic that had made their existence possible. Let us not delay the matter for another day. Let us say it now, and with the conviction of the ages: This immigration bill must not be permitted to become law because it is the death of us all, and all we have labored to build. It is the diminution of a nation by inflation. It is the death-knell of a republic. This "Gang of Eight" bill gives Barack Obama precisely what he wants: Legalized anarchy. This is the death of nations, and ours is not exempt from that inflexible rule.
Friday, Mark Levin captured it well here(H/T Daily Caller):
Tags:Arizona, Immigration, Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, news, Politics, Supreme Court
Posted in Activism, Amnesty, Congress, Culture, Featured, Immigration, News, Politics, Statism, Supreme Court | 1 Comment »
Jeb Bush and His Beasts of Burden
Road to the Minority
Jeb Bush was addressing the Faith and Freedom Coalition on Friday when he inexplicably said something that is almost certain to give him grief for a long time to come, and I promise to be among those reminding you. His remark was aimed at the question of immigration reform, and his general point, I think, may have been that immigration sparks a certain vibrancy in an economic system(assuming it meets certain conditions,) but what Bush's remark reveals is the reason I don't think immigrants will wind up supporting him. Establishment Republicans imagine immigrants as the way out of our budgetary morass, because they expect that an influx of working-age people having children will grow the tax base to the extent that it will overpower the generational problem presented by the retiring of the "baby boomers." The problems with this theory are many, but Republicans of the establishment mold like Bush have put on blinders. For the better part of a half-century, the powers in post-war Europe adopted immigration policies aimed at the same basic problem: The welfare state was unsustainable and the only way to prop it up would be by bringing in immigrants. Europe is now paying mightily for this policy, and it is evinced by the riots we have seen across the continent as Muslim immigrants run rampant through the capitals of Europe. Said Bush:
"Immigrants are more fertile, and they love families, and they have more intact families, and they bring a younger population. Immigrants create an engine of economic prosperity."
The particularly egregious use of the term "fertile" aside, what Bush is here saying confirms every word I have alleged: This wave of immigration they're now pursuing is intended to prop up our welfare state. Bush, like his brother and father before him, doesn't have any intention of slowing the growth of government, but merely wishes to increase the revenues available to it. That's it. That's all there really is to this, and all there's ever been to this, and notions like assimilation go careening out the window. There will be no border security, and no effort at assimilation, but instead a patently shrewd attempt to pad government revenues with the labor of young, "fertile" people.
I wonder if prospective immigrants understand, either waiting lawfully in line, or trying to short-cut around it, that all of this talk about compassion and coming out of the shadows is really about them taking on the yokes of beasts of burden, with nothing more or less than their ability to drag this nation along through the mire of the welfare state as as the object. As if this isn't bad enough, Marco Rubio now explains that we need the immigrants as new, legalized employees to pay the taxes that will fund border security. If you have had any misunderstanding about the motives of this entire "immigration reform" bill nonsense, this must clarify the matter: It's about funding the leviathan that has become our federal government.
People who are less politically-engaged frequently ask me what is the difference between a Republican and a Conservative. While the explanation is certainly worthy of an article or two all its own, the simplest way to view it seems to be that conservatives concern themselves with principles of right and wrong, while Republicans concern themselves only with how to make a thing work in a very pragmatic, morality-agnostic manner. It doesn't matter to Jeb Bush why existing Americans have a lower fertility rate than recent immigrants. It doesn't matter to him why it is that they create fewer new businesses than recent immigrants. He merely accepts it as is, and then looks for a way to fill the short-run or mid-term gaps, consequences be damned.
Since pinheads who call themselves "Republican" seem not to understand why Americans would slow their rate of reproduction, or why they would create fewer businesses, let me make it perfectly clear: People like Jeb Bush and his family are the reason. Rationally, once invested in life in America, it's rather more difficult to decide to have more children if each successive child adds a substantial burden that may affect the prospects of each existing child. When my own daughter was born, Mr. Bush's father was President, preparing to break his "read my lips" pledge. The economy was doing poorly, and this acted to shake up our view on whether it was proper to bring more children into the world. We wondered if we wanted to bring more children into a world in which they would become beasts of burden for a welfare state George H.W. Bush's OMB director at the time projected that the net tax rate on children born in 1990(like our daughter) would wind up being around eighty percent! Why did we have only one child? We couldn't afford two!
Immigrants don't realize this yet, because they're unaware of the nuts and bolts of our escalating welfare state from the paying side, at least initially. Over time, they learn it, as their rate of reproduction or business creation likewise slows. As they struggle to make a little ground against the economic forces weighing down upon them, they become disinclined to add new economic burdens to their own family situations. Reproduction slows. What Bush and those like him are gambling is that a new sea of immigrants freshly legalized will still be too poor, too uneducated, and too busy to notice this until they've created another generation or two of workers who will struggle to fill the coffers of government.
What Mr. Bush and those like him will not do is to consider why our existing population's reproduction rate has slowed to below replacement. What Mr. Bush will not concede is that finding new ways to fund the welfare state is not the answer. It doesn't need more funds. It needs to be demolished. The problem is that as people obtain slightly more prosperity, they tend to focus on how to maintain and extend it. Part of obtaining that prosperity is education in one form or another, and all of these things lead people to slow their reproduction. These things tend to make them more risk-averse, so until they cross another significant threshold, starting a new business venture is also unlikely.
What Jeb and the other members of his family(both real and political) wish for us to believe is that there is something innate about immigrants that makes them more "fertile." What they are unwilling to admit is that the problem isn't with the "fertility" of existing Americans, except that in a struggle to maintain their standard of living, they have policed themselves, unless they are captive client-members of the welfare state, in which case, they're another burden for the rest of us to carry. Even if one is able to rationalize Jeb's views as merely misguided pragmatism, one must confront the fact of how he views people.
Bush, like his brother and his father, seems to hold a worldview that permits him to see the issue as one of how to fulfill a need to keep the beast alive. The fact that the beastly welfare-state is destroying the country is a matter of little significance if he can find enough human lubricant to keep its wheel turning a while longer. Generations of Americans struggling against the growing weight of the state are of no consequence to him. Lives of real people demolished in the process of building the leviathan are of little or no concern. Neither his view of native-born Americans nor the legions of waiting immigrants offers any comfort when considering the future he envisions, in which the state continues to escalate as a burden upon the populace.
Some number of years into the future, Jeb Bush and those like him will appear before us to try to give us the next round of amnesty. By then, the country will be in crippling poverty with few exceptions. Civil strife will be rampant. The welfare state will reign supreme in all aspects of life. The problem with his view is that he's more interested in making it to that next occasion than he is in preventing it in the first place. If you really wonder about the difference between a Republican and a Conservative, this then may serve as the key: Republicans don't make waves, and go along with the flow because they wish to maintain the status quo indefinitely. Conservatives know it cannot last.
Tags:Fertility, Immigrants, Jeb Bush, news, Politics, Rubio
Posted in Amnesty, Bush Clan, Featured, Illegal Immigration, Immigration, News, Politics | 8 Comments »
The Insufferable GOP Establishment Is Now Whining
The Establishment Fears You
An article appeared in the Tampa Bay Times that should strengthen your resolve and hearten your efforts to defeat the Romney machine. It's titled Analysis of Rubio-Bush-Ryan Plan to Stop Rick Santorum, and if ever you wanted to know what it looks like when the GOP establishment crowd is made to sweat, this is it. The author, Marc Caputo, fairly gushes over the three well-known GOP politicians Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush, and Paul Ryan. When an article starts out this way, you have to know that it's a real sob story:
Marco Rubio sounds worried. So do Jeb Bush and Paul Ryan.
Their candidate, Mitt Romney, is losing to President Barack Obama. The GOP primary is becoming "counterproductive."
The assumptions made here are sickening. First, there is the entitlement mentality, that suggests these guys have some right to expect their candidate to be the nominee. What they know is what you should already know: Romney's presumed nomination is in trouble, as they've looked at the numbers and realize that 1144 delegates could be out of reach if Rick Santorum can make it through the month of April and into May. The article acknowledges what I've been reporting about a potential brokered convention too:
"They are saying the only way they can win this race is by having a floor fight in Tampa in August," Sen. Rubio said Wednesday of the "recipe for disaster" on Fox News. "I think that's a recipe to deliver four more years to Barack Obama. And our country — forget about the Republican Party — our country cannot afford that."
Senator Rubio is simply wrong. A floor fight isn't a recipe for disaster unless you're a Romney supporter. They way the establishment has controlled, manipulated, and rigged this process is a disaster for the country. A real recipe for disaster in November would be for Mitt Romney to lose the election because he is incapable of positioning himself to defeat Barack Obama in any argument in a general election.
Predictably, this is where the article turns its attacks on Santorum, prefacing the assault this way:
"It's as if Obama's campaign is writing Santorum's attack lines about how Romney is virtually indistinguishable from the president."
Really? It's as if a DNC ad-man wrote the article. Media bias is what it is, but I have tired of people purporting to be part of News organizations, posing as journalists of some sort who make statements like this:
"If Romney loses Florida, he probably loses the election. If Santorum stays in and wins the huge Texas primary May 29, it'll continue to make Romney look uninspiring and like the weakest of frontrunners."
Note to Mr. Caputo: Mitt Romney is uninspiring. He is the weakest of front-runners. He won't win Texas. Of course, the absolutely most laughable part of this whining, pathetic plea is this:
"Santorum and Gingrich bear some responsibility for Romney's problems. So does gaffe-prone Romney. Also, this poll and others indicate that the GOP's stances on contraception and abortion have hurt the party's brand among women and independent voters. The improving economy has worked against Romney and in Obama's favor as well."
It's Santorum and Gingrich who are to blame for Romney's inadequacies? Mitt Romney has spent tens of millions of dollars on ads absolutely hammering his opponents, and we should blame his opponents for his unpopularity and his continuing inability to sew up the nomination? Caputo's article concludes with a plea that should embarrass anybody who is actually in the news business:
"Will Santorum give Romney the chance to make that case in time?"
Mr. Caputo should understand, as should the whining GOP establishment: Conservatives have no obligation to cede the race to Mitt Romney, or make it easier for him, or in any way enable his candidacy. He hasn't shown any inclination to get out of their way either, and I want to know only one thing from Mr. Caputo and those like him:
"Will Romney give Santorum and Gingrich the chance to make the case against Barack Obama in time?"
No? Then shut up and fight.
You'll notice how the idiotic questions they pose for conservatives are never offered to the establishment. They hope sincerely that we will not notice the fact that every question of this sort that they throw at conservatives could be turned around and thrown right back. For instance, they are always demanding: "But you will support Romney if nominated, right?" I have yet to hear anybody in the big media ask Romney: "But you will support Santorum, Gingrich, or Paul, if nominated, right?" Of course we won't hear that question, because it would imply Romney could lose. Newsflash: He could lose. Caputo's article is proof of that fact.
Tags:Election 2012, GOP Establishment, GOP Nomination, Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, Mitt Romney, news, Paul Ryan, Politics
Posted in Brokered Convention, Bush Clan, Conservatism, Election 2012, Featured, GOP Establishment, News, Politics | 25 Comments »
Trayvon Martin and the Politics of Division
Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman
I had decided to avoid this case because I could see that it was headed for inflammatory realms in which race would become one of the central talking points, and I don't wish to be part of such vicious spectacles, or in any way add to the situation, but this has gone too far. Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old, was shot and killed after some sort of altercation with George Zimmerman in Sanford, Florida, on February 26th. Martin, an African-American, was apparently armed only with Skittles candy and ice tea, and the presumption has been that Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch participant or captain of some sort who has a concealed hand-gun carry license, must have overreacted in the moment and shot Martin.
Initially, it was reported that Zimmerman was white, but it was later amended to reflect the reality that he is Hispanic. The political impact locally was immediate: There was outrage. Since that time, various political figures and operatives have stuck their noses into this, agitating for their own agenda, the list of agitators sadly including the President of the United States.
At the scene, police let Zimmerman go because according to witnesses, it appeared to be the case that during the final moments of the incident, Martin was atop Zimmerman, hammering away at him with punches. Zimmerman was battered and bloodied, and he had grass stains on his clothing indicating he had been on his back, defensive, when the shooting occurred. Witnesses have confirmed much of this account. That has not been enough to stem the tide of racially-charged agitating going on in Sanford, Florida, and increasingly, around the country, as the con-artists who use such incidents to try to sew chaos in the black community have continued to work their worst. It's abominable, but it's also sadly telling, because rather than attempting to calm things, President Obama stirred them up further with his own ridiculous remarks before heading to South Korea.
We will likely never know with absolute certainty what transpired, or how this went down in the moments leading up to Trayvon Martin's death. We will have the words of the witnesses, the 9-1-1 call, and the testimony of George Zimmerman, along with any physical evidence collected at the scene. All of this is important in reconstructing those moments, but the suspicion among many is that Zimmerman was an overzealous neighborhood watch participant who went too far, but it is also entirely possible within the framework of the evidence disclosed thus far that Zimmerman is entirely innocent of any wrong-doing. After all, the cops had a dead body, and a smoking gun, and a shooter. They had everything they needed if they thought Zimmerman had committed a crime to arrest him on the spot. This is the reason for the outrage, of course, because there are those who are suggesting that there's no way this could be anything other than criminal malevolence on the part of Zimmerman.
One of the other reasons I haven't written about this is because I know passions are running high, but information is thin. I am not about to condemn Zimmerman who may have done exactly nothing wrong, nor am I about to cast aspersions on 17-yo Martin, who may well have been the victim in this case, but in any event lost his life in the event. What I am going to say is what the Mayor, the Governor, and the President should have said, but in various ways failed to do:
We are a nation of laws. We have the system of justice that permits the investigation, the charging, the arresting, the trial and the punishment of wrong-doers. We must trust in this system to sort through the physical evidence, the testimony of witnesses, circumstantial evidence, and the whole body of what is known about this case in order that justice be served. What we do know is that in the hours afterward, the police saw fit to let Zimmerman go. His story seemed to check out, and after interviewing Martin's father, they verified that the screams for help heard on the 9-1-1 recordings were not those of Trayvon Martin, at least implying that at some point during the altercation, Zimmerman was on the receiving end of the worst of it. Then there was a gun-shot, and that all changed.
Could the discharge of the weapon have been accidental? Was it while prone on the shooters back, being pummeled by the other? If this is the case, and that seems to be the story the police have accepted, then whatever led to that moment, you have the lanky teen in command of the situation in the moments just before the trigger was pulled. I've read remarks from people who immediately criticize Zimmerman for using a gun on an unarmed assailant, but I would like to caution those who throw about such loose talk because fists can be deadly weapons too, and to assume that because we're talking about punches is no reason to assume that Zimmerman was in any less danger. If I had a dollar for every person who has been beaten to death, I'd be able to retire comfortably tomorrow. In such a situation, it really comes down to whether the person being beaten believes his life is in danger. Once that belief exists, his actions thereafter may be justified, however he arrived at the situation.
This is one of the real problems with these sorts of scenarios, and it's really not conducive to the sort of hyper-emotional talk that accompanies such events. The event must be deconstructed on a time-line, and that's critical to understanding who is to blame for what, and where the points of demarcation along the chain of events may be. Knowing how the two came to blows will be one way-point, while there may come another at which Martin gained the upper hand, and yet another at which Zimmerman came to believe his life was in danger, and used the gun. All of this is a complicated thing to put together, and it's not made easier by the charges of racism, or charges of bias, or all of the rest of it that agitators and media add unnecessarily to the sad story. I think every person outside direct involvement in this situation who has commented about this to the press is an irresponsible ass.
I except only the family of Martin, understandably stricken with grief and shock, and the local police who must make some statement, but they may be constrained by laws and regulations concerning the disclosure of all evidence and testimony until the case is closed. The family can say what they want, and they should, but at some point, it's also up to them to try to gather all the facts. If Martin had a hand in his own demise, they need to know it. What annoys me about the press is that they will talk to the family in such a case and do everything they can to build on any controversy. This creates unnecessary hysteria in the community, and leads to the sorry spectacle with which we are now faced, but it also brings them around-the-clock ratings bonanzas and for the enterprising local journalist, if the story goes national, it may be the chance to move up to food chain. Don't kid yourself: For every sad story in which there is any controversy, there is a legion of parasites trying to figure out how to exploit the situation to their personal advantage.
Now enter the circus of hucksters and hustlers, who have nothing much to lose, but everything to gain from turning a sad situation into a circus. The New Black Panthers are on the scene, as are Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, and while not there in person, but in spirit and in words, Barack Obama, President of the United States. I feel badly for the community there, because what should have been a sad story that resulted in an investigation that concluded one way or another is now a politicized three-ring circus with every hanger-on and vulture one can imagine. It's despicable. Four weeks after the fact, this tragic tale has become a spectacle into which people who have no actual interest in the case have inserted themselves for their own nefarious purposes. I can scarcely imagine that the grieving mother of Trayvon Martin is in any way relieved or heartened by the New Black Panthers issuing a $10,000 bounty for the "capture" of George Zimmerman. It will not bring back her son, and it certainly won't serve justice.
Sunday, Director Spike Lee tweeted George Zimmerman's home address, exhorting followers to spread it. To what end? Is Spike Lee now engaged in trying to foment a lynch mob? If anything befalls George Zimmerman as a result, or his family, or his neighbors, as a result of this ridiculous behavior by Spike Lee, I sincerely hope they sue this ridiculous character half out of existence. His intent is clearly malevolent, and violent. What Lee is effectively doing is calling for violence, though he's careful not to say it directly. Providing an address in this fashion is simply a form of hooliganism that all should abhor. If we had a responsible President, he would have said something to put a stop to all of this, but his agenda is not served by stopping it. He wants the chaos. He wants the agitating. This is what he did for a living before he was an elected politician. This is all very much right up this President's alley.
Of course, you would think that some responsible person seeking the Presidency would say something to condemn all of this loose talk, and somebody did: Newt Gingrich pointed out the bad behavior of Barack Obama in the matter. On the other hand, Jeb Bush, former Florida Governor, actually piled on with the anti-Zimmerman rants. As the former Governor of that state, you would think that he would have exercised the prudence of keeping his mouth shut until all the facts are known, but he couldn't stay quiet about it, trying to ingratiate himself with whatever interests he thinks will one day serve him should he seek higher office.
"This law does not apply to this particular circumstance," Bush said after an education panel discussion at the University of Texas at Arlington. "Stand your ground means stand your ground. It doesn't mean chase after somebody who's turned their back."
The problem with this remark is that Bush isn't any more aware of the facts of the incident than the rest of us. He doesn't have any special insight to offer, but the last part of this remark could be said to be inciting. We don't know how those last moments of Martin's life went down, and Bush really had no business injecting the biased statement about "somebody who's turned their back." This reminds me of the "The Cambridge Police acted Stupidly" remark of Barack Obama. It assumes and implies what may be all the wrong things about this case, and ignores some of the details that are now widely available. His next remark, however, should have been his only remark on the case:
"Anytime an innocent life is taken it's a tragedy," Bush said. "You've got to let the process work."
If Bush has said this only, and left it there, it would have been fine, and in fact, that's the sort of thing all our politicians should say when asked about this case, or any like it. Of course, for his part, Bush was a relatively minor player in the fiasco, because when you consider the outrageously prejudicial remarks of President Obama, it's easy to see how this circus got out of hand very quickly:
"When I think about this boy, I think about my own kids," Obama said in the Rose Garden. "I think every parent in America should be able to understand why it is absolutely imperative that we investigate every aspect of this. And that everybody pull together."
"My main message is to the parents of Trayvon Martin. You know, if I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon," Obama said. "All of us as Americans are going to take this with the seriousness it deserves."
"Obviously, this is a tragedy. I can only imagine what these parents are going through," Obama said. "All of us have to do some soul searching to figure out how something like this has happened."
This is absurd because it was going to be investigated, and indeed, the investigation was well under way when he opened his mouth on the issue. It's also true that this case is not really a federal issue. I don't understand what the Federal government is doing in this case unless and until the State of Florida and the local jurisdiction put in a call for assistance, or until somebody makes a charge to the Department of Justice claiming that somebody's rights have been violated under the existing legal system. To then bring his own kids into this, or to make the remark about "if I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon," is simply a disgusting appeal to race as a motive. It's either that, or Obama is so fundamentally narcissistic that he must translate every issue and problem into a personal one in order to understand it. Either way, Obama's remarks are an outrage in and of themselves, and Newt Gingrich, commenting on Obama's behavior, was quick to denounce the remarks, again from Politico:
"It's not a question of who that young man looked like. Any young American of any ethnic background should be safe, period. We should all be horrified no matter what the ethnic background," Gingrich said. "Is the President suggesting that if it had been a white who had been shot that would be ok because it didn't look like him?"
They also reported this on his remarks earlier the same day:
"That's just nonsense dividing this country up. It is a tragedy this young man was shot," Gingrich continued on Hannity's show. "It would have been a tragedy if he had been Puerto Rican or Cuban or if he had been white or if he had been Asian-American of if he'd been a Native American. At some point we ought to talk about being Americans. When things go wrong to an American. It is sad for all Americans. Trying to turn it into a racial issue is fundamentally wrong. I really find it appalling."
Here, the former House Speaker sounds the right basic theme, but I think it's important for all of these folks to avoid over-politicizing the issue itself, and urge calm and remind Americans that we have a justice system to handle this, and that prejudging anything here absent all the evidence could lead to a tragic miscarriage of justice, one way or the other. In the context of commenting on the comments, I see that as proper because this is to focus on the behaviors of those not even remotely connected to the issue who are clearly adding fuel to the fire. On the other hand, those commenting on the situation directly absent the full results of the investigation, including all circumstantial and physical evidence, along with all available testimony are acting irresponsibly.
There are a number of people who can't wait to jump in front of a camera or a microphone and do a good deal of indignant harrumphing about this case, but all they are adding to the situation is more emotional invective. The correct answer is: Stop! This situation cannot possibly improve by the injection of comments from uninvolved parties. That we now have the New Black Panthers offering a bounty and effectively calling for Zimmerman's scalp, while Spike Lee tweets the guy's address is a recipe for disaster. The media shouldn't give any of these jerks face-time, but they're trying to push the story for the sake of ratings, but maybe also a political agenda. Either way, the President, Governor, Mayor, Prosecutor, and anybody else connected with the administration of justice in any way with this case ought to restrain their remarks to the very basic: "No comment," or "We need to let the system of justice work," or "I cannot comment on an ongoing investigation," and most importantly, "the system of justice cannot work when we have hooligans trying to incite violence or using violent rhetoric."
The simple truth of this case may be that race had absolutely nothing to do with any of it. The attempt by some to turn this into a racial issue is simply disgusting, as Newt Gingrich asserted. This is an instance in which cool heads should prevail, but with a parade of hucksters, opportunists, and politicians with their own agenda in mind, the media has turned this into something it should never have been while they overlook real cases in which outrage is warranted irrespective of the issue of race. In the end, the evidence may show Zimmerman acted improperly, and if so, he will be punished, but if not, then there's going to be a bad situation here because too many people are trying much too intently to make of this a spectacle for their own purposes.
The media reports in ways that simply boggle the mind, and as late as Sunday, I have seen one Reuters story in which the shooter was described as a "white hispanic." If this doesn't demonstrate the lunacy of the media, and their firm commitment to getting the most controversial angle on every story, I don't know what does. It is my sincere hope that justice is served for all involved, whatever that turns out to be once all the facts are known and all of the investigations are concluded, but not one moment sooner. This sort of rush to judgment is dangerous, and it should be rejected by every American irrespective of race, sex, national origin, sexual orientation or political affiliation. If we are to have a civilized society, it begins with the proposition that when something uncivil occurs, we must respond to it in an orderly fashion that permits rational examination of facts without bias. Many of the agitators in this instance are trying to obtain the opposite result, but we must not permit it. It's long past time for cooler heads to prevail. I expect our national leaders to reflect that sentiment.
Tags:Barack Obama, Crime, Culture, George Zimmerman, Jeb Bush, Justice, Media, news, Newt Gingrich, Politics, Spike Lee, Trayvon Martin
Posted in Crime, Featured, Law, Media, News, Politics | 9 Comments »
Jeb Bush Pushes the Narrative of a "Party of Fear"
Jeb Denounces Campaign of Fear
Jeb Bush is worried about the Republican Party, and The Hill is reporting on some of his thoughts on the primary campaign for the GOP Presidential nomination. Among everything else Bush said, there were a few nuggets that should be subjected to scrutiny, as it is increasingly clear that the former Florida governor has parted company with the conservative base of the party. This is a troubling development in my book, because it raises questions about the continued narrative that Bush would be the favored outcome of a brokered convention. He seems to think that the current crop of GOP contenders are appealing unnecessarily to fear, but I suppose if you live in the Jeb Bush bubble, there's nothing for anybody to fear. We're steaming toward catastrophe, and he will have a lifeboat, but the rest of we passengers on the Titanic know that Captain Obama is steering directly for the iceberg.
"I used to be a conservative, and I watch these debates and I'm wondering — I don't think I've changed, but it's a little troubling sometimes when people are appealing to people's fears and emotion rather than trying to get them to look over the horizon for a broader perspective, and that's kind of where we are," said Bush, according to Fox News. "I think it changes when we get to the general election. I hope."
I honestly don't know what Bush is talking about. He is being intentionally vague, but I noticed this much: Mr. Bush isn't a conservative, and he seems to be hinting that the party is moving to the right. It's not. The party has moved slightly leftward, but the problem is that Mr. Bush has been on the leading edge of that slide, and in fact, it's probably accurate to say he's been helping to pull it in that direction. I'm not one of those who bought into the myth that George W. Bush was more conservative than his father, George H.W. Bush, or that Jeb is more conservative than either of these. You get an indication of this when you look at his remarks on education, that he made to the National Center for Policy Analysis luncheon in Dallas on Thursday, suggesting he doesn't like the talk of eliminating the Federal Department of Education:
Mr. Bush said, "I'd like to hear more about how important it is that we create a high growth economy where there's more prosperity and job creation, that we transform our education system. And what generally the questions are, what do you think the federal role is? They answer that, that's fine. The policy is how do you transform the education system."
He also cautioned against moving too far to the right:
"I think it's important for the candidates to recognize though they have to appeal to primary voters, and not turn off independent voters that will be part of a winning coalition."
I don't care what Mr. Bush has to say. Let me say this one last time: No more Bushes. I am finished with the Bush clan, and the reason is simple: They pose as conservatives, but they have shown they are moderates at best, and I'm simply not interested in any more of their governance. Everything his brother George W. Bush did on the domestic front led to the awful outcome of losing the House in 2006. You're free to disagree, but I can state with certainty that there's absolutely no chance I will ever vote for another member of the Bush family. I don't believe in political dynasties in America, as a matter of principle, just as I don't believe in monarchies.
All of this highlights a serious problem in the Republican party, that most readers here will have noticed long ago: The moderate wing of the party continues to drag us leftward, to the extent that in some ways, many of the presumed establishment leaders of our party frequently have more in common with the Democrats. Of course, in the end, Governor Bush went on to explain how he believes there will be no brokered convention, and that the nominee will come from those already in the race, stipulating that there's no way he'd be the nominee by such a process. (Video courtesy CBS 11 DFW)
I don't see anything wrong with suggesting that the Federal Department of Education should be eliminated. I can't find the word "education" anywhere in our Federal constitution, so I don't know where that authority arises, or why the Federal government has become involved. Conservatism would not have created a Federal Department of Education, but apparently Jeb Bush would have done so, and the evidence may be his own brother's conduct in creating the No Child Left Behind program. This serves to demonstrate that Jeb Bush is not so conservative as he thought, but the important nugget for us is to understand that fact even if Mr. Bush doesn't.
Bush contends that the candidates may be moving "too far to the right," but for my tastes, they could move a good deal more. Still, I'm less interested in temporary positions that will be dropped when the candidate is chosen. That's what the party rightly fears from the likes of Mitt Romney, or from any more of the Bushes, because we've been there before. The truth is that the party has been sliding left for a long time, and that which Jeb Bush considers "conservative" is to the left of Franklin Roosevelt in most important ways. I realize the party will not be reformed overnight, and I know with people like Mitt Romney leading the drive, it's likely to get a good deal worse before it gets any better, but I'm not interested in any more talk about moderation. We've moderated ourselves directly off the left edge of the map. Mr. Bush may not be fearful, but conservatives know better, because what we fear isn't a particular event, but the loss of our prosperity and the character of the country upon which it had been based.
Tags:Bush Clan, GOP, GOP Establishment, Jeb Bush, Media, news, politics, Republican Party
Posted in Bush Clan, Conservatism, Election 2012, GOP Establishment, News, Politics | 5 Comments »
Brokered Convention Hopes: Too Good To Be True?
Overthinking It?
First, I'd thank Doug Brady at Conservatives4Palin for pointing out this story, because based on timing, I might have missed it otherwise. Like everybody at C4P, he's a great writer, so be sure to stop by there and check them out. The Hill has an article today titled: A brokered convention: Jeb Bush vs. Sarah Palin. His speculation centers around the idea that if Santorum and Newt remain competitive, with Ron Paul still grabbing delegates along the way, with half the delegates yielded by the early states to the National Party, there's a very real possibility of a brokered convention so long as nobody manages to acquire the 1144 delegates needed to sew up the nomination before the convention. It's clear that this has been part of Romney's worries all along, and it's probably part of why Romney went full-bore after Gingrich in Florida. Just a few days before the Florida primary, Jeb Bush quietly suggested that he would not be making an endorsement after all, as many had expected him to endorse Romney in the days and weeks leading up to that state's primary.
There have been some who have been speculating that the tentative Bush family support of Romney is aimed at making Mitt Romney a placeholder for precisely such a move, whereby Jeb Bush could jump in via a brokered convention and walk away with the nomination. While highly speculative, naturally, that remains a possibility. What Bernie Quigley's article on The Hill proposes is that rather than just a Bush entry through a brokered convention, you might instead have Sarah Palin placed into the mix by virtue of her overwhelming support across a broad base of the party, a factor that was inescapable if you watched her speech at CPAC on Saturday. Every one of the candidates did their best on Friday, with Newt Gingrich probably motivating the crowd most thoroughly among them, but the three rooms worth of overflow seating added for the Keynote speech on Saturday evinced a strong preference for the message of Sarah Palin. She clearly and thoroughly rocked CPAC as I reported, and her performance there was stunning. Quigley didn't miss this either:
But as The Hill's Josh Lederman reports from the CPAC conference, the former Alaska governor received far and away the most spirited and enthusiastic reception at the convention of about 10,000 conservative activists. She drew the audience to its feet more than a dozen times during her keynote address on Saturday.
"The cheers for Palin were so loud that they drowned out her remarks again and again," he writes. "Conference organizers had to set up three overflow rooms to accommodate the throngs of supporters eager to hear her words."
It's self-evident: Palins performance Saturday led many to question whether the Republican Party is running the right candidate. After all, as was apparent Saturday, none of the actual candidates at present fill an auditorium like Palin, and none of them were able to rouse their respective crowds in so engaging a manner. Quigley's speculation focuses on the idea that if we actually arrived at the Republican convention without having settled on a nominee, things could become exciting if Bush and Palin have their names dropped into the hat for possible selection. After all, Bush has solid support from his home state of Florida, but he's also a Bush, which means that many simply won't be willing to further a dynasty, and rightly so, I might add. The other person who might get proposed would be Chris Christie, but I think Quigley's right to point out that none would be more eligible with respect to the party faithful than Sarah Palin.
Quigley goes on to speculate about the possible combinations of nominees and their running mates, but I suspect that while entertaining and interesting, this sort of speculation is liable to give rise to false hopes about an unlikely set of events. The conditions for this to occur would require that the delegate count would need to continue to be split up, denying Romney (or any of the others) the opportunity to obtain the needed 1144. That may not be possible, as Romney's advantage in cash makes him much more able to sustain a long campaign. Still, it's a fascinating study in "what-if" thinking, because if Quigley's view turned out to be correct, it would certainly invigorate this race at a time when the party will need it most, particularly since this theory assumes that the convention will have commenced without a decided nominee. The problem is that even if it went anything like what Quigley suggests, it wouldn't be so easy as his abbreviated narrative might suggest. Nothing is ever that easy in politics.
Tags:Bernie Quigley, Brokered Convention, C4P, Election 2012, Jeb Bush, Media, Mitt Romney, news, politics, Sarah Palin, The Hill
Posted in Bush Clan, Conservatism, Election 2012, GOP Establishment, Media, Mitt Romney, News, Politics, Sarah Palin | 17 Comments »
Remember When Jeb Bush Wanted to Abandon "Nostalgia" for Reagan?
No Need for Nostalgia?
I try not to be unduly inflammatory when discussing other Republicans, but these remarks, as published in the Washington Times back in May 2009, serve to remind me of why I don't think much of Jeb Bush. Saturday, in stark contrast throughout a speech that stirred CPAC to multiple standing ovations, Sarah Palin mentioned Ronald Reagan, and alluded to him as well, but I suppose that in the minds of Mitt Romney and Jeb Bush, she's just "living in the past," like so many conservatives. The thing that crosses my mind as I consider his arguments of nearly three years ago is that what he then proposed was absurd, and as time goes on, his thesis grows only more obnoxious in my view. How can it be said that Ronald Reagan is irrelevant if he still evokes the sort of passion we saw in the crowd's reaction to the mention of Reagan's name throughout the CPAC convention? Maybe his problem is that the name "Bush" does evoke similar nostalgia.
I dare say that in light of all I know, and all that has happened in this campaign season, the thesis put forward by the former Florida governor is merely evinces the complete and thorough disconnect between the grass roots and the elites in the Republican Party. Consider what he said in May 2009, as quoted in the Washington Times:
"So our ideas need to be forward looking and relevant. I felt like there was a lot of nostalgia and the good old days in the [Republican] messaging. I mean, it's great, but it doesn't draw people toward your cause," Mr. Bush said.
Here was a former governor of a pivotal state in presidential elections, whose father and brother both boasted of their ties to President Reagan as a matter of their campaigns, and yet now we should ditch all of that in favor of what? A Bush dynasty? Is that the legacy of the party to which we should now point with reverence? Please. Here is a man who tells us this as he sat alongside Mitt Romney who had been defeated only one year before, and he bothered to tell us who he thinks is no longer relevant? Please. Then I consider that Jeb has been out of office for a good little while himself, and then I consider that isn't Mitt Romney's clinging to him merely a nostalgic reach back to an earlier time?
After all, I know any number of people who wish to bring back the Reagan era in terms of our governmental affairs, and I don't know anybody outside the GOP establishment who shares that same view of the Bush clan. Of course, over the years, there have been any number of people in the GOP who have made statements along these lines, and Jeb Bush wouldn't be the worst or the first. I need only remember the man with whom he shared the stage on that day, Mitt Romney, who told us when running for Senate in 1994:
Of course, one wonders if Jeb remembers that Mitt said "I don't want to return to Reagan/Bush." In any case, for the GOP establishment to continue to attempt to ditch Ronald Reagan and his principles is one of the worst political moves they could make, and the sort of statements they make publicly help cement the notion that they're not really conservatives.
There has been this sentiment withing GOP establishment circles almost before Reagan left office, and it's based on the fact that they really didn't like Reagan any better than the left did, but since he was overwhelmingly popular with conservatives, they decided as a matter of expedience to ride on his legacy. The problem is that they don't believe in it, and they have a bit of a grudge too. Those around George HW Bush believed then and now that if only the elder Bush had been elected instead of Reagan in 1980, he would enjoy that position of favor with the American people. Naturally, that's a preposterous proposition, and it assumes a great deal. For instance, the elder Bush would have cautioned against the Berlin Wall speech, as delivered, and he wouldn't have been likely to walk out on Gorbachev at Reykjavik, Iceland.
This is part of the problem a fair number of conservatives have with the Bush family: There's a sense that they believe it is their role to be stewards of the party, and the nation, irrespective of whether the American people agree, and they always conclude that we would be better off forgetting Reagan in favor, I suppose, of one of their family. At this point in history, however, I think most Americans, and perhaps particularly conservatives, simply aren't in the mood for any more from the Bush family. While Jeb Bush may have created a cult-like following in some segments of Florida politics, that doesn't extend to the national stage, and given the performance of his father and his brother, both social liberals when examining their respective domestic policies, it's clear that conservatism simply isn't in the market for more of that in its next leader.
Perhaps rather than suggesting that we should abandon the Reagan legacy, or that we should cease looking for his logical, philosophical, and political heir, the Bush family might wish to consider that they're a bit stuck in a past when their opinions mattered to conservatives, when we still thought there had been a chance they might be more like us. After twelve years of Bush presidencies, I don't know a single conservative, not one, who seriously suggests that Jeb Bush is the direction we should look for national leadership, although there is no shortage of Bush clan sycophants who can't wait to push that theme.
You might wonder why I'm reaching back to 2009, nearly three years ago, to make a point about the GOP establishment and the Bush clan, but it should be obvious that after all the nation has endured, the Bushes still think they should be running things, and influencing outcomes. It was their guy who delivered the response to Obama's State of the Union address this year, and Romney is their guy, inasmuch as they at least prefer him to the others, but what I frankly find galling is that while I am sure there are a few hands-full of people who can't wait to see another Bush in office, I don't know one of them personally. I'm in Texas, for goodness' sake, less than thirty miles from Crawford, and the best I can get any Texan I know to say about George W. Bush is: "Well, he was good on national defense, but he was too liberal on domestic policy."
Such is the legacy of Bush presidencies, and it is why I look askance at the proposition that we should ditch the legacy or "nostalgia" for Ronald Reagan. My question is ever: "To be substituted with what?" Clearly, Jeb Bush has his own ideas, but I don't think a large number of people outside of Florida share them. More, I don't believe he wants us to look all the way back to Ronald Reagan, because I think he fears how much the records of his brother and his father will suffer in the inevitable comparisons. Modern conservatives are not really enamored with political dynasties, and I think it's clear that the nation is suffering Bush fatigue that will not be softened much or soon. Of course, the Bush family seems to know this, as they continue to groom a younger generation for eventual political offices, like Jeb's eldest son, George P.G. Bush. Whether the American people will ever accept another Bush presidency is unknown, but one thing is clear: If conservatives are polled on which President for whom they consider worthy of nostalgia, it isn't a Bush. As CPAC's event demonstrated clearly last week, it's still Ronald Reagan, who was clearly the most-referenced figure from American political history.
Tags:Bush Clan, CPAC, GOP Establishment, Jeb Bush, Mitt Romney, news, politics, Republicans, Washington Times
Posted in Bush Clan, Conservatism, Election 2012, GOP Establishment, Media, Mitt Romney, News, Politics | 3 Comments »
Will We Be Drug into the Bushes[Again]?
One of these Hasn't Been President...Yet
Here we go again. It looks to me as though the Bush clan may be preparing to shove another one down our throats. Of course, there's nothing certain yet, but the buzz for some time has been that there's still time for somebody with high name recognition. That's been the talking point for several weeks, and people have spent some time speculating about who that would be. This morning, the Wall Street Journal offered us a clue, as it published an op-ed piece by none other than Jeb Bush, entitled Capitalism and the Right to Rise. As the party establishment is voicing worries about the rise of Ron Paul, and the uninspiring candidacy of Mitt Romney, here comes Jeb Bush? If you wonder if this is the Bush clan's attempt to retain control of the GOP, you might ask if they've ever been in danger of losing it. There's nothing novel in it, but what was interesting is that Rush Limbaugh read it in the first hour of his show on Monday, fairly gushing over it.
Remember when we were told George W. Bush was more conservative than his father, and then as he was being revealed to be nothing more than another squishy moderate, people began to say "Well, at least Jeb Bush in Florida is a real conservative?" Remember? While I may well be jumping the gun, and there's a fair chance neither Jeb Bush nor anybody with deeper Bush-clan ties will have anything to do with this election, remember that Karl Rove is still out there, and he's been assumed by many to be pushing Mitt Romney. I've never been certain about it, and in fact, I told you some time ago that he might well be acting on behalf of somebody else. It could well be we'll see somebody else entirely, but whether it's Jeb, or another Bush crony, it may begin just after the Iowa caucus, and the victor may offer the excuse.
"Save us from Ron Paul's foreign policy!" "Save us from Mitt Romney's uninspiring schtick!" "Save us from Newt Gingrich!" Ultimately, however, the offer will be to "Save us from Barack Obama!" That's the plea some are hoping will prompt some as-yet undetermined white knight into the race, but I can promise you, sure as I'm sitting here: IF, and only IF Jeb Bush enters this race, or another Bush crony tries to enter using the same justification, I will consider the fix to have been in these last eleven months, and I will immediately endorse Ron Paul, because I would vote for anybody before I vote for another Bush or frankly, even another Bush crony. No more Karl Rove flunkies. No more Bush family presidencies, directly or indirectly, period. I have no interest in continuing the Bush dynasty, either by virtue of another Bush, or by one of their cronies. It's simply not acceptable, and I don't believe in political dynasties, and I don't think America should have any sort of so-called 'royalty,' and there is nothing about the Bush clan that makes them better suited to lead the American people, or steer our government.
Enough is enough. I don't want to hear all the excuses they will throw around. I don't care if he writes a thousand op-eds suggesting he is an economic libertarian and a fiscal conservative. I don't believe them. I now consider that entire family indecently unreliable, and for the rest of you who may not have figured it out, I will tell you that when George H.W. Bush told you "Read my lips," and you didn't recognize the dishonesty when in 1990, he went along with Democrats and broke his pledge, worsening and deepening what should have been a minor recession, you deserve to lose every election from here to eternity. In 2000, when George W. Bush was telling you he was a "compassionate conservative," I knew he was lying because what he really meant was "kinder, gentler," just like his old man. Welfare reform? Never, but if you like Amnesty and "Immigration Reform," then this is the perfect family for you. "Don't worry," they'll assure you, "he's even been to Tea Party Candidate fundraisers."
Ladies and gentlemen, I will admit to you now that I have been fearing this moment for some time, because I believe the Bush clan still maintains a strangle-hold on much of the GOP, and when they come with a white knight to "rescue" the Republican Party from Ron Paul, or Newt Gingrich, or any of the other candidates, there are some conservatives and Tea Party patriots who may well fall for it. If they do, I will mark the date on the calendar, and from now until eternity, every time conservatives and Tea Party folk complain that they're being undercut by their own president[again], like so many did from 2002-2008, I am going to laugh, but I will not feel any joy. . You've seen two rounds of what the Bush clan has to offer. You've had more than twenty years of their domination of the Republican party. If you want more of that, so be it, but don't blame me, and don't blame conservatism when yet another Bush claims that mantle before taking it down in flames along with our nation. They are the quintessential big-government Republicans, and if you send another one to Washington DC, you may lose more than control of Congress this time. You may lose your country.
Tags:Bush Clan, Election 2012, GOP, Jeb Bush, Media, news, politics, Wall Street Journal
Posted in Election 2012, GOP Candidates, Media, News, Politics | 12 Comments »