JEB!'s (very) long shot (and only remaining) path to victory is a chapter from the Atwater / Rove playbook that must be played soon.

No, we are still on "vacation" as JEB! 2016 remains on hospice care, but one thing remains relevant about JEB!, and Karl Rove telescoped it to the world back on November 4 in his Wall Street Journal op-ed piece, The Path to a Wild GOP Convention. There appears only one long shot option at this point for the Crown Prince to obtain the nomination, a brokered convention, and even that is out of JEB!'s reach unless Rubio implodes. Time is running out for JEB! to take out Rubio in full Bush style, and if he doesn't, his campaign will end before the Florida primary, since he will never allow himself to be humiliated by a single digit showing in the state he ruthlessly governed for eight years.

He will not take on Rubio directly, of course.  If it happens, it will follow a certain pattern. Look for a stealth Bush partisan in the corporate media world, one preferably not at FOX (more likely at the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, New York Times, or a Florida newspaper) to serve up a lethal hit piece revealing devastating information that sinks Rubio's campaign.  For this to happen, there has to be something out there to sink Rubio with.  Merely running superPAC attack ads over abortion or his absentee voting record in the Senate is nowhere near enough, even if you ran them 24-7. To quote Edwin Edwards, JEB! has to put Marco, metaphorically if not literally, in bed with a dead girl, or a live boy. JEB! seemed to have regarded Rubio in the past as his protege, and perhaps he is a bit reluctant to destroy him, but at this point, destroy him he must, and if he is a Bush, he will at some point, authorize such a hit if the ammunition is there. The next 30-45 days should reveal whether or not the next Bush in line is up to his familial political legacy.

Even it that happens, it's still no lock for the Crown Prince. The "brokered" nomination has to unfold during a deadlocked primary season.  Say, for instance, Trump, Carson, and Cruz remain viable, and each get 20-25 percent of the vote.  JEB! by taking out Rubio, combined with the natural attrition of Kasich and Fat & Furious (Christie) becomes the de facto establishment candidate and manages to up his single digit game to a level roughly equivalent to the three "outsiders," around 20 percent. Rand Paul stays in and gets the 10 percent "libertarian" vote all the way through.

Then no one gets enough delegates to win the nomination on the first ballot, and the bargaining begins, and out of the dust JEB! manages to buy the nomination.

It could happen.  It would split the party. It might cause Trump to run third. But it would give the Crown Prince his "turn" to lose to Hillary.

This may be one of the few times that the GOP establishment, with or without JEB! as their candidate, actually wants a brokered nomination, either to put JEB!, Rubio, Romney (again) or a dark horse on the ticket since it is very unclear at this point that any establishment candidate can win enough primary votes to get the nomination on the first ballot.  Rubio probably can in the end if not destroyed by JEB!, but we will see.

Miami New Times: AS GOVERNOR, JEB BUSH STOPPED AT NOTHING TO RETALIATE AGAINST HIS ENEMIES

JEB!watch going on conditional vacation as JEB! 2016 is put on deathwatch

Donald Trump has JEB! right where he wants him, making him defend his brother in ridiculous ways that all but destroy his chances for the presidency, and undercut any ad hominem arguments the Bush Republicans generally make against Hillary.

Trump's masterful, if not brilliant, political chess match with JEB! Bush has produced such great results that JEB! has sunk as low as 5 percent support in some recent polls. In fact, Trump has accomplished something even more devastating. He has brilliantly maneuvered the entire establishment right flank of the GOP into an incoherent and doomed defense of the GWB presidency with his latest line of attack on the Bush legacy, as evidenced by this pitiful Red State article equating the presentation of any evidence or argument of negligence by George W. Bush prior to 911 as Trutherism.

With all this good news in mind, JEB!watch will go on vacation!  Now that the threat of a third Bush presidency has been caged, for the time being, there isn't as much need for us anymore. But don't worry, we'll be back if JEB! comes back! But we hope neither of us do!

If JEB! does, and buys the Republican nomination with a little help from his family friends, then Trump will run as a third candidate, and finish him off next November. You can take that to your nearest "too big to fail" bank and deposit it. Whether Trump is a Manchurian Candidate for Hillary is debatable. Enough Republican voters bought the scam George W. Bush sold them in 2000, and enough appear willing in 2016 to buy Trump's scam, while others take Trump's bait and rally around the "W. kept us safe" mythology, so if he is working for the Clinton's, the champagne is already on ice in Chappaqua, and inaugural ball invitations are ready to send to the engravers. At this point, the only thing standing between Hillary and the presidency is Obama and the FBI.  And if they take her out, say hello to President Biden, and Vice President Warren.

Who stands to get a now likely worthless Republican nomination if the plutocrats can't revive their Crown Prince and put him over on the base?  It's really not at all clear, nor does it likely really matter much, so enjoy the Great Trump Circus while it's still in town. Make America GREAT again! By stopping JEB! 2016.  Thanks Donald, at least for that.

Game, set, match?...Trump has figured out Jeb Bush's greatest weakness as a candidate, and it's not his energy level

(Vox) - I don't know if Donald Trump will win the Republican nomination. But even if he doesn't, it's increasingly clear he's going to destroy Jeb Bush before he loses.

Over the past week, Trump and Bush have been in an argument that basically boils down to the question of was George W. Bush president on 9/11/2001?

Trump insists that Bush was president both prior to and during the 9/11 attacks, and he was therefore at least partly responsible for the security failures that permitted the tragedy. And to Trump's credit, there is considerable evidence that George W. Bush was president on 9/11/2001.

Jeb Bush's position is harder to parse: he argues that his brother was only responsible for what happened after 9/11, suggesting, perhaps, that someone else bore the responsibilities of the presidency on 9/11/2001. Or, to be a bit kinder to his position, he argues that the measure of as president isn't whether something like 9/11 happens, but whether it happens again.

The result is this absolutely brutal interview CNN's Jake Tapper conducted with Bush. "If your brother and his administration bear no responsibility at all," Tapper asks, "how do you then make the jump that President Obama and Secretary Clinton are responsible for what happened at Benghazi?"

Bush's response is almost physically painful to watch.

Trump has a bully's instinct for finding someone else's true weaknesses. His continued crack that Bush is a "low-energy" candidate is devastating precisely because it identifies a weakness not just in Bush's campaign style, but in the nature of his campaign.

Now Trump has pulled Bush into an even more dangerous quagmire: his brother's presidency. Trump is reminding every Republican voter that nominating Jeb Bush will mean running a general election campaign with two disadvantages. First, Republicans will have to answer for George W. Bush's failures in a way they wouldn't if they nominated Marco Rubio or Carly Fiorina or Donald Trump, and second, they'll need to somehow explain why they're holding Hillary Clinton responsible for Obama's presidency even as they don't hold George W. Bush responsible for George W. Bush's presidency. 

Read more.

CNN host destroys Jeb Bush: You blame Hillary for Benghazi but insist brother blameless for 9/11

(Rawstory) - Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush struggled on Sunday to explain how he could blame Hillary Clinton for the attacks in Benghazi while insisting that George W. Bush was blameless for the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

While speaking to Bloomberg last week, Trump reminded the interviewer that George Bush was president when the World Trade Center was attacked in New York.

“He was president, OK?” Trump said. “Blame him, or don’t blame him, but he was president. The World Trade Center came down during his reign.”

The comments sparked Bush to respond by calling Trump “pathetic” in a Twitter post. And on Sunday, he continued to defend the 43rd president during an interview with CNN.

“My brother responded to a crisis and united the country, he organized our country and he kept us safe,” the GOP hopeful told Tapper. “And there’s no denying that. And the great majority of Americans believe that. And I don’t know why he keeps bringing this up.”

Tapper wondered if Bush’s loyalty to his brother “might be in some ways a political or policy liability blinding you to mistakes he made.” Read more.

Is Trump about to pull Perot II, in two acts?

The thing about Trump and Perot is that most people making the comparison miss an important point. And that is the two distinct acts of Ross Perot in 1992. The primary season tease and withdrawal, and then the summer and fall reentry.

It is obvious that Trump gives no serious consideration to any pledge not to run as an independent he made to a political party that nakedly extorted it out of him.  But Trump is all about leveraging his brand advantage, and making a business play out of this fake presidential run that enhances it, so how would imitating Perot next year fit into that mindset?

Trump has been running casually as a "Republican" so far in order to take out JEB! Bush. He appears to have succeeded in that, as Bush's negatives are way up, his poll number are in the toilet, and his plutocrat string pullers and money men are telling him to shape up and start getting really nasty (like his father and brother), or the money will dry up. 

Trump may soon drop out and hope JEB! stays taken out, and if JEB! manages to come back and buy the Republican nomination, Trump may jump back in next year as an independent. That would seem the logical choice for him, and his brand. 

Trump cannot win the GOP nomination, and dropping out while he still leads in polls using some phony excuse (business emergencies, etc.) prevents him from being embarrassed by not winning any (or many) primaries or caucuses.  No brand damage. Then if the general election winds up being Bush and Clinton, he can get back in, buy ballot access with his money, and get probably at least 20-25 percent of the vote in a low interest dynastic contest. Then he can claim he is a "winner" by pointing out he did better than Perot, better in fact than any independent since Teddy Roosevelt in 1912, and he might be able to make JEB! Bush the worst performing Republican nominee (by popular vote) since Taft in 1912: worse than Hoover in 1932 and worse than Goldwater in 1964. By Trump brand standards, he would be a big "winner."

Plutocracy Alert: JEB! Bush funded by George Soro's Chinese business partner

See that flag behind me?  Made in China! Where your job will soon be headed.
So GET IN LINE, and vote JEB!... I love Jesus, and IT'S MY TURN!!!!

(Breitbart News) - Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush’s oil shipping business is partly financed by progressive billionaire George Soros’s Chinese business partner and protégé.

Bush’s ties to the left-wing Democratic donor could cast further suspicion on his personal business dealings during the Republican primary season.

Bush is the chairman of BH Logistics, a $26 million private equity fund that was incorporated in April 2014. Who invested in BH Logistics?

Bush’s firm received a major investment from HNA Group, a Chinese private equity firm. Bush took the money from HNA Group and spent it to invest in the gas shipping company Dorian LPG, which is incorporated in the Republic of The Marshall Islands.

What is HNA Group? And more importantly, who funds it?

Look no further than George Soros. Read more.

The dangerous precedents of a JEB! Bush presidency

(The Hill) - ...Bush was born with a presidential spoon in his mouth. The establishment choice. The name you know. He's doing well enough in the polls to pull out a victory, and he certainly won't run into any cash-flow problems.

Every current living Republican to serve as president is a Bush. Is that how it should remain in perpetuity? Why not? The infrastructure is there. The donors are there. The Bush name seems to be a powerful path to the White House. But should it be? Every election we hear Republican after Republican compare themselves to President Reagan. If a Republican makes a mistake or holds a view considered too liberal by the base, the only escape hatch is that Reagan did it too or Reagan believed the same thing.

If one of Reagan's sons were running for president, he wouldn't have to go around assuring everyone that he was his own man. Nobody would want him to be his own man! They’d all want him to be Dutch II. Nothing would befit our current culture more than a sequel or reboot of a White House classic.

No Republican candidate compares themselves to a Bush — they try to separate themselves from Bushes. When someone tosses a Bush comparison at them, they do their best impression of the Heisman trophy and give it the stiff arm. If the first two are underwhelming, why do we need a trilogy?

Great men in American history set precedents that didn't benefit them personally but helped create American exceptionalism.

George Washington could have served as president for the rest of his life. There were no term limits back then. Instead, he served two terms and walked away, allowing power to peacefully transfer from one leader to another...

Adams was defeated in a nasty election after one term as president. The electors voted to replace Adams the Federalist with Thomas Jefferson the Democratic-Republican. As partisanship goes, Adams believed the ideology of the Democratic-Republicans was a danger to the union. Even in that belief, Adams, commander in chief of the Army, allowed for the peaceful transition of power from one political party to another.

Bush has the opportunity to be like those Founding Fathers and set an important precedent. He could say, "I have all the resources to keep the presidency in the Bush family again, but that goes against the ethos of the American Revolution. It goes against the spirit of American democracy. The presidency is not meant to be passed monarchy-style from father to son to brother."

Bush can serve his country best by stepping aside. He knows that. His own mother, Barbara Bush, said in 2013 when all the 2016 speculation started, "We've had enough Bushes."

Jeb Bush should listen to his mother and bow out. If not, primary voters should listen to her and cast their vote against the informal monarchy a political dynasty imposes on us. Read more.

Jeb Bush is erasing history: Why his comments about Black Americans are even worse than you thought

(Salon) - Ronald Reagan, the scourge of Black America and the hero of the Republican Party, holds great sway over today’s conservatives. Reagan famously talked about black “welfare queens” and strapping young “bucks” as a way of mining white racial resentment to win over white voters. Decades later, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney would echo Reagan’s politics of white racial resentment and grievance mongering when he was recorded warning donors about the “47 percent” of Americans who “believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing.”

Last week, Jeb Bush joined that company when he said the following during a campaign stop in South Carolina:

Think about it this way, Republicans get 4 to 7 percent of the African-American vote… If you double that, you win elections in Ohio, Virginia. And we should make that case, because our message is one of hope and aspiration. It isn’t one of division, “Get in line, we’ll take care of you with free stuff.” Our message is uplifting, that says, “You can achieve earned success. We’re on your side.”

These statements are not gaffes: They are choices made by Republicans in the post-civil rights era (along with, yes, some “New Democrats”) to use centuries-old stereotypes about lazy black people to win over white voters. Racist stereotypes about “productive” white people (who are “good citizens”) and “lazy” and “unproductive” black and brown people (deemed “unfit” for democracy) are one of the pillars for a society that is built upon institutional white supremacy. Read more.

JEB! Bush Got $100,000 From Washington ‘Redskins’ Owner, Says Team Name Not Offensive

(thinkprogress.com) - Former Gov. Jeb Bush (R-FL) said on a Sirius XM interview this week that, despite numerous calls from Native American groups to do so, he does not believe the Washington NFL team needs to change its name.

“I don’t think it should change it,” the Republican presidential hopeful said on the The Arena. “But again, I don’t think politicians ought to be having any say about that, to be honest with you. I don’t find it offensive. Native American tribes generally don’t find it offensive.”

The Washington Redskin’s owner, Daniel Snyder, has vowed that the team willnever change its name, even as Native American activists have objected to the dictionary-defined racial slur...

Snyder also happens to be helping bankroll Bush’s presidential campaign. In April, he contributed $100,000 to the Right to Rise Super PAC, a legally unaffiliated pro-Bush committee for which Bush himself actively raised money. Read more.

JEB! Bush family values: meth and dirty tricks

(whowhatwhy.org) - Yes, I know that Jeb Bush is doing poorly in the Republican primary polls at the moment. But the public is fickle and unpredictable. Plus, it is generally unwise to count out someone with the kind of money, organization, and family that he has.

I’ll have more to say on that subject in the near future, but for now, On with the Bush Show….

I have long been fascinated with how that clan has been able to ride the wave of public indignation over “abandoning traditional values” while shilling for some of the most values-deficient practices imaginable. So I was intrigued to learn that Jeb Bush’s campaign manager has a track record of making money from some pretty questionable clients. Read more.

Trump's tax plan clearly lays out his real goal: He is a Manchurian Candidate out to destroy the Party of Bush

There has been a lot of speculation about why Donald Trump is running a fake campaign for president. Now Trump himself revealed the actual reason when he unveiled his tax plan yesterday. He is running, rather overtly now, to destroy the Republican Party that the Bush family has built over the last thirty years.

Everything Trump has done has been carefully crafted to expose, by hyperbole, the toxin coalitions that have put and kept the First Family of Plutocracy in power, either running and ruining the country, or just running and ruining a political party.

Consider his overt nativism.  It is an ironic exaggeration of the wedge politics of race and religion used by Lee Atwater and Karl Rove in the service of the last two Bush presidents.  And now Trump's tax plan serves as an absurdist exaggeration of the crony capitalism enhancing, and plutocracy building reactionary tax policies every Bush presidential candidate has always championed, and ironically, it is only a slightly satiric version of JEB! Bush's actual 2016 tax proposal.  Both propose rather explicitly to completely eliminate the estate tax in order to create a hereditary plutocracy of wealth as aristocracy. Another little detail is more telling: both plans' centerpiece for "growth" are built around a policy of windfall "repatriation" of the corporate profits made by American companies who outsourced production over the last thirty years, and parked the profits offshore. Under both Bush and Trump's plan, companies get to bring this money back into the US at minimal tax rates, 8 percent and 10 percent respectively.

What would these two tax plans do to encourage such companies to invest this money in the US in ways that create jobs and expand domestic industrial production?  Nothing.  They can do whatever they want with the money.  Turn right around and use it to build more factories in other countries. Use it for leveraged buyouts of competitors. Use it for any speculative purpose they want.

The beauty of what Trump has done is just now being revealed.  He is getting his Republican rivals to condemn this quintessentially Bush Republican tax plan, while right wing radio embraces it. He is getting the media to point out how many trillions of dollars it would add to US national debt.  And all the while, as will be apparent very soon, he is exposing to the rest of the country outside the circus tent exactly what the Republican Party really promotes, and how it will boomerang right back at JEB!, and his central reason for existence as a politician.

Thanks Mr. Trump.  If you succeed in destroying this overripe scheme of regressive upward wealth and income redistribution, and its primary generational and familial proponents, you may actually play some little part in helping make America great again one day.

Business Insider: Jeb Bush to Donald Trump: I'm 'flattered' that you stole my tax plan

Slate: Donald Trump Steals Jeb Bush’s Tax Plan, Makes It Classier, More Luxurious

Under what scenario(s) will Trump crash the 2016 GOP party, and turn out the lights?

Last month, The Donald made a point to humiliate the oafish dunce Reince Priebus, and staged a circus act at Trump Tower where he "pledged" not to run as an independent.  If you have ever read "The Art of the Deal" you get some insight into the soul of a man who views such calculated tomfoolery as a mere bargaining point.

So under what circumstances will Trump run third?  He will most probably do it if JEB! Bush and Hillary Clinton are the nominees of their respective parties.  The temptation would be too great.  He would likely outperform Perot (by at least a few points) and could proclaim he was the strongest independent since Teddy Roosevelt in 1912.  He could also push JEB! Bush into being the worst performing Republican nominee (in terms of the popular vote) since Taft in that same year.  Worse than Herbert Hoover, worse than Barry Goldwater.  Sweet revenge for an insecure plutocrat.

Would he do it under any other scenario?  If Bush faced Biden, or Sanders?  Probably not Sanders. A Sanders presidency is simply too much of a threat even to Donald Trump's material fortunes.

More importantly, would Trump do it if Rubio faced Clinton? That is the real question of day. After all, does The Donald really want a "lightweight" in the White House?

New York Times: Donald Trump Is Not Going Anywhere

Comeback Update: JEB! Bush gaining on Trump in Florida, according to new poll

(Broward Palm Beach Times) - Donald Trump continues to lead the GOP in Florida, but a new poll recently released shows Jeb Bush making a sudden and strong comeback, vaulting into second and gaining on "The Donald." According to the latest Jacksonville University poll, Trump gets 24 percent of the vote in Florida, with Jeb getting 17 percent.

The Jacksonville University Public Policy Institute Poll was conducted via landline and cell-phone interviews in English and Spanish among a random sample of 585 registered Republican likely voters between September 17 and 22. 

The poll also shows things tightening up behind the two rivals, with Carly Fiorina getting 15.5 percent of the vote, Ben Carson 15 percent, and Sen. Marco Rubio also getting 15 percent. Read more.

JEB! 2016 has to destroy only one more candidate in order to buy the nomination, and it is not Trump.

(Slate) - If Jeb Bush were Jeb Jones or Jeb Johnson, he might be a George Pataki or Jim Gilmore—an insignificant, if not irrelevant, former governor seeking the Republican nomination. But he’s a Bush—the third to run for president—and that comes with “free stuff”—the unearned advantage of dynastic ties that will always keep you from becoming Jeb Nobody. And he’s had that leg up since well before he made his presidential run official. Jeb entered the race with checks from Bush family donors and help from Bush family advisers. Indeed, his super PAC raised massive sums in the first few months of the year, almost all on the strength and reliability of his name. 

But Jeb is yet to prove that strength or reliability. Whether it’s his rhetoric on immigration (“Frankly [‘anchor babies’] is more related to Asians”) or black Americans (“Our message is one of hope and aspiration. It isn’t one of division and ‘Get in line and we’ll take care of you with free stuff,’ ”), Bush has shown a tin ear. He’s demonstrated an even worse instinct for political conflict, withering against Donald Trump and other outsider candidates. He’s at 8.7 percent in national polling averages and holds high unfavorables with voters overall.

As such, reports the Washington Post, those early donors are beginning to waver, unsure if they should stick with Bush for the duration. “Jeb Bush is entering a critical phase of his Republican presidential campaign, with top donors warning that the former Florida governor needs to demonstrate growth in the polls over the next month or face serious defections among supporters,” notes the Post.

If Bush were one-of-a-kind—the only “establishment” candidate in the race—this wouldn’t be a huge problem. But he has a strong—arguably gifted—opponent in hisformer protégé, Marco Rubio.

His hyped announcement aside, the Florida senator has taken an understated approach to his campaign. He has been doing small events in the crucial primary states of Iowa and New Hampshire as well as his home state of Florida. His focus has been policy: He has released a tax plan, outlined a foreign policy vision, and issued a plan for paid family leave. Other than minor spats with Donald Trump, he avoids conflict with other candidates. And in his fight with Trump, he’s landed a real blow. “He had a really bad debate performance last week,” said Rubio of the real estate mogul during a recent radio interview. “He’s not well-informed on the issues. He really never talks about issues and can’t have more than a 10-second soundbite on any key issue. … I think he’s kind of been exposed a little bit over the last seven days, and he’s a touchy and insecure guy. So that’s how he reacts, and people can see through it.”

More importantly, he is broadening his coalition in the party.  Read more.

Jeb Bush’s poll numbers are terrible. So why aren’t we talking about them? (He plans to buy better ones perhaps, if the money holds out)

(Washington Post) - In April, one in every four likely Republican primary voters nationally said they would support Jeb Bush for president, according to an NBC-Wall Street Journal poll. Today, just 7 percent say the same. 

That's a remarkable — and remarkably steady — erosion of support unmatched by anyone still running for the Republican nomination. The only person to experience anything close to that sort of drastic drop-off was Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who ended his candidacy last week.

So, why is no one talking about Bush's struggles — particularly given that he is the best-known candidate in the field and was widely regarded as the front-runner when he entered the race in June? I put that exact question to some of the smartest minds in the Republican Party who aren't currently working for Bush or any of the other 14 announced candidates.

"Jeb’s strategy is predicated on his remaining the front-runner in the 'political insider' lane," said one longtime GOP operative who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the race candidly. "That is, when the field narrows and establishment Republicans look for an alternative to Donald Trump, Ben Carson or Carly Fiorina, Jeb is counting on being the most popular remaining item on the menu. But that assumption is not something the Bush campaign can count on. [Sen. Marco] Rubio has now eclipsed Jeb as the most popular remaining item on the menu."

Whether or not you agree with that analysis of Bush's prospects, the strategists I talked to were unanimous about one thing: The former Florida governor has avoided full-scale panic over his poll numbers by lapping the other candidates in fundraising — and the campaign organizations that this money can buy. Bush raised $114 million — $103 million of which was for his Right to Rise super PAC — in the first six months of the year, a total that put him head and shoulders above everyone else in the field....

Bush's ability to sustain his candidacy through not just [the] early-voting states but through a process that could be drawn out because of the sheer number of candidates in the race is the thing that keeps the wolves from the door at the moment, said one senior GOP strategist not affiliated with any of the candidates.

"Carson, Fiorina and Trump are not going to be our nominee," the strategist said. "It is a two-man race, Jeb versus Marco. And while I think Marco has a real shot , the idea that they are equal is also ridiculous. Jeb is built for the long haul, which gives him a leg up." Read more.

Prince George P. Hiring Friends And Family As Head Of Texas Land Commission

Cristo es mi filósofo favorito

(Mint Press News) - Less than a year after being elected to lead the oldest state agency in Texas, Land Commissioner George P. Bush has dramatically remade the General Land Office by ousting most of its longtime leaders and replacing many with people with ties to his campaign and family.

Eleven of the top 18 officials on the agency’s organizational chart a year ago have been fired or forced out or have quit, and more could leave soon in an overhaul that Bush has described as a “reboot.”

In their place, Bush, a former Fort Worth resident, has given top jobs to two of his law school classmates, two relatives of members of two Bush presidential administrations and at least three others with ties to the family or other political leaders.

In all, Bush has hired at least 29 people who worked on his campaign or have political connections, according to a review of thousands of pages of personnel records. The agency did not advertise any of the openings publicly. Read more.

Congressional Republican leadership implodes as Boehner resigns while crying, of course

Ted Cruz gloated while John Boehner cried.  Boehner, the embattled Establishment Republican Speaker of the House and unabashed Bush presidential partisan, threw in the towel today in a predictably tearful press conference where he announced he would resign in a month, at the end of October, both as Speaker and as a member of Congress.

The scene at his announcement was maudlin and surreal as press camera shutters exploded in a frantic and opportunistic cacophony of clicks during the tearful portion of the Speaker's comments.

Why did Boehner resign?  Undoubtedly he plans to force through a spending bill containing funding for planned parenthood, raise the debt ceiling, and stiffly resist the hard right's efforts to block these measures and shut down the government.  He obviously did not want to face a likely serious challenge to his leadership as a result of such action.  Maybe he feared he might even be successfully ousted as Speaker for those efforts, and took action now to avoid such humiliation.

An undeterred JEB! Bush vows 'I'm all in'

Deterred? IT"S MY TURN!!!!!!!

(CNBC) - Of the two dynasty candidates in the 2016 presidential race, Jeb Bush has it much harder than Hillary Clinton. It's in the poll ratings, and the records.

The former Florida governor, once the presumed Republican front-runner, trails Donald Trump and Ben Carson nationally; Clinton leads the Democratic race despite her email troubles. More significant in the long run, while Clinton can point to the economic boom her husband presided over, Bush must defend the presidencies of his father and brother that both ended badly. Read more.

Donald Trump is still leading in Florida — with JEB! Bush second

(Business Insider) - Real-estate mogul Donald Trump is leading a crowded Republican field in the key Republican primary state of Florida, with former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) maintaining a strong second place. Trump comes out on top with about 24% of the vote in the Sunshine State, compared with about 17% for Bush, according to a new pollfrom Jacksonville University. Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina is in third place with about 15.5% of the vote, followed by retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson (about 15%) and Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida (about 15%). Read more.

Still good news about JEB! 2016 in New Hampshire

JEB! may be plotting his "comeback" to front runner status in a purchase play for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination, and even seen some numbers uptick in a few national polls, but the latest CNN/WMUR poll of prospective New Hampshire voters should give those opposed to a second Bush Restoration hope.  JEB! came in a solid tie for fifth with John Kasich at seven percent.

Those hoping Kasich would emerge as an establishment alternative to the Crown Prince, however, cannot be encouraged.

The Crown Prince is plotting his ("stunning" and overwhelming) comeback (which may be underway)

The Crown Prince John Ellis's entitlement hopes rest on mounting a successful comeback to press his case for dynastic Restoration, and the establishment of a de facto American principate based around the Bush-Walker-Pierce line.

Are we witnessing its beginnings?  While mired in single digits over the last month or so in polls, largely due to Donald Trump's onslaught against him which now appears to be fading (at least from within the Republican Party), the Crown Prince's recent numbers are inching upward as Trump's slowly fade. In the latest Quinnipiac poll, Bush is now 10 percent, and at an even better 13 percent in the Bloomberg poll.

Scott Walker's complete implosion, and his hasty exit from the race perhaps provides the most compelling case for Bush's eventual success at buying the Republican nomination.  Unless Rubio can upstage him as the establishment choice (a long shot), only Trump, Carson, and Fiorina (none of which can surmount prohibitive structural bias against their non-Establishment candidacies) stand between him and a shot at the imperial purple.

Consider this recent Huffington Post article, The GOP Nomination: It's Still Jeb [JEB!] Bush.

Trump, though, probably still holds the "trump" card for the final deal.  Trump's entire campaign seems built around destroying Bush, and as Bush's numbers have tanked in recent weeks, Trump's energy level has gotten "lower."  Now that Bush is resurging, Trump's vitriol against institutional agents of Bush family hegemony (such as Fox News) have resurfaced.  The end result should be an independent run by Trump if Bush manages to buy the nomination.  Trump is in no way bound by his show "agreement" (which he can conveniently repudiate anytime he decides he is no longer being treated "fairly' by the Republican leadership), and this promises to be the real story of the election.  Does he, or does he not?

Trump in no way can win a presidential election, and probably can't stop JEB! from being his family's party nominee, but he can, if he really desires, probably stop JEB! from buying the presidency.

JEB! Bush’s noxious myth: Dubya didn’t “keep us safe” — he made the world infinitely more dangerous

George W. Bush failed to heed pre-9/11 warnings, and his cowboy persona wrought havoc on the Mideast

(Salon) - Jeb Bush is trying desperately to distance himself from his brother, George W. Bush, and for obvious reasons. George W. Bush’s presidency was an unmitigated disaster. Jeb has tried (rather awkwardly) to assert his own independence without publicly reproaching his brother. So far it hasn’t worked. On the Iraq war, for instance, Jeb has offered contradictory opinions, saying knowing what we know now, he would still have authorized the invasion, and then later walking that back.

During the debate last [week], Donald Trump attacked Jeb directly on this front. In a heated exchange, Trump pointedly charged, “Your brother’s administration gave us Barack Obama, because it was such a disaster those last three months that Abraham Lincoln couldn’t have been elected.”

Without thinking, Jeb reflexively replied: “You know what? As it relates to my brother, there is one thing I know for sure, he kept us safe. I don’t know if you remember, Donald. You remember the rubble? You remember the firefighter with his arms around it? He sent a clear signal that the United States would be strong and fight Islamic terrorism and he did keep is safe.”

Look, the Bush family can harbor whatever delusions they like within the privacy of their home. Whatever they have to tell themselves to feel better about the catastrophe that was George W. Bush’s presidency is fine by me. But this patently untrue trope has to die. And the fact that the audience rapturously applauded this remark makes it all the more urgent to correct the record. Read more.

JEB! Bush on Mackinac Island: ‘Yes, I am a Bush’

JEB! 2016...Carrying on a Bush family tradition!

(fox17online.com) - Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush on Friday embraced his last name more than he has at any point in his presidential campaign to date -- saying he is a Bush, and that's why he'd be a good leader on foreign policy....

The next president needs to foster better international relations and peace, he said.

"I know how to do this because, yes, I am a Bush," he said. "I happened to see two really good presidents develop relationships with other countries."

The line got big applause from the audience at the signature event of the Michigan Republican Party.

It's the most full-throated defense of his presidential last name that the former Florida governor has engaged in during his campaign -- where he has often sought to distinguish himself as his own man.

He has, at times, dealt with his family history awkwardly, most notably when he took days to answer whether he would have invaded Iraq if he was in his brother's place.

The comments followed on the heels of the GOP debate on Wednesday night, where Bush defended his brother, former President George W. Bush, against attacks from Donald Trump by saying he kept the nation "safe." Read more.

JEB! Bush faces conservative fatigue over potential White House dynasty

With the Bush Restoration Effort stuck "somewhere in time," party leaders who gather on Mackinac Island are often worshipful of the Bushes as American royalty (and faithful defenders of plutocracy), but cite concerns the current Crown Prince may already be fizzling out.

(The Guardian) - Jeb Bush may be the Republican establishment favorite for president, but the former Florida governor will have to overcome fatigue expressed by some conservatives about potentially enshrining a political dynasty in the White House.

That was the feeling described by prospective voters ahead of Bush’s speech on Friday at a Republican conference on Mackinac Island, roughly four hours north of Detroit.

“I think the entire Bush family is a wonderful institution,” said Kent Clarke, a bankruptcy attorney from Detroit. “I like their morals … but I suspect that he doesn’t have the fire in his belly [to win the election].”

Standing to Clarke’s right on the porch of the picturesque Grand Hotel, consultant Greg Behling said: “What the press tells us is that he’s geared for the long haul. But I think the horse has run out of steam already.”...

On Wednesday, during the second Republican presidential debate, Bush struck a discordant note with observers when he said his brother “kept us safe”during his time as the 43rd president. The following day, Bush proudly reiterated his remarks in a tweet, accompanied by a photo of his brotherat the World Trade Center ruins.

It is that association with George W Bush that may give potential supporters pause, said Bruce Patterson, a former Michigan legislator. Patterson took pains to stress that he “thinks very highly of the Bush family”, saying each had served “for all the right reasons”. 

“They’re not in it for any personal gain; they’re not going to bloviate,” Patterson said between greeting several passersby on the Grand Hotel’s winding porch.

There is a contingent of voters, however, who believe “we’ve given the Bushes too many opportunities”, he said. Read more.