JEB!: [As an entitled Crown Prince] I’m not ‘auditioning’ for the Koch brothers

(PMSNBC) - Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush acknowledged on Thursday that the conservative, billionaire Koch brothers will likely play a big role in the 2016 presidential race, but the GOPer also said he didn’t see himself as “auditioning” for their backing.

“If I go beyond the consideration to be an active candidate, my hope is to garner as much support across the whole spectrum of the Republican party,” Bush told msnbc after a meet-and-greet with the Manhattan Republican Party on the Upper East Side. He called the Koch brothers’ network an “important part of any coalition to win the primary, so I don’t view it as auditioning for sure. But my intention is, if I’m a candidate, I will reach out to every sector of the party.”

Bush’s comments come following David Koch’s glowing remarks earlier this week at a New York fundraiser about Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker – who is also eyeing a bid for the Oval Office.

Koch, who reportedly said Walker would be the GOP nominee, fueled speculation that the brothers may throw their support behind Walker. A Koch aide insisted to Politico, however, that the siblings are not yet committed to a candidate and that Bush, in the political site’s words, will be given a “chance to audition” for the brothers’ support.

The Koch brothers’ group, Americans for Prosperity, could spend upwards of $125 million for the 2016 race. Read more.

2016 gets even dumber: New York Times wonders whether Jeb’s elitist weight loss will doom him

No more clubhouse doughboy look for me!

(Salon) - Jeb Bush is rapidly losing weight, and the New York Times is on it. The former Florida governor has lost 30 pounds since December on the Paleo diet, the fad du jour where you eat only things cavemen ate, like rocks and dirt and the flesh and brains of your vanquished foes from the nearby heathen tribe. Also: salad.

Bush was never really fat-fat, but he apparently thought he was, and he definitely was by the stringent standards of New York Times reporters. Now, thanks to a diet of relative self-starvation and regular exercise, Jeb Bush has burned back the excess flab to carve out the more respectable figure of a famished ghoul. “Mr. Bush has started buying a new wardrobe to replace oversize shirts,” the Times writes, “and having wide pants that no longer fit his diminished figure taken in.” (Yes, and may we add that he needs to iron out the creases of those new shirts. Jeb!)

JEB!'s ties to James ("F*ck the Jews") Baker may cost him shot at Adelson's megabucks'

I don't need that old fart's money.  I'm in the pocket of oil
companies, war profiteers, for profit education, and
financial oligopolies, so why add a crooked Chinese casino
operator to the list?

(Jerusalem Post) - According to National Review, Adelson was angry over Bush’s refusal to bar James Baker from giving a speech to the leftist Jewish lobby J Street during its annual convention in Washington.

[The Crown Prince John Ellis] Bush has run afoul of Republican donor Sheldon Adelson, a development that could hamper his campaign fundraising efforts as he prepares for a run at the White House.

According to National Review, Adelson was angry over Bush’s refusal to instruct one of his foreign policy advisers, former secretary of state James Baker, not to deliver a speech to the leftist Jewish lobby J Street during its annual convention in Washington.

Baker, a longtime friend and confidante of the Bush family, is a critic of Israel’s current government and its policies. Adelson, meanwhile, is a backer of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the owner of the pro-Netanyahu daily newspaper Israel Hayom. Read more.

Bailout Alert!: Bush Stooge Boehner Warns 'Thousands Of Jobs' On The Line If Ex-Im Bank Expires

Three generations of imbeciles are enough!
- Oliver Wendell Holmes

(Huffington Post) - House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said on Thursday that “thousands of jobs” are at risk if one of his own party members does nothing on the impending expiration of the Export-Import Bank.

Boehner’s comments put him at odds with House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), who has made clear he wants to let the bank expire.

“Listen I support any plan that the chairman can get through his committee, whether it would reform the bank, wind it down -- but there are thousands of jobs on the line that would disappear pretty quickly if the Ex-Im bank were to disappear,” Boehner said.

The Ex-Im Bank is the nation’s export credit agency, helping companies sell goods and services overseas. Opponents like Hensarling argue the bank essentially promotes “corporate welfare,” propping up big businesses. Proponents of reauthorization, however, say the bank helps U.S. businesses stay competitive in international markets.

Can JEB! win it all telling a Goebbels "big lie?" Yes, if the American voter is stupid enough to believe it, says this neocon

(The Hill) - Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) will find only one path to victory in 2016: through his brother, former President George W. Bush. And it will all come down to one issue: Was George W. Bush justified in invading Iraq in 2003, or not? That will be the purpose and legacy of Jeb as president; to vindicate, to legitimize and to justify the invasion of Iraq. If he does that, he will be remembered as the singular great man of our times; the one who stayed the course, the one upon whom history turns.

But first he must win the New Hampshire primary. From there on out, it will be a cakewalk to the Republican nomination, and a useful and creative one as well for the Democrats who will likely lose anyway in 2016. But they will be free to start again from scratch with the dynamic and able recent entry into the national field, former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley.

To win, Jeb Bush must not hedge. He must openly and forcefully show his hindsight support for the Iraq invasion. He might even get his brother to stump for him in the respectful Veterans of Foreign Wars halls up here in the northern hills of New Hampshire as former Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) has done recently in Littleton, N.H., far from the maddening crowd of reporters and activists in Manchester and Concord. Read more.

Walker is walking all over the Crown Prince in Iowa!

Iowa don't matter anyway!

The lastest PPP poll has Scott Walker literally walking all over JEB!, beating him soundly by 23 percent to 12 percent, almost doubling the score.  What's really bad for the Crown Prince is that he is not even in second place.  Rubio is with 13 percent. And both Huckbee and Paul are right in the mix with 10 percent each.

Can an establishment necon like JEB! buy the Iowa caucuses? Probably not. Can he buy the GOP nomination?  As Silly Sarah used to say, "You betcha!"

Would JEB! Attend A Gay Wedding? 'Claro Que Si'

(Huffington Post) - Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) said Tuesday that although he has never attended a gay wedding, he would have no reservations about doing so.

"I haven't -- that's not to say I wouldn't," Bush told reporters at an event in Puerto Rico, adding later in Spanish that, "claro que sí," he would go if invited.

The likely presidential candidate reiterated in February his support for "traditional marriage," insisting that the issue ought to be handled by states rather than the courts. His comments Tuesday came on the same day that the Supreme Court is debating a historic case over whether there is a constitutional right to same-sex marriage.

Whether one would attend a same-sex wedding has become a flash point among the 2016 Republican presidential field. Former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), who is also considering a bid for the White House, said earlier this month that if he were invited to the wedding of a gay loved one, he would not attend.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who has already announced his campaign for president, said he would "of course" attend a gay wedding of a person he was close to. But declared presidential candidate and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) declined to say whether he would attend a gay wedding, stating only that he hasn't "faced that circumstance." Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R), another likely contender who opposes same-sex marriage, said he has been to a gay wedding "reception" for a relative. Read more.

JEB! Has The Cash, But Not The GOP Support

Money talks, and tea party BS support walks!

(fivethirtyeight.com) - Jeb Bush is expected to declare a fundraising total in the “high tens of millions of dollars,” The New York Times reported on Monday. Any talk of record fundraising totals ought to account for inflation — as well as the fact that it’s easier to raise big dollars since the Citizens United decision (most of the contributions to Bush will go to his Super PAC). Nonetheless, Bush’s haul should be an impressive figure.

But money is unlikely to be Bush’s problem in this campaign, and cash may be a less valuable resource than another sort of currency in which he is lacking: the support of influential Republicans, like current senators and governors, especially those who publicly endorse a candidate. Historically, these endorsements have been the best proxy for support in the “invisible primary” and a leading indicator for which candidates may emerge victorious through the rough-and-tumble nomination race.

So far, Bush has won very few endorsements. No current Republican senators or governors have endorsed him, and only five members of the House of Representatives have done so, all from his home state of Florida.

Fortunately for Bush, none of his rivals are doing much better. Read more.

Peter Schweizer also eyeing Jeb Bush finances

He's a family friend, so we expect some home cookin'
That's what we BETTER get.

(Politico) - The author raising questions about whether Hillary Clinton gave special treatment to foreign donors to the Clinton Foundation while she was secretary of state is looking into the finances of another 2016 presidential hopeful: Republican Jeb Bush.

Peter Schweizer said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” that over the past four months he’s also been looking into the former Florida governor’s dealings in what could serve as a follow up to “Clinton Cash,” which has caused headaches for the democratic hopeful.

Specifically, Schweizer said he was investigating Bush’s land and airport dealings along with certain financial transactions with hedge funds in what he said would be a “similar model” to his look into Clinton.

Story Continued Below

“I think people are going to find it very very interesting and compelling,” said Schweizer, who is a former speechwriting consultant for Jeb’s brother, former President George W. Bush.

As for Clinton, Schweizer conceded there was no direct evidence she changed policy for those that gave to the foundation. But he raised the issue of millions in undisclosed money contributed to the foundation.

“You either have to come to the conclusion that these are all coincidences, or something else is afoot,” Schweizer said.

Schweizer has briefed Republican lawmakers on his findings and is offering to do the same for Democrats in an effort to push back against charges he’s partisan.

He said a more robust investigation should use tactics similar to insider trading probes. Read more.

FLASH: The Crown Prince will make it official next Monday (according to one old billionaire)

(New York Post) - Jeb Bush plans to officially roll out his presidential campaign Monday, according to billionaire John Catsimatidis, who announced the news Sunday on his radio show.

“I have found out that Gov. Jeb Bush will be announcing Monday,” the former mayoral candidate said on his show, “The Cats Roundtable.”

Catsimatidis, owner of the Gristedes supermarket chain and a top Republican fundraiser, described Bush as “a frontrunner” for president in 2016.

Bush, who’s been flirting with a run for weeks, is expected to make his announcement in Miami, Catsimatidis told The Post after his show.

Asked whether he regretted letting the cat out of the bag, Catsimatidis said: “I thought it was common knowledge.”

“I didn’t think I was spilling the beans,” he said. “I talked to one person and asked if it was common knowledge, and they said, ‘Yeah, it’s common knowledge.'”

The 2013 candidate for mayor wouldn’t say who told him about Bush’s announcement, but added: “If people don’t know about it, maybe I shouldn’t be talking about it.”

Bush did not return calls. Read more.

Can JEB! buy the GOP nomination . . . by praising President Obama?

(Washington Post) - Republican presidential hopeful Jeb Bush supports President Obama’s trade deal, praises his management of the National Security Agency and agrees that Congress should have moved faster to hold a vote on new attorney general Loretta E. Lynch.

And that’s all since last week.

It’s an unusual approach for Bush in seeking the nomination of a conservative party that mostly loathes the current president. The former Florida governor has gone out of his way at times to chime in on issues where he agrees with Obama — bolstering his attempt to be a softer-toned kind of Republican focused on winning a majority of the vote in a general election.

But the strategy also carries grave risks for a likely candidate who is already viewed with deep suspicion by conservatives, many of whom have little desire to find common ground with Democrats. Tea party leaders are already warning that Bush, the son and brother of former presidents, is alienating conservatives. Read more.

Good News: JEB! falls behind in 2016 White House race

If Marco thinks he can get away with crossing me, he better get on the
first boat to Havana.  He'll have a better chance of becoming president
of Cuba than president of the US!...Where's my nine-iron?

(AOL) - It's been less than two weeks since Florida Senator Marco Rubio announced he's running for president, and he's already leading the GOP as the frontrunner. A Quinnipiac University Poll released Thursday shows the 43-year-old has 15 percent of likely Republican voters; two percent higher than former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, and four percent higher than Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker who came in third in the poll at 11 percent.

"The youngest member of the GOP presidential posse moves to the front of the pack to challenge Hillary Clinton whose position in her own party appears rock solid," the assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll said in a statement.

A Fox News Poll also found Rubio is leading the pack, just by a hair, and voters say he's the most honest and trustworthy candidate for president. The same poll found Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton is the least trustworthy and honest.

Both the Fox News Poll and Quinnipiac University Poll found Rubio has the greatest chance of all the GOP candidates to beat Clinton in 2016. Read more.

The Crown Prince is in forth place in latest FOX BNN poll as The Hildabeast takes early hits

The lastest FOX BNN home cooking poll doesn't have good news for JEB! He's polling in single digits (9 percent) and in forth place behind Marco Rubio, Scott Walker, and Rand Paul.  Rubio is also on top of the latest national GOP Quinnipiac poll as well.  JEB! polling troubles are old news, and likely to stay that way, at least until Rove and Co. can destroy the last person standing against him, and even then JEB! may remain the "40 percent" man in a general election matchup.

The real story developing now is the The Hildabeast's pay to play scandals being embraced by the New York Times and the Washington Post.  Three things are probably at work with that.  First, there are elements within the establishment media that would like to see Hillary vetted early on these problems, so that if she can't survive "legitimate" media scrutiny (as opposed to just Bush propaganda hits), she gets knocked out at the start, and the Dems can substitute with plenty of time to find the best alternative. Second, there are elements within the media that really want someone other than Hillary, someone more authentically to her left, like say Elizabeth Warren, to be the nominee. Third, there are also elements within the so-called "liberal" (but big corporate owned) media that support the Bushes. Now they would never support a hard right base candidate, but the Bushes are establishment reactionaries and do have considerable support in establishment media circles.  That dolt at PMSNBC, Chris Matthews, was an early and vocal supporter of George W. Bush in 2000, voted for him, and only abandoned him when it was obvious the country was turning on him because of his administration's incompetence related to the Iraq War.  And this time. Matthews is back proclaiming Jeb to be the "sanest" Republican out there.

Matt Corrigan talks “Conservative Hurricane,” Jeb Bush 2016

 (SaintPetersBlog) - Surveying the crowd before the beginning of his Wednesday evening speech about Jeb Bush at the Main Library in Downtown Jacksonville, Matthew Corrigan surveyed the crowd of 20 or so political junkies and brought up former Florida Governor Reubin Askew.

A hurricane of money

When Askew got to New Hampshire to give the first speech of his doomed Presidential bid in 1984, there were three people there to see him. This led Corrigan to observe that “anytime there are more than three people in the room for a speech, I’m happy.”

Corrigan had a decent turnout to discuss his book, Conservative Hurricane. And he had a great subject: the rise and continued rise of Jeb Bush, which he painted in the familiar quasi-dynastic tones. Read more.

America’s gross political process gets even more obscene: How JEB! is killing campaign finance law

Jeb's move to "outsource" his campaign to a super PAC will likely have long-lasting -- and ugly -- consequences

You're gonna get me, then George P. Accept and deal!

(Salon) - The last major federal campaign finance regulation on the books has been swiss-cheesed into a joke, so you can’t really blame Jeb Bush for laughing at it.

That would be the limit on individual donations to political campaigns, set for this cycle at $5,400 per candidate ($2,700 for the primary, $2,700 for the general.) Bush is making the long-prophecied, post-Citizens United move to “outsource” most of his presidential campaign to a super PAC, Right to Rise [aka Rule]. Bush is quite obviously running for president, but all he has to do to continue coordinating with his super PAC in the pursuit of unlimited donations is claim that he’s “seriously considering the possibility of running for president.” This should not be legal but it is, due to the aforementioned joke that is campaign finance regulation in this country. Read more.

A JEB! Bush cash juggernaut won’t change presidential race

Don't they understand!  IT"S MY TURN! Just pony up!

(Sacremento Bee) - Jeb Bush would love to re-create the moment when George W. Bush shocked and awed the 2000 presidential campaign, raising a stunningly large amount of cash that changed the race.

That’s not going to happen.

This isn’t your brother’s campaign. The rules of money and politics have changed dramatically, and candidates won’t necessarily have to compete with Bush for establishment money. Candidates today can raise millions for “super PACs” from single donors, for example. And the old-time wine and cheese fundraisers aren’t even de rigueur – lots of money can be raised now with mouse clicks.

The former Florida governor’s backers are expected to report raising at least $100 million, and maybe even twice that, by this summer. His brother used the blow-’em-away strategy successfully in July 1999, when he reported the then-staggering sum of $36 million in the first half of that year.

The political world let out a collective gasp. It was more than any candidate had raised for an entire primary and caucus campaign, and it crowned Bush the clear front-runner for the Republican nomination.

Jeb Bush has been waging an intense campaign for money. His Right to Rise political action committee began the week with a $12,500-per-person roundtable in Seattle. Tuesday, he was in Portland, Ore., for a $12,500-per-person dinner. Sunday and Monday he’ll be in Miami for fundraisers, and next Tuesday, he’ll be featured at a fundraiser in Puerto Rico.

His aides declined to comment on his fundraising.

No matter what he raises, it’s unlikely to intimidate his rivals. Read more.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/article19325454.html#storylink=cpy

Carly Fiorina to launch (token) bid on May 4

You can bet there will be at least one token woman and one token African-American on the debate stage with JEB! this fall. Last time it was Michelle Bachman and Herman Cain, respectively.

This time, the party will substitute a failed CEO for a flake, and a politically naive, but otherwise much-lauded surgeon named Ben Carson for the one man Cain "bimbo-eruption" sideshow act, respectively. Reuters reports fired Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina will be the party's designated female attack dog on The Hildabeast, beginning with a formal May 4 rollout.

Clinton Cash Author Is Targeting JEB! Next (Really?)

Peter Schweizer wrote a hagiographic "expose" (that didn't find much of anything bad) of the Bush family a few years back.  Will he now really treat the Crown Prince fairly (meaning detail all the shady Chinese private equity and Middle Eastern deals, and pay to play cronyism), or will he run a "false flag" operation to "rehabilitate" the next Bush in line?

(BloombergPolitics) - The past week can’t have been very pleasant for Peter Schweizer. On Sunday, the New York Times revealed that his forthcoming book, Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich, was roiling the political world—“the most anticipated and feared book of a presidential cycle still in its infancy,” as the Times put it.

That landed Schweizer squarely in the crosshairs of the Clinton team and allied liberal groups, which have launched a campaign to discredit Schweizer as “disreputable” and blinded by partisan animosity. Anyone familiar with Schweizer’s work knows better: he wrote a well-regarded book about the Bush dynasty and another, detailing insider trading in Congress, that led to a new law, the bipartisan STOCK Act of 2012, which aims to curb these abuses.

That hasn’t quieted the left-wing clamor that Schweizer is simply out to get Hillary Clinton. But maybe this will: Schweizer is working on a similar investigation of Jeb Bush’s finances that he expects to publish this summer.“What we’re doing is a drill-down investigation of Jeb’s finances similar to what we did with the Clintons in terms of looking at financial dealings, cronyism, who he’s been involved with,” Schweizer told me on Wednesday. “We’ve found some interesting things.”

Schweizer says he and a team of researchers have been poring over Bush’s financial life for about four months. Among other things, they’re scrutinizing various Florida land deals, an airport deal while Bush was governor that involved state funds, and Chinese investors in Bush’s private equity funds (something I wrote about for Bloomberg last year).

As he did with the Clinton book, Schweizer is hoping to partner with media organizations interested in reporting on and advancing his examination of Bush’s finances—an arrangement Schweizer feels has been mischaracterized in the media.  “With the Clinton book, we didn’t just give it to reporters with the expectation that they would report on the book,” he says. “We shared it early on with investigative reporters at ABC, the New York Times, and theWashington Post because we wanted that additional scrutiny [of the book’s subjects]. And we want similar scrutiny for this project.” Read more.

We now know for sure the Crown Prince is running: JEB! sheds weight in preparation for a 2016 bid

Violating campaign spending laws is not the only thing going on with JEB! as he gets JEB! 2016 into "shape."

(breitbart.com) - Former Florida governor and presidential candidate-to-be Jeb Bush has reportedly lost 20-30 pounds by embracing the faddist “Paleo” diet as he prepares to run for the presidency… and it shows.

I may lose as badly as Taft did in 1912, but I
don't won't to look like him!

The diet is purported to mimic what may have been the diet of hunters and gathers from the Paleolithic Period.

“Lean meat and fruits and vegetables are in and processed foods, dairy products and sugary delights are out,” according to a Yahoo report. A quick look at contrasting photos from now and just a year ago would indicate the diet, recommended to him by his son George P. Bush, is working.

For Bush, the results have been noticeable. Late last year he was something of a pudgy doughboy with a full face and soft jawline. Today the 6-foot, 4-inch-tall Bush sports a more chiseled look. His campaign-in-waiting would not say how much he had lost, but he looks to have shed 20 or 30 pounds. Read more. 

Why JEB! Bush’s super PAC plan is potentially illegal

Since when have laws stopped a Bush? Where's my caddie?

(Reuters) - Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush is preparing to push the role of the individual-candidate super PAC to new, brazen heights.

The Bush campaign is reportedly planning to reverse the role of Bush’s campaign committee and the “independent” super PAC supporting him – so that the super PAC would essentially become Bush’s campaign committee.

The reason for this audacious move is simple: super PACs can be funded with unlimited donations, while a candidate’s campaign is limited to contributions of $2,700 per donor per election. A relatively small number of millionaires and billionaires could pay for Bush’s race for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination.

The only problem is that the Bush scheme, as reported, would be illegal. Read more.

Big Shock: JEB! is a big fan of NSA surveillance of Americans

(CNN) - If there's one thing Jeb Bush likes about President Barack Obama's presidency, it's the continuation of the NSA's controversial spying program.

Bush, the former Florida governor likely to jump into the 2016 GOP presidential race, on Tuesday called the NSA's bulk collection of phone and internet metadata --the "best part" of the Obama administration.

"I would say the best part of the Obama administration would be his continuance of the protections of the homeland using, you know, the big metadata programs, the NSA being enhanced," Bush said on the Michael Medved radio show on Tuesday. "Even though he never defends it, even though he never openly admits it, there has been a continuation of a very important service, which is the first obligation I think of our national government is to keep us safe."

The program has come under heavy scrutiny after former NSA contractor Edward Snowden leaked classified information about the NSA's domestic spying programs, including the agency's collection of phone call, email and internet data on tens of millions of Americans. Read more.

JEB!'s worst nightmare (and maybe America's best hope for a historic landslide Bush loss): Ed Rollins says Huckabee told him he may run as an independent in 2016

That fat little holy roller will NEVER appear on my
family's network again if he crosses me!

With news coming out that Mike Huckabee is gearing up to run for the GOP nomination and may announce in early May, the certainty that he will never be the Party of Bush nominee raises an interesting question. Would Huckabee do what it takes to destroy the gay-friendly neocon Bush-Portman ticket next year?  Maybe, according to a veteran Reagan and Perot advisor.

(grabien.com) - Ed Rollins, the political strategist and national campaign director of Reagan/Bush '84, appeared [several months ago] on "Kimeade and Friends," where he made a startling report: His friend Mike Huckabee told him that if the Republican Party doesn't fight gay marriage "tooth and nail," he would run as an independent candidate in 2016, thus possibly ripping the Republican Party in half. 

"If Mike Huckabee runs as an independent, it will create chaos in this party," Rollins said. "It's very significant." 

Rollins served as the national campaign chairman for Huckabee's 2008 campaign.  Read more.

Inside JEB!'s "spiritual journey" and his [phony] campaign to woo Christian conservatives

(National Journal) - On a sunny Saturday morning in early March, Bob Vander Plaats walked into the West Des Moines Marriott with a chip on his shoulder. Iowa's evangelical shot-caller had come to meet with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who was in town for the Iowa Ag Summit, a cattle call that drew the majority of Republican presidential hopefuls. Over the course of the weekend, Vander Plaats had sit-downs scheduled with just about all of them. But not Jeb Bush. 

A twice-failed gubernatorial candidate who helped boost Mike Huckabee to victory in the 2008 caucuses, Vander Plaats has grown accustomed to presidential aspirants lining up to kiss his ring, and his group, the Family Leader, has yet to choose a candidate for 2016. But when Bush's team planned the former Florida governor's first trip to Iowa in 15 years, no time was set aside for Vander Plaats—or for any of Iowa's other prominent Christian conservatives. The snub had left Vander Plaats stewing. Read more.

JEB!'s Donors Balk At Pricey Demands

(International Business Times) - As Jeb Bush tries to amass a big enough fundraising haul to intimidate his GOP presidential competitors, his demands are rubbing some supporters the wrong way. Mid-level Republican donors are feeling priced out and ticked off, because Bush is asking for sizable sums without offering the expected courtesies in return. Several Republican insiders -- none with ties to GOP 2016 hopefuls and some of whom have worked for the Bush family in previous campaigns -- told International Business Times about incidents where once-reliable donors have begun to balk at requests from Bush’s team.

“Gov. Bush has not made a decision on if he will move forward with a potential campaign,” said Allie Brandenburger, spokesperson for Bush, when asked about donor unhappiness. "He is encouraged by the support he has received from a broad range of stakeholders across the country."

Bush is still likely to announce impressive fundraising totals when his Right to Rise PAC reveals its first quarter fundraising totals -- potentially hitting the target of raking in $100 million by March 31. Read more.

JEB!'s Right Angle: An in-depth look at just how far right the Crown Prince leans.

I just don't understand why the wingnuts don't love me
anymore.  I'll tell them anything  to get their votes!

(cleveland.com) - It's about time we tossed out the conventional wisdom on Jeb Bush.

This is for you, the Tea Party-aligned Republican who views the former Florida governor and likely presidential candidate as a centrist squish. And it's for you, the independent-minded Democrat who might see Bush as an unthreatening moderate.

Jeb Bush leans much further to the right than either of you thinks.

Dig deeper than his embrace of Common Core education standards or his open mind on immigration. Unwrap the pretty packaging of the compassionate conservatism he has recycled from his older brother's White House run 15 years ago.

You'll find a Republican who used his power in a politically important state to fight access to abortion, to push merit pay for teachers and to end affirmative action. You probably remember him tangling with the courts to keep Terri Schiavo alive, but do you remember how he urged a court to appoint a guardian for the fetus of a mentally disabled woman?

Read more.

American Politics To Continue Being A Grotesque Plutocratic Spectacle For The Foreseeable Future

(Huffington Post) - It's been a while since we've checked in on how American politics is thriving within the Doom Loop of Oligarchy (TM Ezra Klein!), but a fresh dispatch from Politico's Mike Allen offers us another opportunity to goggle at the slow-motion death of American exceptionalism. The issue at hand, as ever, is the ruling class of billionaires who fund our presidential campaign dumb-show. More specifically, it's the Brothers Koch, who have an assignment for former Florida governor and presidential hopeful Jeb Bush. Per Allen:

In another surprise, a top Koch aide revealed to POLITICO that Jeb Bush will be given a chance to audition for the brothers’ support, despite initial skepticism about him at the top of the Kochs’ growing political behemoth.

Mr. Bush will be expected to perform a two-minute classical monologue about tax cuts, a two-minute comic monologue about tax cuts, and 32 bars of a contemporary Broadway musical ballad about union-busting.

This is good news for Jeb, I guess. As Allen notes, the last time the Kochs cooked up an audition, it was at their "winter seminar" in January, and according to those present, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio was the clear standout at that confab. But Bush will be getting "a second look" at the brothers' summer conference, because "so many Koch supporters think he looks like a winner."

Read more.

(Godwin's Law appendix:  The immediate reaction to this last ominous quote is, how deluded can supposedly intelligent leaders of a huge business conglomerate like the Kochs be?  So what if they value their influence and money so little they would throw it away by bankrolling a doomed third Bush vanity run.  It seems inconceivable that enough Americans would willingly vote to elect yet a third member of this Bush nuclear family  to the presidency within one generation.  Likewise, if Republicans are stupid enough to allow JEB! to buy the Republican nomination with money from the Koch's and other billionaires, instead of nominating a worthy choice from a younger generation, they immediately surrender their best argument against Hillary Clinton in favor of a contest of competing legacies they will surely lose.  

That's the conventional wisdom.

It's also true that Hitler lost the 1932 German presidential election to Hindenberg, 53 to 37 percent, and that the Nazi's suffered crushing losses in the November 1932 Reichstag elections, dropping millions of votes from previous election totals.  Yet Hitler was absolute ruler of Germany within a year, and had led his nation to complete destruction within little more than a decade.

Conventional wisdom is sometimes wrong.  Unlike the Berlin cabaret comics who were celebrating New Years 1933 with jokes about Hitler's political demise, our own political clowns like Bill Maher and others should not underestimate the seemingly pathetic Bushes, neither their pathological Nietzschean sense of deluded entitlement, nor their ruthless political machine.  Both are starkly real, and threaten the Republic with mortal danger.)