2020 Run All But Certain?

Definitely off his "campaign diet" and looking like his old "clubhouse doughboy" self again, JEB! impersonates a delusional UBER driver whose unsteady ride sports a "Jeb! 2016" bumper sticker with "20" scrawled over the "16."

(thelead.com) - Jeb Bush’s cameo appearance this week in a video with Emmy host Jimmy Kimmel has garnered rave reviews across the political and entertainment spectrum, demonstrating once again the staying power of failed candidacies as good TV fodder for self-mockery (here’s a clip of Mitt Romney on theTonight Show with Jimmy Fallon as one example).

As these post-campaign appearances tend to do, Jeb! shows a far more loose and likeable side of himself than the stuffy, preachy wonk who garnered a mere 4 convention delegates after more than $150 million was spent on his behalf.

Despite the historic lack of return for the money, the Emmy appearance only fuels speculation that the Bush dynasty is still eyeing a return to power in 2020. Jeb! penned an op-ed in The Hill this summer on the future of the GOP that presumed a Donald Trump loss in November, blasting the Republican nominee as “not the future” of the party. Lingering in public while knifing the party’s current nominee are not-so-subtle signals that Jeb! plans to see the White House remain with the Democrats, setting the stage for his triumphant return. Read more.

The real "story" is about Billy, not Donald

HELLO LADIES! My name is BUSH! Billy BUSH!

Since last Friday, there has been nonstop media coverage about the 2005 "hot mike" recording of Donald Trump's thoroughly predictable comments about women. Even some of the reporting has occasionally mentioned the name of the other man's voice on that recording, the voice egging on Trump and laughing along with him. Billy Bush.

How many media pieces, however, have explained exactly who Billy Bush is?  Beyond being the host of the tabloid "Access Hollywood" show, and a recent addition to the cast of the "Today" show?

I bet if you have relied solely on a passive viewing of TV reportage about this event, you have heard nothing about Billy Bush being the first cousin of George W. Bush and JEB! Bush. Nothing at all.

I also doubt that you know that Billy was bragging to NBC co-workers last summer at the Rio Olympics about this recording.  Or that NBC was delaying releasing the recording apparently in an effort to "scrub" Bush's part out, and then release an edited version with only Donald Trump's part.  Before that could happen, someone leaked the whole thing to the Washington Post.  

That premature leak cost Billy his 3.5 million dollar a year gig with NBC, but instead of firing Bush, the network paid him a "settlement," rumored to be around 10 million dollars, though Bush's lawyer denies the amount.

Who is Billy Bush, and what is he like? According to some sources at NBC, Billy was , "more of a frat guy . . . He gets boisterous when he goes out. You can’t just go out with Billy and have tapas and relax.” 

One woman attorney in New York remembers Billy as a prep school bully back in the 1980s. "He would make fun of my clothes, he may have called me ugly or unattractive or nerdy. It was just generally disparaging comments.”

Billy seems like...well, just a typical Bush! He can alway move over to the Curvy Couch at Fox and Friends. He will get a nice soft landing somewhere.

Jeb Bush donors want a rematch in 2020

Not so fast, P. ! I get my turn again in 2020!

New York Daily News - JEB! Bush in 2020, anyone?

Sources close to Jeb Bush’s failed run at the 2016 presidency say the “low-energy” candidate has been back in touch with supporters. They believe he’s popping up to “feel them out” for another run and, according to at least one big contributor, they're in!

“Bush has been quietly making telephone calls to his supporters, bundlers and donors, to talk about the state of the county and the economy, and the energy business, why would he do that?” asks one insider, who concludes “he's running in four years.” Read more.

It's Hard Not To Believe That Trump Is A "Manchurian Candidate" Of Some Sort

Today's article in the New Republic, "Donald Trump Has Blown Up Republican's Racism Defense," revisits a subtext about Trump's candidacy that most of the media and punditocracy want to avoid talking about. Namely that Trump is not a real candidate, and never has been. That he never set out to run for president to be president. That he always intended his candidacy, whether as an independent, or now shockingly as the Republican nominee, to be about something other than the stuff he is talking about.

To say that he is a "Manchurian Candidate" is not simply the realm of fringe conspiracy theory. Salman Rushdie said it last year, implying that his real goal was to elect Hillary Clinton.  It's certainly true that Trump has a long, friendly history with both Clintons, and one that remained quite friendly until very recently.  As much as it would pain most of Hillary's supporters to entertain the idea that she and Trump might be working together in some way, or that the Clinton's are ok with the nasty demagoguery Trump is putting on as a reality show if it makes it easy for Hillary to become president, that's a real possibility.  If there is one thing the Clintons are known for, it's ruthless street fighting in politics, using all weapons and opportunities at their disposal to win.

While such a working relationship between Trump and the Clintons is probably somewhat of a stretch, it's pretty clear nonetheless to anyone of ordinary intelligence who looks at the type of campaign Trump runs, the people he hires to run his campaign, and the choices he makes, that his campaign is, and never has been, a serious one.

If Trump is not working with the Clintons, he still may be working in their interests deliberately on his own as a free agent, or he may be running simply to feather his own nest financially.

The "real" Donald Trump is the one who will make money off of his fake presidential run in several ways. He will find a way to launder the campaign contributions he is now getting (to the tune of 80 million in July alone) in various ways, including paying his own businesses premium allowable rates for air travel, campaign expenses, etc. (read David Cay Johnston's The Making of Donald Trump for a more involved explanation on how Trump will do this). 

Trump will also "own" a huge angry and aggrieved "market" of tens of millions of dumped voters who will buy his conspiracy spin on a stolen election and gobble up any books, media products, freeze dried "Trump" Prepper food, etc. he will offer them in the future to help "take back America." And lastly the Clintons will owe him, literally, the election, so you can bet the Clinton Justice Department will never take a first, let alone, a second look at any dubious business or tax schemes he gets involved in over the next eight years.

The actual political "sin" of Donald Trump is not that he is running as a serious "racist" candidate, but that he is reigniting very real and smoldering racist and xenophobic passions into a flame in the service of his self serving fake candidacy. And the equally self serving Republican leadership, turned sociopathic after decades of Atwater/Ailes/Rove wedge baiting, is politically damned for their failure to condemn him, and cut ties with him.  And if he is doing this with a wink and a nod from Bill and Hillary Clinton, then they also are also to blame for any nasty consequences resulting from it.

Why Did Jeb Bush Endorse Ted Cruz?

(The Atlantic) - A little over a month after Jeb Bush suspended his presidential campaign, he endorsed Ted Cruz— yet another establishment figure backing the self-proclaimed outsider. On Wednesday, Bush said in a Facebook post, “Ted is a consistent, principled conservative who has demonstrated the ability to appeal to voters and win primary contests, including yesterday’s Utah caucus.” He added: “Washington is broken, too many families are stuck in poverty and Western civilization is under attack from radical Islamic terrorists, as evidenced by the horrific attack in Brussels, which was preceded by attacks in Paris and California.”...

Cruz welcomed Bush’s endorsement, saying it is “further evidence that Republicans are continuing to unite behind our campaign to nominate a proven conservative to defeat Hillary Clinton in November, take back the White House, and ensure a freer and more prosperous America for future generations.” Read more.

Would picking JEB! as his VP be the price Ted Cruz might have to pay to get the neocons, beltway establishment, and donor class to force his nomination over Trump at a brokered convention in the "big top"?

Stay tuned on this one!

The Big Show comes to Cleveland, Ohio

July 18-21?...

Limbaugh: Jeb Bush could mount a convention comeback

(Politico) - Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh on March 14 speculated that a Floridian will emerge as the Republican nominee at a contested convention in July.

Recent polls suggest John Kasich has a narrow advantage over Republican front-runner Donald Trump in Ohio, but the New York billionaire dominates Florida Sen. Marco Rubio in his state. Both states are holding winner-take-all primaries on Tuesday.

But Kasich doesn’t have a prayer of becoming the nominee, Limbaugh said, and it’s former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush — not Rubio — he says could win the nomination.

If neither Trump nor Ted Cruz win the necessary 1,237 delegates to win the Republican nomination outright, “I’m here to tell you Jeb Bush is gonna be the nominee,” Limbaugh warned, according to a transcript of his radio show. “That’s what they’re gonna do. That’s what they’ve always wanted.” Limbaugh recalled Bush remarking in December 2014 that his strategy was to win the nomination despite losing primaries — something he planned to do by outspending his opponents. Limbaugh added that Bush, who left race in February, would escape the primary without having to talk about abortion, immigration or anything else that matters to Tea Party voters.

“He’s gonna win the nomination nevertheless,” Limbaugh said. “And it may well yet happen.”

If Bush doesn’t wind up with the nomination, Limbaugh said, it will be 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney who emerges. Read more

Jeb Bush joins the Ford Edsel and New Coke as historic marketing flops

(New York Daily News) - There is an old axiom in marketing: Good advertising makes a bad product fail faster.

If you doubt that, may I submit Exhibit A: The 2016 campaign for the Republican nomination for President of Jeb Bush. It now joins the likes of the Ford Edsel and Coca-Cola's "New Coke" as a bona-fide marketing flop of an enormous magnitude.

In each case, be it Edsel, New Coke or Jeb!, logic dictated a winner. Research for all three concluded a marketplace that was theirs for the taking.

All three were rooted in strong family brand equity and even carried the brand name forward.

All three had solid marketing introductions and well-funded campaigns. And yet, all three failed miserably. Read more.

BYE BYE MISTER NEOCON BUSH - THE DAY THE DYNASTY DIED !!!!

The Crown Prince John Ellis Bush Pulls the Plug on JEB! 2016, and Abdicates His Entitlement In Favor of Prince George ("Jorge") Prescott Bush.

JEB! Bush is the name, and he "served" in the Bush Restoration game, 'till Donald's sideshow came and tore up the scam again.  In the winter of '16, Bush was hungry for a win, his hope barely alive. By February the 20th South Carolina had fell, it's a time we all will remember....OH SO WELL....

The day they drove old JEBBIE! down, and bells were ringing
The day they drove old JEBBIE! down, and the people were singin' they went
YEA! YEA! YEA! YEA! YEA! YEA! YEA! YEA! YEA! YEA! YEA! YEA! YAHOOOOO!

To mix musical metaphors.

The Crown Prince John Ellis Bush abdicated his entitlement to the Bush Restoration immediately after being humiliated in the South Carolina primary, where he finished forth and in single digits behind Marco Rubio.  JEB! did not wait even a day to call it quits, but rather did it the evening of the primary, announcing his departure to a small group of supporters while holding back tears .

"Jesuchristo es mi filosofo favorito"

Meet the new Bush Crown Prince,

George Prescott Bush

The ill timed and ill conceived run of JEB! which began with a massive effort by the donor class to bankroll him to a prohibitive purchase of the nomination was derailed by the postmodern candidacy of Donald Trump, whose ongoing lounge act roast of the Bush Crown Prince all but made him a laughing stock, and undercut his carefully prepared big money operation, which had all the adaptive ability of a Soviet Five Year Plan.

Whether of not JEB!'s candidacy would have been as stillborn had not Trump aborted it is debatable. Given JEB!'s toxic family legacy, he likely would not have been able to secure the nomination. His real problem was Marco Rubio's decision to enter the race, which provided an alternative for his likely voting base.  Had Rubio not run, JEB! probably could have gotten a fairly consistent 20-30 percent in a fractured race, and perhaps even more, and might have been successful at a convention brokered to help him.

The fate of any future Bush Restoration will lie with JEB!'s eldest son, Prince George Prescott Bush, who now inherites the title of Crown Prince.  The new Crown Prince successfully purchased the Texas Land Commissionership in 2014, and controls the award of public oil and gas leases in Texas and the state education budget (and the awarding of crony for profit curriculum contracts).

Crown Prince P.'s route to a 2024 Republican nomination will follow a different path from his father's doomed 2016 effort.  P. has already positioned himself as a "movement" conservative in line with the tea party, while also discreetly continuing the Bush family tradition of cronyism. P.'s route will most likely run through the Senate, given Greg Abbot's likely lock on the Texas state house for the foreseeable future.  P. could either challenge Ted Cruz in 2018, and try to knock him off, or wait until 2020 and try to force three term incumbent John Cornyn to retire and take his seat.

The end to JEB! 2016 could come as early as Sunday, but probably at least by Monday

JEB! is going to do very poorly tomorrow in SC.  Most certainly he will finish well behind Marco Rubio, and there is a chance he might even finish behind John Kasich.  Everyone, voters and donors, have given up on JEB! and it appears even JEB! now realizes it.

W's public appearance this week served as an ironic eulogy for JEB! 2016 from the man whose presidency strangled his brother's presidential aspirations in the cradle. JEB's presidential run was doomed from the start.  He didn't raise too little money.  He could have raised 150 billion dollors instead of 150 million, but it would not have helped him buy one single vote from anyone not already sold on the idea of a third Bush president.

America will not be ready for a third Bush president for many years, if ever.  George P. Bush may try again for the family in eight years, but don't count on him having much better luck than his father. One of W's daughter might get the idea if P. flames out that a female Bush could run as a "liberal" Democratic and restore the family to national prominence. Don't bet on it.

But one thing the younger Bush women do have going for them. They are much better looking than the Bush men. If you are going to get screwed by a Bush, either of W's daughters would be preferable over any other family member.

Kid Marco is the new golden boy of neoconservatism, and you can expect him to do very well tomorrow in SC

Trump is slipping in the polls in SC. Two recent polls have him under 30 percent.  Whether or not he wins, you can expect him and Cruz and Rubio to be bunched up pretty close together tomorrow. While it is unlikely Rubio will outright win SC (if he does the race is over), you can expect him to be, at worst, a close third, or even perhaps second.

The implosion of JEB! should not give anyone the idea that the donor class no longer controls the GOP.  They control it as closely as they always have, but you just can't sell sh*t as shinola, and the Bush scam won't work anymore, no matter how much money is thrown trying to sell it.

The Rubio scam will work, to perhaps devastating effect. The plutos know it, and they are definitely with that program now.

Shocking News: Oil industry bet big on Jeb Bush for president, Reuters review shows. Now what? (On to JEB! lite)

Pass the collection plate to the next generation!

(Reuters) - U.S. oil and gas executives bet big on 2016 Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush - they donated more to his White House run than to all of his rivals combined, according to a Reuters review of campaign disclosures.

But that was last year.

Now Bush faces what party strategists and donors view as a make or break moment on Saturday in South Carolina's Republican primary, or early nominating contest. Polls show him trailing in the single digits. If he fails to do well, there will be pressure on him to quit, strategists say, and the oil money will be looking for a new home.

The main beneficiaries in the Republican race would likely be Ted Cruz, a U.S. Senator from Texas, and Marco Rubio, a U.S. Senator from Florida. After Bush, the two candidates received the most contributions from the oil and gas industry, according to the Reuters review.

When Bush entered the White House race last year, the petroleum sector saw him as their natural choice: he was the son and brother of former presidents and he came from a West Texas family with historically close ties to the oil industry.

"Bush is part of a family that is a friendly face to the oil industry," said Sarah Emerson, director of Energy Security Analysis Inc. in Boston.

He drew more than $2 million from the chief executive officers of companies like Exxon Mobil (XOM.N), Halliburton (HAL.N), Kinder Morgan (KMI.N), and Chief Oil & Gas in 2015, making up about 56 percent of all the industry’s contributions to the race so far, according to the review.

The review covered contributions from 75 oil and gas companies, their employees, and their political action committees to presidential candidates' campaigns and allied Super PACs. When counting donations only to Republican candidates’ campaigns, employees favored Cruz among the Republicans, with Bush in second place and Rubio in third. Read more.

Indications of an inglorious end to JEB! 2016 next week: Pro-Jeb Super PAC cancels $3 million in Super Tuesday ads

Speed, bonnie dollars, like a bird on the wing,
Onward! the donors cry;
Many's the Royalist fought on that day
When the night came, silently they lay
Dead on Carolina's field.
Carry the lad that was born to be King
Over the bay to Walker's Point.
Sing me a song of a dynasty that is gone,
Over the bay from Kennebunkport!

(wnd.com) - Right to [Rule], the “super PAC” supporting Jeb Bush that has dominated the ad-spending battle so far, has canceled up to a third of its ad reservations in March 1 primary states, according to media buying sources.

By early January, the group had reservations for about $10 million in the Super Tuesday states of Texas, Tennessee, Virginia, Oklahoma and Georgia, having booked them far in advance to ensure lower rates.

The cancellation has not, at this point, been accompanied by increased advertising in South Carolina, whose Republican primary voters cast their ballots on Saturday. Mr. Bush is depending on a strong showing there to capitalize on a his fourth-place finish in New Hampshire, which his campaign said had “reset the race.”

Read more.

Slipping on a Freudian Banana Peel: JEB! Makes Awkward Mistake at Campaign Stop, Tells Crowd He Should Drop Out

(Social News Daily) - Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush made an awkward gaffe on Wednesday when he joked about pulling out of the race. The comments came during a speech at a campaign stop, where the former Governor of Florida told his enthusiastic supporters something less than enthusiastic, stating: “It’s all decided, I mean we don’t have to go vote I guess, it’s all finished. I should stop campaigning maybe, huh? Let’s just—it’s all done!”

A video clip of the incident, which has already aired on MSNBC and other outlets, shows the governor pacing the stage and looking exhausted and frustrated while he spoke.

Yikes. This is bad news for Bush, who’s well-funded campaign has been struggling to gain traction. He’s currently polling at about 4 percent nationally.

At least Bush seemed to have caught himself, adding “That’s not how democracy works, right?” Even with the quick save, the audience can gasped and booed at the mention of leaving the race.

The gaffe will hardly be remembered as the moment that brought down the Jeb Bush campaign. Once expected to be the Republican favorite in the race, a tumultuous election season populated by political outsiders and fueled by widespread resentment toward the political establishment makes Bush look like a relic from a bygone era. Read more.

Will Jeb Bush Drop Out After South Carolina? We Might Just Have Seen His Last Hurrah

(bustle.com) - Former Florida governor Jeb Bush has doled out over $100 million on his presidential campaign — but according to the polls, it hasn't been paying off. The Republican candidate has raised more money and spent more of it than any other GOP candidate in the race. However, the financial support hasn't been matched by voters and these upcoming elections may be the last straw. If he doesn't win big in the Nevada caucuses and South Carolina primary, Bush might choose to drop out of the presidential race.

One of the most telltale signs of the candidate's potential withdrawal is his recruitment of his older brother and former two-term president George W. Bush, who joined him on the campaign trail in South Carolina. Though the move initially came across as a confident rally call, it may represent Bush's last "hurrah" and his final attempt at garnering some much needed support. Before dropping out, candidates want to ensure that they are remembered for their valiant efforts. They want to exit the stage with a bow and go out with a bang. But, leading up to the primary, Bush is going to face some personal advantages and disadvantages in the "first in the south" state that will undeniably help determine whether or not he can pull through.

Nationally, according to RealClearPolitics, Bush is polling in last place at just four and a half percent support. Among South Carolina voters, he fares slightly better, coming in fourth place at 10 percent support. The polls suggest that his closest competitors in the state are Rubio, who has 16.8 percent support and Kasich, who polls a fraction of a point beneath Bush. Though the candidate is polling low, South Carolina certainly isn't hopeless. Read more.

Rubio (JEB! lite) surges as the anti-Trump, anti-Cruz favorite

(thestate.com) - The Republican presidential hopefuls have two days to win support from S.C. voters – and a big question to answer.

Who will be the GOP’s anti-Trump, anti-Cruz candidate – promising to unite the party and, more importantly, beat the Democratic nominee in November?

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida became the most-likely-to-succeed Wednesday, winning the endorsement of S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley.

But with Donald Trump and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas holding first and second in most S.C. polls, seizing the third-place ticket out of South Carolina could be the best hope for Rubio — and the other GOP candidates — to remain viable.

And third may not be enough.

Saturday’s primary could be the last shot for a mainstream GOP candidate to break out, preventing the nomination of an anti-establishment candidate — Trump, who won New Hampshire, or Cruz, who won Iowa. Party elders fear either would fare poorly in the general election.

“South Carolina is huge for the Republicans,” at least those hoping to avoid an anti-establishment candidate winning the nomination, said Scott Buchanan, a political scientist at The Citadel.

“If Rubio doesn't make it into second, I'm hard pressed to see how long his candidacy can be viable.”

Polling third in most recent S.C. surveys, Rubio faces competition from others to be the anti-Trump, anti-Cruz, including Ohio Gov. John Kasich, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and neurosurgeon Ben Carson.

But a third-place finish could spell doom for any Republican who wants to be the mainstream alternative to Trump or Cruz.

“If he (Rubio) were to come in third in South Carolina” – after third in Iowa, then sliding in New Hampshire – “that's not a harbinger of good things for Rubio or for the Republican establishment,” Buchanan said. Read more.

Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/news/politics-government/politics-columns-blogs/the-buzz/article60970992.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/news/politics-government/politics-columns-blogs/the-buzz/article60970992.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/news/politics-government/politics-columns-blogs/the-buzz/article60970992.html#storylink=cpy

Trump slips, Rubio surges in new Oklahoma presidential poll

(The Oklahoman) - Less than a month before the state's presidential primary, Republican front-runner Donald Trump appears to be losing steam in Oklahoma, according to a poll released Tuesday.

Trump continues to lead an eight-candidate Republican field, with 30 percent of Oklahoma GOP voters reporting that they planned to vote for the New York billionaire, down from 35 percent in a poll released Jan. 23.

"Early on, Trump's been able to channel the anger and frustration felt among Republicans toward President Obama, but anger and frustration can only take you so far in a presidential race," said Bill Shapard, founder of SoonerPoll, an Oklahoma City-based firm that conducted the poll.

Meanwhile, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz held steady at 25 percent while Florida Sen. Marco Rubio surged, rising from 10 percent in late January to 21 percent this week. Read more.

Game, Set, Match...Nikki Haley Set to Pass the Neocon Torch to Marco Rubio (JEB! lite) today

Later today, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley will endorse Marco Rubio for the Neoconservative Republican Party nomination. This is undoubtedly coming after great pressure from war profiteers and other important party donors to promote one neoconservative alternative to Donald Trump, and represents a formal, final, and complete repudiation of the Bush Dynasty as the official political family of neoconservatism. Once the nomination race dwindles down to only three options, Rubio is expected to start winning, at a minimum, thin plurality victories in the "winner take all" states which should insure him the nomination on the first ballot at the Neoconservative Party convention in Cleveland.  This arrangement could be the mechanism for Trump to bolt and run as an independent as early as late March or early April.

A formal announcement from Haley is expected later today.

JEB! Bush needs savagery, not heart

(Politico) - With the political demise of Jeb possibly imminent, the Bush family decided to send out its big guns: George W. Bush, Laura Bush and even Jeb’s mother, Barbara Bush. (George H.W. Bush does not appear to be well enough to travel much.)

At a recent rally in North Charleston, South Carolina, George W. used a couple of laugh lines to build a warm and fuzzy image for himself, which, as the chief architect of the Iraq War, he has been lacking.

“I’ve written two books, which has surprised a lot of people, particularly up East, who didn’t think I could read, much less write,” he said. “I’ve been one to defy expectations. I’ve been misunderestimated most of my life.”

He got the desired laughs, but then he got onto dangerous ground: the truth.

“There seems to be a lot of name calling going on,” the former president said seriously, “but I want to remind you what our good dad told me one time — labels are for soup cans.”

Really? Did George H.W. Bush really tell his eldest son not to label people or call them names?

Then what was George H.W. doing when he unleashed the ugly forces of racism in this country by hanging the Willie Horton label around the neck of his opponent, Michael Dukakis, in the 1988 race?

“By the time we’re finished, they’re going to wonder whether Willie Horton is Dukakis’ running mate,” Lee Atwater, Bush’s campaign manager, bragged about that label.

The son cannot be blamed for the sins of the father, of course. But what about George W. himself? He had lost his first presidential race by more than 500,000 popular votes and became president only because of a one-vote margin in the Supreme Court.

That was his first presidential race. What could be used to win his second? How about a smear campaign, the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth? It ran such shameful ads against John Kerry that its label has entered history: According to my crack research staff (Wikipedia) swiftboating “has come into common use to refer to a harsh attack by a political opponent that is dishonest, personal and unfair.”

Labels are for soup cans? No, they’re for bare-knuckle politics, the kind that the Bush family has used to win presidencies...

Jeb doesn’t need a heart, a brain or a backbone. He needs a campaign of unremitting savagery.

Read more.

Jeb Bush’s gun tweet is a portrait of the American nightmare

By posting an image of his gun, the Republican candidate is hoping to appeal to the irrationality that has enabled Trump’s rise. In fact, it reveals he is giving up

(The Guardian) - When a man hoping to be president of the United States can sum up his own country with a photograph of a monogrammed gun and the single-word caption “America”, it may be time for the rest of the world to worry.

Instead they are laughing. Since the Republican nomination hopeful (although not very hopeful) Jeb Bush tweeted a picture of his handgun he has been mocked around the world with images that comically replace that violent symbol with the gentler images that sum up less trigger-happy places – a cup of tea for the UK, a bike for the Netherlands, a curry for Bradford.

The joke’s a bit thin, because what is currently happening in US politics is only funny if you are an alien watching from a spaceship and the fate of the entire planet is just one big laugh to you. For what is Bush trying to achieve with this picture? He’s trying to appeal to the rage and irrationality that have made Donald Trump’s bombastical assault on the White House look increasingly plausible while Bush languishes, a conventional politician swamped by unconventional times.

The centre cannot hold, WB Yeats wrote nearly a century ago, and this photograph shows exactly how off centre things are getting. When Jeb Bush – brother of one warmongering president, son of another, and a governor who sanctioned 21 executions during his tenure in Florida – embodies the centre ground, you know things have got strange. Compared with the strongman politics, explicit bigotry and perversion that a Trump presidency threatens, mere conservatism would be sweet sanity.

But this photograph reveals that that is not on offer. America, says Bush’s Twitter account, is a gun with your name on it. The candidate has his name inscribed on his weapon – Gov Jeb Bush, it says on the barrel. This man is a gun. He’s primed and loaded. You think Trump talks tough? Well, talk is cheap. “Speak softly, and carry a big stick,” said Theodore Roosevelt. Bush has got this gun, see, and he knows how to use it.

Violence has directly entered the bloodstream of US politics, this picture tells us. The comments immediately appended to it confirmed this, with sick jokers speculating it was some kind of suicide note. Sarah Palin and Donald Trump don’t need to wave guns about to show they mean business. Everyone can see that they are scary.

When the scary ones – the really, really scary ones – start getting their claws into democracy, what do you do? Bush, clearly one of the “losers” Trump is always telling us about, has responded with this pathetic attempt to play the macho man too. Of course, it looks puny. Having your name on your gun and revealing this in a photograph makes you look like a bullied schoolboy desperately trying to resemble a bully. Read more.

Jeb Bush, Going for Broke in South Carolina, Embraces Legacy

(New York Times) - In his early days as a presidential candidate, Jeb Bush appeared to campaign in a defensive stance: Sensitive about his political patrimony, he insisted he was his “own man” and struggled to address the conduct of the Iraq war under his brother, President George W. Bush.

Saddled with a record of supporting lenient immigration policy, Mr. Bush practiced the politics of reassurance, putting his plans for border security front and center and declaring prominently in a summer debate that he would never support “amnesty” for undocumented immigrants.

But in the final days of the South Carolina primary campaign, Mr. Bush has almost entirely shed that caution. If he once seemed determined to prove he was more than a political legacy kid, he is presenting himself to voters now as precisely that.

Trailing in the polls and fighting for his political life in a conservative, Southern state, Mr. Bush has offered an unrestrained embrace of the softer-edged governing philosophy that Republican insiders refer to as Bushism: a political sensibility focused on making government more responsive, rather than slashing its size, and encompassing policies like school vouchers and creating a pathway to legal status for workers who are undocumented.

Mr. Bush has pointed frequently in South Carolina to his brother George as a Republican success story, stressing his record on national security and his insistence on creating a conservative message that could appeal to economically disadvantaged voters and racial minorities.

Standing beside the 43rd president in a convention hall here on Monday, Jeb Bush called on Republicans to emulate his brother and campaign in a more inclusive tone, with an eye toward expanding the party.

“The only way a Republican and a conservative wins is by campaigning with their arms wide open, with a hopeful, optimistic message, campaigning in every nook and cranny of this country,” he said. In other words, he explained, the Republican nominee must “campaign like George W. did.”

From the outset of the 2016 race, Mr. Bush said he was willing to lose the primary to win the general, a statement of principle intended to signal that he would not lurch to the right in an effort to placate the party’s most conservative wing. But facing annihilation at the hands of Donald J. Trump, Mr. Bush has taken up the mantle of what his brother labeled “compassionate conservatism” with new vigor. Read more.

JEB! currently polling at 1 percent in Nevada. Will he drop out before then?

(The Hill) - Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump holds a commanding lead in the party’s Feb. 23 Nevada caucuses, according to a CNN/ORC poll released on Wednesday. 

Trump has 45 percent support, followed by 19 percent who said they are backing Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), 17 percent who are backing Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and 7 percent who are backing retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson. Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) comes in fifth, with 5 percent support, followed by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, with 1 percent support. Read more.

Jeb Bush domain name redirects to Trump site

(The Hill) - The long-standing feud between Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump and GOP rival Jeb Bush escalated on Monday, with a site with the former Florida governor’s name redirecting to Trump’s campaign website homepage.

 

A site with the domain name JebBush.com redirects to the real estate mogul’s official presidential campaign page, donaldjtrump.com, and features Trump’s slogan with options to support or donate to his campaign.

Bush’s official presidential campaign page uses the domain name Jeb2016.com.

The Daily Caller reported Monday that JebBush.com is registered to Fabulous.com PTY Ltd., which manages domain names, and noted that the website was updated on Nov. 21.

Two other domain names that incorporate Bush’s name and the word president already exist but aren't operated by his campaign.

JebBushforPresident.com is a blog about a gay couple who owns the website andJebBushforPresident.net is used to oppose Bush’s record. That website says it was updated on Dec. 7. Read more.

Meet the Scalia Death Truthers: Was He Murdered by Obama or Aliens?

(The Daily Beast) - On Saturday evening, conspiracy theorist radio host Alex Jones, red-faced with an unfortunate pustule on his forehead, delivered an emergency broadcast on his Facebook page.

“Associate Supreme Court Justice Anthony Scalia died earlier today at a ranch outside Big Bend, south Texas,” Jones, furrowing his brow into a wavy crest, said approximately three inches from a camera....

“I wish it was natural causes,” Jones said of Scalia’s death, which was determined to have been caused by a heart attack. “But my gut tells me no. If this is an assassination, it signifies that they’re dropping the hammer. That’s the canary in the coal mine.”

Who is they in this scenario? Well, anyone in President Obama’s administration that has been culpable for a litany of offenses including but not limited to private funding of the Islamic State and blackmailing Supreme Court justices for desired outcomes. In this “season of treason,” Jones said the American public would be “fools not to ask the question.”...

Jones also said that Scalia himself—while alive, of course—told fellow conspiracy-monger Matt Drudge that government officials are leading a cavalry to come after everyone including the journalists mentioned here as well. “It’s really dangerous,” Jones said.

Trump’s campaign did not respond when The Daily Beast asked if they were concerned about Obama’s plot to kill their candidate.

Trump, as he’s want to do, subtly egged on the wingnuts in an interview on Michael Savage’s radio show on Monday.

“It’s a horrible topic, but they say they found a pillow on his face, which is a pretty unusual place to find a pillow. I can’t give you an answer,” Trump said stoking the conspiracy flames. Read more.