Sharks circling around JEB! 2016?

"Get back in line, teabaggers! There's a War on!"

JEB! has been lying low for the last few weeks as Obama's Dog Days deconstruction continues, and the legacy of W. and Cheney's hubris and incompetence continues to play out in Iraq. But according to Shark Tank:

"...Unless he is going to pull off the biggest head-fake in political history, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush is running for President.

He says the thought of running for the highest office in the U.S. has crossed his mind, and just by listening to him  speak, all signs point at presidential run in 2016...."

The Moonie-owned conservative Washington Times recently published an op-ed by Judson Phillips (founder of Tea Party Nation) calculating how the Tea Party and GOP party base would react to an establishment buy for JEB! in 2016. According to Phillips:

"...If Jeb Bush is nominated, he will lose. Conservatives will not vote for him. The Democrats could nominate Anthony Weiner, let him loose on Twitter again and Bush would still lose to Weiner.

But there may be a bigger problem for the Republicans if the Establishment is successful in nominating Jeb Bush.

Bush has more baggage than a sold-out Southwest flight. [a priceless metaphor] A lot of people remember his father and his brother and won’t vote for him just for that reason. A lot of people in America do not want a Bush dynasty in the White House just like they don’t want a Clinton dynasty.

If the Republican Establishment is successful in nominating Jeb Bush in 2016, it will be the political suicide of the Republican Party. This would be no ordinary suicide. It would be ritual Japanese harakiri, complete with massive blood-letting.

The Republican Party would die a short but agonizing death....

2016 will be a completely different story [from 2012].

Among conservatives there is already talk of a third party. The problem third parties have had in the past is either they had no traction or they nominated unelectable candidates.

2016 could change that.

If the Republican Establishment nominates Jeb Bush, conservative voters will bolt. At best, conservatives will stay home, and the worst case scenario for the GOP is that there is an attractive conservative who is running as an independent or a third-party candidate.

The message for the Establishment is simple: Nominate Jeb Bush and conservatives kiss the GOP goodbye....The Republican Establishment should pay attention to this.

Once upon a time, one of the two American political parties was called the Whig Party. No one has heard of a Whig since 1860. Nominate Jeb Bush and no one will hear of a Republican after 2016."

Wishful thinking probably, but the idea that a noticeable number of base voters would stay home if JEB! is the nominee is likely. All it would take is for 5 % of the Republican base to sit out a Hilldog-JEB! matchup for the Hildabeast to kick some Bush blue-blood butt.