Poor, Awkward JEB! Bush Is Giving People Secondhand Embarrassment

(scienceofus.com) - Consider the recent adventures in awkwardness from Jeb Bush’s campaign: On Monday, the former Florida governor took the stage at a pre-caucus briefing in Des Moines after being introduced as “George — er, Jeb — Bush.” Later that same meeting, two apparent seat-fillers stood up and loudly demanded to know why they hadn’t yet been paid. (As Daily Intelligencer’s Ed Kilgore reported, seat-fillers were offered $25 per hour to make the gathering appear more full.)

Then there was Wednesday and the two saddest words ever uttered by a prospective presidential candidate: “Please clap.” 

And that’s just this week. To be fair to Bush, when you see “please clap” in its proper context, it’s not quite as bad as a New York Times reporter made it out to be; it’s hard to get a crowd excited enough to spontaneously applaud something as mild as “a safer world.” But the story took flight on Wednesday, likely in part because it fits one of the narratives of Bush’s overall campaign: This is so awkward it physically hurts me. Read more.