Jeb Bush was not a joke.
I never expected to like Jeb. Boarding school toff. Political scion. Staunch pro-lifer. NRA favorite. Oh, and ugh, the Terri Schiavo stuff.
Still, I couldn’t help but warm to him as the campaign wore on. And then even pull for him, a little. It was partly the pathos. Jeb felt somehow more human than other candidates. Vulnerable, struggling, unable to conceal flashes of fear and melancholy.
He also showed compassion on the trail. Take this, from a British journalist who, for unclear reasons, felt compelled to stand up at Jeb’s event in Greenville on Friday and say this: “My job as a columnist is to follow these rallies. I haven’t heard any other candidate give a long period in their speech to talking about people with learning disabilities, to talk about people at the bottom of the pack. And whatever happens to your campaign, sir, that heart you should be really proud of.” I concur, randomly effusive British journalist.
From: Jeb Bush was not a joke.
Yeah, I can see Jeb as this poltical cycle’s Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham – a decent enough guy at his core, but utterly unsuited to the task of either restoring the old ways or ushering in the new age.Report
Well, Jeb was a bit of a joke. At the beginning he bungled and bumbled, droned, lacked focus, rambled, slooped and drooped, etc. He looked like an old guy playing a young man’s game, always a step or three behind the pace of play. As for him being a decent guy, that’s what everyone said about W, too.
And I’m sure he is a decent guy, according to some calculus: even Cruz loves his kids, and presumably they love him right back.Report
If Jeb Bush has done anything, he’s done a fairly decent job of being a living counter-argument to the whole “we need to overturn Citizens United” thing.Report
I have a Slatepitch idea for how this election proves that McCain-Feingold is working *and* that more should be done because money in politics has at last been revealed to be about access instead of speech.Report
In fairness most of the Citizens United protest is focused on lower profile contests that the Presidency.Report
This. Presidential elections, even primaries, are the least efficient ways to spend your anonymous unlimited campaign dollars in the entire system.Report
Citizens United was about fleeing billionaires instead of fleecing the base via direct mail. It’s not exactly limited to one side, but the GOP consultancy business in particular seems to be a giant con that originated out of the Evangelical model (get grandma to send money when her SS came in) and got co-opted. You feed fear, get money. You spent a little money on candidates to maintain appearances, but most of your money goes into getting more money — and hefty salaries for everyone involved.
Citizens United cuts out all the PITA of direct mail and mailing lists and trying to figure out the masses buttons. You just figure out ONE GUY’s buttons. Boom, gravy train.Report
Except that’s the thing, it’s a shortcut the way steroids are. All that ‘exercise’ in getting the network up to do fundraising also gives you the other stuff required to get people actually to the polls and actually vote for you. It’s why Bernie is over performing and Jeb spectacularly underperformed.Report
I’m not kidding maddi! is about as bad, if not worse.Report
It’s like the Yankees’ floundering in the early 90s proved that you can’t buy a championship. The problem was that winning 4 out of 5 starting in the late 90s proved that you can if you know what you’re doing.Report
Brian Cashman to Gene Michael: “No, Gene, what they meant is that you can’t buy a championship. I can.”Report
Jeb is quite clearly the only decent human being among the top Republican candidates.
Trump thrives on being a heel. Every time he says something hateful, he climbs in the polls.
Cruz is a snake of a man whose “greatest accomplishment” is literally failing to govern, and he is a man who wants to deport his own people.
Rubio used his precious final comments in the SC debate to preach hatred towards gays.
The clear conclusion: the Republican base is scum to support the three most heinous contenders over any others. It’s not the candidates that we should be directing our antipathy towards. It’s the scumbags around us. The Republican field is merely a reflection of Team Red.
Eventually the true Jesus-loving evangelicals won’t be able to take it anymore.
Also, Seth Stevenson strikes me as an effete coward.Report
He doesn’t want to deport his own people. There are no illegal Cuban immigrants because of the wet foot/dry foot policy*. Mexicans and Guatemalans aren’t his people any more than Chinese or Koreans are George Takei’s people.
* Which would be a fantastic way to put him in a bind post opening of relations with Cuba.Report
I disagree. There is a common Latin American identity that Cruz actively denies.Report
I am ignorant on the subject, but have often wondered if there’s a — solidarity isn’t the right word, but conveys the feeling — between the Cuban-Americans and the Mexican-Americans. Do they see themselves as being on the same side of Anglo injustice, or are they on different sides with a common opponent?Report
Not much solidarity, no. Cuban-Americans are often seen as being privileged by the others, while Cuban-Americans are more likely to see the others as failing to take advantage of American opportunity. Also a Republican/Democrat divide more generally.
These gaps seem to have been narrowing over the last couple decades, though.Report
Are you kidding? Cubans get one dry foot on land and they are welcomed while Mexican with two dry feet are sent back home. No, not much solidarity there.Report
Added for humor only:
“There is a common Canadian American identity that Cruz actively denies.”
No snark intended.Report
Well he is for a VAT.Report
Unlike Rubio, who was grown in one.Report
“if it moves, tax it”Report
I support a VAT. At my old blog we had an entire week where everyone was writing posts on how great a VAT was when compared to an income tax. A VAT gives you much tighter control over the macroeconomy and incentivizes long-run considerations as well.Report
There is a common human decency that Cruz actively denies.Report
His love for the women in his life (mother, wife, daughters) is apparent and genuine.
He is also a pop culture geek in my lane.
Those are, very seriously, the only nice things I can say about him.Report
The truly unforgivable thing is that he makes me question my love of The Princess Bride.Report
Good one, of course you damn near make me break a rib on occasion.Report
#slatepitch!Report