The Jeb Bush Show (I Wish My Brother George Was Here)

Over the course of about six weeks, Jeb Bush managed to take his obvious new pitch and grind it into dust. Starting with the idea of telling voters, “I am my own man” in February, the Republican half of our expected dynastic grudge match buried his own message in derisive laughter before March expired.

The problem, of course, is twofold. Cottage politics and pocket slates are what they are; the neoconservatives backing the Iraq Adventure during the previous Bush administration had been at it since Nixon sat in the Oval Office, and we have certainly seen famous names from the Clinton camp resurfacing in the Obama White House. During those six weeks, though, not only did Jeb Bush manage to surround himself with familiar hawks, he also managed to surround himself with other Bushes, leading to Steve Benen to quip, “After Jeb Bush turned to his mother, father, and brother to help raise money for his super PAC, I joked last week that the Republican might have to turn to Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush, Jeb’s son, for the next fundraising appeal. What I didn’t realize at the time was that it’s tough to joke about these guys.”

Watching the former Florida governor assemble the family’s foreign policy team, and the family for fundraising, most observers simply chuckle at the idea that he is so independent of his familial influences as he might otherwise claim. As such, the lede from Robert Costa and Matea Gold for the Washington Post verges on hilarity:

After spending months distancing himself from his family’s political legacy, Jeb Bush surprised a group of Manhattan financiers this week by naming his brother, former president George W. Bush, as his most influential counselor on U.S.-Israel policy.

And, really, what do you do with a paragraph like that?

Is there anything about that sentence that isn’t … you know … just … weird?

Let’s try it this way:

•After spending months [verbally, in sound-bites] distancing himself from his family’s political legacy [while assembling longtime Bush White House and campaign allies for the coming run], Jeb Bush surprised a group of [apparently naïve, or else supremely inattentive] Manhattan financiers this week by naming his brother, former president George W. Bush [who takes his foreign policy advice from God], as his most influential counselor on U.S.-Israel policy [since GWB’s foreign policy in the Middle East was so … er … ah … whatever].

Okay, you’re right. It isn’t funny.

Nor is Jeb Bush “his own man”, whatever the hell he expected we would think that to mean in the first place.

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Image note: Detail―Then-Florida Gov. Jeb Bush speaks to reporters on the war on terror as his brother, then-President George W. Bush, looks on at the White House in 2006. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Costa, Robert and Matea Gold. “One of Jeb Bush’s top advisers on Israel: George W. Bush”. The Washington Post. 7 May 2015.

Benen, Steve. “Jeb throws the ‘I am my own man’ pitch out the window”. msnbc. 1 April 2015.

The Jeb Bush Show (Lonely Own Man)

It really is kind of sad. Jeb Bush’s struggle to define himself as something other than the latest edition of a political dynasty becomes one of the unsung debacles of the richest clown in the car. Or, as Steve Benen of msnbc has chronicled:

• “Jeb Bush’s dubious new pitch: ‘I am my own man'” (18 February 2015)

• “Jeb Bush steps on his ‘own man’ message” (24 March 2015)

• “Jeb’s ‘I am my own man’ pitch takes another hit” (27 March 2015)

• “Jeb throws the ‘I am my own man’ pitch out the window” (1 April 2015)

This is what it comes to:

After Jeb Bush turned to his mother, father, and brother to help raise money for his super PAC, I joked last week that the Republican might have to turn to Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush, Jeb’s son, for the next fundraising appeal. What I didn’t realize at the time was that it’s tough to joke about these guys.

Rachel noted on the show last night that George P. Bush did, in fact, write the latest fundraising pitch for his father’s Right to Rise PAC.

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Image note:Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush waits backstage before speaking at the Iowa Agriculture Summit, March 7, 2015, in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

A Texas-Sized Example of Why “Government Doesn’t Work” (Hint: Because You Elect Republicans)

Do we all remember “Texas-sized”, or has that silly exaggeration finally gone the way of general decency in the Republican Party?

Then again, this isn’t exactly a matter of general decency, except that the ignorance required to be a Texas conservative really is indecent. Put more directly, Eva Hershaw explains, for the Texas Tribune:

Campell proposed the Protect the Alamo Act in response to a nomination that could make the San Antonio Missions — including the emblematic Alamo — a World Heritage site through the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). A decision is expected to be announced in July. Campbell said that without the law to protect the Alamo, there would be a risk that the Texas General Land Office, which manages the Alamo and surrounding properties, could sell it.

“In the charge to the battle, the battle cry was ‘Remember the Alamo,’ and since then, the Alamo has been recognized as hallowed ground in Texas, and a shrine of Texas liberty,” Campbell said at a hearing before the The Senate Natural Resources and Economic Development Committee. “The Alamo is a story of Texas, and it should be owned, operated, and maintained, controlled by Texans.”

This is Texas logic: In order to protect the Alamo from being sold, we shall protest a world heritage designation that would prevent it from being sold.

See, they seem to believe that UNESCO would then own the Alamo.

Land Commissioner George P. Bush’s deputy told lawmakers that the General Land Office would only be able to sell the Alamo if lawmakers passed legislation directing them to do so.

“I believe Commissioner Bush would state emphatically that we are not interested in selling the Alamo or giving up our authority on the Alamo,” said Deputy Land Commissioner Larry Laine.

“Commissioner Bush would say no to allowing the Alamo to be sold, but what about the next commissioner?” Campbell asked Laine, who responded, “I cannot speak for that next commissioner.”

“I can’t either,” said Campbell. “And neither can anyone else.”

Well … that’s not exactly true.

Probably Just a Weather Balloon

Four sentences.

Hunter Schwarz of The Washington Post packs it all into four sentences. Following are two of them:

George P. Bush, the son of former Florida governor Jeb Bush (R), said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” that his father is seriously considering a presidential run in 2016.

“I think it’s more than likely that he’s giving this serious thought in moving forward … that he’ll run,” he said.

Those who strenuously avoid the Sunday interviews for the sake of their health—which, in truth, should be all of us—need only those two sentences. As near as anyone can tell, nothing else of interest happened on the Sunday interview shows, and if for some reason you hear otherwise, that person is probably lying to you.

Updates to follow … the shifting political winds.

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Schwarz, Hunter. “George P. Bush says father Jeb Bush is ‘seriously considering’ 2016 run”. The Washington Post. 26 October 2014.