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02 Mar 2012 00:07

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Politics: Jeb Bush: Not running for president, but not for lack of fanbois

  • Maybe more supporters than Santorum? Andrew Card, the former chief of staff for George W. Bush, said this earlier this week: “I have the perfect candidate — Jeb Bush. But he’s not running.” Even Democrats believe that Bush could be a threat if he uses his sway with middle-class and Latino voters. Could the former Florida governor with an impressively presidential bloodline be the Republican Party’s ace in the hole? Or will he wait until 2016? source

25 Jan 2012 20:49

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Politics: Jeb Bush offers advice to the GOP on Hispanic voters

  • Hispanics understand, either personally or through close family members, what it means to come here as an immigrant. They know how hard it is to function without a full working knowledge of English. They have often felt the sting of prejudice and the threats of gang violence. They tire of the stereotypes built by the media and some politicians. Like all voters, Hispanics respond to candidates who show respect and understanding for their experiences.
  • Jeb Bush • In an Op-Ed for the Washington Post today. The full piece is well worth reading, as it recognizes a fact which has been blindingly obvious to political science types — changing demographics in the American electorate have given Hispanics a much greater influence than ever before, and that trend will almost assuredly continue. This is obviously a big issue for the Republican Party at present — the recent defense of Mitt Romney’s immigration platform by Marco Rubio aside, people generally don’t like being made to feel like their friends, family or possibly themselves are being made targets by political power-players. One way to mend these fences is to speak and listen with earnestly, and build coalitions based on shared ideology. Bush seems to get this. source

05 Mar 2011 10:00

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Politics: Obama meets Jeb Bush: Not as successful as it could’ve been

  • As surreal moments go, Obama chillin’ with Jeb Bush in Miami on the education tip could have been a pretty cool one. We think he probably wins some points with the moderates for being willing to give a Bush – and not the unpopular one – the time of day. Unfortunately, it was a moment with flaws – the meeting itself was a tad awkward. And a speech he gave afterwards (in which he mentioned the meeting) actually drew boos for the bipartisanship attempt. It was a calculated political move, yeah, but you have to give the man credit for trying. He’s had relatively little luck pushing through the right side of the aisle, and he made an effort yesterday. source

17 Feb 2011 23:53

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Politics: Obama vulnerable against imaginary candidate

  • good newsConservatives rejoice: The latest Public Policy Poll shows Obama running dead even against a generic Republican candidate in 2012.
  • bad newsRepublicans have to nominate an actual human being, not just a theoretical blank slate, and Obama leads against every one of them by several points. source
  • » Some more odd bits from the poll: PPP took the interesting step of asking respondents to rate the Brothers Bush, Jeb and George W. both, against Obama in a hypothetical 2012 race. The results? Jeb would get trounced by fourteen points (paging Rich Lowry!), while the Constitutionally-ineligible former President would only lose by four, meaning he’s actually a more formidable candidate than Mitt Romney. In addition, the GOP could defeat Obama by two points if they nominated a “moderate Republican candidate,” so all they’ve got to do now is set their time machine to 1952 and they’ll have a slew of strong contenders to choose from.

03 Jul 2010 22:12

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Politics: Jeb Bush big ups help for immigrants; commenters miss the point

  • One important difference, however, that separates immigration then and now: We native-born Americans are doing less than our great-grandparents did to welcome immigrants.
  • Jeb Bush and Robert D. Putnam • Describing the issues facing legal (not illegal, big difference) immigration in the 21st century. Those coming from other countries bring essential skills, but the route they face is more difficult than ever – these two guys suggest stronger English education, investing more in public education and giving communities facing large influxes of immigrants some financial help. As you might assume, this article from the Washington Post attracted crazy commenters like light attracts moths. Our favorite was, “One of the stupidest articles printed in the history of the Washington Post.” source