Jeb Bush: Crist’s support of Porkulus “unforgivable”
posted at 10:12 am on March 1, 2010 by Ed Morrissey
Allahpundit linked to this a few days ago, but it’s worth another look. Newsmax TV caught up with former Governor Jeb Bush, who retired in Florida after his last term with approval ratings in the mid-60s. Unlike other national organizations, Bush has tried to stay out of the primary fight that has erupted between his successor, Charlie Crist — “the nicest man I have met in politics” — and Marco Rubio for the US Senate. However, Bush can’t help but question Crist’s campaigning for Obama on behalf of the Porkulus plan that was less about job creation and more about Democratic social engineering, calling it “unforgivable” — and it’s important to understand why (via The Right Scoop):
Bush gets more to the heart of the issue here than do most. A year ago, the problem wasn’t that Republicans refused to spend money in an attempt to stimulate the economy. Most of the Republican caucuses in both chambers of Congress wanted to take some sort of action, mostly in order to be seen as doing something about the private-sector meltdown. As Bush says in this clip, they wanted to rely on broad-based tax cuts and some targeted spending, and almost certainly do it at a lower cost than the Democrats.
Democrats, though, wanted to lock Republicans out of the process and still claim bipartisanship. Republicans like Crist (and Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and then-Republican Arlen Specter) gave them the political cover to make that claim. The result? Congress passed a so-called stimulus that consisted almost entirely of the liberal wish-list of programs built up over the last 15 years — and America lost over 3 million jobs in 2009 after its passage.
Had Republicans held firm, that bill would have gone back to the drafting board and the country wouldn’t have spent $865 billion on a wasted effort. Had Democrats actually worked with Republicans, we would have had a flawed but at least somewhat effective bill and ownership across the political spectrum of American economic policy. Instead, Republicans like Crist enabled a catastrophic failure, mainly as a way to build themselves up by attempting to ride Obama’s coattails for a while. That’s what is unforgivable about his support for Porkulus.
Blowback
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This Bush would have made the better candidate in 2000.
honsy on March 1, 2010 at 10:17 AM
Crist tried so hard to catch a ride on the Obama coattails.
Then they got ripped out from underneath him and he’s not getting back up.
The rest has been pure comedy gold from Soylent Orange.
uknowmorethanme on March 1, 2010 at 10:18 AM
Unforgivable is a much nicer word than I’d use.
highhopes on March 1, 2010 at 10:19 AM
I really wish Jeb had run for Senate. He honestly seems to me to be the better of the Bush brothers, too bad his career is pretty much over just because of his name though…
wildcat84 on March 1, 2010 at 10:19 AM
And the coat tails evaporated faster than the money was gobbled up by leftwing special interests.
petunia on March 1, 2010 at 10:21 AM
And Crist Said he couldn’t find anything he liked in Obamacare but that it should pass anyway.
A Florida Blogger Bella “Can I Just Finish My Waffle” weighs in on The Speaker, calling for her Democrat Members of the House to commit Political Suicide.\
The Kool Aide Has Turned To Poison, Will The Democrats Still Drink It?
Dr Evil on March 1, 2010 at 10:21 AM
I don’t think that his political career is over (if he wants to run for office again) but in 2008 we really needed to get rid of the political “dynasties” like the Bush and Clintons. On a positive note- Congress is soon to be Kennedy-free for the first time in half a century!
highhopes on March 1, 2010 at 10:22 AM
They say Bush 41 was disappointed that Bush 43 got into office before Jeb and ruined things for the smarter of the two brothers…
Vatican Watcher on March 1, 2010 at 10:24 AM
Speaking of Bush, BDS is still in fashion, although in a new way.
rightside on March 1, 2010 at 10:24 AM
Every single Republican turncoat who supported the Porkulus looting should be unceremo0niously frog-marched out of office by the voters as soon as the opportunities arise. Specter, Crist, Schwarzenegger and the Maine sisters, as well.
chunderroad on March 1, 2010 at 10:24 AM
A very sound reason to help redefine the Bush legacy.
With a bit of distance I am starting to look at the whole of the Bush presidency and see much to be happy about.
I think 10 years from now if Iraq is still having elections Bush is going to look pretty good.
Especially since his policies are getting validation from his sharpest critic–Obama. Every time Obama quietly adopts a Bush policy. Jeb Bush’s chances grow.
petunia on March 1, 2010 at 10:24 AM
Clearly, Crist enjoyed the orange Kool-Aid.
highhopes on March 1, 2010 at 10:25 AM
Come on now…Crist didn’t so much campaign for porkulus, as he did want the $$$ for his state of Florida…one of the few states who made good use of the money.
Crist is getting a bad rap with this whole thing. Like he said, he didn’t write the thing.
And anyway, again…Rubio admitted he would have taken the money too, so what’s the difference?
JetBoy on March 1, 2010 at 10:25 AM
That’s pretty much it in a nutshell. And now they’re going to “fix” our health care.
scalleywag on March 1, 2010 at 10:25 AM
That’s it in a nutshell. All the RINOs and cowardly Republicans either backed Obama or refused to speak out publicly against him(I’m looking at you, Mitt Romney!) throughout most of 2009.
Only when it became clear that the Tea Party wasn’t just a fad and the Virginia and New Jersey elections weren’t a fluke did these pansies finally come out of hiding. I’m not saying I won’t welcome these spineless wimps back into the fold. But if a guy like Crist thinks for one second he’s gonna have the enthusiastic backing of the conservative base over someone like Rubio who’s been out there for a year now fighting the Democrat agenda, he’s been spending a little too much time in the tanning bed.
Doughboy on March 1, 2010 at 10:26 AM
Crist wont cal out his friend Barak even thou over 23,000 jobs are going to be lost at NASA.
Firing over 23,000 people, Does this make him the worst person in the world?
meci on March 1, 2010 at 10:27 AM
Jeb is watching the polls with his finger in the wind.
Ted Torgerson on March 1, 2010 at 10:28 AM
Who is they? I have a hard time buying that GHWB would express anything like the above in a public setting. Fact of the matter is that between 41 and 43 I’d say that GWB was a better President than his father.
highhopes on March 1, 2010 at 10:30 AM
Yeah, Jeb, and your support for amnesty was unforgivable, too. Please no more Bushes. They’ve done enough damage.
As for Crist, he just can’t seem to quit making a fool out of himself. That’s what he gets for hitching his wagon to Obama’s policies. He deserves to lose in a landslide.
Redneck Woman on March 1, 2010 at 10:30 AM
That is about it.
Lie I have heard him speak several times on this issue.
Squid Shark on March 1, 2010 at 10:32 AM
Jeb (the smart) Bush
jake-the-goose on March 1, 2010 at 10:33 AM
“They” say a lot of stuff, don’t they?
Midas on March 1, 2010 at 10:36 AM
Isn’t Crist a deckhand on Obama’s Titanic!
canopfor on March 1, 2010 at 10:38 AM
Nah. He’s in the band. He’s gonna keep playing as the ship goes down.
SouthernGent on March 1, 2010 at 10:39 AM
bye bye Charlie!!!!
eski502 on March 1, 2010 at 10:41 AM
As horrible and grotesque Porkulus is, without it I wonder if the Tea Party Movement would have risen from slumber to the extent it has.
Troy Rasmussen on March 1, 2010 at 10:44 AM
I think the bigger point that was trying to be made is spot-on accurate. Crist is a closet Obama supporter who has been more of a cheerleader for the filthy lying coward in the White House than not. He may not like all those NASA jobs going under but he has largely been right there with Obama’s domestic agenda. That is unacceptable in a “Republican” candidate for the US Senate. Put another way Crist orange is not a color for a red GOP.
highhopes on March 1, 2010 at 10:47 AM
I’d go with yes. Porkulus was merely a flashpoint of a much larger sense of discontent with the political class, a radical socialist dictator in office, and an agenda out of synch with the American public.
highhopes on March 1, 2010 at 10:50 AM
IMO Charli Crist is in bed with Obama, Charlie could have pushed for a full primary in FL and HRC would be POTUS right now..same for Jennifer Granholm in MI…frakkers
ginaswo on March 1, 2010 at 10:53 AM
troy
we aint seen nothin yet with this ship of fools in the WH
it was also cap and trade that riled the people, at least at the tea party i atended in AZ on April 15th last year…
we would be out now on healthcre anyway
but spendulus DID sink O’w credibility faster than would have happened otherwise I agree
and Ahhnold schmmozing O now to get a CA bailout or some cabinet post is equally disgusting
Gawd how I ever supported these people I have no idea (Dems in congress I mean)
ginaswo on March 1, 2010 at 10:56 AM
The major mistake that Choo Choo Charlie Crist made was thinking he was jumping on the coat tails of the 2nd coming of Bill Clinton, and instead he found out all too late that it was the coat tails of the 2nd Coming of Jimmy Carter that he landed on instead.
pilamaye on March 1, 2010 at 10:56 AM
Porkulus was the straw that broke the camel’s back. TARP was what first set people off and made a lot of conservatives furious with the GOP to the point that they were willing to take to the streets. Other items on Obama’s agenda were factors as well, such as bailing out people who couldn’t pay their mortgages with government subsidies. That’s what led to the infamous Rick Santelli rant.
Doughboy on March 1, 2010 at 10:57 AM
honsy on March 1, 2010 at 11:01 AM
Charlie Crist was a RINO without the Barry Soetoro endorsement. He has reversed many of Jeb’s reforms, including in the education sector. Jeb might think he’s ‘nice’ but he also thinks he’s an idiot. Barry can’t give him the ambassadorship to Easter Island fast enough…
phreshone on March 1, 2010 at 11:03 AM
I’ll agree with your sentiment here. TARP was bipartisan crap, but the panic was real. Porkulus was the immediate breaking of the 2 years of promises by democrats that they were ‘fiscally responsible’, done in a scale and manner that fully exposed how corrupt Washington, DC is. Passing an unwritten bill with negligible support from the other side. Spending on services instead of assets. And all of this at a time when the monopoly of the MSM had be undermined and could no longer coverup for the dems misdeeds. While Chicago had the Santelli inspired Tea Party in February 2009, the major wave of gatherings happened on April 15th last year. (which the media under-reported and provided a clear demonstration of their bias for all to see)
phreshone on March 1, 2010 at 11:13 AM
Appearently, every one, (except the morons listed above), knew that porkulus was nothing but an 800 billion dollar DEMOCRAT slush fund providing billions to the public/government/union jobs sector—over a two year period—designed specifically to funnel money into Democratic districts. Clearly, putting Joe Biden in charge of dispersion, was a calculated manuver to shift the blame onto someone that does not need political cover:
Of course, this Times/CNN article goes on to “proclaim” that Porkulus “has created or saved somewhere between 1.5 million and 2.4 million jobs–according to congressional, White House and independent macroeconomic analyses”, but fails purposely to provide where exactly a majority of this money went. Hint: I wasn’t the private jobs sector that sorely needed much more attention than an already bloated government/public sector, but this is the same voting block the continues to send liberal democrats back to Washingtion to give old Joe a pat on the back—the most expensive and wasteful quid pro quo in U.S. history.
Rovin on March 1, 2010 at 11:23 AM
Careful Barry, the orange rubs off.
Aviator on March 1, 2010 at 11:24 AM
Stimulus is small potatoes compared to the hijacking of Treasury and the Fed into bankrolling Wall Street. The FMV of something nobody will buy is $0.00, yet the POLITICAL cost of accurate reporting of toxic assets held by federally insured and regulated institutions is irresponsibly more important than the FINANCIAL cost of writing a blank check to Wall Street. AIG should have gone Chapter 11. Citigroup et al. should have gone Chapter 11. And the damnable thing is they still might go Chapter 11, unless the Federal Government views its own stability as less important than a few favored for-profit concerns. The knowledge that the rules are rewritten from week to week is what keeps us from recovery. And it will last for years. And the cost of that is going to be many times more than Porkulus.
Chris_Balsz on March 1, 2010 at 11:28 AM
Re: Kool-Aid.
The original Jim Jones’ People’s Temple Kool-Aid was poisoned and his adherents knew it and drank it anyway. That’s the whole point of using it to describe lefties. They follow the party line blindly and without thinking of the consequences.
erp on March 1, 2010 at 11:37 AM
Sorry, Charlie. It’s hard to ride the coattails when the emperor has no clothes.
cs89 on March 1, 2010 at 12:24 PM
I like Jeb but I think you’re giving him a little too much credit. He’s trying to say he’s staying out of the primary fight but at the same time letting everyone know that he’s really a Rubio man. A little bit of a “cake and eat it too” case.
jnelchef on March 1, 2010 at 12:25 PM
Oh, and I’ll be really surprised if Jeb makes a successful run in 2012. Would be fun to watch, though, as Obama’s unforced errors just might make this lib nightmare scenario plausible.
cs89 on March 1, 2010 at 12:26 PM
What the Bush family has done to the GOP since January 20, 1989?…………….UNFORGIVEABLE!!!!
Anyone connected with the Bush Family in charge of the GOP?
Never again!!!
PappyD61 on March 1, 2010 at 12:51 PM
Jeb Bush tuning up for 2012? Will Run if Drafted? No thanks, Jebby, run along, RINOs aren’t on the menu for 2012.
james23 on March 1, 2010 at 12:55 PM
Jeb Bush is still popular in Florida, and his rebuke of Crist’s support for Porkulus could ensure Rubio’s win in the primary, and will probably make him the next Senator from Florida.
After serving as Rubio’s king-maker, he should probably run for Bill Nelson’s Senate seat in 2012. There may not be enough voters yet who “miss” George W. Bush, but after four years of Obama, the Bush years will seem wonderful in retrospect, and Jeb Bush probably won’t have to be ashamed of his last name.
Steve Z on March 1, 2010 at 1:39 PM
Who’s THEY?
I don’t believe that GHWB would even think such a thing much less say it to anyone.
Texas Gal on March 1, 2010 at 2:03 PM
Does that mean he’s riding his….? Ew!
rmel80 on March 1, 2010 at 2:23 PM
Crist knew what he was supporting and the disaster that would follow…or he didn’t have a clue how bad that thing would be and lacked the basic economic understanding that should be minimally demanded of all state chief executives.
Either way…unforgivable.
SKYFOX on March 1, 2010 at 3:37 PM