All eyes on Jeb
Close aides and friends say he is actively weighing a run, something he didn’t do in the last election cycle. “Gov. Bush has made a decision to make a decision at some point about running for president,” said Sally Bradshaw, a longtime adviser who talks frequently with Mr. Bush, who declined to comment for this article…
But conservatives worry about leaning on the Bush name yet again at a time when the GOP is trying to reintroduce itself to voters and can draw on plenty of new talents, including Florida senator and Bush protégé Marco Rubio, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. No Republican not named Bush has won the White House since 1984, an eternity in politics.
Murmurings about a possible Bush run have already provoked groans in some quarters. It is time for conservatives “to move beyond picking the next elder white guy in line,” said Matt Kibbe, a prominent tea-party activist and president of FreedomWorks, a conservative campaign group.
Blowback
Note from Hot Air management: This section is for comments from Hot Air's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that Hot Air management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment just because we let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with our terms of use may lose their posting privilege.
Trackbacks/Pings
Trackback URL
Comments
LOL!
FloatingRock on January 7, 2013 at 11:02 PM
Not only No, but Hell no! No more Bushes.
RoadRunner on January 7, 2013 at 11:03 PM
Why?
Glenn Jericho on January 7, 2013 at 11:05 PM
Listen, I like JEB. I think he would have been loads better than W. But the Bushes days MUST be over. It doesn’t matter how great JEB is, he doesn’t belong furthering a political dynasty in the USA. No more Bushes, no more Kennedys. No political dynasties.
Warner Todd Huston on January 7, 2013 at 11:05 PM
So in other words, another 4 years of Dems.
Tasha on January 7, 2013 at 11:08 PM
One great service performed my Marco Rubio.. ending the political careers of both Charlie Crist and Jeb Bush. Really, if Jeb wanted to be President he should have won the FL Governor’s race in 1994. He’d have been 47 in 2000.. Rubio will be 45 and Ryan will be 46 in 2016.
Illinidiva on January 7, 2013 at 11:09 PM
No more Bushes. No more Clintons. No more Pauls.
thebrokenrattle on January 7, 2013 at 11:09 PM
Jeb 2016 = Hillary 2008.
Robert_Paulson on January 7, 2013 at 11:12 PM
Rand Paul or Ted Cruz for President
PierreLegrand on January 7, 2013 at 11:13 PM
Not Jeb, Not Rubio, Not Rand Paul. Not Palin, Not anybody. Elections aren’t going to turn this mess around. More people in this country think the U.S. is evil than great. A majority in this country think it’s right for hard working Americans to give their hard earned money to the “victims” of our “racist” country. There is no electoral / political solution. We have to think more like our forefathers did. Think 1776.
JRidge on January 7, 2013 at 11:14 PM
Even worse than the actual prospect of a Bush run is the patronizing assertion of the media that gave us Romney that Jeb is an actual choice that we’re considering whether we like it or not.
I say seriously that a Romney/McCain ticket would be have a better chance of winning and would govern better than Jeb Bush.
HitNRun on January 7, 2013 at 11:17 PM
All eyes on Jeb? Bull. Sh*t.
rdbrewer on January 7, 2013 at 11:17 PM
I now get why GOP elites and us normal conservatives have such a hard time understanding each other…The GOP elites think that conservatism means Monarchy!
It is all clear now!
William Eaton on January 7, 2013 at 11:24 PM
I have no use for that prick.
Jaibones on January 7, 2013 at 11:29 PM
God, I am getting so sick of these articles cropping up here every few days, pushing the squishiest of all the Bushes.
I would ignore them, but I fear the lack of my response would be taken as my acquiescence to the idea.
So, again I have to say that the only thing that Jesse Jackson ever said that I agree with is :
LegendHasIt on January 7, 2013 at 11:37 PM
If he even attempts to get the nomination and they allow him in the first debate, I am changing my affiliation from Republican to Independent. If the GOP is that effing tone deaf that they think running Bush vs Clinton in 2016 is a winning strategy, the party deserves to die. I have been giving the GOP FAR FAR too much credit over the last few elections, but even they can’t be that stupid.
thphilli on January 7, 2013 at 11:38 PM
Well…good for you!
Sadly this guy will probably be the GOP candidate.
sharrukin on January 7, 2013 at 11:44 PM
He has a zero chance. Period. He won’t run anyway.
The desperate quest for a not-white guy is beyond pathetic. You might as well be kos kids.
How about getting some good candidates to pick from? Who cares what their skin color is?
Moesart on January 7, 2013 at 11:52 PM
Do. Not. Want.
trigon on January 7, 2013 at 11:55 PM
The times have passed Bush and his ideology by and cannot be caught up again. The Republicans will utterly reject his Caspar Milquetoast moderation.
He might have a chance in the Democratic Party, though, with his appeals to save some vestige of the failed socialist state.
Good luck, Jeb.
Dusty on January 8, 2013 at 12:02 AM
Cruz yes. No more Pauls.
thebrokenrattle on January 8, 2013 at 12:10 AM
I doubt that.
thebrokenrattle on January 8, 2013 at 12:12 AM
They’re already starting to say the same baloney with Jeb that the said about McCain and Romney:
Yes, if only we had a moderate we could win.
And Jeb says this:
An orthodoxy. We nominated McCain and then Romney. The only orthodoxy is “thou shalt not have a real conservative.” What a dumb lie, and it bothers me he would hitch is wagon to Reagan.
Pathetic.
rdbrewer on January 8, 2013 at 12:34 AM
The Bushes are the reason why the GOP is in this hole.
rdbrewer on January 8, 2013 at 12:35 AM
So far, I like Cruz. However, can’t we at least see what he does in the senate before we start saying him for president?
topdawg on January 8, 2013 at 12:45 AM
Agreed.
Dusty on January 8, 2013 at 12:58 AM
NO more Bushs, Clintons, Kennedys and Obama.
The US is not a kingdom, nor Venezuela, yet.
Schadenfreude on January 8, 2013 at 1:00 AM
Exactly.
Kataklysmic on January 8, 2013 at 1:12 AM
Why do people always latch on to the most newly-minted conservative in Congress and start heralding them as our last best hope for the White House? Shouldn’t we see what these people can do first? Rubio has been disappointing at times, for instance. It would also be nice if they’d get some executive experience before running for president. But all of that aside, we need solid conservatives in the House and Senate too. Maybe let Ted Cruz stay there for awhile and perhaps do some good.
As for Jeb? Just. No.
NoLeftTurn on January 8, 2013 at 1:14 AM
He almost got that right. You see, it is the GOP INSIDERS who choose the candidate, pass along their recommendation[s] to the state Republican leadership that then in turn supports ONLY THAT CANDIDATE, then sit back and laugh when we get screwed.
People that are directly involved in the elections know that as a fact. See how much you miss when you sit at home and trust any party to do the right thing?
In a court of law they tell you that ignorance is not a defence. That also holds true when the time to kick out the corrupt-o-crats arrives.
TEAnami 2014: The fight to take back our rights.
DannoJyd on January 8, 2013 at 1:28 AM
Basically all the exact same things were said about Romney in 2012. As it turned out, the base’s actual preferences had very little impact on the primary and will have little impact on the primary in 2016. Jeb is by far the most likely candidate to be picked, with Rubio a distant second. It’s been well known for some time that Jeb had his eyes on 2016 so it’s quite possible he’s got a lot of the party insiders and big money people lined up behind him, and those are the only votes that really count.
This is exactly correct. All the people confidently declaring Jeb Bush “impossible” for 2016 are in for a very ugly surprise.
We need a new party before it’s too late.
Doomberg on January 8, 2013 at 1:33 AM
Who are these “conservatives” for Jeb? More like the conservative Democrats aka GOPe. But if he should happen to get the nod, don’t look for my vote — this time up and down the R ticket as I’ll be hanging with the third party thru and thru. The GOP will be that dead to me.
AH_C on January 8, 2013 at 2:19 AM
Jeb Bush would be the perfect candidate to carry on the proud traditions of Presidents Dole, McCain, and Romney.
Oh wait…
single stack on January 8, 2013 at 4:38 AM
its his turn.
tom daschle concerned on January 8, 2013 at 5:53 AM
nooooooooooooo
cmsinaz on January 8, 2013 at 7:17 AM
Casting aside the evil legacy of his brother George Vader, here comes the Return of the Jebi.
tommy71 on January 8, 2013 at 7:24 AM
And, so it begins.
*sigh*
We now know…
Grrr…
Fallon on January 8, 2013 at 7:38 AM
Conservatives leaning on the Bush name? Please. The GOP has demanded that conservatives carry the dead weight of the Bush name for 25 years in the name of party loyalty. From “read my lips” to Medicare Part D, from lectures on illegal immigration to lectures from Ma Bush on tone, the Bush family has been a burden on conservatives, not the other way around.
fitzfong on January 8, 2013 at 7:39 AM
No means no.
CurtZHP on January 8, 2013 at 7:41 AM
If this isn’t enough to make you quit the GOP, nothing will. Also, I wouldn’t dismiss this so article so easily, we did end up with the “next guy” in line every presidential election. Jeb is that guy and in the end, just like with McCain and Romney, you will support him. Lesser of two evils and all that. You will also get the screamers who will say if you don’t vote for Jeb, you voting vote liberal candidate X. This battered wife syndrome has to stop, leave the repubs.
Panther on January 8, 2013 at 7:48 AM
“You” as in Hot Air posters? In all cynical likelihood: probably.
But as with Romney, someone will forget to tell the Republican-leaning people who *don’t* read political blogs why they’re crazy if they don’t turn out.
With Jeb, there’s also the real possibility that no one falls in line in a sort of cascade effect. People came around to Romney because it was assumed that he could win. You think anyone’s going to bother turning out for a candidate they don’t like pulling 42% in Halloween polls?
Then you could have an election where the GOP candidate gets 35%: the same 35% who approved of George W. Bush in 2008
HitNRun on January 8, 2013 at 8:06 AM
Glenn Jericho on January 7, 2013 at 11:05 PM
Because Republicans are stupid.
HerneTheHunter on January 8, 2013 at 8:22 AM
I beg to differ. No Republican not named Bush has won the White House (i.e. the Presidency) since 1988. No conservative has won the White House since 1984.
TxAnn56 on January 8, 2013 at 8:58 AM
Absolutely right. Here we go again. I’m convinced that the only way this ever ends is via a third party which finally sends the GOP to Whigdom where it belongs. Right now the GOP rank and file doesn’t have the guts to “take over” the party, or else in this age of instant information and sliming operations the GOPe influence is too pervasive in the party to overcome.
Even if there is another “TEAnami”, all that will happen is the GOPe and its flunkies will sit back and take credit for it while crapping on Tea Partiers as they always have. No one knows this better than the TP. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see the Dems take back the House in 2014.
ddrintn on January 8, 2013 at 9:13 AM
But , but , but , but , but ………………….
He can get the Hizzpanic vote !
Lucano on January 8, 2013 at 9:37 AM
Ha! I’d rater be blind.
Bmore on January 8, 2013 at 10:06 AM
rater=rather. See its already working.
Bmore on January 8, 2013 at 10:06 AM