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Jeb Bush: As president, I’d wheel and deal like Lyndon Johnson
He vowed to approach the presidency as “master of the Senate,” as biographer Robert Caro described Johnson.
“He went and he cajoled, he begged, he threatened, he loved, he hugged, he did what leaders do, which is they personally get engaged to make something happen,’’ Bush said of Johnson. Bush cited Caro’s latest book about Johnson, The Passage of Power, which covers the first part of Johnson’s presidency.
The wheeling and dealing Johnson loved and relished is what will be needed to pass bills such as immigration regulations. That process is also how government gets expanded and cronyism thrives, as Peter Schweizer’s nonpartisan Government Accountability Institute and directer Stephen K. Bannon documented in “Boomtown.”
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But what’s the point of this hypothetical, Jeb? You will never be president.
Stoic Patriot on February 17, 2013 at 9:19 AM
Oh yeah? As head of the Jedi council, I’ll lead the galaxy into a new era of peace.
Living4Him5534 on February 17, 2013 at 9:21 AM
One more reason why I’d never vote for him.
warren on February 17, 2013 at 9:21 AM
I’d vote for him if he was the nominee, but please, no, Jeb, nooooooooooo.
thebrokenrattle on February 17, 2013 at 9:26 AM
Would you raid the social security trust fund to finance your “great war on poverty,” too?
Wethal on February 17, 2013 at 9:29 AM
Just one more reason I will never vote for a Bush again. LBJ was the biggest spender in history before Bush the 2nd and Obama.
We need a Reagan not a Bush to fix our problems.
unseen on February 17, 2013 at 9:30 AM
Also known as twisting arms under threat of cutting off funds for favorite pork projects.
Wheeling and dealing means taxpayers get the raw end of any deal the prez makes with congress.
fogw on February 17, 2013 at 9:34 AM
Wow, you really don’t want the nomination, do you, Jeb? Lyndon Johnson is the reason I will never ever be a Democrat. When I first started taking an interest in politics in 1992(I was only 15 at the time but still engaged in the election), I read up on stuff like the Great Society and was revolted at what the welfare state had done(even if it was unintentional which is debatable) to people in this country, particularly minorities. And now you want to emulate that douchebag? A man who was so unpopular, he decided not to seek reelection? Lots of luck with that.
Doughboy on February 17, 2013 at 9:38 AM
Which is why you’ll never get the GOP nomination, douche.
Jaibones on February 17, 2013 at 9:42 AM
Wanting to govern and make deals like LBJ, who gave us “The Great Society” that is killing taxpayers today. Is NOT going to play well
with conservatives or middle income Republicans, anywhere!
Jeb would be cutting his own throat. If the media didn’t beat him to it.
Jack Deth on February 17, 2013 at 9:43 AM
…
We have to stop this man from becoming president.
BigGator5 on February 17, 2013 at 9:47 AM
Any Republican who thinks LBJ is a presidential role model needs to be kept very, very far away from the ticket.
JimLennon on February 17, 2013 at 9:47 AM
Haha, I dont think we have to do anything to make that happen
thebrokenrattle on February 17, 2013 at 9:49 AM
I agree completely,
dogsoldier on February 17, 2013 at 9:50 AM
Hey Jeb. They reason Johnson was able to approach the Presidency as “master of the Senate” was because he had been, uh, master of the Senate. You’re not.
Great understanding of history there, Jeb.
Mr. Arkadin on February 17, 2013 at 9:52 AM
Has anyone sat Jeb Bush down and told him that Marco Rubio is going to be the nominee? I thought that someone already had hence the stream of whiny stories coming out from the Jeb camp about Rubio. I think that Jeb totes thought that Rubio was going to defer to him, but I don’t think that Rubio is going to anymore. I think that Rubio quite enjoys the attention he is receiving and the prospect of living in the White House in four years.
Also, isn’t it kind of arrogant to base a presidential campaign on my daddy and brother were President? I don’t think that Jeb Bush would win because his name is Jeb Bush but if losing to the Wicked Witch by double digits might end the ZOMG a random member of the Bush family must be on every Presidential ticket, then so be it.
Illinidiva on February 17, 2013 at 9:56 AM
I don’t really want a wheeler and dealer, I want a Constitutional Warrior! I don’t want some joker dealing away our rights like RINOs have in the past. Piss off Lil’Lyndon.
rgranger on February 17, 2013 at 10:00 AM
I don’t think that we ever have to worry about him winning in 2016. I do worry about him becoming the nominee, losing by double digits because people are still mad at his brother, and ushering in another 2009 scenario.
Illinidiva on February 17, 2013 at 10:00 AM
Great…
Society. Sheesh. What a flippin’ idiot.
Fallon on February 17, 2013 at 10:01 AM
Well – I may be alone – but I think I understand what Jeb meant to say.
Maybe – just maybe – he was taking a dig at Obama – who never works “across the aisle”.
Jeb is good man – so I am giving his the benefit of the doubt.
That said – I am still BUSHED !!!
jake-the-goose on February 17, 2013 at 10:05 AM
The Republican party is full of manchurian candidates and fifth column combatants.
It is time to whig the republican party!
astonerii on February 17, 2013 at 10:05 AM
Why Jeb wants to base his presidential hopes on the 2012 Jon Huntsman campaign template is beyond me, especially since:
1.) LBJ’s Senate successes aside, nobody remember LBJ for his Senate successes — conservatives remember and dislike him for vastly expanding the role of government and federal spending; and
2.) liberals hate him both for Vietnam and (if you scratch the surface enough) due to the fact they still consider him a usurper and spoiler of the Kennedy dynasty, and in the more paranoid neighborhoods, think he probably was tied into the assassination.
So Jeb’s not getting any pluses with conservatives here, and he’s not getting any love from the big media over embracing this particular Democrat (which begs the question if you’re Jeb Bush and you watched what the media did to your dad and brother why you would even think for a nanosecond you could suck up to them in any successful way by mentioning Lyndon’s efforts in the Senate is one of your political avatars).
jon1979 on February 17, 2013 at 10:15 AM
So, the Whigs were wiped out because they were a go along to get along big government party in the early to mid 1800s. They allowed the expansion of slavery on their watch and did not stand up to the Democrats. The Republican party was formed to clarify and justify having a second party.
Today, the Republican party has become the Whig party of the late 1840s and 1850s and likely will soon be replaced by something that is clearly different than the Democrat party. I think slavery will be the determining factor yet again.
Over the last 80 years the Republican party has been helping the Democrats promote the slavery of children in servitude to the older generations. Social Security and Medicare to be specific. As these two programs balloon the burdens on these children and children not yet born, it will eventually lead to a need for clarification. The clarification that these programs are in fact slavery, something that we all know is evil and not to be tolerated.
astonerii on February 17, 2013 at 10:17 AM
I understand that he’s not trying to say that he’d be like LBJ, but saying that he would get things done like LBJ. Thing is, the fact that he saw no problem with comparing himself, a self-declared conservative, to LBJ, an unpopular tyrant, says much about what he finds to be palatable.
If elected, may his tyranny be fleeting like LBJ’s tenure in office, and not enduring, like the destructive legacy he left in his wake.
mintycrys on February 17, 2013 at 10:29 AM
Interesting that Bush thinks that the issue that needs to be wheeled and dealed on is immigration and not fiscal insolvency.
besser tot als rot on February 17, 2013 at 10:29 AM
Of course that’s what he meant. Doesn’t mean that it is an epic fail and beyond tone deaf for him to compare himself to LBJ.
besser tot als rot on February 17, 2013 at 10:32 AM
If Jeb Bush enters the race, I have no doubts that he’ll win the nomination. And yes, he’ll win the GE too. Except for Pappys 2nd term loss, the Bushies know all the levers of power, and how to manipulate enough to win. But after winning the GE, he’ll promptly go ahead and set back Conservatism by another 20 years. Thats exactly why hes dangerous. Just my 2 cents.
tommy71 on February 17, 2013 at 10:41 AM
So, Jeb, you’d
1) cheat on your wife
2) get the nation hooked on new entitlements
3) destroy the black family
4) be an imperial president
5) micromanage a war
Which one? Or is it a combination package?
LBJ was not a good guy.
rbj on February 17, 2013 at 10:45 AM
Mind-boggling.
There is no hope for the Republican Party as long as they continue down their current path, lead by “progressives” Like Jeb Bush and Rubio.
Pork-Chop on February 17, 2013 at 10:49 AM
Because Dubya is oh so beloved with the populace. Seriously, if Jeb wins the nomination, he loses the General Election. He brings absolutely nothing to the table in terms of fresh, new ideas or a fresh new face and brings all the baggage associated with his brother. Plus, Clintons know how to beat Bushes. Seriously, Jeb loses to the Wicked Witch by double digits.
Not only that but a Jeb Bush candidacy means that a guy with an actual chance of winning the GE would be pressured to drop out. I think that the bigwigs at the RNC are concerned about this and that Jeb has been receiving a lot of hints to drop it from Washington. Hence the fact that Jeb and the Savior’s relationship has gotten pretty chilly.
Geez.. I really don’t feel bad for the guy that he isn’t going to get to run for President. He’d have gotten to be President in 2000 if he’d have won the 1994 FL Governor’s race.
Illinidiva on February 17, 2013 at 10:58 AM
@Illinidiva Yes, you already mentioned that upthread. I read it. Thats your opinion. Mine is different. Thats all.
tommy71 on February 17, 2013 at 11:05 AM
Most likely in policy as well as style.
ButterflyDragon on February 17, 2013 at 11:14 AM
Hillary will not be the nominee in 2016. Democratic party primary voters are not going to elect an ugly and fat old white woman after the Chicago Jesus, and the crop of young and dynamic black and hispanic pols that will fight for their nomination will not lie down and let her have it just because “it’s her turn”. Bob Dole anyone?
slickwillie2001 on February 17, 2013 at 11:47 AM
Aren’t there enough people in the US for us not to have to hand power to the same families over and over again?
Count to 10 on February 17, 2013 at 11:52 AM