Jeb Bush has a problem if he wants to be the Republican Party’s 2016 nominee: Conservatives.

Many in the GOP who do not count themselves moderates are leery of this latest effort by a member of the Bush family to win the White House. Frankly, they have every reason to be. While Jeb Bush governed Florida as a conservative in the 1990s and 2000s, both of the political parties have grown more polarized in the intervening years. What constituted down-the-line conservatism in the last decade is for many Republicans unacceptable squishiness by today’s standards, and Bush seems to resent that.

In rather refreshing displays of candor from a politician, Bush has made his distaste for the conservative movement known. The former Florida governor has insisted that the GOP can only win the White House if the party is willing to field a candidate who can “lose the primary to win the general,” but without “violating your principles.” That statement requires a little decoding, but it is a clear indication that Bush is not a great fan of Republican primary voters.

“I used to be a conservative and I watch these debates and I’m wondering, I don’t think I’ve changed, but it’s a little troubling sometimes when people are appealing to people’s fears and emotion rather than trying to get them to look over the horizon for a broader perspective and that’s kind of where we are,” the former Sunshine State governor said in 2012 after watching that cycle’s crop of Republican presidential aspirants on the debate stage. “I think it changes when we get to the general election. I hope.”

But while Bush once denounced pandering to the conservative base in order to win the party’s nomination, he has now embraced the pander as a necessary evil. Bush subjected himself to an uncomfortable experience before an audience at CPAC in February, and his refusal to apologize for or reverse his support for immigration reform that includes a pathway to legal status for illegal immigrants prompted many to at least applaud his consistency if not his political instincts.

Bush’s approach to appealing to the conservative base has not been to shift his views on substantive matters, but rather to hurl bloody tunics into crowds of the GOP’s hoi polloi. His latest effort to ingratiate himself with conservatives is as insulting as it is hard to believe.

Speaking with Fox News Channel and Fox News Radio host Brian Kilmeade on Thursday, Jeb Bush insisted that he can’t be bothered to read The New York Times. “I don’t read The New York Times, to be honest with you,” Bush insisted.

Bush joins a number of conservatives, including Gov. Chris Christie, in indicating that he does not consume the journalism produced by The New York Times. For Christie, a regular target of derision from a paper that serves millions of his state’s citizens, it’s a bit more understandable that he would hold a genuine grudge with The Grey Lady’s reporters and editorial staff. For Jeb, however, that’s just what he thinks you want to hear.

Bush might not read the paper cover-to-cover (but who does? It’s the digital age), but his staff certainly does.

Doesn't read the NYT but does email with reporters here. Hmmmmm.

— Michael Barbaro (@mikiebarb) March 26, 2015

And they should. Even you, dear reader, are a frequent consumer of the journalism produced by the reporters at The New York Times. If you have been reading up on the details of Hillary Clinton’s controversial email practices or the Clinton Foundation’s ethically challenged fundraising practices, you have been keeping up with The Times’ reporting. Both of those stories were first uncovered by NYT journalists.

Sure, many conservatives will nod in agreement and profess that they, too, have no use for The New York Times as a journalistic outlet much less a source of opinion. That does not necessarily mean that they want to support a candidate who walls him or herself off to dissenting opinion. As a matter of fact, many conservatives would complain that Bush has failed to avail himself of conservative opinion and analysis on a variety of issues, preferring instead to preserve his own preconceptions.

Even if Bush did steadfastly refuse to read The New York Times, there’s nothing virtuous about the intellectual segregation. If Bush does believe that The Times’ editorial posture, which has a nagging tendency to make its way into ostensibly straight news reports, is wrong, how would he know that if he does not read the paper? What’s more, how can he be expected to competently counter the conclusions and value judgments made by The Times editorial staff if he does not read their arguments? Bush’s impulse is no different from the unflattering instinct of progressives to refuse to read or watch Fox News reports because they are prejudiced against that news outlet. As a result, many progressives have a distorted view of conservatives and their shared worldview.

If Jeb Bush thinks conservative apprehensions about his candidacy can be mollified by simply insisting that he shares the base’s mistrust of liberal news outlets, he is mistaken.

This post has been updated since its original publication.