October 23, 2015

"Jeb Bush on Friday ordered a wholesale restructuring of his struggling campaign after suffering miserably in the polls despite massive spending and a deep donor network."

Politico reports today.
Although campaign officials insisted they're still in strong shape, the cuts — combined with Bush's stagnant poll numbers — suggest otherwise.... While there were signs the campaign faced trouble, Bush's team didn't know the depths of its problems until it got to look at the other campaigns' finance reports.... Aside from Donald Trump, Bush also has the highest burn rate, spending 86 percent of what he raised last quarter....
Among establishment donors, Bush has fought hard to stave off Rubio, whose superior abilities on the stump and comparatively lean campaign operation have impressed kingmakers like Sheldon Adelson and others. Another Bush donor, the CEO of a large financial firm, said the campaign is in fact scared of Rubio and rightly so. “Marco is a very real and very dangerous candidate in this race,” the donor said.
Hey, I said it yesterday: "It's time for Jeb Bush to withdraw and endorse Marco Rubio." Don't fight him. Help him. It's too late and too dire for anything else. Now's your chance to help the moderate GOP cause. Fighting Rubio is not the answer! Be practical and realistic.

37 comments:

SayAahh said...

"The fault dear Jeb, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings."

Donald Trump (l, ii, 140-141)

Levi Starks said...

He's almost as delusional as Hillary.

traditionalguy said...

JEB, we hardly knew you. But the Bush clout from being associated with Ronald Reagan's successes that elected him on his "Read my lips...no new taxes" pledge flatlined after 41 agreed to a big tax increase which was was the Dems in Congress price to authorize Desert Storm a year before he had to run for re election. That gave us Clinton, Inc. Bob Dole was a gift to Bill Clinton by the GOP.

The Bush magic was all but gone forever by 2000 except for Gore's 500 vote loss in Florida that was mainly due to the Monica Lewinski trashiness legacy from the Clintons.

Then John Kerry and John Edwards were helpless campaigners in 2004 facing a remaining patriot favor for a wartime Commander in chief.

There is NO reason a Bush should get a single vote now.

JackWayne said...

Annie, better get your gun. Carson is trending over Trump. And Cruz is trending higher. Soon we'll see the real contest take shape. Cruz vs Rubio. The outsider versus the establishment pick. Either way, Texas and Florida on offer from Republicans will look pretty good. On the same ballot they will crush. And I hope Cruz is on top of the ticket. His ground game is better than Rubio's. But Rubio will count on the Bush fatcats to pull him through. And "moderate" law professors from WI who are looking for love. Or something.

eric said...

If he doesn't want Trump to win, he should endorse Ben Carson.

jr565 said...

As I said earlier, it should be Rubio Carson. Forget Donald Trump. Re pubs should totally go for the class warfare angle. Black AND Latino ticket. In your face racists. If you don't support the ticket its racism, straight up. I have my talking points ready.
It also happens that Rubio is young and charismatic, and Carson is soft spoken and gathers a lot support. He's articulate but he's not that familiar with politics so he should be the VP. Rubio is more familiar with how policy works.
He has some issues , particularly on immigration. But no one is perfect. He's still better than Hillary or sanders.

traditionalguy said...

The Iowa polls for Carson are suspect. Wait until the votes are counted in New Hampshire and South Carolina...or the religious claques are counted in Iowa.

Iowa wants to like the inexperienced Dr. Carson to prove they are not racists like those dumb and evil southerners. But they will wake up when it counts. They will notice that the 100% Manhattan Trump is not a racist either.

chuck said...

I recall that when George Bush was first running for president, Jeb! was touted as the real political talent in the family. Guess not.

Bay Area Guy said...

I'm with jr565. Although I think Rubio/Fiorina might be more effective against Hillary!

As for Jeb!, on the merits, I think he was a very good Governor. On paper, he seemed to be a formidable candidate from a major, critical swing state (Florida). On the field, he was/is a terrible candidate, and he greatly under-estimated how sick folks are of the Bush dynasty.

Althouse is aligned with the Right on this edict -- Jeb go home!

YoungHegelian said...

While I have no particular animus against Jeb Bush, I don't like the idea of the presidency being a family business (cough-cough, Hillary!).

I'm so happy that the electorate, both left & right, is balking at accepting the candidates foisted on them by their betters without a fight. It's always amusing when in spite everyone's carefully rehearsed plans, the dogs just refuse to eat the dog food.

furious_a said...

gone forever by 2000 except for Gore's 500 vote loss in Florida

In a vote that close, *every* vote was the deciding vote. Taking the FLA toss-up as a given, I'd say it was Gore's gun control stance that cost him his own home state.

furious_a said...

JEB really seems to not enjoy campaigning, like his shoes were too tight or the chili with beans from lunch wasn't sitting right.

Talk about a joyless nightmare of a General Election if it were him and avoid-the-public Hillary.

Mick said...

Rubio is not an eligible natural born Citizen "law prof" (surely a misnomer).

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

r565: Black AND Latino ticket. In your face racists. If you don't support the ticket its racism, straight up. I have my talking points ready.

Yeah, I'm sure that will get you a lot of "likes" from people who already agree with you. Unfortunately nobody else gives a crap when conservatives call their opponents racists.

The only people who show the Pavlovian groveling response to being called racists are spineless conservatives. (GOPers would rat out their own grandmothers for "hate speech" in a pathetic attempt to get non-racist cred from liberals. Not that it ever works.)

Having black or Latino candidates has never made a dent in the efficacy of the Dems painting the Republicans as the party of "racists" or "the white party". Nobody outside of conservative echo chambers cares that "Dems were the party of Jim Crow!" or any other variant of "Dems are the real racists!", and it's not going to rock anybody's world view this time around, either.

Jus' sayin'.

Michael K said...

" a big tax increase which was was the Dems in Congress price to authorize Desert Storm a year before he had to run for re election."

I agree but have never been able to prove it. Someday we will see something from Rostenkowski on his coup with Bush I

This is a very odd year. The electorate knows if made a mistake in 2012 and doesn't know whereto go now.

I have no idea who will be the GOP nominee and I don't know if whoever it is can defeat Hillary, even if she is indicted, Democrats don't care about those things. J Michael Curley proved that a half century ago.

Known Unknown said...

Carson has no blackness.

Rubio is a white Hispanic for sure.

Peter said...

Jeb, Jeb, Jeb: as good as dead. As a presidential candidate, anyway.

Just more evidence that money, while important, is often not the deciding factor in electoral politics.

madAsHell said...

Jeb brings several hundred jiga-watts of meeehhh.

madAsHell said...

Rubio is not an eligible natural born Citizen

He was born in Miami. What more does it take?

Jupiter said...

Rubio actually is running for President of some other country. It will be located on the premises of the former United States of America, but its inhabitants will mostly be from elsewhere. Except the ones paying taxes, of course. Can't have a welfare state without some productive citizens to tax.

Titus said...

Isn't Rubio a life long politician? I thought that wasn't cool?

Has he ever built anything?

tits.

Laslo Spatula said...

The longer Jeb stays in the longer Trump stays on top.

A funny Moebius Strip there.


I am Laslo.

mccullough said...

Jeb should hire some illegal immigrants for his campaign to save even more money. Or get some H1 visas for cheaper foreign political advisors.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

Piss off, Jeb. Even more incredible than the likelihood that the country will put a blatantly corrupt piece of shit like Hillary in the White House, is the idea that Jeb Bush had any chance of getting the Republican nomination. Really, what world is he living in?

Michael K said...

"Carson has no blackness. "

Mentally, you are correct.

The political left is run through with the bigotry of low expectations. They cannot process a black professor of neurosurgery.

It just doesn't compute any more than a black lieutenant colonel who saves his men by firing a pistol next to the head of a terrorist (Ever see "Rules of Engagement?"

Or a black Supreme Court Justice who isn't a vote for affirmative action.

Not even a a black Economics professor whose book is out in another edition this year.

Can't possibly be because there is no white leftist pulling the strings.

Jon Burack said...

Mick, Rubio not a natural born citizen? The next time Laura Ingraham comes on while you are driving around switch the dial, will you. You are endangering the other drivers. At least pull into a Taco Bell or something and get a burrito. Relax. THEY are not sweeping in from Mount Doom to rape and pillage. Take a deep breath and put on some good music. Knopfler's "Why Aye Men," perhaps.

Bruce Hayden said...

I recall that when George Bush was first running for president, Jeb! was touted as the real political talent in the family. Guess not.

I think that what you are talking about was when both were running for governor in 1994. JEB was seen by many as the better candidate. The problem was that GWB won in TX, and JEB lost, barely, in FL. Both won in 1996, but in 2000, GWB had 6 years as a governor, while his younger brother only had two, and so GWB was seen as the better Presidential candidate. JEB might have had an easier time winning FL that year (as the sitting governor), but might have lost other close states, since he was never as warm on the campagn trail as his older brother, and that was one advantage that GWB had over AlGore.

Richard Dolan said...

So, all of you cheerleaders for RUBIO's place on a winning ticket, time to send him a contribution. I did a while ago. Democracy isn't cheap, and it's not just a spectator sport.

Douglas B. Levene said...

Laslo is on to something. If Jeb dropped out, that might well take a lot of the wind out of Trump's sails, since his followers seem to be really, really upset at the notion of Jeb being the GOP candidate. It might also take away some of Trump's own personal enthusiasm since he seems to be on a mission to punish Jeb for not approving casino gambling in Florida despite taking a campaign contribution from Trump.

Grackle said...

But what if we DO NOT want to help the moderate Republican cause? What if we want to see Ted Cruz burn through the rotten Washington establishment? What if we want a President who will take unilateral conservative action in as dramatic a fashion as Obama has taken progressive action? What if we wish to enjoy the weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth of those who feel that a person must be a moderate or leftist to be "President of all Americans"?

False Grackle

BN said...

Jeb never had a chance.

They call the Repubs the "stupid party." And yeah... blah blah.. bunch of idiots... blah blah.

But, Hillary! makes perfect sense.

BN said...

Did you see her awesome "performance" in front of the commissar commission committee?

Meryl Streep for prez!

BN said...

Me and the perfesser are on board.

oh wait, we're gonna "wait and see" and vote for the best of the worst.

Carnifex said...

Althouse shilling for another Democrat. Meh... nothing new here. If it weren't for the commentators, this site would suck balls.

lgv said...

Maybe they just don't like the dog food.

http://cafehayek.com/2010/01/maybe-the-dogs-dont-like-it.html

My last job for someone else: After being wildly successful, we were bought by a Fortune 500 company. They installed a new COO. After a year and a half, the profits had disappeared. The only changes that had been made were the COO and the changes he brought with him. Clearly, things had to change, so he fired me. Jeb, like the COO, isn't going to fire himself. He can't.

Anonymous said...

Mick said that Rubio wasn't a natural born citizen in response to a Cruz versus Rubio fight. It isn't Rubio but Cruz who is not a natural born citizen, having been born in Canada to Cuban citizens. Ignoring the natural born citizen clause of the constitution is just further proof that we don't have the will to defend ourselves from anybody.

Hillary delenda est, Democrat Party delenda est, Republican Party delenda est.