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Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Jeb, I Am Not Bush

("Jeb Bush Openly Runs for President, Finally")

Well, Jeb is finally running. Running away from his family that is. Declaring himself a candidate and definitely declaring that he is not his brother's keeper. Or his father's for that matter. "Don't call me Bush" is basically his bumper sticker.

After putting his foot and a lot more of his body into his mouth distancing himself not at all, then a little and finally entirely from his brother's Iraq attack ("ack, ack, you oughta know by now"), the man who would not officially be king until he had sufficiently filled the coffers with non-presidential contributions has now thrown caution to the wind and announced. That his name is Jeb, and only Jeb. No father or brother on the platform, physically or psychologically. Nary a mention of his heritage in his commencement (I mean announcement) speech. He is his own man, an orphan really. A person with no attachment to family, except the family of man (or maybe he could be the third Koch brother).

Is this to be a question of what is less exhausting, Bush or Clinton fatigue? It is a fascinating possibility that says much about something, although it would take a much smarter person than I to figure out why we seem to anoint certain families to lead us (in the case of Jeb's brother, to the brink of disaster) over and over.

The good thing for Jeb is that there are enough crazies in the Republican rat pack to keep us focused on other distractions. And rumor has it that The Donald will be making his weekly announcement that soon he will be the next President of these United States. It seems that he is the only one running for the top office in this country more often than the Bush clan. Sorry, former governor Bush. I will only call you by your first name from now on. Like Seal or Prince or Madonna.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Then we have the other one name: Hillary. Yes, our candidate with more baggage than a fleet of cargo planes. The Hillary who this past Saturday, bowing to the Native American Senator from Mass., spoke of the "endless flow of secret, unaccountable money that is distorting our elections." As the candidate who lived on speaking fees from Goldman Sachs and foundation donations from Qatar, she may be the least credible populist in American history. The media's focus is on Hillary's time as secretary of state, and whether she took official actions to benefit her family's global charity. The mistake is starting from the premise that the foundation is a charity. What's clear now is that this family enterprise was set up as a global shakedown operation, designed to finance and nurture Hillary's political ambitions. A Hillary super PAC that throws in the occasional good deed. This is made obvious by looking at the foundation's employment roster. Most charities are staffed by people who've spent a lifetime in nonprofits. The Clinton Foundation is staffed by political operatives. It has been a parking lot for Clinton campaign workers. A comfy place to draw a big check as they geared up for Hillary's presidential run. Just to name a few there's: Dennis Cheng, Katie Dowd, Cheryl Mills, Nick Merrill, Maura Pally, Valerie Alexander, Amitabh Desai, Craig Minassian, Ira Magaziner, Bari Lurie, Huma Abedin, and, of course, Sid Blumenthal. Hillary's allies insist to all who listen that the foundation exists to do good. It Does. It exists to do very good things for Hillary and Bill and all their longtime allies. And in that, it has succeeded beautifully.

As a woman, and a Democrat, I see Hillary as the most repugnant and repulsive candidate imaginable. Of Nixonian proportions. While I could never vote for a Republican I will not vote for Hillary either. Where's a trustworthy Democrat when we need one?

Robert said...

You seem to turn every post into an excuse for Hillary bashing (I won't use her last name herein). So the Bush legacy gets a pass from you in your retort.

Do you like Bernie Sanders (at least his baggage is considerably lighter)?

Anonymous said...

Your interpretation is incorrect. I abhor the Bush family, and find Jeb as repulsive as Hillary. Perhaps more so.

The Hillary bashing is a product of the fear Democrats have put all their eggs in a rotten basket. The Clinton machine has crowded out all other viable Democratic candidates for reasons I do not need to waste your time enumerating. And while Bernie Sanders is a nice guy, he's not viable, at least for now. Hillary's handling of the Clinton Foundation and email controversies is right out of the Nixon play book: Treat every new revelation as old news, attack the messenger as biased, reveal only what you have to. Eventually she'll have to face the media, and she will be easily aggrieved and suspicious. She will be self-righteous about her own essential goodness. She will have her usual sharp temper. She will run an aggressive PR operation that will stonewall as long as possible. But when the Republicans finally have a nominee, and she's running in the general election, she will no longer be able to orchestrate her DNC audiences and hide from the media. She will have to tackle the tough questions or come off looking the fool. I'm afraid she'll handle herself poorly and lose. Most men I speak with (all Democrats and all political realists) also express an especially deep repugnance toward Hillary. We all fear the Republicans have a very good chance of winning against Hillary.

I hope that sets the record straight

Robert said...

I wonder if the Republican field is so crowded because it is so weak or because the feeling is Hillary is so beatable. It would make for another interesting oped.

RSN

Anonymous said...

Love your thoughts on "The Jeb!"
just to be clear, I am not the Anonymous who has written above.
Diane:)

Anonymous said...

As a man I have to admit I find Hillary physically repulsive, and can easily understand and forgive Bill's infidelities. What keeps me up at night is does Hillary think herself repulsive too? I conclude she secretly or unconsciously must and is why she puts up with his continuing shenanigans. OK OK, you're right, it's nothing to do with any of that, I know, it's the money and power stupid!