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You are here: Home / Politics / Politicans / David Brooks Giving A Seminar At The Aspen Institute / Their eyes were watching Jeb

Their eyes were watching Jeb

by DougJ|  May 25, 20144:46 pm| 106 Comments

This post is in: David Brooks Giving A Seminar At The Aspen Institute, Getting The Band Back Together

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This sounds eerily like some of the North Korean-style Dear Leader fan fiction Elisabeth Bumiller used to write about W in the Times (via):

As governor of Florida, Jeb Bush flew in Ivy League social scientists for daylong seminars with his staff and carved out time for immersive brainstorming sessions he called “think weeks.”

A voracious reader, he maintains a queue of 25 volumes on his Kindle (George Gilder’s “Knowledge and Power” among them, he said) and routinely sends fan mail to his favorite authors.

A self-described nerd, he is known to travel with policy journals and send all-hours inquiries to think tanks. (A sample Bush question: What are the top five ways to achieve 4 percent economic growth?)

I hate to dig too deep into how Jeb chose what books to tell the NYT stenographer he was reading — lest I sound like that Slate article on Hillary Clinton’s iPod — but it includes “Their Eyes Were Watching God” and some book by Bill O’Reilly.

I don’t believe that our Galtian overlords will succeed in installing Bush III but it appears that the aspens are turning.

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Reader Interactions

106Comments

  1. 1.

    RobertDSC-Power Mac G5 Dual

    May 25, 2014 at 4:50 pm

    Both previous Bushes put the economy into recession. Why would Jeb be any different?

  2. 2.

    smintheus

    May 25, 2014 at 4:52 pm

    it appears that the aspens are turning

    Priceless snark.

  3. 3.

    The Dangerman

    May 25, 2014 at 4:53 pm

    What are the top five ways to achieve 4 percent economic growth?

    Legalize hookers and blow?

    ETA: I assume this Bush ball washing means Christie is toast?

  4. 4.

    Villago Delenda Est

    May 25, 2014 at 4:55 pm

    If he’s reading George Glider, it helps explain why he’s fucked in the haid, for sure.

  5. 5.

    David Koch

    May 25, 2014 at 4:57 pm

    Some of you old bloggers may remember a liberal site called “Media Whores.com”. It was a media criticism site.

    Well, every year they would hold a month long poll for Media Whore of the Year (ie biggest republican courtesan). Russert would perennially finish first or second. But back during the 2004 campaign Bumiller’s Bush-lovin propaganda at even the liberal New York Times was so sickening, about 90% readers voted her biggest courtesan of the election cycle.

  6. 6.

    Zandar

    May 25, 2014 at 4:59 pm

    What are the top five ways to achieve 4 percent economic growth?

    Whatever the “compassionate conservative” version of slavery is, obvs.

    Rent-to-own humanity, or something.

  7. 7.

    smintheus

    May 25, 2014 at 4:59 pm

    From the Times puff piece:

    the younger Mr. Bush seems to have defined himself as the anti-George W. Bush: an intellectual in search of new ideas, a serial consulter of outsiders who relishes animated debate and a probing manager who eagerly burrows into the bureaucratic details.

    So Rove thinks the GOP is pining for a Republican Jimmy Carter/Bill Clinton/Barack Obama?

  8. 8.

    Villago Delenda Est

    May 25, 2014 at 5:00 pm

    @smintheus: Without the melanin surplus, or actual following of the teachings of Jesus, or any of that hippie stuff, of course.

  9. 9.

    liberal

    May 25, 2014 at 5:04 pm

    @smintheus: Jesus, do I hate that “new ideas” crap.

  10. 10.

    Sly

    May 25, 2014 at 5:04 pm

    A self-described nerd, he is known to travel with policy journals and send all-hours inquiries to think tanks. (A sample Bush question: What are the top five ways to achieve 4 percent economic growth?)

    It was Plato, after all, who wrote that the pinnacle of human inquiry was the listicle. He made his case very clear in “The Top Five Ways to Escape the Cave of Ignorance.”

  11. 11.

    BubbaDave

    May 25, 2014 at 5:05 pm

    @smintheus:

    So Rove thinks the GOP is pining for a Republican Jimmy Carter/Bill Clinton/Barack Obama?

    No, you missed the bit about “manager who eagerly burrows into the bureaucratic details.” Unlike the near sherif who’s too shiftless and lazy to properly oversee complex matters like BENGHAZI!!11! and the VA.

  12. 12.

    trollhattan

    May 25, 2014 at 5:05 pm

    Speaking of our overlords, when did ALEC set up shop in Australia?

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-05-25/pork-industry-tougher-penalties-animal-activists-illegal-filming/5474958

  13. 13.

    Anoniminous

    May 25, 2014 at 5:06 pm

    Looking more and more like Jeb is going to be the candidate of the Corporate Wing of the GOP.

    Popcorn. I need some.

  14. 14.

    karensky

    May 25, 2014 at 5:06 pm

    My esteemed friend, Caroline, has 38 PAGES of books on her KIndle, NYT. So why don’t you write about her, you Bush starfuckers?

  15. 15.

    Baud

    May 25, 2014 at 5:06 pm

    @smintheus:

    the younger Mr. Bush seems to have defined himself as the anti-George W. Bush: an intellectual in search of new ideas

    Like tax cuts! And deregulation!

  16. 16.

    Not Adding Much to the Community

    May 25, 2014 at 5:07 pm

    @Sly: ““The Top Five Ways to Escape the Cave of Ignorance.”” And ‘Philosopher Kings Hate This One Weird Trick.”

  17. 17.

    Hunter Gathers

    May 25, 2014 at 5:08 pm

    The 2 year prologue to ‘Bush V. Clinton II – No, We’re Not Shitting You, Honest’ is getting real tedious. I’m already fucking bored by it all.

  18. 18.

    Schlemizel

    May 25, 2014 at 5:08 pm

    I lived in Fl when this assclown first ran for gov & got taken apart by a very sly good old boy. All my Republican friends told me Jeb was the stupid Bush, his brothers were all smarter. I believe them.

  19. 19.

    Roger Moore

    May 25, 2014 at 5:08 pm

    I hate to dig too deep into how Jeb chose what books to tell the NYT stenographer he was reading

    The list looks pretty shallow to me. It’s the kind of stuff intended to make people think they’re reading something difficult and intellectually challenging while confirming their existing biases. Of course that’s the kind of thing you’d include in your list if you were trying to impress other shallow people, so it shouldn’t be too surprising.

  20. 20.

    MattF

    May 25, 2014 at 5:09 pm

    A book by Bill O’Reilly. Ha ha. I’m guessing it’s not the one about how tides work.

  21. 21.

    Roger Moore

    May 25, 2014 at 5:10 pm

    @smintheus:
    Because who wants to bother looking up JEB!’s record when they can just listen to what Rove has to say?

  22. 22.

    Baud

    May 25, 2014 at 5:11 pm

    @Hunter Gathers:

    I’m tired of the Hillary posts. But it’s never too soon to mock the MSM’s coverage of Republicans.

  23. 23.

    HoneyBearKelly

    May 25, 2014 at 5:11 pm

    Bumiller should stick to reporting favorite ice cream flavors of presidential candidates.

  24. 24.

    David Koch

    May 25, 2014 at 5:13 pm

    Man, the Galtian overlords sure lack nerve, these days. They turn tail and run just because Crisppy closed down the busiest bridge in the world, diverted emergency relief funds, and got caught running a real estate extortion ring.

  25. 25.

    Roger Moore

    May 25, 2014 at 5:13 pm

    @Hunter Gathers:

    ‘Bush V. Clinton II – No, We’re Not Shitting You, Honest The Second Time as Farce’

    FTFY.

  26. 26.

    FlipYrWhig

    May 25, 2014 at 5:14 pm

    @smintheus: Sounds like Newt Gingrich 2.0. Jeb: Another stupid person’s idea of what a smart person sounds like.

  27. 27.

    smintheus

    May 25, 2014 at 5:15 pm

    @liberal: Ooh, ooh (raises hand), I’ve got a new idea!! Let’s switch over to a selling-sea-shells economy. And we can diversify it up with a secondary writing-listicles-for-investment-bankers economy. We’ll be the envy of Yurp and China by ‘n’ by.

  28. 28.

    Anoniminous

    May 25, 2014 at 5:16 pm

    Given the GOP base of ignorant-and-proud-of-it mouth breathing troglodytes I question the market savvy of branding JEB! as an “intellectual.”

  29. 29.

    David Koch

    May 25, 2014 at 5:17 pm

    the top five ways to achieve 4 percent economic growth?)

    it’s the political version of “7 minute abs”

  30. 30.

    Hunter Gathers

    May 25, 2014 at 5:17 pm

    @Baud: It feels like like I’m watching Ethnic Mismatch Comedy #644. I can see every joke coming from 2000 miles away.

  31. 31.

    MattF

    May 25, 2014 at 5:18 pm

    @Anoniminous: Well, Jeb! has to distinguish himself from that other Bush.

  32. 32.

    PIGL

    May 25, 2014 at 5:19 pm

    @trollhattan: I’d imagine about 30 seconds after the Koch-Murdoch global conspiracy decided it would be profitable to finance such. Those three men and their less-visible partners need to fucking disappear. Any government with balls enough to have them assassinated would be doing the world a big favor. Sadly, King-slayers seem to exist only in fiction.

  33. 33.

    PIGL

    May 25, 2014 at 5:19 pm

    @trollhattan: I’d imagine about 30 seconds after the Koch-Murdoch global conspiracy decided it would be profitable to finance such. Those three men and their less-visible partners need to fucking disappear. Any government with balls enough to have them assassinated would be doing the world a big favor. Sadly, King-slayers seem to exist only in fiction.

  34. 34.

    piratedan

    May 25, 2014 at 5:21 pm

    and so Ms Bumiller, just how salty were Jeb’s balls?

  35. 35.

    Roger Moore

    May 25, 2014 at 5:23 pm

    @Anoniminous:

    Given the GOP base of ignorant-and-proud-of-it mouth breathing troglodytes I question the market savvy of branding JEB! as an “intellectual.”

    That’s because you don’t understand the underlying cause of their worldview. They hate intellectuals when and because the intellectuals look down their noses at them and prove their ideas wrong. They absolutely love “intellectuals” who agree with them because it gives their ideas a patina of respectability.

  36. 36.

    elmo

    May 25, 2014 at 5:25 pm

    What are the top five ways to achieve 4 percent economic growth?)

    Since the most recent proven way to do it is to elect a Clinton, I doubt this is the inquiry he wants to put front-and-center going into 2016.

  37. 37.

    JoyceH

    May 25, 2014 at 5:26 pm

    A voracious reader, he maintains a queue of 25 volumes on his Kindle

    Um… 25 volumes queued on the Kindle does not a ‘voracious reader’ make. Geez, I can pick up that much in a week just watching the BookBub ads.

  38. 38.

    the Conster

    May 25, 2014 at 5:27 pm

    @piratedan:

    eeeeewwwwwwwww

  39. 39.

    Anoniminous

    May 25, 2014 at 5:28 pm

    @MattF: @Roger Moore:

    I have been schooled.

  40. 40.

    Baud

    May 25, 2014 at 5:29 pm

    @Hunter Gathers:

    I don’t know where you go for new stuff. I think they stopped making it after the Renaissance.

  41. 41.

    Roger Moore

    May 25, 2014 at 5:30 pm

    @JoyceH:

    Um… 25 volumes queued on the Kindle does not a ‘voracious reader’ make.

    This. You measure how much somebody is reading by how quickly they move through their list of unread books, not by how big a backlog they have. A long backlog may just be a sign that you aren’t clearing your reading list very quickly.

  42. 42.

    trollhattan

    May 25, 2014 at 5:30 pm

    @PIGL:
    I’m hearted by the comments, which treat the proposal with the distain it deserves. Maybe “corporations are people” has a tougher road there than it does here.

  43. 43.

    R. Porrofatto

    May 25, 2014 at 5:31 pm

    it appears that the aspens are turning

    And the tire swings are being hung on the branches.

  44. 44.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    May 25, 2014 at 5:33 pm

    The son of a president who could only charitably be included in the Simpsons’ homage to the Mediocre Presidents, the brother of the worst president in history, so the Village figures, “Maybe he’s the one who won’t suck!”

    As a non-Floridian, the only thing I know about Jebbie’s tenure as governor was his blunderbussing himself into the Schiavo mess. Allowing that pols should be judged by their own ideals, especially since we’re talking about a primary does he have any accomplishments that should make him a first tier candidate?

  45. 45.

    Amir Khalid

    May 25, 2014 at 5:34 pm

    “Jeb would make a real smart President. Just look at his bookshelf.”
    Eye-roll.

  46. 46.

    Frankensteinbeck

    May 25, 2014 at 5:36 pm

    What are the top five ways to achieve 4 percent economic growth?

    Elect Democrats.
    Elect Democrats.
    Elect Democrats.
    Elect Democrats.
    Elect Democrats.

    Well, that was easy. I didn’t even need flashcards.

  47. 47.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    May 25, 2014 at 5:37 pm

    @piratedan: Bumiller was a point of comparison, this puff piece was written by Michael Barbaro, Times embed with the Romney campaign, and…

    On the less hard-hitting front, he interviewed Mr. Romney’s hair stylist, revealing the secrets behind the candidate’s meticulous mane.
    In New York, where he is based, Mr. Barbaro has chronicled Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s obsession with muscle cars, City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn’s relationship with her father and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s weekend getaways to Bermuda — a hardship assignment that involved staying on the island for a week

  48. 48.

    trollhattan

    May 25, 2014 at 5:37 pm

    @trollhattan:
    Uh, “heartened.” Edit function no work on Android tablet.

  49. 49.

    David Koch

    May 25, 2014 at 5:40 pm

    You know who else read a lot of books

  50. 50.

    Higgs Boson's Mate

    May 25, 2014 at 5:41 pm

    @Amir Khalid:

    OT: Thanks for making me aware of Sharukh Khan. I just watched “Chennai Express” and it was a paragon of Bollywood goodness. Raised my spirits at time when they’re pretty low.

  51. 51.

    piratedan

    May 25, 2014 at 5:41 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: my bad Jim, ty for the correction

  52. 52.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    May 25, 2014 at 5:44 pm

    @piratedan: I just clicked on his bio because his name seemed familiar, but I saw nothing there that rang a bell. the bit about interviewing willard’s coiffeuse just made me chuckle

  53. 53.

    liberal

    May 25, 2014 at 5:45 pm

    @Frankensteinbeck: not going to get us there if they keep pushing “free trade” agreements.

  54. 54.

    PIGL

    May 25, 2014 at 5:46 pm

    @trollhattan: I understood you all the same. It took 30yrs for that kind of discourse to dominate Canada entirely. You have to nip it in the bud, like a dose of the clap, or an invasive species of wasps.

  55. 55.

    Higgs Boson's Mate

    May 25, 2014 at 5:46 pm

    So Jeb! reads books. Bully for him. I can read a book on advanced theories in quantum mechanics, understand and correctly pronounce every individual word, yet not know any more about quantum mechanics than I did when I started. Reading is not comprehension, a quality that seems to be nonexistent in the Bush family.

  56. 56.

    Roger Moore

    May 25, 2014 at 5:54 pm

    @Frankensteinbeck:
    I would especially recommend against electing a President named Bush, which will guarantee the lowest growth since the end of WWII.

  57. 57.

    Roger Moore

    May 25, 2014 at 5:58 pm

    @Higgs Boson’s Mate:

    So Jeb! reads books.

    Jeb! reads books that tell him what he wants to hear. He isn’t reading anything that might possibly challenge his preconceptions. To me, that’s the big takeaway.

  58. 58.

    MikeN

    May 25, 2014 at 6:10 pm

    I remember those happy days as a philosophy undergrad, reading the “PowerPoint Presentations of Plato”.

  59. 59.

    aimai

    May 25, 2014 at 6:11 pm

    @JoyceH: Yes.My father and I share a kindle account. I think it has 147 books on it. Does Jeb realize that he can have more than 25 books on it? Especially if he’s not planning to read any of them? It just costs money.

  60. 60.

    Mike G

    May 25, 2014 at 6:11 pm

    A voracious reader, he maintains a queue of 25 volumes on his Kindle (George Gilder’s “Knowledge and Power” among them…A sample Bush question: What are the top five ways to achieve 4 percent economic growth?)

    Great, he’s using the ‘Newt Gingrich without the obesity’ schtick, the stupid person’s idea of what an intelligent person thinks and says, full of shallow corporatist buzzwords.

  61. 61.

    aimai

    May 25, 2014 at 6:12 pm

    @Not Adding Much to the Community: Perfect.

  62. 62.

    aimai

    May 25, 2014 at 6:17 pm

    @Mike G: Also the idea that you can buttonhole random people to figure out what to do economically for the whole country seems just weird and childish. Its crafted as a kind of kingly myth for the little people–“he’s always thinking of you peasants and your needs!” The Tsar never stops thinking of how to improve your pathetic lives!

    Nothing in Jeb!’s life indicates the faintest interest in real public service. He’s in on the family grift, is all.

  63. 63.

    Schlemizel

    May 25, 2014 at 6:19 pm

    @David Koch:
    I figured for sure that link would go to the Rove planted story about what a great reader Boy Blunder was.

    Everyone else remember that hilarious PR move?

  64. 64.

    mai naem

    May 25, 2014 at 6:23 pm

    I remember reading a piece when Schwarzenegger was elected governator, that he was using a lot of Jebbie’s consultants/cronies/pals to privatize California like he had done with Florida. The piece made Florida sound like a pay to play state.

    Also too, 60+ year old Jebbie’s wealth upon leaving office was only $1.5M which sounds really little for a Bush which also makes me wonder if the elder Bushes are doing some offshore tax evasion. Hell, I’m guessing Jenna Bush is worth more that $1.5M. I’m assuming that Babs and George H.W.(both being from old money) are trust fund babies who would have to start passing on the money kind of early.

  65. 65.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    May 25, 2014 at 6:25 pm

    I was wondering what angle they’d take to differentiate him from his stupid brother.

  66. 66.

    Mike G

    May 25, 2014 at 6:28 pm

    “Not quite as stupid as my stupid brother” is considered a massive achievement by the Special Olympics performance standards of the Bush family. They were born to rule, and will only tolerate the barest wisp of Potemkin accountability to you lowly peasants.

  67. 67.

    Alex Bollinger

    May 25, 2014 at 6:28 pm

    “What are the top five ways to achieve 4 percent economic growth?”

    I know that question is supposed to make Bush III sound smart, but it’s actually a really dumb question. We don’t know how to achieve growth in ways that aren’t “have low growth for a while, then high growth will follow eventually” and “sometimes you can make that eventually happen sooner.”

    Either way, if he really is reading policy journals, he’s sure to have read many studies on things that are correlated with growth so he’d probably be able to formulate a deeper question….

    Oh and maintaining a queue of 25 books is easy. Reading those books is the hard part.

  68. 68.

    gratuitous

    May 25, 2014 at 6:28 pm

    @Schlemizel: You and me both. I remember all those gettin’-on-Air-Force-One-lugging-some-tome shot of the The Dim Son, everyone pretending that Bush was actually going to use some book as anything other than a doorstop or a hazard on the putting green.

    But for some reason, those halcyon days have been long forgotten by our popular media folks. Now they just want to kvetch about what an “easy ride” Obama has had.

  69. 69.

    Amir Khalid

    May 25, 2014 at 6:31 pm

    @mai naem:
    Well, there’s the fortune that’s in your name, your walking-around money so to speak, and the one that you have the benefit of, which among the very rich are carefully kept well out of the taxman’s reach by accountants and lawyers. The latter might not be in Jeb’s name, and might not be for him alone, but it’s there.

  70. 70.

    Josie

    May 25, 2014 at 6:31 pm

    an intellectual in search of new ideas

    It’s sort of difficult to equate someone who reads Gilder and O’Reilly with this description. Am I missing something here?

  71. 71.

    Mike G

    May 25, 2014 at 6:34 pm

    “What are the top five ways to achieve 4 percent economic growth?”

    It’s the kind of stupid, shallow question you hear often from MBA types in the corporate world. “Gimme a list of ways to boost quarterly earnings (and I don’t give a crap if it destroys the company in five years cuz I’ll be rich and retired by then)”

  72. 72.

    Hurling Dervish

    May 25, 2014 at 6:37 pm

    @Schlemizel: I read three Shakespeares!

  73. 73.

    Kyle

    May 25, 2014 at 6:37 pm

    @gratuitous:

    I remember all those gettin’-on-Air-Force-One-lugging-some-tome shot of the The Dim Son

    I remember this transparent crap so well. He reminded me of the spokesmodels on The Price Is Right, waving their arms around whatever piece of junk appliance they were told to promote this week with no idea what it was.

  74. 74.

    Higgs Boson's Mate

    May 25, 2014 at 6:40 pm

    The economy grew 37% during the 1950s. The top marginal tax rate during the 1950s was 91%.

  75. 75.

    Villago Delenda Est

    May 25, 2014 at 6:44 pm

    If Jeb! wants some ideas about economic growth, he should read The Wealth of Nations, the most unread book on the planet. OK, tied with the New Testament for that honor.

  76. 76.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    May 25, 2014 at 6:50 pm

    @Hurling Dervish: I remember in the summer of ’01 when the Shrub blocked stem cell research, and Karen Hughes down at the Standing Photo Op Ranch holding up great big thick books and insisting the President had actually read these big books! He really did!

  77. 77.

    SFAW

    May 25, 2014 at 7:03 pm

    “What are the top five ways to achieve 4 percent economic growth?”

    1) Help all the Galtians relocate to their new, regulation-free Paradise in Somalia
    2) Try McConnell, Boehner, Cantor, Ryan, and a bunch of others on charges of sedition and/or treason. (The rest will fall in line.)
    3) Try Jamie Dimon, Lloyd Blankfein, and a few others of their ilk, on charges of treason. “Explain” to their replacements that banks are there to serve the populace and country, not the other way around.
    4) Develop an honest-to-FSM, no-shit, Industrial Policy, the sole purpose of which is to restore vertical manufacturing in this country. Ensure that a large part of that policy involves making the Giants of Industry pay a HEFTY price for off-shoring production. Have the government fund AT LEAST $500 Billion of the re-tooling, paid for, in part, with 50 percent marginal rate on income (both earned and unearned) over $2 Million. This will be accomplished if Item #2 is executed properly, first.
    5) PROFIT! (or Benghazi!!!!1!2!, I don’t remember which)

    Yes, I realize there are a ton of details to work out.

    No, I’m not kidding.

    ETA: For Dimon, Blankfein, et al., “economic terrorism” might work as well as the other alternative.

  78. 78.

    SFAW

    May 25, 2014 at 7:07 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    You DO realize that the name “Adam Smith,” translated into German, is “Karl Marx,” right?

    Goddamn bocialist!

  79. 79.

    Hurling Dervish

    May 25, 2014 at 7:23 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I remember when I first realized what the stem cell “dilemma” was about – you mean, these are in vitro cells that a couple doesn’t need, so they’re going to throw them away, or else use them for research??? That’s the freaking “controversy”?

    Yet the Bush people were pumping it as an example of his Solomon-like intellect, delving deep into the medical ethics of this hard, hard problem.

    If only he had spent the time reading CIA memos instead.

  80. 80.

    SFAW

    May 25, 2014 at 7:29 pm

    @Hurling Dervish:

    If only he had spent the time reading CIA memos instead.

    They were in his 25-volume pre-Kindle queue.

    Unfortunately, the volumes ahead of those memos in the queue were tougher going than he originally thought. “Dick and Jane” was especially vexing, and he needed to get the Cliff’s Notes version of “See Spot Run.”

  81. 81.

    Hurling Dervish

    May 25, 2014 at 7:35 pm

    @SFAW: It took him till September to get to “My Pet Goat.”

  82. 82.

    SFAW

    May 25, 2014 at 7:37 pm

    @Hurling Dervish:

    Well, that one wasn’t in the queue: he did that as a special, to try to impress the upperclassmen where he was reading it.

  83. 83.

    FlipYrWhig

    May 25, 2014 at 7:55 pm

    @Mike G: Hey, that’s my bit.

  84. 84.

    Warren Terra

    May 25, 2014 at 7:56 pm

    I’m the last person to criticize anyone for accumulating books and then not reading them, but doing so doesn’t educate you in the slightest. You’d think this ninny could figure that out. Unless of course Amazon has figured out how to beam knowledge from the Kindle to your brain, in which case I need either to get one or to run screaming from them, I’m not sure which.

    Also, that question is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. Does he really think there is some safe, sensible, feasible way to get 4% growth, and the think tanks are just sitting on it, wondering why no-one ever asks for such an idea?

  85. 85.

    catclub

    May 25, 2014 at 8:03 pm

    @Zandar: “Whatever the “compassionate conservative” version of slavery is, obvs.”

    Been reading about the labor situation at immigration detention centers, lately? (LGM)

  86. 86.

    SiubhanDuinne

    May 25, 2014 at 8:05 pm

    @Mike G:

    Great, he’s using the ‘Newt Gingrich without the obesity’ schtick

    This is very shallow of me — and I’m a fine one to talk anyhow, given that I am a bit jowly and tummyish myself — but all the pictures I’ve seen recently of Jeb!, he does look a bit … um … floofy.

    Yeah, floofy, that’s it.

  87. 87.

    Roger Moore

    May 25, 2014 at 8:07 pm

    @SFAW:

    Unfortunately, the volumes ahead of those memos in the queue were tougher going than he originally thought. “Dick and Jane” was especially vexing, and he needed to get the Cliff’s Notes version of “See Spot Run.”

    And he got interrupted in the middle of “The Pet Goat”.

  88. 88.

    Betty Cracker

    May 25, 2014 at 8:31 pm

    @Schlemizel: “The old he-coon walks just before the light of day.” — Lawton Chiles

  89. 89.

    Chris

    May 25, 2014 at 9:05 pm

    @Mike G:

    Newt Gingrich is, to date, the man that I think best embodies the phrase “a stupid person’s idea of what a smart person sounds like.”

    I am not surprised that Jeb would try to follow in his footsteps.

  90. 90.

    mai naem

    May 25, 2014 at 9:50 pm

    I give the average American voter very little credit for being smart but,jeebus, seriously, if Americans vote a Bush in 2016, there is something in the water of American voters that has caused some brain damage. And I ain’t talking Karl Rove’s version of brain damage. I guess there’s a minuscule chance that the Dems have a Anthony Weiner/Zell Miller ticket and lose against a Bush/Walker ticket but really a Bush so soon after Dubbya…..

  91. 91.

    jc

    May 25, 2014 at 11:42 pm

    I don’t care how many books are on his Kindle, his whole family are a bunch of treasonous bastards and his environmental record as governor is absolutely appalling.

  92. 92.

    Ken

    May 26, 2014 at 1:08 am

    @Frankensteinbeck: I was going to say “Start with 7% growth and elect a Republican,” but your answer is better.

  93. 93.

    Joey Maloney

    May 26, 2014 at 1:17 am

    @David Koch: I still miss the Horse.

  94. 94.

    Steeplejack

    May 26, 2014 at 1:38 am

    @Sly:

    LOL.

  95. 95.

    Avedon

    May 26, 2014 at 2:27 am

    I’d like to believe that Jeb Bush would actually read, enjoy, and understand a beautiful book like Their Eyes Were Watching God, but I just don’t.

  96. 96.

    rapier

    May 26, 2014 at 3:26 am

    Bush is the perfect choice for president. That is someone who is supremely comfortable with all the institutional elites; corporate, financial, military,intelligence/security and not only that but is already on a first name basis with many of their leaders.

    Obama is simply deferential to all entrenched institutional power but will never be at home with them. Unlike Bush whose father envisioned and played no small part in making Washington the Imperial Capital where all powerful institutional interests came to stake their claims and settle their differences.

  97. 97.

    richard

    May 26, 2014 at 7:52 am

    Reading the NYT can be a double-bind:

  98. 98.

    SFAW

    May 26, 2014 at 8:29 am

    @mai naem:
    I know you’re not kidding, but I can’t believe you’re serious. After all the imbeciles voted into office in the last 15-plus years? After Bush v Gore was even close? With Rethugs controlling the House (never mind the gerrymandering) and (in effect) controlling the Senate? With the wholehearted rejection of science by approximately half of the country? Where more people believe in angels and divine miracles than in Evolution? (OK, I’m not sure about the actual numbers, but I’m on a roll here.) Where Wayne LaPierre is still walking free, and not brought up on terrorism charges? Where any member of the 2012 Rethug Klown Kar Parade had a chance to win the White House?

    In WHAT rational version of the Universe would something like this even be possible?

    So, Jeb! has a very real chance of winning. They started pumping W in 1998, and even though rational persons knew him to be a joke, and knew Al Gore to be a somewhat stronger candidate than Hillary will likely ever be, we still ended up with the Bush Disaster. Plus, I don’t recall – although I might be having a case of selective memory – the media circus savaging Gore the way they’ll go after Hillary … which has already started, and will continue until she drops out or Roger Ailes runs out of spending cash.

    I can’t tell you how much I hope that I’m wrong, but history indicates otherwise. And Mencken’s “law” continues to apply.

  99. 99.

    Elizabelle

    May 26, 2014 at 9:44 am

    Great blogpost title, DougJ. Still laughing at it.

    @SFAW:

    knew Al Gore to be a somewhat stronger candidate than Hillary will likely ever be

    I dunno. Gore actually served in the military, but he can be kind of wooden.

    He is so GODDAMN right about climate change, though, and actually is an ideas person.

  100. 100.

    SFAW

    May 26, 2014 at 10:37 am

    @Elizabelle:

    I dunno. Gore actually served in the military, but he can be kind of wooden.

    And he wore “earth tones,” can you believe it? And would you really want to have a beer with him?

    He is so GODDAMN right about climate change, though, and actually is an ideas person.

    Irrelevant. It’s the beer thing that’s most important. Or that he not be uppity. Or Benghazi!! or something.

  101. 101.

    nic

    May 26, 2014 at 4:33 pm

    Of course we’re only in the sounding out phase, but: ‘you see I’m the Bush that should have been picked’, is not an especially inspirering campaign message.

  102. 102.

    lumpkin

    May 27, 2014 at 1:29 am

    >>>(A sample Bush question: What are the top five ways to achieve 4 percent economic growth?)<<<

    A sample Bush or any other generic GOP answer:
    1. Cut taxes and eliminate regulations
    2. Cut taxes and eliminate regulations
    3. Cut taxes and eliminate regulations
    4. Cut taxes and eliminate regulations
    5. Eliminate regulations and cut taxes

    ….et in infinitum….

  103. 103.

    lumpkin

    May 27, 2014 at 1:29 am

    >>>(A sample Bush question: What are the top five ways to achieve 4 percent economic growth?)<<<

    A sample Bush or any other generic GOP answer:
    1. Cut taxes and eliminate regulations
    2. Cut taxes and eliminate regulations
    3. Cut taxes and eliminate regulations
    4. Cut taxes and eliminate regulations
    5. Eliminate regulations and cut taxes

    ….et in infinitum….

  104. 104.

    someofparts

    May 27, 2014 at 9:44 am

    The idea of anyone named Bush being literate is hard to even imagine.

  105. 105.

    Epicurus

    May 27, 2014 at 11:21 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: This incident needs to be “unburied” and brought up any time Jeb! decides to start measuring curtains in the Oval Office. One would think that his brother’s performance would permanently exclude anyone named “Bush” from running for any kind of office in this country, but our memories are short, as always. Let’s never forget “Dr. Bush” diagnosing Ms. Schiavo from a distance, sitting in his comfy office in Talahassee. I for one will not.

  106. 106.

    nicteis

    May 27, 2014 at 12:21 pm

    @The Dangerman: Picketty notes that half or more of economic growth has always come from population growth – it’s the main reason why he projects historically low growth will continue through the rest of the century.

    So Number One Top Way is for everybody to throw out the prophylactics and go out and ball like bunnies, and number two (if it’s specifically US growth you care about) is to throw open the borders to whomever has a yen to immigrate.

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