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You are here: Home / Past Elections / Election 2016 / Open Thread: JEB! Stumbles into the Competition

Open Thread: JEB! Stumbles into the Competition

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jeb tosses hat luckovich

(Mike Luckovich via GoComics.com)
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Robert Costa, at the Washington Post:

When Jeb Bush first ran for governor of Florida in 1994, his father had recently been booted out of the White House, and the ­40-something son very much wanted to be seen as his own man. So, when it came time to design his bumper stickers, he went with a red background and “Jeb!” in chunky, white letters.

There was no mention of his famous surname or his party, and the jolting exclamation point was the opposite of his family’s Kennebunkport reserve. Bush ended up losing that race but keeping the brand, reusing the logo in his 1998 political comeback and in his 2002 gubernatorial reelection campaign.

Now “Jeb!” is back…

Read my lips, John Ellis BUSH!: You can’t peel away from your criminal background — any more than the “ex-convicts” you gleefully disenfranchised to help steal the 2000 election for your idiot brother — because without your family connections, licit and otherwise, today you’d be a mid-level executive at a Miami used car dealership. At best.

From the AP, “Bush still with much to prove in leaderless GOP 2016 race“:

… Back in December, the former Florida governor said he was exploring a 2016 run, an announcement that by itself had the power to kick off the campaign.

In the six months since, Bush probably has shattered a fundraising record as well as pioneering a new approach to White House campaigning. He has just completed a well-reviewed trip through Europe.

Supporters had hoped that this son of one president and brother of another would by now hold a commanding position in an unwieldy Republican field. Yet he has not broken away from the pack.

“I know that I’m going to have to go earn this,” Bush said this past week. “It’s a lot of work and I’m excited about the prospects of this. It’s a long haul. You start wherever you start, and you end a long way away from where we are today, so I just urge everybody to be a little more patient about this.”…

He has failed to scare any potential rival from the race, except perhaps 2012 nominee Mitt Romney. He is unpopular among some of his party’s most passionate voters and little known beyond his home state despite the Bush name…

Politico, sniffing the professional handlers’ jocks discussing process:

… Word of tensions on team Bush started to surface. Their plan to intimidate other candidates with what had once been called a “shock and awe” campaign shocked and awed no one. While it might have helped keep Romney out of the race, those familiar with his thinking say Romney had only given it a passing thought in early January at the urging of a few donors.

Last week, the campaign came into clear focus when it announced its official structure. And, amid all the chatter of tensions in Bush World, it had the appearance of a shake-up. There were disagreements about money, messaging and direction. Exactly who said what is unclear. Kochel, who had clashed at times with Bradshaw, wouldn’t be campaign manager, but instead would be the chief strategist, focusing intently in the short term on early states. Danny Diaz, a tough operative, will be campaign manager, handling the day-to-day operations of the campaign….

jeb knee high suipport ohman

(Jack Ohman via GoComics.com)
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As the NYTimes saw it, “Jeb Bush Works to Recover From a Shaky Start“:

… Mr. Bush’s new campaign manager, Danny Diaz, is widely known in Republican circles as a hard-edge operative who is driven by trying to dominate daily news coverage with his candidate’s message or his rivals’ weaknesses. (The previous manager, David Kochel, is known as more cerebral.)

Mr. Diaz, who seared John Kerry in 2004 and Mitt Romney in 2007 with charges of flip-flopping on issues, and other Bush aides are determined to develop new lines of attack against Senator Marco Rubio of Florida and Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, the two Republicans who represent the greatest threats to Mr. Bush’s nomination, according to his advisers and allies…

… By hiring Mr. Diaz, Mr. Bush wanted to send a clear signal that “the culture of the Bush operation will now be a Pickett’s Charge engagement campaign with his main opponents,” according to one Bush ally.…

Professor Krugman recalls another example of a certain… lack of intellectual curiosity: “Don’t Know Much About History, Jeb Bush Edition“:

… How was he to know that “unleashing Chiang” was about landing Kuomintang troops on the mainland, where they would have been slaughtered? (Maybe that Pickett comparison isn’t so off after all.)

Reader Interactions

108Comments

  1. 1.

    Amir Khalid

    It appears the reference to Pickett’s Charge has been edited from The New York Times story. It wasn’t there when I looked.

  2. 2.

    David Koch

    Mr. Bush wanted to send a clear signal that “the culture of the Bush operation will now be a Pickett’s Charge

    What a dope. Pickett lost. Only ¡Jeb! would model and market himself after a loser. What’s next, modeling himself on the Edsel?

  3. 3.

    Amir Khalid

    @David Koch:
    Edsel Ford, the man, was a senior executive in his family business for many years. Then again, people do indeed remember the car rather than him.

  4. 4.

    SRW1

    So the difference between W and JEB is gonna be that Jebbie is gonna go nasty way before SC?

  5. 5.

    David Koch

    By hiring Mr. Diaz, Mr. Bush wanted to send a clear signal that “the culture of the Bush operation will now be Custer’s attack on Little Bighorn,” according to one Bush ally.…

  7. 7.

    Valdivia

    @Amir Khalid: The quote was picked up by everyone on twitter so it’s not like by erasing it from the NYT it will somehow disappear from everyone’s memory. Still, I sure hope someone screencapped that.

    ETA: I know, not a futbol thread but boy, can’t believe how badly Colombia played yesterday. Argentina didn’t play much better either. Neymar was the one who delivered for a Brazil win. Copa America, destroying dreams!

  9. 9.

    NotMax

    Open Thread?

    This is perhaps the most blunt shop name ever.

    It’s a real thing, not a joke, not a Photoshop. Passed by it yesterday, as a matter of fact, while shuttling a friend who lives way out in the boonies into town to buy a new car battery.

  12. 12.

    Valdivia

    @SRW1: Yes I have been trying to catch those games too but with the summer class schedule it’s been hard. Surprising and yet not that the people I follow on Twitter who inform me about all things futbol on a daily basis are barely writing about this WC.

  19. 19.

    Aleta

    I’m getting more and more pissed off at the howdy JB stories coming from the news outlets formerly known as mainstream. Unbelievable that with so much at stake, their prime time ‘reports’ are 90% straight-out plagiarized from his campaign press releases. Not even a whisper in most stories about the corrupt deals that have been fixed and hidden, or the lives he has ruined. Saving the the nuance for later? Can’t figure out how to use the word controversy in a sentence? Somebody paying you off with layers of influence?

  20. 20.

    Amir Khalid

    @Aleta:
    I guess Jeb starts off as the Establishment favourite, so the Establishment (along with its media mouthpieces) wants to give him every chance. But aside from carrying the family baggage, he seems to be lacking in campaigning and tactical chops. It’s going to be a bumpy ride to the nomination for ¡Jeb!, if he even gets there.

  21. 21.

    Keith G

    @Aleta: No need to get pissed. There seems to be a pattern to these things. Now that his campaign is “officially” underway the intro stories will fade away and some reporters will start digging into the more substantial issues.

    Diaz is a long time Bush operative known for his aggressive style. As he attacks other GOP candidates, those candidates will return fire with attacks of their own. The eleventh commandment is now long dead, and the press will be there to cover the fun.

  22. 22.

    White Trash Liberal

    “For every Southern boy fourteen years old, not once but whenever he wants it, there is the instant when it’s still not yet two oclock on that July afternoon in 1863, the brigades are in position behind the rail fence, the guns are laid and ready in the woods and the furled flags are already loosened to break out and Pickett himself with his long oiled ringlets and his hat in one hand probably and his sword in the other looking up the hill waiting for Longstreet to give the word and it’s all in the balance, it hasn’t happened yet, it hasn’t even begun yet, it not only hasn’t begun yet but there is stll time for it not to begin against that position and those circumstances which made more men than Garnett and Kemper and Armstead and Wilcox look grave yet it’s going to begin, we all know that, we have come too far with too much at stake and that moment doesn’t need even a fourteen-year-old boy to think This time. Maybe this time with all this much to lose and all this much to gain: Pennsylvania, Maryland, the world, the golden dome of Washington itself to crown with desperate and unbelievable victory the desperate gamble, the cast made two years ago….”

    William Faulkner, Intruder in the Dust

    At least JEB! didn’t call it a blitzkrieg

  23. 23.

    Keith G

    @David Koch:

    Only ¡Jeb! would model and market himself after a loser. What’s next, modeling himself on the Edsel?

    Having read the article, I seem to recall that the quote was made by an unnamed campaign insider. For what it’s worth, this was not the stylings of Jeb Bush.

    Nonetheless, one can see more than a bit of truth in the imagery.

  26. 26.

    Elizabelle

    The Washington Post’s top headline this morning.

    After initial loss, ‘wandering’ years led to a new Bush

    Not gonna click or link.

    Oh, did Hillary do anything this weekend?

  29. 29.

    Elizabelle

    Another WaPost web headline: [sic]

    The tragid reason four Chinese siblings drank poison and died

  31. 31.

    ThresherK

    “Don’t know much about history”, says Professor K?

    The BritRocker in me has already dubbed Jeb! the Mayor of Simpleton. And there’s a lot of competition for that office.

  32. 32.

    Valdivia

    @Elizabelle: I know that the glowing stories of myth making are supposed to come along when a campaign is initially launched but I think Jeb! is going to be getting this kind of whitewash coverage all along. It really is nauseating. Ugh.

    The opposite seems to be true of Hilary who gets outright skepticism if not contempt from the political press. Another ugh.

    A lot of people speculating yesterday that SCOTUS will issue its decision on King today. I think it’s still too early for it but since I will be in class and miss the excitement I will come and take refuge here afterwards to figure out what happened.

  33. 33.

    Aleta

    @David Koch:
    Somehow it’s not the right climate for whistling racism in certain folks’ ears. So align candidate JB with the idea of ferocity, of fighting to the death to preserve our ‘way of life.’ He’s no soft handed, spoon fed spanish speaker! Frank Underwood managed to show respect for the Men of the Confederacy while denouncing slavery, and look, he got to be President. (Or maybe that’s not the best image for JB either.)

  36. 36.

    Mustang Bobby

    On a happier note, I was the best man at my first same-sex wedding yesterday. (That’s me on the right in the photo.) Two of my closest friends were married after being together for nearly 23 years. Ken (on the left) was a professor of mine at the University of Miami from 1971 to 1974, and his now-husband Bob and I worked together in the same office for four years. It was a quiet and casual moment, but I think we all felt a cog shift in the universe.

  42. 42.

    Baud

    @Elizabelle:

    For you, stolen from David Koch in the last thread, discussing Hillary’s speech.

    “I am going to do all I can to pierce the collective amnesia that the Republicans are trying to impose on people. We’re not supposed to remember that the 12 years preceding Bill Clinton quadrupled the debt of our country? We’re not supposed to remember that when he left office we had a balanced budget with a surplus? And if it had been continued would’ve paid off the national debt?

    We’re not supposed to remember that Barack Obama inherited the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression and had to pull us out of the ditch? And did a better job than he gets credit for? And we’re not supposed to remember that finally after five presidents trying all the way back to Truman, we got an Affordable Care Act?”

  44. 44.

    Valdivia

    @Elizabelle: :) I love those tea leaves and cautiously agree.
    @Baud: Yes me neither, I have no idea why there was this rush of stories as if it would come out today.

    ok, gotta run. Have a good day BJ.

  45. 45.

    Elizabelle

    @OzarkHillbilly: Saw the same story, and thought (darkly) about teens bearing arms, into the ocean …

    Attacks at 4:12 and 5:30 p., not far from the pier. Sharky feeding time.

    Wonder if it was a bull shark or something else.

    Oak Island, NC is about 30 miles south of Wilmington, and north of Myrtle Beach, SC. Kind of same stretch of the Atlantic shore …

  47. 47.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Valdivia:

    I think Jeb! is going to be getting this kind of whitewash coverage all along.

    Really? The brother of W? The man who authored the worst foreign policy debacle since 1812? The man who blew up the deficit with tax cuts and profligate spending? The man who allowed the worst terrorist attack on American soil in the history of the country? The man who presided over the worst economic collapse since Hoover?

    The brother who can’t find fault with anything W did?

    Jeb is low hanging fruit. They don’t want to knock him out of the tree, they want to report about how his rivals are knocking him out of the tree.

  48. 48.

    dmsilev

    Maybe Bush’s unnamed adviser meant Pickett’s Charge from the Union’s point of view, i.e. “We’ll provoke our opponents into blinding running right at our well-entrenched lines, and cut them to pieces.”

    Doubt it.

  51. 51.

    Aleta

    @Keith G: Sure, The friendly stories in the beginning are a way to balance the later exposes. But the initial impact piece should not be a mere ad, and many of the coming attack stories will not be front page; more like historical weekend pieces. The coming out stories for other candidates still contain a sentence with an uncomfortable word or two made out to be a ‘question for voters’ or a ‘remains to be seen.’

    I think he IS a lost cause. I just despise pretend reporting that instead strings together all the talking points and slogans and calls it the evening news. Again, not even trying to be real reporters. To me, they are trading their work for later rewards points. Fine, but not on the evening news or the front page.

    But I agree: it’s stupid to complain about the way it’s done now.

  52. 52.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Elizabelle: All digits are crossed hoping that you’re right. A win for the Rightwing on King would be horrific for beneficiaries of the ACA in red states.

  54. 54.

    Elizabelle

    @Aleta: I don’t think it’s stupid to complain about it.

    However, the whole Republican field is such a clusterf*ck that I do not read any stories, none, about them or their strategies. Not interested.

    The media is training me not to read them, and this is beginning to include the NYTimes.

  57. 57.

    danielx

    @David Koch:

    Pickett’s Charge? Custer at Little Big Horn? Why not Pearl Harbor, with Jeb! as Isaac Kidd standing on the bridge of the Arizona? Anyone who comes up with metaphors like these for Bush III’s campaign ought to be dropped down a well.

    On second thought, more of them should be hired.

    I knew the various Republican candidates’ campaigns would provide a first rate clown/shit show, but I didn’t think it would start this early.

  58. 58.

    raven

    Joe is now explaining that the left shuts down conversation with these people:

    End of Discussion: How the Left’s Outrage Industry Shuts Down Debate, Manipulates Voters, and Makes America Less Free (and Fun) Hardcover with Guy Benson and Mary Katharine Ham 2015

    “Mary Katharine Ham (born April 5, 1980) is an American journalist. She is Editor-at-Large of Hot Air, a contributing editor to Townhall Magazine, and a Fox News Channel contributor.[1] At CPAC 2014, she was presented with the ACU Blogger of the Year award.[2]”

  60. 60.

    Schlemazel

    We lived in Florida in 94 and I never saw a bigger cluster fluster of a campaign then little JEBbies. He chose as his Lt. candidate a clown on record with and Jewish and anti Hispanic remarks (IN FLORIDA!). He offered no solutions to the multiple problems the state faced and often appeared lost when speaking. The Dem was Lawton Chiles, and old fox of a country lawyer who played the part perfectly. During the debates he turned JEBbie inside out and left him with the dear in the headlights look several times.

    I was assured by a GOP offical neighbor that JEBbie was the stupid brother & the rest of the family was much smarter, thats why he was in politics instead of business and in Florida instead of a tougher state to win.

  62. 62.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @raven: Wow. I could write that book. It would be one page long that would have only a single word on it:

    “Facts.”

    In fact I’ll sell it at a discount. Everybody who reads my new book posted here owes me $1.25.

  65. 65.

    Elizabelle

    @MomSense: Me neither.

    I have not gotten riled up (or even read) JCole’s worry-angst threads on King v Burwell, because it’s such a lunatic case.

    This is the worst Supreme Court of my lifetime. I think it scares a lot of Americans, with being so politicized, and I think having a Democrat making SCOTUS picks is going to be a huge factor for voters, and will motivate our side.

    Much as the MSM wants to serve us up those darling Republicans, with their prestigious (or not) families and all their cute little antics…

    ETA: And why everything is always “bad for Democrats! Be afraid. Be afraid.” They’ve been to the well too often on that. Don’t even click.

  68. 68.

    Iowa Old Lady

    JEB! strikes me as not very bright, and reminding voters of Terry Schiavo should be all it would take to make him unelectable. But from what I’ve seen and heard, he can make himself look like a plausible adult on TV. I’m hoping it takes more than that to become president, but occasionally, I lose faith.

  69. 69.

    Germy Shoemangler

    @Keith G:

    The eleventh commandment is now long dead, and the press will be there to cover the fun.

    I hope so. I love when they fight.

    We’re still quoting daddy Bush’s “voodoo economics” all these years later. Yesterday, Lindsay mentioned Rand Paul by name. Nasty.

    And this was immediately after Dickerson couldn’t goad Bernie Sanders into calling other candidates “corrupt”.

  71. 71.

    Germy Shoemangler

    @Aleta:

    Sure, The friendly stories in the beginning are a way to balance the later exposes.

    But the NYTimes has been negative from Day One with HRC.

  73. 73.

    Elizabelle

    Wilmington, NC paper re the two shark attacks on teens Sunday at Oak Island, NC.

    And there was an earlier attack on Thursday at Ocean Isle, NC, which is maybe 20 miles south on the coast.

    Suspecting bull shark(s).

    [Shark expert George] Burgess said the attacks were probably by one or more bull sharks, which are the more likely of the two to come near the shoreline and into the surf zone. Bull sharks can go into lagoons, rivers and estuaries, he said.

    Even the shark attack in Ocean Isle was likely caused by one of these more aggressive sharks, he said. Although the girl escaped with just a few lacerations to her foot, her boogie board had two large chunks taken out of it, indicating that the shark was more persistent and continued to attack. Burgess called that victim lucky.

    Burgess said he would be “overstepping” to suggest that he or anyone else could say how long a shark or sharks would stay in one area. Sharks are highly migratory, move at will and can travel considerable distances even within one day, he said.

    If there’s plenty of food to be found along the beach, it would be worthwhile for sharks to stick around and they could stay for a few days. If there’s not sufficient quantities of food, which biting a human could suggest, they might move along more quickly, he said.

  74. 74.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Elizabelle:

    I think it scares a lot of Americans, with being so politicized,

    Republicans felt the same about the Warren court.

  75. 75.

    danielx

    Also too, wondering if the local Pride Parade this weekend had a character – zombie Mike Pence! – stumbling through the crowd moaning ‘bake me a cake….’.

  76. 76.

    Baud

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Yep. What’s gone out the window is the conservative criticism of judicial activism. No liberal should ever treat that as a credible view again.

  80. 80.

    Kay

    @debbie:

    I wonder if the Kasich promotion is an indication that Republicans think Walker is too extreme, too one-note, too narrow to win a general.

    That’s what I think, I think he’s just “thin” as a general election candidate- once you take away the union-bashing there isn’t much there.

    I think the really interesting story is not that GOP primary voters don’t like Bush, but instead that GOP business/internationalist/warmonger faction are not completely comfortable with Walker. Because they don’t really want “less government”- they benefit hugely from government- they want big government to work completely in their interests. Kasich has a record there, in both DC and a state.

  81. 81.

    MomSense

    @Baud:

    Thanks. Whenever this comes up I always think of a dart board with Scalia’s face in his pseudo papal hat.

  82. 82.

    Baud

    @Kay:

    Kasich is polling in Jindal territory right now. Nothing money can’t cure, but only if the the money unites around Kasich, no?

  83. 83.

    Elizabelle

    @Kay: @Baud:

    I’m concerned about Kasich, because he might be electable, especially once our corporate-owned media starts the fellating and amnesia business.

    He has been for cutting government spending and corporate welfare subsidies forever, and that is Tea Party catnip. (Not that the second item would be a bad thing.)

  84. 84.

    Elizabelle

    Tee hee. NYTimes just sent me an email alert about Jeb Bush on the Issues.

    With a nuts.com advertisement below.

    ETA: I made a PDF.

  85. 85.

    debbie

    @Kay:

    I think they’re also concerned about alienating the blue collar contingent — the Joe the Plumbers kind of guys — if Walker’s the candidate. It’s one thing to bust unions in a state way up north, but if Walker’s up front and touting his tough guy record, they may begin to feel threatened. After all, with most Americans, it’s not important until if affects you.

    Maybe I’m being too optimistic, but I also think this will be an issue for Kasich.

  86. 86.

    Cervantes

    @MomSense:

    I always think of a dart board with Scalia’s face in his pseudo papal hat.

    Funny you should say that. What you’ve seen him wear is a Tudor bonnet!

  91. 91.

    Kathleen

    @Kay: I thought Kasich was positioning himself for the future when he suspended his red meat rhetoric during the primary. He’s the only Republican I’m aware of who talks about the poor without demeaning them. Also, I believe he’s the only Republican governor who expanded Medicaid over the objections of the Tea Party legislators.

    I heard a former reporter now PR person for group supporting Issue 1 (changing how voting districts are defined) say that in private, some Republicans and business execs in Ohio are saying they’re tired of the Tea Party extremism. I figured Kasich was reading some of those tea leaves when he became a “kinder, gentler Kasich”.

  93. 93.

    debbie

    @Kathleen:

    He’s the only Republican I’m aware of who talks about the poor without demeaning them.

    Like they say, actions speak louder than words. He’s cut all kinds of assistance programs, he’s decimated the public school system, etc., etc.

    Kasich’s more a throwback to George W. Bush’s “compassionate conservatism,” which didn’t end well for the poors — even worse than Reagan’s “new morning in America” hucksterism.

  94. 94.

    rikyrah

    @Kay:

    I think the really interesting story is not that GOP primary voters don’t like Bush, but instead that GOP business/internationalist/warmonger faction are not completely comfortable with Walker. Because they don’t really want “less government”- they benefit hugely from government- they want big government to work completely in their interests. Kasich has a record there, in both DC and a state.

    Walker is a loser and a clown. Doesn’t scare me in the least.

    Amazes me that this college dropout is taken seriously.

    White Privilege indeed.

  96. 96.

    piratedan

    @Kathleen: also too, our Lady of the Five O’Clock cocktail, Jan Brewer. But no worries, Doug Ducey, the Koch implant is investigating whether or not to rescind that.

  97. 97.

    Iowa Old Lady

    @debbie: Actions should speak louder than words, but an unfortunate number of voters don’t hear about the actions.

  98. 98.

    Elizabelle

    @MomSense: Sing it!

    @Iowa Old Lady: Yup. The fellating with amnesia will kick in, and busy folks will just learn what they glean from headlines and in passing. Seems like a nice fellow …

  99. 99.

    Germy Shoemangler

    I see Charles Pierce linked to Balloon-Juice in his article about the HRC speech.

  100. 100.

    The Pale Scot

    @Mustang Bobby: Sorry, I’m not seeing how a serif font (knock off of Galliard?) with modified character leading is anything like a stylized san-serif.

    The first one was made by Jeb’s receptionist.

    MS Publisher, the bane of visual media.

  103. 103.

    Full metal Wingnut

    There’s a perception among a lot of people I know that Jeb is the “smart one.” This was not always the case, but it is now.

    I think it’s for a number of reasons: W. all but wrecked this country, and not in a competent supervillain kind of way either. So people can’t fathom W. being the smart one (a terrifying thought, really).

    Also, Jeb is boring as shit. No folksy accent, no aw shucks malapropisms and other egregious speaking errors, just plain stumbling over himself and talking in circles. W. was smart enough to know he’s not that smart and took some heat off of it with his aw shucks regular guy better man than Clinton routine. But when you present as the smart one, and don’t have any cute tricks, they don’t go easy on you.

  104. 104.

    Germy Shoemangler

    so much public transportation is crap in parts of this country, people become slaves to their cars. They have no other choice:

    ULSTER, N.Y. (AP) – An 84-year-old upstate New York man is hospitalized after police say he was hit by a vehicle driven by a 100-year-old Hudson Valley woman.
    Police in the town of Ulster say Bernard Smith was crossing Route 9W around 4 p.m. Friday when he was struck by car driven by Kathryn Schneider of Saugerties.
    Police say Smith is recovering from head injuries at MidHudson Regional Hospital in Poughkeepsie.
    Schneider wasn’t charged.

  105. 105.

    Juju

    @rikyrah: Not just white privilege, but white male privilege. Only white males without some sort of degree would be considered a viable candidate without a degree. If President Obama or former Secretary of State Clinton didn’t have multiple degrees, beltway media would be wetting their dainties over that issue.

  106. 106.

    Tree With Water

    “Federal prosecutors filed a motion Friday asking a judge to place “sensitive information” in the case against former House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) under seal, including the identity of the individual with whom Hastert allegedly struck an agreement to pay out $3.5 million in hush money for reported sexual abuse”.

    Is that par for the legal course? Is is typical for prosecutors to shield the name of an alleged blackmailer? Or is it more an arbitrary decision that varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction? It seems to me that any and all expectations of privacy should vanish in that scenario, most especially if a former Speaker of the House is accused of making extortion payments.

  107. 107.

    JustRuss

    @Iowa Old Lady: Indeed, and if W could get elected, well, the bar is pretty low. But JEB! doesn’t have W’s folksy charm, and say what you will about him, he was an above-average shmoozer. JEB doesn’t even have that going for him. Even if he manages to buy the nomination, he doesn’t stand a chance of becoming POTUS.

  108. 108.

    Tree With Water

    @JustRuss: “..he doesn’t stand a chance of becoming POTUS”. That’s got a famous last words ring to it. On election night 1980 I made a $50 bet that Reagan would be trounced in ’84, once the people realized how egregiously they had fucked up. I’m from California. I’ll always believe that John Hinckley was the best thing that ever happened to that bad actor. He became an overnight legend, suddenly perceived by the dull witted as some kind of Matt Dillon, shaking off (yet another) bullet wound to keep a watchful eye over the citizens of Dodge… and then during his acceptance speech Walter Mondale pledged to raise everyone’s taxes, and that was that- I was out $50.

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