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You are here: Home / Elections / Election 2016 / Open Thread: Big Hairy Audacious FAIL

Open Thread: Big Hairy Audacious FAIL

by Anne Laurie|  December 23, 20155:30 pm| 45 Comments

This post is in: Election 2016, JEB! = John Ellis Not-Bush 2016, Open Threads, Republican Stupidity, Assholes, Schadenfreude

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Ed Kilgore, at NYMag, this morning: “Straw Poll of Wall Street Political Mavens Could Be Jeb Bush’s Last Victory”…

In what is likely one of the final national presidential polls of 2015, from CNN/ORC, Jeb Bush comes in at 3 percent, a fairly typical result for him in recent weeks. A year ago, a survey from the same pollster put Jeb at 23 percent…

So in that context, it’s interesting to see Bush actually win a who’s-going-to-win straw poll among readers of Politico‘s Morning Money “tip sheet” (Political intelligence on the intersection of Washington and Wall Street). These presumably shrewd observers either know something the rest of us don’t and can’t perceive, or they are projecting their threatened faith in Establishment Republicanism onto the GOP electorate despite all the available evidence…

Russ Choma, at Mother Jones, adds insult to injury:

… Last winter, months before Jeb Bush announced he was running for president, a Miami intellectual property attorney filed a trademark request for the word “Jeb!” on behalf of a mysterious Delaware corporation called BHAG LLC. As we discovered this summer, BHAG was an acronym for Big Hairy Audacious Goal. This phrase came from one of Bush’s favorite business management books, and when he was governor he used this term to motivate his underlings. It wasn’t until Bush, as a declared candidate, filed his financial disclosure form in July that the world learned he directly owned BHAG.

One of BHAG’s few activities was to trademark “Jeb!” As is par for the course, the US Patent and Trademark Office accepted the submission and requested additional information before it would grant the trademark. But according to that office, on November 9 Bush’s application was officially abandoned. Technically, Bush has until January 9 to restart the process, but for now the name is not trademarked and open for anyone else to try to grab….

Bush’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment…

As Peggy Noonan might say, let us savor.
***********
Apart from well-earned schadenfreude, what’s on the agenda for the evening?

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Reader Interactions

45Comments

  1. 1.

    Mnemosyne

    December 23, 2015 at 5:36 pm

    Evening? It’s only 2:30 pm on the West Coast. I’m not even at late afternoon yet.

  2. 2.

    Anoniminous

    December 23, 2015 at 5:41 pm

    JEB!©

    There. I glommed it, it’s mine.

  3. 3.

    John Cole

    December 23, 2015 at 5:43 pm

    OMG ANNE LAURIE! REDSHIRT IS GONNA HAVE HARSH THINGS TO SAY TO YOU!

  4. 4.

    Baud

    December 23, 2015 at 5:44 pm

    I need to trademark Baud!

    Now that the ban on disparaging trademarks has been ruled unconstitutional, it should be a piece of cake.

  5. 5.

    misterpuff

    December 23, 2015 at 5:49 pm

    JEB! is a BHAG!

  6. 6.

    trollhattan

    December 23, 2015 at 5:49 pm

    @John Cole:
    Heh.

    “Big-Footin'” sounds like a song and I’ve got a melody in mind.

  7. 7.

    Baud

    December 23, 2015 at 5:50 pm

    @efgoldman:

    Baud‽ 2016‽

  8. 8.

    Punchy

    December 23, 2015 at 5:50 pm

    Isn’t Jeb his nicky? Would he really be known as “President J. Bush”, or would they use his real name’s init, so uncommon that I havent a clue what it is?

  9. 9.

    trollhattan

    December 23, 2015 at 5:51 pm

    @misterpuff:
    Haven’t we recently been told “It’s “BHAGGERTIME”?

  10. 10.

    Dork

    December 23, 2015 at 5:52 pm

    @misterpuff: More like a DOUCHEBHAG.

  11. 11.

    Anoniminous

    December 23, 2015 at 5:52 pm

    @misterpuff:

    I hereby service notice you used my copyrighted JEB!© without my permission or payment!

  12. 12.

    Anoniminous

    December 23, 2015 at 5:54 pm

    @Baud:

    Baud©

    There. It’s mine.

    :-p

  13. 13.

    Baud

    December 23, 2015 at 5:55 pm

    @Anoniminous: Squatter.

  14. 14.

    BruceFromOhio

    December 23, 2015 at 5:58 pm

    …Jeb Bush comes in at 3 percent, a fairly typical result for him in recent weeks.

    Brinks trucks. Full of cash. Backing up.

    Now commencing avoiding the comment threads because people won’t STFU about the Gaia-damned Star Wars movie we are planning to see over the Christmas break. Happy Solstice, everyone!

    ETA: Gotta watch your goal-setting, sometimes it doesn’t work out the way it was envisioned.

  15. 15.

    Anoniminous

    December 23, 2015 at 5:59 pm

    @Baud:

    Yup. Saves a lot of time, money, and effort.

  16. 16.

    MattF

    December 23, 2015 at 6:00 pm

    Political intelligence on the intersection of Washington and Wall Street. Ha. So, a place where Money talks, and what else is new? I’d assume that the argument these wise ones are making is that Jeb! has more money, and therefore will win. QED.

  17. 17.

    Villago Delenda Est

    December 23, 2015 at 6:02 pm

    Given that Heb has said that the problem With Confederate Flag Is ‘What It Began To Represent Later’ as if slavery and treason were not bad things, I’m brimming with Schadenfreude

  18. 18.

    jl

    December 23, 2015 at 6:02 pm

    @Baud:

    ” I need to trademark Baud! ”

    I simply do not know why we stick with the Baud campaign (worse campaigner than Bush!?).
    Jeb? might have Big Hairy Audacious Goat sewn up, but looks like from Wiki that GOATSE is still available.
    Why are you posting comments on some obscure no-name blog rather than grabbing that up?

  19. 19.

    Enhanced Voting Techinques

    December 23, 2015 at 6:05 pm

    Trade mark up for grabs? hmm, “Jeb!” brand buns, for that Trump sausage.

  20. 20.

    Baud

    December 23, 2015 at 6:08 pm

    @jl:

    (worse campaigner than Bush!?

    Not at all. Unlike Bush, I haven’t spent a dime to achieve my low poll numbers.

    Why are you posting comments on some obscure no-name blog rather than grabbing that up?

    Juicers are my base.

  21. 21.

    trollhattan

    December 23, 2015 at 6:11 pm

    @Enhanced Voting Techinques:
    Not sausage–schlong.

  22. 22.

    jl

    December 23, 2015 at 6:12 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est: I watched the clip, which I found interesting.

    First, all Jeb! audiences look like a bunch really retro time capsule Hallmark greeting card old people who dragged their kids and grandkids along.

    Second, what I found problematic with what Jeb? said mainly in that he could not, with this audience at least, describe directly what was the problem with ‘what came later’. What was the offensive association that came later, Jeb?? With Dukes of Hazard? (Which in and of itself is pretty bad).

    Third, though I couldn’t make out his last comments, the questioner seemed to disagree with the existence of any problems with ‘what came later’ and Jeb decided it was best to mention ‘civil rights workers’ and let those with ears to hear understand what he meant.

    Fourth, Jeb? concluded that the discussion was leading into ‘dicey issues’. Fer Baud’s Sake!

    The thing could have been a SNL satire skit, though with above average writing.

  23. 23.

    Brachiator

    December 23, 2015 at 6:16 pm

    @Baud:

    I need to trademark Baud!

    I got Baud News!

    and Baud Enough!

  24. 24.

    jl

    December 23, 2015 at 6:17 pm

    @Baud: As a Baud megadonor, I demand you get that GOATSE site and rev it up with some good material, or I am ordering you home.

    Do you want a hot-rolls-and-ham lunchbox of the month club or a Harry and David subscription for a thank you?

  25. 25.

    gogol's wife

    December 23, 2015 at 6:20 pm

    TCM is offering up a 1957 Bing-and-Frank holiday special, can’t miss that. But does anyone know anything about the film that’s on at 8:45 Eastern, The Miracle of the Bells, with the bizarre cast of Sinatra, MacMurray, and Alida Valli? There seems to be a big difference of opinion about it on the intertubes.

  26. 26.

    Baud

    December 23, 2015 at 6:21 pm

    Get
    Off
    And
    Tell
    Somebody
    Else

    To Vote Baud! in 2016!

  27. 27.

    jl

    December 23, 2015 at 6:22 pm

    @Baud: Shouldn’t that be ‘Get’? You want to appeal to the youths.

  28. 28.

    Baud

    December 23, 2015 at 6:23 pm

    @jl: Thank you, megadonor. Fixed.

  29. 29.

    Roger Moore

    December 23, 2015 at 6:27 pm

    @BruceFromOhio:

    Brinks trucks. Full of cash. Backing up over ¿Jeb?’s mangled corpse.

    FTFY.

  30. 30.

    Jay S

    December 23, 2015 at 6:27 pm

    @Anoniminous: You are confusing trademark with copyright.

  31. 31.

    Amir Khalid

    December 23, 2015 at 6:27 pm

    @Punchy:
    As I recall, President William Jefferson Clinton was always officially referred to as Bill Clinton. His wife Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton went by Hillary Rodham Clinton for most of her own political career, but I hear that for this presidential campaign she’s just Hillary Clinton.

  32. 32.

    ThresherK (GPad)

    December 23, 2015 at 6:29 pm

    @gogol’s wife: What’s the over/under on how many time Der Bingle and Old Blue Eyes mention High Society in the TV special from the same year as the movie?

  33. 33.

    Jake Nelson

    December 23, 2015 at 6:36 pm

    FYI, in site affairs: page 2, 3, etc, instead of having previous posts are identical to page 1.

  34. 34.

    Brachiator

    December 23, 2015 at 6:43 pm

    Odd. Having problems getting to an earlier page (the one with the Star Wars Hidden Comments). Selecting page 1, 2, 3, keeps showing the same selections. Desktop version and Firefox

  35. 35.

    gogol's wife

    December 23, 2015 at 6:43 pm

    @ThresherK (GPad):

    You’re right. We’re probably in for some “True Love” too.

    I’m loving this thing I just found, Stephen Colbert and Lin-Manuel Miranda doing “Button”:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhFeQSBZUSk

  36. 36.

    gogol's wife

    December 23, 2015 at 6:44 pm

    @ThresherK (GPad):

    My answer to you got moderated. You’re right, we’re probably in for some “True Love” too.

  37. 37.

    FlipYrWhig

    December 23, 2015 at 7:04 pm

    @efgoldman: This always reminds me of Arrested Development’s “G.O.B.”

  38. 38.

    Elizabelle

    December 23, 2015 at 7:07 pm

    BHAG taken down by Big Hair, personified.

    Goal.

  39. 39.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    December 23, 2015 at 7:21 pm

    @Mnemosyne: You should know by now that this blog has an east coast bias along with most of the media.

  40. 40.

    feebog

    December 23, 2015 at 7:49 pm

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    I know, it’s like we are blog orphans or sumtin.

  41. 41.

    Mnemosyne

    December 23, 2015 at 7:49 pm

    @BruceFromOhio:

    It was Col. Mustard in the drawing room with the candlestick.

    There, now I’ve ruined “Star Wars” for you.

  42. 42.

    Mnemosyne

    December 23, 2015 at 8:02 pm

    UPS says that all holiday packages have been delivered. Now to find out if they were delivered to the right houses …

  43. 43.

    Anne Laurie

    December 23, 2015 at 8:39 pm

    @John Cole: Meh. I pushed this post back so as not to step on BettyC, since I had to go do stuff IRL. You could’ve checked the dashboard for “scheduled” posts and seen it, if you gave a rat’s arse!

  44. 44.

    Matt McIrvin

    December 23, 2015 at 8:50 pm

    Is Forbes magazine still betting on Kasich-mentum?

  45. 45.

    rikyrah

    December 23, 2015 at 10:55 pm

    every Jeb story these days just tickles me.

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