Jeb Bush
September 24, 2015 — Paul Mirengoff
Fox News offers a new poll of the Republican presidential field (scroll past the Pope Francis stuff to get to the GOP race). The poll shows Donald Trump still in front with 26 percent support. He’s followed by Ben Carson at 18 percent. Then come Carly Fiorina and Marco Rubio at 9 percent; Ted Cruz at 8; and Jeb Bush at 7. This poll is more favorable to Dr. Carson
»
September 24, 2015 — Steven Hayward
Yesterday Jeb Bush took to the pages of the Wall Street Journal to outline what he would do to attack overregulation if he becomes president. He rightly calls it “the regulation tax,” and cites good scholarship on the enormous toll regulation is taking on economic growth. Indeed I think regulatory reform is more important than tax reform, though they are not mutually exclusive—so why not both? Samples: It’s time we
»
September 9, 2015 — Steven Hayward
One of the most lacerating comments about Mitt Romney in 2012 was that he spoke “conservatism like a second language.” (Still not certain whether Jonah Goldberg or Charles Krauthammer originated the phrase, but I think it was Jonah’s first.) The same problem has applied to the entire Bush Conglomerate since the beginning: do they get the conservative movement at its core, or are they just country-club conservatives, which are not
»
September 7, 2015 — Scott Johnson
From the get-go, we have thought that Jeb Bush is a weak candidate for the Republican nomination. We don’t know any conservatives or Republicans who support his candidacy. Not one. In a strong field he struggles to make an impression. Even with my limited expectations, I question his adroitness. He made his inclination to sell out the Republican base clear even before he’d won a vote. Conventional wisdom has it
»
September 6, 2015 — Paul Mirengoff
One of Donald Trump’s main pitches for the presidency is that he, by virtue of his enormous wealth, cannot be bought and sold by big donors. Ordinarily politicians, including his opponents, become beholden to wealthy contributors and end up doing their bidding, Trump would have us believe. As he puts it: As a businessman and a very substantial donor to very important people, when you give, they do whatever the
»
August 29, 2015 — Steven Hayward
I can’t decide whether Trump is an agent of disruption recruited by the Clintons (a story that has been making the rounds for a while) or the best thing that could possibly have happened to Republicans for the 2016 cycle, though none of the other candidates, with the partial exception of Ted Cruz, seem to get it. First, note that all the early predictions that Trump would go the same
»
August 24, 2015 — Paul Mirengoff
Tevi Troy, author of What Jefferson Read, Ike Watched, and Obama Tweeted, takes a look at what the 2016 GOP contenders are reading. One seldom knows for sure what anyone is reading, but Tevi’s discussion is revealing nonetheless. Here are some highlights: Donald Trump says he will “read anything about Lincoln” and his “whole era.” This is one of our very favorite eras too. Jeb Bush reportedly told Dan Senor,
»
August 20, 2015 — Paul Mirengoff
The latest Quinnipiac poll is full of fascinating information, much of it unfavorable to Hillary Clinton. Among the highlights are: In Florida, Bush tops Clinton 49-38 percent; Rubio leads Clinton 51-39 percent; Trump leads her 43-41. In Ohio, Rubio leads Clinton 42-40, but Bush trails her 39-41 and Trump trails 38-43. In Pennsylvania, long a Blue State, Rubio and Bush lead Clinton 47-40 and 43-40, respectively, but Clinton beats Trump
»
August 10, 2015 — Paul Mirengoff
Many informed voters who watched Thursday’s GOP presidential debate may have come away confused about Jeb Bush’s stance on education. Bush is known to be a supporter of Common Core. Yet there he was insisting that the federal government shouldn’t be involved in creating educational standards. Bush said: “I don’t believe the federal government should be involved in the creation of standards directly or indirectly, the creation of curriculum or
»
August 5, 2015 — John Hinderaker
It’s not my biggest problem with Jeb Bush, but one of the issues with his candidacy is that he is badly out of shape as a candidate. He last ran a campaign in 2002, thirteen years ago. As a result, he isn’t sharp, and keeps making mistakes. A brutal case in point, as reported by the New York Times: During an interview on Tuesday with religious conservatives, Mr. Bush suggested
»
August 2, 2015 — Steven Hayward
In my interrogatories about Trump a week ago, I asked Trump enthusiasts the following question: • Are you happy that Trump is essentially a stalking horse for Jeb Bush? If Trump wins some early primaries in a crowded field it will be with less than 20 percent of the vote, but it will likely cause the party establishment—such as still exists—to rally around Bush, just as Democrats rallied to Michael
»
August 1, 2015 — Paul Mirengoff
Campaigning in New Hampshire last month, Jeb Bush said he wants to “phase out” traditional Medicare to build a more efficient, market-based system focused on patients. Democrats pounced immediately. DNC press secretary Holly Shulman claimed that under a Bush presidency seniors would lack the benefits they rely on. Tevi Troy, writing in the Wall Street Journal, reminds us that the Democrats have been engaging in this sort of Mediscare for
»
July 23, 2015 — Paul Mirengoff
If this news doesn’t have Joe Biden, Al Gore, or Elizabeth Warren seriously considering entering the presidential race — and serious Democrats urging them to do so — then nothing will. According to a Quinnipiac University Swing State Poll, Hillary Clinton trails Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush, and Scott Walker in Colorado, Iowa and Virginia. Two of the three Republicans Clinton trails are neither well known nor in possession of a
»
July 1, 2015 — Steven Hayward
Forget Jeb’s and Hillary’s tax returns. We get it: they both make a lot of money from speeches and such. More interesting is what they read, or claim to read. Last year The Atlantic put together a list of Jeb’s and Hillary’s current book list. In one sense it doesn’t much matter whether they actually read the books they list; more revealing is what they chose to disclose. Here’s Hillary’s
»
June 17, 2015 — Paul Mirengoff
Earlier this week, the Senate passed an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that limits the entire U.S. government to only the interrogation and detention techniques outlined in the Army Field Manual. The vote was 78-21. The Army Field Manual does not permit physical contact with detainees, not even a slap. The harshest method it permits the “Fear-Up (Harsh).” In this approach, “the interrogator behaves in an overpowering
»
June 17, 2015 — Paul Mirengoff
Iraq figures to be a major issue in the presidential election, as it should be given the current disastrous situation. It’s less clear that Iraq as it was in 2003 should be an issue, but it’s fair to look back that far, and at subsequent inflection points, to see what positions (if any) various candidates have taken on Iraq. A reader sent me a comparison of Hillary Clinton and Jeb
»
June 15, 2015 — John Hinderaker
Jeb Bush formally announced his candidacy today. His speech was solidly conservative, and he delivered it competently. Much can be said about Bush’s candidacy, starting with the fact that his logo–Jeb!–doesn’t mention his last name. Of course, the Democrats haven’t forgotten; this is their latest fundraising pitch: It appears that Jeb’s campaign and the Democrats agree on whether the Bush name will be an asset in 2016. As noted, Bush’s
»
