Jeb Bush
October 16, 2018 — Paul Mirengoff
The headline of this Washington Post article (paper edition) is “Warren dust-up shows Trump sway over Democratic contest.” A better title would substitute “minds” for “contest.” Trump certainly got in Elizabeth Warren’s head. His constant “Pocahontas” references induced her to take a DNA test, publicize its results, and thereby make herself a source of greater ridicule than before. Trump is also responsible for the fact that clownish Michael Avenatti is
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December 21, 2016 — Paul Mirengoff
Chris Cillizza of the Washington Post names Hillary Clinton the worst political candidate of 2016. It’s an easy selection, I think. Clinton underperformed to a significant degree against Bernie Sanders and then against Donald Trump. She had some good moments — several of the debates against Sanders and the first debate against Trump — but her body of work during the campaigns was consistent with her results. As runners-up, Cillizza
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March 24, 2016 — Paul Mirengoff
With the Florida primary in the rear view mirror and Marco Rubio out of the race, Jeb Bush has endorsed Ted Cruz for president. The endorsement comes a month after Bush dropped out of the race. By waiting as long as he did, Bush accomplished two things — neither of them noble. First, he avoided endorsing Rubio, who “betrayed” him by running for president, while at the same time avoiding
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March 16, 2016 — Paul Mirengoff
Yesterday, Donald Trump won his biggest victory yet, a decisive triumph in Florida’s winner-take-all primary. With the win, the tycoon’s hostile takeover of the Republican Party becomes overwhelmingly likely. Where was Jeb Bush during the battle for his home state’s primary? He was pouting. Spinning Bush’s failure to endorse his one-time protege Marco Rubio (whom he once touted for the vice presidency), or another non-Trump candidate, the former governor’s confidante
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March 3, 2016 — Paul Mirengoff
Earlier this week, in a post that disputed the claim that Jeb Bush is to blame for rise of Donald Trump, I wrote that if Bush endorses Marco Rubio ahead of the Florida primary, he will have nothing to apologize for if Trump is the nominee. At the time, the speculation in Florida was that Bush likely would endorse Rubio. Today, however, the Washington Post tell us that a spokeswoman
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February 29, 2016 — Paul Mirengoff
Josh Kraushaar of the National Journal suggests that if Jeb Bush hadn’t run for president, Donald Trump might not be a “formidable candidate.” He writes: Consider: a) Bush’s entrance in the race prevented any other mainstream alternatives from getting attention for months; b) his Right to Rise super PAC nuked the most-electable alternative in Rubio with millions in attack ads while spending much less against Trump; c) his candidacy defined
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February 25, 2016 — Steven Hayward
. . . or why you should ignore most pundits. From Vox last July: Donald Trump’s rise is great news — for Jeb Bush Donald Trump’s surge in the polls has been covered as terrible news for the GOP. But it’s fantastic news for one Republican — Jeb Bush. The rise of the bombastic celebrity mogul and the saturation media coverage of his controversial comments on illegal immigrants is a godsend for the putative frontrunner,
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February 18, 2016 — Paul Mirengoff
I probably should add a question mark to the title of this post, since I can’t say with high confidence that the South Carolina primary actually will be the end of the presidential campaign for Jeb Bush. But yesterday, according to multiple reports, the “joyful” warrior was noticeably deflated when he appeared at the campaign event, following word that Nikki Haley was about to endorse Marco Rubio. The Washington Post
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February 8, 2016 — Steven Hayward
Back in September in “Bush League De-Regulation,” I took note of Jeb Bush’s Wall Street Journal op-ed about his views on regulation. I wondered whether he really understands the problem sufficiently, and concluded: This is another sign that Bush, as good as he is in many ways, is not good enough. He doesn’t get the full depths of the problem. Like his dad and older brother. Today, as reported by
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February 8, 2016 — Paul Mirengoff
New Hampshire voters will answer several potentially consequential questions tomorrow: How badly will Sanders beat Clinton; what will Trump’s margin of victory be; what price (if any) will Rubio pay for repetition in debating? For me, though, the biggest question is: How well will Jeb Bush do? Here’s why. There has been much speculation about the degree of winnowing the Republican field will undergo after New Hampshire. In particular, how
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January 29, 2016 — Paul Mirengoff
Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio weren’t the only candidates exposed in last night’s debate as having changed their position on immigration reform. Rubio pointed out that Jeb Bush has also changed his. Bush’s current position, and the one set forth in a book he wrote (with an eye, surely, towards a presidential run) is that illegal immigrants should have a path to legalization but not to citizenship. But when Sen.
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January 26, 2016 — Paul Mirengoff
Before entering the presidential race, Jeb Bush said he wanted to run “joyfully.” And when Bush appears on talk shows, he seems sunny (especially for a candidate who is running, what, in fifth place with about 5 percent support in the polls) and eager to talk policy. But meanwhile, as Steve has pointed out, Bush’s Super PAC is smearing the candidate’s one-time protege, Marco Rubio. The latest example is a
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January 25, 2016 — Steven Hayward
The most infuriating thing I’ve read all week is Steve Hayes’s story in the Weekly Standard about how Jeb Bush’s super PAC, Right to Rise, has held its fire on Trump, instead directing its fire on the one candidate who is best positioned to win in November: Marco Rubio: In the “fight” between Donald Trump and conservatism, Trump has had few better allies than Right to Rise, the super PAC
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November 11, 2015 — John Hinderaker
Jeb Bush’s campaign announced today that he has been endorsed by former senator and presidential candidate Bob Dole. Dole will serve as Bush’s National Veterans’ Chairman. I suppose the announcement was timed to coincide with Veterans’ Day. I deeply admire Bob Dole, but I am afraid that the 92-year-old’s endorsement sums up much of what is wrong with Bush’s campaign. If there is anything Republican voters want this year, it
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November 1, 2015 — John Hinderaker
Until now, I have taken a benign view of Jeb Bush’s presidential candidacy. I have said from the beginning that he has zero chance of getting the Republican nomination, but he was a good governor and he has as much right to seek the nomination as anyone else. But now, Bush has turned into a negative, anti-Republican force. To an even greater degree than Donald Trump, he mouths Democratic Party
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November 1, 2015 — Paul Mirengoff
The Iowa caucuses are in significant part about who can get their supporters to show up. Thus, one thing I wanted to watch for at yesterday’s Growth and Oppoertunity event was which candidates got supporters to the fairgrounds to cheer and hold signs. This metric would, it seemed to me, provide a rough measure of some combination of level of support and “ground game.” Unfortunately, neither Donald Trump nor Ben
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September 27, 2015 — Paul Mirengoff
No, but he could be within a month or two. The Washington Post reports: Jeb Bush is entering a critical phase of his Republican presidential campaign, with top donors warning that the former Florida governor needs to demonstrate growth in the polls over the next month or face serious defections among supporters. . . . The warnings from top donors come as Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s exit from the race
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