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Rove to Jeb Bush: Maybe tone it down with the “illegal immigration is an ‘act of love’” bit
Hotair ^ | 04/08/2014 | AllahPundit

Posted on 04/08/2014 3:17:57 PM PDT by SeekAndFind

The clip comes from Politico but the translation comes from Mark Krikorian:

Karl Rove to Jeb Bush: Wait til _after_ the election to say what you really think http://t.co/Dk3JXnjhmj

— Mark Krikorian (@MarkSKrikorian) April 8, 2014

The weirdest thing to me about Jeb’s “act of love” comment is that, as recently as last year, he was positioning himself as some sort of hardliner on the citizenship issue. Remember? No citizenship for illegals, he said; permanent residency is fine but to grant them full citizen privileges would offend the rule of law. Fast-forward a year and now lawbreaking is an act of love, something a compassionate nation surely wouldn’t punish with perpetual second-class status. I don’t know how he reconciles that.

Maybe it’s as simple as him reacting to Rubio’s political position in both cases. A year ago, Rubio was getting hammered by the right for backing the Gang of Eight bill. Jeb may have concluded that there was room to his right in the 2016 primaries by running as a “no citizenship” candidate. A year later, Rubio’s all but abandoned the Gang of Eight bill as being too weak and has tacked back to the right via foreign policy and ObamaCare. Change of plans for Jeb, then: Now there’s room to Rubio’s left in the field. That’s where “act of love” came from, I guess, as a signal to the centrists — especially rich, business-minded, amnesty-supporting centrists who are trying to settle on a champion — that Bush would stand up to the righty candidates who’ll be left fighting over the anti-amnesty vote. But even so, “act of love” is such an odd and needlessly provocative way of putting things. I think Rove’s consternation here is legit. He wants a pro-amnesty candidate but he doesn’t want one who’s going to dare conservatives to knock him down the way Perry unwittingly did with his remark in 2011 about in-state tuition for illegals being a simple matter of “having a heart.” Like Krikorian said yesterday, if border-hopping is an act of love, border enforcement is necessarily a form of hate. Is that the message that’s going to win this guy the Republican nomination?

Could be that Mickey Kaus is right that this is just a clever ploy by Jeb to help his protege Rubio. The squishier Bush gets on amnesty, the easier it is for Rubio to attack him as a RINO, which helps Rubio rebuild conservative cred. Or maybe Jeb secretly agrees with me and WaPo that the entire Republican field reeks on immigration and therefore he might as well start pandering to the donor class and to Latino voters now. After all, who’s going to attack him harshly for the “act of love” comment? Cruz? Jeb doesn’t really need to worry about Cruz; by the time the race is down to the two of them, Bushworld will be tearing Cruz limb from limb with ads about how he’s a radical and borderline anarchist. Jeb needs to win the center first and realistically no centrist candidate is going to go to the mat on the “act of love” soundbite for fear of alienating Latinos. The question is, is that sort of rhetoric so squishy that even centrist voters will start looking at each other sideways over it? That’s what Rove’s worried about, I think.

And yeah, I do think he’ll run. Steve Hayes is right: A guy who’s already thinking about his soundbites being caught on tape is a guy who’s thinking very seriously of jumping in.

CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE VIDEO



TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Front Page News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: Florida
KEYWORDS: florida; illegals; immigration; jebbush; karlrove; politico; rememberterri
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To: SeekAndFind

Well your honor, I robbed the bank out of an act of love.


41 posted on 04/09/2014 8:16:27 AM PDT by mad_as_he$$
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To: SeekAndFind

MAYBE? I wouldn’t vote for Bush now if he was ‘The Last Man Standing’!!!!


42 posted on 04/09/2014 8:26:37 AM PDT by ridesthemiles
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To: SeekAndFind

If Karl Rove believed Jeb Bush’s ‘’heartbreaking’’ comment was a gaffe that would hurt Jeb’s political fortunes, the last thing he would have done is discuss it in public, as he did, thereby extending the gaffe’s notoriety and shelf-life.

Instead, Karl Rove would have phoned Jeb and advised him how to ‘’make lemonade out of his lemon’’ in future speeches.

Karl Rove is a political operative who always has a project going. Currently, his project is to position Jeb Bush as the leading and eventually sole RINO candidate — like Mitt Romney was in 2012 — in the 2016 Republican presidential primaries, while the Conservative candidates proliferate and divide the Conservative vote — like they did in 2012.

At the moment, Karl Rove is obsessed with selling Jeb Bush to his big-money corporate-donor friends so that they will start to fill Jeb’s coffers, thereby blocking out other, poorer, potential RINO presidential aspirants.

And the best way for Karl Rove to do that is to have Jeb Bush publicly state in an awkward, newsworthy way, that he strongly agrees with America’s corporate interests in supporting amnesty for illegal immigrants, after which Karl Rove himself can go on TV and even more publicly promote Jeb Bush as the candidate of amnesty, even though Jeb might not have worded his support as eloquently as possible.

If Karl Rove’s plans succeed, Jeb Bush will be the RINO candidate in 2016, who can only be beaten by Conservative interests if Conservatives choose their own sole Conservative opponent to oppose him.

The best Conservative candidate would be the one who can raise the most money from Conservatives, who would be the one with Sarah Palin’s endorsement and promise of fund-raising help — Ted Cruz. But will the Rand Pauls, Rick Santorums and Rick Perrys withdraw from the race, or will their egos compel them to spend the entire primary season beating up on Ted Cruz and/or each other so that Jeb Bush will have clear sailing to the nomination, like Mitt Romney had in 2012? The latter scenario seems the most plausible.

The only hope for Conservatives in 2016 is that Ted Cruz will be smart enough to overcome his combined Conservative opposition and also Jeb Bush in the primaries. Which is not unreasonable since he’s head and shoulders above everyone else in intelligence, in politics and out.


43 posted on 04/09/2014 8:31:12 AM PDT by Bluestocking
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To: don-o
All I needed to know about Jeb I learned when he left Terri Schiavo to die.

Absolutely true! Jeb Bush showed his true colors as a gutless unprincipled coward, when he allowed the state-district court execution of Terri Schiavo to proceed. I believe that Terri Schiavo will be the last face that Jeb Bush sees as he is cast into the Lake of Fire.

44 posted on 04/09/2014 8:40:33 AM PDT by rcrngroup
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To: SeekAndFind
Two persons that make me want to hurl. Karl Rove and Jeb Bush. Rove thinks he is the anointed voice of the GOP. Jeb simply thinks it's his turn because Poppy and brother got theirs. More Bush Globalist New World Order and bigger federal government? None for me. The last Bush power grab created a monster too follow him that is bent on destroying our nation. The first Bush power grab began the undoing of all the Reagan years gains.

As of now Cruz, Lee and Gohmert, are the persons who are politically close to what I believe in. Da Bush and Rove are as repulsive to me as Obama and McCain. Rand Paul was one who had promise before the GOP-E got to him. Now he reminds me of a John McCain/Bob Dole hybrid. Won that seat and by golly you'll do the DEMs work like McCain now to keep it huh Rand?

45 posted on 04/09/2014 9:15:58 AM PDT by cva66snipe ((Two Choices left for U.S. One Nation Under GOD or One Nation Under Judgment? Which one say ye?))
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To: F15Eagle

I tried to warn people about Bush back in 2000, oh well, I still wish Steve Forbes had won. Even more I wish H.W. had won in 92. To this day I can’t believe he lost to Bill. “Read my lips” really did him in.


46 posted on 04/09/2014 10:52:32 AM PDT by jpsb (Believe nothing until it has been officially denied)
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To: jpsb

Perot was certainly a big factor, and that was the original “Clintonian plurality” win. The great part for the Dems that year was that Ross provided his own campaign funding, it didn’t cost them a dime.

In races like McAwful won last year, the Dems have to fund two campaigns, their own and the libertarian.


47 posted on 04/09/2014 10:56:25 AM PDT by nascarnation (Toxic Baraq Syndrome: hopefully infecting a Dem candidate near you)
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To: jpsb

I sat out in 1988 because I was not going to vote for “Read My Lips”. I voted for W because I despised Gore so much. I sat out 2004 because I couldn’t vote for W again.

Now, everytime I’ve ever said anything bad about Bush on here, I’ve been attacked. I can’t stand any of them. They’re all elitists frauds.


48 posted on 04/09/2014 5:01:11 PM PDT by VerySadAmerican
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To: proud American in Canada

Roberts didn’t turn out to be such a great pick.


49 posted on 04/09/2014 5:03:11 PM PDT by VerySadAmerican
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To: jpsb

I wasn’t. I remembered W opposing Prop 187 when he didn’t have to live with the disaster that illegal immigration was inflicting on California. In the 2000 primary I heard W saying “family values don’t stop at the Rio Grande” and knew exactly what he was about. He turned out to be the law-scoffing amnesty pusher that I expected.

But you had to be careful about voicing opinions like that because those who were outspoken had a way of vanishing around here.


50 posted on 04/10/2014 12:07:54 AM PDT by Pelham (If you do not deport it is amnesty by default.)
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To: cva66snipe

“As of now Cruz, Lee and Gohmert, are the persons who are politically close to what I believe in.”

You could probably add Jeff Sessions to your list.


51 posted on 04/10/2014 12:09:24 AM PDT by Pelham (If you do not deport it is amnesty by default.)
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To: Pelham

Yep.


52 posted on 04/10/2014 12:29:40 AM PDT by cva66snipe ((Two Choices left for U.S. One Nation Under GOD or One Nation Under Judgment? Which one say ye?))
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To: Forward the Light Brigade

He’s a place holder. He’s not the real candidate. Those who are blowing their wad too early don’t have the political savvy to win. The sheeple will be tired of them.


53 posted on 04/10/2014 12:38:34 AM PDT by firebrand
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To: kingattax

winner!


54 posted on 04/10/2014 12:41:06 AM PDT by firebrand
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