Posted on 12/03/2014 4:34:47 AM PST by maggief
Jeb Bush is steeling for a fight with the GOP’s conservative base, signaling he will not bend from his centrist positions on immigration and Common Core education standards in 2016 — even if it costs him support with grassroots conservatives.
In what could be read as a swipe at 2012 GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney, Bush told a Washington audience this week that “no one really knows” if a presidential candidate can survive the primaries without sacrificing his core principles because “it hasn’t been tried recently.”
The former governor of Florida also told the CEO Council forum sponsored by The Wall Street Journal that candidates have to be prepared to “lose the primary to win the general.” Supporters say the comments show that if he enters the 2016 race, Bush will run a very different kind of campaign than recent GOP standard-bearers.
“His comments ... certainly answer whether he’s his own man,” one member of Bush’s inner circle told The Hill. “He’ll do this on his own terms or not at all.”
The source said Bush believes he can win by sticking to more centrist positions that could be popular in a general election, where the GOP nominee could face a formidable candidate in Hillary Clinton.
“The question is whether you can assemble a coalition of serious-minded centrist voters,” the Bush source said. “If he thinks it can be done, he’ll do it how he sees fit.”
The past two GOP nominees, Romney and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), had to downplay their past support for healthcare and immigration reform, respectively, just to win the primary battle. By then, they’d moved so far to the right that it hurt them in the general election, say Bush supporters.
Bush’s support for Common Core and immigration reform could both be problems in the GOP primaries.
The former Florida governor has made his support for Common Core standards the centerpiece of his work since leaving office, but one Republican strategist joked that GOP voters would rather have cannibals look after their children than submit to Common Core standards for them.
Bush drew conservative ire earlier this year for saying people illegally crossing the border for the sake of their children “broke the law, but it’s not a felony. It’s an act of love.”
Strategists interviewed by The Hill raised doubts about whether Bush could really avoid modifying at least his public statements in the rough-and-tumble GOP primary.
“Nobody gets a free pass in the Republican primary,” said Ryan Williams, a former Romney spokesman.
One strategist said “chastising conservatives for being too conservative in a conservative primary process” wouldn’t get him anywhere.
“History is littered with people who think rules of the primary don’t apply to them,” said Rick Wilson, a Florida-based GOP strategist.
Bush’s remarks underscored for some the view that he can’t stomach the political games a candidate has to play in the run-up to the general election.
He’s “shown a great deal of reluctance to embrace the more traditional campaign model where you go out and preach to Republican primary voters about why you’re the best fit,” said one strategist.
Others wonder whether he’s more comfortable in the environs of a think tank than on the campaign trail, saying he doesn’t have the “fire in his belly” to involve himself in a ruthless national campaign.
“He’s running for president of the United States, not president of the American Enterprise Institute,” one Republican said. “This is not a job for just a policymaker, people don’t make their sole judgments about a candidates based on the policy question.”
Bush’s confidant disagrees, saying people forget all too quickly the work he put in to rise to governor in a purple state where he burnished a resume that’s nearly universally admired by Republicans.
“Anybody that followed his campaign in Florida would conclude that he’s very comfortable with retail politics and he’s comfortable in a lot of communities where some conservatives have been afraid to go, with young voters, Hispanic voters, and working-class voters,” the source said.
Many Republicans privately admit they may need to embrace some type of reform to win a growing Hispanic population in a presidential year.
“You get the sense that he’s exasperated with the party to some extent,” one Republican said of Bush. “He has strong feelings on immigration and education that he gets attacked from Republicans for. When he last ran there wasn’t a Tea Party contingent to get on your case. It’s a whole different world now. If he wants to he can do it — he’ll raise money and has the gravitas, but running is a humbling experience, not a coronation.”
Still, strategists say Bush’s presence looms so large over the rest of the field that he can likely get away with things that would bury lesser candidates. Bush has a tight enough grip on the corporate donor base right now, and that could buy him time if he suffers losses in the early stages of the primaries.
He’s also viewed as one of the few candidates with the authority to match Clinton, the likely Democratic candidate. Republicans cheer the fact that he’s one of the few to lay out his policy positions at such an early point, even as other candidates — Clinton included — have hedged away from taking controversial stances.
“He’s someone Republicans look at and see a winner,” Williams said. “He’s won two competitive races, proven to be a big thinker in the party, and he could beat Hillary, so he generates a lot of enthusiasm.”
Bush had previously said he’d make a decision by the end of the year, but bought himself a little wiggle room on Monday, saying he’d decide “in short order” at some point “not that far out into the future.”
“Anyone close to him that says they know what he’ll do doesn’t really know,” the source close to Bush said. “I think it will be the still of the night and he’ll feel he’s either ready to go or it’s not his moment.”
Jeb Bush sits on the board of a company who writes Common Core curricula and stands to make a killing as long as Common Core is not overturned.
Jeb gets the nomination. . .I stay home, and so does my family. . .
Assault Weapon Ban, Jack Booted Thugs, Compassionate Conservative, Ruby Ridge, Read My Lips, Comprehensive Immigration.
All ideas from the Bush Family which drove GOP voters away from the polls.
Most people would have given up by now.
I am not going to spend a lot of time assuming the worst from the Republican party. We have good people being mentioned as candidates and the primaries will sort out the winners. I see building local Republican party influence on the candidates who run in state races as imperative to shaping the general election.
DITTOS!
Here are a couple of worthy articles on Common Core and Jeb Bush:
http://michellemalkin.com/2013/09/20/jeb-bushs-latest-common-core-snit-fit/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/03/jeb-bush-education-foundation_n_2802536.html
It is insanity to support those who hate us. I do not care if they call themselves Democrats or Republicans.
Jeb Bush is steeling for a fight with the GOP’s conservative base, signaling he will not bend from his centrist positions on immigration and Common Core education standards in 2016 — even if it costs him support with grassroots conservative
Well Jeb the problem FOR YOU, is it will cost you the election.
What a fool. Why would someone do this if they wanted to get elected?
dont agree with Babs all the time, but i sure do on this one.
Can it be that he doesn't like hanging with the kind of people who agree with him?
The country doesn't need another country club repub.
Father, please save us from those who would save us from ourselves!
Not so much Romney.
No, I stay home, PERIOD. Actions have consequences.
Besides, if Jeb has the nomination, it’s all over anyway. . . no matter what we do, the flood will come over the border. . .
I know. I don’t know why they bother to pretend there is an “opposition” party, when they don’t oppose much that the rats support.
...
Of course not. The Democrats stand for big government and graft, two things the GOPe values more than victory. Conservatives far outnumber liberals in this country. If Jeb really wanted to win, he’d be battling Democrats and liberals. As an example, Reagan had two landslide wins with a strong coattail effect.
If the Powers That Be prefer Hillary, we'll get Hillary. Boo! Democrats win!
Expect zero substantive policy differences in 2017, either way. We'll be back to a traditional Gradually Expanding Welfare State agenda, blessedly free of Obama's radical excesses but with little scope for any genuine small government initiatives.
And you right wing FReeper nuts aren't going to successfully nominate any Nazi radicals like Cruz or Paul, so don't even ask. :)
P.S.: Jeb will be a slam dunk if he loses a few pounds. The jowls and glasses are making him entirely too East Coast Establishment.
“His comments ... certainly answer whether he’s his own man,”
...
Jeb is a purple robed member of the Ruling Class. He is far from being an independent thinker or strategist.
Some hate us, but some are just mistaken - I know you probably don’t want to believe this, because it’s not as fun as thinking conspiratorial and all dark - but a lot of the GOP E are simply ignorant of what the country is like, what voters really want, etc.
They are in a bubble of DC to Manhattan where not a single normal person lives a normal citizen life. There really is a lot of that.
I will not either. Under any circumstance.
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