An Object Lesson from Jeb Bush

Rush Limbaugh.com ^ | August 5, 2015 | Rush Limbaugh

[Kaslin]

RUSH: Another teachable moment today. A veritable object lesson in how it is that the Republican Party continues to -- I mean, for Mitch McConnell saying, there's no way, I don't care what anybody says, there's not gonna be a government shutdown. Let me tell you something, folks. If you're not willing to shut down the government in a fight to defund Planned Parenthood, they get -- do you know how much -- what did I see the other day, $2 billion, and they do not provide any health services that women cannot get anywhere else outside of the number of abortions that they provide.

But they don't even do mammograms. They're not a women's health organization. It's a front for what they are. But Mitch McConnell, trying to head off anybody that talks about a government shutdown in September, heading off the pass, no matter what there isn't gonna be one, 'cause the Republicans still are afraid of themselves. They're afraid of whatever they might say and do, and a government shutdown, they think it'd be the horrible, most worst thing, of course everybody loves government, panics if the government gets shut down.

It's getting tiresome.

It's getting tiresome to have to, I don't know, report this, pass this stuff on to you. It's getting tiresome. And along the same lines an object lesson, Jeb Bush, in an innocent comment that happened to be right on the money about federal funding for women's health issues, Hillary Clinton started squawking. And Jeb, within two hours, apologized and essentially asked for forgiveness and a chance to restate it.

And the Democrat media's out there applauding Mrs. Clinton, "Way to go. Way for changing the subject. Way to take Jeb down. Way to go." And there was no reason to apologize. He didn't say anything wrong. He said something, in fact, that a lot of Republican voters believe.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Let's just go to this object lesson here with Jeb Bush. The Washington Post has a story here that the latest in the aftermath of everything, and the headline is: "Jeb Bush's Quick Turnabout on Women's Health Funding, and What It Tells Us," and it is by Janell Ross. It's a textbook example of how the Drive-By Media works. It's also a textbook example of why and how many Republican candidates are afraid of their own shadows.

Jeb said absolutely nothing wrong in his original comments, absolutely nothing wrong. But the Drive-Bys cherry-picked his comments and it didn't matter that there's no taking him out of context. They didn't have to. What he said was not wrong. It made infinite sense. And I have to tell you something: I was kind of all excited. I was excited to be able to come here and say something positive about Jeb Bush.

I didn't even get to it before they raked it over the coals and Jeb had to try to walk it back. But the Drive-Bys think that they can use Jeb's remarks to give Hillary the moral high ground here on "women's health" and "women's rights" and "War on Women" and all of that. Janell Ross at the Washington Post says, "If nothing else ... Jeb Bush's quick turnabout on women's health funding ... is a testament to the power of social media. [B]y Tuesday afternoon, word went out via Twitter," which is a sewer.

Well, I should say, Twitter has several sewers.

The whole thing may not be a sewer, but it's got several sewers in it. I mean, the absolute dregs of human debris lurk there anonymously, and that's just testament to the power of these people. This is the army of the great unwashed, the army of low-information voters sitting around tweeting all day. Anyway, "word went out via Twitter. Jeb Bush had told a group gathered at the Southern Baptist Convention that he was less than certain that 'half a billion' dollars was needed to cover 'women's health issues.'"

He thought we don't need to be spending that kind of money, and here's what Bush said at the Southern Baptist Convention. This is what got this ball rolling. He says, "The argument against this is, well, women's health issues are going to be -- you're attacking, it's a war on women, and you're attacking women's health issues. 'You could take dollar for dollar -- although I'm not sure we need a half a billion dollars for women's health issues..." That was it. That is all: "[A]lthough I'm not sure we need a half a billion dollars for women's health issues..."

He continued: "[B]ut if you took dollar for dollar, there are many extraordinarily fine organizations, community health organizations, that exist, federally-sponsored community health organizations, to provide quality care for women on a wide variety of health issues,' he said. 'But abortion should not be funded by the government.'" And for this, for what you just heard, Jeb Bush was taken to the woodshed, and the Twitter sewer did its bit along with the Drive-By Media.

Once the Drive-By Media got wind of what was happening on Twitter, they joined the party. And it was time to destroy Jeb, time to destroy Jeb for insensitivity, racism, sexism, bigotry, insensitivity to the plight of women. Even though Jeb said, I don't know if we need to be spending all this money, and then he went on to praise all of the federal organizations that he just knows are there that are providing just wonderful health care for all of these women that are so denied it in this mean-spirited country.

Why, you would think that women cannot get health care in America even after Obamacare, even after the Affordable Care Act! But yet here's Jeb Bush citing all of the federal programs and praising them, and it wasn't enough, was it? Here's crossing the aisle, folks. Here's trying to compromise. Here's working with the other side. Here is showing we can govern. Here is showing that we can cooperate.

Here is showing that we're not hate-mongers like some in our conservative media are, and what happened? It all blew up right back, because of one phrase: "[A]lthough I'm not sure we need a half a billion dollars for women's health issues..." That little aside was blown up on social media as precisely an example of the Republican Party attacking women's health issues, and less than two hours later, the Bush campaign released a statement clarifying Jeb's comments.

This is what that statement said. "With regards to women’s health funding broadly, I misspoke, as there are countless community health centers, rural clinics and other women’s health organizations that need to be fully funded. They provide critical services to all, but particularly low-income women who don’t have the access they need. I was referring to the hard-to-fathom $500 million in federal funding that goes to Planned Parenthood -- an organization that was callously participating in the unthinkable practice of selling fetal organs."

Can we...? It's baby! Can we just call this what it is? It's baby organs. It's not "fetal organs." It's not intact anything. It's selling baby organs. They are aborting babies, sometimes after they are born, and they are dissecting them and they're selling baby organs, not "fetal tissue." Now, as the Washington Post writes here, the Bush campaign's clarification is essentially an acknowledgement of the candidate's error. But none of that matters. Sure enough, Hillary Clinton was right there to pounce.

Hillary Clinton tweeted, "Jeb Bush, you are absolutely, unequivocally wrong." This from a woman who's out there running ads announcing how proudly she stands with Planned Parenthood. And then the Democrat media machine had all it needed to swing into action. We got audio sound bites, some here to show you this. But this is classic. He didn't say anything wrong, and he gets attacked as conducting a War on Women.

And then tries to correct it, and that didn't work. When are these people gonna learn you can't compromise, you can't cross the aisle, you can't extend the flying fickle finger of friendship or hand of friendship, whatever? You can't. There is no bipartisanship. There is no cooperation. There is no showing on the other side we can govern. They're not interested in that. When, if ever, is the establishment on our side going to figure out the reality?

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Here's Jeb Bush yesterday in Nashville, Southern Baptist Convention, the Send North America Conference, and the commission president, Russell Moore, said to Jeb, "Are you for defunding Planned Parenthood?"

JEB: The next president should defund Planned Parenthood.

AUDIENCE: (applause)

JEB: The argument against this is, "Well, women's health issues are gonna be... You're -- you're attacking, it's a war on women, and you're attacking women's health issues." You could take dollar for dollar -- although I'm not sure we need a half a billion dollars for women's health issues. But if you took dollar for dollar, there are many extraordinarily fine organizations, community health organizations that exist -- federally sponsored community health organizations -- to provide quality care for women on a wide variety of health issues.

RUSH: So this is... I mean, I'm... (sigh) Look, this is so hard. This is so much harder than it used to be. But I have to tell you: Here we have many feel that Jeb Bush is the front-runner. I can't tell you the number of people that think Jeb's automatically the nominee. It's done, simply because of money. He's got more money than anybody else. That's how the determination is made, forecaster prognostication. I can't tell you the number of people. And I tell you: All the Democrats think it. Every Democrat analyst on TV, they all think it. And here we have, here's our "presumptive nominee" here, just to use their terminology, at the Southern Baptist Convention, seeking credit for citing all of the federal programs for women's health. I just...

[miss marmelstein]

I found Rush boring today because Jeb Bush bores me unutterably. I know what Rush was saying but Bush walked into it like the fool he is. Perhaps talking in generalities like someone-we-know is a smarter way to go. In any case, I doubt Trump or Cruz would have made such a sound-bite mistake.

[1Old Pro]

Jeb is stumbling like a sailor on shore leave leaving the bar after 4 hours of drinking shots.

[Awgie]

The way Jebby Boy walked into this right hook is sadly telling about how ill prepared, mismanaged and off target in his approach to saving our nation.

He still thinks he can “Mr Nice Guy” his way to it. “I make good tacos and have a tiny tiny little Mexicano gal by my side. Want to here me talk some Mexicano?”

[N. Theknow]

A vote for Jeb is a vote for pressing #2 for English.