Free Republic

Mr. Bush, a former Florida governor and likely presidential candidate, was born in Texas and hails from one of America’s most prominent political dynasties. But on at least one occasion, it appears he got carried away with his appeal to Spanish-speaking voters and claimed he actually was Hispanic. In a 2009 voter-registration application, obtained from the Miami-Dade County Elections Department, Mr. Bush marked Hispanic in the field labeled “race/ethnicity.” A Bush spokeswoman could offer no explanation for the characterization.

A group of conservatives and libertarians in New Hampshire have come up with a plan they hope will block former Gov. Jeb Bush (R-FL) from becoming the Republican party’s nominee for President. The idea is to hold their own presidential caucus in October and select a candidate behind whom they would all unite. The group is called the “603 Alliance,” named after the only area code in New Hampshire. According to a report by Politico, the plan was instigated by “years of simmering discontent within the state Republican party,” as conservative, libertarian, and Tea Party activists have grown increasingly frustrated...

Anti-discrimination activists and gay rights groups welcomed a lightning evolution by Jeb Bush, this week on a controversial law passed in Indiana last week that opponents said would have made it easier for businesses to discriminate against LGBT employees and customers. On Monday, Bush praised the law as signed by Indiana’s governor, Mike Pence. On Wednesday, the former Florida governor and likely 2016 presidential candidate drew back sharply in his approbation, conceding only that the law would “be in the right place” by the end of the week, after an anticipated fix by the Indiana legislature. Bush’s original remarks were...

Former Florida governor Jeb Bush now leads the field of Republican candidates for the party’s 2016 presidential nomination, but former secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton enjoys a decided advantage over Bush and other potential GOP rivals in hypothetical general election matchups, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. At this early stage in the 2016 competition, the prospective candidates suffer from image weaknesses, but the Republicans have a more acute problem. Most Republicans are not well known, but at this point, not a single one of six Republicans included in the survey has a favorability rating that is...

A former staffer to Jeb Bush established a group earlier this year that can raise money without disclosing its donors, a revelation that has drawn criticism from campaign-finance watchdogs who say the group will allow the likely 2016 candidate to benefit from contributions his campaign might prefer not to disclose. The nonprofit corporation—called Right to Rise Policy Solutions, sharing the same “Right to Rise” name as two other political-action committees raising money for Mr. Bush’s potential campaign—is the latest addition to a group of politically linked organizations not required to disclose their donors. Other potential 2016 candidates, including Louisiana Gov....

It doesn’t matter what the Republican base wants or whom the well-known pundits like. The fact is, the so-called “independent” voters of New Hampshire are likely to pick the next Republican nominee for US President. Since 1968 there have been only two times—1996 and 2000—when the New Hampshire Republican primary winner did not eventually become the party’s nominee for President. By contrast, the Iowa Caucuses’ winner has gone on to the nomination only six times in the last ten election cycles and Iowa did not choose the winning nominee the last two elections. Somehow, winning the New Hampshire primary thrusts...

On a sunny Saturday morning in early March, Bob Vander Plaats walked into the West Des Moines Marriott with a chip on his shoulder. Iowa's evangelical shot-caller had come to meet with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who was in town for the Iowa Ag Summit, a cattle call that drew the majority of Republican presidential hopefuls. Over the course of the weekend, Vander Plaats had sit-downs scheduled with just about all of them. But not Jeb Bush. A twice-failed gubernatorial candidate who helped boost Mike Huckabee to victory in the 2008 caucuses, Vander Plaats has grown accustomed to presidential aspirants...

Fearing that Republicans will ultimately nominate an establishment presidential candidate like Jeb Bush, leaders of the nation’s Christian right have mounted an ambitious effort to coalesce their support behind a single social-conservative contender months before the first primary votes are cast. In secret straw polls and exclusive meetings from Iowa to California, the leaders are weighing the relative appeal and liabilities of potential standard-bearers like Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and former Govs. Rick Perry of Texas and Mike Huckabee of Arkansas. “There’s a shared desire to come behind a candidate,” said Tony Perkins, the...

Former Secretary of State James A. Baker III, a foreign policy adviser to former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday evening at the Washington gala dinner for J Street, a Soros-funded left-wing group that is devoted to disrupting the close U.S.-Israel alliance. Baker said that Netanyahu had been too forceful in his opposition to a nuclear deal with Iran, and that he had shown insufficient commitment to peace with the Palestinians. “If the only agreement is one under which Iran agrees to cease all enrichment, then there will likely be no agreement,” Baker said....

I think opponents of Jeb Bush should work out some figure they can throw around that is realistic. From July 2016 - January 2017 maybe 100000, 200000, 500000 or maybe 1 million illegals will cross the border if Jeb wins the nomination. Maybe only 50,000. Probably a worse message than Clinton winning the general, because it is already established the Dem candidate will be open borders and that there is no opposition anywhere to it.

Jeb Bush’s nascent presidential campaign has already won over many of the big-dollar donors and GOP elites. What he needs to prove now is that he can win over the crowds. Until visits to South Carolina and other early states this month, the former Florida governor hadn’t been on the campaign trail for himself in 13 years. He hadn’t sold himself to the deeply conservative, tea party-inspired crowds that have emerged as a driving Republican force in the Obama era. He’d never snapped so many “selfies” with admirers.

NEW YORK — Forget the Democratic and Republican primaries: The two biggest names in the 2016 presidential race are competing directly against each other in an elite forum, the halls of Goldman Sachs. Jeb Bush will be back in New York raising money next week with his sights set on Goldman, the wealthiest and most successful bank in Wall Street history. He has a pair of events scheduled for next Wednesday with current and former Goldman executives, sources familiar with Bush’s plans said. The events signal that Bush hopes to go head to head for Goldman money and support with...

Sheryl McDonald, a retiree, voted for both Presidents Bush. “But I’m finding out they did some things we got stuck with,” she said. “I do not want to see Jeb Bush run,” she added. “He turns me off.” Scarcely anyone at a meeting of the Green County Republican Party here in central Iowa recently had anything kind to say about Mr. Bush, the former Florida governor. They objected to his moderate stances on immigration and education standards. But they also complained matter-of-factly about fatigue with his family — especially after the presidency of George W. Bush, whom they blamed for...

Jeb Bush asks donors not to give too much -- well, $1 million or less. Lawmakers, LDS officials and LGBT leaders unveil anti-discrimination bill. Mitt Romney disses Utah GOP over caucus plans.

We didn’t really notice the political ineptness of George H.W. Bush. He ran with the great Ronald Reagan who could have picked a name from the phone book as his running mate and won both times. Bush the elder brought little to the ticket as he knew little about politics. When he ran on his own and picked Dan Quayle to run with he proved that point. George W. Bush was different. He had been Governor of Texas and knew things about politics his father never learned. He presented himself to us as a solid Texas style conservative at first...

NATIONAL HARBOR, Maryland — Republican voters rejected former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in the straw poll, as he earned only 8 percent of the vote and came in fifth. That came as, according to reports and several other campaigns, Bush attempted to rig the straw poll by busing in “supporters” from Washington, D.C., and K Street. So, after subtracting out those his campaign packed into the Gaylord hotel in National Harbor, his support among conservatives is even more smaller than it appears. Bush faced a round of ridicule from pretty much everyone across...

Phyllis Schlafly has long argued that the American conservative movement’s purpose is to influence, not echo, the Republican Party. And still going strong at age 90, Mrs. Schlafly wants to influence the GOP anew by warning against letting the party’s “kingmakers” — the Wall Street elite and political consultant class — coronate former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush as the presidential nominee in 2016.

Earlier this year, Mitt Romney had a Galadriel moment. He appeared to be briefly seized by a vision of himself as an all-powerful, world-striding President Romney, before turning away from temptation and settling for the plain old Mitt Romney he has always been. It was political theater at its most bizarre, a flack-driven frenzy that doubled as a flashback to the self-delusion that blinded the Romney 2012 campaign in its final days. With Romney now out of the way, Jeb Bush has consolidated the support of the GOP's moneyed class with surprising alacrity. As Politico noted last week, the contest...

Friends don't let friends vote RINO... I don't give a damn how much moolah Jeb Bush is currently shaking out of people with more money than sense... it's impossible to picture this charmless Gee-Oh-Pee establishment tool in the White House: not only does the Republican base despise him, but no Bush is going to beat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election.  I actually consider her a more flawed candidate than most do, but you can't run a clown who's practically family with the Clintons and expect him to take the requisite fight to Shrillary by discussing her serial scandals/failure.  And the Clinton...

I need to mention a fact that many freepers will find painful and upsetting. In the 20th Century, Country Club Republicans had greater influence in selecting Republican nominees for President, than grassroots Republicans. There are only 2 notable exceptions when the establishment candidate did not win - 1964 and 1980. In 1964, the Republican establishment was deeply divided. Three Republican candidates from extremely wealthy, Old Money, WASP families were on the ballot. They were Governor Nelson Rockefeller from New York, Governor William Scranton from Pennsylvania, and former Senator Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. from Massachusetts. Lodge did not formally enter the...