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Jeb Bush played down talk of turmoil inside his campaign, telling reporters in Berlin that he is confident in his team and that polls this early don't matter. "This is an adjustment based on the skills of people that I got to know during the last three months. ... It’s June, for crying out loud, so we’ve got a long way to go." “I just urge everybody to be a little more patient about this," Bush told reporters. -snip- Bush will enter the race on Monday. The following day he'll appear on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. He's also...

In interviews with reporters outside his Berlin hotel Wednesday, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) said that he's restructuring his campaign team, including naming Danny Diaz as his campaign manager, because of "the magnitude of the journey" — not because he's lagging behind other candidates in the polls. Bush went on to brush off the notion that he was less popular than other Republican contenders in the 2016 presidential race: You start wherever you start, and you end a long way away from where we are today, so I just urge everybody to be a little more patient about this....

Days before his presidential launch, Jeb Bush told reporters on Wednesday that his decision to replace his campaign-manager-in-waiting was a strategic move rather than a response to his tepid position in the polls. "I don't read the polls," he told reporters outside the Pestana Hotel in Berlin, where he is on the first leg of a trip through Germany, Poland and Estonia. "It's fun to see them when you're winning, not so fun when you're not. Doesn't really matter, though, its June for crying out loud, so we got a long way to go."

Jeb Bush on Wednesday played down personnel changes his presumptive presidential campaign made this week, turning aside suggestions that it had shifted personnel to compensate for a failure to catch fire in some of the early nominating states. “It’s June, for crying out loud, so we’ve got a long way to go,” Mr. Bush told reporters here. “I just urge everybody to be a little more patient about this.”

On Monday, news broke that Danny Diaz will be the campaign manager when former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) launches his expected White House bid next Monday. As The Wall Street Journal reported, the position was originally "expected" to go to David Kochel, another operative who will instead serve as Bush's chief strategist. Business Insider had several conversations with aides to other Republican 2016 presidential campaigns who said they believe this staff switchup is evidence the Bush campaign is changing its strategy amid disappointing poll numbers and failed efforts to eliminate opponents. "The strategy they were previewing with everybody is...

Jeb Bush said on Wednesday that he felt compelled to reorganize his political team — and pick a new, unexpected campaign manager — “based on the skills of people that I got to know” and the “magnitude of the journey” he faces as candidate. In his first remarks about the reshuffling, Mr. Bush, a former governor of Florida, pleaded for patience and played down the idea that he was displeased with his standing in a crowded Republican field. He is expected to formally enter the race next week. “It’s June, for crying out loud, so we’ve got a long way...

He's got the deepest pockets, the best organization and everyone already knows his name. But Jeb Bush isn't so formidable that he's scaring away the competition. When the former Florida governor formally announces his presidential campaign on Monday, he will join a field of 10 GOP contenders -- and there are still a handful of others who may soon jump in the race. Meanwhile, the latest Iowa polls show him trapped in a cluster of candidates vying for second behind Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, and he has only a slight edge in New Hampshire. National polls show Bush a touch...

A super PAC backing Jeb Bush is likely to fall short of collecting $100 million by the end of this month. The Washington Post writes the exact size of the war chest is closely held, but two individuals familiar with internal discussions believe the total that the Right to Rise super PAC will report in mid-July could be much lower than the nine figures senior Republicans have anticipated. That would be a major blow for Bush’s operation, whose fundraising prowess has raised expectations about how much cash it has been amassing, the Post writes. Bush, a former Florida governor, is...

A super PAC backing former Florida governor Jeb Bush is likely to fall short of collecting $100 million by the end of this month, despite widespread expectations that the group would hit that record-breaking sum, according to people close to the operation. The exact size of the war chest is closely held, but two individuals familiar with internal discussions believe the total that the Right to Rise super PAC will report in mid-July could be substantially lower than the nine figures that senior Republicans have anticipated. That would be a major psychological blow for Bush’s operation, whose fundraising prowess has...

In my July-issue Editor's Note column released earlier today, I expressed some skepticism about National Review writer Charles C.W. Cooke's conservatarian project, partly on grounds that libertarians should be wary of a political party that keeps on coughing up government-growing Republicans with the last name "Bush." So it's only fair to point out that, according to the shrewd political Washington Examiner political columnist Byron York, Jeb Bush is floundering to the point of shaking up his campaign staff. The remedying began Monday with word that Bush has shaken up his campaign before the campaign has even been formally announced. The...

Jeb's new campaign manager signals that the last few months haven't gone well It's not extraordinary in presidential politics when a campaign manager gets replaced; it frequently happens, especially during tough times. But what IS extraordinary is bringing in a new manager before the campaign officially begins. And that's why yesterday's news that Jeb Bush hired GOP communications strategist Danny Diaz to be his new campaign manager -- after previously tapping David Kochel (who was Mitt Romney's chief Iowa strategist in 2012) to fill the position -- is a big deal. It's a tacit acknowledgement that the last few months...

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush on Monday named a veteran of Mitt Romney and John McCain’s presidential campaigns as his campaign manager, a week before he makes his own bid official. Bush named Danny Diaz as campaign manager, a position that was widely expected to go to Dave Kochel, a Republican operative with experience in Iowa politics. Bush senior adviser Sally Bradshaw said in a statement that Kochel “can best position us for success by playing a key leadership role focusing on how Jeb wins primaries, caucuses, and ultimately the general election.” She said Diaz’s “skill at rapidly moving content...

Danny Diaz of FP1 Strategies, a Republican political consulting firm, will be former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush’s campaign manager if Bush, as expected, announces he’s running for president. It’s a big move by Bush’s team, and a clear sign he’s making efforts to win back conservative voters and make inroads party-wide rather than just winning the establishment side of the primaries. Diaz has a long-standing positive reputation with tons of top conservatives, and has been plugged in with not just establishment Republicans but conservatives Washington-wide for years. “Danny Diaz, a 39-year-old Washington, D.C., native who has worked for the past...

Jeb Bush hasn't even officially launched his presidential campaign yet, and already there's a shakeup underway. In a surprise move, Bush has tapped veteran Republican strategist Danny Diaz to serve as his campaign manager, his political team announced on Monday. Diaz, 39, a longtime Republican operative known for his aggressive tactics and as a communications specialist, will move to Miami to take on a day-to-day managerial role after spending the last few months as a media consultant. The restructuring of Bush's staff was unexpected, given that Bush aides, donors and friends have said for months that David Kochel -- a...

Republican presidential candidate-in-waiting Jeb Bush has named Danny Diaz, a veteran of former President George W. Bush's 2004 campaign, to be his campaign manager. The move puts Diaz in a top job in the Bush operation, not yet officially a campaign. Bush is scheduled to make an announcement June 15. Diaz, whose parents are from Spain, has been working as a Republican strategist at FP1 Strategies LLC, which he helped found. -snip- He was a lead consultant for New Mexico Gov. Susan Martinez's campaign in 2010 and was part of the National Hispanic Working Group for the Bush-Cheney campaign in...

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) hammered Benjamin Netanyahu Tuesday, saying the Israeli prime minister's speech to Congress was an "insult" to the country. “The unbreakable bonds between the United States and Israel are rooted in our shared values, our common ideals and mutual interests," Pelosi said in a statement just after the speech. “That is why, as one who values the U.S. — Israel relationship, and loves Israel, I was near tears

And you thought that last global financial crisis was bad. A report issued on Sunday by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) warns that policymakers have failed to address the root problems that caused the 2007-2008 financial meltdown. Instead of taking a long-term perspective aimed at increasing real economic productivity and output — the kind that actually benefits people by raising living standards — government officials have sought to pump up the numbers through monetary and fiscal stimulus. As a result, we now have an alarming disconnect between the performance of global equity markets, which are booming, and an underlying...

President George W. Bush predicted the current meltdown in Iraq – back in 2007. Bush vetoed a Democratic bill to withdraw troops from Iraq. Via Truth Revolt: I know some in Washington would like us to start leaving Iraq now. To begin withdrawing before our commanders tell us we are ready would be dangerous for Iraq, for the region and for the United States. It would mean surrendering the future of Iraq to al Qaeda. It would mean that we’d be risking mass killings on a horrific scale. It would mean we’d allow the terrorists to establish a safe haven...

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein said Tuesday that the White House told her that it was on “oversight” that Congress didn’t receive the required notification about the prisoner exchange deal that secured the release of U.S. Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. Mrs. Feinstein, California Democrat, said the excuse came from Tony Blinken, President Obama’s deputy national security adviser. “Tony Blinken called last night and said that it was an oversight or something to that effect. So I accept that,” she told reporters at the Capitol.

... In a statement Clooney said: “There were nine people at that table so you can ask them. Steve likes to go on rants He called the president an a—–e. That is a fact. I said the president was my longtime friend and then he said, ‘Your friend is an a—–e’. At that point I told Steve that HE was an a—e and I wasn’t going to sit at his table while he was being such a jackass. And I walked out. There were obviously quite a few more adjectives and adverbs used by both of us. It had nothing...