Free Republic

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush Tuesday described the growing economic chasm between rich and poor as "un-American" and called it the biggest "structural" problem facing the nation on Tuesday. "Going forward, we have to deal with our longer structural problems. The biggest one, as far as I'm concerned, is that we're no longer socially mobile as a country," Bush said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program. "You have people that are born poor and there's a higher and higher probability that they're going to stay poor. And you have people that are born rich and there's a greater probability that they'll...

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush said he would strive to be like Lyndon Johnson, the Democrat famous for expanding the U.S. welfare state through the "Great Society," if he were elected president. According to the Miami Herald, Bush made those comments Wednesday night in San Antonio, Florida at Saint Leo University, while speaking about education, immigration, and energy policy. Bush did not address Johnson's Great Society and War on Poverty programs, about which Ronald Reagan once famously quipped, "We had a war on poverty, and poverty won." Instead, he was referencing Johnson's mastery of the so-called sausage-making process in Congress....

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush will speak for the first time at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, a clear sign that he is mulling a run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016. The American Conservative Union, which sponsors the conference, announced Tuesday that Bush will address the group, set for March 14-16 in National Harbor, Md., just outside Washington. Bush has been invited by the group to speak at CPAC several times, but this will be his first appearance. “We are pleased to announce that my friend Gov. Jeb Bush will be a featured speaker at CPAC 2013,”...

Rubio staked his marker in the education-reform debate last week when he delivered a speech at the Chamber of Commerce calling for policy changes to improve the skills of the American workforce. Education is not a high-profile topic in Washington, but some Republicans see it, along with immigration reform, as crucial to winning a key part of the electorate: women voters. “We need a champion in both areas. We lost the last election at the PTA meeting and the Hispanic chamber of commerce. Jeb Bush wins elections at the PTA meeting and Hispanic chamber,” said Don Gaetz, president of the...

(CNN) – Jeb Bush, Jr., the son of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, said Tuesday morning he "certainly" wants his dad to run for president. Asked on CNN's "Starting Point with Soledad O'Brien" if he wants to see his father make a White House bid, Bush said, "I don't know. No comment. I certainly hope so." "Giving you the full loaf of bread right there," he continued, smiling. – Follow the Ticker on Twitter: @PoliticalTicker Jeb Bush, the former governor, flirted with a presidential bid last year, but declined to run. With high popularity in the Hispanic community–his wife is...

<p>After a year in which Republicans had precious little for which to be thankful, perhaps it's not surprising that party leaders and the faithful spent a good chunk of the long Thanksgiving weekend obsessing instead over 2016 – specifically the possibility of a presidential run by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.</p>

CORAL GABLES, Fla. — Now that the Obama and Romney campaigns have closed their headquarters in Chicago and Boston, the attention of the political world is shifting to an office suite tucked behind the colonnades of the Biltmore Hotel complex here. The suite is where former Gov. Jeb Bush manages his consulting business, his education foundation and, now, the (very) early decision-making process for a possible presidential run in 2016.

(Reuters) - Former U.S. first lady Barbara Bush said on Thursday that she's ready to move beyond this year's campaign season, in comments that came at an Austin conference the week after President Barack Obama's re-election. "I'm tired now of the elections," Bush, who had endorsed Republican Mitt Romney, said at a forum on America's first ladies. "People spoke. Move on, get on with it. I want to do other things and not to be ugly."

"My personal view is that we need to get beyond where we are," said the former Florida governor, adding a moment later, "You can't ask people to join your cause and then send a signal that you're really not wanted. It just doesn't work." Bush has previously stated his concerns about the party's hard-line immigration stance and seemed careful on Sunday's "Meet The Press" to balance his views with a hearty endorsement of nominee-to-be Mitt Romney.

Dick Cheney has some advice for Mitt Romney on choosing a running mate: Don't pick another Sarah Palin. In his first interview since receiving a heart transplant in March, Cheney told ABC News, that John McCain's decision to pick Palin as his running mate in 2008 was "a mistake" - one that it is important from Romney not to repeat. It's subject on which Cheney has some unique experience. He helped Presidents Gerald Ford and George W. Bush lead their vice presidential searches and, of course, served as vice president for eight years. He's also privately offered some advice to...

**Exclusive** Late Thursday evening, Mitt Romney's presidential campaign launched a new fundraising drive, 'Meet The VP' -- just as Romney himself has narrowed the field of candidates to a handful, sources reveal. And a surprise name is now near the top of the list: Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice! The timing of the announcement is now set for 'coming weeks'. MORE It was Condi who received two standing ovations at Romney's Utah retreat a few weeks ago, and everyone left with her name on their lips. Rice made an extended argument for American leadership in the world.

In an interview, 36-year-old George P. Bush is as plain-spoken as his grandmother Barbara, who in his telling wears the pants in the Bush family. And while he says his father Jeb, the former governor of Florida, is sincere when he says he isn’t campaigning to join the Romney ticket, George P. also strongly suggests that his dad would say yes if asked: “If called upon to serve, he will,” he says flatly

ormer Florida Governor Jeb Bush endorsed Mitt Romney after Romney’s lopsided win in Illinois Tuesday night. The former Florida Governor – a Republican heavyweight – called on members of the party to coalesce behind Romney. “Congratulations to Governor Mitt Romney on his win last night and to all the candidates for a hard fought, thoughtful debate and primary season,” said Bush in a statement. “Primary elections have been held in thirty-four states, and now is the time for Republicans to unite behind Governor Romney and take our message of fiscal conservatism and job creation to all voters this fall. I...

A shocking report prepared by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for Prime Minister Putin on the just completed meeting between China’s Vice Premier Li Keqiang and former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger states that the Chinese were told that former Florida Governor John Ellis “Jeb” Bush, brother to the former US President and son of another, will be elected as the next American leader despite his currently not even being on the ballot.

JANUARY 24 Draft Jeb Bush A charismatic and accomplished governor can save the Republican party. Artur Davis In the early months of the election year, a polarizing president with a lackluster approval rating bided his time as the opposition party unraveled. Its nominating fight dissolved into chaos as the establishment front-runner collapsed, and an insurgent with a talent for galvanizing his party’s base surged, despite persistent fears about his electoral appeal beyond the party’s hardcore. A protracted primary fight ensued, with the insurgent and the party’s resistant establishment eviscerating each other for months; by the time it ran its course,...

Surprising. The odds of this happening, given the Bush family’s antipathy to Gingrich and Perry, couldn’t have been much higher than 98 or 99 percent. Second look at political dynasties backing establishment candidates? Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush plans to endorse former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney before the Jan. 31 Florida primary, a Florida GOP source close to Bush told BuzzFeed Thursday. The endorsement from Bush, who despite prodding from members of his famous family and prominent Republicans decided to sit out the 2012 contest, is the latest sign that the Republican establishment is coalescing around Romney after months publicly...

I was recently back in Texas to oversee some business. I shared some time with George P. Bush very recently. Nice kid. Pushing a real estate investment fund for distressed properties in Houston-Austin-Dallas Texas. Long story short, the machine (to the extent it still exists) is clearly supporting Romney. I doubt this surprises anyone, but I figured you'd want to know.

Jeb Bush, who has made clear he isn't running for president this cycle, raised some eyebrows on Sean Hannity's Fox News show Friday night with this comment about a potential campaign: "I don’t anticipate that. You never say never. This is a standard answer that I’ve kind of learned how to give which is — you never say never, but I never rule out being on Dancing with the Stars either … there are a lot of ways you can make a difference." He went on, with respect to whether any of the current field can win, "If you recall,...

onald Trump appeared on the O'Reilly Factor last night and proceeded to reiterate, yet again, how he doesn't think that Obama was born in the United States and that he is not showing his birth certificate because it might show that he is a Muslim and on and on. It was all of the same stuff he has been saying over and over and over and over and over for the past two weeks. Thankfully, Trump's point of view was not shared by the rest of O'Reilly's guests or even by O'Reilly himself. During their interview, O'Reilly expressed disbelief that...

Dana Pierino, a Bushie and Establishment person for sure, once again was promoting Jeb Bush as being a good candidate to run for President tonight on Bill O'Reilly (TED BAXTER), that she heard his brother GW Bush thinks he should run and so does Bush 41 and she made the case that actually Jeb doesn't have "Bush Baggage" and being a Bush right now might not be a such a bad thing. Bill and Dana were lamenting that there were no one out there who were "serious" to run. I knew what they were trying to get at. Bill said...