Free Republic

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republican Jeb Bush’s struggling presidential campaign is cutting salaries across the board and reducing staff in a money-saving effort intended to concentrate resources on early voting states, an internal memo said on Friday. The memo, seen by Reuters, said payroll costs were being slashed by 40 percent and staff at the campaign’s Miami headquarters drastically cut back with some workers offered positions at reduced pay in states that vote early in the nominating process, such as New Hampshire, Iowa, South Carolina and Nevada. The move follows a dramatic fall in Republican voters’ support for Bush’s attempt to...

Jeb Bush is trying to capitalize off of Donald Trump’s attacks on his brother, former President George W. Bush, asking supports to donate to “fight back against Donald Trump.” “If you believe as I do that my brother kept this country safe and strong after those horrific attacks, then I need you to donate $5 and fight back against Donald Trump,” Bush’s campaign said in an email to supporters with a subject line reading, “Help defend my brother.”

Back in the days of Richard Nixon and Watergate, Donald Segretti had a word for it. Unfortunately, I can’t use that word in a family newspaper, but suffice it to say it had something to do with rats and everything to do with a vulgarism for political dirty tricks: using plants and double-agents in order to embarrass a candidate and boost their own man’s chances.Last week it was GOP front-runner Donald Trump’s turn to get, well, ratfreaked. A young woman at a campaign event in New Hampshire — self-righteous, hands on hips, a-quiver with indignation — popped up to declare,...

Portsmouth, New Hampshire (CNN). Jeb Bush scored a key New Hampshire endorsement Wednesday, picking up the support of State Senate President Chuck Morse, who will serve as a state co-chair. Morse, who has lead the New Hampshire Senate since 2013, is the state's highest-ranking Republican elected official to make an endorsement this presidential election cycle.

Here’s yet another sign of how crazy the 2016 presidential race can be: A fake candidate received more votes in a straw poll than Jeb Bush. Honest. While Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul won the Republican Liberty Caucus straw poll with an “approval voting” of 57.1 percent, Bush finished in 13th place with a dismal 1.2 percent. Approval voting allows voters to give the nod to more than one candidate, and a number of them gave it to “Honest” Gil Fulbright, a very fake candidate, who finished a very real 1.5 percent of the vote. We’ve seen our fair share of...

Hundreds of donors to Jeb Bush's presidential campaign will gather later this month in Houston. They'll shake hands with a pair of former presidents, and high-profile lieutenants of the former Florida governor will push them to write generous checks. This weekend in Las Vegas, dozens of donors met up with Marco Rubio. They ate fast-food hamburgers, shook hands with a celebrity pawn-shop owner and played flag football with the Florida senator. "I'd say he threw five interceptions, maybe three or four touchdown passes," Wayne Berman, Rubio's national finance chairman, said playfully. "There were a lot of middle aged guys trying...

Bedford, New Hampshire (CNN)Jeb Bush and Donald Trump clashed over how to handle the Syrian refugee crisis -- and just about everything else, including whether Bush is really friends with Marco Rubio -- during dueling Wednesday night town hall events in New Hampshire. By the end of the night, Bush had even told Trump to put on his "big boy pants." In their most substantive policy dispute, the two disagreed sharply over whether refugees who fled the Middle East amid ISIS' rise should be allowed in the United States. "I think we're duty-bound to provide support," Bush said in Bedford.

Jeb Bush suggested on Thursday that he wants to promise African-American voters "hope and aspiration" rather than "free stuff." Asked by a white man at a South Carolina event how he planned to reach out to the black community, Bush responded: "Our message is one of hope and aspiration. It isn't one of division and get in line and we'll take care of you with free stuff. Our message is one that is uplifting — that says you can achieve earned success." The comment, which was first highlighted by the Washington Post, is akin to remarks made by Mitt Romney...

The No. 1 target of Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump's insults said in a Thursday interview that he finds the trash-talk "amusing." Trump constantly calls former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) a "low-energy" person, among other campaign-trail taunts. Bush said on Fox News' "Special Report with Bret Baier" that the attacks don't bother him. "No, because I work my tail off. I find it amusing," Bush said, according to an advance transcript provided by Fox News. He added that he doesn't find all of Trump's statement funny, however — particularly the stuff he labeled divisive. "Most of what Trump says...

An invigorated Jeb Bush defied his party’s lurch to the right over immigration on Monday with a passionate speech to the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, in which he called for a path to legal citizenship for undocumented migrants. Fresh from a presidential debate that saw him criticized for speaking Spanish, lacking energy and having a Mexican wife, the former Florida governor took the jibes from Donald Trump and appeared to feed off them before an audience of business leaders in Houston. “Earned legal status is the dignified way, the practical way, the American way of solving the problem of 12...

Bush criticises Vermont senator’s spending plans and attacks GOP rival for failing to correct a man for saying Barack Obama was ‘not even an American An energised Jeb Bush has said Bernie Sanders is the “front runner” in the Democratic presidential race as he used a Republican rally to rail against the Vermont senator’s proposals. Bush told the Mackinac Republican leadership conference Sanders is the leading Democrat in a nod to recent polls showing the senator has taken the lead from Hillary Clinton in the crucial early voting state of Iowa. It was not all niceties, however. Bush proceeded to...

[SNIP] Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush triggered boos when he defended his early support for the Common Core education standards, a policy developed by state leaders in both parties that has become a target of tea party ire. "I'm for higher standards, and Common Core standards are higher than the standards that exist," Bush said before being interrupted by boos. "If South Carolina wants to be without Common Core standards, great, just make sure the standards that you apply are higher than the ones before you had Common Core. Standards matter. Accountability matters." [SNIP]

Twenty-four hours after his debate performance in front of an audience of 23 million Wednesday night, Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush appeared in front of a more humbling number: about 100. As the Washington Post’s David Weigal and Ed O’Keefe reported, Mr. Bush’s first post-debate rally took place in a half-full Las Vegas rec center room.

Apparently Jeb Bush’s focus on “The Donald” has become quite personal. Bush is said to be “deeply disappointed” that the media and corporate attacks on Mr. Trump have only made the outspoken billionaire’s appeal to voters that much stronger. It is a political dynamic for which Bush political operatives are increasingly confused and concerned over. Those concerns were said to be given some salve in the form of assurances from Bill Clinton during a personal call he had with Jeb Bush two days earlier. While most of that conversation remains private, Jeb did share with others that the former president...

I am Dorkus, King of All Dorkhood.

Jeb, "We recognize the commitment to someone who has devoted her life to public service..." https://instagram.com/p/7GXcgxGhbG/

GOP presidential candidate former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is responding to GOP frontrunner Donald Trump’s video posted Monday on Instagram mocking Bush’s characterization of illegal immigration as an “act of love.” Bush posted on Twitter: Who's the real @realDonaldTrump? He donated to sanctuary city supporting @NancyPelosi and called her “The Greatest.”

We can only hope. There are signs that Jeb Bush’s fundraising juggernaut is losing some momentum, after banking a stunning $120 million for his campaign and super PAC in the first half of the year. A prominent Florida donor backing Bush said the former Sunshine State governor and his supporting super PAC are having to work even harder to keep up the pace, as hard-money contributions have been harder to come by in recent weeks. “The debate performance scared a few people,” said Brian Ballard, a Tallahassee lobbyist backing Bush. “But I think the campaign’s trouble raising money right now...

We’ve all seen the photo-chopped pic of Jebby’s head, but often comedy and art are not far from reality. I’ll be politically correct and not use the “R” word, but it seems that he might have a case of that ol’ blue-blood bad DNA. He always talks and acts very slow and deliberate and (seriously) reminds me of the guy who would gather our shopping carts at the local supermarket. I really shouldn’t talk - as I have some of that in my lineage myself -but I can’t help but wonder. These are not photoshopped as far as I can...

While trying to soothe feelings among Hispanics for use of the term “anchor babies,” former Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida appears to have offended some in the Asian-American community. Mr. Bush said on Monday that it was “ludicrous” to suggest that he was using a slur to talk about Hispanics when discussing birthright citizenship. He went on to explain that he was largely referring to people from Asian countries who sneak into the United States planning to give birth. “No matter which ethnic group you’re referring to, ‘anchor babies’ is a slur that stigmatizes children from birth,” said Representative Judy...