David Brooks: Jeb Bush candidacy still a possibility

The Daily Caller ^ | December 17, 2011 | Jeff Poor

[2ndDivisionVet]

Since it has been an unusual presidential election cycle with various front-runners throughout the horse race for the 2012 Republican nomination, Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne and New York Times columnist David Brooks say there is the possibility that anything can happen.

On Friday’s broadcast of NPR’s “All Things Considered,” in their regular weekly appearance, the two laid out scenarios that in any other election cycle would have been thought of as nearly impossible.

First, Dionne elaborated on a recent column about why he thinks former U.S. Ambassador to China and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman should not be ruled out as a winner in next year’s New Hampshire Republican primary.

“I said in the piece I was up in New Hampshire in Peterborough – I said it’s a bank shot, a long shot scenario,” Dionne said. “New Hampshire allows independents to cross over and vote in the Republican primary if they want to. Huntsman is well-liked among non-Republicans who see him as a reasonable guy. He’s actually much more conservative than all the liberals who like him realize, and that’s his second possibility, which is if Romney and Gingrich somehow destroy each other, or really go at each other – it creates an opening for another candidate. Is this a long shot as I said in the column? I wouldn’t bet $10,000 on it, but I think it’s at least a possibility.”

Brooks was skeptical of Dionne’s hypothesis, saying that Huntsman was “awkward” and lacked “crisp messaging,” “a theme,” and “a narrative.” However, he had his own long-shot prediction – the entry of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush into the race.

“I’m not holding out hope, but I do think it’s a remote possibility,” Brooks said of a Bush candidacy. “I do think the Republican Party is not going to nominate Newt Gingrich. If he emerges from the primaries, the early primaries as the front-runner, someone’s going to step in.”

[altura]

Thanks, Ann.

It seems to have become fashionable around here to diss President Bush.

It wasn’t done when he was president. He served two honorable terms and did a few things along the way that annoyed some people, but I would give anything if we had a man that good in the White House right now.

And if anybody uses the sad, tired old term heartless to me again, I can’t be responsible for what I will say.

I’m cranky anyway, as I bought too many presents and now I have to wrap them (and pay for them)

[mkjessup]

STOP!! Jeb did as much for Terry Schiavo as was humanly possible!! What did you wwant him to do, defy a judge and cause a constitutional crisis??? Jeb doesn’t have any blood on his hands but Michael and the judge have BUCKETS of BLOOD on theirs!!

First of all, get off of your Bush-worshiping podium and listen to some facts:

Let's start with the Constitution of the State of Florida:

"All natural persons, female and male alike, are equal before the law and have inalienable rights, among which are the right to enjoy and defend life and liberty, to pursue happiness...No person shall be deprived of any right because of race, religion, national origin, or physical disability."

The fact that a second rate probate judge (George W. Greer) made rulings that were used to kill Terri Schiavo does NOT negate the State Constitution, which Jeb Bush took an Oath to uphold. He did not do so. He chose to hide behind the CIVIL case and did NOT push the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to pursue a CRIMINAL investigation of the circumstances surrounding Terri Schiavo's condition, because there has NEVER been a criminal investigation into the whole sordid affair in Pinellas County Florida.

Governor Jeb Bush (and every Florida governor) was the Chief Law Enforcement Officer for the entire State. It was upon HIS shoulders that the fate of Terri Schiavo rested, and he could at any time, have directed the Florida Highway Patrol, the Florida National Guard, to surround that 'nursing home' and take Terri Schaivo into protective custody. A team of former federal prosecutors with the Thomas More Law Center provided then-Governor Bush with a legal opinion that he could take action, and in the months leading up to Terri's murder, he could as I have already stated, have directed the FDLE to begin a criminal investigation, and such an investigation would have mandated that Terri's life be preserved, as she would certainly be considered 'state's evidence' in such an action.

You prattle away about "did I want him to defy a judge and cause a constitutional crisis?" and I say HELL YES, why are you more concerned about defying a little pipsqueak runt of a judge in some Florida backwater, and the public image of former Governor Jeb Bush, instead of the life of Terri Schiavo?

When a human life is at stake, when the most defenseless of society are depending upon the highest elected official in the State, judges and local podunk sheriff's be damned, I'll tell you what I would have done had my name been Jeb Bush, I would have mobilized a phalanx of FDLE vehicles, backed up by every Florida Highway Patrol Trooper available, and I would have personally led that force to Pinellas Park, ordered any and every local law enforcement officer to stand aside, and stand down (at the point of a gun if necessary), and I would have ordered that Terri Schiavo be taken into protective custody and removed to a hospital facility under armed guard.

THAT is what a Governor with a spine does, he takes the risk, he takes personal responsibility for a helpless woman being slowly murdered by her venomous snake of an ex-husband and the judicial fiat of a stinking, corrupt judge, and let the chips fall where they may.

So don't hand me or anybody else this crap about "Jeb Bush did everything he could", the only thing Jeb Bush did was to take the coward's way out, he did whatever was necessary to cover his own fat ass, and just like Michael Schiavo and 'Judge' George W. Greer, Jeb also has Terri's blood on his hands, and that stain is NOT going to wash out, not now, not ever.

THOSE are the facts of the matter, deal with it.

[sand88]

And, by the way, I hate this trashing of the Bushes on Free Republic. It’s tacky and sick and he deserves better.

The Bushes rightly deserve contempt. In 88, the American people thought they were getting the third term of Reagan. Instead, a statist was revealed -- American with Disabilities act, read my lips, "no new taxes."

If Bush 41 served as a conservative we likely would not have had Clinton. Instead, his New World Order garbage, big spending, tax increaseds allowed Clinton to walk in.

Bush 43 was a disaster domestically -- no child left behind, Medicare Part-D, hardly ever using the veto pen, listening to that idiot Rove and not fighting back.

Again, the Statist governance of another Bush allowed Barack to waltz in.

41 and 43 clearly showed through their actions that they have NO reverence for our beloved Constitution. So, the Bushes rightly now deserve contempt. They are clearly on the side of Statists.

If our Republic is to survive, a conservative must be elected President.