Posted on 09/23/2014 4:34:11 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Former Florida governor's likely candidacy reveals how desperate GOP establishment has become to avoid Rand Paul.
A dozen years after he ran his last political campaign, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is gearing up for a 2016 presidential bid – a campaign that would open up a new front in the Republican Party’s ongoing civil war.
Mike Allen reports in today’s Politico Playbook that according to Bush’s friends, he’s “leaning more yes than no” on launching a run. He’s campaigning for Republican candidates in Senate battlegrounds like North Carolina and Kansas, and Allen reports, “has headlined several fundraisers where the candidate COMES TO FLORIDA, where Jeb knows everyone.” The fundraisers, Allen writes, give us REASON TO THINK that Jeb will aim for a Bush restoration: “That means that the proceeds are all NEW MONEY for the guest, and the candidate gets to meet new supporters and build his or her own network.”
Bush’s constituency is largely the same one that helped Mitt Romney win the GOP nod in 2012 – rich conservative mega-donors seeking a candidate who will reliably promote corporate interests, without, say, making cringe-worthy assertions of a link between the HPV vaccine and mental challenges. As with Romney, Bush’s positions hardly differ from those of Michele Bachmann – he’s an opponent of LGBT equality, reproductive rights and Obamacare, and despite irking many conservatives by supporting immigration reform, he’s even backtracked on that issue to ingratiate himself to the GOP’s xenophobic base. There is, of course, the troubling matter of Bush’s support for education standards.
But while there are few discernible policy differences between the GOP’s “establishment” and Tea Party factions, that’s not to say a GOP civil war isn’t still underway. It’s a war that’s less about ideology than it is about image and priorities. Whereas Mike Huckabee will readily launch bigoted tirades against gay people, Bush will quietly oppose equal rights for LGBT citizens – and, if asked to comment on marriage equality, for instance, will say it’s all a distraction from the economy. The GOP’s backers on Wall Street may not share such retrograde views, but they’ve calculated that candidates like Bush stand a far better chance of winning the White House – and thereby advancing the corporate agenda – than the Huckabees and Cruzes of the party.
But are they right? For all the GOP elite’s eagerness to see another Bush presidency, there’s scant evidence that American voters are ready to see any such thing. In head-to-head match-ups against likely Democratic candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton, Bush performs worse than Tea Party favorites like Huckabee and Rand Paul (a candidate whose “independent” streak gives many donors discomfort), and barely outperforms Ted Cruz.
Evidence-based or no, however, the clamoring for a great establishment savior puts the lie to the conventional wisdom that the GOP is moving beyond the bitter divisions of 2010 and 2012. The establishment’s fear of a Tea Party nominee like Paul is palpable in its willingness to support a Bush candidacy and in the chatter that the latest Bridgegate news – Chris Christie is only an incompetent manager, not a scheming Don Corleone! – could mean that Christie is “poised” to return to the top of the GOP field. Whether – as in 2012 – the establishment gets its candidate remains to be seen. But there’s no doubt that the GOP civil war is hardly a thing of the past.
The planet is called Delusiontopia.....where they are having fantasies of a Rand Paul nomination - when the truth is, neither Jeb nor Rand is going to even be a factor.
This time I hope there are multiple RINO / establishment candidates splitting the RINO / establishment vote and a single conservative candidate. Only chance we’ve got.
Palin, Cruz, or LOSE.
A hundred years ago I thought Jeb was the guy. I wished he had run and won rather than GW.
I’ve changed my mind since then. He’s just another one who back-hands conservatives and wants to leave the border open.
Its not just that he’s not a conservative, but that he actually dislikes conservatives.
The MORE RINOs, the better. Let coalesce around ONE true constitutional conservative candidate —— TED CRUZ.
The GOPe’s are not going to run two RINO’S, Paul and Jeb.
That would split the RINO vote and allow a conservative to win.
Can’t have that.
I agree with the others. Its Cruz. Rand has disqualified himself, as has Jeb. I don’t see anyone else out there.
3 perhaps 4 people read Salon.
Can we convince Jeb to change parties? He’d make an OK Dem candidate.
No way would I be for Jeb or Rand, I hope the GOP can elect a Conservative and make up the numbers outside of probably sure blue state votes such as New York and California. Population centers seem to be a problem. Still, many governorships will remain red.
I’d like to see the names of Bush’s “friends” who are leaking this.
No way I’m going to support Bush, and I actually don’t think he’s going to run (too much stigma associated with the Bush name), but I’m highly suspicious that all of these anonymously sourced “Bush will run” stories that are sure to inflame a lot of Conservatives are popping up now, several weeks before elections that will determine control of the Senate.
Salon wishful thinking.
There is no real civil war except the inside the beltway cronies vs the rest of the united states.
remember DC sees “outside the beltway” as an insult.
Palin, Cruz, or LOSE.
YES!
Sure they could, because they’re not going to let a conservative anywhere near the nomination.
Saloon strikes again. Same “publication” that employs Joan Walsh.
Spit.
Paul= Teaparty? These gomers ARE delusional!
A hundred years ago I thought Jeb was the guy. I wished he had run and won rather than GW.
I’ve changed my mind since then. He’s just another one who back-hands conservatives and wants to leave the border open.
Its not just that he’s not a conservative, but that he actually dislikes conservatives.
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