Posted on 04/08/2014 3:17:57 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
The clip comes from Politico but the translation comes from Mark Krikorian:
Karl Rove to Jeb Bush: Wait til _after_ the election to say what you really think http://t.co/Dk3JXnjhmj
— Mark Krikorian (@MarkSKrikorian) April 8, 2014
The weirdest thing to me about Jeb’s “act of love” comment is that, as recently as last year, he was positioning himself as some sort of hardliner on the citizenship issue. Remember? No citizenship for illegals, he said; permanent residency is fine but to grant them full citizen privileges would offend the rule of law. Fast-forward a year and now lawbreaking is an act of love, something a compassionate nation surely wouldn’t punish with perpetual second-class status. I don’t know how he reconciles that.
Maybe it’s as simple as him reacting to Rubio’s political position in both cases. A year ago, Rubio was getting hammered by the right for backing the Gang of Eight bill. Jeb may have concluded that there was room to his right in the 2016 primaries by running as a “no citizenship” candidate. A year later, Rubio’s all but abandoned the Gang of Eight bill as being too weak and has tacked back to the right via foreign policy and ObamaCare. Change of plans for Jeb, then: Now there’s room to Rubio’s left in the field. That’s where “act of love” came from, I guess, as a signal to the centrists — especially rich, business-minded, amnesty-supporting centrists who are trying to settle on a champion — that Bush would stand up to the righty candidates who’ll be left fighting over the anti-amnesty vote. But even so, “act of love” is such an odd and needlessly provocative way of putting things. I think Rove’s consternation here is legit. He wants a pro-amnesty candidate but he doesn’t want one who’s going to dare conservatives to knock him down the way Perry unwittingly did with his remark in 2011 about in-state tuition for illegals being a simple matter of “having a heart.” Like Krikorian said yesterday, if border-hopping is an act of love, border enforcement is necessarily a form of hate. Is that the message that’s going to win this guy the Republican nomination?
Could be that Mickey Kaus is right that this is just a clever ploy by Jeb to help his protege Rubio. The squishier Bush gets on amnesty, the easier it is for Rubio to attack him as a RINO, which helps Rubio rebuild conservative cred. Or maybe Jeb secretly agrees with me and WaPo that the entire Republican field reeks on immigration and therefore he might as well start pandering to the donor class and to Latino voters now. After all, who’s going to attack him harshly for the “act of love” comment? Cruz? Jeb doesn’t really need to worry about Cruz; by the time the race is down to the two of them, Bushworld will be tearing Cruz limb from limb with ads about how he’s a radical and borderline anarchist. Jeb needs to win the center first and realistically no centrist candidate is going to go to the mat on the “act of love” soundbite for fear of alienating Latinos. The question is, is that sort of rhetoric so squishy that even centrist voters will start looking at each other sideways over it? That’s what Rove’s worried about, I think.
And yeah, I do think he’ll run. Steve Hayes is right: A guy who’s already thinking about his soundbites being caught on tape is a guy who’s thinking very seriously of jumping in.
Rove: Jeb, will you tone it down on what we really think. We need conservatives to vote for us, but if you keep flapping your gums like this we’ll never get you into the POTUS spot! Just act conservative! Inside words are for us. Outside words are for them.
I hate the idea of Jeb Bush running. But now I am thinking it is maybe okay. No Republican can win in 2016. Let the left wing of the party lose again.
Jebba-the-Bush
No Thanks!
Hell will freeze over before I vote for another Bush !
I don’t agree with Karl Rove much but this time he’s right. Jeb Bush blew it big time with this act of love junk. How about drug dealers selling dope as an “act of Love” or terrorists setting bombs? Jeb will never be president—that’s why the Democrats and Media will do all in their power to get the Vichy Republicans to select him.
“Don’t do it if it’s not on my white board, Jeb”.
Bush sucks! All you Bushbots suck too.
Yeah yall say that now but back in 2000 and 2004 just about everyone here was all in for GW Bush.
it is 2014 not 1914
Rove people make their choices 12 months before elections, not 2 weeks. (hint it is not your opinion that has been shown as winners)
I've been caught stealing;
once when I was 5...
I enjoy stealing.
It's just as simple as that.
Well, it's just a simple fact.
When I want something,
and I don't want to pay for it.
Bush v Clinton = no vote for POTUS.
Rove and Jeb have become communists. Anything in favor of the instinct of self protection is destroyed by these fanatic globalist traitors.
great advice from the world’s greatest consultant :
put the toothpaste back in the tube.
what a dope.
“tone it down...”
Too late. That hemorrhoid is already sticking out, Karl...
“Hey Jeb, after the election we will have more flexibility.”
“All I needed to know about Jeb I learned when he left Terri Schiavo to die”
______________________________________________
You’re exactly right. That’s how I feel, too. He certainly revealed himself then.
“No Republican can win in 2016. Let the left wing of the party lose again.”
_____________________________________
I understand the sentiment—except for the consequences of Supreme Court nominations.
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