Posted on 02/27/2015 8:03:35 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Seeing some oohing and aahing online this afternoon among political media that Jeb didnt pander to CPACs very conservative crowd on Common Core or immigration (he stuck to his guns!), but what would he have gained by doing that? Remember, for all the hype in 2012 that Romney was shifting to the center to run as a technocrat instead of as the culture warrior he ran as in 2008, he was still a fairly doctrinaire righty on most issues, the notable exception of RomneyCare aside. Thats what the severely conservative nonsense was all about in his CPAC speech three years ago. Thats also why he was a hard-ass about self-deportation as a solution to illegal immigration, a position that he alone seemed to hold among the amnesty-fan donor class from which he hails. (Im convinced that self-deportation is to Romney 2012 what traditional marriage was to Obama 2008, although well never know for sure.) Romney worried that, with the tea party in ascendance during Obamas first term, he could win the GOP nomination but be crippled by recalcitrant conservatives who refused to vote for him in the general election. Thats why he insisted on pandering to them, I think partly because he thought he could grab some righty votes here and there in the primaries as the most obviously electable candidate in the field and partly just to stay on conservatives good side so that theyd turn out for him.
Jebs coming from a different place. For one thing, there are formidable candidates in the field in Scott Walker and Marco Rubio who are arguably as electable as Bush is and with whom hell have to compete for dollars among the country-club set. He doesnt (yet) have a stranglehold on the business class like Romney did. Bushs I wont pander shtick has also generated an early animosity among righties that wasnt quite there for the eager-to-please Romney, who at least seemed like he wanted conservatives to like him. Bushs aloofness is more Huntsman-esque. And the centrists of the donor class who are bankrolling him love it, of course. Theyre sick to death of tea partiers whining about the establishment and they finally have a candidate whos unapologetic about sharing their views. Furthermore, it was establishmentarians even more than tea partiers who thrived in the 2014 midterms. They have the momentum within the GOP right now, not righties, so why should they tolerate their champion pandering to right-wingers like they did with Mitt?
So heres Jeb, knowing all of that and having already all but written off conservative votes, wondering what to do with his Q&A at CPAC today. Should he reverse course and start pandering to righties? If he did, wed laugh at him while his centrist business-minded base would recoil in horror. Or should he stick to his guns, earning a little grudging respect from conservatives that he came onto their turf and refused to pander while impressing establishmentarians that he means what he says about running as a loud-and-proud centrist? Its a no-brainer. In fact, for all the jokes today about this being Jebs moment to show he too is severely conservative, Bush was actually trying to do the opposite of what Romney was doing with that speech. Mitt gave that speech because he wanted to prove to CPACs audience of grassroots conservatives that he was one of them. Jeb gave todays Q&A to prove to people who <>arent at CPAC that hes one of them and not afraid to broadcast that fact at ground zero of the conservative movement. How that ends for him in November 2016 if hes the nominee, I dont know. Presumably he thinks it doesnt matter how much righties dislike him since theyll inevitably dislike Hillary more. Hes not wrong.
Here he is endorsing a path to legalization for illegals a position held by every Republican candidate in the field, I hasten to remind you followed by Laura Ingraham unloading on him in a speech at CPAC earlier this morning. Jeb also said today that he supports traditional marriage. Mark that down for easy reference for the inevitable hes evolved news circa spring 2018. Exit quotation from Ingraham: The idea that we should conduct any kind of coronation because 50 rich families decide who will best decide their interests? No way, Jose.
(VIDEOS-AT-LINK)
I support a pathway to Mexico for Jebster Bush.
I held my nose and voted for Romney and for McCain. They both lost.
I’ll not do it again.
Cruz, Walker, or I sit this one out. It’s as simple as that.
Seriously, Amnesty aside, Mexican lobbyist J. Bush looked awful at CPAC. He has no jawline, no apparent muscles in his entire body.
Bye fat boy. Adios amigo!!
Look at this fool, I mean just look at him. What a friggin' embarrassment he is.
I want Cruz or Walker too but if you sit this one out like the ones who sat out the last two elections then we will get Hillary.
Better yet, I think he said :
“Secure our borders first”
It was easy to not vote for Romney, McCain I voted for because of Palin.
The nerve of this POS Jeb Bush to even run!
His one term father couldn’t parlay WINNING THE COLD WAR into beating Clinton and his two term brother REFUSED TO COUNTER ATTACK DOMESTIC MARXISTS for 8 years and created DHS and TSA.
He is obviously out of his goddamned mind, thinks he’s royalty, and is so demented that he believes he can be nominated pushing amnesty for illegal aliens.
Going to spend a billion dollars too, have to believe that the consultants and lobbyists are encouraging this FOOL because they need the payday.
He’s a freakin psycho.
He always looks to me like he slid out of a jello mold.
I believe he brought his own peanut galley in for his Q&A with Hannity. It was ridiculous.
When your very first act in stepping over the border is to commit a felony, there goes THAT idea.
TX will vote for Jebbie; it has already voted 70 percent plus for George P. in 2014.
And yet, he packed the gallery with his own ringers:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3262511/posts
Which explains how he got so much love from a "conservative" gathering.
Agree wholeheartedly. Obama needed ousting at the last election. Staying home has brought on another 4 years of vicious EOs, loss of even more rights and now net “neutrality,” the only true method of free speech left to the citizenry.
Staying home is not an option. I sometimes wonder whose side they’re on. This method is a well known psyops to get those against us elected.
Read my lips...NO MORE BUSHES.
You go Jeb- to the National Socialist Democratic Party.
Is that his victory walk? He walks like Obama the wuss.
I do not know what to call that other than the hey look at me, I’m a complete douchebag shuffle.
Not true.
One of he last acts of the GOP house in 2006 was to put up a bill making it a felony and the Dems made such a stink about it that it failed to pass even that house.
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