Free Republic

During the rare moments when Stephen Colbert wasn’t talking over him, Jeb! Bush said a couple of things the other night that go a long way to explaining why, with enough campaign cash to pay off the national debt and buy every adult in the lower-48 a Prius, Jeb!’s support as measured in the polls is stuck in the mid-single-digits. Warning: You should be sitting down for this. “I don’t think Barack Obama has bad motives,” Jeb! said. “I just think he’s wrong on a lot of issues.”

Thee self-described “joyful tortoise” in the race for the GOP presidential nomination is more angry than happy these days. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who promised an optimistic campaign focused on his record rather than attacks on his rivals, has departed from that approach and begun to forcefully confront front-runner Donald Trump. Just this week, Bush’s campaign released a video and an online quiz targeted at Trump supporters that played up Trump’s past support for abortion rights, universal healthcare and Democratic candidates, including front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton. He also got personal, going after Trump’s well-known phobia of germs.