(Hat tip Diogenesis for the pics.)
Posted on 03/30/2014 12:04:22 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
The chore of determining who is the inevitable candidate for Republicans – at least in the minds of beltway insiders and the media – is clearly becoming more difficult. But the Washington Post takes a swing at the problem this weekend as they delve into the number of big donors who are now courting Jeb Bush to get off the bench and toss his hat in the ring.
Many of the Republican Party’s most powerful insiders and financiers have begun a behind-the-scenes campaign to draft former Florida governor Jeb Bush into the 2016 presidential race, courting him and his intimates and starting talks on fundraising strategy.
Concerned that the George Washington Bridge traffic scandal has damaged New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s political standing and alarmed by the steady rise of Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.), prominent donors, conservative leaders and longtime operatives say they consider Bush the GOP’s brightest hope to win back the White House…
Many if not most of 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney’s major donors are reaching out to Bush and his confidants with phone calls, e-mails and invitations to meet, according to interviews with 30 senior Republicans. One bundler estimated that the “vast majority” of Romney’s top 100 donors would back Bush in a competitive nomination fight.
One fly in the ointment is that Bush is still insisting that he won’t be making a decision until the end of this year, or possibly the beginning of next year. It’s not an unreasonable position, since people are still working hard on the upcoming mid-terms, but it looks as if it’s frustrating to some of the serious bundlers who want to get to work early. For his part, Bush is still telling reporters that his decision will hinge on whether or not he can “run joyfully” for the nomination, since Republicans will need a standard bearer who can lift their spirits and bring a positive message.
That may not play well with the base these days, though. Bush isn’t just rusty from more than six years on the sidelines. He’s also racked up some serious hits among conservative voters for his positions on immigration and Common Core, among other things. Upon reading this piece, Dan Gainor of Media Research Center immediately took to Twitter with the following:
Post has big article about push to nominate Jeb Bush for GOP. I won't EVER vote for Jeb. If he gets nomination, mark me down as busy.
— Dan Gainor (@dangainor) March 30, 2014
I wouldn’t be too shocked to see more of that popping up. But in order for this next primary cycle to play out according to the preordained script, we have to have a big, conventional wisdom, establishment candidate to face down the grassroots upstarts, right? And if turns out that Christie is damaged goods and it’s not Bush, then who would it be?
The astroturf roots are coming!
You’ve lost once you’ve started negotiating with them.
Pence won’t run and Kasich is too much of a loose cannon for them—even though I expect they’d both be pro-amnesty and so end up taking us to the same liberal result.
Jeb won twice in a swing state. He can carry FL. I think its going to go to a Democrat with any one else on the ticket.
We’re in for a tough race in 2016 no matter who the GOP ends up nominating.
Our media is so corrupt that they can only come up with muckrake pieces like this for the sole reason to anger people.
The real potential candidates are those folks that the drive-bys think are beneath themselves therefore can't be considered by them...
You’ve got to be kidding me!
The pro-amnesty, pro-common core throwback to everything Bush?
The only candidate in the country that takes Hillary’s proto-dynasty, yesterday’s news disadvantages off the table?
That’s even worse than Romney as the only candidate who took Obamacare off the table in 2012.
What’s worse, is he’d probably end up worse for the country than Hillary. At least the GOP House would resist Hillary’s amnesty.
Yeah, yeah, yeah...I remember how the press in 1980 kept saying that Reagan couldn’t win. He wasn’t “electable”. I will not vote for Jeb Bush as he’ll be a replay of liberalism no matter what he claims during an election.
Pretty much agree. Much as I like Walker, he’s got some vulnerabilities, and as with Palin, the “John Doe” ethics allegations will go on and pull him into the muck regardless of innocence. And because he never graduated from college, they’ll call him “quitter” etc ad nauesum.
Daniels would be a very good candidate, he’s got the academic and administrative credentials and a solid track record that’s relatively free from controversy. The biggest question is whether he’s god the “fire in the belly” and is a strong enough personality to become a national candidate.
Either is preferable to the slate that ran in 2012. The best Republican Presidents have been governors or military leaders, I’m not sure it isn’t time to add “business leader” to that list but it’s getting almost too late for a contender to emerge.
Yes, only certain names are now qualified for higher office. Of the 300+ million citizens of these United States only a handful of families are capable of governing.
With voter fraud, low information voters, and a political party that chooses to alienate its own base at every opportunity to join with the rest of the established ruling elite, we may as well select a king and be done with.
Let them then hire their retainers to wage internal wars for the right to the crown while the rest of us become serfs with no say in our own destiny (since it seems to be happening anyway).
Fat boy. He's even more of an azz than Jeb, so I bet they like him even better.
Resulting in an election like the last two in which it doesn't matter to the globalist elitist back-stabbing ptb which one wins.
Another factor is that things look so good for 'pubs this next election cycle that the elite don't think they need the constitutional conservative vote to win elections.
That’s the way they look at it.
And if history is any guide, the GOP will end up nominating the establishment candidate. With money and backing, it will get its man.
Then again, if Hillary is running, she’ll probably win anyway so the party elite wants to lose honorably.
Bush is an Amnesty kingpin. He and his associates have spun up a bunch of groups to push it. Supporting Amnesty is like helping a stranger rob from your family.
Bush supports Common Core.
Jeb “el Heffe” Bush wants a dumbed-down population dependent on handouts and ruled by an elite class.
To ad insult, Bush complains that Americans don’t work hard enough and are not fertile enough.
Look past the expensive suit, he’s an America hating Low Life.
How tone deaf can they possibly be? Stay outta da Bushes!
Not a chance. Sorry, can’t do it. No more Bushes. And Jeb’s the most liberal of the lot, and then some.
Yeah, the “conservatives” are pretty sure of themselves next go around. I’m praying we aren’t disappointed but the opposition forces are some devious pieces of scat. Not to mention, how many “conservatives” running will be the same old song and dance despite their promises to the contrary?
Kasich is bad news. He went for the increased Medicare eligibility to appease the bloated hospital interests in OH. I don't think he's encountered a construction jobs boondoggle he doesn't embrace. He gave extra money to Cleveland's school system and to museums, sports areans and such. He was strangely silent when the feds closed landmarks when he should've/could've kept them open.
He could easily lose the next election for governor. All of his generous handouts won't win him dem votes, but it sure will turn off conservatives.
Please understand I wasn’t promoting either Kasich or Pence. I was just responding to who might be acceptable to the moneychangers in the GOPe if neither Bush nor Christie runs.
What about Scott Walker?
Another Bush for president, thread #179.
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