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Land of Dynasties: Should we be disturbed by another Bush candidacy?
Weekly Standard ^ | 12/26/2014 | Jay Cost

Posted on 12/26/2014 8:12:00 PM PST by SeekAndFind

In mid-December, Jeb Bush announced his intention to explore a presidential bid. If he runs and wins the Republican nomination and then the election, he will be the third President Bush in 25 years. That unprecedented prospect has left many wondering: In a republic like ours, is it proper for one family to fill the executive seat so often?

The Bushes are not the first family to send multiple members to the White House. They join the Adamses (father John and son John Quincy), the Harrisons (grandfather William Henry and grandson Benjamin), and the Roosevelts (cousins Theodore and Franklin). But the Bushes are in a class by themselves for the speed with which one succeeded another—just eight years apart. And if the third Bush wins the top job after another interval of eight years, that will only make the exception more pronounced.

While we might fret about this for cultural reasons, we must acknowledge that it has not come about by accident. In fact, dynasties make a lot of sense for practical politicians. Acquiring the presidency is enormously challenging, and political dynasties ease at least some of the difficulties either in securing the nomination or in winning the general election. To put it bluntly, dynasties endure because they are politically useful.

Not surprisingly, then, political dynasties have actually been quite common in American history, though not always family-based. From the early 19th century into the 20th, there were three state-based political dynasties that were even more dominant than the Bushes.

The Virginia dynasty dominated the presidency for the first quarter of the nineteenth century. President Thomas Jefferson (1801-09) was succeeded by James Madison (1809-17), then James Monroe (1817-25). Strictly on merit, Jefferson’s and Madison’s elections were eminently sensible—but Monroe’s less so.

(Excerpt) Read more at weeklystandard.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2016; 2016election; 2020election; dynasties; dynasty; election2016; election2020; grifters; jebbush; presidenttrump; uniparty; whiteprivilege
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To: Carthego delenda est

21 posted on 12/26/2014 8:50:19 PM PST by Repeal The 17th (We have met the enemy and he is us.)
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To: Repeal The 17th

From the expression on Billygoat’s face, it looks like he just got a radar-lock on some poor girl.
He’s thinking how to shortstop her before Hillary gets wind.


22 posted on 12/26/2014 8:54:33 PM PST by tumblindice (America's founding fathers: all armed conservatives.)
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To: Repeal The 17th

;)


23 posted on 12/26/2014 8:54:38 PM PST by Carthego delenda est
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To: SeekAndFind; stephenjohnbanker; Gilbo_3; Impy; NFHale; GOPsterinMA; BillyBoy; fieldmarshaldj; ...
Another Bush would be great!


24 posted on 12/26/2014 8:55:42 PM PST by sickoflibs (King Obama : 'The debate is over. The time for talk is over. Just follow my commands you serfs""')
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To: tumblindice; Carthego delenda est

What does it say on the can in his hand?
I can’t make it out.


25 posted on 12/26/2014 8:56:05 PM PST by Repeal The 17th (We have met the enemy and he is us.)
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To: Repeal The 17th

Diet Pepsi


26 posted on 12/26/2014 8:59:11 PM PST by freepersup (Patrolling the waters off Free Republic one dhow at a time.)
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To: freepersup; tumblindice; Carthego delenda est

he looks like such a goober


27 posted on 12/26/2014 9:02:35 PM PST by Repeal The 17th (We have met the enemy and he is us.)
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To: doc1019

I agree about 42 his major problem was his financial people were all from Goldman-sachs. all crooks all the time.


28 posted on 12/26/2014 9:03:38 PM PST by kvanbrunt2 (civil law: commanding what is right and prohibiting what is wrong Blackstone Commentaries I p44)
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To: mylife
RE: Let us all be thankful that Obama has no family.

REALLY?

29 posted on 12/26/2014 9:05:40 PM PST by SeekAndFind (If at first you don't succeed, put it out for beta test.)
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To: C210N

Problem is only one rino will run and hukabee and the conservatives will split the primary/crossover voters. game over hillary/michelle obama ticket wins.


30 posted on 12/26/2014 9:07:21 PM PST by kvanbrunt2 (civil law: commanding what is right and prohibiting what is wrong Blackstone Commentaries I p44)
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To: Repeal The 17th

unbelievable photo before or after wheel chair for wallace and bill’s got his eye on some big bootee. his peroni member is poken out the pants. these people are all a pile of shiite.


31 posted on 12/26/2014 9:13:09 PM PST by kvanbrunt2 (civil law: commanding what is right and prohibiting what is wrong Blackstone Commentaries I p44)
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To: SeekAndFind

Mike’s looking pretty normal there...almost pulling off the “woman” look.


32 posted on 12/26/2014 9:13:30 PM PST by ROCKLOBSTER (Celebrate "Republicans Freed the Slaves Month")
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To: SeekAndFind

The neocon rag is starting the pre-invasion bombardment.


33 posted on 12/26/2014 9:15:21 PM PST by DesertRhino (I was standing with a rifle, waiting for soviet paratroopers, but communists just ran for office.)
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To: Repeal The 17th

local diet pepsi/coke he and wallace hw has a mountain dew. Bill looks like he will put his peroni into the pie that day and bite her lip with put an ice on it kinda charm that he has.


34 posted on 12/26/2014 9:17:47 PM PST by kvanbrunt2 (civil law: commanding what is right and prohibiting what is wrong Blackstone Commentaries I p44)
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To: kvanbrunt2; tumblindice; Carthego delenda est

tough to say if wallace is in a wheelchair or not in the photo


35 posted on 12/26/2014 9:19:33 PM PST by Repeal The 17th (We have met the enemy and he is us.)
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To: Repeal The 17th

Head slap, eye roll, great sigh.

That those three “characters” are gathered together in the same image... is a WTF moment, if EVER there was one.

I’m beginning to think that the naysayers around here might be right in that we are BEYOND the tipping point.


36 posted on 12/26/2014 9:23:29 PM PST by freepersup (Patrolling the waters off Free Republic one dhow at a time.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Bush / Clinton 2016!


37 posted on 12/26/2014 9:27:19 PM PST by Uncle Miltie (Boner and McTurtle funded Amnesty and 0bamaCare)
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To: freepersup; kvanbrunt2; tumblindice; Carthego delenda est

The assassination attempt on George Wallace was in 1972.
-
from wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Wallace):
On May 15, 1972, he was shot five times
while campaigning at the Laurel Shopping Center in Laurel, Maryland
in the abdomen and chest, and one of the bullets lodged in Wallace’s spinal column,
leaving him paralyzed from the waist down for the rest of his life.
After the shooting, Wallace won primaries in Maryland and Michigan,
but his near assassination effectively ended his campaign. From his wheelchair,
Wallace spoke on July 11, 1972, at the Democratic National Convention in Miami Beach, Florida.


38 posted on 12/26/2014 9:28:43 PM PST by Repeal The 17th (We have met the enemy and he is us.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Jay Cost the brown-nosed reporter... come on, sing along!


39 posted on 12/26/2014 9:52:40 PM PST by Pining_4_TX (All those who were appointed to eternal life believed. Acts 13:48)
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To: Repeal The 17th

Wallace is in a wheelchair. You can see the right armrest just inside and below his right elbow. The end of the left armrest is visible right next to the point of his left elbow.

Clinton and Bush’s chairs have no armrests.


40 posted on 12/26/2014 10:14:08 PM PST by SaxxonWoods (Life is good.)
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