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When the applause dies for Jeb Bush (In desperation, using Terri Schiavo campaign ad)
The Miami Herald ^ | February 5, 2016 | Carl Hiaasen

Posted on 02/08/2016 2:29:25 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet

"Please clap," Jeb Bush wryly told a subdued crowd in New Hampshire last week, a moment that epitomizes his problem.

The pundits call it lack of traction. Among too many voters it's lack of interest.

If Jeb bombs in New Hampshire, he's done. Even if he doesn't quit the race, it's over.

A year ago this scenario was unimaginable. He had more money, more brains, more connections and more governing experience than any other Republican wanting to be president. Like many people, I thought his nomination would be a slam dunk.

The gaseous rise of Donald Trump upended everything, but not only for Jeb. The other candidates had to scramble, too. Some did a better job.

Sure, Iowa is a silly place to start a presidential campaign. Its demographics are freakishly white, and the GOP electorate is anomalously dominated by evangelical Christians.

Still, Jeb spent plenty of time and money there, and wound up with only 2.8 percent of the vote. That's miserably weak, and there's no positive spin.

What's happening? The answer is, for better or worse: Not much.

Jeb hasn't made any huge, embarrassing blunders on the campaign trail. He's not obnoxious or unlikable. True, he's not an electrifying personality, but in most election cycles that wouldn't disqualify him.

Obviously, he misjudged the depth of the anger and division within his own party. He isn't the only candidate to get caught off guard.

But he is the only Bush on the ballot, and that's probably hurt him more than it has helped. Jeb isn't the one who invaded Iraq and basically exploded the Mideast. He isn't the one who jacked up the deficit with war spending, then left the U.S. economy teetering on a cliff....

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


TOPICS: Florida; New Hampshire; Campaign News; Polls
KEYWORDS: bush; cruz; rubio; schiavo
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To: Smokin' Joe

I think this guy Stossel is going to, or has done a segment on this subject. He interviews some guy who apparently has it down to, as you say, buzz words, and colors too, in ads.


21 posted on 02/08/2016 3:58:10 AM PST by nikos1121 ('There is no substitute for the comfort supplied by the utterly taken for granted relationship.')
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Terri Schiavo is the reason I will never vote for Yeb.


22 posted on 02/08/2016 4:01:20 AM PST by Arm_Bears (I'll have what the gentleman on the floor is drinking.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
more brains

I stopped reading there.

23 posted on 02/08/2016 4:05:07 AM PST by KevinB (Barack Obama: Our first black, gay, Kenyan, Socialist, Muslim president!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

The writer of this piece spun everything all wrong.

For one thing, he mentioned the debt left by brother George Bush, without clarifying that the huge growth in debt began only after a Democrat Congress took over during his last two years as President (and has continued almost unabated since). Too many people do not understand that the President only submits a budget, but Congress holds the purse strings. Thus, increasing debt is squarely on Congress’ shoulders, not the President’s.

The author also misrepresented the Terri Schindler case, by calling her “brain-dead” (she was not), then “comatose” (which she also was not), and then characterizing Jeb’s half-hearted effort to save her as a government intrusion into a private family matter. GOP voters are not turning away from Jeb because he “intruded” into a family matter in which he had no business, but because he failed to save an innocent woman from being brutally murdered by an unloving husband who wanted the money that had been earmarked for her care.

Perhaps the author of this piece should try doing his homework before he tries to write an analytic piece about Republican politics. (To be fair, he probably misrepresents liberal views just as much—albeit spinning them into a more favorable light.)


24 posted on 02/08/2016 4:09:41 AM PST by exDemMom (Current visual of the hole the US continues to dig itself into: http://www.usdebtclock.org/)
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To: exDemMom

The writer of this article is a staple in South Florida. He is a liberal who has had his own agenda for years. He has worked for the Miami Herald for probably 30 years. He writes from his left view of life.


25 posted on 02/08/2016 4:25:01 AM PST by marygam (can we get to the election already?)
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To: marygam

Oh one more point on the author of the article. He is a pretty decent fiction novelist. His books are pretty humorous about characters he creates in a south Florida setting.
He should stick to writing books.


26 posted on 02/08/2016 4:27:27 AM PST by marygam (can we get to the election already?)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

***Such is Jeb’s desperation that he has a new campaign commercial using a photo of Terri Schiavo. She was the brain-dead woman whose husband and parents were locked in a legal fight over the continuation of life-support procedures.

As governor, Jeb inserted himself into the case, ultimately involving his president brother and Congress in the effort to keep a feeding tube in Schiavo, who’d been comatose for 13 years.

Eventually the courts put a stop to the political meddling, and she was allowed to die.***

Ugh! The writer and the Miami Herald have continued the misinformation campaign about Terri.


27 posted on 02/08/2016 4:36:05 AM PST by FamiliarFace
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

This guy described Iowa as “freakishly white.” Would he describe Washington DC, or any other place as “freakishly black”?


28 posted on 02/08/2016 4:43:42 AM PST by euram
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To: Guenevere

I don’t know where the flowers came from, but Fr. Pavone said there was a vase of flowers beside her death bed.

“Terri had not received a drop of water in nearly two weeks. As I reached out my hand to touch hers, I could also reach it out to touch the vase of flowers that was next to her, and that vase was filled with water,” Pavone recalls. “The flowers were nourished; Terri was deprived of nourishment. Court orders saw to it that none of us could give her some of the water that nourished the flowers.” http://www.lifenews.com/2015/03/31/ten-years-ago-today-terri-schiavo-lived-her-last-day-then-she-was-starved-to-death/

So yeah, there was water in the room, but not for Terri. There was food in the room, also not for Terri. Her estranged husband and other enemies had a pizza party over her dying body.

From Jeb’s perspective, it was all just a political game. When he thought it would benefit him politically, he supported Terri. When he thought siding with her would hurt his career, he turned on her.


29 posted on 02/08/2016 4:52:12 AM PST by BykrBayb (Lung cancer free since 11/9/07. Colon cancer free since 7/7/15. ~ Þ)
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To: Arthur McGowan

Jeb did the old tried and true Bush tactic:

1. Stand aside and do nothing

2. Let Liberals run wild until they achieve total victory

3. Complain that there wasn't a thing you could do because:

a. following procedure

b. following the law

c. let the process play out

d. rise above the fray

e. no legal standing to do anything

f. reaching across the aisle / bi-partisan

g. appeal to the Moderates



4. Once completely defeated, ask for donations to fight this injustice!

30 posted on 02/08/2016 4:53:11 AM PST by IDontLikeToPayTaxes
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To: BykrBayb

Thank- you.
...that’s what I remember...
...how demonic ...how wicked cruel to not let her have a drop of water

If that had been my child.....

Horrible for her parents


31 posted on 02/08/2016 4:57:29 AM PST by Guenevere (If.the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do....)
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To: BykrBayb

It’s always been a political calculation for Jeb, and many others.

God bless Terri and her family. Saints in our midst.


32 posted on 02/08/2016 5:11:17 AM PST by FamiliarFace
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To: Guenevere

Her mom wasn’t even allowed to put lip balm on her daughter’s dry cracked lips. An officer in the room leapt across the room to grab it from her before she could put it on Terri’s lips, and informed her that she and any others would be arrested if it were attempted again.


33 posted on 02/08/2016 5:14:30 AM PST by FamiliarFace
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To: Guenevere

I’m still amazed at how Terri’s family were able to maintain their faith and peaceful demeanor, under such horrific circumstances. How did they go through that, without being consumed by anger? Their faith in God was very strong, and remained so, even after Terri’s death.


34 posted on 02/08/2016 5:14:38 AM PST by BykrBayb (Lung cancer free since 11/9/07. Colon cancer free since 7/7/15. ~ Þ)
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To: Arthur McGowan

I wrote a letter to that disgusting liar of an author. I know they will not issue a retraction or an apology, but at least I gave him a piece of my mind.


35 posted on 02/08/2016 5:16:17 AM PST by FamiliarFace
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To: FamiliarFace

Yes, Saints indeed!


36 posted on 02/08/2016 5:17:02 AM PST by BykrBayb (Lung cancer free since 11/9/07. Colon cancer free since 7/7/15. ~ Þ)
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To: Arthur McGowan

“Does Jeb actually not remember that he murdered Terri Schiavo?”

He’s counting on the rest of us forgetting his cowardice and complicity.

There are still a few alleged freepers who insist that “Jeb did everything he could to save her”.


37 posted on 02/08/2016 5:19:08 AM PST by treetopsandroofs (Had FDR been GOP, there would have been no World Wars, just "The Great War" and "Roosevelt's Wars".)
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To: marygam

A friend of mine has suggested we read one of his books for our next book club meeting. I’m not sure I can now. He lies like the dickens!


38 posted on 02/08/2016 5:19:47 AM PST by FamiliarFace
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To: FamiliarFace

Thank you.


39 posted on 02/08/2016 5:24:06 AM PST by BykrBayb (Lung cancer free since 11/9/07. Colon cancer free since 7/7/15. ~ Þ)
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To: BykrBayb

Their faith sustained them.....

....However, the repercussions of what Jeb, the state of Florida and our government allowed ....
.....are still reverberating..

Accountability......maybe deferred by never forgotten


40 posted on 02/08/2016 5:24:49 AM PST by Guenevere (If.the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do....)
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