Jeb Discovers His Apple Watch -- and That Voters Are Angry!

RUSH: Speaking of Jeb Bush, I assume by now that many of you have seen the little gif floating around, the gif of Jeb.

A gif is like a live photo, if you have an iPhone 6S or 6S Plus. It's actually a two- or three-second video that's looped over and over again. At any rate, Jeb was in an editorial board meeting with the Des Moines Register recently. He had an Apple Watch and it rang. Somebody had called him, and he had no idea what was happening. Now, he has been highly touted as an Apple Watch user. It has been reported over and over again that he loves the Apple Watch. The only problem with it, he says, is it doesn't have good battery life.

Which I have to tell you, I don't understand. I use the Apple Watch every day and when I hit the hay every night, it's got 40% or 45% battery on it. So I've never understood this claim of lousy battery life. Anyway, the gif shows Jeb looking at his watch. He can't believe what's happening, and all it is, is the watch will answer phone calls for you, then you transfer them to the phone if you want to pick them up and save battery life on your watch. It has a ring or some other kind of alert that lets you know.

And apparently for the first time, Jeb got a phone call, the watch picked up, and he didn't know what was happening. And the look on his face, I have to tell you, was sheer joy when he figured out that his watch can answer the phone and make phone calls. It was a fleeting glimpse, but it was sheer joy like a child discovering some magic is real. But what people are saying is, "Yeah, yeah. Now, next show him a supermarket scanner." You know, the old story about his dad not knowing what a supermarket scanner was. (That was a made-up story.)

And then there's this from the AP: "Jeb Bush says he misjudged the intensity of anger among Republican voters before his White House campaign and believes the country in 2016 is 'dramatically different' than in past elections." He has just discovered this, or he's saying that he just discovered this. In other words, a subhead would be: "Jeb Bush: Conservative lives matter." AP: "'I just think it's important to fight this fight,' a reflective Bush said in an interview with The Associated Press. 'I don't know what the consequences politically for me are.

"'But I do think it's important that the conservative party nominate a conservative, and someone that understands the role of America in the world.' ... 'This is dramatically different, because the country is dramatically different, and people are reflecting their anger and angst in a way that is very different than any time that I can recall,' Bush said. 'And I've been involved in politics for a long while.' Bush continued, 'So, in recognition of that, what I want to do is make sure that the conservative cause is advanced. Not just in talk shows and think-tanks and wherever conservatism is talked about in all sorts of different ways, but in governing.'"

What's your reaction to this, folks? I mean, Jeb, for all intents and purposes, has been in this campaign, what would you say, since last April or May? I mean, as soon as it was possible to get in it, everybody's known Jeb was running. And here we are and it was yesterday that he realized this, January 13th. He "says he misjudged the intensity of anger among Republican voters before his White House campaign," and now he understands. He now believes that the country's "'dramatically different' than in past elections." Can I translate this for you?

And, by the way, there's a strong chance this is true. There's a very, very strong chance that this is actually true, that he only now did figure this out. I think as part of this giant disconnect that I have often referenced, most recently yesterday, between people who live and govern in Washington and people who don't, that people who live and govern in Washington don't have the slightest idea what life is like for everybody else. It's strange; it's foreign. They do not know. They do not understand the fear. They don't understand the rage.

Nikki Haley running around criticizing the anger, criticizing the rage. They don't understand it. To them... See, this is a key: To the people in Washington, this is just your average Democrat president with your average Democrats-in-charge cycle, and there's gonna be an election coming up, and it's our turn to win -- and if we win, cool. If we lose, the Democrats will stay in, but that's about it. No realization of how the people in this country view the last seven years and the president and what he is doing to this country and to their future.

There has been a total lack of recognition, a total lack of understanding, a disconnect. To the people in Washington, the only thing that's different is that Democrats are in the White House. But that's a cyclical thing. It changes. There's nothing unusual other than that. "Obama's just your average Democrat. He's like LBJ. He's like JFK, Bill Clinton, like any other Democrat. He's no big deal. What Obama's doing is nothing any other Democrat hasn't done. We're up against Democrats. We're the Republicans," and yada yada.

It's a total ignorance of how the people who I think make this country work perceive the people leading this country and where the country is and where it's going. It's a total lack of understanding of the real fear that people have for themselves, for their families, for their yet-to-be-born grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and their fear overall for the country and thus the world. I can firmly believe that Jeb hasn't understood that. I can firmly believe that a lot of people inside the Beltway don't. In fact, when they hear about it, they mock it. They laugh at it and make fun of it, and they start thinking of people who think this way as kooks and oddballs and angry white males or what have you.

That's how Nikki Haley can go do a response to the State of the Union and criticize the people who are angry and tell the people that are angry to shut up. You only do that if you really, really don't understand how people feel and why.

RUSH: I think this is an important thing to take note of. Jeb Bush is admitting that he misjudged the intensity of anger among Republican voters and only just recently learned of it. Now, this anger has been going on since 2010. Now, you might also say the anger predates 2010. The anger, I think, actually began with the stimulus package, the Porkulus deal in 2009. But in 2009, 2010, Obamacare, the anger has been the focal point. The anger has been responsible for two Republican landslide victories in midterm elections in 2010 and 2014.

How do you miss this? How does anybody miss it? Or do they not miss it and just disregard it as illegitimate because it's the Republican base and it's really not that many people and it's not the kind of people we want to be in business with anyway because they're just perpetually mad and they don't understand how Washington works or whatever other rationalization. But how in the world do you miss it? It's been the identifying aspect of the Republican Party, a legitimate anger and rage.

And the rage has only been compounded with each of those two midterm elections, as Republicans campaigned and promised that they'd go back to Washington and stop as much of this as they could -- and they haven't tried. They haven't even tried. The Republicans attempted the Iran deal, for example, with the Corker Bill, removing the whole prospect for the whole thing from the concept of being a treaty. And then there have been all of these faux votes in stopping and repealing Obamacare, which never amounted to anything. There hasn't been any serious effort to stop Obama when it comes to illegal immigration or amnesty.

RUSH: So Nikki Haley does her response to the State of the Union. It draws quite a pointed reaction from several in the Republican base. Quite frankly, I'm shocked, because the last person that anybody would think would be part of the Washington Republican establishment is Nikki Haley. She appeared to be more closely aligned with Tea Party types, general, real, conservatives, and so forth -- and has been targeted by the left as such. So, anyway, she comes out, she does her response, and she focuses not on Obama and not on the Democrats but focuses on people and things going on in her own party she doesn't like.

They run around and they criticize various elements of their own party. The number one thing they focus in on is behavior. They don't like the anger. "The anger is very unbecoming. It's not who we are. We don't want people to think we're mad." And then shortly thereafter, after the reaction to Nikki Haley is registered, Jeb Bush tells the AP that he has seriously misjudged the intensity of anger among Republican voters and only recently -- only now -- has figured it out and is now promising since he realizes things are much, much different than he thought.

He's gonna go pedal-to-the-metal on bringing conservatism to the campaign and to the White House if he wins. How do you miss this anger? Clearly the establishment hasn't missed the anger. Clearly Nikki Haley talked about it. She isn't the only one. Inside the Beltway, Republicans talk about the anger, "angry white men," or they disparage it in any number of ways. Quite frequently. How did you miss this? How in the world do you miss it? Even if you codify it and say, "Well, I knew the anger was there, I just didn't realize it was intense." Come on! How do you miss the intensity here?

It's responsible for two overwhelming, landslide midterm election defeats. How do you not have that register if you're a Republican? Why do you not want to align yourself with the people showing up to vote and making those landslide happen? Why do you purposely reject them? It's just dumb politics more than anything else. I don't know if it's ideological or what. It's dumb politics. The Republican Party had a built-in coalition of anti-Obamacare Americans from all across the spectrum, and they did not seek to align themselves with that majority of American people.

Obviously Jeb does not listen to this program. No crime there. Don't misunderstand. But if Jeb had listened to a couple days here he would understand the intensity of the anger out there. But it's also clear, ladies and gentlemen, that many in the establishment don't like this anger. They think it's an immediate disqualifier. To them, Anger = Low Intellect. Anger = Bad Manners. Anger = Deficient Character. Or whatever else they think. It's not reserved and it's not mature and it's not responsible and it's not reasonable. It's out of control. It's uncontrollable, whatever it is.

Everything they have about anger is a negative, every correlation or association they have, and yet it's warranted. The people who are not mad at what's going on in this country, who are not mad that there haven't been any serious efforts to stop it, those are the people you have to question, in my view. This is no different than Bill Clinton being elected president 1993, inaugurated, and canceling his promised middle-class tax cut. "You know what? I had no idea how bad it was! The Bush people, when I did my orientation with them, they hid all the kinds of data from me and told me this economy's in so much worse shape. Nobody had any idea. We didn't know how bad it was."

Obama did the same thing in 2009. The reason for the stimulus was that Bush hasn't been honest with him about how bad things really were. "Things are so bad out there, we need even more drastic action than anybody even knew!" But, as I say here, the strange thing is, I think Jeb could be serious. I think the disconnect is that big. I think that there are all kinds of different people that see the anger and reject it as illegitimate, irresponsible, "not who we are." It's low character. It's not becoming to run around acting mad all the time.

This refusal to be angry or show it is a sign that you're not affected by it. It's a great indication that it doesn't affect or impact you and you don't really care. And that's the reason for the disconnect among many. Just now he sees it and he realizes the intensity of it, and so now he thinks it's important that "the conservative party..." What is "the conservative party," by the way? I would ask Mr. Snerdley, but he's busy screening calls. Do you know what the conservative party is?

Jeb says that it's "important that the conservative party nominate a conservative." I'm sure he means the Republican Party, but there is no conservative party. It's the whole point, and it just dovetails with the fact that Jeb and Christie have formed on accord to take Rubio out tonight. That's the reported plan from Chris Stirewalt.

Look at this headline. This is from RedState.com, the blog. "Democrats: Special Forces Who Were On The Ground In Benghazi Are Liars." This takes a lot of nerve. Next thing you know they're gonna call the people on board the two boats in Iran liars. "It takes a lot of nerve to say to somebody in the special forces, 'Youâ€™re a liar.' Especially when youâ€™re a Democrat politician and your allegiance is not to the truth so much as it is to seeing Hillary Clinton being elected President."

They're talking about the movie "13 hours." You know, the strangest thing happened. I was offered a DVD of this movie with captioning 'cause I can't watch it without captioning in it. And the very next day I got a note that said the offer has been withdrawn. For security reasons we're not gonna let a DVD out. I said, "Okay, that's fine, but how did it get cleared in the first place?" So, anyway, I will not see it 'til it comes out, unless I get a pirated copy. Just kidding. Just to screw with Paramount there.

CALLER: Just one quick point. Jeb Bush says he doesn't understand the intensity. They all understand the intensity of the anger. It's the breadth of the anger that is a shock to them. If they didn't understand the intensity of the anger, they wouldn't be calling us kooks. That's what the intensity's all about. It's how many people that are angry. That's what they don't understand.

RUSH: I think that's a pretty brilliant conclusion out there, Steve. Not surprised you are in this audience. I think that's exactly right. See, it's impossible to miss this anger. That's my whole point. But I think you're right. I think they have misunderstood how widespread and how deep it is, and by widespread, I mean, it's beyond the Republican base. There's anger all over this country about a whole lot of things. And they have been in denial about that.

So I think you're right. They understand the intensity, 'cause they couldn't call us kook if they didn't. What are we kooky about? But I think Jeb probably is shocked at the widespread demographic nature. These are the same folks, establishment RINOs, who condemn Obama for capitulating to Iran with the ten hostages but don't understand that that's exactly what they're doing internally when they capitulate to Democrats themselves.

I’ve an Apple Watch. (Yes, fanboi here. I’m an app developer.)

Battery life is like modern smartphones: quit complaining and just get used to the fact you must recharge it every. single. night. Some might get 2-3 days out of it, but just throw it on the charger when going to bed.

Yes, you can take calls on it. No configuration necessary beyond pairing it with an iPhone (which you must do to use the Watch period). A bit awkward, but great for those moments when the phone is not handy (like you left it at your desk and you’re in a nearby room). Kinda startling/delightful the first time it happens.

Apparently Jeb just got his Watch and is going thru the normal stages of learning to use it. Thing is, when looking for a world leader & CiC, we want someone who doesn’t look startled by a watch - however sophisticated.

It’s gotten to the point that there is no fun in laughing at him anymore. Seriously, it’s like making fun of the autistic kid in class, and it’s kinda sad.

They don't like the anger. "The anger is very unbecoming. It's not who we are. We don't want people to think we're mad."

I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore. And I don't care if Jeb or anyone else in the GOPe doesn't want people to think I'm mad. Jeb should drop out of the race, before he stumbles on his face while playing with new toys.

Oh, they know anger.

They’re angry at us for not getting in line behind their chosen princes like we’re supposed to.

Accuse the enemy of what you do, ya know.

Third party? Hells bells dude, I’m just looking for “A Second Party!”

Get with the frick’n program.

You’re an idiot. Can I paraphrase Ronald “I didn’t leave the democrat party, they left me” Reagan? Do I need to?

Let me give you a multile choice quiz: which one am I?

___ Republican

___ Democrat

___ Pissed Off!

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