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The No. 1 target of Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump's insults said in a Thursday interview that he finds the trash-talk "amusing." Trump constantly calls former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) a "low-energy" person, among other campaign-trail taunts. Bush said on Fox News' "Special Report with Bret Baier" that the attacks don't bother him. "No, because I work my tail off. I find it amusing," Bush said, according to an advance transcript provided by Fox News. He added that he doesn't find all of Trump's statement funny, however — particularly the stuff he labeled divisive. "Most of what Trump says...

"You Can't Handle the Truth!!!" ---A Few Good Men.Apparently former CBS producer Mary Mapes can't handle the truth at least according to her portrayal by actress Cate Blanchett in the newly released movie trailer for the upcoming fictional movie "Truth." I say fictional because Mapes in the film somehow maintains the truth of her story about George W. Bush getting favorable treatment in the Texas Air National Guard based on documents that were proven to be forgeries.

Nativism is ascendant in the Republican Party. Donald Trump rose to the top of presidential primary polls after his attacks on Mexicans. His support increased when he proposed deporting millions of Hispanic undocumented immigrants. Ben Carson, adding to an already impressive list of daffy prescriptions, suggested that Muslims be barred from the presidency despite the Constitution’s unambiguous decree that the office is not subject to a religious test. Trump, Carson and others appealing to the insecurities of conservatives promise to “take back America” in part by turning back the great cultural tide of recent decades. Heavy immigration has muddied American...

Donald Trump is making the right decision to no longer appear on the Fox News Channel because the cable network is pulling for his nemesis Jeb Bush, political analyst Dick Morris says. "Let me say one thing that hasn't been said before on TV but I'm going to say it. Fox News is in the tank for Bush," Morris said Wednesday to Dennis Michael Lynch, guest host of "The Steve Malzberg Show." "Roger Ailes, the head of Fox News, was [President George H.W.] Bush's main guy and main strategist. I first met Roger in 1988 when he and I worked...

Jeb Bush assured reporters in Cedar Falls on Tuesday that “We are in it for the long haul,” and said he believes he’ll be able to pick up some supporters of Scott Walker in Iowa. Though he has nabbed one such backer who had been supporting Walker — Iowa state Rep. Terry Baxter, he’ll need a whole lot more if he’s going to be competitive in the Hawkeye State, according to a new Public Policy Poll released today. Donald Trump leads the field with 24 percent. Ben Carson is next with 17 percent, with Carly Fiorina now third there with...

A post-debate poll from Citizens United — provided exclusively to Breitbart News — finds that GOP frontrunner Donald Trump remains the clear favorite in the field, with almost 31 percent of the vote. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) gets 18.5 percent, Dr. Ben Carson earns 17.4 percent, and former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina takes 11.3 percent. Combined, that’s 78 percent for the four consummate political outsiders in the race. Washington establishment candidates, including Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, trail badly. “Seventy eight percent of our respondents have with their vote voiced their frustration with the...

“Operation Hummingbird” an identifier given (by me) to describe a very strategic approach of Karl Rove in getting Jeb Bush the republican nomination. “Hummingbird” describes a very a specific strategy to overcome a hurdle currently blocking Rove’s path, Donald Trump. Often it is easier to use a descriptive term, rather than spend 300 words having to re-explain a strategy as it expands and becomes increasingly visible over time. Candidate Jeb Bush attends Chamber of Commerce dinner with Fox’s Rupert Murdoch and Valerie Jarrett (December 2014) Australian billionaire Rupert Murdoch wants the Trans-Pacific Trade Deal approved. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce...

Less than a year after being elected to lead the oldest state agency in Texas, Land Commissioner George P. Bush has dramatically remade the General Land Office by ousting most of its longtime leaders and replacing many with people with ties to his campaign and family. Eleven of the top 18 officials on the agency’s organizational chart a year ago have been fired or forced out or have quit, and more could leave soon in an overhaul that Bush has described as a “reboot.” In their place, Bush, a former Fort Worth resident, has given top jobs to two of...

Pro-amnesty, Pro-gay marriage, and pro-abortion donors are powering former Florida Governor Jeb Bush’s fundraising operation. Bush, who is reportedly aiming to raise $100 million before he formally enters the race, will not give a speech at CPAC on Friday and instead participate in a question and answer session with Fox News host Sean Hannity. “All too often we’re associated with being ‘anti’ everything,” Bush lectured CPAC in 2013. “Way too many people believe Republicans are anti-immigrant, anti-woman, anti-science, anti-gay, anti-worker, and the list goes on.” Bush is attracting plenty of donors and staffers who wholeheartedly agree with him on the...

Marco Rubio has overtaken Jeb Bush among Florida Republicans, as he benefits from positive reviews of his performance in the most recent presidential debate. A Florida Atlantic University poll to be released Wednesday shows Rubio, the state's junior senator, is in second place in the Republican primary field in Florida. His political mentor, former Gov. Jeb Bush, is in third place. Donald Trump, the real estate investor, former reality TV show host and part-time Palm Beach resident, is in first place among Florida Republicans, as he is nationally. "Marco Rubio being that far ahead of Jeb Bush is surprising," said...

Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush said Tuesday that multiculturalism is bad for the United States....

Walker says he dropped out so someone would have a chance of beating Trump – but who?Scott Walker should have dropped out of the presidential race because he was an anti-worker cancer on the state of Wisconsin unfit to hold the office he has now, let alone the most important in the world. But instead Walker dropped out for the only reason any candidate for president drops out before the voting starts: he was running out of money. He's running out of money, of course, because he was a terrible candidate. He was a non-presence in the first two debates,...

On Monday afternoon, Iowa state senator Tom Shipley confidently stated that he was still an unswayed supporter of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, no matter what the polls said. "No, I'm not worried," Shipley told NBC News. "I'm still with him, and we've got a lot of time left." Five hours later, Walker was out of the presidential race. Walker's key Iowa leaders and endorsers were stunned by Walker's sudden exit from the 2016 race Monday evening, which came after a full weekend of vigorous campaigning in the Hawkeye State. Now, many are questioning who they will support next. "I was...

Link only due to copyright issues: http://onpolitics.usatoday.com/2015/09/22/republican-power-rankings-week-4-fiorina-trump-rubio/

An invigorated Jeb Bush defied his party’s lurch to the right over immigration on Monday with a passionate speech to the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, in which he called for a path to legal citizenship for undocumented migrants. Fresh from a presidential debate that saw him criticized for speaking Spanish, lacking energy and having a Mexican wife, the former Florida governor took the jibes from Donald Trump and appeared to feed off them before an audience of business leaders in Houston. “Earned legal status is the dignified way, the practical way, the American way of solving the problem of 12...

Donald Trump stands at 32 percent favorability right now, according to the latest Morning Consult tracking poll. Hugh Hewitt joins Morning Joe to discuss.

A strong performance in last week’s Republican presidential debate has raised former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina’s public profile, but not nearly enough to cut into real estate mogul Donald Trump’s lead over the rest of the GOP field. Trump takes 32 percent of the vote among self-identified Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, according to a new Morning Consult tracking poll — far ahead of retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson’s 12 percent and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush’s 11 percent. Fiorina finishes in fourth position, at 6 percent, just ahead of Sens. Marco Rubio (Fla.) and Ted Cruz (Texas), who clock in with...

He didn’t plan to say it. But two hours into the second Republican presidential debate, Jeb Bush took a firm stand. “He kept us safe,” he said. The quick and simple defense of his brother, former president George W. Bush, earned one of the loudest rounds of applause of the night. Aides said it was an impromptu decision spurred by an attack from Donald Trump, the GOP front-runner. But those four words refocused a campaign in desperate need of a “moment,” and signaled the extent to which Jeb Bush has become comfortable — even eager — to highlight rather than...

It would, of course, be totally ridiculous for Jeb Bush  to drop out of the 2016 Republican primary this week. He's got a ton of money in the bank, a ton more money in his super PAC's bank, he's ahead of all the real politicians in national primary polling, and he leads the field in endorsements. If he sticks it out, Donald Trump will probably fade. The Ben Carson boomlet will probably vanish. The nascent Carly Fiorina boomlet will keep going for a while and then she'll come back down to earth too. Bush has the cash to gut...

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker used his sooner-than-expected exit speech to spout the anti-Trump, populist-hating narrative now being pushed by the establishment’s entwined GOP, Democratic, Wall Street, and media wings. Establishment interests are trying to scare middle-class voters by painting a dark, depressing, and negative image over the optimistic and enthusiastic crowds now powering Donald Trump’s upbeat “Make American Great Again” campaign. “I encourage other Republican presidential candidates to consider [exiting] so that the voters can focus on a limited number of candidates who can offer a positive, conservative alternative to the current frontrunner,” said Walker, who was recently expected to...