I’ve been saying the same thing:
“The Bush people don’t fool around, as you know,” [Howard] Dean said Tuesday night on MSNBC. “You can say a lot of things about Bush’s presidency and his failures as president, but one thing nobody should say [anything] bad about [is] his political team. They know what they’re doing, and they are ruthless, and they are going to take [Rick] Perry out.”
Discuss.
When was the last time they took anyone out except themselves?
they took McCain out in 2000. Gore and Kerry did not wind up as presidents.
Yep, anyone in that space between Bush and Perry needs to get out the way.
So they’re indeed strangely like the patriot teams 2000 to present: they haven’t been a champ in seven plus years.
I mean, having the Bushies as enemies right now isn’t the worst thing for a pol.
I gotta disagree.
The only real establishment Republicans with any experience in government are Bushies, and if they’re all coming out an piling on you for every mistake you make, then it’s going to have a devastating effect on your campaign. Why? Because there be literally no one to defend you on teevee but yourself.
But are the bushies behind the tea-party stuff?
That’s a convoluted web. Mostly, I would say that they aren’t, although it’s a heavily Texas-funded operation. So, the lines get pretty blurred. Rove’s big thing is American Crossroads. How does that intersect with the Tea Party? I’m not sure, but it’s more about controlling the party and winning elections than about astroturfing.
It’s just like, yeah, the Patriots might turn out to be super-bowl good this year. But to act like it’s a forgone conclusion that Karl Rove can choose or veto the nominee is a bit much. Plus, if Le Perry is indeed inevitable than they’ll come around.
I don’t get it; why do the Bushies want to kneecap Perry?
But Rove tried to topple Perry inthe last governor’s race, managing KBH’s campaign — and Perry easily beat them both.
Evil though he is Rove cannot magically dictate his desired outcome, and Perry’s long unbeaten streak is worthy of as much respect as Rove’s dark track record of mostly success.
I thought for sure when Perry jumped in, Bachmann would be toast. But he’s made so many mistakes that it’s hard to count. It looks like my original thoughts of him were correct: he simply doesn’t “have it” to run a national campaign. His polls might be good, which is why I figured he’d overtake her, but he is a shitty campaigner. Plus, as you said, Bush and Rove.
I don’t think he’s a shitty campaigner, per se. It’s that he has to appeal to more than just wingnuts now.
This could be fun.
As above, so below.
Mafia wars.
AG
But hasn’t the center of power in the GOP drifted away from the Bush crowd? I interpreted Rove’s remarks as a desperate attempt to remain relevant. Remember, Bush was many very bad things, but he wasn’t really much like the current crop of teabeggers.
I still think Perry is a top two contender to win the primary. And I can’t really think of who the other of my top two would be at this point – probably someone yet to enter the race.
I disagree. Bush is loved by the tea baggers, they just can’t admit it because he was such a failure. The tea baggers are the Religious Right. Michele Bachmann’s first national appearance as a Congresswoman was her fawning over Bush like a teenage schoolgirl at a rock concert.
One of the more popular teabagger bumper stickers is the “Miss Me Yet?” one with a picture of W. I see this on vehicles full of other teabagging stickers.
Talk to teabaggers about Bush and almost all of them will tell you that he got a raw deal from the press and except for the deficit was a great president (and they’ll also tell you that the deficit was someone else’s fault – often blaming Barney Frank).
This is a big reason why I think Jeb Bush is a real shot to come into the campaign late as a savior candidate. The Bush family is embraced by the wingnuts and doesn’t need to make a bunch of crazy statements to prove themselves. They can rely solely on double entendre “dog whistles” while allowing the press to cast them as centrists.
That plus the fact that Obama’s polling numbers on the economy are now matching what W had by the end of his term. You don’t get re-elected with numbers like that unless the opposition is unfathomably bad. Granted, the current GOP crop IS that bad, in that they’ll all said and/or done so many stupid things that even real independents can’t stand them.
However, that leaves an unusual, and very rare, opening for a last minute candidate with instant name recognition and respect, tons of money and high-powered political support, a reputation (deserved or not) for moderate conservatism, and the ability to avoid the gaffe-fest that the current republican field (less Ron Paul, who again is being black-balled by the media) engages in.
Very doubtful Jebbie gets in this cycle. He’s a smart pol and recognizes that timing is everything — and knows that a vocal group of backers clamoring for him means nothing when the embarrassing failure of his dumb younger brother’s presidency is still too fresh in the minds of too many voters. Iow, a decent interval has not yet occurred.
Even 2016 may be too soon, that’s how badly Shrub tarnished the family brand. Jeb may well never make it to the office his parents expected him to inherit thx to Junior.
The more I think about it the more I think that if the economy continues to tank that by December Jeb Bush will be introduced as the savior candidate for the Republicans. You can be sure all that political cash Rove is collecting would be funneled his way.
On an unrelated note, Obama let slip this description of his negotiating style:
“Everybody cannot get 100 percent of what they want. Now, for those of you who are married, there is an analogy here. I basically let Michelle have 90 percent of what she wants. But, at a certain point, I have to draw the line and say, `Give me my little 10 percent.’ “
Yep, that matches perfectly his negotiations with the GOP to date.
I wonder if we can get Michelle to do the negotiations with the GOP going forward?
Isn’t that Obama line a joke someone tweeted?
I’m starting to suspect you’re right about Jeb. Well, not in December, because I believe November is the cutoff. But he’s a Bush, so the teabaggers will support him. He’s the Smarter Brother, so the media will swoon. And he’s got a perfect built-in dramatic conflict–‘Can Jeb Succeed Despite Concerns About Bush Dynasty?’–that’s not only completely content-free, but easy to overcome.
I thought it was a joke. But it’s not. He said it at a townhall.
BUSH 3: Revenge of the Bushening
Personally, I think the folks in Kennebunkport are happy to have Obama serve a second-term and then they’ll make a run at the open seat in 2016. What they don’t want is a Republican incumbent sitting in the Oval Office in 2016, because that will probably spell doom for Jeb’s chances to be president.
Rick Perry is going to wake one morning on the campaign trail in the Carolinas to find out he has an illegitimate black child he knew nothing about.
Not just the Bushies, either.
I saw that. I am picturing a bunch of libertarian nerds holed up in their mother’s basement, eagerly checking their emails. “Did we get anything yet? Huh?”
Boo:
You do know that people out there think Perry is just like McConnell and Graham, right?
P.S. For anyone that doesn’t understand, it’s one of those “open” DC secrets that Graham and McConnell are closet cases.
As much I would like to, I’m not going to count Governor Rawhide out just yet.
If Perry keeps talking, he’ll take himself out of the race. He is his own worst enemy.
That could happen — in fact I see the shooting himself in the feet as the only thing standing between him and the nom.
Of course the other majors also seem adept at clunky unscripted errors, so Perry won’t likely be monopolizing media negative attention.
One C-student cokehead executive from Texas is enough. We’re already starting to get confused about this new guy’s name.
There goes the dynasty.
Oh, but Bush was the MBA prez.
That explains so much.