Jeb Bush Agrees With Meghan McCain: Republicans Are Just Too Darn Partisan

I am so sick and tired of this garbage.

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush said today that both Ronald Reagan and his father George H. W. Bush would have had a difficult time getting nominated by today's ultra-conservative Republican Party.

"Ronald Reagan would have, based on his record of finding accommodation, finding some degree of common ground, as would my dad — they would have a hard time if you define the Republican party — and I don’t — as having an orthodoxy that doesn’t allow for disagreement, doesn’t allow for finding some common ground," Bush said, adding that he views the hyper-partisan moment as "temporary."

"Back to my dad’s time and Ronald Reagan’s time – they got a lot of stuff done with a lot of bipartisan support," he said. Reagan "would be criticized for doing the things that he did."

Bush called the present partisan climate "disturbing."

Before I rip into this steaming pile of nonsense I will note Bush also went after Obama and the Democrats for their partisanship as well. Some may say that shows he's an honest critic, I maintain it's a cop out and ass covering.

There are two big problems with this standard critique of "today's GOP".

First, it ignores a simple reality...the Democrats had control of the White House, The House of Representatives and a filibuster proof majority in the Senate. Voters could have very well kept that intact during the 2010 mid-terms. Instead, they gave control of the House to the GOP and Republicans made substantial gains in the Senate.

How exactly is the message of that kind of massive power switch...compromise with Obama? If voters wanted what Obama was selling, they would have kept his power base intact. That they didn't may annoy Obama and Jeb Bush but elections can be darn inconvenient.

Second, the GOP in Congress isn't nearly as confrontational and unyielding as liberals like to pretend. You might recall we had to brow beat the GOP into keeping their pledge to cut $100 billion in spending after taking control of the House.

And almost two years later, they still don't really get it.

The Republican-led House voted Wednesday to maintain billions of dollars in planned 2013 spending by the departments of Energy and Interior and related agencies.

Members considered several amendments to the Energy and Water spending bill, H.R. 5325, in Wednesday afternoon votes, but continued to turn away GOP proposals to pare the bill down further. Several Republicans have complained for the past few days that the bill spends $87.5 million more than the current funding level — the entire bill tips the fiscal scale at $32.1 billion for the year.

The most dramatic proposal to cut spending came from Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.), who proposed a $3.1 billion cut to all accounts other than those related to national security and defense. But his proposal was turned away in a 125-293 vote.

I suppose we could try a grand deal where we raise taxes now for spending cuts that Democrats promise to deliver later. We should ask Jeb's dad how that would work out politically and policy wise.

And as John E. pointed out...the GOP is so extreme our last two nominees have been John McCain and Mitt Romney. Fell the severe conservatism!

The theme of this election should be "Finish the job"....get rid of Obama and get the most conservative Congress possible because there's still plenty of deadweight to be trimmed there too.

One added thought: No, Ronald Reagan could not win the GOP nomination today but not for the reason the "GOP is so extreme" crowd thinks. The fact is, he'd never win two terms as Governor in California because the Democrats in that state have become so liberal they'd never elect him. Without that on his resume, I doubt he'd have won the presidency.

posted by DrewM. at 08:53 AM

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