Hey Conservatives! Are You Ready To Nominate One Of Your Own For President? Too Bad Because The Hottest New Establishment Darling Is....Jeb Bush.

Jeb Bush: Tanned, Rested, Moderate!

“Bush’s speeches are getting better, tighter, and more campaigny, from what I’ve noticed,” a senior Florida republican strategist says. “I still think Jeb is only a three-in-ten shot to go, but if you’re in his shoes, and Chris Christie has taken a huge hit in stock value — wouldn’t you wait and see? If Christie survives and runs, it’s a harder proposition by far, obviously.”

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The third issue that could cause Bush headaches as a presidential candidate [after Bush fatigue and amnesty] is his support for Common Core. He’s not backing down, despite the controversy, declaring at a charter high school in Hialeah last week, “The aspiration ought to be: Every child should be college- or career-ready. And we should benchmark ourselves to the best in the world. The good-faith effort of Common Core State Standards and now these Florida standards is the right path to be on.”

The problem for Bush is that a vocal chunk of the conservative grassroots thinks Common Core is precisely the opposite of a “good-faith effort.”

Via Andy let me add a fourth issues that would cause heartburn if Jeb were to run...global warming.

“I can see him coming around to some combination of a cap-and-trade program as the best alternative to regulate and at the same time not completely abandoning his principles on something by going to a place where we’re scientifically uncertain,” said David Struhs, who served six years as the Bush-appointed head of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. “Those are the kinds of conversations that he can engage in in a way that a less familiar politician, particular in the Republican Party, can’t do, even if they’re intellectually capable of it,” Struhs added. “They have to go hard right to prove they’re conservative. Jeb Bush is given a pass there because he’s already been there. He’s already done it.”

Um, I'm not sure conservatives buy Jeb Bush is a conservative.

Yes people will point to his work on school choice but is there any evidence that it moves votes? It's the right policy (at the state and local level) but there's no reason to believe that another massive reorganization of federal education policies will lead to more local control and choice. A truly conservative national education policy is...get the hell out of education policy at the federal level.

Some people are committed to running through every warmed over moderate before they are willing to even consider an actual conservative. Unfortunately those people are the ones who run and fund the GOP.

Related for fun: Mitt Romney is back to thinking global warming is a problem.

“It is a Democrat issue but I think it’s an issue for both parties,” he said. “If you think global warming is just in America, it’s not just America. There needs to be a global understanding and a real global effort. There’s no global effort whatsoever.”

posted by DrewM. at 02:19 PM

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