Luring Brother Jeb into the Presidential Race

Slate and other sources reported this week that anonymous pollsters have been calling voters in New Hampshire to ask whether they have favorable or unfavorable opinions of Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney. Not a surprising request as the New Hampshire primary approaches.  However, the  callers seemed to have something else in mind.  They wanted to know what voters thought of Jeb Bush and who they would choose in a general election matchup between Bush and President Obama.

Who was behind the polling?   The callers sounded well trained and a lot of people got the calls.  It appears that someone with money doesn’t like what’s been happening so far in the Republican race and they think George Bush’s brother may be the remedy. 

Jeb is a former Florida governor who has a reputation for being sensible on some issues like immigration but solid right and intractable on abortion and gay marriage. He also fits the Republican mold on taxes and the economy.  Most important right now is that he’s not flakey like Gingrich and not as fumbling as Romney.  

It’s too late for Bush to enter the New Hampshire primary, but others might be open to him.  The Republican bigwigs are drooling, though Bush says he isn’t interested in running. 

By the way, below are the first two paragraphs of a relevant post from LaughingStockNation, 
June 15 2011.  

The Useful Idiots of the Republican Party

Stalin and other cynical leaders of the Soviet Union regarded communist activists in the west as “useful idiots,” naïve pawns in the war against capitalism. Used to infiltrate western institutions, they were doomed to be eliminated when the moment arrived for the real forces of revolution to take over.

Some observers are now beginning to wonder whether far right Republicans and Tea Partiers, along with their favorite presidential candidates, are serving the same purpose. Biding their time are the real Republican power brokers, people like the Koch brothers and Karl Rove, who will anoint their champion when the time is right. Think Jeb Bush.......