Bush lll is really a weak candidate. I am beginning to believe he can blow this thing...

[DemocratSinceBirth]

Let us recount his gaffes.

-It took him several days to enunciate his position on the Iraq War.

-He said Americans don't work hard enough.

-He said we should spend less on women's health.


Wasn't he supposed to be the smart Bush or maybe the bar is just really low.

[geek tragedy]

1. Someone has to win their nomination.

I've always thought Scott Walker was the most likely to prevail--he's as rightwing as they get, thoroughly unprincipled, a royal asshole, but bland.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

2. I think Walker has a shot.

He is the only candidate with one foot firmly in the "crazy" and "not crazy" camp.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

17. He's a devious, evil fucker

And he's got a lot of money behind him.

[Attorney in Texas]

40. I'm expecting a Bush-Walker (most likely), Bush-Kasich, Walker-Rubio, or Walker-Kasich ticket.

[KamaAina]

65. Walker-Kasich would be too Midwestern.

Although Ohio is a swing state...

[Attorney in Texas]

68. I listed the tickets from most probable to least probable so I agree Walker-Kasich is a bit unlikely

but who else would Walker pick?

Rubio seems the logical choice, but what other options are there for Walker?

Jebush and Paul aren't running for VP.

Christie and Cruz and Perry would be a drag on the ticket without delivering any state.

Jindal, Pataki, Gilmore, Huckabee, and Graham bring nothing.

Trump, Fiorina, and Carson have zero qualifications.

Kasich at least wouldn't hurt the ticket and would help in Ohio.

[C Moon]

49. I think Walker will be it too.

[Initech]

3. I really hope that this is the beginning of the end for the BFEE.

But then again I would hesitate to think what is going to happen under a president Trump.

[HughBeaumont]

4. Don't forget the whole "torching Medicare" thing.

Oh, and arguing with a senior when she called him out on it.

That right there should sink him like the Lusitania.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

7. Money often but not always matter and this might be an instance of the latter.

It's still early and he's still the de facto favorite but who would have thought the son of a president, the brother of another one, and the grandson of an senator would be trailing a carney barker.

[tabasco]

63. Should, but because of their hate and the pernicious influence of corporate propaganda,

rank and file republicans have become completely depraved.

[greymattermom]

5. and immigration too

He can't be as extreme as Donald Trump. His family is Catholic and Hispanic, right?

[Vogon_Glory]

6. I Think The Repugs Will Nominate Walker

I think the Repugs will end up nominating Scott Walker. JEB! is a weaker candidate than his brother, Walker and his handlers will brand him as a RINO, and the true believers will line up to vote for him.

If we are lucky, the people at Hillary's campaign will show the good sense to recycle the stuff that the Donald is already throwing at him and portray him as a "the next recession is around the corner" candidate.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

8. I rather run against Walker than Bush lll.

eom

[Still In Wisconsin]

36. I've got a little experience with this Walker clown...

Scott Walker is a walking, talking Howdy Doody puppet who looks very, very beatable. However, he has this way of getting people to believe two things: (1) his extreme right positions are not really extreme but rather common-sense solutions to problems we all face and (2) he will look out for the average American because he is one himself. He is also very very skilled at the politics of personal resentment.

So Walker looks dumb and in most ways is dumb, he's mostly destroyed the state I have lived in my whole life minus a couple of years, and he has never had a position he didn't get from ALEC. But, as they say about some quarterbacks who look like crap throwing the ball but are on championship teams, "all he does is win."

Walker is dangerous, he WILL start multiple wars, and he WILL crash the economy if elected. He MUST be stopped now.

[NewJeffCT]

51. I always tell people to never underestimate their opponents

The guy was elected, survived a recall and then got re-elected, all in a swing state and all with him being a college dropout. And, he won each election by 5% or more.

Calling Bush an idiot didn't work in 2000 or 2004, so I don't think it would work with Walker. (To be honest, I never considered Bush stupid - just not as smart as I want a president to be and not a good speaker. I'm not stupid and I'm a bad public speaker as well, but at least I am smart enough to know I'm not smart enough to be president.)

[Still In Wisconsin]

53. I don't think Bush was/is so much stupid, but rather not very curious (about anything)

What Walker lacks in innate intelligence he more than makes up for in political cunning.

[global1]

11. Kasich Is The One That Scares Me.....

he could possibly be the sanest sounding one of the klown kar and fool a lot of Americans. I'd watch out for him.

[merrily]

13. +1

[n8dogg83]

15. Kasich may have been too sane for his own good.....

Awhile back when he was speaking at one of the Koch Bros retreats he responded to a question about welfare, saying something along the lines of "when i die, i will have to answer to my maker for how i treated the poor", which caused several billionaires in attendance to walk out of the event. He has not been invited to a Koch gathering since. I dont think he'll win because he has alienated himself with the right wing billionaires, which is really the only way republicans have a chance to win.

[Arugula Latte]

46. Wow.

That tells you all you need to know about the oligarchs.

Personally I think a day of judgment by an omnipotent magical being is bunk, but at least Kasich at least has a glimmer of compassion (if only for selfish reasons, in that he doesn't want to spend eternity in some fiery pit).

[1StrongBlackMan]

25. +1 ...

Being from Ohio, I have to agree. He is popular, as governor ... has shown a willingness to buck the gop, in favor of his constituents (e.g., Medicaid expansion) ... his doesn't yell a lot and his sentences are general complete and understandable ... but he has some serious conservative positions.

[Cosmocat]

28. That is his problem

in terms of getting the nomination.

An R POTUS candidate is not going to get any air unless they tow the line 100 percent and either are flat out fire breathers OR can dog whistle the bullshit.

That was Bush IIs gift, he was one smarmy ass MFer, and with Rove's help was able to say what they all wanted to hear without saying it.

[stevenleser]

41. I can't see the 'pugs nominating someone who implemented ACA Medicaid expansion in their state

If he starts to gain any traction at all, he will be hammered on that.

[Still In Wisconsin]

44. I agree that he might be the toughest to beat in the end.

I don't think the country will elect another Bush and I have to believe that Walker will eventually be identified as the mediocre former county executive, college dropout that he is.

[geek tragedy]

50. Kasich is probably the least awful of the 17, which is why he has no chance of being nominated.

He's awful, but not awful enough for them

[Still In Wisconsin]

69. So he's like what was his name last time around... John Huntsman?

The Utah governor- seemed relatively sane for a Republican. I don't think he ever got above like 2%.

[HughBeaumont]

70. Take it from an Ohioan . . ..

. . . . once you get to know the real Kat$hit, he's just as bad if not worse than the rest.

Kat$hit hates workers and the unions they belong to. This was one of the first things he adamantly tried to legislate and failed miserably. To this day, he's visibly uncomfortable around blue collar workers who ask hard questions. Without that support, I'm afraid he doesn't stand much of a chance (of course, it's not like ANY of those clowns have the worker's best interests in mind, right?).

Apparently, he also has a temper problem halfway to par with Fred Flintstone Christy. That, and I'd rather be doing ANything other than listen to him speak.

[brush]

9. He's starting to make W look like the smart one. Every month he says something colossally stupid.

I mean who is dumb enough to say that we're spending too much on womens' health?

NEWSFLASH, JEB: Women vote.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

10. Gafffes will hurt him more than Bush ll

Gafffes will hurt him more than Bush ll because he is being held out as the smart one.

[Cosmocat]

29. That is correct

they played to W being a moron - guy you would like to have a beer with, RESOLUTE vs a stubborn dumb ass ...

[DemocratSinceBirth]

34. Precisely...The pundits said Bush ll's gaffes made him endearing, like a regular guy...

Precisely...The pundits said Bush ll's gaffes made him endearing, like a regular guy... That doesn't work when you hold yourself out as a serious, sober, wonky candidate.

I am not Nostradamus...The fundamentals still suggest he should win this thing but he is certainly not off to a propitious start.

[brush]

61. You mean he should win the repug nomination, right?

Because he doesn't have much of a chance at winning the presidency after all these missteps this early in the race.

I mean, what's his next goof up going to be?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

62. Bush ll got away with being an idiot because enough folks thought it was endearing.

Bush ll got away with being an idiot because enough folks thought it was endearing. Bush lll can't get away with being an idiot because he is running on competency...

I don't have a clue who will the GOP nomination but I suspect it will be Bush lll or Walker with a nod to the latter.

[brush]

64. I wouldn't count Trump out

He knows how to manipulate the media from being on TV all those years, and he's got all the buzz words and phrases down that get headlines.

There is a certain charm to him, sorta Reagan-like but with bombast and bluster.

Hillary will beat them all though.

Republicans, with their racist, anti-women, anti-immigrant and anti-gay history can't elect a president anymore with the changing demographics of the country.

Even if they try to steal it too many people are watchful of their tricks now.

Social media gets the word out fast on the shenanigans they used to get away with, plus Dems come out to vote in presidential years.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

66. Hillary will beat them all though.

I agree...


I am content to watch the Rethugs duke it out.

[UTUSN]

12. Besides his gaffes, he's screwed up the whole campaign from day1 - staff replaced, etc.

His tech dude was a bust. He dumped his routine e-mails while it was clear what are needed are the ones from his dirty business deals with Cuban-Exile (1st Gen) partners, suitcases of cash. The other night on the first "debate" he was truly pathetic. That's GREAT!1

The worst thing will be, however, if he "wins" (like how Shrub got his coup) anyway and we'll have the totality of f***-up AND jerk all in one package. Again.

[merrily]

14. Maybe he's the smart son of Bush 41, but, remember what we called Rove?

No, not turd blossom. We got that from Dimson.

Democrats called Rove Bush's brain.

[fadedrose]

16. What do you think Donald's chances are?

He's not dumb and can put down anyone.....

[DemocratSinceBirth]

19. I have been waiting for him to implode and he hasn't.

I have been waiting for him to implode and he hasn't so I am a tad bit reluctant to predict his projectory but that has never stopped me before.

He's polling in the mid twenties and that's impressive in a seventeen person field but if that's his ceiling it's not high enough to amass enough delegates to be the nominee when the field is winnowed down.


I doubt he's the nominee...

[fadedrose]

22. I think he will be the nominee

unless somebody shoots him (just kidding FBI)

[ConservativeDemocrat]

27. He's the Republican Sanders

* He has a narrow fan base that loves him.
* Most everyone else doesn't take him seriously.
* Much of his most vocal support comes from people who hate the party they supposedly belong to.
* He's mastered the art of gesture politics.
* He has no real record of accomplishing anything in a divided landscape.
* The media is largely laying off him because he's making great TV.
* If he won the nomination, he'd basically guarantee an opposition party win.
* He's not going to win anything.

Obviously there are differences too. Chief among them, the Donald is an asshole. Bernie is not.

- C.D. Proud Member of the Reality Based Community

[DemocratSinceBirth]

38. He is polling well in a seventeen person field, in the mid twenties...

He is polling well in a seventeen person field, in the mid twenties, but if that's his ceiling it's not nearly enough to win when the field is winnowed down...


And if he starts acting like a normal candidate he won't be nearly as much fun for us to watch and the press to cover and the outsized attention which he has enormously benefited from will cease.

[Oneironaut]

55. Very low, unless if he can avoid all of the debates.

The debates will kill him. The only thing going for him right now is that the media loves him and refuses to say anything bad about him.

[n2doc]

18. This is all early

No one will care next march about this. There will just be massive bombardments of ads.

He may blow it, but I would not write him off until his backers do so.

[fadedrose]

23. He will win by default

after he finds some cutting insults to disqualify the other candidates or they disqualify themselves to hide from him.

[n2doc]

24. That is the Turd Blossom/BFEE way. n/t

[fadedrose]

26. I wish I were as smart as you think I am

because I don't know what BFEE means.

I think Turd Blossom means the dumbest or maybe the best remark....with my luck, it's the dumbest...

[n2doc]

30. BFEE= Bush Family Evil Empire Turd Blossom= Bush nickname for Karl Rove

Sorry, I lapse into DU jargon too much sometimes.

[fadedrose]

31. In a million years I would never have guessed that.

thank you. I have to spend more time here apparently.

[fbc]

20. The "Smart Bush" thing turned out to be wishful thinking.

[NewJeffCT]

52. well, it's kind of a low bar to clear

like being the tallest munchkin from Wizard of Oz.

(All joking aside, I honestly never considered W to be stupid - just not as smart as I would want a president to be.)

[Attorney in Texas]

21. Jebush is good at raising obscene hauls of cash in eyebrow raising clusters (this was also Romney's

chief -- only? -- qualification for the Republican nomination).

This is what Republicans mean by "smart" -- as in "he's can get on the telephone and raise 10 million dollars before lunch and neither you or I can't to that so he must be smarter than us." This is a sad criteria for securing a major party's nomination, but it is almost surely the only skill Jebush needs to become his party's nominee.

[Cosmocat]

33. He is bizarrely bad and does not have W's "gift"

I was never impressed with in Florida, he is not as prettied up as most pols are.

But, I didn't really pay attention to him, but god all mighty he is slow.

Just because he wears glasses and looks geeky does not make him smart.

He is a horrible politician. Doesn't have the looks, isn't a sweet talker ...

W was a dumb ass, but he had that smarm to him that people eat up in pols, and he also was very disciplined in his way. He let Rove coach him and stayed on task with what he said. They came up with well crafted, poll tested bullshit and he stuck to it.

The religious right just loved the shit out of him at at time when they were at the peak of their power.

His name is literally all this guy has.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

35. The only competitive race he ran in FL he lost and that was in 1994, a GOP wave year.

He beat Buddy McKay and Bill McBride in his gubernatorial races, neither political heavyweights, and the latter was running in the first political race of his life.

[7962]

37. Of course he can blow it. I agree that he WILL nt

[Half-Century Man]

39. Were the bar to be set any lower

It would become a trip hazard for toddlers.

If it were not for inherited wealth, the last 2 generations of the Bush family would have cemented their legacy in the service side of the fast food industry.

[Orsino]

42. He doesn't have the pseudomilitary experience of his big brother.

Money can do a lot of things, but it can't turn an even less interesting frat bro into Top Gun.

The Bush name isn't quite the all-access pass it used to be.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

43. "pseudomilitary experience" -test pilot, lol

eom

[lark]

45. He also said the retirement age should be raised to 70.

He's not looking good now and I'm actually surprised. He was much more adroit when he was governor of FL., though he did really blow it at the last with Terri Schiavo. I still fear this family and their cronies can somehow steal the election like they did for his younger bro. Bushes are very conniving, sneaky and part of the original founders of the 1%, so I still have a bit of fear about him. Every time lately he opens his mouth, I feel a little better, because he keeps sounding even more stupid.

[dem in texas]

47. Don't think He has the "Fire in His Belly"

I don't think he is burning to be the Repub nominee. He probably is going along with the Bush family and advisers. If he was feeling strong about running for President, he would be better informed and not make so many stupid statements. That said, I still think he will be he nominee, simply because the other Repub's running are all bat-shit crazy.

[Kablooie]

48. Ol' strabismal Walker has a good chance at winning.

Bush will come across as as dimwitted, weak willed and too liberal for the base.

Trump will implode in some loudmouthed spew.

The others will all have dedicated but smaller followings.

That leaves Walker as the most destructive and blindly ideological candidate which is exactly what the base wants.

…

That is unless the ability to play the game Operation impresses the hell out of our bumpkin brethren.

[Vincardog]

54. Don't forget he stole the Florida election for his brother 2000.

[rtracey]

56. I am tired

I am really tired of his bullshit blanket statement " I misspoke". 1st with the...I would go into Iraq, and now this last statement about womens health costs....You don't misspeak, you say what you feel, then try to step back a bad statement..... you think Trump would be bad, the 3rd Bush would be totally outlandish.

[glowing]

57. Don't forget he also said that he wants to end medicare

for seniors after a certain cut off point. He and his corporate friends want all of that Medicare monies to be placed into the private health insurance market. Who cares that it will cost everyone more all the way around, deny and delay treatments for elderly patients. If Garandma and Grandpa can't pay, too bad (kill those mooches right off). If they did have a retirement package and a mortgage free home, too bad, better start using a reverse mortgage to the bank, and take all of that retirement money away in some sort of "lump sum" cash for such items as an emergency medical crisis. Then Wall St has your retirement account wrapped up in health insurance fees and the banks have your home wrapped up in a nice little profitable package when you pass away (or you happen to outlive their life expectancy quotient and will have to either find money resources to pay "rent" to the bank to stay in the house OR you will be kicked to the curb by the bannisters.

Don't forget the crap that the politicians who aren't Trump are saying on the stump... They aren't being overly scrutinized because of the Trump Show taking up media space and ignoring the rest of the field. People aren't hearing from the rest of the clown car and their nutty ideas. The media is following around the poop mobile, known as The Donald Trump Show & It's Band of Angry White Dudes, lapping up the excrement like it was a Fillet Minion.

I think it's easy to say, we may have just hit the breaking point in the experiment called Democracy. I think it's quite easy to say that we are now an Oligarchy (or rather "OILigarchy&quot , and that we absolutely need a Democratic Socialist to swing the pendulum far to the left. Just skirting around the edges of social/ civil justice issues is NOT going to cut it. And for sure, NO republican president is going to help this country out with a damned thing other than to bankrupt the nation with more wars, no bid contracts to wealthy friends, more tax give always and subsidies to the wealthy, and literally create their perfect idea of a modern feudal society.

[old guy]

58. At this point his gaffs and stupidity are being over shadowed by Trump and his antics.

I think this stuff happening this early will have little effect a Friedman or so down the road. Repub attention spans are very short.

[d_legendary1]

59. Since the Jebster is labled the smart one

Every gaff he spits and goof he displays will hurt him even more. I'm with you that Walker might walk out with the nomination.

Unless of course, he hires Carl Rove...

[Gothmog]

60. Jeb is making a ton of unforced errors

[JCMach1]

67. Worse than Trump's statements, but mostly crickets from the media...

or just as bad really.

[Danascot]

71. Relevant article - Does this man even want to be president?

http://www.salon.com/2015/08/05/jeb_bush_worst_candidate_ever_does_this_man_even_want_to_be_president/