My take on why Jeb failed and George succeeded

[RandySF]

I still believe that, no matter how a presidential candidate he was, Jeb Bush is still the smart one. His academic background and notorious command of detail as Florida governor still attest to that fact. But those supposed stregnths were also his greatest weaknesses. He was always "the one" who was supposed to go into politics. He was supposed to be elected governor in 1994 while his oder brother was originally expected to lose to Anne Richards in Texas. But George had something Jeb did not: A ferocious drive to prove his parents wrong about him. And he was ready to shake every hand, tell an lie, pull any dirty trick and break any law to win. What's more, he had his friend The Bottle every step of the way to give him that winning personality. Jeb thought it would be easy, George knew it would not. And the end of the day, the race goes to the one who WANTS it the most.

[napi21]

1. In addition to all you said, W did have a personality better suited to politics.

He was always smiling which makes people like you. Maybe it was his bottle that made him like that, but he really seemed to have a difficult time being serious when he HAD to be. Remember that face when he made his speech talking about "yellow cake'?

Jebbers is much more serious. However, he keeps saying he's his own man. Then WHY did he hire ALL of W's advisers except Cheney?

As soon as I saw Wolfowitz and the crowd were hired, Jeb instantly appeared on my list of Pubs who were the worst to ever elect.

[pansypoo53219]

3. idiot georgee saved us from president mccant AND president jeb. we should thank his

stupid stupid ass. but then ISIS. fuck em.

[delrem]

4. You seem to be a real fan of the Bush clan.

Other people think they're war criminals.

I guess that's why you like Hillary.
Sigh.

[RandySF]

8. i hope this is sarcasm.

[Egnever]

5. I think its still to early to write him off.

There's months to go before the primaries are over. The nominee will not be Trump or Carson IMHO. Not sure it will be Jeb but I think it is a possibility still.

[Unknown Beatle]

6. McMonkey didn't win the governorship in Texas,

like everything else, it was stolen for him.

"And he was ready to shake every hand, tell an lie, pull any dirty trick and break any law to win."

Break any law is right, but he didn't work hard, he's lazy and rove was doing all the hard work for him.

[Cosmocat]

7. Two things

In his way, jr was in fact far more disciplined and focused, you are correct about that. I also agree w the point that his smarmy charm, affable manner carried him.

However, I dont care what his reputation was, jeb is a blooming idiot.

[smorkingapple]

9. Dubya woulda struggled in this environment too

Bush name wasn't as toxic back then, there was no anti-establishment sentiment built up over years of watching the black man wipe the floor with their party, etc.

Put in the exact same scenario as Jeb, I actually think he'd do worse just because of his speaking style. He did have the folksy shit down so that would mitigate some of what Jeb is getting but I don't think he'd do well today either.

[kwassa]

10. America likes yahoos. Good ol' boys, even fake ones.

Many white male voters love that sort of thing.

George W grew up in DC, and didn't acquire a Texas accent until after he lost his first congressional election in Texas. He got rid of his drinking habit, but found Jesus, which was just as good in the Bible Belt to get him elected. Fake cowboy all the way.

Donald Trump is another classic yahoo. Big, blustery loudmouth, though he hails from New York. He claims he can do all kinds of things he has zero experience in.

Jeb Bush looks like an accountant, and excites nobody.

[edhopper]

11. From his statements

I don't think he has a very good command of policy.

I think they are both dim witted. But you are right, W was more avuncular.

[ProfessorGAC]

12. Nope

They're equally stupid. Jeb was not a successful governor.

They're both silverspoon twits with enough family connections to have some educated folks do the hard stuff for them, even though they surrounded themselves with people who grossly overestimated their own grasp of the subject matter.

And of course, these two blithering idiots were incapable of recognizing that their "brilliant" advisors were in over their head.

[WI_DEM]

13. The biggest reason Jeb! is not succeeding is because of W

and his spectacularly inept presidency. People don't want any more Bush's. Even MA Bush said so.

[Hortensis]

14. Dubya sent out strong social conservative and old-time-religion signals

to the right and raised money and backing by promising Big Money to rev up that giant sucking sound. Right-wing media got out the vote.

Jeb's running at the wrong time in all respects, including trying to substitute a Hispanic wife to pull in Hispanic voters in exchange for some losses on the religious right. The big wave of noisy bigotry Trump generated killed any chance that could succeed. That's my take, anyway.

BTW, maybe we shouldn't be at all surprised at Ben Carson's popularity now. He's even more extremely socially conservative than W and is overtly fundamentalist religious. He actually makes W look almost competent in comparison, but W was clearly and astonishingly incompetent by the standards of 2000 and 2004, and America elected him President twice anyway. He is Black, though, and many social conservatives already had their anger and anxiety levels cranked up big time by Obama's elections. Maybe Hillary's sucking up most of that hate also? Carson as the anti-Hillary/anti-Satan?

If Carson were to win over Rubio or ? in the primary, nervous Big Money would have to figure out how to use (control and direct) this clueless loose flywheel. And they mostly would of course.

[leftyladyfrommo]

15. George had all those psychopaths working with him.

There wasn't anything they wouldn't stoop to do, anyone they would destroy to get them out of the way.

[TBF]

16. Define "smart" -

I can come up with many descriptors for them but "intelligent" doesn't come to mind at all.

stupid, spoiled, pampered, greedy, sheltered, protected rich boys ...