Ding dong, the dynasty is dead:
Say goodbye to Jeb and the
Bush family
Former US President George W. Bush waves with his wife Laura as he stands with his brother and Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush during a campaign rally in Charleston, South Carolina, February 15, 2016 (AFP Photo/Jim Watson)
announcing the suspension of his campaign, Jeb Bush couldn’t have found a more apt expression for his departure from a contest that was beyond his ken than “I congratulate my competitors who are remaining on the island”. The 2016 Republican presidential primary is a thing forged in madness; as befitting the functional illogic of a reality TV show, it doesn’t make a lick of damn sense beyond itself, but the results cannot be appealed. Jeb has been voted off the island; he is the weakest link; goodbye.
There were signs long ago that he would fail to gain traction among Republican voters despite his political pedigree and all his campaign cash – not necessarily deterministic, but they were there.
The publication of his book Immigration Wars: Forging An American Solution in 2013 is one such sign: even at the time, the book seemed to be a bad idea at best. It hit bookshelves just as the Republican National Committee was putting together a postmortem on the 2012 election that noted – again – that the party needed to appeal to Latino voters.
Yet Bush’s book repudiated his own history of being an inclusive conservative politician who championed in-state college tuition for the children of undocumented immigrants, drivers licenses for the undocumented and supported the Dream Act , so long as it wasn’t implemented by Barack Obama’s executive action. The author Bush argued against any path to citizenship for those who entered this country illegally.
Bush hadn’t even announced at that point – and Trump hadn’t yet rocketed to front runner status by stoking nativist paranoia – and already he’d tied himself into a knot on what everyone knew would be one of the biggest issues of the 2016 campaign. From then on, no position that Bush advocated could escape the label of flip-flopper because he had flip-flopped on immigration. In the purity test of any Republican primary, Jeb was already the establishment, already dangerously a RINO , but now he was also infinitely changeable on the most important policy issue of the day. He might take a hardline on some issue today, but what about tomorrow?
Then came the campaign rollouts: Bush launched The New Bush Experience by gathering around him every establishment neoconservative from either the Reagan or the Bush II years – a soulless sludge of amoral warmongering boobery that, ethically-speaking, resembled the invitees to a North Korean state dinner. (They are the sort of people who put on jackets covered with epaulettes and ribbons from armchair campaigns before mounting their rider mower and treating the lawn like they’re about to daisy-cutter Vietnam.) Bush insisted he was his own man by announcing that he’d listen to advice from the people who belonged to at least one other institutional failure.
And any question of Bush hearing their counsel but keeping his own fell flat when he stumbled over multiple answers about whether the Iraq War was a good idea. This was the one question he had to have an answer for – that, indeed, it would be absurd for any American to not have an answer for – and he flubbed it repeatedly for days, before arriving at the self-evident: he would not have invaded . The fourth time was the charm, but it wasn’t charming.
When it couldn’t conceivably get any worse, Donald Trump entered the race. Blaming Jeb’s failure on him devalues just how badly Bush could’ve simply screwed his campaign up on his own. Trump was the accelerant, but Bush had to fumble and drop a lit cigarette into his pants cuff before the Trump-branded gasoline could do its work.
Trump didn’t make Bush reply to a mass shooting with, “ Stuff happens ”. He didn’t make Bush, a man married to a Mexican woman and the father of mixed-race children who almost exclusively speaks Spanish in his own home , say that we shouldn’t live in a multicultural society . He didn’t make Bush say that people in this country needed to work longer hours . He didn’t tell Bush that Obama’s daughter’s name was “Malala” (which is the name of the Nobel peace prize winning Taliban shooting victim turned women’s rights activist ), not “Malia”.
Yes, Trump just did his own thing, and ridiculed Jeb, but if a tree falls in a forest and there’s no one around to call it weak, it still falls down.
None of that even gets to all those weird, doomed attempts by Bush’s campaign to make him go viral: pictures of Bush flashing the liners to his blazers , showing his JEB! emblem on a white background. Or the picture of a somewhat pathetic and forlorn Jeb standing in a hoodie , staring at the camera, as if pleading to know when this ends. Or him taking a selfie in front of the “Peachoid” . Or that last, harrowing Twitter picture, of a gun with his name engraved on it ; Bush simply tweeted, “America.”
So, for as much as surrounding circumstances might have sped up the process, the bumbling began with the campaign itself, and there was nothing Jeb or his advisors could do to stop it.
But, perhaps despite the sadness on his face as he took his leave of the race, and despite his wife’s tears, and despite the fact that, by comparison, he is probably a less odious person than many of the men left in the race, there’s no need to feel pity. The Bush dynasty lost this once; given what it’s done for America in the past, that might ultimately be a good thing.
The Bush clan is a pack of jackals that has skittered among the tall grass of politics now for four generations. Granddad Prescott was a senator who made his cash at Brown Brothers Harriman , in part by investing in Germany’s financial rebuilding on the road to WWII. George HW Bush worked at Brown Brothers Harriman, too, before becoming an oil wildcatter, then a congressman, the head of the CIA (where heoverlooked domestic anti-communist terrorism ) and finally president, where he pardoned away the dregs of Iran-Contra and solidified the post-Watergate blueprint for America’s refusal to prosecute its greatest political criminals.
You know all about Jeb’s brother, George W “Endless War” Bush. Jeb’s son, George P Bush, once reportedly crashed a car into his ex-girlfriend’s yard after failing to gain entrance via a window(her family opted not to press charges) and is now Texas Land Commissioner – after raising over $3m dollars for the race before he even had a challenger and on the basis of his extensive experience as Bush family member. Maybe Jeb’s failure means his son won’t strive for even higher office. Or maybe not.
After four generations of participating in Republican politics and appealing to Republican voters, the conservative base prefers someone who wants to build impossible walls, expel 11 million people, start trade wars with countries we distrust and bomb anything that moves. There is some consolation in seeing a dynasty of genteel political malfeasance and mass death undone by a TV showman who recognizes that the audience now wants the same product, just bigger, louder and cruder.
But this is the small justice that people seek when they know the system will forever fail them. There is no glee here, just resignation. Besides, interpreting events like that again focuses on Trump, when the visceral truth of the Bush campaign was that we finally saw the rot of their dynasty move to the surface, like cheap composite plywood puncturing through a deep wood veneer.
Jeb Bush was one of the family, and he failed. And if there is one, stark emotional legacy of the Jeb 2016 experience, it is this: despite coming from all that power and money, Jeb Bush ran a campaign so wracked with failure and so thoroughly inept that he could move millions of Americans beyond their richly earned contempt for him and his family. By the end, Jeb Bush actually made people feel sorry for him.
I am just going to say this and then be done with Jeb Bush! In 2000 when you decided to cheat the country out of who the country really voted for to be president, "which wasn't your brother." It was then that you hammered that nail into your own coffin of ever being president yourself. You put that notion to rest that very day back in 2000. That was your KARMA!
Ted Cruz is on his way to also receive his KARMA! The moment Cruz was identified as a birther and defended the notion that president Obama was not a citizen of this country. He too hammered the nail into his own coffin about ever being president.
Rubio and Trump are waiting in the wings for their KARMA! But, the final blow of KARMA that awaits in the wings. Is for the entire republican party. B/c that decision you made in 2000 has cost your entire party to implode right before our eyes and the entire world to see. B/c we all know when an act of evil is committed as you did and with the help of the republican controlled Supreme Court participating in ... justice (what an irony) will always be served. It may take time. But, if we are patient ... there is no doubt that KARMA is and always will be lurking around every corner.
Hell is right here on earth. And we get to choose if we want to live in hell on earth or in PEACE on earth. When you choose to be bad servants. Expect to make your hell on earth, your rightful place. The country has suffered under the reign of republican rule. Let this, "be a lesson to all of us." Democrats included. Right now we are in a bad place ourselves b/c some are beginning to act like republicans. Count your blessings that we have two good candidates. And, be grateful for whoever the victor is.
SHARED only to highlight the sleaze!
Please remember this is just the beginning and we can't know who all these individuals are or their connections.
Some of the comments are posted below....
In fairness, many of these people may be NEW and poorly instructed about the intricacies of the pertinent laws.
In fairness, many of these people may be NEW and poorly instructed about the intricacies of the pertinent laws.
And shouldn't we question when this crap ends up on Breitbart?
Not a big Hillary fan, but anything from O'Keefe is probably BS just like his Planned Parenthood and Acorn vids.
I'm not a Hillary supporter,But am I just naive to believe that the political process in this country had not become totally and completely corrupt? Both parties are so dishonest.
QUIT POSTING THIS JAMES O'KEEFE/PROJECT VERITAS BULLSHIT!! I am certain Clinton cheated - but scum like O'Keefe will NEVER be honest..
That one I believe. O'Keefe is the wretch that smeared ACORN, and faked the PP "Baby-parts" movie.- I would not welcome his garbage on my timeline.
"Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio released his tax plan today, and what it has in common with other Republican candidates’ plans – such as Trump, Cruz, and Carson – is that, if enacted, it would add trillions of dollars to the national deficit. In fact, Politico notes that Rubio’s plan “would add at least $6.8 trillion to the deficit and as much as $8 trillion once interest payments are figured in, which would amount to almost doubling projected deficits over the next decade.”
"I will never lie to you." - Jimmy Carter
“I don’t believe I ever have! I don’t believe I ever have, I don’t believe I ever will.” - Hillary Clinton, on lying to the American public
It's Not Just Goldman Sachs: Here's The FULL List of Paychecks Hillary Collected From Wall Street
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has recently come under fire for three highly-paid speeches she gave to Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs in the years between the end of her secretaryship and the start of her presidential campaign in 2015. Clinton collected $675,000 for the speeches, and critics say the payments illustrate a cozy relationship between the democratic candidate and the Wall Street investment banks Clinton claims she will rein in as president.
But the three Goldman Sachs speeches are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to questionable speeches Clinton gave over the past several years. In total, Hillary raked in $21,667,000 on the speaking circuit. In addition to Goldman Sachs, Clinton collected huge paychecks from other Wall Street heavyweights including Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank, Fidelity Investments, and Bank of America.
Below is the full list of speeches Hillary gave, most of which came with a price tag of over $200k.
h/t Zero Hedge
Read more: http://www.hannity.com/articles/hanpr-election-493995/its-not-just-goldman-sachs-heres-14360196/#ixzz40qo57ve6
WRONG! Check out SNOPES~
http://www.snopes.com/rat-meat-chicken-wings/
FDA Warns Over 1 Million Pounds Of Rat Meat Sold As Chicken Wings
"It makes economic sense for the wealthiest Americans to vote for the Republican party because they want to protect their own private finances without giving others, including themselves, the chance for more upward mobility. What makes people scratch their head is the idea of a working class family, making $50,000 a year, voting for a party that continues to give tax breaks to the wealthy and paying for it by cutting the programs that benefit the lower and middle class income families"
"The "journalists" on Fox News twist facts around to misinform their viewers and push them towards the Republican party. While conservatives hold Fox News close to their hearts, the rest of America can't take them seriously. With conservative talking heads like Bill O'Rielly and Sean Hannity blasting any political position that isn't far right conservatism, independent voters often see through the bias and turn the TV off.
The Republican party and the pundits who support them, use an agenda of fear, channeling the ways of former Republican senator from Wisconsin, Joseph McCarthy. In the 1950s, McCarthy had accused hundreds of Democrats in the United States of being members of the communist party without having any proof of his claims. As the years went on, the American people took McCarthy and his fear agenda as a sad and pathetic joke. The current Republican party goes further than McCarthy did, using what conservatives hold close to them against them, their religion. Republicans push the fear of gays, Muslims, atheists and others who aren't evangelical Christians onto conservatives voters, using those fears to bypass many economic issues that could normally work against them.
Whether it's religion, fear or simply a case of misinformation, conservative voters have been getting the wool pulled over their eyes for years and it's not only affecting them, but the entire country"
The Republican party and the pundits who support them, use an agenda of fear, channeling the ways of former Republican senator from Wisconsin, Joseph McCarthy. In the 1950s, McCarthy had accused hundreds of Democrats in the United States of being members of the communist party without having any proof of his claims. As the years went on, the American people took McCarthy and his fear agenda as a sad and pathetic joke. The current Republican party goes further than McCarthy did, using what conservatives hold close to them against them, their religion. Republicans push the fear of gays, Muslims, atheists and others who aren't evangelical Christians onto conservatives voters, using those fears to bypass many economic issues that could normally work against them.
Whether it's religion, fear or simply a case of misinformation, conservative voters have been getting the wool pulled over their eyes for years and it's not only affecting them, but the entire country"
How Republicans Get Americans To Vote Against Their Own Self Interest
The general stigma and opinion of the majority of the American people is that the Republican party and their policies favor the wealthy. If so many people believe that a particular political party has only a small elite in their best interest, why do so many still continue to vote for them? A question needs to be asked, why do working class, low and middle income families, continue to support a party that gives little to no benefit to them?
A New York Times/CBS News poll was released last October and showed that 70% of all Americans believed that the policies of congressional Republicans favored the rich. In addition to the backlash towards congressional Republicans, two-thirds of Americans actually disapprove of continuing tax cuts for corporations and millionaires. President Obama's recent proposal, the "Buffett Rule", which would place a minimum tax rate of 30% on millionaires, failed in the Senate with a 51-49 vote. Only one Republican voted for the bill, falling nine votes short of the 60 vote super majority it needed to move to the House of Representatives.
Though the "Buffett Rule" failed in the Senate, if a 60% threshold was needed among the American people, the bill would have passed with flying colors. According to a recent CNN poll, 72% of Americans favor the "Buffett Rule,"blowing away the numbers shown in congress. These numbers show where the majority of Americans stand when it comes to economics, but it doesn't translate in the polls when it comes to election time. On most occasions, both the Republican party and the Democratic party each gain around 45% of the electorate, with the remaining 10% swinging in either direction depending on the mood of the country. While Democratic voters are mostly working class Americans who are more inclined to change and accepting others, Republican voters stick to their ideology and are much more resistant to change.
It makes economic sense for the wealthiest Americans to vote for the Republican party because they want to protect their own private finances without giving others, including themselves, the chance for more upward mobility. What makes people scratch their head is the idea of a working class family, making $50,000 a year, voting for a party that continues to give tax breaks to the wealthy and paying for it by cutting the programs that benefit the lower and middle class income families. The Locust Fork News-Journal did a story about a retired Auburn History professor and author, Wayne Flynt, who has written about why Americans often do vote against their best interests in his book "Poor but Proud."
“It’s partly because preachers tell them that the Democratic Party is a godless party...It’s party because the Democratic Party is made up of a large number of African-Americans, and working class whites just won’t vote that way.” Dr. Flynt points out that before the 1960s and 1970s, social issues such as abortion, gay rights and religion weren't talked about as much as they are today. As the years have gone on, social issues and their importance have mixed together with the economic issues of our time. In many southern states, Evangelical Christianity makes up the majority of the voters, most of them Republican. With the recent insurgence of the Tea Party movement into the national Republican party, religion and Christianity has made its way into the secular society of the United States. Today, more than ever before, religion has found its way out of the home and churches and into the public square, a place where religion was never intended to be when our founding fathers began to craft the United States constitution. Dr. Flynt makes a very important statement when it comes to Americans and their idea of the importance of their religion and its impact on society.
“If you are a truck diver, a plumber, an electrician or a steel worker and you live in Alabama, you say, ‘Well, I think my religion is the way everybody ought to think,... but, let that same guy move to Salt Lake City, Utah (where the majority is Mormon) or New Jersey or Connecticut (where the majority is Catholic) or Dearborn, Michigan, (where the majority is Muslim), and he won’t think so highly of the idea that the majority of people ought to impose their religious values on the minority.” Even when conservatives leave the comfort of their conservative church, they quickly turn the TV to the right wing news station, Fox News, or set the radio dial to conservatives mouth pieces like Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck or Michael Savage. Fox News, owned by billionaire Rupert Murdoch, has been accused of multiple instances where they have taken a far right bias when reporting the news. The "journalists" on Fox News twist facts around to misinform their viewers and push them towards the Republican party. While conservatives hold Fox News close to their hearts, the rest of America can't take them seriously. With conservative talking heads like Bill O'Rielly and Sean Hannity blasting any political position that isn't far right conservatism, independent voters often see through the bias and turn the TV off.
The Republican party and the pundits who support them, use an agenda of fear, channeling the ways of former Republican senator from Wisconsin, Joseph McCarthy. In the 1950s, McCarthy had accused hundreds of Democrats in the United States of being members of the communist party without having any proof of his claims. As the years went on, the American people took McCarthy and his fear agenda as a sad and pathetic joke. The current Republican party goes further than McCarthy did, using what conservatives hold close to them against them, their religion. Republicans push the fear of gays, Muslims, atheists and others who aren't evangelical Christians onto conservatives voters, using those fears to bypass many economic issues that could normally work against them.
Whether it's religion, fear or simply a case of misinformation, conservative voters have been getting the wool pulled over their eyes for years and it's not only affecting them, but the entire country. The Democratic party is far from perfect, but more often than not, their policies represent the best interest of the majority of the American people. Until the media becomes accountable for the truth in their reporting and Americans start to think outside the box and accept that others might have some good ideas, the American people will have to continue to weather the storm of Republican destruction.
Fighting for a U.S. federal budget
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Cost of National Security
Try using Cost of National Security with our Trade-Offs tool. Curious about these counters? Visit our notes & sources page.
On September 30, 2015, the last day of the federal fiscal year and the deadline for the new year's budget, Congress passed legislation known as a "continuing resolution" to continue government funding at fiscal year 2015 levels until December 11, 2015. The counters will reflect those funding levels for fiscal year 2016 until new budget information is available.
What counts as national security depends on your perspective. Some people consider wars overseas to be national security.
https://www.nationalpriorities.org/cost-of/
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