Portraying Brother Jeb as an Idiot Like His Brother Will Only HELP Him

[McCamy Taylor]

Just noticed that there seems to be a move afoot to label Brother Jeb Prince Idiot II. This is America. No major party nominee was ever rejected for being too stupid. Being brainy, yes. So, calling Brother Jeb stupid or clueless plays into the hands of the GOP who will try to help him disavow Terri Schiavo and Project for New American Century by claiming "He didn't know what he was doing. His advisors are MUCH better now."

Remember, Brother Jeb is the SMART, LAWLESS one who conspired to disenfranchise Black voters in Florida in order to steal 2000 for his brother. This man is no innocent kindly buffoon. He has his dad's smart---with his mother's meanness thrown in.

[MADem]

1. Well, he is clueless in many regards....

A cunning governor does not a statesmanlike presidential candidate make:

http://www.vox.com/2015/2/18/8064723/jeb-bush-awkward

....Bush's speech contained a few embarrassing misstatements and malapropisms. This list of six mess-ups from the speech shows why people have been cringing:

He mixed up Iran and Iraq, blasting the Obama administration's "approach to Iraq...excuse me, Iran."
He accidentally multiplied ISIS's military strength by 10 times, saying that the group had 200,000 fighters when CIA estimates say they've got between 20,000 and 31,500. (A spokesperson later emailed reporters to say he misspoke.)
He called Ukraine "the Ukraine," which Ukrainians object to because it implies that they're a territory and not a rightfully independent country.
He called ISIS caliph Abu Bakr al Baghdadi "the guy that's the supreme leader or whatever his new title is — head of the caliphate."
He mispronounced Nigerian militant group Boko Haram, sounding more like "bow-coo haram."
He weirdly talked about how he "forced myself to go visit Asia four times a year" as if it were a hardship.

He's not ready for prime time, and that should be noted every time he screws up.

[djean111]

10. You are assuming that GOP voters want a statesman. No, they were happy with Jeb's brother.

They don't trust statesmen.
What we think of as negatives, they think of as great features. The GOP could care less about what non-GOP voters think of a candidate. Wasting our time to jeer. IMO.

[MADem]

11. I was thinking more towards the general election, where the "undecideds" come into play.

The GOP will be told who to like, there will be a cadre of Tea Partiers who say "Fuck NO!!!!!! I will NEVER EVER EVER vote for (fill in the blank!!!!!)" and then those Tea Partiers will either suck it up and vote for the GOP proffer or stay home and lie and say they voted if they get pressed into an argument about it and it suits their narrative to fake it.

[edhopper]

13. They were not happy with GWB

It is questionable if they ever elected him, and by the end of his term he had the lowest rating of any modern President.
The best way to beat JEB is to remind people what a stinker his dumbass brother was.

[elleng]

2. and they'll LOVE it if we call him stupid,

it's just what they want. Same with No College Walker, such will garner them millions of votes.

[struggle4progress]

3. Nothing will help brother Jeb except the kind of fraud that helped W

Republicans win by depressing the voters or suppressing votes

The Republicans took the Senate in the last election because of low voter turnout

[lovemydog]

6. That is a good point. We need high voter turnout

in every election, local, state & federal.

[freshwest]

7. Or fear of the Anti-Christ. We dare not speak the name...

[MADem]

12. He will make the Hispanic--though maybe not "Latino"--vote a bit more of a battleground.

He is VERY proficient in Spanish. And by VERY proficient, I mean VERY proficient. He speaks easily, readily, with good accent, knows slang, etc. He can listen to fast talking TV or radio and not miss a phrase. Ironically, I don't think his Hispanic-looking children (not that any more than Jorge P are ready for prime time and could be much help to him) can speak more than a few phrases they may have heard "Ma" (or the servant) yelling from childhood.

Of course, if the Democratic nominee picks an Hispanic VP, that advantage is nullified and then some. It's one thing to pander, it's another thing to bring one of your own into the Big Tent.

[reddread]

4. THERE IS ONLY ONE THING THAT HELPED jEB GET WHERE HE IS GOING

taking impeachment off the table.
where was Monica when we needed her?

[Warren DeMontague]

5. You are correct. I don't think Jeb is stupid, at all.

I actually don't think Dubya is stupid, either-- my impression is that he doesn't have what I would call an 'aggressive intellect' or a curious mind; he's maybe more intellectually lazy than dumb per se.

But Jeb, no. I do think Jeb is fairly sharp. I think underestimating his brains is a mistake.

[polynomial]

8. Klingon cloaking paid for with tax money

In America there is what many can call an “Open Range of Lawlessness in Politics.”

Particularly with commercials that advertise either business or political themes that are very questionable to outright lies like cable advertisements.

Liars and lies are trumpeted through commercials between classic television programming that likely is a rerun situation of murder, cop story, or gun slinging westerns, or situation comedy, a lot of drama or the hundredth repeat of a John Wayne movie for the past fifty years.

Then some wonder why the mental behavior of an American is so deviated or warped. When this air, and time space continuum should have more free education on demand via free open air television.

From my own view maturing into retirement while looking back through all the decades at the average electorate, and I use the word electorate to distinguish many people especially young people that wind up parading around expressing their first amendment rights yet don’t vote.

But there are politicians and business people tightly connected to the mass media that example obnoxiously to suppress what can be considered a common sense today called an honest deception, or misspoken. Really just a lie, then our young sense this to realize much of leadership is nothing more than cheating, lies, corruption, assassination, secret deals, or target profiling until you’re the common denominator is even identity theft.

Backgrounds, or histories especially, family fortunes with business connection is an increasing network of deception.

The Bush family is an outrageous example of what many of us call privilege, yet it really is paid for censorship in the words of “quid pro quo” which is simply a favor for money position or power usually at the expense of the American tax payer.

For generations back to Prescott Bush the Bush family has comingled American tax money with treason building a family fortune. From connections with the Nazi, to connection with the Bin Laden family so called Al Qaeda leader. The family method is obvious to me and a few authors like Posner and Baker.

Yet I have read stories about a young black boy going to jail for stealing an ice cream bar. It makes me wonder how President Obama, or any media journalist could ever say kind words about characters like the Bush family. In a sense that gives the Bush family a type of Klingon cloaking paid for with tax money…

[TrollBuster9090]

9. True enough. Because...

A. He's actually fairly smart by anybody's standards.

B. He's a GENIUS by Republican standards. (Remember Newt Gingrich being touted as the 'Big Ideas' man of the GOP? Yikes...)

C. If we keep knocking him for being a dumb bell, he'll only benefit significantly from LOW EXPECTATIONS (the way Sarah Palin did. *cringe*) And finally,

D. Trying to make his alleged dumbness an issue, and focusing on gaffes in his speeches will only distract away from the REAL issue, which is that he's a chickenhawk neocon. Voters must be reminded of the fact that if he's elected President, he's not going to spend the next 4 to 8 years making us giggle with his malapropism. He's going to spend the next 4-8 years starting wars, giving tax breaks to plutocrats, drilling and fracking for oil in national parks, eliminating federal regulations, setting up the next recession, and appointing crackpots to the Supreme Court.

This guy has the ideology of George W, with the brains of George H.W.. Now THAT's a dangerous combo!

[pipi_k]

14. I'm thinking this is

probably all too sadly true.

Look how many people voted for W in spite of (or probably because of) his being an idiot.


I think someone should start a rumor that Jebbie is a secret member of Mensa. That should ruin his chances before he even gets going.

[starroute]

15. The GOP doesn't like smarts but they do like "common sense"

Their constant mantra is that common sense trumps book-larnin' every time. So if we can demonstrate that Jeb doesn't have the sense God gave a goose, we might get somewhere.

[GreatGazoo]

16. Faint (disengenuous) liberal praise could do more damage

You're on to something but I don't think that any specific criticism from the Left can hurt John Bush. The most damaging stuff for John is already pouring in from the Right -- "Big Government JEB would be the final nail in Reagan's legacy."

The bug I would put into conservative ears is more akin to: 'Bushes are the ultimate government-expanding beltway insiders.' 'The Bushes are phony, repackaged New England elitists.' or how about

'The Bushes are actually to the Left of the Clintons. GW Bush’s huge social programs included No Child Left Behind, nation-building in faraway lands and unnecessary wars, bloated farm and transportation bills, and the explosive growth of medical welfare for senior citizens. They were all budget busters, which squandered the $280-billion surplus created during the ironically more conservative Clinton years.'

Is Jeb Bush just another ‘big government’ liberal?

Aside: We can't generally have such discussions about strategy on DU as many refuse to look at pragmatism and the bigger picture.