President Obama has been in office for six months, and speculation about his 2012 Republican challenger has been going on for just as long. But with star Republicans abruptly resigning or hiking the Appalachian Trail to Argentina, there just aren't that many left to speculate about. I guess this explains the bizarre flurry of recent attention paid to Jeb Bush. The apparent rationale is that if the Democrats could elect someone named Obama, maybe the Republicans can elect someone named Bush.
Tucker Carlson's new Esquire interview finds brother Jeb "relatively optimistic" about his party's future, but he doesn't explain that. Relative to what? Is he saying he's more optimistic than other Republicans? Or more optimistic than usual? Or does he just have no idea what he's saying?
He acknowledges that Republicans have "done a poor job" courting Hispanic voters, and have alienated those voters with anti-immigration rhetoric. "The emotion, the anger," he says, "is a signal. Put aside the substance, but just in terms of the language. It makes it sound like them and us." On this and other issues, Jeb misses the point. He acknowledges that his party has been ineffective in reaching people, but he refuses to see that conservatives face much more than a "messaging" problem. "We didn't advocate our positions well enough to win," he tells Carlson, of the last two elections. In fact, it's the positions themselves that were rejected. Even Jeb Bush -- former Governor of Florida, and still-husband of Columba Garnica Gallo -- can't discuss Hispanic voters without insulting them, with the suggestion that they would wholly embrace his party's xenophobic, nationalist platform if only it were communicated differently.
Carlson notes "a flash of agitation" when Jeb is asked, "Why is [Obama] so popular now?" Jeb's answer: "First of all, who cares?" He then goes on to claim that his brother George had higher approval ratings in his first hundred days than Obama; Carlson debunks this parenthetically. The author also notes, after describing Jeb's disbelief upon hearing that Joe the Plumber briefed House Republicans on Gaza, that this "brother and son of recent Republican presidents...doesn't seem to fully understand what's going on in the party his family has dominated for more than two decades."
Regardless, someone seems to be doing 2012 research in Iowa, perhaps on Bush's behalf. Radio Iowa notes that a recent Republican robocall survey is asking Iowans whether they'd vote for Huckabee, Palin, Gingrich, Jindal, or Jeb Bush. (The same survey asks to evaluate President Obama's job performance: "For good leader, press 1; for good President, press 2; for too party-centric, press 3; for too liberal, press 4; for Socialist, press 5; for bad President, press 6; for undecided, press 7.")
It would be reasonable to assume that we never have to worry about anyone named Bush ever getting hired to do any job in the world. But the Republicans are scary when they're desperate, and Michael Hussey notes that Jeb does have better political chops than any other Republican being discussed as a contender.
In other Iowa news, the State Fair has decided to let citizens vote on whether to include a Michael Jackson butter statue in this year's festivities.