All the way back on Saturday—that is to say, two days ago—Jeb Bush pulled off the nifty feat of insisting he had a "clear" position on whether South Carolina should fly the Confederate flag at its state capitol while simultaneously
refusing to take sides:
My position on how to address the Confederate flag is clear. In Florida, we acted, moving the flag from the state grounds to a museum where it belonged. This is obviously a very sensitive time in South Carolina and our prayers are with the families, the AME church community and the entire state. Following a period of mourning, there will rightly be a discussion among leaders in the state about how South Carolina should move forward and I'm confident they will do the right thing.
What exactly is that "right thing"? Jeb wouldn't say, of course. But the pressure mounted over the weekend, to the point that GOP Gov. Nikki Haley—who had previously shown zero interest in taking any action—reportedly will unveil a plan
to remove the flag from capitol grounds later today. Rather than continue to find himself caught behind this fast-moving storm front, Bush hastily "evolved"
to get out in front of it:
Jeb's quick shift on the flag was almost—but not quite—as speedy as his wrenching transformation on Friday on the question of whether Dylann Roof's mass murder was racist:
Note that all those statements were made in a span of under 10 hours on a single day. But if you were worried that Jeb Bush was growing less reactionary, don't be. He also just declared that if the Supreme Court rules in favor of same-sex marriage, he'd still defend so-called "traditional" marriage "irrespective of what the courts say." Well, for now. We'll see how long it takes for him to "evolve" on this one, too.