Worst. Candidate. Ever.
Any African-American man or woman thinking of voting for Jeb Bush in the 2016 Presidential election must have had his/her hopes dashed yesterday:
Jeb Bush told a crowd in South Carolina on Thursday that Republicans could attract more African-Americans with a message of “hope and aspiration,” and not with promises of “free stuff” — a phrase that echoed comments made by Mitt Romney during and after his 2012 bid for president.
The remarks, reported by The Washington Post, came in response to a question from a white man in a largely white crowd in Mount Pleasant, who asked how Mr. Bush planned to appeal to African-Americans.
“Our message is one of hope and aspiration,” he said, according to The Post. “It isn’t one of division and get in line and we’ll take care of you with free stuff. Our message is one that is uplifting — that says you can achieve earned success.”
Bush wasn't clear on whether white people, Asians or those with a Latino/Hispanic background would continue to receive "free stuff." But there appears to be no doubt that African-Americans will be left out in the cold in a Bush Administration.
You have to wonder whether Republicans have a genetic predisposition towards insulting African-Americans:
Mr. Bush’s wording called to mind a handful of uncomfortable moments from Mr. Romney’s 2012 campaign.
In a speech after being booed at an earlier event with the N.A.A.C.P., Mr. Romney, according to a pool report, said, “Your friends who like Obamacare, you remind them of this: If they want more stuff from government, tell them to go vote for the other guy — more free stuff. But don’t forget nothing is really free.”
Of course, in Bush's case, the apple
didn't fall too far from the tree:
WASHINGTON, Sept. 6 - As President Bush battled criticism over the response to Hurricane Katrina, his mother declared it a success for evacuees who "were underprivileged anyway," saying on Monday that many of the poor people she had seen while touring a Houston relocation site were faring better than before the storm hit.
"What I'm hearing, which is sort of scary, is they all want to stay in Texas," Barbara Bush said in an interview on Monday with the radio program "Marketplace." "Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality."
"And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway," she said, "so this is working very well for them."
Because they got all that "free stuff."