Just how pathetic is Jeb! Bush’s campaign to be the Republican Party’s 2016 nominee? Following last week’s game-changing endorsement by Sen. Lindsey Graham, rumor has it that Team Jeb! is angling to nail down the endorsement of noted presidential loser—and most bitter man in America—Sen. John McCain.
But GOP sources familiar with the conversations describe McCain as hesitant to get involved in the primary campaign. He has a complicated history with the Bush family ...
Bear in mind that this “complicated” relationship was cemented in 2000 when—after McCain’s stunning victory in the New Hampshire primary against Jeb!’s brother George—a smear campaign of epic proportions was launched against McCain in South Carolina. A smear that included rumors and robo-calls about McCain’s mental health, about him being a “Manchurian Candidate,” about his wife’s drug problems, and of course the suggestion that his adopted daughter from Bangladesh was actually his “illegitimate black daughter.” And it was later reported that when George Bush put his hand on McCain’s arm and denied any involvement by his campaign, McCain said, “Don't give me that shit. And take your hands off me." So describing this relationship as complicated seems rather like slapping lipstick on a pig.
And this report also raises two questions: First, would John McCain whore himself out to promote a member of a family that he believes viciously and ruthlessly smeared him and his family, just for a fleeting flurry of attention from the press? (Probably.)
And second, does Team Jeb! actually think an endorsement from John McCain would do anything at all to drag Jeb!’s numbers out of the toilet? For crying out loud, Donald Trump, the candidate the Republican base has embraced, publicly mocked McCain last summer, saying, “He’s not a war hero … I like people who weren’t captured, okay?” The base ate it up and Trump’s numbers went through the roof.
Buy a clue, Jeb!