Can Jeb! Bush's presidential campaign survive this one? The man actually
apologized to France on Tuesday, about as bad an ideological crime as one could commit—during his brother's presidency, anyway:
“I made the mistake of saying that the Congress operates on a French work week,” he deadpanned. “I really did a disservice to the French,” Bush added with a chuckle Tuesday. [...]
“I now know that the average French workweek is actually greater than the German workweek,” Bush continued. “So, my God, I totally insulted an entire country—our first ally—that helped us become free as a nation! And I apologize. That did a huge disservice to France. It didn’t really get to the magnitude of the problem: Three day work week.”
Oh, go eat your Freedom Fries, Jeb. He apparently did not learn any of the lessons of Bush 43: France is
always fair game and Real Republican Men don't apologize. This offense against the ways of the far right can't have too much impact, though, because it's hard to see how Bush could sink all that much lower. When you're being
asked if you're dropping out of the race, and having to answer directly that "I'm not quitting," you're pretty low even before apologizing to the great cultural enemy. (How low in quantitative terms? Bush's
polling average has fallen from 13.6 percent in mid-July to 7.1 percent now. And that's before
the latest from Quinnipiac, which puts him at 4 percent—down from 10 percent in their previous poll—is included in his average.)