Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush's debate-night defense of his brother George W. Bush's presidential legacy -- "He kept us safe" -- drew a round of applause from the audience last week, followed by waves of derision from Democrats pointing to the 9/11 terror attacks.Yes, "just 29 percent 'strongly approve,' while 51 percent approve only somewhat." Still, 80 percent have a favorable opinion of his presidency -- and "85 percent say that Bush did a 'good' or "excellent' job of keeping the nation safe."
Most GOP voters, like the debate audience, are on the Bushes' side, according to a new HuffPost/YouGov poll.
Eighty percent of Republican voters surveyed say they approve of George W. Bush's tenure as president.
Wait, it gets worse:
GOP voters also say by a 4-point margin, 43 percent to 39 percent, that they'd vote for George W. Bush again in 2016 if he were eligible for a third term.So maybe Bush has been dealing with his family all wrong. Maybe, if he wants to win the Republican nomination, he should appear with W. as much as humanly possible. Maybe he should campaign with Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld. Maybe he shouldn't have answered that question about whether he would have authorized the Iraq invasion with a defensive "I would have, and so would have Hillary Clinton, just to remind everybody" -- maybe he should have said "Hell yeah I would have!"
Now admittedly, this might not put him in a very good position for the general election. But if he pursues his current course, he's not going to win the damn nomination, so what does he have to lose?
Embrace your idiot brother, Jeb. It's the most "politically incorrect" thing you could do. Do it, and the insane Republican base will probably give you a serious second look.
It's amazing how short the memories of Republicans are. I seem to remember something happening on 9/11.
ReplyDeleteThat's the fucked up thing, I never bought that Republicans ever really rejected George W. Bush. I mean, they seem to still LOVE the guy, and all the war and disaster he brought. They don't CARE that the Middle East is on fire right now, or that Europe is flooded with refugees. They are shameless. And it is astonishing how they ignored what every expert said would happen if they removed Saddam. And sure enough, it's all happening now. And it is disaster and misery for millions. Good going, Republicans. Yeah, thanks for the Neocon Bush Doctrine that has the region convulsed in violence, and refugees fleeing the violence headed to Europe. You were warned, you were told, you imperiously ignored it all. George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, you deserve to be strung up as criminals. Or at least put on trial at the Hague. You ghastly monsters.
ReplyDeleteRemember: Everything bad that happened under Bush was Clinton's fault. Nothing bad that happened under Obama is Bush's fault. And everything good that's happened under Obama is because of Bush or Reagan. Every right-winger "knows" all this.
ReplyDeleteI think you're totally right about this, on the other theory (which I think I also may have seen here first, maybe years ago) that what they want most of all is to piss off Democrats, any way they can. (Why so many of them don't care that Trump isn't exactly conservative.) George W.'s criminal incompetence, willful ignorance, and detachment from reality pissed us off more than we would have thought possible, so even though they don't like him much themselves, that's perfect.
ReplyDeleteFurther evidence to support your theory - the GWB "miss me yet?" meme became a thing almost right away.
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