[Sixstrings]

How in the world can you consistently pick the worst possible candidate to support?

Well you may have a point, I did vote for Obama.

Cog, I've been in Democratland for a long time. I'd LIKE to come back to the GOP. There's things on the left I agree with, like not touching SS and the min wage should be raised.

But I'm also tired of 7 years of seeing a mess on the tv news all the time. Things just aren't handled right. And then ISIS, and now Obama and Clinton want to bring in refugees but they won't fight the war properly either.

And then also there's all the foreign and domestic instability (we don't usually have such instability we've got lately, domestically). So that makes me want a return to centrists, and normality.

Most of all, this ISIS thing needs handled and so far it's only Bush that I've heard that's got a real plan for it. You say I flip around Cog, but it's an evolving campaign. I needed to see something from Bush, like the old Jeb Bush, and he stepped up recently with the speech at the citadel and his plan to fight ISIS.

I'm still a registered D.. Clinton will be the nominee and if Bush (or Rubio) is the R nominee then it would be national security concerns that could get me to vote Republican. I'd like immigration slowed, yeah, in a perfect world -- but only Trump is for that. And he turned out to be a fascist, so I'm more against fascism than I am against too much immigration. That's just me, others may be different and that's their right.

Jeb is exactly what is wrong with establishment Republicans. A get along with Democrats sort of guy like Boehner and McConnell.

You're saying that from the viewpoint of a conservative Republican, but most voters are not conservatives. To win the WH you gotta get some Democrat votes, actually. I won't knock Ted Cruz, but there are no Democrats that would cross over to vote for Cruz.

Hillary will decimate him in a debate. Voters are sick of that sort of thing.

Well I agree there, he may not be great in debates against Hillary.

But I can also tell you, because I know all about Democratic cirlces too, that it's Bush they least want to go up against. Bush is the most moderate Republican. He's got the best chance versus Hillary, and Democrats know that. And after how ugly this Trump thing has been -- I don't think they can make Bush look like a scary conservative now, there's nothing farther right than what Trump turned into.

[Subjectivist]

Jeb might not have crashed yet, but his campaign has flamed out in Iowa and if he doesn't get his act together soon then it's all down hill from here.

Karol ascribes Jeb Bush's slowness to lure high profile endorsers to being out-of-step with the base on key issues including immigration as well as to his personality.
“He’s just also not a compelling candidate,” he said. George W. Bush, by contrast, had “better political instincts and also more appeal, more personality.”
The organizational strength that Bush's team often uses to sell him to prospective endorsers has not sped up the process any. That infrastructure was supposed to be able to power him through the March states after rivals ran out of staff and money, doesn't much distinguish him anymore.
A super-PAC working on Bush's behalf has also failed to convince would-be endorsers through its massive advertising efforts. Since Sept. 1, Right to Rise has purchased 3,749 TV spots in Iowa TV markets at an estimated cost of more than $3 million, according to data compiled by the ad tracking firm Kantar/CMAG. This makes the super-PAC the largest ad buyer in the state by far. The next closest competitor (the pro-Bobby Jindal group Believe Again) had bought just half as much in Iowa before their candidate dropped out of the race.

http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/artic ... dorsements

[Cog]

I'll bet Bush wishes he had an elephant about now. He is still sinking in the polls. LOL In spite of Karl Rove and every establishment type shilling for him, his campaign is spiraling downward. This fills me with great joy. The tears of democrats and the republican establishment are sweet.
National poll average

Trump 27.5
Carson 19.8
Rubio 12.5
Cruz 11.3
Bush 5.5

In New Hampshire Bush isn't even in the top 5

In Iowa Bush polls at 4.7%

I don't think the Republican voters are buying whatever Bush is selling. Maybe he needs Sixstrings on his campaign team.

[Cog]

Old Jeb is really packing them in.

[Plantagenet]

Old Jeb is really packing them in.

AND most of those people in the photo are probably paid staff for JEB, too.

------------------

Bush should be running as the national security candidate after the Paris attacks, but he blew that by dissing his own brother and dissing his tough line on Islamic Terrorism after 9/11.

[Sixstrings]

Jeb Bush in New Hampshire:

Jeb Bush New Hampshire Meet and Greet Jeb Can Fix It
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B50IasmmI5g

He tells a story of how when he was running for governor in florida, one woman stood up and said "you don't care about people like me, I have a disabled child, you're a conservative."

And Bush says he told the lady "well why don't you give me a chance." And then he spent four days with her to learn about what she was talking about -- available care, group homes etc.

And then Bush says that helped him after he became governor. The care in the state had become so bad that a federal judge was going to take it over. So Bush went to the legislature and reformed the program and got 30,000 families off the waiting list.

Bush also talks about increasing the earned income tax credit to help working poor a bit more.

This is the "RINO" kind of stuff that Cog doesn't like.

But the thing is.. if people vote for a Republican, for governor or president, then it has to be the kind that cares at least a little bit about people and domestic issues and actually wants solutions and make programs work -- not just cut them, and not give a sh*t about it.

Anyhow.. reality is.. Bush may be too far left for someone like Cog, but on some domestic issues he's too far right for me. Like, Bush wants to cut social security and raise the age.

I should be looking at some Hillary Clinton things, to figure out if she'd be good enough on the national security issues.

[Cog]

Earned income credit is nothing more than redistribution of wealth. You haven't "earned" anything. I am in effect paying you to have a child because you are poor. When you should not be having any children because you can't afford to raise them without raiding my wallet.

Yes, this among many other things like amnesty for the illegals, wanting to reform government instead of cutting it, his embrace of common core, and increased gun regulations like universal background checks. I could go on but you get the point. He is a RINO like his brother and father. RINO's must go and we must go back to the concept of a small federal government that does only what is specified in the Constitution. Yes, that document that puts a strangle-hold on what the government can and can not do.

[Tanada]

Bush's performance tonight was abysmal IMO, he came across to me as weak, desperate to gain traction, and very hesitant when answering once he got past his preplanned comebacks and programmed attack lines. Towards the end he was virtually stuttering because he was so afraid of saying the wrong word. Look dude, nobody wants you to be President, you are polling at 3 percent and tonight is not going to help. Drop out now with some dignity.

[Subjectivist]

Honestly, does anyone think this person deserves to still be on the prime time stage?

[Tanada]

Tanada, my impression of Bush was very different. Yes he appeared scared and hesitant. Perhaps because he realizes he is surrounded by evil clowns, one of which might actually be President of the US someday.

Perhaps he is the evil clown and is upset his particular line of BS is no longer working upon the minds of the masses who supported his father and brother.

[Subjectivist]

Perhaps Bush The Third (or is it the Fourth?) is scared because he has finally woken from his Empire Dream to realize his own families' bullshit and lies have grown into a national festering epidemic infection. That they can not possibly control. Trump and the rest are his spawn.

Reality bites, for me and many there the Bush clan have lost their curb appeal. We don't blame them for everything that goes wrong forever, but we don't trust them to navigate these waters either. Good intentions are not enough, and neither are grand claims made in a speech.

[Tanada]

Jeb Bush campaign researching the legalities of whether he can back out of the pledge to support the GOP nominee:

Bush might back out of a pledge to support the Republican nominee if it is Trump

Behind the scenes, top aides have looked into whether Bush would still qualify to be on the ballots in all 50 states because some states require a loyalty pledge in order to be on the ballot.
http://www.businessinsider.com/r-bush-has-considered-backing-out-of-pledge-if-nominee-is-trump-aide-2015-12

What a pathetic loser. If I can't win fair and square I will cheat however I have to to make sure my opponent can't win. Scorched earth Wahhh Wahhh Wahhhh! Somebody please pay attention to my crumbling campaign!!! I am a Bush the nomination is my birthright!!!!!

[Cog]

I'm sure Trump is devastated that he won't get the 1% of Republicans who support Bush.

[SeaGypsy]

I'm still seeing the same pattern & a consolidation starting in Trump himself- the pattern being critique bathed in hypocrisy & double standards, highly subjective & shallow, coming from both sides, while the consolidation grows starting with Trump & the people who listen & watch the guy objectively rather than the sound bytes & redacted panic feed slop being pumped by Bob's Soap News Branch International.

Trump's absolutely massive advantage is is comfort with the attention. He thrives with multiple cameras in his face, speaking with candour & charm, seemingly for as long as anyone wants to hang around. This is where the guy is miles out in front at this early stage & what I see as the beginning of a greater consolidated R party, by election time.

[Tanada]

Based on what they said on the news a candidate needs 4 percent to get even a single caucus vote. Looks like Jeb Bush failed to get even one national caucus vote today.

[Cog]

Bush even polls badly in his home state of Florida. A wiser man would have bailed on this election by now.

[Subjectivist]

The Washington Post shows Jeb as managing to get a single delegate for the RNC this fall. At this point anyone not getting even one should drop out so we can focus on those with at least a chance of winning.