Sour Grapes: Bush Is Bush's Problem, Not Rubio

Tweet

"People should know when they are conquered."

- Quintus, "Gladiator" (2000)

As reported in a New York Times article entitled "Bush Allies Threaten Wave of Harsh Attacks on Rubio, an Ex-Mentee" by Maggie Haberman and Michael Barbaro:

"The cash-rich group aiding Jeb Bush’s White House run has filmed a provocative video casting his rival Marco Rubio as ultimately unelectable because of his hard-line stand against abortion.

That group, which has raised more than $100 million, has asked voters in New Hampshire how they feel about Mr. Rubio’s skipping important votes in the Senate.

And the group’s chief strategist has boasted of his willingness to spend as much as $20 million to damage Mr. Rubio’s reputation and halt his sudden ascent in the polls, according to three people told of the claim."

Remarkably, Bush's staff doesn't understand that Rubio is not Bush's problem. Bush is Bush's problem. (And the $20 million could be better spent feeding hungry people.)

As reported by CNN in an article entitled "Poll: Carson and Trump vie for lead, Rubio in third" by Eric Bradner (my emphasis in red):

"A McClatchy/Marist GOP presidential primary poll released Monday shows Ben Carson with a narrow 24% to 23% lead over Donald Trump -- followed by Florida Sen. Marco Rubio at 12% and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush at 8% each.

But the best news for Carson, Rubio and Cruz could be that likely Republican primary voters overwhelmingly say the more they hear about them, the more they like them.

For Carson, 67% of Republicans said that's the case -- while 20% said the more they hear about him, the less they like him.

For Rubio, the splits were 58% to 27%, and for Cruz they were 51% to 31%. Carly Fiorina does well too, at 46% to 34%.

But for Bush and Trump, the opposite is true: 44% of Republicans say they like Trump more as they hear more about him, while 49% say they like him less. And for Bush, the numbers are 32% and 58%."

As Jeb declared after the last Republican presidential debate, "I got a lot of really cool things I could do other than sit around and be miserable, listening to people demonize me and feeling compelled to demonize me." Well, it's time for Jeb to heed his own advice and do those "cool" things, even if it disappoints Bush the Elder. The dynasty is finished.

It's also time for Jeb to realize that it doesn't serve his best interests to go around demonizing others. It backfired for him at the last Republican presidential debate when he attacked Rubio. It will backfire again.