"He just digs deep when things aren’t going well and never gives up. I’ve never seen resolve like his before," said one of Jeb's people, quoted in
"Jeb Bush is convincing donors the polls are wrong."
“I think staff morale is exceedingly low,” said a Bush donor based in New York City. “I suspect they know they’re in a death spiral now. There’s no getting out of this.”
In spite of those worries starting to bubble to the surface, Bush appears resolved to fight on, still expressing steely confidence to close associates and anyone who questions his viability: “I’m going to win this damn thing,” he’ll often say.
ADDED: This mainstream Republican cluelessness made me think back to
this horrendous David Brooks column I read yesterday, in which he acted as though he was thinking things through rationally by using an analogy to buying a rug and liking the pink one:
If you had asked me at that moment which rug I wanted, I would have said the pink one.... But then my mentality flipped and I started asking some questions. Would the furniture go with this rug? Would this rug clash with the wall hangings? Would I get tired of its electric vibrancy? Suddenly a subtler and more prosaic blue rug grabbed center stage. The rugs had not changed, but suddenly I wanted the blue rug. The pink rug had done an excellent job of being eye-popping on its own. The blue rug was doing an excellent job of being a rug I could enjoy living with.
And so you see, Jeb, the prosaic blue rug, will be the voter's choice.
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Well, the Packers beat the Lions despite the game having ended.
That's a proper use of "death spiral." Corrective action makes it worse owing to a lack of information about what's wrong.
Now's the time to consider drafting someone new, a real dark horse. Like maybe Mel Brooks, or American Pharoah.
Obligatory on-topic comment: this quality of being down three or four strokes and then focusing and rising by seven or eight strokes...as a some-time golfer, I find it both implausible and non-commending. You have to play a pretty lousy game to have so many strokes as to drift by seven strokes in the course of a...course. And why wasn't he focusing on the front nine, where he got behind by three or four strokes? That shows lack of commitment.
I want a President who, if he's a golfer, starts trying hard on the tee at the first hole and keeps trying through eighteen holes, on the fairway, in the forest, in the sand, and on the greens. "Oh, he played crappy and then started trying hard because he was losing" means we don't need him in our foursome.
"“I’m going to win this damn thing,” he’ll often say"
Makes me think of Beck's "Loser" sample:
“I’m a driver, I’m a winner — things are gonna change, I can feel it.”
People often think that this sample is George Bush the Elder, but it is only from a film by the director of the video.
If it WAS Poppa Bush this circle wouldn't be so egg-shaped.
Bring back the Guillotine.
I am Laslo.
What else is he going to do? It's a legacy thing.
"That's a proper use of "death spiral." Corrective action makes it worse owing to a lack of information about what's wrong."
Great image in the context of the "Jeb'll fix it" theme. Things got worse after he undertook his fix-it campaign.
Why is he still in the race?
Just what a patrician Republican needs from his friends. A golf metaphor.
Sometimes "resolve" is just self-delusion.
Jeb sounds like a reasonable man. On that basis alone his time has passed. We'll be electing blowhards and panderers until the lock goes on the front door.
A golf example?
We don't need another Golfer-in-Chief.
But the number of rounds he's played in office will NEVER be broken. Historic.
I have played golf since I was nine. That analogy doesn't work.
JEB is done and just doesn't know his throat has been cut until he finally turns his head.
Trump branded him a nice guy with low energy and no passion and owned by the Donors.. And it worked. Look out Hillary, he is after you with a brand.
Crikey! A prosaic blue rug? Brooks is a pompous airhead but he may have gotten Bush right here - but not in the way he intended.
"Why is he still in the race?"
Based on the article, I think the main thing is that they amassed the money and built organization at the state level in preparation for the primaries, so they don't want to give up before seeing what happens in the primaries, after Iowa is out of the way. They're convincing their supporters to stick with him, on the theory that the polls are reading things incorrectly, and that the actual votes will come out different, especially because they've concentrated on all this local advance work.
What makes some sense to me is that Bush is the completely normal one, and after the fun and games are over, people will come to their senses and see that he is the only one. But Rubio is also a normal one. But maybe Rubio will make some big mistake.
There is a good argument for normal. Normal can win. Normal means a lot more than you might be willing to admit, even to yourself when you're on the phone with a pollster.
I think the main thing is that they amassed the money and built organization at the state level in preparation for the primaries
Which reminds me of this proverb --
A fool and his money are soon parted
Fred Thompson with a bit more strategy or Rudy Giuliani with a head start.
Trump's not a rug. He wears a rug.
Jeb's more of a "Welcome" mat.
I believe that you could take that column, cut a little of the more facutal stuff out, put an appropriate satircal title to it, make up and author name, and publish it on The Onion and no one would be suspicious.
I've never understood his being taken seriously.
Just the use of a country club analogy is kind of tone deaf. At least he didn't praise Bush's polo playing skills or the number of trophy lions he bagged while on safari, but this doesn't sound like kind of thing that will win a lot of undecided voters.
"after the fun and games are over, people will come to their senses and see that he is the only one."
I don't think so. People are too angry and that is not just Republicans. Trump appeals to a lot of Democrats and even blacks.
I don't like him and he may yet screw up but his support is pretty wide and pretty deep. I'm beginning to think Cruz is #2.
We'll see. If he gets close, I think we will see the same tactic Reagan used in 1976 when he named Schweiker as his VP choice. We will see a Trump move like that to reassure those of us who are worried about him. #2 might be Cruz who seems to have that in mind, as well.
"I've never understood his being taken seriously."
No one does. He's just the token salon-faehig House Con who allows Progs to posture as tolerating the "other side." Quasi-pseudo-BS-con, of course. The kind they like at the NYT and on PBS and NPR. (He still covers all three, doesn't he?) I wonder when the Prog apparatus will drop the pretense entirely. Maybe when President Rubio or President Cruz drives them to despair?
The Politico. A useless rag that has taken some unusual steps in partisanship recently. The only people that use it for information are political class types who are about to have their bubble ripped out from under them like a rug.
And so you see, Jeb, the prosaic blue rug, will be the voter's choice.
No.
What makes some sense to me is that Bush is the completely normal one, and after the fun and games are over, people will come to their senses and see that he is the only one. But Rubio is also a normal one. But maybe Rubio will make some big mistake.
Like Warren Harding's "return to normalcy" after the shambles of Woodrow Wilson's presidency? I'm not sure that anyone totally "normal" runs for president. But, again, what is the fundamental reason to vote for Jeb Bush? Is that it? He's the normal one? Not much of a reason when the US is faced with PC run amok and terrorism at home, and a resurgent Russia abroad on top of a Middle East that was in far better shape in 2008 than in 2016.
Thanks, Althouse! for responding to my rhetorical question. Normal is boring, normal is wimpy, normal is do-nothing, that is what the voters are saying supporting Trump. It seems to me that the 'normal' crowd has been trying to take Trump out from the get go but he is still going and going. This election cycle is anything but 'normal'; people are angry, mad as hell, and what can we expect after Bush and especially Obama.
I'm not saying normal is enough or that it will be enough in the particular case of Bush. Bush is just not able to make the transition from his elite milieu onto the TV screen for general consumption. He smiles and nods pleasantly and seems smug and numb.
I'm just saying that there are a lot of voters, myself included, who don't want a demagogue. As I've said a few times on this blog, I think Rubio is the best bet for a normal-seeming but charismatic, vibrant candidate.
Rubio has really hurt himself with his immigration vagueness. He also still looks 15 years old.
Both he and Cruz are first term Senators but Cruz looks older and has some national level experience.
@Althouse, well, I like Carly but I could go Rubio or Cruz. I like it that Trump fights back, but just as there's a concept of judicial temperament I think there's an equivalent concept of presidential temperament and whatever it is I think Trump lacks it.
But Clinton and Bush also lack it, though for other reasons. And I'd rather see Trump in power than either of them.
Donors are pretty easy to fool.
@pm317, are voters angry? Or are they scared? I could be wrong, but I think the latter is the case. And that bodes ill for Democrats who think that governing responsibly means scads of irresponsible legislation and regulation.
@Althouse, not to pile on or anything, but isn't "horrendous David Brooks column" a bit redundant?
One last thing before I get back to work getting the house ready for the holidays.
It's a mark of Jeb's lack of judgment that he'd hire somebody who'd say "never have I seen such resolve" about Jeb -- indicating to one and all that Jeb has never faced many true challenges in his life. And when the incumbent president seems more devoted to his golf game than to searching for solutions to ISIS, bringing up Jeb's interest in the game seems to be very poorly chosen.
People like to support a candidate they imagine to be like themselves in some way. This explains perfectly why the big money guys are behind Bush. He show the inner resolve neccessary when things are tough and you have to "dig deep"...and make that birdie putt. That's leadership. No wonder the GOPe is getting the finger...the Trump finger.
Brooks is whistling his way past the graveyard.
His recent columns have been hilarious or pathetic, depending on the reader's perspective.
@Big Mike, I think it is a combination of both. They could be scared and could oscillate to Republicans because of Obama and the Democrats. But that is not happening. They are actually rejecting both parties and going for the tough talking guy who is exposing the faults of both parties.
Who are the deep pocket GOP donors going to donate to if not Jeb? From their perspective its Jeb or no one.
Robert Cook: "Sometimes "resolve" is just self-delusion"
Incorrect application Robert.
Self-delusion might be a driver for "resolve", but it is not resolve.
I think the problem is one of range of experience.
When I first read this quote from Jeb's backer.......: ""He just digs deep when things aren’t going well and never gives up. I’ve never seen resolve like his before," said one of Jeb's people..."
......my first thought was, wow, you probably haven't been in the presence of many people who had to demonstrate true "resolve" in dire situations.
For instance, let's take the lefties great "Lion of the Senate" hero, Teddy Kennedy. (Yes, like you, I find it literally, lit-er-al-ly, impossible to envision this privileged bloated and bleating drunkard as a "Lion" of anything, except steak of lobster lunches (which were his standard lunch, just like you and me)).
Teddy sure showed "resolve" in attempting over many years to arrange his own coronation as President.
But at each step of his life where situations became truly pivotal and sometimes "dire", this "Lion" high-tailed it as fast as he could back to safe bosom of his tribal and media connections.
Examples of Jeb's "resolve": To hell with the long iron, give me the wood!!
There really should be a statue somewhere commemorating this.
We could put it right next to the statue of Hillary! courageously dodging the secret and invisible sniper fire in Bosnia that no one else who was there experienced.
Why was Hillary the only one aware of this? Her finely tuned "vast right-wing Bosnia-sniper conspiracy" senses with the help of channeled Eleanor Roosevelt guidance.
I think the main thing is that they amassed the money and built organization at the state level in preparation for the primaries, so they don't want to give up before seeing what happens in the primaries, after Iowa is out of the way.
That's my sense of it. Normally candidates drop out when they run out of money or it's clearly impossible for them to win. Jeb isn't going to run out of money, and it's too early to say a win is impossible.
Rubio is okay. Cruz is better but Rubio is number two, for me. I don't seem to have as much of a problem with a politician taking a position, then changing it under pressure from the majority of his constituency. I have this crazy idea that this is what they are supposed to do.
Ann Althouse said...
"I'm just saying that there are a lot of voters, myself included, who don't want a demagogue. As I've said a few times on this blog, I think Rubio is the best bet for a normal-seeming but charismatic, vibrant candidate."
Yeah, that's what you thought about Obama, too.
Look, Rubio has a lot going for him. But for some reason he has never articulated, he wants to replace the American people with a bunch of foreigners. It may simply be, that he has Mark Zuckerburg's brand on his ass, and thinks it is too late to go looking for a better class of owner. Anyway, he has not apologized for the Gang of Eight, he'd do it again in a heartbeat, and he'll get my vote when he prises it from my cold, dead hands.
Just to be clear, Professor Althouse; you have no intention at all of voting for any of these Republicans, is that correct?
Have you in fact determined that you will in all likelihood vote for Hillary Clinton if she is not indicted in 2016?
All of the Republicans -- although I am never certain of any serious policy commitment with Donald Trump -- oppose the result in Obergefell, and all would listen carefully to Senate Republicans who say they'd like the President to nominate more Scalias, more Alitos, more Jeffrey Suttons, more Janice Rogers Browns, more Priscilla Owenses to the federal judiciary.
In discussing the Republican nomination race, you are someone like any one of a thousand liberal columnists, bloggers and law profs who didn't vote for a Republican for president in the last election, or the one before that, or the one before that, and won't vote for a Republican in 2016.
Have I got that right?
I guess until T Coddington Voorhees IV decides to enter the race on behalf of less aristocratic Americans, we'll just have to live with Jeb's heroic exploits on the putting greens of the country club for inspiration. The GOP really has their finger on the pulse of the Common Man, don't they?
Bush turned me off when I saw him at CPAC this year, being Q&A'd by Hannity. He acted like he'd been dropped into a Walmart full of sweaty shoppers who were lucky he'd deigned to make a cameo appearance. He rarely cracked a smile and had to keep from holding his nose. Yet the audience's skepticism, bordering on hostility, seemed to baffle him.
He may say "garner" a lot but what he really wants to say is "garish." His crack about Trump being in his slippers at 5:00AM -- slippers engraved with an ornate little "T" -- was contemptuous, and revealing. (@17:19 ---->). Lots of us may chuckle when we see peddlers on the side of the road selling pictures of Elivs on black velvet, but we don't feel superior. Bush probably sees the QVC channel as pure comedy.
Bush has a superiority complex which belies his claims of "compassion" and "caring" for people, and he's having a hard time keeping it under wraps. Most Americans -- and particularly the GOP base -- have no desire to be governed by a man who views them, his own fellow countrymen, with such disdain and pity. The creased-pant media elite is quite enough aready, thank you very much.
Jeb who?
Althouse said: What makes some sense to me is that Bush is the completely normal one, and after the fun and games are over, people will come to their senses and see that he is the only one. But Rubio is also a normal one. But maybe Rubio will make some big mistake.
Cruz seems to have the best grasp of the Constitution. Does that count for something?
"As I've said a few times on this blog, I think Rubio is the best bet for a normal-seeming but charismatic, vibrant candidate."
I did not vote for Obama in 2008 or 2012. It was obvious that he was, then, exactly what his critics said he was -- a jumped up state senator from a state known for its culture of political corruption.
That is all Obama was, that is all Obama is today. He is an embarrassing side effect of the boomer cohort choosing candidates on the basis of how enlightened he or she makes them feel.
That's it.
Nothing more.
Nothing more than boomer vanity.
Any citizen who voted for Obama in 2008 or 2012 should just sit out the 2016 election.
David Brooks:
"Suddenly a subtler and more prosaic blue rug grabbed center stage. The rugs had not changed, but suddenly I wanted the blue rug. The pink rug had done an excellent job of being eye-popping on its own. The blue rug was doing an excellent job of being a rug I could enjoy living with."
David Brooks could have saved time and ink by using the ancient trope of the girl I want to date vs. the girl I want to marry, but that would have been offensive to the Times' readership.
A long rumination on pink and blue rugs and how one feels about them...that's what happens when one hangs out with Maureen Dowd.
Twenty five years ago, my wife came home unexpectedly with a lovely Persian rug. She and I humped it inside, its huge roll leaving me in no doubt that it was too big for our living room. Sure enough, it was a foot too long.
My wife called the carpet store, and the manager asked if she liked the color, and my wife responded, "Yes, it is lovely."
He asked if the pattern pleased her. "Of course, that's why I chose it."
He asked if the thickness, the depth of the dye colors, the tightness of the weave pleased her. Yes, yes, yes.
Then he said, "The question you should be asking yourself is, "How long are you going to live in that house?""
Like I said, that was 25 years ago. Our current house has a living room suitable for the rug.
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