November 23, 2012

Strange new respect for the Bush Dynasty

Generally speaking, being married to a failed jewel smuggler won't make you Presidential Timber, but in the case of Jeb Bush, being married to a Mexican failed jewel smuggler has vaulted him to the top of media consideration for the 2016 GOP Presidential nomination. From the NYT:
Jeb Bush in 2016? Not Too Early for Chatter 
By JIM RUTENBERG and JEFF ZELENY 
CORAL GABLES, Fla. — Now that the Obama and Romney campaigns have closed their headquarters in Chicago and Boston, the attention of the political world is shifting to an office suite tucked behind the colonnades of the Biltmore Hotel complex here. 
The suite is where former Gov. Jeb Bush manages his consulting business, his education foundation and, now, the (very) early decision-making process for a possible presidential run in 2016.
When former President Bill Clinton rolled through here while campaigning for President Obama, he speculated about Mr. Bush’s intentions with Ana Navarro, a Republican strategist and friend of Mr. Bush.

 Navarro is from a rich Nicaraguan family that made themselves unpopular enough that they relocated to Miami in 1980.
It was no idle topic for Mr. Clinton, given the possibility that his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, could seek the Democratic nomination.

That's exactly what this country needs: the fresh thinking and fresh blood of a 2016 Bush v. Clinton race.
When Senator Marco Rubio of Florida held a strategy session here to discuss his own political future last week, the question of Mr. Bush, a mentor, hung over the room; a decision by Mr. Bush, 59, to seek the Republican nomination would almost certainly halt any plans by Mr. Rubio, 41, to do so or abruptly set off a new intraparty feud. 
Mr. Bush is said by friends to be weighing financial and family considerations — between so many years in office and the recession his wealth took a dip, they said, and he has been working hard to restore it — as well as the complicated place within the Republican Party of the Bush brand. Asked this week about whether his father would run, Jeb Bush Jr. told CNN, “I certainly hope so.” 
For now, however, “It’s neither a ‘no’ nor a ‘yes’ — it’s a ‘wait and see,’ ” said Al Cardenas, the chairman of the American Conservative Union and a longtime friend and adviser to Mr. Bush. “It continues to intrigue him, given how much he has to share with the country.” 
After Mitt Romney’s defeat by a Democratic coalition built around overwhelming support from Hispanics and other fast-growing demographic groups, many Republicans are looking for a candidate who can help make the party more inclusive without ceding conservative principles — and no one is the subject of more speculation at this point than Mr. Bush. 
To his supporters, Mr. Bush is the man for the moment. His wife, Columba, was born and raised in Mexico. He speaks Spanish and favors overhauling the immigration system in a way that would provide a route to citizenship for people already in the country illegally but otherwise law-abiding. 
... George W. Bush’s break with the populist right began midway through his second term over his support for a pathway to citizenship for some illegal immigrants, which grass-roots activists labeled an amnesty plan. His push for immigration legislation failed.

Huh? George W. Bush pushed immigration in 2001 and 2004 as well.
This year, even before Election Day, Jeb Bush was warning of what he called his party’s “stupid” approach to illegal immigration. (Mr. Obama took 71 percent of the Hispanic vote, according to interviews with voters.) 
“The day after the election, I started getting e-mails and texts from friends and others wanting Governor Bush to run and asking whether he would,” said Justin Sayfie, a Florida lobbyist who served as an adviser to Mr. Bush when he was governor. 
The calls for Mr. Bush to step forward have grown louder since Mr. Romney told donors that Mr. Obama won the election by giving “gifts” of government benefits to Hispanics, African-Americans and younger voters. 
“That stupid comment that came out of Mitt Romney’s mouth would never in a million years have come out of Jeb Bush’s mouth because he doesn’t think it,” said Ms. Navarro, the strategist, who sees Mr. Bush regularly at the Biltmore, a gathering spot for local politicos. “This election result has made Jeb Bush’s voice that much wiser and that much more needed for the Republican Party: What he’s been warning about all along proved to be true.” 

Jeb Bush is now Presidential Timber not only because his wife is a Mexican failed jewel smuggler, but because he regularly drinks at the Biltmore with Latin America's oligarchs and right-wing exiles. From the Miami Herald in 2006:
The First Lady of The Biltmore 
Former Diplomat Ana Navarro, 34, feels the Cuba issue closely and is becoming a quiet, behind the scenes player. As a former ambassador from Nicaragua to the United Nations Human Rights Commission, Navarro said she saw first hand how Cuban diplomats bullied the commission into leniency in Switzerland. She called them “thugs.” Her boyfriend, Biltmore Hotel owner Gene Prescott, and her have made the Biltmore the home headquarters of Cuba talk recently. At least five Cuba-related events have been held there in the last few weeks. Navarro is a member of the deep-pocketed US Cuba Democracy PAC. She says she also corners officials and diplomats from outside Miami who stay at the Biltmore. “There is not one that doesn’t come here that doesn’t get a dose of Western Hemisphere and Cuba issues.”  Prescott is a Democrat and Navarro is a Republican, so they play both sides of the coin.

In general, the common idea in the media that Jeb will appeal to Latino voters because he vacationed three times at the ranch of the brother of President Salinas of Mexico, who was known as Mr. 10% Percent because of his immense corruption and who was then sentenced to 27 years in prison for murder, is ... interesting. It might even be true that Jeb's ties to Latin America's oligarchs will work as well for him outside of Florida as it does in Florida. But, then again, maybe not. For example, Jeb's friends, the Salinas Brothers, are really not that popular in Mexico these days.

Back to the New York Times:
After waiting his turn following his brother, Mr. Bush, who declined to be interviewed for this article, is not commenting publicly on the election’s outcome. But he has assured friends that he will step forward as the nation again grapples with how to address illegal immigration. He is co-author of a book called “Immigration Wars: Forging an American Solution,” to be published in the spring. 
His complicated political considerations include the question of whether the country would consider electing another Bush. 
... However, Mr. Bush’s friends say, his last name is not his biggest concern. Aside from financial matters, friends said he is also conscious of how a run would affect his family, especially the political prospects of his sons.

Sons, not son? Uh-oh ...
Jeb Bush Jr., 29, is a founder of a political action committee, Sun Pac, formed to promote and recruit conservative Hispanic political candidates. 
George P. Bush, 36, has filed paperwork in Texas in preparation for a campaign to become land commissioner. 

There are two of them?

Be afraid, be very afraid.

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

Everyone is talking about 2016 because they know it's going to be 4 more years of decline, demagoguery and golf.

Son of Brock Landers said...

Damn, I thought I'd only have to worry about one of them in the 2028 GOP primaries. I have all of my anti-George P. material saved for those primary debates.

Cail Corishev said...

"This year, even before Election Day, Jeb Bush was warning of what he called his party’s “stupid” approach to illegal immigration."

Does it ever occur to these nitwits that bad-mouthing your own party might cost it votes? Do they care, as long as they're not running? Does anyone in the media ever ask them about it, or suggest that they're being disloyal?

Notice you don't ever see this from Democrats, outside the primaries. You don't see Clinton going around criticizing Obama for Libya or asking why we still have troops in Afghanistan, or pointing out that it's stupid to amnesty a bunch of illegals when unemployment is high. Guess that's why they aren't called the stupid party.

Chicago said...

From the story one can see that Columba's primary instinct is to be a cheater even though she has plenty of money and has no real need to take risks. Things like this indicate what the basic personality traits of the person happen to be. Since water finds it's own level it can be inferred that the entire family is rotten at it's core. The family that preys together stays together, otherwise known as the Bush 'family values'.

Anonymous said...

After having lived in Latin America for 5 years, there's one thing people need to know about L.A. elites- they have delusional egos that would make Roissy shudder. They're like Arabs in this regard.

AlexT said...

Kris Kobach for President!

Anonymous said...

"Navarro is from a rich Nicaraguan family that made themselves unpopular enough that they relocated to Miami in 1980."

You mean they fled the Sandinistas, right? You make this sound so sinister...

Reg Cæsar said...

Well, we know what Mitt Romney will be doing in 2016. Rescuing the Rio Olympics.

Mountain Maven said...

Get over it steve

Mr. Anon said...

"The First Lady of The Biltmore

Former Diplomat Ana Navarro, 34, feels the Cuba issue closely and is becoming a quiet, behind the scenes player........Prescott is a Democrat and Navarro is a Republican, so they play both sides of the coin."

The operative word is "coin". Perhaps what we need is another Bay-of-Pigs invasion. I vote for Ms. Navarro to be first off the Higgins' Boat.

Mr. Anon said...

"Anonymous said...

""Navarro is from a rich Nicaraguan family that made themselves unpopular enough that they relocated to Miami in 1980.""

You mean they fled the Sandinistas, right? You make this sound so sinister..."

And her family were probably in tight with that tribune of the people, and all round swell heckuva guy, Anastasio Somoza.

Reg Cæsar said...

Her boyfriend, Biltmore Hotel owner Gene Prescott, and her have made the Biltmore the home headquarters of Cuba talk recently.

"Her boyfriend... and her have made..."!!!?

Someone employed by a major American newspaper wrote a sentence like that?

(Oh, wait... it's the Miami Herald, not an American paper. My bad. I see its author is one Oscar 'not-so-OK' Corral.)

Anonymous said...

Chavez and Castro are not our enemies, that needs to be repeated on a near yearly basis. They are not scheming to turn the US into a new corrupt, hierarchical, regressive Latin empire.

But the GOP mouthbreathers will never understand this.

Mr. Anon said...

"Anonymous said...

Chavez and Castro are not our enemies, that needs to be repeated on a near yearly basis. They are not scheming to turn the US into a new corrupt, hierarchical, regressive Latin empire."

Quite true. They are not. The Bushes are.

Anonymous said...

It is not just Jeb's wife with a criminal record. George P: arrested for stalking an ex, Jeb Jr: arrested for having sex in a car in a mall parking lot. Noelle: numerous drug related arrests.

Anonymous said...

George P: arrested for stalking an ex, Jeb Jr: arrested for having sex in a car in a mall parking lot. Noelle: numerous drug related arrests.

That's what the Bushes get for their communistic War on Drugs.

Nick O'Ragua said...

Not all the Navarros left--Leopoldo Navarro was VP of Nicaragua about a decade ago.

And anon 7:16--not to excuse Somoza, but there aren't a lot of great alternatives in Nicaragua. If you're in the elite class down there, you have to make your peace with one party or the other (or try to play both sides) and hope that the political tide doesn't turn against you too badly.

Anonymous said...

Former CIA chief George HW Bush blackmailed his way into the VP slot and then had Reagan shot. So there's your trouble with the family tree.

Anonymous said...

Jeb actually is not as clever as W.

George's cowboy accent and mannerisms connected him to the GOP herd.

Instead Jeb will be about as effective as Romney because he can't close the deal with folks who pronounce INsurance and follow nascar.

Anonymous said...

I'm not worried about it. Check up on them again in March 2015 and see if this is worth caring about--I'm sure the variegated Bushes will still be rich and still around, but in reach of the presidency? Nah. There was just a successful candidate who ran on anti-Bush sentiment, he cleaned up too. Steve doesn't really take seriously Jeb hype either, just some Maureen Dowdish preening for his off-screen clique.

"you mean they fled the Sandinistas, right" -- it's funny you'd expect him to even care; only gangsters lack the citizenist virtues to stay in their native revolutionary hellholes. Remember, anything that happens to those fruit-hatted low-g populations is either genetic predestination or caused by not speaking enough English, reading more JRR Tolkien, turning off the headlights of unoccupied cars on the camino, etc.--you know, all those benchmarks of cultural greatness

Mr. Anon said...

"Anonymous Nick O'Ragua said...

And anon 7:16--not to excuse Somoza, but there aren't a lot of great alternatives in Nicaragua. If you're in the elite class down there, you have to make your peace with one party or the other (or try to play both sides) and hope that the political tide doesn't turn against you too badly."

Yes, you are probably right. There's a lot of corrupt, sleezy, awful stuff that goes on in latin American countries. That's why I don't want MY country turned into such a place - as this Navarro woman, the Bush family, and any number of other GOP caudillos are attempting to do.

corvinus said...

Chavez and Castro are not our enemies, that needs to be repeated on a near yearly basis. They are not scheming to turn the US into a new corrupt, hierarchical, regressive Latin empire.

But the GOP mouthbreathers will never understand this.


No, that's because the Bushes aim to turn the U.S. into one themselves.

Matthew said...

I'm not so much afraid of an even quasi-successful Jeb Bush candidacy as I am about what such a candidacy would say about the state of the Republican Party, and the hopes for America.

If Jeb Bush runs and gets more than 5% of the vote in any state primary or caucus I will be very disgusted.

Matthew said...

"Does it ever occur to these nitwits that bad-mouthing your own party might cost it votes? Do they care, as long as they're not running? Does anyone in the media ever ask them about it, or suggest that they're being disloyal?" - Cail Corishev

The unity of the Democrats is both stunning and frightening. No Democrat, for example - NONE - seems to favor any form of immigration enforcement or immigration reduction, even of the mildest variety. OTOH, elected Republicans, even party leaders, routinely embrace positions contra to the demands of their voters. Witness the piling on by Gingrich, Graham, etc., after Romney's recent comments.

Republicans need to pick a position on amensty, on immigration, and on affirmative action and stick with it, as a group. And those positions in order are: AGAINST, AGAINST, AGAINST.

Republican pols are spineless and forever looking for the respect of the media.

Anonymous said...

A little disingenuous finish there Steve. One would presume that you knew quite well that Jeb had two sons as you've written about his branch of the family many times.