Can Jeb Bush Shed Enough Pounds Fast Enough To Make A Run For The Senate?

Perhaps, like me, you were nauseated when you saw-- or, more likely, read about-- the interview the first George Bush did on Fox-TV last Friday in which he pushed his other horrible son, Jeb, forward for the presidency. If you missed it, here's the clip:



There was a lot of negative reaction around the country. Of course, the far right Republicans who have brought the country to its knees think the idea is just dandy. They love the idea of 4 more years of chipping away at the American middle class and the further enrichment of the top one percent. That, after all, is what they're paid for. But more Americans would probably agree with Marlene Phillips at the Examiner:

You've got to be kidding me.

Pops, have you been paying attention to what your current son has done to the country and to the world? With a deadly combination of incompetence, disengagement, stupidity and bullheadidness your son is leaving Washington with nothing but disaster in his wake. He smirked his way through eight miserable years as the U.S. economy was driven into the ground, and thousands of American lost their lives in an unnecessary war which acted as an extra bonus to our enemies by providing a shot of adrenaline to their rhetoric. The world is a more dangerous place than it was when your son took office, and now it teeters on the abyss of an economic disaster of unprecedented proportions. Pops, your son took an economy that was healthy and robust and drove it into the ground; he took a foreign policy that had garnered respect and even admiration from leaders around the world and turned us into the bully in the playground. 

Pops, have you been paying attention? Have you been watching your son's End Game as it plays itself out? In interview after interview, it's becoming quite clear that W has no problem sleeping at night. He doesn't think any of this was his fault. He didn't even do it His Way, because at least that song admitted to a few regrets. Not W. Blameless as a babe. He's not just in denial. Your son's delusional.

Pops, in this video you talk about service, how the idea of doing good for your country is the reason you made politics the family business. But if you really were the patriot you claim to be you would have warned the world that your son was not capable of being president. You knew his history; using your connections you got the boy into one good deal after another only to watch him screw each one of them up. Your son is the Anti-Midas, Pops; everything he touches turns from gold into dust.

And now you have the audacity to suggest that another Bush son would make a great president? Really? Pops, with all due respect, you're as delusional as your son. Spare us another attempt to salvage the Bush family name. I don't think this country could take it.

So today Chris Cillizza is reporting that Jeb is about to make a decision on whether or not he'll run for the Florida Senate seat Republican Mel Martinez is abandoning in 2010. (Chris' column has now been updated with Jeb's decision to sit this race out.)

A decision by Bush is likely sometime in the next week, according to a several sources both in the state and here in Washington, although those familiar with the former governor caution that rumors that he has decided not to run are not founded on any facts.

One potential sign of the timing of Bush's announcement is that the Republican Party of Florida will convene its annual meeting this weekend in Orlando. Every insider in the Florida Republican Party will be in attendance and Bush likely knows there will be an expectation that he will make up his mind by then. [He won't be there himself, having already committed to be in Norfolk, Virginia for the christening of the aircraft carrier George H.W. Bush.]

What's clear is that buzz in Washington-- and Florida-- of late suggests that Bush will pass on the race as a result of family and business concerns.

The source of all the buzz today is a story by Adam Smith in the St. Petersburg Times, Senate Bid By Jeb Bush Iffy, Friends Say, in which he speculates that "Bush may conclude after completing his methodical review process that there are other ways he can help rebuild the GOP besides a Senate career that would take a toll on his consulting business and be difficult for his family."

Despite his brother's anemic national approval ratings as president, Bush remains popular in Florida and a giant in the GOP. Just by declaring last month that he was thinking about running, he effectively cleared the field of potential Republican candidates.

"Speculation about Jeb has frozen the field on both sides of the aisle,'' said former House Speaker Marco Rubio, a potential candidate himself, along with Attorney General Bill McCollum. "No one is saying, 'I'm in.'"

Among the other Republicans poised to jump in if Jeb bows out are two far right congressmen: very corrupt used car dealer Vern Buchanan and, the one who married Mary Bono, Connie Mack, plus Senate president Jeff Atwater. On the Democratic side, it is expected that Alex Sink, the state CFO, will run if Jeb doesn't, although 3 congressmen-- moderates Kendrick Meek and Ron Klein plus far right Blue Dog Allen Boyd-- also want to run. Boyd's nomination would guarantee a Democratic loss to any Republican since liberals and moderates will never vote for him and his natural base, conservatives, will vote for the Republican. Miami Mayor Manny "waterslide = infrastructure" Diaz and state Senator Dan Gelber are also considering a run.


INSTANT UPDATE: JEB WOULD RATHER KEEP EATING THOSE CANE-GRAZED PORK CHOPS WITH APPLE CHUTNEY-- NOT RUNNIN' FOR SENATE

Jeb has been e-mailing supporters telling them he's not running: "now is not my time to be running for office." At least he isn't as delusional as his father or brother. He issued a statement too, making it official. Now we'll see which Republican kook who wants Martinez' seat runs furthest and fastest to the right. Not a single one could be considered a mainstream politician. Go, Vern, go!