Jeb Bush Defends Conservatism in Weird Online Magazine
The possible presidential contender has an op-ed in a rather dubious outlet.
Former Florida governor and possible 2016 Republican presidential contenter Jeb Bush argues that conservative principles are successful at the state level. The narrative is innocuous enough:
The conventional wisdom coming from the 2012 election was the Republican Party is in decline. We lost on messaging, tone and policies that alienated growing minority communities. What that narrative misses is that conservative principles and Republican leadership are thriving in the states, providing the way forward for the GOP.
There now are 30 Republican governors, the highest number in 13 years. In 26 states, Republicans hold a majority of the seats in both the House and Senate chambers.
As many in Washington seek to increase the tax and regulatory burden on businesses, Republican leaders in the states are competing to create business-friendly climates to grow jobs. They are balancing their budgets. They are transforming K-12 education to prepare a new generation of skilled and educated workers.
[…]
Conservative states are creating a climate where entrepreneurs are welcome, people are getting back to work and schools are focusing on the needs of children instead of unions and bureaucracies. People are noticing. A new Pew Research survey shows just 28 percent of Americans rated the federal government positively compared to 57 percent for state government. Half the Democrats in Republican-controlled states were happy with their government.
Four of the most popular governors in the country – Chris Christie of New Jersey, Bob McDonnell of Virginia, Susana Martinez of New Mexico and Brian Sandoval of Nevada – are from states that supported President Obama last year.
The odd thing to me is the venue, something called Rare, an online magazine with the tagline “Red is the center.” Presumably, that’s red as in Republican, not red as in China. Scanning the headlines on the front page, it looks to be rather amateurish, including such childish gems as “Boo hoo! Reporter whines as Kansas dumps liberalism” and “Lingerie firm launches a line of women’s lingerie…for dudes.”
Oh, an a piece by editor-in-chief Brett M. Decker arguing that Ty Cobb wasn’t the SOB of baseball legend on account of he was nice to one of his grandchildren. Which, really, pretty much makes up for all the violence and racism. (The latter of which, to be fair, he recanted by the early 1950s.)
Now, I don’t expect politicians to account for every odd thing that appears in an outlet, especially in the pageview-driven media climate that has the likes of Foreign Policy doing listicles of cats who look like Vladimir Putin. But, surely, Jeb Bush is of sufficient public stature that he can get his views in more respectable venues?
While this is an exercise in energizing the base (versus searching for converts), you’d think he’d try to publish at a place where a significant part of the base resides rather than some place that’s trying to out Brietbart Brietbart?
I suspect this was a payed gig for Jeb, to generate some press for Rare.
@matt bernius:
I don’t think you understand, Matt – that _is_ the base: people who think Breitbart was called to Heaven because he just wasn’t working hard enough to overthrow HUSSEIN obama.
“What that narrative misses is that conservative principles and Republican leadership are thriving in the states, providing the way forward for the GOP.
There now are 30 Republican governors, the highest number in 13 years. In 26 states, Republicans hold a majority of the seats in both the House and Senate chambers”
And the Democratic Party could say roughly the same in the mid-80’s. It needed substantial changes before it could appeal to the middle of the voting spectrum on a Presidential level. the Republicans of today do as well.
For what it’s worth, “Rare” is an affiliate of the Cox Media Group. That being the case, you’d think it would be a little slicker and a little less juvenile. One of the articles on the main page is about ghost photographs from a hundred years ago, which suggests they’re not trying to attract readers of, say, Foreign Affairs Quarterly and The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientist.
One of the editors worked in some capacity as a speechwriter for G.W. Bush, so maybe this was a favor from Jeb.
I would argue that Scott Walker’s creation of business friendly economies to grow business has largely failed. As the state now ranks 44th in job creation and is being absolutely left behind by its neighbors. But I guess in the end he showed those unions for standing in the way of economic development and budget issues.
One side effect of snarking unnecessarily about a new web site is that I stopped reading this article to pull up the Rare web site to see what it was.
I’m still not sure…was this blog post about Jeb Bush, or some new web site?
@Eric: I’m trying to figure out why Bush would think this a good idea. But @CSK‘s suggestion that it was a personal favor to a former speechwriter rings true.
Just wondering if Jeb is as severe a conservative as Mitt Romney was! Yet being so severe got Mitt Romney nowhere. Only laughed at by liberals in his desperation to win the primary! One Bush, two Bush, Three Bush…. I don’t think so!!
Well I gotta call BS on that guacamole.
Republican States are cutting tax burdens, and balancing their budgets OK. But they are doing it on the back of Blue States.
For more see Bobby Jindal and Louisianna’s $1.78 taken from Washington for every dollar sent to Washington. Florida and Texas are barely breaking even in those terms. Meantime Connecticut, where I live, takes $0.69 from Washington for every dollar sent.
If Jeb’s idea of Conservatism is being a welfare queen…I say well played sir.
But that’s not my understanding of Conservatism.
Conservative states are creating a climate where entrepreneurs are welcome as long as their billionaires, people are getting back to work at slave wages and schools are focusing on the profits of Corporations set up to rape the taxpayers for as much money as they can.
needs of children instead of unions and bureaucracies.FTFY Jeb, happy to be of service, you’ll get the bill in the mail.
James, thanks for adding another time waster to my day….off to google cats who look like Vladimir Putin (I assume you have already seen the Hitler cat pics floating around the internet, yes?). Good lord…you were not pulling our legs, I just googled and 14 hairless cats that look Vladimir Putin is what floats to the top of the results list.
@James Joyner:
It certainly explains a lot about some of Dubya’s speeches.
Our state went Republican last fall for the first time in generations. You would probably have to go back to pre-WWII days. And they won by large margins. A few years ago an amendment was passed defining marriage as woman-man. Local towns and counties are going the same way. Conservative churches are the ones that are growing.
@Tyrell:
Yeah, and they’re the ones growing notions and ideas like “legitimate rape.”
@C. Clavin: Not to mention on the backs of working people in those states.
Wonder what Rick Perry would be saying about the fertilizer explosion if it had happened while the school next door was in session? “What are the lives of a few children compared to a non-regulatory, business-favoring climate & PROFITS?”
We already know what the lives of volunteer firefighters are to these people.