{"id":393,"date":"2014-12-08T17:30:13","date_gmt":"2014-12-08T23:30:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/conservativelefty.wordpress.com\/?p=393"},"modified":"2014-12-08T17:30:13","modified_gmt":"2014-12-08T23:30:13","slug":"why-jeb-bush-should-run-for-president","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.conservativelefty.com\/wp\/?p=393","title":{"rendered":"Why Jeb Bush should run for President"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/conservativelefty.files.wordpress.com\/2014\/12\/jeb-2016.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-402 size-thumbnail\" src=\"http:\/\/www.conservativelefty.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/jeb-2016-e1418061097909.jpg?w=150\" alt=\"Jeb 2016\" width=\"150\" height=\"103\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.conservativelefty.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/jeb-2016-e1418061097909.jpg 498w, http:\/\/www.conservativelefty.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/jeb-2016-e1418061097909-300x207.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a>Those who know me need a moment to pick their jaws up off the floor after reading that title.<\/p>\n<p>Ok, ready now?<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ll say it again. \u00a0Jeb Bush\u00a0<em>should<\/em> run for President in 2016. \u00a0In fact, I think it&#8217;s extremely important to the conservative cause that he do so. \u00a0The reasons are simple and two-fold.<!--more--><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Ted Cruz.<\/li>\n<li>Rand Paul.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It is looking more and more certain that one or both of these two are going to be putting their hat into the primary. \u00a0Unfortunately, we are also likely to see Chris Christie and\/or Mitt Romney, as well. \u00a0Though Romney keeps saying he isn&#8217;t going to run, he&#8217;s a politician and campaign-related promises are made to be broken.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.conservativelefty.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/christie_2016.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-400\" src=\"http:\/\/www.conservativelefty.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/christie_2016.jpg\" alt=\"christie_2016\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a>My\u00a0real concern here is a Christie win in the primaries. \u00a0Of course there will be a collection of wannabes laying groundwork for 2020 or trying to steer the debate, but they&#8217;ll be dropping out fairly quickly. \u00a0Most likely, the real race will be between Christie, Paul and Cruz.<\/p>\n<p>In that sort of a three-way race, Rand Paul and Ted Cruz split the conservative vote and Chris Christie wins. \u00a0If Christie is the Republican candidate, then quite frankly the Democrats could run Mary Landrieu and she&#8217;d win.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:left;\">Outside the margin of error.<\/p>\n<p>That is how unelectable Christie is. \u00a0The simple fact is that moderate and liberal Republicans &#8211; or those who are perceived as such &#8211;\u00a0\u00a0lose elections. \u00a0He will not pick up nearly as many independents as the party establishment believes he will. \u00a0The price of those few pick-ups will be\u00a0that anyone who considers abortion, religious liberty, gun rights, government regulations, excessive taxes or leans libertarian will either sit out the election or vote 3rd party.<\/p>\n<p>Party loyalists will tell these people that if they don&#8217;t hold their nose and vote for him, then they are helping to elect Hillary. \u00a0The response will be that there is <em>no<\/em><em>t<\/em> a difference between Christie and Hillary except the letter after their name &#8211; D or R. \u00a0In my honest opinion, they would be right. \u00a0I&#8217;m not saying that I\u00a0<em>would<\/em> do it, but I know that I would consider voting\u00a0<em>for<\/em> Hillary if that is what it takes to keep Christie out. \u00a0I trust Bill to have a moderating influence over her far more that I trust our Republican Congress to constrain a Christie presidency. \u00a0Remember that this leadership is the same blind leadership that is thinking the message of the 2014 election is work with Obama rather than to stop or reverse him.<\/p>\n<p>Enter Jeb Bush.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.conservativelefty.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/rand_paul_2016_banner-e1418061277351.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-397 size-thumbnail\" src=\"http:\/\/www.conservativelefty.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/rand_paul_2016_banner-e1418061277351.jpg?w=150\" alt=\"rand_paul_2016_banner\" width=\"150\" height=\"114\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.conservativelefty.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/rand_paul_2016_banner-e1418061277351.jpg 460w, http:\/\/www.conservativelefty.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/rand_paul_2016_banner-e1418061277351-300x228.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a>A Jeb Bush primary is the one thing that could split the moderate\/progressive wing of the Republican party sufficiently to give us Paul or Cruz as the nominee. \u00a0Better yet, it could give us a Paul <strong><em>and<\/em><\/strong> Cruz ticket. \u00a0Between immigration and education, and a belief that he won&#8217;t do anything to reverse Obamacare, Jeb is as electable as Christie. \u00a0That is to say, not at all.<a href=\"http:\/\/www.conservativelefty.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/cruz-2016.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-401\" src=\"http:\/\/www.conservativelefty.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/cruz-2016.jpg?w=150\" alt=\"Cruz 2016\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>However, a Jeb primary will draw away enough from Christie to give Rand and Cruz a real chance. \u00a0Jeb has enough Southern perception that he will pull away the Southern moderates. \u00a0He is also considered sufficiently &#8220;establishment&#8221; that he will also do well in Christie&#8217;s native territory in the Northeast. \u00a0If Romney goes for a second try, I don&#8217;t believe he will have enough draw to really harm Christie. \u00a0However he will &#8211; if coupled with Bush &#8211; have enough impact that it will make Rand or Cruz almost a certainty.<\/p>\n<p>Rand\u00a0<em>will<\/em> beat Hillary. \u00a0Cruz can beat Hillary. \u00a0But to run either of these men, they have to win the primary without letting our worst nightmare slip in through the split votes. \u00a0To do that, though, requires the &#8220;help&#8221; of Jeb Bush, so I&#8217;ll say it again.<\/p>\n<p>Jeb Bush may be the best hope of conservative victory in 2016.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Those who know me need a moment to pick their jaws up off the floor after reading that title. Ok, ready now? I&#8217;ll say it again. \u00a0Jeb Bush\u00a0should run for President in 2016. \u00a0In fact, I think it&#8217;s extremely important &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.conservativelefty.com\/wp\/?p=393\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2,8],"tags":[22,26,41,56,57,68,82,100,102,103,107,115,116],"class_list":["post-393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture","category-politics","tag-tcot","tag-26","tag-chris-christie","tag-election","tag-election-2016","tag-government","tag-jeb-bush","tag-politics-2","tag-president","tag-presidential-election","tag-rand-paul","tag-tea-party","tag-ted-cruz"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5yCHs-6l","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.conservativelefty.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.conservativelefty.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.conservativelefty.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.conservativelefty.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.conservativelefty.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=393"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.conservativelefty.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.conservativelefty.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.conservativelefty.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.conservativelefty.com\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}