August 29, 2015

"Three top Jeb Bush fundraisers abruptly parted ways with his presidential campaign on Friday, amid internal personality conflicts and questions about the strength of his candidacy..."

"... POLITICO has learned."
There are different versions of what transpired...

Frontrunner Donald Trump seized on the POLITICO report Saturday morning and took a shot at his rival on Twitter: “Wow, Jeb Bush just lost three of his top fundraisers - they quit!”...

95 comments:

JackWayne said...

The end of a dynasty? Break out the booze if so.

Laslo Spatula said...

"“Jeb might not have a fundraiser problem. He might have a spending problem.”

A Politician who likes to spend more money than he has.

He'll fit right in.


I am Laslo.

pm317 said...

one down, one more to go, right, guys? Get ready for Biden (or worse) presidency.

uffda said...

A-listers in free fall and Carly "The Rocket" Fiorina still not allowed on the big stage. Go figure.

Unknown said...

This could have been the Republican's election to lose. The shot still might be on the boards but it's not a tap in any longer. It's been plain to nearly everyone but the Republican leadership for a long time. No Bush. No Rubio or for God's sake Graham. The base has left the building, morons. Does too much golf make you stupid or what?

Anonymous said...

pm317: one down, one more to go, right, guys? Get ready for Biden (or worse) presidency.

Hey, pm317, if you and the other ¡Jeb! fanboys around here just keep repeating that brilliant insight over and over and over again in every pertinent thread, maybe us dullards out here will finally get it. I mean, it's simply not possible that anybody who wants to see Bush flame out could have thought through the likely consequences of this and come to a different conclusion about what constitutes "worse".

So, repetition is the key. We're really thick, but you've got months to work, and surely a eureka moment awaits us all, if only you persevere. So, just keep making the same fucking observation in every fucking thread on every fucking blog you visit between now and the primaries, and bob's your uncle!

cc: Brando, etc.

Bob Boyd said...

Jeb Bush, who thinks Republicans need to show more courtesy and respect to members of the media instead of the other way around.
If whatever planet Jeb lives on has a private sector, I suggest he stay in it and try to be happy there.

traditionalguy said...

I hear that JEB spent most of the money on 8 hour energy drinks but they did. Not work yet.

Seriously , JEB seems slow in reacting because he has to translate everything inside hi head from Spanish to American and back That should go away after inauguration when all business in the Blanco Casa is conducted soley in Spanish.

Achilles said...

Jeb and Hillary should have a beer after they end their campaigns.

Michael K said...

This is not the year when money determines who wins.

Peggy Noonan is right. America is in play.

Something is going on, some tectonic plates are moving in interesting ways. My friend Cesar works the deli counter at my neighborhood grocery store. He is Dominican, an immigrant, early 50s, and listens most mornings to a local Hispanic radio station, La Mega, on 97.9 FM. Their morning show is the popular “El Vacilón de la Mañana,” and after the first GOP debate, Cesar told me, they opened the lines to call-ins, asking listeners (mostly Puerto Rican, Dominican, Mexican) for their impressions. More than half called in to say they were for Mr. Trump. Their praise, Cesar told me a few weeks ago, dumbfounded the hosts. I later spoke to one of them, who identified himself as D.J. New Era. He backed Cesar’s story. “We were very surprised,” at the Trump support, he said. Why? “It’s a Latin-based market!”

MSNBC showed Trump's rally in Mass and Fox did not. He is attracting Democrats and Hillary is in panic mode.

If he blows up in the end, Carly may be there to pick up the pieces.

Tom Perkins just published a full page ad in the NY Times, which wouldn't take his reply to their op-ed.

"Not only did she save the company from the dire straits it was in, she laid the foundation for HP's future growth," reads the ad, which is signed by Tom Perkins, a member of the HP board during much of Fiorina's tenure and the founder of California venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers. "I have no question that Carly is a transformational leader who uniquely has both vision and the expertise to implement it."

A full-page, black-and-white weekday ad from an "advocacy" group in the Times business section can cost more than $175,000, according to the newspaper's advertising guide.


This is going to be a hell of a ride this year.

traditionalguy said...

Drudge says "Trouble in Jebland. "

Translated into French that could say Je Bland, which means I"I am boring."

Beldar said...

I think Jeb has always seriously underestimated how steep a hill -- a precipice, really -- he'd have to climb to be the third Bush elected POTUS. Dubya spent every cent of political capital he had before he left office. His personal approval ratings are creeping back up, and I think both Bush-41 and Bush-43 will be treated much better by history than they have been lately. But it's always been a fantasy that the GOP would nominate another Bush.

It doesn't matter whether he's qualified, whether he was a successful governor, whether he's a true conservative or a RINO, whether he speaks Spanish and converted to Catholicism, or whether he's from a swing state. His surname alone outweighs all of those factors put together, even if you max them all out in his favor.

I don't think it's a fantasy that the Dems will nominate Hillary, notwithstanding her connection with the 42nd president. But the GOP has many, many other plausible alternatives who don't have Jeb Bush's handicap.

I hope he will wise up and do the right thing for the party and the country by dropping out.

Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...

(Resurrected from 1992) Hillary, coming from the waxing salon to a campaign event for Bill, starts the chant: "NO MORE BUSH!"

I am not Laslo

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Asking money for Jeb right now is like asking money to cure cancer in the middle of an Ebola outbreak.

Etienne said...

Bush has no vision, other than more debt, more war, and more federalism. He needs to go back to Guanajuato with his wife and shut the fuck up.

Anonymous said...

We've been threatened with a Clinton v Bush election so often, I'm starting to feel relieved that might not happen.

rcocean said...

Lets see, Bush I served one term and got 35% of the vote, and Bush II ended his 8 years with the lowest approval poll number Ever, ever.

So why wouldn't we want another Bush? I just don't understand.

Anonymous said...

We can thank Trump for taking down Jeb. DT exposed him as a namby-pamby marionette to his handlers and donors. Totally un-inspiring.

Sebastian said...

@Beldar: "I think Jeb has always seriously underestimated how steep a hill . . ."

Correct.

He didn't plan for The Donald either.

Looks like we're in for a populist revolt, at least in the primaries. Led by the quintessential "anti-establishment" ex-Dem NY plutocrat. Even Mencken would run out of ammo with that one.

RecChief said...

"Politico has learned"

Can't any political writer in America write in the active voice?

campy said...

"Can't any political writer in America write in the active voice?"

Isn't that active voice? Passive would be something like, "Learning occurred."

cubanbob said...

pm317 said...
one down, one more to go, right, guys? Get ready for Biden (or worse) presidency.

8/29/15, 12:11 PM"

What exactly is your point? That a country dumb and crazy enough to elect and reelect Obama is quite capable of electing Obama's life insurance policy or a grifter? Tell me something I didn't already know. I voted for JEB three times. He was a decent governor but he isn't going to be the guy who will attempt to rollback the progressive state. And that is what the Republican base wants. Right now no one in the Republican base wants a kinder, gentler, less corrupt and more competent administrator of the welfare state. And that is what JEB would be if elected.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

rcocean said...
Bush II ended his 8 years with the lowest approval poll number Ever, ever.


Shh! Don't tell Michael K, he still thinks it was a great success.

Kansas City said...

Good comments here, e.g., Beldar and Michael K.

Jeb has been a disappointment. I had not seen much of him, but had heard good things, and he does not seem as good as advertised. I think Trump as the anti-Bush is a bad draw for Bush. Trump calls him "low energy," which probably is stupid criticism, but Trump is entertaining saying it and then I watch Such and I sort of start thinking Trump is right.

So Jeb now looks like a loser. He probably needs good showings in Iowa and New Hampshire. I think Walker plays better against Trump. Carly might play very well against him is she gets the shot. Rubio might do okay too. Maybe Kasich.

Trump gets away with saying not much in an engaging manner. Beginning to think he will at least last a while. Still doubt that he will get the nomination.

Kansas City said...

I saw what Trump said about Huma. It was more interesting and certainly more entertaining than anything said by any of the other candidates and a good example of Trump's ability to be interesting and entertaining. Not exactly a qualification for president, but bad for Bush and good entertainment for a politician (who typically are not entertaining at all - Hillary? Any entertainment there?).

sane_voter said...

Jeb! has been a terrible disappointment so far. He was a very competent governor and was a major driver building the GOP machine that now dominates state government in FL. But he seems to have lost a step and has gotten rusty by being out of politics for a while. The added burden of being Bush III is the bale of hay that broke the camel's back.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

Anyone on the ground in America knows that Jeb doesn't have a rat's ass of winning the presidency. So let's do the obvious thing and deny him the nomination. How can it be so gob-smackinly obvious to me and a mystery to Jeb?

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

First time I was in Florida I was far too critical of the orange ice cream and I regret that.

Michael K said...

"Shh! Don't tell Michael K, he still thinks it was a great success."

Don't be silly, ARM. Bush made a terrible mistake in appointing Bremer to run Iraq. He should have taken Rumsfeld's and Tommy Franks advice and turned it over to the exiles. We would be in a similar place right now without all the casualties.

His administration did not do enough to stop the Democrats from running Fannie and Freddie into the ground along with the banking system. He appointed Chris Cox, an incompetent Congressman from newport Beach, to run the SEC just as the MBS crisis was coming to a head.

I do think that Bush was under great pressure to invade Iraq in 2003 although Cheney was not enthusiastic. You listen to too many left wing boobs.

David said...

You have to remember that candidates for the Presidency attract large numbers of more or less competent assholes. Apparently someone's assholity became literally insufferable and these three left. But the question remains, were they the assholes who became insufferable or was it some other asshole or group thereof?

So many assholes. So little information.

khesanh0802 said...

As I read some of the comments I begin to think that the anti-dotes to Trump ( I agree, forget Bush) are Carson and Fiorina. I have a feeling that Carly can go toe to toe with Trump and come out a winner. She has dealt with many big ego idiots in the past with success. What is Trump going to say about Carson that doesn't get him in trouble? If we are in a place where non-politicians may be successful Carson and Fiorina might be a winning team.

khesanh0802 said...

What I am really waiting/hoping for is the first desertion from the Clinton camp. It will be worth that person's life to do it, but it will be the end for Hillary.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

Speaking of successes, it is worthwhile considering the views of foreign friends, at least for a moment. The Australians went though a brief moment of triumphalism following the Great Bush Recession as the A$ soared on the back of the Chinese driven resources boom. It was always going to end in tears. They provide this wistful look at the US economy.

Michael K said...

The US economy, ARM, is so powerful that not even Obama can stop for long.

He is even bragging about the results of fracking that he has tried his best to stop. If Romney had been elected in 2012, we would be in a Reagan-like boom now.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

Michael K said...
The US economy, ARM, is so powerful that not even Obama can stop for long.


In this respect, he really is weaker than Bush Jr.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

Michael K said...
If Romney had been elected in 2012, we would be in a Reagan-like boom now.


With all our major trading partners in economic meltdown mode? I don't think so. The world economy is a mess, we should be grateful for, and proud of, the success of the US economy.

Michael K said...

What was the world economy like in 1982 ? That was when the Reagan boom took off. Dole had managed to kill the first two years by making the tax cut take effect in 1982, which lost the Senate for Reagan so he had to deal with Democrats the rest of his presidency. Fortunately, Democrats were a bit more rational in those times but the world economy was no better than it is now.

Clinton had a better world economy and his boom only took off after the GOP Congress was elected in 1994. Look at the stock market charts.

Our economy is strangling on regulation and disasters like the NLRB which is trying to destroy the franchise industries. We don't need personal tax cuts like Reagan did although our corporate taxes are keeping trillions away from our home economy. Look at startups.

People think this is "The new normal" until we get an administration that is not run by Democrats or hamstrung by terrorist attacks brought on by the previous bunch's neglect. Obama may just get out of town, like Clinton did, before the big attack comes. Then he can blame the new guy for his mistakes.

Why do you think Disney has blocked the showing of "The Path to 9/11"? that is a multimillion dollar donation to Hillary.

Hagar said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Hagar said...

How about Condoleezza for Prez? (Vladimir Putin! You and I have unfinished business!),
Mitch Daniels for V-P, and
Fiorina for Director of OMB? Secretary of the Treasury?

Sprezzatura said...

Columba isn't uber-unhot. But, with his dough, Jed should have upgraded, at least once.

That's why Trump's got this contest locked: he's a go gether.

cubanbob said...

khesanh0802 said...
As I read some of the comments I begin to think that the anti-dotes to Trump ( I agree, forget Bush) are Carson and Fiorina. I have a feeling that Carly can go toe to toe with Trump and come out a winner. She has dealt with many big ego idiots in the past with success. What is Trump going to say about Carson that doesn't get him in trouble? If we are in a place where non-politicians may be successful Carson and Fiorina might be a winning team.

8/29/15, 4:04 PM

Hillary versus Carly. Affirmative action versus qualified. I want to see that debate. Hillary versus Trump. I would pay to see that debate.

cubanbob said...

Blogger AReasonableMan said...
Michael K said...
If Romney had been elected in 2012, we would be in a Reagan-like boom now.

With all our major trading partners in economic meltdown mode? I don't think so. The world economy is a mess, we should be grateful for, and proud of, the success of the US economy.


8/29/15, 4:41 PM"

Amazing what our economy can still do despite the wreckers of the Democratic Party.

jr565 said...

and at least one of Trumps guys quit. It seems like they're playing musical chairs over there.

jr565 said...

IT should be Scott Walker/Carly Fiorina, or Marco Rubio/Ben Carson. Or Scott Walker/Marco Rubio.
And Rick Perry is sounding a lot more competent now than before. Not sure if he'll ever get a seat at the table. But I woudnt rule him out.

sinz52 said...

Michael K:

You obviously don't know much about how we blundered into Iraq.

PBS Frontline got to film the first meetings at Camp David after 9-11.

The skeptic was Colin Powell.

The biggest proponent of invading Iraq was Paul Wolfowitz, with
Dick Cheney a close second.

Rumsfeld was a ghastly SecDef, right up there with McNamara. He wanted to invade Iraq with only 70,000 troops. The Joint Chiefs objected, so he graciously consented to go to 125,000 or so.

But both the Army War College and the RAND Corporation, in their historical studies of past military occupations, had concluded that you needed a minimum force ratio of 1 soldier for every 50 civilians. For Iraq, a country of 26 million people, the Army War College was recommending 500,000 troops. So was General Shinseki. Rumsfeld sent only one-third as many.

ALL of our problems in Iraq can be traced to just ONE thing: Only one-third the number of troops needed to do the job.

But the buck stops with Bush. He appointed Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz.

This is all in the public record.

narciso said...

Except the counterinsurgency strategy proved you could do it with only 20,000 more, Shinseki was an artillery man, in the world of irregular warfare,

narciso said...

the same trite narrative, the Baathist then, as the Islamic State now, are the main problem, they made common cause with the salafi, and the scorpion bit them, which led to the awakening,

Nunberg did step down, due to Lewandowski's pressure, Stone wanted a little more policy imput,

cubanbob said...

sinz52 said... The Army didn't have 500,000 troops in 2003. Of course the Turks in back stabbing us didn't help. All the same it was the idea of civilizing Arabs that was bad, not that of toppling Saddam. All in all, leaving Saddam alive and in power would still have been a worse outcome than the current mess and Obama certainly screwed things up far worse than the Bush's people like Bremer did.

Michael K said...

"You obviously don't know much about how we blundered into Iraq."

Why do lefty loons always assume they are so much smarter than other people ?

narciso said...

A counterfactual to consider, had we maintained the bulk of the Baathist infrastructure, how would that have played with the Shia and Kurd majority, only if one wasn't aware of the Golden Square movement, the fascists behind the 1941 coup, could one make that statement,

Trump travels light on infrastructure, he doesn't employ unneccessary consultants, he surveys the playing field, keeps in contact with nodes of support, and picks off symbolic targets,

narciso said...

when one understand what nerve Trump is touching, one succeeds,

https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-08-29/ben-carson-edging-close-to-front-runner-trump-in-latest-iowa-poll

traditionalguy said...

Trump is gathering loyalty to himself every time he praises a conservative point of view and promises to manage a return to success for the withering away American middle class workers.

He has beaten every opponent to the punch and painted them all as losers. He has transcended Fox News narratives and destroyed the assassins Murdoch sent to ambush him.

What else do we want him to do? Should he quit beating everybody and bragging that he is a huge success? Maybe he will do that next right after he confesses to God that he is a sinner rather than a righteous warrior. IBut I would not hold my breath. So far God ihas backed him up.


Browndog said...

Since we're going down that road...

Bush was forced to start the war with the 3rd Armored moored off Turkey, while the Turkish parliament finally decided not to let them off load.

The northern front was out to sea sailing south as the invasion of Iraq was underway.

Huge miscalculation by Bush.

The West still miscalculates the interests of the Ottomans.

narciso said...

Well there is some of that, the Turkish high command has always been more interested in killing Kurds, like the Saudis have a distaste for the Zaydi, but one notes even after Erdogan crushed them, they have provided significant support to the Islamic State,

seven years ago, a more earnest figure, tried to warn what was to come, but many didn't listen, so the whirlwind was reaped,

JackWayne said...

Well, if you're gonna refight Bush's strategery, then include his Viet Nam era incrementalism and his piss-poor roe. If he had gone in hard and killed a million the first year, it would have been over. He fucked around (probably because he drank his way through Viet Nam) and had no clue how to fight a war.

Achilles said...

sinz52 said...

"ALL of our problems in Iraq can be traced to just ONE thing: Only one-third the number of troops needed to do the job.

But the buck stops with Bush. He appointed Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz.

This is all in the public record."

Absolute garbage.

Things were stable in almost all parts of Iraq while we were there. It took some difficult work. We did something that wasn't done before. We tried to occupy and reform a culture without first forcing a complete surrender.

You people all want everything to be easy. We are still in South Korea. You people who think you know things because they are public record should stfu.

Rusty said...

AReasonableMan said...
Michael K said...
If Romney had been elected in 2012, we would be in a Reagan-like boom now.

With all our major trading partners in economic meltdown mode? I don't think so. The world economy is a mess, we should be grateful for, and proud of, the success of the US economy.


despite everything Obama has done to wreck it. I'd explain Bakken but I doubt you'd understand it.

How much deeper can your model economy, China, go.

narciso said...

Clearly that isn't the point, the current administration relied on the wisdom of Biden, over McCrystal and Petraeus, and look where we find ourselves, in both theatres of operation,

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

No ghosting here.

Beldar said...

Actually, I think Trump's hurting a lot of other candidates a lot more than he's hurting Jeb Bush.

Fionina, Rubio, Walker & Cruz are still getting some attention. But Rick Perry, for example, is having fundraising problems, even though he was a champion fundraiser in every one of his races for Texas governor and he's got a long list of generous Texans who've contributed to him in the past. Graham, Santorum, Huckabee, Paul, Pataki, Jindal, Kasich, Christie, and Gilmore (!) likewise are having trouble getting any oxygen, which will translate into difficulties raising money.

That Bush is losing fundraisers is significant as a leading indicator, but he's still got a bigger war-chest and more access to big bundlers with major-league experience and contacts. That's why the conventional wisdom has been that Trump's position in the polls actually benefits him, and to a lesser but considerable extent Walker, more than anyone else -- except, of course, the biggest beneficiary of Trump-mania of all, Hillary Clinton.

But completely apart from anything having to do with Trump, Jeb is underperforming many pundits' expectations so far: He's made some easily exploitable verbal missteps, and he's been out of office a long time. Nevertheless, I think except for his fundraising and name recognition, he's always been at a structural disadvantage, a disqualifying one: His surname. And the same pundits who thought he'd be a bigger force early on in this pre-primary season are pretty much the same ones who didn't see coming the massive voter discontent in both parties that has fueled Trump and Sanders.

Jeb's campaign is pretty much analogous to the French General Staff's war-plan pre-August 1914.

narciso said...

they turned Karzai into an enemy, as they genuflected at the Taliban, they coddled the Ikwan over Mubarak, turned on Quaddafi, teaching a valuable lesson to those who would cooperate with us,

Michael K said...

"I'd explain Bakken but I doubt you'd understand it."

Math is hard ARM. I was an engineer and computer programmer when you were getting your nourishment from a nipple.

Come to think of it, you still might be.

Michael K said...

"Jeb's campaign is pretty much analogous to the French General Staff's war-plan pre-August 1914."

I think Carly has the best chance to catch the debris if Trump blows up.

The Tom Perkins piece today is the explanation she needed for the HP situation and nobody really can argue with him.

narciso said...

If his staff had taken the measure of the bases discontent with not only amnesty, but common core, obamacare, he would be on more solid ground, I don't think the name is necessarily a disqualifier, but he had to show he had learned something from his time in the wilderness,

pm317 said...

So Jeb is gone, ha?

narciso said...

no I don't think so, perhaps four compartments have flooded, the officials involved moved to the SuperPAC, so it might be a diagonal move,

Titus said...

So all our gay married friends are buying places in Ptwown and I am perplexed.

A one bedroom 700 square foot unit costs like 700k. And I don't want to be in a condo unit occuppied by bitchy Parisians.

My rich Indian hubby is like lets buy, but I am like I don't like Ptown that much and the traffic from Boston is awful. The ferry allows rare clumbers but I get sick of looking at the water.

I am really stressed right now by all the pressure.

What would you straight republicans do in a similar situation in a cabin in Branson walking distance to the Andy Williams theater?

tits.

Brando said...

Still early to count him out--at this point in the '08 cycle they were ruling out McCain as he dumped his staff. But I see Bush with big obstacles--the dynasty thing only works when the family is revered, and the GOP has at best mixed feelings about the Bushes.

GOP needs to winnow down the field--a lot if these guys are redundant. The problem is it doesn't take more than a few super donors to keep a goner in there through the primaries. I can see them cannibalizing themselves enough to give this one to Hillary.

narciso said...

last time, Romney flooded the zone in states like Florida, more than Adelson could do for Newt, or Fries for Santorum, his two strongest critics,

Sprezzatura said...

"Bush was forced to start the war"

I didn't realize he had a gun to his head. Learn something every day.

narciso said...

memory serves, that a network of Iraqi assets, had indicated that Saddam would be in a certain position, Dora Farms, at the time of the attack, hence time was of the essence,

Michael K said...

"Learn something every day."

No you don't and it's too bad.

Sprezzatura said...

I'm assuming that all the pro-war folks who nonchalantly talk up such have dead and maimed kids as a result.

And, no doubt y'all love the additional couple trillion dollars of debt, when all is said and done.

narciso said...

afghanistan was the right war, until it wasn't, yet we nonetheless lost 70% higher casualties there,

it's always interesting what wasn't apparent, at the time, like Wayne Barrett's campaign of innuendo against Guiliani, which focused on his integrity, and his shining moment on 9/11,

Sprezzatura said...

Btw, am I the only one who raises an eyebrow when cons tell us that we can't deal w/ Iran because they were behind the barracks bombing?

Do you folks recall Reagan promising to never give in to such terror, and then surrendering and bugging out months later?

What message do modern cons take from that (not to mention BushI's limited Iraq war)? 1)Sometimes you've got to know the limits of what's possible, or 2)Reagan was a surrender-monkey whose weakness only emboldened the terrorism that would inevitably followed.

Michael K said...

Blather from Ritmo. The steaks are on. Bye.

narciso said...

the priority then was the Soviets, the likes of Admiral Lyon's advice was ignored,

narciso said...

Of course, back in that era, the Democrats tried to impeach him over Grenada, the Tower Commission revealed there was at least one other backchannel to Iran, that was conducted by Ted Kennedy, the same Kennedy who tendered notions of collaborating with Andropov against Reagan,

Sprezzatura said...

"Of course, back in that era, the Democrats tried to impeach him over Grenada"

Since you've decided to avoid a simple answer, I'm assuming that you're going with option 1.

That is, "you've got to know the limits of what's possible." In other words, knocking off a relatively easy target in Grenada is smarter than opening a can of worms in the middle east.

I've got you down for option 1. Mike K was too hungry to cast his vote.



narciso said...

the idiocy shows through to the present day, refraction of history,

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/clay-waters/2015/08/29/win-one-clicker-new-1980s-themed-tv-shows-prove-reagan-mockery-never

Michael K said...

"Mike K was too hungry to cast his vote."

Idiots give me indigestion. Too risky.

JackWayne said...

Michael K, I wish you had asked a stupid man to explain Bakken. It would have been good I'm sure.

Don't you need an extra laugh today?

Rich Rostrom said...

"Three top fundraisers"? How "top"? How many other comparable fundraisers does Bush have? Because these days, someone who raises $1M for a presidential candidate may look "top" to the public, but there are probably dozens of such in each of the major campaigns (Clinton, Bush, Walker, Cruz, Rubio, Perry, Paul - maybe even Huckabee, Sanders, Fiorina, Kasich).

Having three walk out means less if there are twenty more who stay. OTOH, if these three represent say 20% of Bush's funds to date, that's big.

Robert Cook said...

"ALL of our problems in Iraq can be traced to just ONE thing: Only one-third the number of troops needed to do it he job."

They can be traced to our illegally invading the country in the first place.

Robert Cook said...

"If Romney had been elected in 2012, we would be in a Reagan-like boom now."

Delusion is a bitch to let go of.

Michael K said...

Cookie, you and Corbyn would have much to agree on.

"It was in Margaret Thatcher's interests in 82 to divert attention form her catastrophic economic issues.

Like her reinvigoration of the economy, for example. Can;t have that.

I'm sure you agree with him.

Unknown said...

Trump is clearing the way. Carly Fiorina was bought by Jeb to be the female Ted Cruz, and take some of his support. If you look at Carly's California Senate campaign, you'll find that she was pure Progressive Republican. She's learned her lines well, though. If Bush goes away this early, Carly follows. It is encouraging. Trump clears the way for the guy who knows how to stand up to Progressives, and win...Scott Walker...and to bring Ted Cruz, who knows how to stand up to Progressives, but loses...in to the VP slot to apprentice. Looking forward to President Cruz in 2024. Looking forward to President Walker in 2016.

furious_a said...

They can be traced to our illegally invading the country in the first place.

Was there some Iraqi law about crossing the border without a visa?

Sammy Finkelman said...

Michael K:

Dole had managed to kill the first two years by making the tax cut take effect in 1982, which lost the Senate for Reagan so he had to deal with Democrats the rest of his presidency

The Senate was only by the Republicans in the 1986 election - 6 years after they first won it.

Sammy Finkelman said...

Browndog said...8/29/15, 7:37 PM

Since we're going down that road...

Bush was forced to start the war with the 3rd Armored moored off Turkey, while the Turkish parliament finally decided not to let them off load.

The northern front was out to sea sailing south as the invasion of Iraq was underway.

Huge miscalculation by Bush.


That was a YUGE miscalculation by Saddam Hussein. Bribing members of he Turkish Parliament (which is what probabky happened) didn't save him.

Saddam thought Bush had no more time to make other plans (belief on the part of Bush and Rumsfeld that he had chemical weapons meant that Bush could not delay the war any longer, because it would be too hot for american soldiers to wear the chemical warfare protection gear and Bush had deliberately waited until the last minute.)

The West still miscalculates the interests of the Ottomans.

Michael K said...

"The Senate was only by the Republicans in the 1986 election - 6 years after they first won it."

The Senate was lost again in the 1982 election. That was because Dole delayed the tax cut. Dole was the archetypical "Root Canal Republican" who did not understand supply side and stopped the effect when he was Senate Majority Leader.

That's what I said.

Achilles said...

Robert Cook said...
"ALL of our problems in Iraq can be traced to just ONE thing: Only one-third the number of troops needed to do it he job."

"They can be traced to our illegally invading the country in the first place."

If Cooke had his way freedom would be illegal.

Robert Cook said...

@Achilles,

"Freedom" means the freedom to behave lawlessly, murderously? You have a different conception of "freedom" than I.

President-Mom-Jeans said...

Comrade Cooktard doesn't like "illegal wars" like Iraq.

Only "good" wars like Stalin's invasion of Poland.

Sammy Finkelman said...

"The Senate was only by the Republicans in the 1986 election - 6 years after they first won it."

Mike K:

"The Senate was lost again in the 1982 election. That was because Dole delayed the tax cut. Dole was the archetypical "Root Canal Republican" who did not understand supply side and stopped the effect when he was Senate Majority Leader.

That's what I said."

You said wrong - the Republicans did not lose control of the Senate afetr the 1982 elections.

See for yourself:

http://tinypic.com/r/maw96s/8

These are the Results of 1982 elections from the 1983 Information Please Almanac of United States Facts