This sort of thing is the reason conservatives detest Jeb Bush
Actually, it’s just one of the many reasons. But it’s a pretty big one, IMHO:
Jeb Bush says that the Senate should confirm the nomination of Loretta Lynch, President Barack Obama’s choice for attorney general. A number of Senate Republicans oppose her nomination.
“I think presidents have the right to pick their team,” Bush said, according to reports of his stop at the “Politics and Pie” forum in Concord, New Hampshire, on Thursday night.
The former Florida governor made sure to get in a few digs at current Attorney General Eric Holder, saying that Republicans should consider that the longer it takes to confirm Lynch, the longer Holder stays.
Now, what’s wrong with Bush’s statement? Nothing much—that is, if it were the olden (pre-Bork) days. The Bork nomination in 1987 is often considered the beginning of the current hyper-partisan attitude towards nominations, be they Supreme Court or otherwise:
Within 45 minutes of Bork’s nomination to the Court, Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) took to the Senate floor with a strong condemnation of Bork in a nationally televised speech, declaring,
“Robert Bork’s America is a land in which women would be forced into back-alley abortions, blacks would sit at segregated lunch counters, rogue police could break down citizens’ doors in midnight raids, schoolchildren could not be taught about evolution, writers and artists could be censored at the whim of the Government, and the doors of the Federal courts would be shut on the fingers of millions of citizens.”
A brief was prepared for Joe Biden, head of the Senate Judiciary Committee, called the Biden Report. Bork later said in his best-selling book The Tempting of America* that the report “so thoroughly misrepresented a plain record that it easily qualifies as world class in the category of scurrility”. TV ads narrated by Gregory Peck attacked Bork as an extremist, and Kennedy’s speech successfully fueled widespread public skepticism of Bork’s nomination. The rapid response of Kennedy’s “Robert Bork’s America” speech stunned the Reagan White House; though conservatives considered Kennedy’s accusations slanderous, the attacks went unanswered for two and a half months.
Note the players, including Joe Biden. Note, also, how flatfooted the Reagan administration was. They had an excuse, though; the no-holds-barred virulence of the attack was relatively new—not to American politics, which had had periods (even in its earliest days) in which that sort of thing was relatively commonplace, at least for political opponents. But it was new in the mid-Twentieth century, which had been marked by a more civil tone.
Jeb Bush appears to be living in that world—which would be nice, if the left, liberals, and the Democratic Party were still living in it, too. They are not—and the left never was.
It may just be that the biggest difference between the moderate Republicans who conservatives do not support and those they do is this: whether or not a candidate understands that the left is playing hardball. Bush isn’t bringing a knife to a gunfight; it’s worse than that. He’s bringing a peashooter to a gunfight.
[* NOTE: Bork’s book sounds like a good read.]
Bush calls Bill Clinton ‘brother from another mother’
Jeb Bush said he would strive to be like Lyndon Johnson.
“As democracy is perfected, the office of President represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last and the White House will be occupied by a downright moron.”
— H.L. Mencken
TWICE! On the row that would be!
In jeb’s case its bringing a love taco to a gun fight. I can’t decide if gopers like jeb really do not understand the consequences of their squishy ideas and policies, or if they are actually moderate democrats under the skin.
Appointments to the head of agencies are done with the “advice and consent” of the Senate. They are doing their job in this matter and Jeb is demonstrating again why he’s unfit to run as a Republican.
Jeb’s position on this is nonsense as are most of his positions on everything. I’ve said it before: too many Bushes already!!!!
Jeb is playing the Last Reasonable Republican role as many Republicans have done before him. They think if they can rise above petty partisan squabbles and make peace with the Democrats they will earn the the Democrats’ and MSM’s respect.
The Dems never appreciate the favor given them by the moment’s Last Reasonable Republican, nor ever return the favor down the road. Instead, they will stab him or her in the back almost immediately after getting what they want. And the MSM will pile on for good measure.
Since I dropped my R registration over a year ago, I can no longer vote in primaries in this state. Almost worth reupping as a Republican just to vote against Jeb after this asinine statement.
Give him credit, though, for also saying at that event that Obama’s appointees are “one part political hack and one part academic.”
Spot on, neo. The moderates, or RINOs, seeming inability to discern reality leaves the leftists playing a game of wits against unarmed opponents. Not that the leftists are geniuses themselves – they simply do not have a credible opponent in the RINOs.
Sigh.
The stupid party and the evil party, yet again.
Ann Says:
April 17th, 2015 at 5:03 pm
Give him credit, though, for also saying at that event that… Obama’s appointees are “one part political hack and one part academic.”
I feeeel better now!
Lindsay Graham recently epitomized this flaw during the Lerner hearings. He asked her about some advocacy she did for late-term abortion in the past. I paraphrase his response:
“So you fought for something you believe in, and although I disagree, I’m not going to hold that against you. So, I’d like my friends on the other side of the aisle to recognize that we can work together despite our differences and not hold it against us when we have a nominee who disagrees with them on something.”
My jaw dropped.
Republicans reject appeasement in the international sphere but somehow assume that playing nicey-nice will get them somewhere with their enemies at home. A bit of consistency would help a ton.
I divide RINOs into two categories: Wimps and The Enemy
Wimps can actually be just as conservative as the base, they just have no courage. They might agree with the Tea Party on policy, they’re just afraid of the media, Democrats, harebrained Todd Akin comments making them look bad, losing elections, etc. Therefore, always take it slow and steady, never take a risk. Their disagreement with the base is largely rhetorical.
The Enemy actually likes things pretty much just as they are and substantively disagree over policy with the base. Trim the deficit a hair here and there, give their business cronies tax cuts (but never simplify the code), keep all the power in Washington but run it more efficiently.
Both need to be replaced, but when in office need to be handled differently. Wimps need to be taught to grow a testicle, The Enemy just needs to be crushed.
(And if a Wimp actually grows one and finds he likes using it, maybe we can keep him around.)
Jeb believes his sh*t. It is OK with him for an AG nominee who supports the lawbreaking by her predecessor to take the job, continuing the illegalities, because she is a member of the gang.
The Bushes believe their sh*t. On a personal level, I am confident they are fine, especially W, but they are too deluded to serve elected office.
Off-topic: Is it only me, or does Loretta look to anyone else like the good female simian character in “Planet of the Apes”?
“they are actually moderate democrats” comes closest I think. I rather doubt if there’s any real difference between Jeb Bush and a Hubert Humphrey for instance.
I’m a bit stunned that Jeb doesn’t see or is ignorant of just how harmful to the nation that the positions he advocates are but I have to give him credit for honesty. Unlike Rubio and Christie, he doesn’t say one thing and do another.
Jeb’s comment is nonsense and would have been even before Bork. Unlike Supreme Court justices you’ll not find the Attorney General or even the DOJ named anywhere in the Constitution.
Article II, Section 2, Clause 2
“The President shall nominate, and, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments.”
That Department, and that Cabinet position, as well as most of the executive branch apparatus, are entirely creations of Congress, established by law (and so are all federal courts inferior to the Supreme Court). Congress could eliminate the DoJ and any other department, and any court in the land other than the Supreme Court, tomorrow if it chose to. So it’s really the job of the Senate to decide who is the AG. Not the President.
Once again, the mindless moderate abdicates his responsibility.
This is one of the reasons we’re in this position. I’m convinced moderates like Jeb Bush are in on the great swindle that’s destroying the country.
“I’m convinced moderates like Jeb Bush are in on the great swindle that’s destroying the country.”
The closest parallel that comes to mind is WWII’s Vichy French. There’s a reason why collaborators are despised and slain out of hand.
Funny that collaborators are mentioned. Since that’s what Geoffrey harangued me about years ago when he was defending his approximate “moderate Democrats” from being called out by me.
It’s always the “other people” and their collaborators that are at fault, you see. Never one’s own.
It has begun!
I read Bork’s book Slouching Towards Gomorrah. It was insightful, but depressing.
Even back then, he was of the opinion that America was declining and little could be done about it. Kind of a re-hash of Ben Franklin’s famous “A Republic, if you can keep it” quote.
Note the reference to our famous Yeats poem:
“And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?”
Biden’s treatment of Bork was infamous, for those in the know. He basically smeared him, then when the cameras were off approached Bork to say something like “Hey, nothing personal. It’s just politics.”
Biden proved his very low character in that incident, which I’ve never forgotten.
A man of low intellect, with a willingness to do whatever the party asks. Reminds me of Stalin.