GOP presidential primary: does Jeb! fit in? by gimleteye

Jeb Bush has retained his popularity among voters in Florida. The question is not why Jeb is sitting on the sidelines in the rancorous Florida primary, but why he manages to have stayed in voters' favor after two terms as governor representing the growth-at-any-cost policies that first carried aloft his biggest campaign backers and then fell out of the sky like a jet covered with ice. (You don't hear much of those arguments these days, do you: that we have to support development because its expanded tax base is necessary to cover the cost of government services.)

The pain and misery that now engulfs so many Floridians, shattered dreams and a foreclosed future, bears scrutiny. And if voters were to take a magnifying glass to their suffering (detailed in this morning's New York Times) they would find Jeb Bush in Florida and the domestic policies of George W. Bush. The Bush administration used interest rates and housing to counter the perceived threats of 9/11 to the economy.

Also today the Times notes how Mitt Romney has courted Jeb! for his endorsement, to no avail. This much is clear: the Bush apparatchiks detest Newt Gingrich. For his part, Jeb's antagonism dates back to the early 1990's when Gingrich held court in DC and Jeb, not George W., aspired to succeed the father. These days Gingrich is too careful to mention the family name. It is otherwise comical the extent to which the Republican primary debates have scrubbed Bush from talking points, as though Pravda circa 1960 is advising the candidates.

History counts for nothing and Jeb! is keeping his powder, dry. It is fantastical to imagine that American voters would vote again for a Bush on the national stage. On the other hand, if Floridians' memories are so short that they cannot even recall that Jeb! and his policies fanned the flames of economic doom, (now only the cinders, foreclosures and ghost suburbs are visible), it may well be that the age of non-accountability could even support another Bush in the White House or the mansion of the Vice President.