May 29, 2006
VP FIRST:
A Few Years, and Then Another Bush? (ELISABETH BUMILLER, 5/29/06, NY Times)
"I'm not running for president. I'm not running for United States Senate. I'm not going to run." For good measure he added, "Why doesn't everyone believe me on this?"One reason is that Jeb, who was always considered the political comer compared with his brother the black sheep, was the original family favorite to run for president. But in a turn of events that has become a political parable, George surprised even his mother by upsetting Gov. Ann Richards of Texas in 1994, the same year that Jeb lost by two percentage points to Gov. Lawton Chiles in Florida. Although Jeb came back to beat Buddy McKay easily in 1998, by then his brother was in line for the White House.
People close to the Bushes say there are two major factors, political and personal, driving the governor's thinking.
First, Republicans say that running on the heels of what has shaped up to be a dismal second term for his brother would be difficult, if not impossible. Even if President Bush's approval ratings were better, Republicans say that Jeb Bush, for all his political popularity in Florida, would still have to define himself in the shadow of his brother's White House. [...]
Second, friends of the Bushes say that Jeb does not want the intense focus of a presidential campaign on his wife and daughter, and that his mother, for one, is opposed to a 2008 race. "It's very clear that he knows what he has to do for himself and his family in the immediate future," said Ron Kaufman, a political adviser to the first President Bush.
A couple years as NFL Commissioner. Four years as VP to President McCain. Bush-Blackwell in 2012. Posted by Orrin Judd at May 29, 2006 6:11 PM
Dismal, eh? I dare say Ms Bumiller will eat those words. As for Jeb, I think he'll be very glad when his term as governor is up. The next Bush in politics might be George P. Bush, Jeb's very good looking son.
Posted by: erp at May 29, 2006 7:28 PMOrrin,You sure have a lot of confidence in John McCain. As presidential candidate he may not even carry AZ. McCain would not be McCain in any other position than where he is now. besides, 2000 is long gone and a lot of the magic with it.
Most of us old contemporaries will always support him for what he did but our star isn't twinkling all that much either.
Posted by: Tom Wall at May 29, 2006 8:34 PMTom:
He won't win a landslide because of the Right, but because he can dominate among Independents and even get some Democrats. He can also run up numbers as good or better than W among Latinos.
Posted by: oj at May 29, 2006 8:59 PMoj
McCain-Blackwell 2008!
Blackwell-Bush 2012-2016 (of course I'll be dead by then, so you'll be spared the "I told you so"!).
Mike
Mike, You must stick around for the celebrations in 2012, so please follow the medical advice on this blog, i.e., keep yourself and your environs scrupulously clean and germ-free, especially your hands; eschew dairy, pizza on your birthday's okay; eat 2,000 calories of mostly fruit and vegetables a day; exercise through the pain; and maintain a zen-like calm in all things (it'll help if you don't read newspapers or other current events publications and never watch television news).
Of course, don't smoke and don't go where there might be second-hand smoke either, in fact, it would have been better if you never smoked or had a cheeseburger, but that's water under the bridge and we can't do anything about it now.
We'll just soldier on as beacons to wellness in our dotage and beyond.
Posted by: erp at May 30, 2006 9:55 AMThe crowning piece de resistance, was citing Kevin Phillips, as 'critical of the Bushes"
with approving citings of LaRouche factotum's
screeds, in his last book that's an understate
ment.