The Not Ready for Prime Time Bush

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Wall Street Journal:

We’ll begin with what went wrong with the Republican debate in Boulder, Colo., then look at what went wrong with Jeb Bush.

 

CNBC’s debate moderators have famously come under fire for questions, statements and a tone that were obnoxious. They were. The moderators seemed intent on trivializing the field. When you say, “Candidate A, you have criticized Candidates B and C, turn to them now and tell them why they’re dopes,” you are presenting yourself as the puppet master and them as puppets. They must either attack their colleagues as instructed and look weak, or push back against the moderator in a way open to charges of defensiveness and cynicism. They can’t win. (Though later one did.)

 

There’s nothing wrong with mischief from debate moderators, but this was dumb mischief, plonkingly obvious in its ideological hostility. What’s your greatest weakness? Should fantasy football be regulated? These questions were merely shallow.

 

To Jeb Bush: “Governor, the fact that you’re at the fifth lectern tonight shows how far your stock has fallen in this race, despite the big investment your donors have made.” Donald Trump uncorking a taunt, right? No! It was moderator John Harwood! He followed up: “Ben Bernanke, who was appointed Fed chairman by your brother, recently wrote a book in which he said he no longer considers himself a Republican because the Republican Party has given in to know-nothingism. Is that why you’re having a difficult time in this race?”

 

It is very hard to imagine a candidate in a Democratic debate being asked if he’s not doing well because his party is ignorant and vicious. Jeb’s response to being smacked around like this was some vapidity about how “the great majority of Republicans and Americans believe in a hopeful future.”

________

 

He fit right in with the moderators...

[Valin]

Instapundit

(Snip)

Yesterday, Richocet’s Jon Gabriel rewrote the benchmark Monty Python sketch and quipped, “Look, matey, I know a dead campaign when I see one, and I’m looking at one right now:”

Super PAC manager: No, no, he’s not dead, he’s, he’s restin’! Remarkable candidate, the Establishment Blue, idn’it, ay? Beautiful pedigree!

Donor: The pedigree don’t enter into it. It’s stone dead.

Super PAC manager: Nononono, no, no! He’s restin’!

Donor: All right then, if he’s restin’, I’ll wake him up! (shouting at the debate lectern) Hello, Mister Florida Governor! I’ve got a lovely fresh check for you if you show…

(Super PAC manager kicks the lectern)

Super PAC manager: There, he moved!

Donor: No, he didn’t, that was you hitting the lectern!

Super PAC manager: I never!

Donor: Yes, you did!

Super PAC manager: I never, never did anything…

Donor: (yelling and hitting the cage repeatedly) Hello Jebby! Testing! Testing! Testing! Testing! This is your three a.m. phone call!

(Takes candidate and thumps head on the lectern. Pushes him toward Marco Rubio and watches him fall face-first on the floor.)

Donor: Now that’s what I call a dead campaign.

Super PAC manager: No, no … No, he’s stunned!

Donor: Stunned?!

Super PAC manager: Yeah! You stunned him, just as he was wakin’ up! Establishment Blues stun easily, major.

Donor: Um … now look, mate, I’ve definitely had enough of this. That campaign is definitely deceased, and when I funded it not three months ago, you assured me that his total lack of grassroots support was due to him being tired and shagged out following a prolonged policy conference.

Super PAC manager: Well, he’s … he’s, ah … probably pining for the Everglades.

 

 

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For those who have been living in a cave in the farthest reaches on Patagonia for the last 50 years.