Presidential Candidate JEB Threatens to Unleash his Secret Campaign Weapon: Brother George

by Nomad

For some obscure reasons, JEB thinks reminding American voters of brother George is going to give him a decided advantage in the presidential race. 

Sometimes you hear things JEB says, the way the man thinks and you have to wonder how anybody so out of touch with the American people would ever consider running for president.

Although there have been plenty of examples of this, what he said the other day left a lot of people gasping in disbelief. He told MSNBC:

“My brother, if you did the polling and actually looked at it — he’s probably the most popular president amongst Republicans in this country."

After Reagan, who else is there? Nixon? One-term Pappy?

"He Kept Us Safe": The Rovian Lie that JEB! Must Forever Cling To

by Nomad

During the Republican debate, JEB! unintentionally revealed his own seemingly insurmountable dilemma of trying to scrub his brother's dismal record.

Tabloid Politics

The agonizingly- immature GOP debates predictably boiled down into an oily smelly sludge, with candidates making ignorant claims about Planned Parenthood and "baby parts", about Kim Davis' right to ignore her oath of office, and about the long-disproved link between autism and vaccinations.

In every respect, it was tabloid politics. 

CNN, which hosted the debates, over-packaged the event in the most surreal way too. The eye-roller opening sounded like a trailer for a World Wrestling Smackdown event or a cheesy film trailer from the 1980s. 

And of course, there was something for Left to enjoy too. The personal attacks.

JEB and the Family Legacy: Political Dynasty or Plague on the Nation?

by Nomad

Has JEB given up trying to rebrand the discredited Bush brand? Certain remarks he made last week would suggest he is eager to pick up where his infamous brother left off.

When I consider what kind of president Jeb Bush would make, there are a lot of niggling questions that come to mind. I ask myself:

• Would you really vote for a person who uses an assumed name? 

A lot of people- including journalists- incorrectly assume Jeb Bush's first name is a shortened form of the Biblical-sounding moniker, some kind of reference to the long suffering Job or Zebulun. Yet the truth is Jeb should be written in capital letter as it is actually the first letters of his real name, John Ellis Bush. If you think about it, it doesn't make sense to call the candidate Jeb Bush at all. It could be simply JEB, like JFK or FDR.

As it stands, it is like saying John Ellis Bush Bush.

Using an alias is hardly a standard practice for a candidate. Ask Rafael Edward (a.k.a "Ted") Cruz. To die-hard conspiracy theorists, it vaguely suggests deceit of some sort. After all, when filling out applications, many criminals use their nicknames or false names in the hope you will not be able to see their criminal history.

Anyway, it's his last name that creates a rotten egg smell for most voters.

Jeb Bush, the Family Brand and a Bad Case of Political Amnesia

by Nomad

In what many have seen as clear evidence that John Ellis "Jeb" Bush actually plans to throw his hat in the ring for the  2016 presidential race, last week, the former governor of Florida resigned from all of his corporate and non-profit board member positions. That's as subtle a signal as a cannon blast. 

Back in 2008, as his older brother was slinking out of Oval office, many a journalist was commenting how George Bush had dashed ahead of his brother Jeb and effectively blew up the bridge. Rebuilding that bridge was utterly unthinkable given the mess. It was implied that Americans would never ever forget the chaos that eight years of Bush.
 (As we have reported in the past, Jeb's problem has a few major problems that have nothing to do with his brother's incompetence.)

The Secret Problem with Jeb: Why Another Bush is not the Solution 2/2

by Nomad

In the previous post we examined the kind assistance Jeb Bush, gave a Cuban exile turned business and how that led to one of the largest Medicare frauds in American history. In this post, we will look into some other possible reasons why Jeb Bush (and his father) would have been so eager to help Recarey and his friends.

The Exiled Mobster

With Jeb Bush's help in overcoming certain Medicare regulations, Cuban businessman and Bush business partner Miguel Recarey was able to amass a fortune in a very short time. 

In exchange, he provided free and no-questions medical care to Nicaraguan right wing rebels, otherwise known as Contras. When the scheme collapsed, Bush and high level Bush administration officials successfully helped Recarey avoid prosecution and even had the kindness to give him a bonus for his services in the form of a hefty IRS check.
But Bush and company were not the only people involved in Recarey Medicare fraud. If he had friends in high places, Recarey also has important contact in the lower realms too.

Back in 1988, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Sydney P. Freedberg of the Wall Street Journal, wrote of Miguel Recarey’s longstanding connection with Florida underworld boss Santo Traffincante, Jr. It was alleged by Miguel Recarey's associates that the medical company IMC was, in fact, financed by the Miami mafia don Trafficante.

The Secret Problem with Jeb: Why Another Bush is not the Solution 1/2

by Nomad

Some in the Republican party still consider Jeb Bush a possible candidate in a run for the White House. This two-part series lays out the case against Bush in exact detail. 

In the last presidential election, many people were stunned at the quality of the candidates. They looked outside of the pool for a Republican candidate with solid credentials and a familiar name.  
One name that’s been put forward is former Florida governor, John Ellis “Jeb” Bush, the younger brother of the former president George W. Bush and  second son  of the former president, George H. W. Bush. As writer Joe Conason notes:

The first obstacle that Jeb would have to surmount is that to most Americans outside the Sunshine State, he is known only as the brother of George W. Bush, most recently named one of the two worst presidents in the past half-century by respondents to a Gallup poll—rated just above the late Richard M. Nixon, in fact.

Let’s face it. That’s a mighty heavy burden. You could even add another brother, Neil -master of the S & L crisis and a grandfather, Prescott who raised FDR's hackles for his banking deals with the Nazis. All and all it's quite a family hall of notoriety. Even his father was not what would call a major success, come to think of it. (Let's not get ahead of ourselves.)

Apart from the collective automatic flinching at the mention of the Bush name, Jeb Bush appears on the surface to have a lot going for him. Sean Trende, writing for RealClear Politics puts it this way:

For many conservative Republicans, the dream outcome of the primary season is a brokered convention. Disappointed in the four remaining choices, they hope to change horses in August, and draft their preferred candidate, be it Jeb Bush, Mitch Daniels, Chris Christie, or Paul Ryan.

But like a lot of things in the world of politics, appearances can be deceiving.

Republican Faust: The Rise and Fall of Mike Connell - 1/3

by Nomad

The story of the rise and fall of Republican insider, Mike Connell isn't a familiar one. This investigation looks at the life and death of one of the people who was implicated in the rigging of the Ohio results in the 2004 presidential election. 

At about 6 p.m. on Friday, 19 December 2008, a single-engine 1997 Piper Saratoga aircraft, with only the pilot aboard, crashed into a residential area in Uniontown, Ohio as it was preparing to land at Akron-Canton airport.

Arriving  at the scene, fire crews found only burning wreckage of the plane scattered between homes on Charolais Street. The pilot had been thrown upon impact and had died instantly of massive blunt force trauma, his belongings scattered in the yards.

First responders arrived on the scene immediately after the crash. Even then, irregularities began. Simon Worrall in an article The Mysterious Death of Bush's Cyber-Guru, writes of those first minutes:

Capt. Lorin Geisner of the Greentown Fire Department was the first person to arrive at the scene. “We received a 911 call, so we contacted the tower and asked what size plane it was and how many souls were on board,” he recalls. “But we were informed that the tower was in lockdown and that no information was available.”

This was to be the first of many abnormalities in a case that would send shock waves through the blogosphere with speculations of sabotage and foul play. In the bewildering reality-bending world of conspiracy theories, the events that surround the Connell crash belong in a class all their own.