Jeb Bush - Senator?

John Ellis "Jeb" Bush is of the opinion the damage he did in Florida as governor was insufficient and thus is planning to run for the U.S. Senate when Mel Martinez gives up his seat, in order to wreak further Bush-based havoc on the rest of the country from Washington, D.C.

Maybe. Supposedly, Jeb hasn't made his mind up yet.

That according to Politico and other political prognosticators.


'Tis a worrisome thing. The Bush brothers come in different wrapping, but the package is the same: ultra-conservative, hard-line Republican chicanery.

Jeb, being the younger brother of George W., is said to be smarter than George. That is yet to be proven, however. As the 43rd governor of Florida, serving two terms, his "smarts" were not much in evidence.

There are differences of opinion as to how smart Jeb is, but his rightist leanings and his hard line, take-no-prisoners attitude, which he tried to soften with a smirky "little boy" grin, were always on view.

Florida's moneyed Republican leaders thought Jeb was the cat's meow, but that was because he did his best to enrich their coffers. One of his first moves after setting up residence in Tallahassee, was to cut taxes for the rich. At his departure, the State of Florida was (and still is) in desperate financial straits.

Jeb's education program turned out to be a disaster. He continued to push charter schools even when the evidence indicated they were not any better, and often worse, than public schools. The linchpin of his education effort was to provide vouchers for parents to use taxpayers' dollars to send their kiddos to private (mostly religious) schools. That was shot down by the Florida Supremes.

Jeb fought to teach Creationism in public schools. This past year, though no longer governor, he worked behind the scenes with committee people he had appointed to try to again secure vouchers for private schools and the teaching of creationism in public schools.

Maybe it had something to do with the fact he converted to Catholicism (a religion which believes it has a right to taxpayer dollars) that he pushed faith-based operations in a variety of areas - including prisons; all of which were of questionable constitutionality.

Like his brother, George, Jeb thinks the death penalty is an important method of reducing the crime rate, and thus oversaw 21 executions during his time in office, which was more than his three predecessors combined.

Jeb also parroted the Republican line regarding off-shore drilling, and pushed hard to get Congress to allow drilling off the Florida shores.

And who will forget the law he got passed to allow him to continue feeding poor Terry Schiavo? This, too, derived from his religious and political right-wing conservatism.


Politico says Jeb hasn't made up his mind about running for the U.S. Senate. Some Repugnican poohbahs in Florida figure he would be a shoe-in. They are excited about the prospect of another Bush in Washington, which indicates clearly the moral poverty of the Republican Party in Florida!

Not all Floridians agree that Senator Jeb is a good idea, however. Politico quotes Democratic Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a truly fine politician, who thinks Jeb might find the road to the Senate a bit rougher than he and his friends anticipate. Wasserman notes rightly that Jeb "left the education system in tatters," and calls him "literally the most inflexible public official I've ever encountered in my 16 years in office."

"He does not play nice with others," says Wasserman. "This is not a person who was sensitive to people who have needs and who are struggling. He's focused on people who are doing well."

Of course. What the hell else would you expect from a Bush?


All of which is to say we do NOT want or need Jeb Bush in Washington in any capacity!