Jeb Bush, the new seriousness!
Bush’s speech wasn’t exactly a barn burner. His delivery was rushed and unconvincing, though he was more at ease during the question period. He was criticized for a lack of specificity. But Bush offered something far more important than specificity. He offered a sense of his political style and temperament, which in itself presents a grownup and civil alternative to the Giuliani-style pestilence that has plagued the Republic for the past 25 years.
Are you kidding me? I mean it, are you kidding? Joke Line (who in case you needed reminding is a truly horrible human being) is employed as a national journalist for reasons passing all understanding, and he’s saying here that the facts don’t matter.
“A sense of his political style and temperament” is MORE IMPORTANT than specifics of policy. For a politician. A political journalist just said that “specificity” is not important.
Most of them think that, but he flat-out said it. And remains employed at a major news magazine.
WHICH WILL NO LONGER BE ALLOWED IN MY HOUSE. CANCEL MY FUCKING ACCOUNT, TIME.
This is only the start of the staggering amount of dishonest horseshit in this column:
Bush makes no false, egregious claims, on issues foreign or domestic. He resists the partisan hyperbole that has coarsened our politics.
But that didn’t “coarsen” our politics, that piece of monstrous cruelty. Oh, no. Everyone raised their pinkies properly while ripping apart a family’s personal tragedy. It wasn’t partisan or mean or anything rude like that.
He is worried about middle-class economic stagnation, about the inability of the working poor to rise–his PAC is called Right to Rise.
If it’s in the name of the PAC, it must be true!
Again, the way Bush talks about governmental sclerosis is the important thing. It’s no surprise he’s in favor of the Keystone pipeline and hydraulic fracking–he’s invested in fracking–but listen to this: “Washington shouldn’t try to regulate hydraulic fracking out of business,” he told the auto dealers. “It should be done reasonably and thoughtfully to protect the natural environment.” There is no call to blow up the Environmental Protection Agency or ignore science.
It’s the way he talks about it. He doesn’t talk about blowing up the EPA! He wants to blow up the actual environment. This is so, so much better.
Even if you disagree with him, his civility demands respect.
We must give Jeb Bush a cookie for being polite and adhering to the rules of basic courtesy. Remember, the style matters so much more than the specifics.
This man is a fucking professional political journalist. He gets paid to not give a shit this hard.
A.