Buh bye Jeb Bush.
You’ve just disqualified yourself from being President.
The former Florida Governor had a bad week doing the politico limbo on whether invading Iraq was a good idea. That brought him under fire not just from Democrats but from many Republicans. Now, perhaps in a move to get back into the good graces of the party’s dominant conservative primary voters, he is questioning climate change — something the previous incarnation of Jeb Bush would not have done.
So if the GOP nominates Jeb, once again it’ll have a candidate that many Americans who are not enamored of the Democrats or their likely candidate (Hillary you-know-who) will likely vote FOR because a party nominee just can’t find the good, old fashioned buts to stand up to his party’s Twlight Zoners or its talk show political culture:
Jeb Bush hit back against President Obama’s claim that climate change runs an immediate risk, saying Wednesday that while it shouldn’t be ignored, it’s still not “the highest priority.”
As he has before, Bush acknowledged “the climate is changing” but stressed that it’s unknown why. “I don’t think the science is clear of what percentage is man-made and what percentage is natural. It’s convoluted,” he said at a house party in Bedford, New Hampshire.
“For the people to say the science is decided on this is really arrogant, to be honest with you,” he continued. “It’s this intellectual arrogance that now you can’t have a conversation about it, even. The climate is changing. We need to adapt to that reality.”
Actually, its the political gutlessness of Mr. Bush that is a bit surprising to those who followed him for years and felt he was a person who stood on principle and would offer voters a candidate more in line with a)21st century thinking, b)how younger voters perceive reality versus how Rush, Sean, and Fox & Friends perceive it.
Most independent voters, moderates and centrists DO believe science’s take on global warming, so he has basically said they’re all full of Cheney (I won’t use the actual word on this family friendly site, so I used a substitute word that means the same thing).
Earlier Wednesday, Obama warned in a commencement speech to the U.S. Coast Guard Academy that climate change “constitutes a serious threat to global security (and) an immediate risk to our national security.”
The DNC (correctly) had this answer:
The Democratic National Committee was quick to respond to Bush’s comments Wednesday night.
“Ninety-seven percent of climate scientists agree that human activity has led to climate change. Ninety-seven percent. But Jeb Bush thinks they’re wrong. Who’s being intellectually arrogant now?” said Holly Shulman, DNC spokeswoman, in a written statement.
I hate to use the word but:
Ditto.
Jeb Bush finds new ways to be inaccurate about global warming in 2016 race http://t.co/IIGp1tsxoj #tech #trending
— Tech Trends (@techtrends247) May 21, 2015
If you believe in climate science, Jeb Bush just called you arrogant http://t.co/xXv6hGwzvV
— ThinkProgress (@thinkprogress) May 21, 2015
Jeb Bush finds new ways to be inaccurate about global warming in 2016 presidential race. http://t.co/rFr6hzoYd0
— Mashable (@mashable) May 21, 2015
Jeb calls agreeing w science “intellectual arrogance” I call
That disqualifying yourself for President
http://t.co/Gf2Qn0FuOH
— Pete Dominick (@PeteDominick) May 21, 2015
Maybe Jeb Bush just thinks scientists are arrogant because they use big fancy words like "climate change", "science" and "facts."
— OhNoSheTwitnt (@OhNoSheTwitnt) May 21, 2015
Dear @JebBush:
You can't run as a sensible conservative but deny climate change is man-made. Reality doesn't work that way.
— Charles Clymer (@cmclymer) May 21, 2015
Jeb Bush calls belief in climate science "arrogance," as opposed to the quiet act of humility that was the invasion of Iraq.
— Frank Conniff (@FrankConniff) May 21, 2015
So, Jeb Bush says climate change is no big deal, and the USA PATRIOT Act didn’t violate anybody’s rights. I’ll have whatever he’s smoking.
— Dave (@D_v_E) May 21, 2015
Good Lord. His heart aint in it. Jeb says climate change science is "convoluted", "arrogant" to say it's not. http://t.co/PqGQajykFr
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) May 21, 2015
Jeb Bush damages his Presidential prospects by flirting with unscientific climate change denial: http://t.co/FxMcLW90XW
— Bob Ward (@ret_ward) May 21, 2015
For more reaction from blogs GO HERE.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.