Former Florida Jeb Bush is to many independents the leading, respectable antiTea Party Republican, even though he has not broken with it. He’s closer to an “old school” Republican who believed in aggregating interests (versus aggravating and excluding some of them) and he maintains appeal among independent and Latino voters — two groups that presumptive Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney is having trouble winning over. News Max com has this fascinating interview with Romney in which the former Governor uses the typical election year phrase that Romney has “an excellent chance to win” but warns Romney that he better get ready for the most negative campaign ever.
Even here Bush in this must-watch-in-full interview shows his appeal that goes beyond hardcore Republicans: he comes out strongly against demonetization of Obama and of Romney. Watch the interview yourself — but keep in mind the actual political subtext with many GOPers reporting becoming increasingly pessimistic that Romney can win, even though Romney is reportedly applying lessons he learned in the searing Republican primaries to the general election campaign.
When you watch this interview the first impression is that Jeb Bush isn’t one more talk radio political culture Republican talking in sound bites he can that warm the hearts of Sean Hannity fans. He could expand the GOP coalition, eventual victory or not. The question, of course, is whetherdue to his name and not talking in the same tone as Tea Partiers Jeb Bush will be as outdated as the Republican moderates largely exiled from the party or if the Republican Party will swing back to offering candidates that can appeal to those who aren’t Republicans because they can make a serious case on issues by offering a positive alternative. Bush doesn’t just talk in angry sound bites.
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.