Republicans warn Bush team against harming Rubio

[brooklynite]

Source: Politico

CORALVILLE, Iowa —Jeb Bush called Tuesday for a “leader with a servant’s heart.”

“We need a nominee who knows it’s not all about him,” the one-time GOP front-runner said.

But, increasingly, establishment Republicans worry that Bush’s campaign is little more than an ego trip. With the former Florida governor now sitting stagnant in the middle of the pack and his super PAC ratcheting up its attacks on Marco Rubio, a growing number of Republican centrists are coming to view Bush’s campaign as a distraction — one that could hurt their ability to keep the nomination away from Donald Trump and Ted Cruz.

...snip...

“This is something Jeb Bush has to decide. Does he want his legacy to be that he elected Donald Trump or Ted Cruz?” said Stuart Stevens, the GOP strategist who ran Mitt Romney’s 2012 campaign. “He can’t control that super PAC but he ought to call on the super PAC to stop and stop attacking people with whom he mostly agrees.”

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/01/republicans-warn-bush-team-against-harming-rubio-217651#ixzz3x8582s3S

[hobbit709]

1. These idiots wouldn't recognize irony no matter how many times it bit them on the ass.

[Hortensis]

2. Wow. So it's official - Jeb's a discard.

"A leader with a servant's heart," huh? Who or what would Jeb have been serving? All the Bible-waving in the world won't turn any of that lineup into public servants.

[Mass]

3. What does it tell us that Rubio cannot close the deal? Certainly not Bush's fault as he is polling

4 to 6 %.

Nothing more than POLITICO's rantings,

[houston16revival]

4. Paranoids

As if anyone is paying attention to Jeb!ster

[blackspade]

5. All I can say is "Please proceed Governor"

[Blasphemer]

6. They'd have a point if anyone was paying attention to Jeb!

No one is. Rubio's hit came when his scandals were revealed and they would have come out eventually anyway. And if the GOP doesn't realize that for Bushco it's family over everything else - country, God, and political party - they haven't been paying attention. They need only ask the Reagans.

[Uponthegears]

7. Prediction

Donald Trump will not be the Republican nominee, nor will Ted Cruz.

The people who really pick the nominee (You mean you thought is was Republican voters? . . . That's precious.) will select a candidate who can run as a "moderate." You may laugh at their current polling numbers, but the nominee will be Bush, Rubio, or some unannounced (yet not unknown) candidate who, as they will portray it, will come forward during the convention to "unify" the party. To run anyone else would cost the GOP not only the presidency and the Senate, but even the gerrymandered House of Representatives and potentially a fair number of state houses. What's more, it would guarantee that ANY Democrat nominee would become our next president.

Yes, friends, despite the fact that the "Bernie isn't electable" screed appears to be the only platform embraced by most DU Hillary supporters (I met an exception yesterday, so I won't say "all&quot , Bernie Sanders would kick the dog out of either Trump or Cruz. If the choice is between Bernie's liberal principles and the irrational hate-mongering of Trump and Cruz, Bernie wins hands down. Just to make sure I keep it honest here, let me add, Hillary would do the same thing. What's more, because the Democratic candidates running down ticket would be able to run against a Republican party (that is so radicalized that it nominates irrational hate-mongers) instead of against the record/popularity of an incumbent/local candidate, the Republicans would pay for it right down to the race for local animal control officer.

There is just way too much money being funneled into the GOP side for their real "deciders" to let that happen.

[brooklynite]

13. I know this is a popular theory...but this time it's not true

If "the Powers that Be" were running the show, Trump wouldn't have gotten in, and there wouldn't be four "moderates" struggling for crumbs. And swapping in a new candidate at the Convention would be an organizational and political disaster. The Party leaders are not in control of the Republican process.

[Uponthegears]

17. You might be right

but if the Republicans are going to run a train wreck who can't beat anyone, shouldn't we Democrats run the candidate who most reflects Democratic values and not the one who is imitating the values of a candidate the Republican should have run?

[niyad]

8. thanks, I almost lost my coffee laughing.

[DisgustipatedinCA]

9. I think it's very important to note at this juncture...

...that Bobby Jindal only SUSPENDED his campaign. This would be the perfect time for him to jump back in, and roar all the way to, um, Jindalvember.

[bklyncowgirl]

10. They are trying to protect wee Marko--how sweet.

You'd think Rubio would have the guts to defend himself. Politics ain't beanbag.

[Babel_17]

11. Membership in the middle of the pack requires just 3%

3% doesn't get you support and donations from rank and file party members. The fact that Bush's campaign is tottering along, zombie like, because it's being funded by the elites, is going to be hammered home in the press, and by his opponents. It already gets regular mention.

He sounds fairly normal, compared to many of the rest, and yet that doesn't get him the support of a significant fraction of the voters. And this is after spraying money around. His staffers must largely be composed of total mercenaries, and those few who figure themselves honor bound to stay.

I can only guess that he wants to quit on his own terms, to get some kind of redemption and then to make a strongly meaningful endorsement as he leaves the race. That's not a very high bar, but it keeps looking unachievable.

[BlueStater]

12. Is widdle Marco a baby that needs to be protected?

This is politics. If the little twerp can't fight back against a floundering Jeb on his own then clearly he's not cut out for it. Given his lack of presence in both the senate and on the campaign trail, maybe he's starting to feel like that's the case.

[ValasHune]

14. Love how the republican idiots

make themselves so UNELECTABLE.... It's the biggest gift to the democratic party that so many of these fools ran agaisnt each other.

[Calista241]

15. I'm trying to decide if this is worse than DWS and the DNC debate fiasco.

[Beacool]

16. Why would it be Jeb's responsibility to keep Rubio afloat.