23 Reasons Why Jeb Bush Should Think Twice About Running for President





From questionable business dealings to allegations of philandering, the former Florida governor's past is an opposition researcher's dream.



—By Stephanie Mencimer




For months, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush has been mentioned as a possible 2016 candidate, with the conventional wisdom holding that he was the one GOP contender the party's donor class could unite behind. "Jeb has the capacity to bring the party together," Fred Malek, a top Republican operative, told the Washington Post in March. Bush has yet to signal whether he'll seek to follow in the footsteps of his older brother and their father by launching a bid for the White House, but the Wall Street Journal reported last week that his advisers have reached out to key fundraisers and consultants to ask them to hold off on throwing in with a presidential candidate until Bush makes up his mind sometime after the November election. One Bush family confidant told the Journal that there was a better than 50-50 chance that Bush would run.

But there are plenty of reasons why Bush should think long and hard before subjecting himself (and his family) to the ruthless scrutiny of a presidential campaign. His history is an opposition researcher's dream—clouded by embarrassing family episodes, allegations of philandering, offensive comments to black voters, and dubious business dealings.

Many of these past deeds and misdeeds will no doubt be put under the microscope should Bush run in 2016. Here are 23 reasons why he might want to take a pass—and it's only a partial list :




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http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/09/23-reasons-why-jeb-bush-shouldnt-run-president

Excerpt from Chris Tomlinson's book, "Tomlinson Hill: The Remarkable Story of Two Families Who Share the Tomlinson Name - One White, One Black"

Old scrapbooks in his father's boyhood room open a world of family lore to a Texan seeking his roots

By Chris Tomlinson


...Before he died, on New Year's Eve in 1973, my grandfather tried to make me proud of being a Texan. My father tried to keep me from becoming a racist. And bringing both points home in my young imagination was the knowledge that somewhere in rural Texas there were black Tomlinsons who shared our heritage....My ancestors had owned their ancestors....I tried to imagine the black Tomlinsons. Could their family have moved to Dallas, too? Were they still in the country? What an irony that would be. I had always imagined blacks to be urban and the countryside to be white. To me, rural Texas was the backwoods, a place where the sun didn't reach the forest floor, where rednecks still grew cotton, hunted deer, gigged frogs, and fried catfish. It was the place where the Ku Klux Klan roamed the red clay roads and burned crosses at night. The country was where the bogeyman lived. . .


Two Tomlinsons

Thirty years later, I was standing on a mountain ridge near Tora Bora, covering Osama bin Laden's last stand in Afghanistan. Fighter jets screamed through the bitterly cold winter sky, dropping laser-guided bombs on the caves where al-Qaeda had fled following the September 11 terrorist attacks. At night, I slept in a mud hut a farmer had been using to dry peanuts. His compound was the closest shelter to the front line. The Associated Press team and a handful of other writers and photographers huddled around propane heaters to escape the mountain cold. We could hear the relentless explosions of 2,000-pound bombs in the next valley over, but occasionally one would go astray and fall close enough to shake the walls of our shack....We spent our days with the mujahideen at the front lines as they fought their way to reach Osama's redoubt. At night, we sipped tea with Pashtu warlords, transmitted our stories and photographs by satellite phone, and planned for the next day. . . .

At the same time, on the other side of the planet, a young African-American athlete worked hard to prove himself in his rookie year in the National Football League. LaDainian Tomlinson had led the NCAA in rushing his senior year at Texas Christian University, carrying the ball for 2,158 yards and scoring 22 touchdowns. The San Diego Chargers recognized his talent and picked him in the first round of the 2001 draft. LaDainian was one of the best running backs in the NFL, but the Chargers were one of the worst teams. He planned to change that.....On Dec. 15, 2001, I was sitting in the sun with Afghan warlords while they used a walkie-talkie to negotiate the surrender of al-Qaeda fighters, who were decimated and demoralized by American air power. LaDainian was in Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, being pummeled by the Oakland Raiders in a game that would end with a 6-13 loss for the Chargers........We had never met, but we shared a common legacy. We both traced our heritage to Tomlinson Hill. And we both had traveled far from Texas to create better lives for ourselves. I was the city boy who became a foreign correspondent; he was the country boy who became a millionaire football player. . . .

When Tomlinson was in elementary school, his grandfather bragged about their ancestors owning slaves on a Falls County cotton plantation along the Brazos River. When the slaves became free, his grandfather said they loved their slaveholders so much they took Tomlinson as their last name....Nearly 40 years later, Tomlinson returned to Texas after spending 14 years as a war correspondent for the Associated Press in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Informed by covering dozens of ethnically influenced conflicts, Tomlinson decided to take a look at his own family history of owning slaves and employing sharecroppers in Central Texas...Tomlinson dug deep into historical records and letters, conducted hundreds of oral histories and closely researched the legacy of Tomlinson Hill's founding family and the men and women held in bondage there. He also closely examined his own education about race and how the past influences the present. . . . . . . .


http://www.houstonchronicle.com/opinion/outlook/article/Excerpt-from-Chris-Tomlinson-s-book-Tomlinson-5708026.php#/0

Grand jury proceedings are secret. McCulloch, in telling the public what the grand jury had found, repeatedly insisted that “every witness” had testified that the two detectives fired to defend themselves after the suspect tried to run them over with his car.

The Post-Dispatch reviewed the previously secret grand jury tapes and found that McCulloch’s public statements were untrue. Only three of the 13 detectives who testified said the suspect’s car had moved forward, in the direction of the two officers who shot him and his passenger. Two of those were the shooters themselves. The third was a detective who McCulloch later said he considered charging with perjury because his account was so at odds with the facts.

Contrary to McCulloch’s public statements, the grand jury tapes showed that four other detectives testified that they never saw the suspect’s car travel toward the officers....McCulloch never brought independent evidence before the grand jury to sort out who was right....Nor did he request the testimony of a nationally noted collision expert who investigated the case for the Justice Department. He determined that the suspect’s car had always been in reverse — added proof that it did not move toward the detectives....


more at: http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/sign-petitions-seeking-special-prosecutor-in-michael-brown-shooting/article_d0cc6e7f-8b32-5153-8ab4-86ebdc4659ca.html

Appoint a Special Prosecutor to Investigate the Murder of Michael Brown


Petition by Missouri State Senator Jamilah Nasheed


To be delivered to Robert P. McCulloch, St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney


The death of Michael Brown at the hands of Ferguson, MO police has stoked tensions and caused unrest across our community, state, and nation. This racially charged climate demands an independent, impartial investigation that the St. Louis County Prosecutor's office simply cannot provide.
There are currently 69,237 signatures. NEW goal - We need 75,000 signatures!
Petition Background
Bob McCulloch must fully recuse himself and his office from the investigation related to the murder of Michael Brown. 


McCulloch's decision not to charge officers who murdered two unarmed African-American men in 2000 by shooting into their car 20 times, especially in the face of the U.S. Attorney's independent investigation finding that those officers lied about their actions, gives us no confidence that his office can provide a fair and impartial investigation into this current matter. 


That failure, coupled with McCulloch's recent participation in one of the most racially polarizing elections in the history of St. Louis County, means that his office's continued oversight of this tragedy will only sow further distrust and discord in our community. 


For the good of the entire St. Louis region and the nation as a whole, we call on Robert P. McCulloch to recuse himself and his office from this matter and to appoint a special prosector to investigate the murder of Michael Brown.


http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/appoint-a-special-prosecutor

St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Robert McCulloch Thursday night blasted the decision by Gov. Jay Nixon to replace St. Louis County Police control of the Ferguson situation with the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

“It's shameful what he did today, he had no legal authority to do that," McCulloch said. "To denigrate the men and women of the county police department is shameful."

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/mcculloch-blasts-nixon-for-replacing-st-louis-county-police-control/article_0806541b-ed48-5d06-9267-323531ad6cf1.html

TEXAS CITY — A collision between a barge and a ship Saturday near the Texas City Dike spilled 160,000 gallons of heavy oil into Galveston Bay.The accident forced authorities to evacuate the dike and surrounding areas — and to close the Houston Ship Channel.Authorities also suspended operations of the ferry between Galveston and Port Bolivar. Traffic in and out of the ports of Texas City and Galveston was also suspended. . . . The barge was carrying about 924,000 gallons of bunker oil, according to a report from the U.S. Coast Guard. Coast Guard Capt. Brian Penoyer said late Saturday that 160,000 gallons, or 3,800 barrels, of the oil leaked from the barge into the bay.

“This is an extremely serious spill,” he said. “This is a persistent oil. It’s a large quantity. It will spread. People should be aware of that.”

Bunker oil or bunker fuel is a heavy crude and highly polluting oil that also is referred to bottom of the barrel oil...


http://www.galvestondailynews.com/free/article_6340123e-b1fc-11e3-987d-0017a43b2370.html

Texas City dike closed after barge and ship collide
By Anita Hassan, Jayme Fraser, Harvey Rice, Ingrid Lobet | March 22, 2014 | Updated: March 23, 2014 7:23pm



http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Texas-City-dike-closed-after-barge-and-ship-5341213.php?cmpid=hpfc#photo-6062667



"Vessels work with skimmers and oil containment booms in Galveston Harbor on Sunday, March 23, 2014, in Galveston. Dozens of ships are in evolved in clean-up efforts to remove up to 168,000 gallons of oil that make have spilled into Galveston Bay after a ship and barge collided near the Texas City dike on Saturday afternoon."




"A dead oil covered bird is shown washed ashore on the beach area along Boddeker Rd. on the east end of Galveston near the ship channel Sunday, March 23, 2014 in Galveston."





"Oil containment booms cuts across a sand bar covered with birds on Pelican Island on Sunday, March 23, 2014, in Galveston, Texas. Dozens of ships are in evolved in clean-up efforts to remove up to 168,000 gallons of oil that make have spilled into Galveston Bay after a ship and barge collided near the Texas City dike on Saturday afternoon."





article, and more photos at:

http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Texas-City-dike-closed-after-barge-and-ship-5341213.php?cmpid=hpfc#photo-6062667

Burnt Orange Report: Reminder: Democratic Senate Candidate Kesha Rogers Has Called for Obama's Impeachment, Execution

by: Katie Singh
Wed Feb 26, 2014 at 04:30 PM CST

This year, perennial candidate Kesha Rogers is running for US Senate in the Democratic primary. A recent UT/Texas Tribune poll found her leading the pack among Democratic senate candidates, probably because she has been on a ballot the most times. (Although it is important to note that the majority of surveying for this poll took place before the best-financed candidate, David Alameel, began running ads and sending mailers.)

It is important for Texas Democrats not to be fooled--Kesha Rogers is absolutely the wrong candidate to be the Senate nominee. Though she calls herself a Democrat, she associates herself with Lyndon LaRouche, whose LaRouche movement has compared President Obama to Hitler and has a history of violent, anti-Semitic rhetoric.

Rogers has also repeatedly called for President Obama to be impeached. In 2012, when she was running in CD-22, Burnt Orange Report also revealed that Kesha Rogers produced a campaign video that called for the President's execution. . . . .

http://www.burntorangereport.com/diary/14887/reminder-democratic-senate-candidate-kesha-rogers-has-called-for-obamas-impeachment-execution

University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll:

David Alameel 27%
Michael Fjetland 9%
Harry Kim 14%
Kesha Rogers 35%
Maxey Scherr 15%

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate_election_in_Texas,_2014

Meet "Democrat" Kesha Rogers: Worse Than Ted Cruz




We’ve pointed out before why Ted Cruz doesn’t deserve your vote or political support. However, there’s someone else running for office - as a Democrat - who could make it onto the ballot...and makes Cruz look like a stand up citizen in comparison.

Her name is Kesha Rogers and she thinks Obama starting a thermonuclear war is a legitimate concern. So she wants to execute him.

Running for the U.S. Senate as a “LaRouche Democrat” Rogers has already been rejected by the Democratic Party. The State Democratic Executive Committee’s released its official party position on Rogers’ candidacy. “The Texas Democratic Party will have no relationship with the campaign of any person identifying him or herself as aligned with the LaRouche Movement or Lyndon LaRouche…”

...Kesha Rogers also produced a highly offensive video in which she, again, refers to the President as Hitler and cheerfully calls for his doctor to “administer some pentathol of sodium”. Sodium thiopental was commonly used during lethal injections in U.S. executions until 2010.

http://progresstexas.org/blog/meet-democrat-kesha-rogers-worse-ted-cruz