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Bushes Panic And Call "Emergency Family Meeting" Over Jeb's Collapsing Campaign

Bushes Panic And Call "Emergency Family Meeting" Over Jeb's Collapsing Campaign

The status of Jeb Bush’s candidacy will be determined in Houston today at a finance meeting. The session was called by the former presidents in Jeb’s immediate family; former President George H. W. Bush and brother, former President George W. Bush as well as mother, Barbara. The meeting will explore the logistics of Jeb’s campaign including large-scale staff cutbacks and low poll numbers. The email was sent by two of George W. Bush’s former chief’s of staff, Andy Card and Josh Bolten. Curiosly, Jeb Bush himself will not attend the session. His family members will determine if he should run for president, for him.

The Texas event doubles as a fundraiser for Jeb. The email, sent to Bush-Cheney alumni, played up the Bush name as much as it could and praised the last Bush’s “extraordinary record of accomplishment and conservative innovation” going on to say that George W. Bush “looks forward to seeing his old friends at this event and to sharing his enthusiasm for Jeb’s candidacy.” Bolten and Card suggested that there would be “other opportunities around the country,” for those unable to attend. The email closed, “Your help today will help position Jeb for a successful outcome.”

This email and family involvement have proved Jeb is unable to handle a campaign on the strength of his own name, without his clan backing him. When asked by CBS earlier in Oct if this would be the case, in true Bush fashion, he denied it. He did not think, or want to admit he would need his brother’s help. “No, he doesn’t have to rescue me….I’m on the path. I’m totally confident about where we are. This is a long haul.”

This is simply not true. According to a GOP source who has frequent interaction with the Bush campaign, said there is a “donor revolt in progress,” early Bush supporters have lost patience with the lagging candidate.

Jeb Bush is suffering from middle child syndrome. Unable to raise his polling numbers past single digits in Iowa and New Hampshire and suffering from a dearth of campaign funding especially from grassroots organizations, he is throwing a fit in front of the nation – proving he is both indecisive and unable to act as his own agent, without the help of his more famous older brother and father.

Jeb did not see the campaign playing out this way; it’s funny to see him pouting over national television that race has not gone how he foresaw it. It turns out –at least in this stage—the Bush name alone is not enough to get Jeb elected. The Republican primary rat race has split voters. Campaign dollars once allotted for Gov. Scott Walker have gone to Florida Sen. Marco Rubio or stayed neutral, while Carson and Trump have come to lead the overcrowded pack. If things continue this way, he might be the Bush who couldn’t, and back out of the race before it really begins. Maybe America has finally learned its lesson.

Colin Taylor
Opinion columnist and former editor-in-chief of Occupy Democrats. He graduated from Bennington College with a Bachelor's degree in history and political science. He now focuses on advancing the cause of social justice and equality in America.

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