Sleazeball

There was a time when I thought, despite his generally assholery, that Jeb Bush might not be an unabashed sleazeball. Just wrongheaded but not necessarily a grifter on par with the rest of his field. What was I thinking? Had I forgotten the Terry Schiavo horror? Or, for that matter, his role in the fiasco known as the election of his brother? But now, as if it needed to be emphasized that he's no better -- worse, really -- than the rest, there's this:

WASHINGTON — Jeb Bush is under growing pressure to acknowledge what to some voters and a number of campaign finance lawyers seems obvious: He is running for president. The lawyers say Mr. Bush, a former Florida governor, is stretching the limits of election law by crisscrossing the country, hiring a political team and raising tens of millions of dollars at fund-raisers, all without declaring — except once, by mistake — that he is a candidate. ... “When you look at the totality of the activities, could a reasonable person conclude anything other than that he is seeking the presidency?” asked Karl J. Sandstrom, a campaign finance lawyer who served on the Federal Election Commission. For a candidate to avoid restrictions by simply not declaring his candidacy, he said, “makes a mockery of the law.” 

See, the thing is, as the article makes clear, were he to declare he couldn't be using superPACs the way he is, couldn't pile on the cash as he's doing. Because it would be illegal. Technically, I guess, he's not quite breaking the law. He's just deliberately flaunting it, unlike his brother who had no problem breaking it like a child's leg.

If it's true that around half the country would align with the R party (only because they have no clue what it really stands for and because they've been Foxified into voting on carefully curried outrage instead of their interests, but still...) you'd think they'd be able to come up with at least one candidate who's not an embarrassment to the human race. You'd think there might be at least one person unwilling to treat the electorate like the idiots they've become, appeal to their once-active higher minds. Really? No one, no where?

Jeb Bush, it turns out, it just a slightly more articulate version of his brother. Amoral. Manipulative. Aim low sort of a guy. What a pathetic assortment of disappointments is the current and potential Republican field of presidential candidates. But the party has no one to blame but itself. It set its course when it pandered to the teabaggers, and has sunk lower and lower ever since. Believe it or not, I feel sorry for the country, which needs two strong opposing but thoughtful parties. We've only had one for quite a while now, and it shows.

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