TWO SLATES IN ONE! Past performance is no guarantee of future results:
“Jeb Bush Tries to Appeal to Republicans by Taking Away Food Stamps From Poor People”
—Headline at Slate, January 8th, 2016.
I never expected to like Jeb. Boarding school toff. Political scion. Staunch pro-lifer. NRA favorite. Oh, and ugh, the Terri Schiavo stuff.
Still, I couldn’t help but warm to him as the campaign wore on. And then even pull for him, a little. It was partly the pathos. Jeb felt somehow more human than other candidates. Vulnerable, struggling, unable to conceal flashes of fear and melancholy.
* * * * * * *
It sure felt like a last stand. Not just for Jeb Bush’s campaign, but maybe for Jeb Bush’s basic dignity as a human being. For the tattered legacy of the Bush family. For the remnants of an embattled GOP faction. Even, one might argue, for the quaint notion of civility in public life.
—“Jeb Bush Was Not a Joke — His decency, compassion, and rigor were his downfall. What a shame.” Headline at Slate, Sunday.
And now he’s free to be used as an icon of past Republican decency by leftwing journalists happy to grant Jeb their proverbial “strange new respect,” in order to beat up the current GOP candidates — just like his brother.