Welcome to the weekly standard podcast. I'm your host, Michael Graham with this one weekly standard is Michael Warren and I saw you on Fox TV Talk to Michael about the big story that he looks like Jeb Bush is in for 2016 He's in or actually I must correct you. He's got an exploratory committee where he will be exploring the option of running for president Although I don't know if anybody's ever formed an exploratory committee and then to explore the option is decided now I'm not gonna run the president. I think this is pretty much that is known He's gonna be jumping in I guess the first Republican or Democrat to jump in the 26 Yeah, like I said like it's he's in so she pushes in and the question is why where is the clamor for Yet another bush nomination given the Problematic history of bushes in the past problematic perhaps what they're elected president But you do have to go back to 1972 before you can find a successful winning Republican Presidential ticket that doesn't have to be named bush on it.
You know from 1980 while Reagan went to presidency Obviously Jeb spotted George H. W. Bush has you know on the vice presidential side and it's been all Bush's since in terms of Successful guys, okay, let's turn that around wait wait Michael Let's turn that around you have to go all the way back to H. W.
Bush to find a president who had the power of the incumbency who lost the presidency And to finding a president who lost to another guy who didn't even get 40% of the vote is all but impossible in the career And let's not forget that George I wasn't even able to win the popular vote against Al Gore now Tell me you lost the electoral college to Al Gore. I'll buy that but less popular than Al Gore. That's a tough trick to pull I mean it actually I think the Jeb Bush entry into the race sort of opens up a question about how the Republican party The health of the Republican party is I mean if it takes bushes to win in the electoral college and I'll give you the popular boat Bush didn't win in 2000 then if there anybody else who can win for for the Republican party in this era I would actually argue that that all those wins for bushes in the past makes it more difficult for Jeb to win a primary and In a general election in 2016. Let's just say that we've got a another Bush Clinton match up in 16 like we had 1992 I really think the advantages is again on the Clinton side You've got you've got Hillary Clinton who can successfully I think say but you do you really want America to elect another Bush remember Eight years ago what we what we rejected in 2018 if she wasn't being presidential candidate It's gonna be really easy for her to tie Jeb Bush to George W Bush It's gonna be a lot more difficult for Bush to tie Hillary Clinton to Barack Obama Yes, she was a secretary of state, but they don't share the same last name They have some differences and I think if that's what the battle is which bad unpopular president is the other guy most associated with I think the advantage is the Clinton.
I have to apologize Michael Warren I just I didn't hear anything you said after if we do Bush versus Clinton again and I might my Siren went off my head in a wave of nausea passed over Please tell me that in America kind of remind everybody that the last time Hillary Clinton was politically relevant friends Was still on in prime time and the last time Jeb Bush won an election Barack Obama had never been elected to anything outside of a state Legislative office. I mean why don't we just bring back the dole camp ticket while we're at it Michael Something Michael that's very important particularly with Jeb Bush in fact that into the day which is that it's not just that the politics have changed Everything has changed since Jeb Bush was elected in 2002 There was no YouTube at all in 2002 Twitter Facebook that was an example around the internet has completely changed not just our politics But the way in which we communicate with each other and the way that we disseminate information And I think that is a huge hurdle for somebody who wants to run a national campaign There's all these these changes in the Republican Party as well and that has a lot to do with George W Bush has a lot to do with Barack Obama It's just the March of Time changes things and I think that if Jeb Bush is going to be successful in a primary successful in a general election He's really going to have to learn about these changes. It's not enough to acknowledge them They will obviously things are different now than they used to be. I think it's going to take a lot of work It's going to take a lot of understanding where the party is where the electorate is Based on some of his recent statements even talked about running away from the Republican base We don't want to pander these sorts of things.
I don't know if Jeb Bush is quite seeking to do this But he makes quite all of us But this is to me the mystery of Jeb Bush of Jeb Bush had run in 2012 He would have been greeted as a long as a savior a quality candidate showing up in a year without a lot of quality candidates And so it would be the you know the rescue worker kicking in the door You know to save the you know the person in trouble kicking in the door today. He's kicking the door on a party Everyone's happy. We got so much going on with the Republican party. You have lots of young dynamic forward-looking candidates You've got a plethora of great candidates.
Nobody needs Jeb Bush. You want a moderate squish who's going to intentionally appeal away from the base? Great. You got Romney and Christie.
You want someone from Florida. You got Marco Rubio. You want you know a reform guy You got Scott Walker. I mean we just Jeb Bush is a spare tire on a car that's got an extra set of wheels I think there's another important things have changed in our politics such that the barriers to entry for a candidate are not as high as I once Were so Jeb Bush jumping in you know even a decade ago to a presidential race with the money with the donor ties with all the establishment ties That would be I think a really high bar for other candidates to jump in now You know information has been to use a terrible cliche at the mock times in a way that I think it allows other candidates With unique views with different views on policy with younger candidates who have sort of a one-term vision for the party in the country to jump in here But now that's not to say Jeb Bush can't develop that and do that What I'm just saying is the barriers entry for other people to jump in and make those arguments You were just making about the future of the party are much lower And I think that a lot of those candidates are not going to be scared away by the big Jeb Bush splash that we've experienced today You know it almost makes me want Mitt Romney to get back in the race I have this terrified vision of the future where because of their polar opposite strengths We end up with the whole race coming down to Jeb Bush versus Ted Cruz and that would be truly tragic for the Republicans of 2016 No, absolutely I think you can actually see the Jeb Bush world sort of signaling that they view Romney as a real threat Which which tells you a lot of how they view the field at it starting to shape up and they tell us a little bit Why do you have to decide to do an absolute exploratory committee over the weekend political had an article where they had an advisor quoted basically saying Well, yes, Jeb Bush has these investments and he's got money sure but not Mitt Romney rich And I think that they definitely see Bush fulfilling that role that money filled in 2012 as the acceptable moderate the guys who can win a Primary have enough money to win the primary but can also be an acceptable general election candidate But it's conservative very well.
No, that seems to be the mo of a lot of the Democrats within the party and that produced such successful Presidential candidates as Mitt Romney and John McCain and Bob Dole and George Hw Bush in 1992 And I think you're going to see a little more conservative out quite a lot of conservatives looking around saying who do you like? Who is the who is going to be our champion? I don't think that question is going to be settled any time soon. Yeah You hit on something that the Republicans need to remind themselves in my opinion of very often the last Republican candidate to win the popular vote without the benefit of incumbency was Ronald Reagan in 1980 and Ronald Reagan in 1980 was Not the Jeb Bush or the Mitt Romney of 1980.
He was the Rand Paul. He was the outsider the establishment is terrible at picking winning Candidates, they're terrible at it And so I'm just hoping that the party has learned that lesson just put me down Michael Warren I'm a proud Jesse Jackson Republican and as Jesse Jackson said in the 2000 convention stay out the bushes stay out the bushes Maybe Republicans will for once listen to Jesse Jackson take heed But I will say one last thing about Jeb Bush is that he is a very I think nimble political candidate Of course, he walked that election in 1994 to the governor's nation in Florida when George W. Bush won in Texas They write up the opposite would be the case and then four years later He really we made himself and I think I better understand how to win So I will say that with for all the talk we've got about jumping maybe a little out of step He's also I think very good at possibly remaking himself So I'll just work that out there as a kind of everything we talked about and let me conclude with one last grenade because this is the Feedback I'm getting from my tea party folks and people I talk to talk radio Which is if somehow the establishment can make you have the nomination. It's 1992 all over again They're leaving they're gonna go find somebody perhaps a little more attractive than in 1992 with Ross Perot But they're gone.
They're done. They're leaving. Do you think that's a credible threat at this point? You know immigration may very well, you know continue to grow as an issue that conservatives cared out That's something that job isn't just a biometric repose with the base on but we could be talking about national security And if we impal for instance becomes a real threat to remember the other Republican They saw you might be concerned as to a coalesce about around jabber or remember the anti-ran Paul I just wrote out how there's an example I don't know what the issue is gonna be but I think that the sort of lost Perot anti-establishment is still alive and well today So you may very well be right.
Well, I think we should all listen to Barbara Bush Jeb's mom who said that there have been too many bushes in the White House I agree with her completely Barbara, you know, how can you not listen to mom Michael Warren? Thanks for joining us on this podcast. I appreciate it You've been listening to the weekly standard podcast, please be sure to check weekly standard calm regular podcast updates I'm your host Michael Graham