2016 Feb 6^th

Mona Charen has an “open letter to Jeb  Bush” in her column this morning. In it she advises Bush to drop out of the race for President, the reason she gives is that he can’t possibly win. She points out that he spent 15 million in Iowa to come in sixth. She also points out that there has never been a third President from the same family. She tells him that he is a fine conservative and was a good conservative governor of Florida, but that he has been an awfully dull candidate. She says that, “One senses that you find Donald Trump’s conduct disgusting and even a little bewildering. Good for you. It is.”

Then we begin to approach the real issue here and it’s not Charen’s concern for Jeb Bush. She begins to berate Jeb for not directing his negative ads against Donald Trump but instead directing them against Marco Rubio. She rails about Bush’s negative Rubio ads. “Your ads have been embarrassing. You’ve dredged up long since debunked stories about credit cards…missed votes in the Senate. Really? Is that all you’ve got? …attacking Rubio for taking the same position you took on illegal immigration.” Now the subtext of Charen’s column becomes clear. She has attached herself to Marco Rubio whose star is ascending and she doesn’t want Bush’s waning moon to obscure it. (Is that an overdrawn metaphor or what?)

Rick Santorum dropped out of the Republican race for President and threw his support to Marco Rubio. Rubio would have been much better off if Santorum had thrown something else at him. Santorum was on “Morning Joe” soon after that and Joe asked him what accomplishments Rubio had produced in his Senate career that occasioned Santorum’s support. Oh dear! Santorum couldn’t come up with any, not one. Santorum blamed this on the Democrats’ control of Congress during Rubio’s first two Senate years but then Republicans have been in control now for well over a year so that excuse didn’t work. In fact no legislator can point to any accomplishment except for the Speaker, Paul Ryan, who got together enough votes to pass a budget and forestall a government shutdown that, had it happened, would again be blamed on Republicans. That’s not seen as an accomplishment by many conservatives who wanted exactly that outcome.

In her peroration Charen gets down to her real plea to Jeb: “If you were to drop out and endorse Rubio, or at least call off the attack dogs,…it would be a gracious and inspiring gesture. It would be a different way to serve your country”. (It looks like these attacks on Rubio are beginning to worry some of his supporters.) Charen’s concern for Jeb’s legacy sounds so heartwarming…as long as you don’t realize just how cynical she is.