MEMO: Jeb Bush Enters Phase Two
Jeb Bush is launching Phase Two of his campaign today and is hoping to overcome what has been an underwhelming start. He’s still the same out-of-touch Republican who’s carrying over his brother’s policies and misrepresenting his record to squeeze it into something that passes for a 2016 winning message. Unfortunately for Jeb, he’s facing the same problems among conservatives in the GOP primary and independents in the general election – nobody thinks he should be president. Maybe Jeb Bush’s campaign slogan should be “Right to Return” – return to his brother’s failed foreign policy and tax cuts for the wealthy. He’s already returned to a spectacularly failed shock and awe strategy. In the last week, Bush has demoted his campaign manager-in-waiting, reminded voters that he would publicly shame unwed mothers, “offered little to differentiate himself from Obama” on his trip to Europe, and sent conflicting signals about whether his super PAC will or won’t raise the $100 million he set as the goal in January. (Not to mention the goal was originally to raise $100 million by March.) Now Jeb is starting his campaign trailing Lord Voldemort and in a virtual tie with Scott Walker, Marco Rubio, and Ben Carson.
NEW VIDEO: Jeb Bush 2016: 'Mission Accomplished'
Jeb Bush botched his campaign for president before it even began. His "plan" to clear the field with outmatched fundraising and…
The Uncompassionate Conservative: Vicious Headlines for Jeb Bush
NEW VIDEO: Marco Rubio's Foreign Policy Flop
Need to know the definition of nation building? Or wondering if you should liquidate your retirement funds? Don't ask Marco…
Shady Ayotte Allies Behind Factually-Challenged Attack on Hassan
Senator Kelly Ayotte is battling trouble on multiple fronts, from her awkward attempts to distance herself from onetime ally Frank Guinta to her experiment in legislation to cover up her anti women's health record and getting busted in a lie about a campaign film crew at a taxpayer-funded event. Now, she's turning to a pair of shady old allies to try and rough up Governor Maggie Hassan with misleading claims about her record. Read more about Ayotte's ties to this shady special interest group in the Bridge Project's Conservative Transparency database:
Impact America Action is a shadowy right-wing organization that first popped up in the 2014 Nebraska gubernatorial election. In that election, the group ran $200,000 in ads against then-candidate Pete Ricketts “for once supporting a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants during his 2006 U.S. Senate race” despite Ricketts’ reversal on that position in 2014, according to the Omaha World-Herald.
Virtually no information is available about the organization, and IAA’s website provides little more than a boilerplate endorsement of “pro-growth solutions.”
AP: Rubio's real estate dealings often a drag on his finances
There's at least one compliment Marco Rubio won't be getting during his campaign: financially savvy. Rubio's financial dealings have been subject to scrutiny lately -- there aren't just skeletons hidden in the closets of his foreclosed house with David Rivera, there are new questions being raised daily. Fueled by his political aspirations, Rubio has been making one "financial mistake" after another, despite earning $4.5 million since his first year in the Florida legislature. This is causing many to ask: if he can't manage his personal budget -- once he became wealthy -- how on earth will he be able to handle America's? From the AP:
Factor in some questionable moves with money and a hefty load of student loans, and it's clear that the Republican presidential candidate's real estate dealings often have been a drag on his finances despite an income most would relish.
Walker Isn't Good at Reading Pulse of the American People: Affordable Care Act Edition
SHOT:
Walker Claimed That “The American People Are Overwhelmingly Demanding” A Repeal Of Obamacare. “After repeal you can have a transition, but you’ve got to take steps to repeal it right away. I think the American people are overwhelmingly demanding it for a variety of reasons.” [Scott Walker, Rick Scott’s Economic Growth Summit, Orlando, FL, 6/2/15; American Bridge Tracking Footage]CHASER:
HEADLINE: "Public to Supreme Court: Don’t gut Obamacare” [Washington Post, 6/8/15]Walker rides his Harley straight into…
. . . an awful week. Scott Walker might ride a motorcycle, but he eats ribs with gloves so he doesn’t get…
NEW VIDEO: Walker's Agenda: Refusing Women's Rights
What does Scott Walker's agenda look like? Defunding Planned Parenthood, which provides preventive services like mammograms. Forcing ultrasounds for women before they…
Rick Perry For President 2: Another Sequel No One Asked For
Are his infamous "hipster" glasses causing Rick Perry to misread the polls, or has he fallen prey to the same affliction as the producers of Grease 2 and Hot Tub Time Machine 2? Today, Perry adds to America's epidemic of sequels no one asked for with the announcement of his second presidential run. Despite his (literally) guns blazing approach, Rick Perry hardly enters the race as a top-tier candidate and will be lucky to even have a chance to remember that third agency at a national debate this round. However, Perry has proved he has a formidable fundraising network and could pose a threat to the multiple candidates hoping to get a monetary bump from their Lone Star State connections.