Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush has suffered a series of embarrassing setbacks in his bid to add a third Bush presidency to the family tree.
Poor debate performances and unforced errors have brought deep anguish to the former governor in all-important presidential polls, critically vital to replenishing campaign coffers with cash from well-heeled donors and with spiritual momentum from grass roots supporters.
Bush’s reverse momentum caused the candidate to take dramatic steps to revive his diminishing prospects for conquering 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue: Employee salaries were slashed along with other administrative moves designed to stem the tide of despair.
In addition, Jeb coined a new slogan—Jeb can Fix It—to take advantage of his executive experience and leadership skills during his two-term stint as governor of Florida.
Alas, as reported at the reference, the new slogan has failed to put the brakes on Jeb’s fall from grace:
Jeb Bush's support among Republicans nationally has plummeted to the low single digits in the latest Quinnipiac University survey released Wednesday, as the former Florida governor's campaign seeks to hit refresh with its "Jeb Can Fix It" tour.
Donald Trump and Ben Carson, meanwhile, continued to lead the field, with Carson outperforming Hillary Clinton in a hypothetical general-election matchup.
In the latest poll, conducted after last week's third GOP debate in which Bush delivered a mediocre performance, just 4 percent of Republican and independent Republican-leaning voters said they would support Bush in their state's primary. In the September survey, Bush earned 10 percent, trailing Trump, Carson and Carly Fiorina. And in terms of favorability, no one polled lower than Bush, at a net-negative of 33 points. Just 25 percent of all registered voters surveyed said they had a positive opinion of him, while 58 percent said they had a negative one.
For its part, the Bush campaign has tried to manage expectations among the media.
"FYI political press corps. Jeb's going to have a few weeks of bad polls," campaign communications director Tim Miller tweeted Monday. "Comebacks take time, we recognize and are prepared for that."
At this point, Jeb can only pray and hope that his decline into campaign hell lasts only “a few weeks,” and involves only bad polls.
Indeed, unless Jeb reverses the current downward trend, and soon, withdrawing from the race may be the only viable option left to “fix” this campaign disaster!
John W. Lillpop
San Jose, California
John W. Lillpop is a recovering liberal. “Clean and sober” since 1992 when last he voted for a Democrat. For years, John lived in the San Francisco Bay Area, the very liberal sanctuary city which protects, rather than prosecutes, certain favored criminals. John escaped the Bay Area in May and now lives in Pine Grove California where conservative values are still in vogue.
