Jeb Bush is poised to become the Republican frontrunner in the 2016 presidential elections. However, the former Florida governor has plenty of skeletons in his closet that would still make him an abysmal candidate for the White House in 2016, reported AlterNet.
Most tarnishing to Bush’s past was his association with the Project for the New American Century (PNAC), a think-tank created in 1997 by linchpin Iraq War hawks Robert Kagan and William Kristol. PNAC was created “to promote American global leadership” and to create “a Reaganite policy of military strength and moral charity.” Jeb Bush, Dick Cheney, and Donald Rumsfeld were all members of PNAC.
Considering PNAC’s goals, the Iraq War was prime real estate for the group to wield its influence on President George W. Bush after 9/11. Essentially, PNAC was the brain behind the Iraq War. President Bush was mainly a puppet while the hawks like Cheney, Jeb, Kristol, and Rumsfeld called the shots.
As a result, thousands of our military members died, as well as thousands of Iraqi civilians. That, and trillions of dollars in national debt. PNAC had been trying to influence the White House to act against Saddam Hussein even when Clinton was president. And this is a group with whom Jeb Bush associated. It sounds a lot like a rerun of “Dubya.”
Jeb also belongs to a failed legacy, but everyone already knows that. George H.W. was a one-term president and George W. ran our economy and international reputation into the ground. However, there are some things about Jeb that aren’t so well-known.
As AlterNet points out, Jeb is a Republican that surely preaches smaller government, but has no problem imposing himself, as a government representative, into the private lives of citizens. When the Terri Schiavo controversy was happening in Florida a decade ago, Jeb signed a law that gave him enough power to intervene. However, the Florida Supreme Court struck down that law as unconstitutional.
When the recession struck in 2008, guess who was working as a consultant for Lehman Brothers. That’s right. It was Jeb, who started work there in 2007. When the national housing market took a nosedive, Lehman Brothers had left Floridians on the hook for over $1 billion in bad mortgage investments. However, a spokesperson said Jeb had nothing to do with Florida investments. If only they could provide proof of that.
He’s associated with one of the country’s largest Medicare frauds ever. Jeb was partnered with Miguel Recarey, an executive with International Medical Centers, the company that committed the fraud. After a receiving a federal indictment, Recarey left America after Jeb contacted the Health and Human Services secretary on Recarey’s behalf. Recarey, who was also a mob associate, gave Jeb $75,000 for his help.
Considering Jeb’s checkered past, the new wave of Republicans could likely shy away from him . Ideally, it would be great if all the Republicans smeared and discredited one another out of ever having a chance of winning in 2016. Once the American people see the debacle that is the GOP on a national stage, the Left may have another chance in Washington.
