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Texas Agriculture Commissioner Jim Hightower once famously said of George Bush Sr., "He is a man who was born on third base and thinks he hit a triple."
There has never been a better illustration of that attitude in the Bush family than this verbal slip-up Jeb Bush made in last night's Republican presidential debate, when challenged by Fox News moderator Bret Baier to address "the real concern in this country about dynastic politics":
I've got a record in Florida. I'm proud of my dad, and I'm certainly proud of my brother. In Florida, they called me Jeb, because I earned it.
Jeb is called Jeb because his name is John Ellis Bush, a name given to him by George H. W. and Barbara Bush. He is claiming that he "earned" something that was literally bestowed upon him by his parents. In hindsight, he probably meant to use the "earned" line later in his answer, where he bragged about being known as "Veto Corleone" because of his 2,500 line-item vetoes of spending programs. But intentional or not, it's not a very compelling way to rebut concerns about dynastic politics.More than a bungled answer, this seems to be a genuine blind spot. Just before Nameghazi, Bush contended that he faces "a higher bar" as a presidential aspirant due to his family connections, when the reality — obvious to anyone but a member of his immediate family — is that there's no way an ex-governor who left office in 2007 would be leading in fundraising or endorsements absent a vast political network bequeathed to him by his father and brother. Just ask George Pataki.
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