The Definition of Insanity...

...is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.

Erick Erickson thinks that, if you want to help restore the Bush name, you should support a Bush election to the Senate from Florida:

For conservatives who are tired of Bushes, the Bushes got into power with a lot of your support. You don’t fix your mistake by running from it. Fix your mistake by fixing it — embrace Jeb Bush and help redeem the image of a party largely hurt by its connection to the wrong Bush. Supporting Jeb Bush does, in fact, help rebuild the brand, and it does so in sharp to his brother.

Jeb Bush may very well become an effective United States Senator from Florida. But short of a subsequent run for the presidency and/or an ascension to a Ted Kennedy-like role in the Senate, nothing Jeb does will in any way atone for or "fix" what his brother did.

The notion that we could somehow repair the damage George W. Bush has done by electing his brother to national office is absurd. And who cares about the Bush "brand?" Oh, boo hoo, the Bush name is tainted now, and that shan't be so, so let's elect Jeb to the Senate. Yeah... thanks, but I'll pass.

Burning for Bush (The Other One)

Peter Robinson reeeeeeeeeeeeeally wants Jeb Bush to run for Senate in Florida:

The first day he walked into the chamber, Bush would already possess a more impressive record of accomplishment--not talk, accomplishment--than all but a few of his new colleagues. For that matter, his record would compare favorably with those of Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and nearly everyone else in Washington, including President Barack Obama.

I get the swipe at Obama, as well as the one at Hillary. But, if you think about it, it's not really fair to compare governors to senators. Seriously. And excuse me but, even if you want to play that little game, how many governors (or former governors) across America have records that compare favorably with Joe Biden?

Um, gee, let me think: no one. The guy's been in the Senate for 35 freaking years, and has built up a resume colored primarily with achievements in foreign policy, not to mention other goodies like the crime bill, as well as an election to the vice presidency. This is not to take anything away from Jeb Bush, who is LEAGUES ahead of his nitwit older brother, but seriously - there's no point in comparing apples to oranges.

"Senator Jeb Bush" would be okay with me if he promised to:

1. change his last name, and
2. promise never ever to run for president, and
3. prohibit George W. from leaving the state of Texas.

Other than that, I think the federal government in this country has had enough of the Bush family for at least a generation. Let George P. run for something in 20 or 30 years. Until then, we're done.

Senator Jeb Bush?

DISCLAIMER: I realize as I type this that I've had a lot of "Senator [Insert Name Here]?" posts lately. Sorry about that, although you've gotta love my consistency.

A great deal of fuss has been made over speculation that former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (yes, the brother of you-know-who) will run for the Sunshine State's open Senate seat in 2010. The conventional wisdom is that the Republicans would obviously just hand him the nomination and he'd be the odds-on favorite to win the seat in the general election.

Am I missing something here? Matt Stoller apparently isn't:

This track record has been compounded by the weirdness of Florida, which is Alabama in the north of the state, Cuba and New York in the south of the state, and the exurbs in the I-4 corridor in the Disney middle. Jeb's conservative politics play well in the north of the state, and have been pretty irrelevant elsewhere. Should he run for Senate, Jeb Bush will have an entirely different experience. If his opponent is Alex Sink, my guess is that he's going to have a really tough time. Sink is a wonderful and highly respected former banker who is now the state's chief financial officer. She's a very very strong opponent, and Bush's background as a semi-corrupt businessman who participated in a scheme to, get this, sell water pumps in Nigeria, will emerge.

Jeb served two terms as governor in Florida and is still very popular there. But there's something else at play here: has anyone caught his last name? This is how it's spelled:

B U S H

...as in, "I share genetic material with the guy who's currently in the Oval Office. Yes, him. The least popular president... um, ever, basically."

Florida's blue right now, it's been red for a while before that, though its Republican governor is pretty much moderate (also probably gay). That makes Florida purple. Can a Bush still win in a purple state, even a popular Bush whose first name isn't George?

I don't know. All I know is, John McCain used to be the most popular politician in America and he lost the modern battlegrounds of not just Florida, but Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Mexico and New Hampshire, not to mention usually Republican states like Colorado and Nevada, and that's before we even talk about always Republican states like Indiana, North Carolina and Virginia (!!!!!).

Obviously, Senate and presidential races are very different, and in 2010 George W. will have been out of power for over a year and a half. But I just don't see the toxicity of the Bush "brand" (like anyone would buy such a thing) dissipating within the near future. Is 2010 too soon? At this stage, I'd bet that it is.

However, there is a George P. Bush (Jeb's son) who is wealthy, smart, well-connected, good-looking and part-Hispanic (his mom's side), so maybe, I dunno, 2024? If the Bushes can wait that long?