The Milwaukee Post

8 • Milwaukee Post • July 12, 2013 OPINION A smaller tent "There will never be another Bush in the White House. I will never vote for another (Bush), I did not vote for the first one, I did vote for the second one and I regret it to this day ." So there you have it. That was a response I received from the publisher of a conservative newsletter when I responded to him recently with the sage advice, "Get your people to coalesce around Jeb Bush and do it soon." Upon getting his reply on Jeb and the entire Bush family I offered to speak to his group for a small honorarium with a bodyguard as escort. This fellow is a fine family man and gives much to his community He's just on the very right-leaning end of . the political spectrum. I get the left-leaning missives too, and they all seem to be in lock step for Hillary . Republicans are funny people when it comes to their politics on policy; they generally apply simplistic solutions to complex problems: Cut taxes, build walls, increase defense spending, don't let two same-sex people smooch in public. But on purely political issues, they make things complicated. There is an old dictum about the GOP in elections: "They'd rather win the battle and lose the war." In some respects, as a party, they have devolved to a dwelling place for absurdists. The big tent of the GOP that welcomed moderates is much smaller today They actually call fiscal con. servatives and more socially moderate people RINOs – Republican in Name Only They not only express subtle big. otry toward gays and Hispanics and women; they found a way to openly segregate among themselves. And the folks on the right-sided fringe are already invoking Ronald Reagan's name; is that the broken record the GOP needs to listen to in 2016? First of all, I met Reagan, I liked Reagan, I have an autographed picture of the former president hanging on my wall, and he's dead. While Reagan's words were often appealing to conservatives, he was quick to cut a deal, mend fences and rarely burned bridges. He worked hard to achieve consensus and, as Jeb Bush said a few years ago, probably couldn't get the GOP nomination if he were running today The notion of the . compassionate conservative, the term coined by his brother George, is dead and buried. The FBI will likely find Jimmy Hoffa's grave before that of the compassionate conservative is ever located. This discordant element in the GOP would rename every public school, airport and even the Reuben sandwich after Ronald Reagan. No one knows who Reuben Kulakofsky, the inventor of the sandwich, was and it's about the only thing left to name or rename after our 40th president. The tea party types obfuscate the fact that Ronald Reagan ran on cutting taxes and raised them eight times and that he lobbied for and signed into law the controversial bipartisan tax reform law of '86. But this column is about Jeb Bush, not Ronald Reagan. This could be a race between two iconic political families, the Bushes and the Clintons. Let's be clear, there is no one in the Democratic Party with the political gravitas, network, and experience of running a national presidential campaign who is going to challenge Hillary There is no one . in the GOP who has a similar background to Clinton's who can go toe to toe with Hillary other than Jeb. It would be a grand presidential battle; ideas on policy might be exchanged for once. Jeb Bush is 60 years old and an established politician who remains popular in his home state of Florida, a critical battleground state in the electoral process. He broke with everyone in the establishment of the Florida GOP and endorsed Marco Rubio over the then-leading candidate Charlie Crist in the 2010 U.S. Senate election. Jeb then copiously kicked the hell out of Charlie when he switched par- Readers Forum Previously we asked: , ties to run against Rubio as an independent; my point: Marco waits for a call for vice TODD ROBERT MURPHY president and stays out if Jeb get in. Gov. Scott Walker owes Bush. Jeb was in Wisconsin pounding the pavement for him in 2010 and hanging with him in the recall. U.S. Sen. Rand Paul; Jeb was there early for him too and raised money Congressman Paul Ryan is going to . wait (he can) and build his leadership credentials in the House and keep building a national profile. The right and the right-leaning in the GOP won't ever accept Chris Christie. The New Jersey governor's bromance with Barack Obama, post-Hurricane Sandy, was a little tough to swallow even for the moderate to mainstream members of the Republican Party Let's face it, the stout, tough-talking . governor is really a portly Springsteen groupie and couldn't take a punch from a third-grader. There are some who claim Jeb must overcome the baggage of his brother if he runs. What baggage? It will have been several years since W. held office. The problem isn't the brother or the name; it's personal loyalty to his brother and the family That's respected in most families in . America and in politics. He is no more responsible for defending W.'s presidency than W. was for defending H.W.'s presidency . Jeb Bush has the ability to forge a coalition of moderates, conservatives, and independents if the GOP sets its sights on winning the presidency Ironically, he's one of the . few Republicans on the horizon that could actually forge a coalition of voters, much like Ronald Reagan. By the way, not that it should matter, but it still does, Bush's wife is Hispanic. And el señor Bush habla español and is a strong proponent of an inevitable reform of immigration policy . He's a vocal proponent of a pathway to citizenship and, by the way, is pro-life. A poll that came out a week ago shows Hillary almost a dead-on lock for the Democratic nomination. Come on, we all know the Democrats and the Clintons will screw that up. That same poll shows her favorability numbers are dropping and she hasn't done anything since leaving the Obama administration. Those who are advancing the notion of Bush fatigue are forgetting that, since 1984, the only Republicans to be elected president have had the last name of Bush. Americans are loyal to their brands and the Bush brand, like the Clinton and the Kennedy brand, is in general viewed favorably by most Americans. Jeb Bush has some time to decide. He told us he's waiting until next year. And he appears to be methodically and quietly doing all the right things. True, his mom doesn't want him to run, but my mom can't understand why I get paid to write. Hillary will be tough and he knows it. Jeb Bush is the chairman of the National Constitution Center. This year the Center is presenting the Liberty Medal to Hillary Clinton on Sept. 10. Jeb, as chairman, will make the medal presentation. I'll bet he doesn't just "mail it in." Murph Speak Mise le Meas (Todd Robert Murphy pays attention you can contact him at: toddrobertmurphy@gmail.com.) Milwaukee County has proposed wage requirements for workers at a proposed Innovation Park hotel in Wauwatosa. Good idea or not? You answered: "I am opposed to having the wages set by the Milwaukee County Board for the hotel proposed in Wauwatosa. I believe that the Milwaukee County Board as a whole is anti-business and anti-free markets.They shouldn't have wages prescribed by the county board for the employees who work at the hotel or the contractors who have to set prevailing wage standards for the work being done on the hotel. None of that should be applicable because it is anticapitalist." – Steven Kraeger Milwaukee "The Milwaukee County Board should not try and tell a private business what to pay their employees.The rate of pay should be whatever the going rate is for that job. If they want any more, they can work it out between the employee and the employer." – Mike Guerrero Milwaukee "Why would any corporation expect to stay in business with the major portion of their (personnel) expenses defined by government, who consistently grants outlandish retirement and benefits only government can offer? The Milwaukee County Board has how much of a deficit? The employment is how high in Milwaukee? They can't run government; why do they think they can run or dictate costs for a for-profit enterprise?" – Noah Borkenhagen Franklin Editor's note: County Executive Chris Abele vetoed a measure to require the hotel to pay its employees 125 percent of the annual poverty-level wage. Question of the week What was your reaction to the Archdiocese releasing the priest documents? Call 744-6370, Ext. 15 and leave a brief answer to the Question of the Week along with your full name with spelling, phone number and city. No address is required. Readers may also send an email with a brief answer to: dbutler@conleynet.com.

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