Jeb Bush is undoubtedly running for president and he has said he will not emulate his father George H. W. Bush or Ronald Reagan if he is elected. Per the Miami Herald, via everyone’s favorite political “trickster” and operative, Roger Stone, in a speech before several hundred people at St. Leo University in 2013 he said he would strive to be like: Lyndon B. Johnson!
Bush praised Johnson’s eagerness to get things done and his abrasive attitude he used to make sure they did. He said:
He went and he cajoled, he begged, he threatened, he loved, he hugged, he did what leaders do, which is they personally get engaged to make something happen.
Bush also believes big government is the way to go and if he is the third Bush elected to the White House that will be his agenda. In the same speech Jeb Bush continued to praise the former president by saying he had “strong, practical leadership.”
I am not quite sure if he was referring to the fact Johnson used his reign to greatly expand the welfare system, the fact he was the first president to dip into the Social Security trust funds or the fact he lied to the American people about what was happening in Vietnam. Either way he is seemingly Jeb Bush’s role model.
In recent days Bush has also come out publicly and admitted he smoked marijuana in the past. He said when he was in prep school he drank and smoked marijuana because it was pretty common there. Ironically in a hypocritical move he opposed the push for medical marijuana in Florida last year. Senator Rand Paul noticed that as well and called him out on it. He said:
I think that’s the real hypocrisy, is that people on our side, which included a lot of people who made mistakes growing up, admit their mistakes but now still want to put people in jail for that.
Jeb Bush is not the refreshing breath of fresh air Americans have been looking for. He would be a president who repeats failed policy and one who would use strong arm tactics to get what he wants passed even if the American public does not agree.