Thursday, February 19, 2015

MediaFail: Jeb Bush, the Media, and the Public as Dunce by Russ Baker

http://whowhatwhy.org/2015/02/18/mediafail-jeb-bush-media-public-dunce/

... nearly all who get to the top are at the beck and call of others who are wealthier and more powerful. These others consider most “issues” a joke. They don’t care about immigration so long as their plants and mines are adequately staffed—at adequately low wages. Nor do they care about the other hot-button causes that define campaigns and their coverage.
What they care about is simple. They want a Justice Department that won’t consider their behavior criminal. They want a State Department and a Pentagon and a spy establishment looking out for their interests overseas. And they want a Treasury Department and a Fed that will allow them to keep on metaphorically printing their own money.
In this one way, to be sure, these political animals, and their parties, are plenty alike—enough to make us weep for the “two party system” that never was.

Republican Jeb Bush on Foreign Policy Views: ‘I Am My Own Man’
The Next Bush In Line made his first foray into foreign policy with a speech at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. His challenge is to differentiate himself from the legacy of his father and, most importantly, his brother. However, his new catchphrase—“I am my own man”—is belied by the roster of advisers he’s enlisted. Reuters was given a list of 20 “diplomatic and national security veterans” Jeb will lean on in the coming months. It’s populated with familiar names from past Republican administrations. Jeb will consult his dad’s Secretary of State, James Baker; Iraq War architect Paul Wolfowitz; W’s Homeland security chiefs Tom Ridge and Michael Chertoff; White House Iraq groupie Stephen Hadley; and two well-worn CIA directors, Porter Goss and Michael Hayden. The launch of Jeb’s drive for the White House is even being called the “Shock and Awe” campaign. Everything old is new again.

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