Think Progress has gathered together a number of facts about Jebbie that paint his as essentially the keeper of the George W. legacy, and an uber conservative to the core.
Here are a few:
He doesn’t recognize exceptions to abortion restrictions. When a severely retarded woman was raped and impregnated while in the care of the state, Bush asked a court to appoint a guardian for the fetus in an effort to block her abortion.
He opposes the expansion of Medicaid in Florida. When current Gov. Rick Scott (R) accepted federal money designated under the Affordable Care Act to expand Medicaid coverage to more low-income residents, Bush said he had doubts about the program because funding will be phased down after three years.
He has worked to suppress voting rights. Florida currently has one of the worst restrictions blocking many convicted felons from voting, even after they are released from prison. In 2000, Bush’s administration also misidentified 12,000 eligible voters, more than 40 percent of which were African American, as convicted voters and purged them from the voting rolls.
He has passed NRA-supported “Stand Your Ground” legislation. In 2005, Bush signed into law the bill which gave Floridians the right to use deadly force when they are in danger in public places, despite opposition from police chiefs in the state’s high crime Miami-Dade and Broward counties. The law famously came into play when George Zimmerman shot and killed unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin.
In 1999, he abolished affirmative-action in higher education and state contracting through a unilateral executive order, triggering widespread protests across the state. His other major education reform, a statewide voucher program that directed taxpayer funds to private schools, was declared in violation of the Florida Constitution.
On national security, Jeb’s doctrine adheres closely to that of his brother George and he believes the U.S. should not back away from engaging allies and enemies around the world.
When it comes to climate change, Jeb Bush claims the “not a scientist” defense. He started using that now-ubiquitous line back in 2009, when he also declared that the climate “may not be warming.”
The "New Coke" version of Bush is going to try very hard to reinvent himself as a moderate, and is going to make distance from both his brother and father when it seems politically necessary to do so.
However Jeb has a record, and it is not one that can be buried under 25,000 e-mails hand picked to put a shine on his reputation.
What I find truly humorous about the idea of Jeb becoming the 2016 GOP candidate is that conservatives have put a lot of stock in an already visible attempt to smear Hillary using Bill Clinton's past sexual peccadilloes against her.
However I am fairly certain that the voters are going to be far less concerned with the husband of one candidate's wandering eye than the brother of the other candidate's past attempts to single-handedly destroy this country.
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