Jeb Bush is just George W. Bush as seen from a different angle.

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.

Jeb Bush officially throws his hat into the presidential ring for 2016.

I am excited to announce I will actively explore the possibility of running for President of the United States: https://t.co/luY4lCF2cA.
— Jeb Bush (@JebBush) December 16, 2014

Not that this is a surprise, but now there is not longer any remaining doubt.

I actually think that this will do for the Republican field, essentially what having Hillary contemplating a run has done to the Democratic field.

I'm not saying that Scott Walker, Rick Perry, Rand Paul, and Chris Christie will not necessarily run, I am just saying that they will have little chance of beating Jeb. And he will for all intents and purposes draw the majority of media attention.

And let me just add at this point that the Democrats have no choice but to rally behind Hillary at this point. Because like it or not she has the very best chance of beating Bush in the general.

Just in case you harbored any doubts that Jeb Bush was running for President.

Courtesy of Politico: 

Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor who is considering a run for president, said in an interview aired this weekend that he’s going to release about 250,000 emails from his time in office. 

The move seems designed to get ahead of opposition researchers poring through his time in office — the Democratic research super PAC American Bridge already has started digging in on the candidates — but also to contrast Bush with people like New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, both of whom have been accused of creating a fog of secrecy in their government offices.  

Unlike the records of Christie and Clinton, Bush’s document trove is fairly dated — he was in office from 1999 to 2007. But the idea, he told WPLG-TV in Miami, is to create “transparency.” Bush was known as an active emailer while in office, often responding to queries himself.

Old Jebby is also writing an ebook. (Can't get an actual publisher?)

So yeah, I think we can all assume that Jeb is definitely throwing his hat into the ring.

George W. Bush on his brother's chances against Hillary in 2016: "I think he'd beat her."

Courtesy of HuffPo:  

George W. Bush says that he badly wants his brother Jeb to run for president -- and that if he were to face off against Hillary Clinton, he would "absolutely" beat her in a 2016 matchup. 

"He knows I want him to run," the former president told Candy Crowley on CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday. "If I need to reiterate it, I will: Run, Jeb. I think he'd be a great president." 

Asked if he considered Clinton to be "formidable," Bush said, "Very much so. No question. So is he, though. 

"I think he'd beat her," he said.

I have a policy against ever agreeing with Bush on anything, but I think he is not to far off here.

While I don't necessarily think that Jeb could beat Hillary for the presidency, I will say that he has the best chance hands down of doing so.

If he runs, and it really looks like he will, 2016 is going to be an incredibly ugly campaign season.

Probably even worse than what we saw done against Obama this last time around.

The thing to remind everybody about is that Jeb helped to steal the election for "W" in 2000, and his brother then damn near destroyed the country. All of the problems that this country has faced in the last fourteen years, that the Republicans keep trying to blame on President Obama, are the the fault of George W. Bush. And by extension the brother who handed Florida to him on a plate.

That simply CANNOT be stressed enough.

I think we are already seeing strong evidence to suggest who will be the contenders in 2016.

Courtesy of TPM:

 Hillary Clinton has recently met with two of the names most frequently floated to be her campaign manager in 2016, should she choose to run, Politico reported Thursday. 

She met Wednesday with Guy Cecil, who oversaw the national Democratic Senate campaign arm during the 2014 election, according to Politico's sources. Clinton has also met with Robby Mook, who ran Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe's 2013 campaign, though Politico could not secure firmer details of the meeting.

No surprise here, I think we all know this is a given at this point. 

But then check this out, also courtesy of TPM: 

Republican operatives in New Hampshire have told Real Clear Politics that they've been contacted by a Jeb Bush confidant about running his operation in the state for a 2016 presidential campaign. 

The unnamed GOP strategists told the news outlet that they had been told to "keep your powder dry" by those close to Bush. 

"I think the decision’s been made, personally,” one of the strategists said. Another added: “I’ve definitely perceived an uptick in the perception of him doing this."

Yeah I tend to think the decision has been made as well. 

In fact Bush said publicly that he was thinking of running, and let's face it you don't really say that in front of an audience unless you are convinced you are going to run.

And if he runs my friends, and I know that many of you don't want to hear this, he will more than likely win his nomination. And, your going to hate this part, he actually has the best chance against Hillary of ANY OTHER Republican candidate.

As much as people say they hate the idea of political dynasties there is a lot to be said for name recognition.

So in my opinion, barring some unforeseen event that derails one or both of these candidates, I think that image above represents the 2016 presidential campaign.

Conservative groups band together to block nomination of Jeb Bush.

Courtesy of the Washington Examiner:  

Conservative leaders who had a hand in key Republican victories including Ronald Reagan’s presidency, the Contract with America and the birth of the Tea Party, are ganging up to oppose a Jeb Bush presidential bid, declaring him easier to beat than Bob Dole or John McCain. 

“I don’t know of any conservatives who are supporting him,” said Richard Viguerie, chairman of ConservativeHQ.com. 

“Jeb is a very good moderate Democrat,” added top-rated talk radio host Mark Levin. “He's very boring. He doesn't elicit excitement and energy outside a very small circle of wealthy corporatists and GOP Beltway operatives. Time to move on.”

Wow! Easier to beat than Bob Dole! That is some nasty backstabbing right there my friends.

Okay now do you want to know what measuring tool they are using to judge Jeb's suitability to be President?

The Reagan-ometer that's what: 

“The objection so many Reaganites have to another Bush is because he is another Bush,” said Reagan biographer Craig Shirley. “He, too, has an alarming belief in centralized authority. From the standpoint of history, the Bush family got their start in 1980 opposing Reagan and Reaganism, as they continue to do today.”

Of course as most of us realize even Ronald Reagan could not measure up to the Conservatives deified version of his memory.

And who do these conservative leaders want instead of the easily defeated Jeb Bush? Well I thought you'd never ask:

“We just don’t trust him,” said Viguerie, who favors Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence and Sens. Rand Paul and Ted Cruz.

Oh yeah, thinking that Ted Cruz, Scott Walker, or Rand Paul are more electable than Jeb Bush.

Just things  batshit crazy conservatives do.

Jeb Bush's son says that it is more than likely that his dad will run in 2016. Oh joy.

I'm baaack.

Courtesy of CBC News:  

Jeb Bush's son said it's "more than likely" his dad will run for president in 2016 in an interview that aired Sunday. 

George P. Bush, Jeb Bush's eldest son, was interviewed by ABC News. The younger Bush is knee-deep in his own campaign this year, running for Texas land commissioner. 

ABC's Jon Karl asked Bush whether his father is running for president. 

"I think he's still assessing it," Bush said, offering the same demurral his father and other members of his family have given in recent months. 

When Karl pressed Bush to offer a specific probability, Bush said, "It's more than likely that he's giving this a serious thought...and moving forward." 

"More than likely that he'll run?" Karl asked. 

"That he'll run," Bush responded. "If you had asked me a few years back, I would have said it was less likely." He added that if his father does decide to run, "The family will be behind him 100 percent."

Well since you would have had to have been in a coma the last two years not to realize that Hillary Clinton is also running in 2016, that means, if Jeb's son is accurate, that 2016 will be the battle of the presidential dynasties.

As much as we may all want newer blood in the White House the fact is that we are going to be witnessing yet another clash of the titans.

And lucky us we will all get to watch the past scandals of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush dredged up and splattered across our TV and computer screens for probably several months or more.

Personally I think in this day and age that hearing the conservatives trying to use Bill's sexcapades with Monica Lewsinky to hijack the "War on Women" and use it against the Democrats, will have a significantly smaller impact than seeing all of George Bush's lies and manipulations that he used to get us into two unnecessary wars trotted out for the voters to revisit.

But of course I am a Liberal and I would not vote for another Bush even under threat of torture. Which is ANOTHER thing Americans did under a Bush administration.