Jeb Bush's Conflict Of Interest On Immigration
06/13/2012
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Former Florida governor Jeb Bush has been getting a lot of the usual Strange New Respect recently for his calls for the GOP to moderate, especially on immigration. Ross Douthat does a good job of puncturing Jeb's conventional wisdom in "The Great Immigration Reform Mirage."

I'm struck though that almost nobody has mentioned something that ought to be completely obvious about why Jeb Bush isn't an unbiased observer on the subject of immigration: Jeb's handsome son, George P. Bush, long designated within the Bush clan as the most likely third Bush President (George W. called his father "41" and George P. "44"), is half-Mexican. It's in Jeb's interest to increase the Mexican share of the vote so as to make his son a more plausible GOP nominee.

I sort of feel for Jeb, who had his shot at the presidency wrecked by his jag-off older brother, and I suppose it would be consolation for him to have his son be made President by having the government elect a new people. 

Still, I'm struck by how these facts about the Bush Dynasty seem too interesting to be of interest to the press.

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