Jeb’s chronic familial ‘laws are for the little people’ genetic flaw seems to be acting up, again. (The URL in the post title should end .whod — We Have Ours, Dear — but that’s too subtle for a header.) Ed O’Keefe, reporting in the Washington Post:
Jeb Bush used his private e-mail account as Florida governor to discuss security and military issues such as troop deployments to the Middle East and the protection of nuclear plants, according to a review of publicly released records…
Bush… has sharply criticized likely Democratic front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton for her use of a private e-mail account when she served as secretary of state. He called it “baffling” that Clinton didn’t consider the potential security risks of discussing diplomatic and national security issues by using an e-mail account not tied to a government server.
As governor, Bush used his account, [email protected], to conduct official, political and personal business, ranging from plans to woo new businesses to the state, judicial appointments and military matters, the e-mail records show. His e-mail server was housed at the governor’s office in Tallahassee during his two terms; he took it with him when he left office in 2007.
He later turned over about 280,000 e-mails for state archives under the requirements of Florida records laws, or about half of the total e-mails on the server…
As noted Saturday by the New York Times, the archive process continued until last May, when attorneys for Bush delivered 25,000 additional messages. Aides have defended the pace of Bush’s compliance, saying that it took seven years because of his volume of correspondence…
Bush’s aides have strongly defended the process used to release his messages, noting that other potential GOP presidential candidates haven’t released any e-mails or are having e-mails released only as part of ongoing government investigations. The list includes former Texas govenor Rick Perry; Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal; Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker; and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie…
When Bush published his e-mails in February, aides said many messages would be withheld or redacted to comply with state law barring the release of messages including Social Security numbers, confidential business issues or law enforcement and other security matters. Some of the published e-mails initially included Social Security numbers, forcing Bush’s team to quickly redact them — an early stumble for the governor’s fledgling presidential efforts…
On Friday night, after a meeting with potential supporters, Bush was asked to respond to criticism that he, like Clinton, was allowed to self-select which e-mails should be turned over for archiving.
“I was way too busy to decide,” Bush said…
Somebody explain to me, how did Jeb get his reputation as “the smart Bush brother”?
JCJ
Somebody explain to me, how did Jeb get his reputation as “the smart Bush brother”?
Well, you have to consider the competition.
waspuppet
The soft bigotry of low expectations.
Chris
Erroneously.
Suzanne
So I am in San Antonio for a conference (& +3), and I went to tour the Alamo per y’all’s suggestion, and my mom called me to tell me the cat died while I was getting dropped off at the airport. Aaaarrrrghhhhhhh.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
Weren’t a small boatload of documents produced by his team without redaction of personal information? Or am I confused. I recognize the two are not mutually exclusive.
Woodrowfan
it’s all relative (pun intended, if not unavoidable. The ranking go as follows.
1. Jeb
‘2. The houseplants
3. Neil
4. A box of rocks
5. Dubya
Baud
@Suzanne: That sucks. I’m so sorry.
lamh36
Open Thread, ok…
Had a busy day today. Went to Cheesecake Factory for lunch and dessert, then went Easter dress shopping with Maddie.
Maddie Easter Dresses
Finally got the pictures from her Dance School. My baby is gonna be the next Misty Copeland!
Maddie Dance School
Karen in GA
Graded on a curve.
/SATSQ
@Suzanne: Aw hell, I’m so sorry.
Baud
@lamh36: What a cutie!
Suzanne
@Baud: They buried her and I wasn’t there. This sucks.
She was very old and we don’t think she was I. Any pain. But I hate being away from them right now.
Karen in GA
@lamh36: Adorable!
Woodrowfan
@Suzanne: I’m so sorry. what awful timing…
Baud
@Suzanne: At least you can talk (and even video talk) to them. It’s not the same as being there, but the world has become such a small place in my lifetime.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Suzanne: Sorry to hear about the cat; they leave such big paw prints on our hearts.
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):
Weren’tWasn’t a small boatload of documents produced… I did in fact pass 4th grade grammar, though you’d never know it from that sentence.MomSense
@Suzanne:
Damn. I’m so sorry.
@lamh36:
Perfect fifth position. She’s a cutie!
Gin & Tonic
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): Wasn’t a small boatload of documents produced
Yes, that is true. they just dumped a shitload of stuff without even looking at it, and there were SSN’s, employment histories, all sorts of juicy stuff in there. Fucking morons.
MomSense
No more Bushes.
yodecat
Gods help me. Poppie fathered a bunch of loons. How can one parse relatively looniiness? When is one idiot brighter than another? Seems to me that idiots are in a single class.
I do not think that Hill is ideal, but I’m considering the competition.
I don’t know about you all, but I’m damned tired of having to choose between awful and terrible. Perhaps I’m not a realist.
Whell, that’s just me.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@lamh36: That is one seriously adorable girl – both dresses are lovely. Great dance school pictures!
Suzanne
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): Clarice was my mom’s cat, and when my mom moved in with us last year, I got to have her around again. My mom had adopted her about ten years ago from the Humane Society, and she was a senior kitty even then, so she had a good long life, we think. We all knew it was coming, since she was so old, but she seemed so happy and relatively healthy. Pobre gatita.
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
Well, I was going to write some joke–or rather, I was going to put down a joke that wrote itself–but I see that everybody has already beaten me to it…
Violet
@Suzanne: Oh, no! I’m so sorry to hear that. That sucks. :(
Violet
@lamh36: Totally adorable. She’s so big!
wasabi gasp
Hold the pickles, hold the lettuce, nothingburgers don’t upset us.
beth
Were there any emails released dealing with Terri Schiavo or W’s election? If not then all his official emails haven’t been released and Jeb’s full of shit (but we already knew that).
satby
@Suzanne: That stinks! So sorry Suzanne! Even when they’re old and it’s their time, it’s not easy.
Tenar Darell
@lamh36: What a cutie pie.
Violet
@Suzanne: Was this the kitty that drank the paint water? I remember you talking about that a year or two ago.
satby
@lamh36: adorable!
beth
@lamh36: What a doll! I always kind of dreaded the dance school photos – my daughter took a lot of classes with many different costumes. Of course you have to buy photos of them all and before you know it you’re dropping some big coin on them. I do love pulling them out and looking at them now that she’s all grown up.
Suzanne
@Violet: No, this was not the kitty who drank the paint water. This was our beautiful Snowshoe kitty. :( I am sad.
Tree With Water
“I was way too busy to decide,” Bush said.
Too busy? Isn’t that like qualification numero uno according to his own brother, The Great Deciderer? That there’s no such thing as being “too busy to decide” for a POTUS…
Another Holocene Human
If Hilary Emailgate is a JEB! operation then he’s doing it wrong OR he just expects GOP voters not to look any deeper, probably the latter.
The way JEB retained and then dumped his emails (but only some of them!) is totally in violation of the Florida Constitution and state statutes but, you know, whatever. Bushes go to rehab, not to jail.
Another Holocene Human
@beth: Lehman. Brothers.
Another Holocene Human
@Gin & Tonic:
That’s YOUR peon SSN’s and personal information, totes not important. JEB! VIP dealings with his cronies, donors, and GOP operatives have still been redacted out, so there.
El Caganer
I never thought Dubyuh was dumb; I think he’s much worse than that – he’s lazy, incurious, and proudly ignorant. You can be one of the duller knives in the drawer and still do a decent job of presidentin’ if you pay attention. Dubyuh lacked interest in anything that wasn’t entertaining. He liked to put on a show: “Mission Accomplished” being the finest example. When it came to actual thinking about policy, he was happy to let Dick do that and then he could come in at the end and do that decideralizeraming stuff. As far as actual mental abilities, I think he’s at least average and maybe somewhat higher.
NotMax
Remembers to chew his pretzels.
Almost always.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
looks like Obama is having some fun at the Gridiron dinner
Yatsuno
@Suzanne: *hug* I’m sorry hon.
debbie
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Zinga! I can’t wait till Monday morning for all the blowback!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Gridiiron jokes:
Gex
@Suzanne: I’m so sorry to hear the news. Love and hugs.
Chris
@El Caganer:
I have to agree with this. I have no idea what his actual mental abilities were, but the main problem is that he never had any interest in exercising them anyway.
It’s a “proudly ignorant” strain that runs through the entire Republican Party.
divF
@lamh36: Gorgeous. Treasure these moments, time goes by quicker than you think.
gf120581
I’ve always thought that Dubya was ignorant, not stupid as well. Even worse, he’s PROUDLY ignorant. He don’t need no book learning, he’s got that vaunted “gut” of his. (How much damage has been done to the world because of that fucking midsection of his?)
Jeb being the “smart” brother, however, I think comes largely because he was the “good” son, the one who did what Daddy wanted, hit the books in college and kept his head down being all respectable while his younger brother tanked S&Ls and his older brother was the coke-snorting, binge-drinking, business-trashing fuckup. When you’re up against competition like that, you’re going to look great.
Personally, I think Marvin’s the smart one. He knew to lead a quite life out of the spotlight.
Violet
Anyone else wonder if John Cole is going to shut down Balloon-Juice? He seems pretty removed from it these days.
Ruckus
@Violet:
With good help the boss doesn’t have to get his hands dirty all the time.
Violet
@efgoldman: He’s tweeting pretty regularly, including quite a bit today, so he’s not unable to type things. Or use voice recognition software. The blog is going along but it’s not the same place it was. Nights are a lot slower than they used to be.
Suzanne
Thanks, y’all. It is nice to have a place where people understand the absurd joy our pets bring, and how much it hurts when they go.
Violet
@Ruckus: Yeah, but when the boss is more interested in whatever his side projects are his work suffers.
rikyrah
Just because Jeb did it, doesn’t mean that it was right for Hillary to do it.
Jeb being the smart one….always made me shake my head.
srv
@Violet: Sober doesn’t make for good blogging here.
Who would want to blog about Jeb if he runs, it’s going to be 18 months of inevitable.
Morzer
@Violet:
Just mention Hillary Clinton in almost favorable terms and he’ll reappear to write five or six posts insisting that “she was asking for it” when the press and the GOP rig up some nonsensical pseudo-scandal. Of course, when it comes to:
there’ll be a tranquil silence or one shoulder-shrugging post.
Violet
@srv: I hope the Republican clown car at least provides some entertainment.
gf120581
@efgoldman: It’s always helpfull. :)
To Marvin’s credit, though, he hasn’t launched any pointless wars or lost millions of folks’ savings. Small accomplishment, yes, but when you’re part of that family, take what you can get.
rikyrah
@Suzanne:
Sorry Suzanne for your loss.
max
@Violet: I hope the Republican clown car at least provides some entertainment.
Unfortunately, it seems unlikely. Too much inevitability.
max
[‘This 9-5 blogging thing is pretty weird, now that you mention it.’]
Alex
This is a good example of why it’s so difficult for politicians to attack Hillary about the email issue — every single one of them has a personal account that they also use for official business. It’s even worse for Congress, where there is no FOIA requirement and no recommendation or requirement to have a government email address.
I still think Hillary made a mistake and should have had two email accounts… but the only group of people who are really going to go after her for it are the media.
Roger Moore
@efgoldman:
And trying to foster two puppies and their mom.
srv
Will you people send $300 for Minister Creflo Dollar’s Project G650?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Twitter exchange:
yodecat
@Violet: I hope not.
BubbaDave
@Suzanne:
So sorry. It would suck even if you were there, but it’s even harder alone.
yodecat
@efgoldman: For what it’s worth, I suffered under D-bubs rule for years. I’m here to tell you that he’s as dumb as a sack full of rocks. So to speak.
different-church-lady
This is great news for Ralph Nader.
Violet
@Roger Moore: Like I said above, he’s been on Twitter all day so he’s able to do that. Maybe anything over 140 characters is too much. Which is why I wondered if he’s going to leave the blog behind. Seems like other high profile bloggers have done that.
Violet
Love this DougJ tweet:
Grumpy Code Monkey
Well it sure as hell wasn’t going to be Neil.
Redshift
@Violet: And how many of them have shut down multi-person blogs as a result, other than Sully?
Don’t borrow trouble.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Violet: I think we’re gonna see a lot of that over the next year and half
Anne Laurie
@Suzanne:
I’m so sorry, Suzanne. There’s never a good time to lose a member of your household, but it’s especially hard when it’s so sudden — especially if you can’t be there.
Anne Laurie
@gf120581:
Yes, but that seems to be closely related to the fact that he lacks a big chunk of the famous Bush “gut”… literally.
I hate to sound like I’m attacking someone for a chronic illness, but it’s part of the Bush family legend that Marvin’s chronic colitis made him “ineligible” for the business of politics. Back when Bar was in the White House, there were some fairly icky interviews where she talked about how George was “her” son, and therefore guaranteed a Seat of Honor, and Jeb was the old man’s favorite, which would stand him in good order, but Neil was dyslexic and poor Marvin, tsk tsk…
Never could understand how Mrs. Bush managed to be considered a good mother, even in comparison (and those comparisons were rampant, back in the day) to Nancy Reagan!
SWMBO
@Suzanne: It’s hard to see them go, even when you know it’s close. So sorry to hear this. I hope your mom and spawns are doing ok. Hard as it is being away from it, it must be just as hard for them with you far away. Take care of each other, even over the distance and don’t be hard on yourself for the timing…
Hal
I see Maureen Dowd is still obsessed with the Clintons. If HRC becomes President, she’ll be set for another 4 to 8 years with her column.
And, Senate Republicans are finally getting to important work:
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/235739-senate-panel-reportedly-probing-anti-netanyahu-funding
Oh noes! Obummer must be behind this. It all makes sense now. Luckily Ted Cruz is on the case!
SWMBO
@Anne Laurie: They had two daughters as well. One died of childhood leukemia. Dorothy was the youngest and is married to a Koch. Probably not one of THE Kochs because he’s a Democrat. Doro doesn’t seem to rate much attention does she?
cckids
@Hal:
Ho-lee f*ck. After spending ?? years bitching about the non-issue of the IRS going after TeaPublican’s 501(c)’s , when in reality they were NOTHING BUT electioneering organizations, they have some nerve. There is no depth of hypocrisy they cannot crawl under.
Yatsuno
@efgoldman: The division that runs that is tiny, underfunded, and horrifically overwhelmed thanks to the wingnuts insisting their little political activities are 501(c)(3) organisations. I’d be just fine eliminating that as a tax option period but good luck getting that through this Congress.
Mary G
@lamh36: She is full of personality, along with the beautiful face and smile.
@Suzanne: Sorry to your mom and family for the loss of the kittie. I bet you wish you could give the spawn hugs in person.
Gvg
Florida has very serious open records laws. emails must be retained. Meetings have to be published. Politicians can go to jail for secret meetings. Jen was definitely not following the law. the Federal government could never function under our open records laws because of foreign policy and frankly the needs to spy. there was a noticible fuss when Jeb ran off with his emails here but probably the national media didn’t notice then nor understand our specific laws.
the laws are decades old and date from a period of more significant corruption.
Montarvillois
“Smart brother”, easy, look at who he’s being compared with.
bemused
@Hal:
otoh, an investigation of Emergency Committee for Israel has a snowball chance in hell of happening.
Joey Maloney
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): No, “weren’t” is ok in that construction, as the subjunctive voice, I believe.
Suzanne, I’m very sorry to hear about your cat. When I was married we had a run of bad luck (besides being married, I mean) where we had three cats die at the vet when we couldn’t be with them. I’m not that sentimental but I hated to think of them spending their last hours in a strange place without any of their familiar staff around them.
Zinsky
God, I dread the 2016 presidential campaign!!
Joey Maloney
Jeb: dumb as a bag of hammers.
Gee Dub: dumb as a bag of hammers with all the smart hammers taken out.
Germy Shoemangler
@Zinsky: Meanwhile, far from the television lights, Robby Mook, the 35-year-old who is likely to manage Mrs. Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, kept his head down and worked the phones from his standing desk to build a field operation in Iowa, set up technology to collect data to target voters and hire a campaign staff in a handful of key states. Mr. Mook was 12 and auditioning for school plays in Vermont when Bill Clinton was first elected president. He was a popular high school freshman when Kenneth W. Starr investigated Whitewater.
Germy Shoemangler
But I see Joel Benenson is on Hillary’s campaign as well. He was with Obama in 2008 & 2012.
aimai
@lamh36: Reminds me of my favorite picture of my youngest daughter: she was a “rock and roll teddy bear” in her tap school. Those pictures are the best.
debbie
@Hal:
Nothing more democratic than destroying all dissent.
I hope to wake up on Wednesday to very good news.
RSA
@Gvg:
I see what you did there.
Josie
@Suzanne: So sorry for your loss. Hugs to you and your family.
WereBear
It’s been my observation, and I’m backed up by numerous memoirs over the years, that the very rich treat daughters as eggs that didn’t hatch right. Princesses, sure, and they often have Daddy’s ear and wallet.
But they aren’t fully human, they aren’t dynastic levers except through marriage, and as for their own ambitions and talents and careers… surely you jest! On this level, they are decorative and do charity things.
Period.
WereBear
@Suzanne: It’s lousy timing, but she went quickly after a long life. I hope that’s a bit of comfort.
Iowa Old Lady
@Suzanne: I’m so sorry for your loss.
Zinsky
@Germy Shoemangler: Thanks…I think. If you were trying to make me not look forward to the 2016 presidential campaign with trepidation, I’m not sure it is much help, however. This is going to be so painful to have to go through 18 months of allegations, slimy whispers, insinuations and outright lies, smears and dirty tricks. I kept newspaper clippings of all the right-wing attacks against Bill and Hillary during the 1990s, with the intention of writing a book, and they filled a four drawer filing cabinet! It was so depressing to re-read them in the 2000s that I just couldn’t bring myself to finish the book.
Germy Shoemangler
@Zinsky: Robby Mook worked on Howard Dean’s campaign, which quite frankly worries me. Joel Benenson at least has some experience with both winning campaigns of Obama. I’ve said before, I’m not counting unhatched chickens.
I would not be a bit surprised to see the repugs take the whole enchilada. Because more people half-listen to meet the press or abc evening news than read this blog or Charles Pierce.
I’m trying to stay optimistic.
bcinaz
Any guesses where Scott Walker is hiding his server and how many of his emails will be available?
Teachers and unions in general should be using FOIA right now to get access. Walkers private records made public would probably torpedo his campaign a year before the IA Caucuses.
Suzanne
@WereBear: Thanks, y’all. I miss her, but I’m feeling less raw about it today, since we gave her a great second act. My mom adopted her as a senior kitty about ten years ago, and she got to live out her days in comfort and love and peace. She passed away outside on our screened deck in beautiful weather with the smell of orange blossoms in the breeze. So I feel like we did right by her.
Elie
@Suzanne:
So sorry for the loss of your kitty! Hang in there….
Elie
@lamh36:
Darling!
gene108
@bcinaz:
Walker seems like a true believer of movement conservatism.
47% of the electorate will vote for him, no matter what and/or with admiring approval.
Unless a right-winger agrees to do something responsible, like say fund the Highway Trustfund, there’s nothing they can do to sink their campaigns, whether it’s bang hookers or murder babies on live T.V. and drink their blood.
Frankensteinbeck
@gene108:
The modern conservative ethos is built on hate, and especially a race war in which they feel they are on the brink of annihilation. No, they really don’t care if their politicians are corrupt, stupid, or evil. Only that they fight to the last gasp to stop the liberals and negros.
Tree With Water
@Violet: I’ll argue the lions share of national support Hillary enjoys among democrats is a result of the unhinged attacks on her, and not the consequence of any substantive contributions made by her to the well being of the democratic rank and file.
JustRuss
I have to say “[email protected]” is a pretty awesome email address. That may be the only kind thing I ever say about jeb(!).
Tree With Water
@JustRuss: Maybe that’s your cue. After all, why be known as “Just Russ”, when you can be known (and remembered!) as Just Russ!
Bonnie
Didn’t Edward Snowden prove the Government is not as secure as once thought?
Tree With Water
Cruz Is A Schmuck (posted today at Raw Story):
Tampa Bay Times political editor Adam Smith noted on Twitter that Cruz had to pause his speech to respond to a little girl in the audience who was young enough to be carried by her mother.
“Ted Cruz literally just scared a little girl in NH,” Smith wrote. “‘The world is on fire?!’ she asked, repeating his line on Obama-Clinton foreign policy.”
“The world is on fire,” Cruz replied, turning to face the girl and her mother. “Yes! Your world is on fire!”
Realizing that his rhetoric might have gone too far, the Texas Republican decided to do some damage control.
“But you know what?” he asked. “Your mommy is here and everyone is here to make sure that the world you grow up in is even better.”