.
In the Washington Post, Robert O’Harrow Jr. and Tom Hamburger, “Jeb Bush dogged by decades of questions about business deals“:
…. Today, as he works toward his run at the White House, Bush touts his business experience as a strength that gives him the skills and savvy to serve as the nation’s chief executive. He has said he “worked my tail off” to succeed. As an announced candidate, Bush soon will be making financial disclosures that will reveal recent business successes and show a substantial increase in his wealth since he left office as Florida governor in 2007, individuals close to the candidate told The Post.
But records, lawsuits, interviews and newspaper accounts stretching back more than three decades present a picture of a man who, before he was elected Florida governor in 1998, often benefited from his family connections and repeatedly put himself in situations that raised questions about his judgment and exposed him to reputational risk…
Five of his business associates have been convicted of crimes; one remains an international fugitive on fraud charges. In each case, Bush said he had no knowledge of any wrongdoing and said some of the people he met as a businessman in Florida took advantage of his naiveté.
He has been involved in myriad business ventures dating back to the early 1980s, taking time out to run for governor three times, winning the first of two terms in 1998. He has brokered real estate deals in Florida, arranged bank loans in Venezuela, marketed industrial pumps in Thailand, wholesaled shoes in Panama, promoted a building-materials company to Mexican interests and advised transnational financial services firms. He sat on more than a half dozen corporate boards. Since leaving office in 2007, Bush’s income has soared from speeches, service on corporate boards, consulting and managing investments for others…
At first glance, Jeb Bush’s dual biography as a businessman-politician can be hard to reconcile. Bush the politician presents the image of a man who is appealing, well-disciplined, intelligent and moderate. Bush the businessman has sometimes lent his name and credibility to money-making ventures that involved dubious characters.
He and his friends have explained this seeming incongruity by saying that he has been the victim of people who took advantage of his good nature…
Bush’s business activities and missteps have been widely covered over the years, by the Miami Herald, the St. Petersburg (now Tampa Bay) Times, the Wall Street Journal, Mother Jones magazine and other publications, along with books by political scientists and journalists…
It’s the time-tested Bush Crime Family defense: Is it our fault that something about us makes people want to thrust wads of cash into our pockets? Can you blame us just because we’re too patrician to investigate why that nice man in the tailored mask asked us to hold the door of the public vault open? Isn’t it vaguely un-American to demand that Very Important People such as ourselves account for every grubby little cash transaction, as though we were peasants on an allowance from our betters?…
Or, as Paul Waldman says:
…[H]e did make his money the Bush way: by trading on his family name and the perception that because of who his father was (or later, because of who his brother was), he would have far-reaching influence that could help other people make money…
I’d be interested to hear the conservatives who are outraged by Hillary Clinton making millions in speaking fees explain how this kind of thing is completely different…
And “It’s OK if you’re a Republican” is not a defensible argument.
jl
“Jeb Bush dogged by decades of questions about business deals“:
And dogged by months of flabby inept campaigning. Sounds like a win to me.
Baud
He’ll be an MBA president.
mai naem mobile
I wonder if this is a Koch doc dump /Walker oppo research.
piratedan
It IS completely different because he was making money with and for Republicans, see how different that is from what Hillary was doing?
gogol's wife
Another Stop & Shop anecdote. I was in line behind a man who looked like whatever the Connecticut equivalent of a good ol’ boy is. We both noticed a tabloid headline: “Jeb Bush is a drug dealer!” He said, “His name is Bush. That’s worse.”
Valdivia
The Mexican press has been all over Jeb’s close friendship and (I think) business relationship with Raul Salinas (brother of the former President) who is in jail for stealing millions from the govt and for fraud. Can’t wait for an entrepreneurial journalist to get on it. Maybe Jorge Ramos can.
Here is something from Forbes on this
beltane
@mai naem mobile: Romney’s people are known for this type of thing. If Jeb is damaged beyond hope, it leaves room for another designated driver of the clown car.
Roger Moore
It may not be a defensible argument, but the Republicans have never let that stop them from making it.
Schlemazel
Yeah, this revelation will kill JEB!’s chances, just like they did his brothers. Remember the oils companies that went bust? The theft of land that made his brother a millionaire? Yeah, those destroyed his chance of ever being President . . . I wonder whatever happened to him . . . ?
Valdivia
Wiki tells me Raul Salinas was ‘acquitted‘ after 10 years in jail. Still not a good look that association.
central texas
“And “It’s OK if you’re a Republican” is not a defensible argument.”
It has worked to perfection for more than 40 years. Why stop now?
trollhattan
@Valdivia:
And we know who else is named Raul….
Schlemazel
This really belongs in the thread below but I didn’t make it home from work in time to add it
http://gawker.com/orthodox-jews-invent-uber-for-protesting-gay-pride-1714720843
seems there is a Jewish ‘group’ in NYC that ws unable to protest the pride parade so the di what any clear thinking American would do – they hires some Hispanic day laborers to dress up as them & protest in their place !
Keith G
Happier thoughts:
If I do this correctly, this link will take you to pictures of tonight’s Girl Scout encampment on the White House Lawn.
Edit
BTW Scroll down at that link and see why we all will be buying more GS Cookies next year. I now really love (appropriately) those scouts. Now if the males will only catch up.
Valdivia
@trollhattan: Lol.
@Keith G: I love seeing those tents in the WH lawn. They have really made it the people’s house. So very cool.
gogol's wife
@Keith G:
It’s hardly possible for me to buy more GS cookies than I already do, but maybe I will!
Omnes Omnibus
He gets taken advantage of because of his good nature?
1. Bullshit
2. If true, doesn’t that make him a terrible candidate?
How dumb must you be to offer that as a defense?
gelfling545
Just what we need: a president who can be taken advantage of because of his “good nature” (or is it bad judgment?)
realbtl
@Keith G: I hear ya. My now 30 yo daughter was very involved in GS and I was impressed by the org. As an old Eagle Scout I really wish I could encourage my grandson into Boy Scouts but there is entirely too much christianist BS in that org for me to feel comfortable.
Felonius Monk
@Schlemazel: I saw that article earlier and only skimmed it. I missed the part mentioning the Hispanic day laborers, but thought the guys in the picture were pretty hinky looking bunch for a Jewish protest group.
Amir Khalid
Off topic, but I have a feeling that there won’t be many more Republican presidential candidates fielding questions on Twitter.
Felonius Monk
I sometimes get the impression that Jeb is just going through the motions. His heart really doesn’t seem to be in it.
Roger Moore
@Omnes Omnibus:
That’s about what I said about Chris Christie’s argument that his subordinates had cooked up the bridge closure without his knowledge. Maybe that will be enough to keep him out of jail, but it seems disqualifying for further office. I don’t want somebody whose appointees are going to run wild in charge of the country.
Baud
@Felonius Monk: Same here.
beltane
@Felonius Monk: That’s mainly because Jeb has no heart.
Omnes Omnibus
@Roger Moore: I am inclined toward the bullshit argument in both cases.
Sourmash
It would seem that a naive, vague gentleman who has always Expected to have things handed to him would be known around a place like 1980’s Miami as “the mark”. How often was JEB! played for a fool? “All of ’em, Katie!”
JPL
@Keith G: The weather is going to be iffy. I wonder if they will end up in the White House. Michelle mentioned her limitations and the girls taught her how to tie a square know.
WereBear
How dumb must you be to keep offering that as a defense?
JustRuss
Maybe I’m too picky, but gullible isn’t something I look for in my candidates. Of course, I rarely vote Republican, so….
MattF
The real problem with the Clintons is that they are poor/middle class whites from nowhere. How dare they demand fees for giving speeches! Only the rentier class may do that.
Roger Moore
@realbtl:
I’ve talked to my sister about that because my nephew is in scouting. She said that most of that kind of thing is handled locally, so the individual scout troops vary dramatically. My nephew’s troop, for instance, is perfectly willing to let in atheists even though that’s technically not supposed to happen.
jl
@Roger Moore: Even so, Boy Scouts have gotten kind of creepy. Maybe Girl Scouts could open up a boy auxiliary?
srv
Well, you people didn’t want a successful businessman like Mitt, you can’t complain if the other choices are just like the democratic ones.
raven
Ack, soccer thread!!!!!
Roger Moore
@Omnes Omnibus:
Sure. But even if it’s true, it shouldn’t make anyone happier about voting for either one. Letting your associates do awful things is disqualifying whether it’s because you wanted bad things to happen or because you were to incompetent to stop them.
Bobby Thomson
@Roger Moore: IOKIYAR is a positive (empirical) statement, not a normative one.
Bobby B.
I too have been dogged for decades by questions about my persistent “negative cash flow”.
mclaren
Just for the record, Hillary Clinton’s speaking fees typically get redirected to the Clinton Foundation. Neither Hillary nor Chelsea make a dime from their speaking fees. All the money goes to the Clinton Foundation. A small point, perhaps, since the Clinton Foundation also pays Chelsea and Hillary lucrative sums for their services, but strictly speaking Hillary Clinton does not directly profit from her speaking engagements.
Yes, I know, everyone will be shocked that I’m “defending” Hillary here. We need to be accurate. Facts matter. It’s contrafactual to accuse someone of profiting from speaking fees which they donate to a foundation.
(My own criticisms of Hillary have been more nuanced. Viz., Hillary gave a speech for $240,000 at Goldman Sachs while her daughter was coincidentally married to one of Goldman’s hedge fund managers. And coincidentally Hillary said that “bashing the bankers isn’t helping and has to stop.” That’s a more nuanced criticism. And it’s factually accurate, unlike the incorrect claim that Hillary directly makes money from her speaking fees.)
trollhattan
@jl:
The This American Life piece on the Girl Guides in the Japanese concentration camp last weekend was mind-boggling. Highly recommend the podcast for anyone who didn’t hear it.
A Ghost To Most
@central texas: that may be the sanest thing I have ever heard from central Texas.
Oh, ‘central texas’. Nevermind, welcome.
Villago Delenda Est
He’s a member of America’s most prominent organized crime family.
Amir Khalid
@srv:
Mitt’s successful business makes its money stripping productive companies for parts and pension funds.
beltane
Greece just defaulted on its debt. I didn’t think it would actually happen.
Renie
KlownKar is now a KlownTruck – Chris Christie is in! Him and Trump in a debate, bets on who will be the bigger bully!
beltane
@Renie: They can have a cage match. In Atlantic City!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Oh, Jebbie… you sure you wanna make family members fair game? Including adult children…?
Omnes Omnibus
OT: Bus drivers in Milwaukee are going on strike.
Cervantes
Seventeen words to obscure the plain truth when a mere five might have told it.
The writers and editors ought to be proud of themselves.
Omnes Omnibus
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I’ve always suspected that his daughter’s problems have been a result of being a fundamentally decent person trying to function in that family.
Baud
@beltane:
Link? My twitter is silent.
JPL
Republicans get their news from FOX… All they will hear is that Chelsea received 65,000 for a speakers fee.
Anne, It is okay if you are republican.
beltane
http://www.theguardian.com/business/live/2015/jun/30/greek-debt-crisis-day-of-decision-for-tsipras#block-55931ceee4b07edb74969b01
Sorry, the previous link was earlier in the thread and somewhat misleading. The required payment to the IMF was not made today, official default status comes later. Does the IMF asses late fees?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Omnes Omnibus: I’ve always had a sense that the Shrub’s twins are better than they oughta be, but who knows.
Baud
@beltane:
Thanks.
shell
Good weather for ghost stories. Get out those flash lights!
JPL
So if you google Girl Scouts white house lawn and click news you get 34,000 hits…
Now type in Ben and Jen Affleck divorce and click news, you get 2 million hits..
We live in strange times.
Anne Laurie
@Omnes Omnibus: There’s a family history of substance-abuse issues, going back at least two generations before Dubya’s “young & irresponsible” years. But until recently, family members with “weaknesses” could be quietly written out of the genealogies.
mclaren
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Since Chelsea made nothing from her speaking fees, Bush is lying as usual. Chelsea donated her speaking fees to the Clinton Foundation. Bush keeps all the cash he makes from speaking engagements.
skerry
OT: Check out @MichaelAWoodJr
Retired Baltimore Police Officer, veteran of USMC is tweeting about his experiences on the BPD in an effort to expose police corruption.
jl
@JPL:
Thanks for the heads up on the WH camping trip. That is so cool.
Here’s Why Girl Scouts Are Camping Outside the White House
http://time.com/3942392/white-house-girl-scouts/
Amir Khalid
@JPL:
OH NOES!!1!
chopper
@beltane:
ah, but the IMF is merely calling it ‘in arrears’. can’t have the CDS market flipping out, can we.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Amir Khalid: I blame Obama.
Roger Moore
@JPL:
Teh Ghey is destroying marriage!
JPL
@jl: Keith mentioned it at comment 14. I think Lester Holt is the only one who mentioned it on air though. Really cool!
dogwood
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Bush’s biggest success was marrying a decent woman and raising decent children. His daughter , Barbara, runs a global health non-profit and I believe was an advocate for Obamacare. She also cut ads urging the New York legislature to legalize gay marriage. Jenna seems a bit flakier than her sister, but I do remember she and her sister both say they are neither democrats nor republicans. So I give W credit for helping to raise independent young women.
Omnes Omnibus
@dogwood: ,
To me, that says they vote D, but are too polite so say it in public.
Roger Moore
@dogwood:
If W raised his children well, that’s one point he definitely has over his father.
dogwood
@Omnes Omnibus:
Bingo!
Cervantes
@dogwood:
All true.
And her organization is serious. I know a number of her board-members — excellent people.
WereBear
@Roger Moore: That’s one way of rebelling :)
dogwood
@Roger Moore:
I suspect that any difference between how W was raised and how he raised his kids lies in the difference between Barbara and Laura Bush.
Mike in NC
@Roger Moore: Will go down as a bad move on Ben Affleck’s part, though probably not as bad as being star of the next crappy Batman movie.
dogwood
Ok, I’ll say one more thing about the Bush family. I had a bit of a soft spot for Poppy after I saw an interview with his daughter. She was telling anecdotes and mentioned that her father could never have a conversation with her without inquiring about her car maintenance. And from the time I left for college until the day he died 20 years later every phone conversation I had with my father began with, “How’s that car running?” I never developed the same soft spot for W but I definitely could relate to his response upon leaving for Christmas after the Scotus decision 2000. One of the twins was recovering from surgery, and would be joining them in a few days. This seemed to shock the press and W shrugged it off saying she’d be fine and she better be using her time to clean up her room. My father had two response to my sister and me whenever we complained about any injustice that had been visited upon us – “this wouldn’t happen if you’d clean up your room” or “This wouldn’t happen if you’d help your mom around the house.”
Elizabelle
@Keith G: I love it! Had no idea.
And President and Mrs. Obama came out to do the singalong with the Girl Scouts camping on the White House lawn.
I love them!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@dogwood: I always thought Maureen Dowd was off the rails (that came later) when she wrote about the Bushes as the WASP Corleones, with Barbara as their Luca Brazzi, who divided the world into Peers (the family and James Bakker) and the help (everybody else) till I got a good look at Dubya. That incident on Letterman when he used the producer’s blouse to clean his glasses, that should’ve told us all we needed to know. It’s actually nice to hear the Bush twins are decent people, since George P Bush seems to be carrying on the family tradition of being a bigger asshole than his father.
dogwood
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Maureen Dowd has always been off the rails.
Tyro
@dogwood: I never developed the same soft spot for W but I definitely could relate to his response upon leaving for Christmas after the Scotus decision 2000. One of the twins was recovering from surgery, and would be joining them in a few days. This seemed to shock the press and W shrugged it off saying she’d be fine and she better be using her time to clean up her room.
Really? That whole episode made me think, “Wow. That man is deeply weird.” My sister just got out of surgery, and my parents have spent the last few days helping her out around the house and having some parent/child bonding time.