Why Are GOPers Ignoring Jeb Bush’s Awful, Neo-Con Past?

Jeb Bush has been heralded as a moderate Republican, a man that can appeal to the mainstream and centrist, independent voters, reported Salon. However, Bush’s track record illustrates him as anything but moderate.

It was Jeb Bush, and not George W., that was a member of the neo-conservative think tank, the Project for a New American Century (PNAC). If we remember correctly, notable members of PNAC were Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and David Horowitz. Those members were the most instrumental in deceiving the American public into supporting an expensive, drawn-out war.

As Salon’s Heather Parton points out, Jeb “happens to be the only Bush who was a card-carrying member of the PNAC.”

The think tank was created in the late-90s to “promote American global leadership” and create “a Reaganite policy of military strength and moral charity.” In short, that means spreading Democracy to other countries, and 9/11 gave PNAC an path to make itself relevant.

Outside of his political affiliations, Jeb, as Ring of Fire has reported before, fights against a sordid legacy of unremarkable presidencies. Bush Sr. was a one-term Commander-in-Chief, and George W. was a complete farce. Jeb certainly has his work cut out for him.

Unrelated to his resume as a public official, Jeb Bush was also an all-around awful person. In his formative years, Bush was described by classmates as a stoner and a bully. We get that smoking marijuana doesn’t make someone a bad person, but it’s the bully part that’s concerning.

According to former classmates, Bush would intimidate students and would do things like sew the bottoms of peoples’ pants to make them impossible to wear. His academics suffered also.

“[H]is grades were so poor that he was in danger of being expelled,” reported the Boston Globe, “which would have been a huge embarrassment to his father, a member of Congress and of the school’s board of trustees.”

Jeb Bush would be a gross regression. He’s celebrated as the Republican candidate of the future. However, he’s anything but; just more of the same.