Bush:
Today, the sad reality is that if you're born poor, if your parents didn’t go to college, if you don’t know your father, if English isn't spoken at home—then the odds are stacked against you. You are more likely to stay poor today than at any other time since World War II.
Conservatives have allowed liberals to channel the anger and frustration that comes from this oppressive dynamic to attack the very idea of success itself. In their view, anyone who has climbed to the top 1% has committed some form of gross social breach and deserves scorn. This is enormously shortsighted. In a fair capitalist system, financial success should be the byproduct of innovation and achievement.
The central mission of conservatives is to reignite social mobility in this country—restoring the right to rise.
Jeb Bush CPAC Speech Says GOP Must Stop Being “Anti Everything” Party. By Jon Ward. The Huffington Post, March 15, 2013.
Ward, with quotes from Bush CPAC speech:
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush beseeched a gathering of conservatives in remarkably frank terms on Friday night to change the course of the Republican Party and to become a more diverse, welcoming and understanding party to minorities and low-income Americans.
Bush, speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference annual dinner, made the heart of his speech a call to the GOP to “learn from past mistakes.” He made his case in some of the bluntest language he has used.
“All too often we’re associated with being ‘anti’ everything,” Bush said. “Way too many people believe Republicans are anti-immigrant, anti-woman, anti-science, anti-gay, anti-worker, and the list goes on and on and on. Many voters are simply unwilling to choose our candidates even though they share our core beliefs, because those voters feel unloved, unwanted and unwelcome in our party.”
And Bush also threw cold water in the face of conservatives who espouse a strict up-by-the-bootstraps doctrine of individual responsibility, and who ascribe failure only to personal failure. Life, he said, is increasingly more difficult for those who aren’t born with built-in advantages.
“It is not a validation of our conservative principles if we can only point to the increasingly rare individual who overcomes adversity and succeeds in America,” Bush said. “Here’s reality: if you’re fortunate enough to count yourself among the privileged, much of the rest of the nation is drowning.
“In our country today, if you’re born poor, if your parents didn’t go to college, if you don’t know your father, if English isn’t spoken at home, then the odds are stacked against you. You are more likely to stay poor today than at any other time since World War II,” he said.
Bush lamented that liberals have “channeled the anger and frustration that comes from this oppressive dynamic and used it as an opportunity to attack the very idea of success itself,” and argued that conservatism holds out the best path upward for those without power or means.
“Conservative principles, and not liberal dogma, best reflect the ideals that made this nation great,” he said.
But he faulted the GOP for not caring about large swaths of the country, and said if that attitude remains, the right will forfeit its ability to influence the nation.
“The face of the Republican Party needs to be the face of every American, and we need to be the party of inclusion and acceptance. It's our heritage and it's our future and we need to couch our efforts in those terms,” he said.
The only way to attract these new faces to the party, Bush said, is through building real, ongoing relationships with others over a long period of time.
“As Republicans, we need to get re-acquainted with the notion that the relationships that really matter are not made through Twitter and social media. Real relationships take time to grow, and they begin with a genuine interest in the stories, dreams and challenges harbored within each of us,” he said.
He took an implicit shot at 2012 GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s comments about the 47 percent he dismissed as wanting nothing but government benefits and handouts.
“Never again can the Republican Party simply write off entire segments of our society because we assume our principles have limited appeal. They have broad appeal,” he said.
The ballroom crowd applauded at this, but Bush’s demeanor throughout the speech was not demonstrative or electric, and the crowd's response was supportive, but low-key.
Jeb Bush Delivers Straight Talk to Republicans. By Beth Reinhard. National Journal, March 15, 2013.
Jeb Bush Says Republicans Often Seen as “Anti Everything.” By John McCormick. Bloomberg, March 15, 2013.
Can Jeb Bush Save the GOP and End Its Emerging Civil War? By John Avlon. The Daily Beast, March 5, 2013.
Jeb Bush Beats the Drum for Inclusion and Acceptance at CPAC. By J. Robert Smith. The American Thinker, March 16, 2013.
Smith:
Wasn’t Jeb Bush supposed to be the conservative Bush? Perhaps the former Sunshine State guv is still more to the right than his ex-prez dad and ex-prez bro, George H.W. and George W. Yet . . . yet . . . As reported by the Washington Times today, here’s the big take-away from Jeb’s speech to CPACers this past week:
Thanks much, Jebster. We need yet another Republican stalwart lecturing us inbred, three-eyed conservative yokels about the need for “inclusion and acceptance” in the GOP. Yes, siree, them Hills have eyes, and us DNA-flawed flyover country conservatives want to keep them Hispanics, black folk, and Asian people out of our hills. And if these strangers dare trod on our precious soil, why, we’ll plum BBQ and eat ’em!“I am here to tell you that there is no ‘us’ and ‘them,’” Mr. Bush said, in a thinly veiled jab at the “47” percent comments that GOP nominee Mitt Romney made on the 2012 campaign trail. “We need to be the party of inclusion and acceptance.”
Jeb, just what do you mean by “inclusion and acceptance?” In fairness, perhaps you laid that out after your speech. But if it means the same thing Karl Rove (the Architect of Establishment GOP Failure) and the other real inbred in DC’s GOP consultant class mean, then you’re talking about the party’s conservative base being more elastic in terms of principles. You’re talking about kinda bending on social issues and being more open to immigration reform (which is code for “What the hell, let the illegals – excuse me, the undocumented – stay and make them insta-citizens”).
Allowing for gay marriage, gay adoption . . . toning it down on abortion? Reference God and faith less so as not to offend the growing numbers of “secular” (godless) young voters?
Nuts to all that.
Now, if you mean putting more resources behind better outreach to segments of the Hispanic, black, and Asian communities where conservative principles and messaging will resonate, then we can have – what do they say these days? – a dialogue. But if all you’re serving up is that GOP Big Tent pabulum that’s got heaping portions of leftism mixed in it – no, no, siree. Dialogue ended.
In fact, Jeb, the GOP needs to tear a page out of Pope Francis’ book: Unyielding on the tenets of Catholicism but more than willing to initiate a new evangelicalism – a genuine outreach to share the practices and worth of principled faith. We know: For the jaded, principle isn’t what politics is about; it’s about winning, so administer a little flame to the plastic GOP and twist and stretch it to fit the sensibilities and worldview of today’s voters, who are more in line with Democrats – Democrats, who are just going a tad far in their policies and need the kindly, skillful, moderating hand of the Republican elite. Let’s have a tidier statism, shall we?
Fads and trends, they come and go faster than Super Bowl commercials. Principles – well, principles, if grounded in reality, if consistent with human nature, and if time-tested as successful, they endure. That sounds cockeyed by contemporary standards, eh? So be it.
Believe it or not, rock-solid principles will outlive Karl Rove, the grievously-erring and grasping left, confused voters, hip twenty- and thirty-somethings, disengaged low-information voters, eccentric mayors, and the bizarre, nihilistic artsy-fartsies. But, gosh, if principles and conservatives get in the way of winning elections . . . you know what Karl would say about that, right?
By the way, Romney’s remark about the “47 percent” was impolitic but said at a private fundraiser, not in open forum. What ol’ “Two-left-feet” Mitt didn’t count on was someone capturing his off-the-cuff remark on a handheld and broadcasting it to the world. Mitt’s sin was being a step or two behind the times – technologically-speaking.
Inclusion and acceptance – you betcha, Jebster. The real question: Are those cohorts that are worth courting willing to accept us three-eyed conservatives who ain’t selling our principles down the river – no-way, no-how – not for the fool’s gold of short term electoral gain (if that)?
For the nation’s sake, let’s hope so.
Jeb Bush’s CPAC speech no cure for Bush fatigue. Twitchy, March 15, 2013.
CPAC 2013: Jeb Bush Speaks at the Ronald Reagan Dinner. The ACU, March 16, 2013. YouTube. Also find it here and here.
