Bush The Third?

There was John Adams and his son John Quincy.  There was William Henry Harrison and his grandson Benjamin.  But for Sirhan Sirhan's bullets there would probably have been John Kennedy and his brother Bobby.  And but for Barack Obama's out-Clintoning La Clinton Nostra, there'd have been Bill Clinton and his wife, Medusa.  But there's never been a family to take dynasticism to hat trick level.

Surely George Bush and his son George Walker have completely poisoned the punchbowl for any future Presidents Bush until the end of time - right?

And yet....(via Newsmax Insider):

Leading Democratic strategist Simon Rosenberg remains confident about President Barack Obama’s chances for re-election in 2012, but admits there is one potential Republican candidate who scares him: former Florida Governor Jeb Bush.

Sinking poll numbers and policy setbacks “have done little to dissuade” the rosy predictions of Rosenberg, who has said Obama’s election gave Democrats a chance for a 30-to-40-year era of dominance, Sam Stein notes on the Huffington Post website, adding, “There’s only one thing that makes Rosenberg nervous: another Bush.”

At a recent lunch at the headquarters of the New Democrat Network, a non-profit group founded by Rosenberg, the former Bill Clinton adviser said, "Jeb is married to a Latina, is fluent in Spanish, speaks on Univision as a commentator — his Spanish is that good.

"And if you look at the electoral map in 2012, you have to assume that Obama is going to have a very hard time in holding North Carolina and Virginia. The industrial Midwest, where the auto decline has been huge, has weakened Obama's numbers . . . a great deal. So Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, and Wisconsin become a bit more wobbly.

“So if you're Barack Obama, the firewall is the Latin belt from Florida to southwestern California. And there is only one Republican who can break through that firewall. And it is Jeb."

Following the George W. Bush presidency, the vast majority of voters yearn for someone other than a Bush, said Democratic strategist Donna Brazille. But she acknowledged: “Jeb has the talent, the experience, and the ability to rebuild the GOP’s tent.”

And longtime Democratic pollster Stanley Greenberg told Stein: "I believe Jeb Bush could run. He is more of a genuine conservative than [Mitt] Romney. Bush is a big hangover, but not impossible."

Bush was elected governor in 1998 and served two terms during a period of great economic growth in Florida, keeping taxes low and holding down spending. He won high praise for handling natural disasters — six major hurricanes struck Florida’s coastlines during his tenure — and he also spearheaded reforms that have led to improvements in the state’s education system.

Today, Bush is in private business and works with several charities and foundations. But he has not kept out of the public eye, becoming a vocal critic of the Obama administration. He told Newsmax in an exclusive interview that the administration is charting a “dangerous course” as it pushes for a dramatic expansion of government that “imperils our future.”

Longtime Republican consultant John Feehery told Stein: “I think that Bushism is still alive. There is, however, an anti-Bushism in the party associated with the Rand Paul crowd. They don't like neocons and government. And Sarah Palin could be seen as part of that group.

“What people like about Jeb Bush is that he is smart and conservative and well-liked by the base . . . If there is going to be a Bush revival, Jeb is going to be the leader of that revival.”

First, the numbers: if you take the states the "maintaining a stiff upper lip even if it rips his face off" Mr. Rosenberg admits will be "wobbly" for Red Barry in '12, that knocks his 365 Electoral Votes from 2008 down to 279.  Armus probably knocks Florida out of his column anyway, which would knock him out of the Oval Office in Carteresque ignominy, but Jeb Bush heading the GOP ticket would pretty much guarantee it.

But let's compare Jeb Bush to the rest of the hypothetical GOP contenders:

Mitt Romney - Governor, but never ran for re-election; inflicted RomneyCare, the forerunner of ObamaCare, on Massachusetts, with dismally predictable results.

Mike Huckabee - Governor, re-elected several times, but a divisive force in the '08 Republican primaries, splitting evangelicals off from the rest of the conservative coalition; firmly established himself as the "John Edwards of the Republican Party".

Sarah Palin - I was completely sold on her as "the American Thatcher," until she let the Obamedia chase her out of the Alaska governorship before she'd even completed her first term.  It's for that same reason why I doubt she'll run in 2012.

Newt Gingrich - Never been an executive, and his Speakership showed him to lack the temperment for high positions of leadership.  Far better as a "party ideologist" than a standardbearer.

Rick Santorum, John Thune - No senators! (think Edna Mode's voice).  Do you hear me, Quinn?  NO SENATORS!

Mitch Daniels, Tim Pawlenty - Solid, two-term conservative governors of midwest battleground states.  Just not LARGE midwest battleground states.  Plus, neither really has the stature for the top of the ticket, and Daniels kneecapped himself with that "truce" nonsense.

Honestly, in this field I only see Daniels or Pawlenty as being legitimate threats to unseat The One, and not particularly compelling ones.  But Jeb Bush has the same solid gubernatorial track record, PLUS a proven ability to handle crises (six hurricanes in two years), in a VERY large swing state whose flipping back "red" would almost certainly be decisive.

In short, like it or not, just as in 2000, the best potential Republican challenger to Barack The Destroyer is yet another Bush.

Will he end up running?  Frak if I know.  But given how insatiable Dubya-hatred remains on the Left to this day, wouldn't his brother taking out that mule-eared ninny be poetically and deliciously just?