Jeb Bush's Gaff de Jour: No "Free Stuff" for You!

Jeb Bush (R) in Mount Pleasant, S.C. on Thursday

On Thursday evening, Jeb Bush (R) was in South Carolina where he took a question from a white supporter who asked the presidential candidate how he intended to attract black voters. "Look around this room.  How many black faces do you see?  How are you going to include them and get them to vote for you?"

Jeb's reply is another in a long list of Gaffs-by-Jeb:

"Our message is one of hope and aspiration.  It isn't one of division and get in line and we'll take care of you with free stuff.  Our message is one that is uplifting--that says you can achieve earned success."

what eye thynk:  I'm beginning to wonder if Jeb's heart is really in this presidential campaign at all.  He is demonstrably incapable of thinking on his feet, and now he seems to be channeling his inner Mitt Romney in an effort to make it clear that his ultimate goal is to lose the nomination.

Remember Mitt's 2012 campaign speech to the N.A.A.C.P.? "Your friends who like Obamacare, you remind them of this: If they want more stuff from government, tell them to go vote for the other guy--more free stuff.  But don't forget nothing is really free."

Or how about Mr. Romney's excuse for his eventual election shellacking by Barack Obama? Via an audio recording obtained by ABC News days after President Obama won his second term:  "What the president, president's campaign did was focus on certain members of his base coalition, give them extraordinary financial gifts from the government, and then work very aggressively to turn them out to vote."

Jeb seems to have missed, or has purposefully decided to ignore, the memo where Republican Party leaders denounced Mitt's comments, adding that they needed to do a better job of communicating with minority voters. (Or maybe there were just too many big words for Jeb to comprehend?)

On Friday, Bush spokesperson Kristy Campbell was sent out to clean up after Jeb's latest gaff, but dodged the question about "free stuff" when replying to the New York Times.  "We will never be successful in elections without communicating that conservative principles and conservative policies are the only path to restoring the right to rise for every single American."

I interpret that to mean that "free stuff," at least for minorities, is officially off the conservative table.

At least Mr. Bush is consistent.  During his campaign for governor of Florida in the 1990s, Jeb was asked what he would do for black citizens there.  He responded, "It's time to strive for a society where there's equality of opportunity, not equality of results.  So I'm going to answer (that) question by saying: probably nothing."

So here we are, twenty-five years later and Jeb Bush, born with a silver spoon in his mouth, son and brother to past U.S. presidents, thinks government assistance is "free stuff" that should be eliminated in order to force everyone to make it on their own--like he did.  

How "uplifting."