This Man Wants To Be President, Part 4: Jeb Bush

I was going to title this “Who The Fuck Does Jeb Bush Think He Is?” but, you know, f-bombs and all.

Jeb Bush wants to be President like his Daddy and his brother, a thought which is scary enough in and of itself, but who is Jeb Bush?

Well, for the gay community, he’s the candidate who hired David Kochel — expected to run Jeb’s campaign — a man who has asked the GOP to drop the so-called “Culture Wars;” basically, the anti-LGBT war. Tim Miller, who was hired to do opposition research and communications, is that rare bird, the gay Republican, while Mike Murphy, who has advised Bush for decades, signed a 2013 brief asking that the Supreme Court to overturn California’s Proposition 8.

That’s who he is, I’m guessing, except he’s also the candidate who hired an evangelical attorney, Jordan Sekulow, as a senior adviser to his Right to Rise political action committee. Sekulow, and his father Jay, opened the American Center for Law & Justice [ACLJ]  in Africa for the purposes of lobbying politicians to “take the Christian’s views into consideration as they draft legislation and policies;” basically, they work to keep homosexuality a crime in Africa.

So, again I ask, who is Jeb Bush? The gay-friendly candidate, who seems keen on hiring gay, and gay friendly, advisors in an effort to move the GOP away from its staunchly anti-LGBT past? Or is he the candidate who hires a man who seeks to use Christian values as law and, in some parts of the world, make being gay a punishable offense? Or maybe he's the guy who, when asked on the golf course about marriage equality in Florida, said:

“The people of the state decided. But it’s been overturned by the courts, I guess.”

Or is Jeb Bush the guy who back-tracked from that Duh, I dunno response to the heavily crafted:

“We live in a democracy, and regardless of our disagreements, we have to respect the rule of law. I hope that we can also show respect for the good people on all sides of the gay and lesbian marriage issue — including couples making lifetime commitments to each other who are seeking greater legal protections and those of us who believe marriage is a sacrament and want to safeguard religious liberty.”

Some folks took that newer statement as a sign that Jeb was softening of his stance on marriage equality, perhaps showing that he’s changed, he’s evolved, on the issue since, as Florida governor in 2004, he supported his brother, former President George W. Bush, in a push to create a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.

I’m not so sure, because just last week, Jeb Bush threw his support behind Georgia’s looming “religious discrimination” legislation, warning that an upcoming ruling from the Supreme Court on marriage equality would make such measures necessary:

“I don’t know about the law, but religious freedom is a serious issue, and it’s increasingly so, and I think people that act on their conscience shouldn’t be discriminated against, for sure. There should be protections, and so, as it relates to marriage equality — and that may change, the Supreme Court may change that. That automatically then shifts the focus to people of conscience, and, I don’t know, have their faith make — they want to act on their faith, and may not be able to be employed for example.”

It sounds like he’s playing both sides; either that or he’s pandering to the base for votes, and then will shift his stance when, if, elected, making him both a hypocrite and a liar.

Although this latest “religious freedom” bill in Georgia doesn’t explicitly mention sexual orientation or gender identity in its language — most of them don’t because the so-called ‘Good Christians’ hate to be seen as haters — it’s clear that these bills are intended to allow people to cite “deeply held religious convictions” when denying services from their public businesses to, well, LGBT people because, you know, they won’t say it, but they believe God Hates Fags.

In fact, Bush seemed to suggest that, for him, discrimination is just fine:

“People have a right to do that, just as we need to be respectful for people who are in long-term committed relationships. Sorting that out is important.”

See what he does? In one whoosh of hot air from his lips, he says we should allow people of faith to discriminate while we should respect people in ‘long-term committed relationships’ AKA marriages. I’m still trying to figure out how you respect someone’s relationship while saying, ‘Get out of my store.’

So, again I ask, who the fuck does Jeb Bush think he is?

Is he the Gay Hope for the GOP, hiring lots of gay folks, and gay friendly folks? Maybe he is. But he’s also the presumed candidate who hired a man who has worked around the world to make being gay a crime. He’s the man who stood up for discrimination, as long as you couch your discrimination in religion, against the LGBT community. He’s also the man who said, at the 2015 Conservative Political Action Conference:

“I believe in traditional marriage.”

So, that’s who he is; in those five little words we know who he is, and no matter what he says, we know this: he is against marriage equality and he is for the rights of people to discriminate against our community if they say God made them do it.

That’s who the fuck Jeb Bush is … and he wants to be President.

via:

MSNBC
The Washington Blade
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