By Mark Rhoads -
In early 2015, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush was estimated by news pundits to be the favorite for the 2016 GOP nomination. But he raised many millions of dollars and never caught on with voters after several mediocre debate performances.
Now Bush is reduced to petty attacks in his one-time ally Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Florida). The Bush attacks are desperate and harm the reputation of Bush more than the reputation of Rubio. The authorized Bush negative commercials challenge Rubio more now than they challenge Donald Trump.
But the most petty and sad display on the part of 62-year-old Bush this week was to mock the height of 44-year-old Sen. Rubio who is 5 feet,10 inches tall and who wears western-style boots. Bush is 6 feet, 3 inches tall.
Bush considered Rubio to be his protoge at one time in Florida politics. Older politicians who like to think of themselves as mentors often become jealous when a younger candidate passes them by. Rubio has been polling higher than Bush in spite of the fact that Bush raised a lot more money than Rubio last year.
Making fun of the personal appearance of Sen. Rubio is a childish tactic that illustrates how petty Gov. Bush has become as his campaign has declined. Rubio is not to blame for the choice of Jeb Bush to retire from politics for 8 years or the failure of Bush to win over voters so far in this campaign. Bush has only himself to blame.
But apparently Gov. Bush cannot see beyond his Florida feud with Rubio which is one reason Bush has not been able to grow in stature on the national stage.
