Did you read Sunday's profile of Jeb Bush in the New York Times? Our former governor pulled no punches in bashing the current president.
"It's kind of like a kid coming to school saying, 'The dog ate my homework,' " Bush said of the administration's tendency to blame his brother, former President George W. Bush, for many of today's problems. "It's childish. This is what children do until they mature. They don't accept responsibility."
Attacking the current president of the United States with schoolyard taunts for not being nice to your bro is mature.
No matter, even though Bush denied he's even thinking about running for president, the article has set off the latest round of "Jeb Bush is totally running for president in 2012" rumors.
The profile paints some praise for Jeb, calling him "the most mercurial and bookish of the Bushes," a "political celebrity with a pronounced independent streak," and, in continuing what seems to be a bizarre infatuation with Times writers, during the interview, he eats "ketchup-soaked" fries like a real American. None of the truffle-oil fry crap for him, thanks.
But most of the piece focuses on Bush's criticism of (and a tiny bit of praise for) Obama, and the possibility he might one day run for president.
Bush, for his part, denies he has any interest in challenging Obama in 2012. Though it is a grand Washington tradition to deny you're running for president until the day you start an exploratory committee. Even if he really means it, no one believes it.
CBS News has posted an article simply titled "Jeb Bush in 2012?"
Meanwhile, Choire Sicha at the Awl thinks the article was a Jeb campaign trial balloon and has already helped Bush choose his running mate (basically, any lady who's not too Southern or too Palin).
Some observers, like Paul Owens at the Orlando Sentinel and E.D. Kain at the Washington Examiner, seem to think Bush might be waiting for 2016 to launch a campaign.
