Jeb Bush may have just cashed his check

By Pablo Fanque, National Affairs Ed.

Ex-Governor Jeb Bush has become so unpopular with conservatives that he is no longer considered a viable 2016 Presidential candidate. Marco Rubio is pulling far ahead of his former mentor and seems to be the front runner for 2016.

At the Faith and Freedom Coalition conference in Washington, D.C. this morning, Mr. Bush urged social conservatives in the audience to support comprehensive immigration reform because, “Immigrants are more fertile, and they love families, and they have more intact families, and they bring a younger population.” Without immigrants, he said, the country’s population will decline and the economy will suffer.“Immigrants create far more businesses than native-born Americans,” Bush told the gathering.  "Immigrants create an engine of economic prosperity.”

The comments immediately rocketed throughout the web, drawing massive blowback fire from  Republican leaders. 

As Alex Seitz-Wald wrote in Salon this afternoon,  "If you're already inclined to distrust Bush, and you’re already worried about immigrants taking over the country and displacing the native native-born Americans, then Bush is basically confirming all your worst fears by telling you that he thinks immigrants are better than you: They’re better at business, they’re better a having families, they’re more valuable to the economy — they’re even younger."

The most baffling part of all this is why a fairly astute politician like Jeb Bush thought this would fly.  He was already being relentlessly hammered on several fronts for his stand on immigration reform.  It will be interesting to see how, and if, he can dig himself out of this new hole.

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