Jeb Bush ends White House bid

Yahoo – AFP, Michael Mathes, With Stephanie Griffith in Washington, 21 February 2016

Jeb Bush speaks at a town hall meeting in Beaufort, South Carolina, on 

February 17, 2016 (AFP Photo/Spencer Platt)

Columbia (United States) (AFP) - In the end, a famous name, political pedigree and deep-pocketed donors were not enough to rescue the lackluster presidential campaign of Jeb Bush.

Bush withdrew from the presidential race Saturday after another humiliating primary defeat, this time in South Carolina.

"Tonight, I am suspending my campaign," an emotional Bush, who at times appeared on the verge of tears, said after the disappointing result.

Former Florida governor Jeb Bush started
his campaign as the odds-on favorite to 
win the Republican presidential nomination 
(AFP Photo/Spencer Platt)

"I'm proud of the campaign that we have run to unify our country."

The former Florida governor -- son of one president and brother of another -- started his campaign as the odds-on favorite to win the Republican presidential nomination, backed by a prodigious political brain trust and millions of dollars in donations from private and corporate supporters.

Although the 62-year-old Bush led some opinion some polls very early in the campaign, his support had dwindled by Saturday to single digits nationally, and his White House aspirations were on life support.

The coup de grace came after he earned less than eight percent of the vote in the primary in South Carolina, a state where his family had always made strong primary showings.

Donald Trump was the big winner in South Carolina -- a particularly bitter pill to swallow for Bush, who throughout the campaign was bullied and demeaned by the billionaire businessman.

Bush's campaign logo sported a jaunty exclamation mark after his first name -- Jeb! -- a jarring juxtaposition to the candidate himself, who came across as plodding and unexciting.

Bush and his Right to Rise super PAC -- vastly outraised his competitors, garnering some $118 million but the money -- largely spent on television ads -- failed to help generate excitement about his campaign.

A super PAC is an independent body that can raise unlimited amounts of money to support a candidate, but cannot coordinate their efforts with the party or candidate, or make direct campaign contributions.

'Low energy'

Bush was mercilessly pilloried by Trump, who lampooned him as "low energy" and lacking the requisite resolve and the fire-in-the-belly to lead the nation -- a catchphrase that stuck in the popular imagination.

In recent weeks, Jeb's famous mother, former first lady Barbara Bush, went out on the campaign trail for him, as did his brother, two-term former president George W. Bush.

At debates Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush seemed tongue-tied; on the 

campaign trail, he was flat-footed and seemed tepid and at times even testy as he 

traveled the country (AFP Photo/Jim Watson)

Trump only intensified his barbs, lampooning Bush as a mama's boy dependent on riding his family coattails for his past success.

George W. Bush had consoling words after his brother's humbling exit from the race for the White House.

"Tonight I talked to my brother and congratulated him on his campaign for the presidency. I told Jeb how proud I am of him and his staff for running a campaign that looked to the future, presented serious policy proposals, and elevated the tone of the race," he said in a statement.

For some, the prospect of yet another Bush presidency -- particularly when weighed against the possibility that Hillary Clinton, the wife of a former president, could become the Democratic nominee -- was more than some voters were willing to stomach.

At debates, Bush seemed tongue-tied; on the campaign trail, he was flat-footed. He had promised to campaign "joyfully," but seemed tepid and at times even testy as he traveled the country.

Some experts said however that the genteel, patrician, soft-spoken Bush simply failed to connect with the spirit of the times and an irascible electorate -- especially with white, lower middle class voters disgruntled after seven years under Democratic President Barack Obama.

As his campaign foundered in recent weeks, it became increasingly clear that Bush would not follow his father and brother in the White House, after Trump and Senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio vaulted him in the polls.

He failed to get a coveted endorsement from the popular governor of South Carolina, Nikki Haley, who instead backed his former protege Rubio.

Rubio, a first-term senator from Florida, was in second place over Cruz in South Carolina and behind Trump. Bush, the mentor, finished in an unimpressive fourth place.

Trump supreme as White House race rolls on https://t.co/sBtPuJfSis #USvoteAFP pic.twitter.com/bob6l7dyau

— AFP news agency (@AFP) February 21, 2016

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"Recalibration of Free Choice"–  Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth,  4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical)  8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)

“…5 - Integrity That May Surprise…

The Unthinkable… Politics, A Review

Humans will begin to search for integrity and fairness and it's going to happen in the places you never expect. I said this last week, so this is a review. There'll come a time when you will demand this of your politics - fairness and integrity. So when the candidates start calling each other names, you will turn your back on them and they won't get any votes. They're going to get the point real fast, don't you think? How about that?

Let me give you another potential. This country that I sit in right now [USA] will set the mold for that particular attribute. I have no clock. Watch for the youngsters to set this in motion, and they will, for they are the voters of tomorrow and they do not want the energy of today. To some of them, it's so abominable they won't even register to vote in this energy. You're going to see this soon. That was number five.. ..."

"You Don’t Know How the Frog Jumps"–  Jan11, 2011 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) - (Text version) - New

“…  Last week, I gave you a message about the potentials of 2011. And there were those in this room who attended. I'm going to repeat something I said there, for you need to hear it and it has to do with politics. It would seem intuitive to every single Human Being in the room that in order to accomplish what you do as Americans in Congress, you must have at least two parties. For that is the way it has always been - the red and the blue.

What if I told you that there will come a time when there will be no parties? You might then say, "Well, that's impossible, Kryon, because you're not Human and you don't know how funding works." You might say, "It has to be a party that creates the power to raise money for the ones who cannot, and then the funding is spread around and this is the way we work. If you didn't have parties, you'd have no funding. Nobody could advertise, and no one could get elected."

Oh, really?

Are you aware right now, that you have a president who was elected on the Internet? He figured it out. When everybody can talk to everyone, you have plenty of funding. A few dollars here, a few dollars there. You talk to millions at the same time, they talk to millions at the same time. It's a new paradigm of communication. The young people know all about it, and you can't stop it. Watch for more from this new paradigm.

It is worldwide communication, one person at a time. It doesn't matter how many laws you pass, and it doesn't matter what you decide about who is in charge of it, you can't stop it. It's out of the bag now, and the communities of the young are going to be communicating. This is how the politicians are going to be communicating to you, literally coming into your home in a holographic form perhaps, explaining their position one by one, without a party. Then you will elect them to your Congress without a party and they will sit in the chairs without a division and there will be no such thing as the "other side of the aisle."

And that, Human Being, is called unity and there is a paradigm that you cannot even imagine. And it's in the works. And then you'll have a Congress that works together and gets things done without the current duality.  ….”