The Political Power of the Internet

Andrew Sullivan provided an update today to Jonathan Alter’s article about the potential political power of the internet. Sullivan noted that:

“Bob Wright describes how a combination of a) a third party in laptop (such as the effort reported by Jon Alter) and b) a timely dropping-out could lead to a quasi-parliamentary negotiated government and radical, elite-driven reforms. … The semi-paralyzing complexity comes when there isn’t one party in a laptop but five of them.”

Sullivan is referring to a video discussion between Robert Wrightwood and Micky Kaus on Bloggingheads.t.v. Take a look at their discussion and see whether you can figure out the point that they’re trying to make. I hardly can!

King Bush III: Oh, My…

The Royal Bush

Bush III? Can we extend the dynasty? Those are the questions some Republicans are asking themselves as political talk emerges yet again about President George W. Bush’s brother, Florida Governor Jeb Bush. A major source of the buzz is the current occupant of the White House, who twice this month has stated that his younger brother would make ” a great president.”

Republican party leaders continue to talk seriously about a continuation of the dynasty, a Bush III administration, with Jeb as a candidate in 2012 or 2016, when the memory of the current president’s dismal poll ratings will be less of a factor. That, you will recall, is exactly what happened the last time around. The first President Bush’s unpopularity at the end of his term in 1992 did not hurt his eldest son when he ran for president eight years later.

“Look, I think he’d be a great president,” the current President Bush said in response to a question about Jeb at a convention in Chicago last week. Less than two weeks before, the president was more expansive in an interview with a group of Florida newspaper reporters. According to the St. Petersburg Times, President Bush said he had “pushed” his brother “fairly hard about what he intends to do” and that his political future “is very bright, if he chooses to have a political future.”

However, the president added that “I would like to see Jeb run at some point in time, but I have no idea if that’s his intention or not.” Jeb, who was always considered the most likely to succeed in politics, was the original family favorite to run for president. But in a turn of events that has become a political parable, or debacle, George surprised even his mother by upsetting Texas Governor Ann Richards in 1994. That same year, Jeb lost by two percentage points to Florida Governor Lawton Chiles. Jeb easily returned to beat Buddy McKay in 1998, but by then his brother was already in line for the White House.