Jeb’s Common Core quagmire: How the monied candidate is trying to evade a mess - By Joan Walsh

[DonViejo]

Bush collects credit for sticking to his guns on an issue that angers the GOP base. In fact he’s wildly obfuscating

JOAN WALSH

Jeb Bush made his big jump from lavish closed-door meetings with wealthy donors into what dull punditry has labeled “retail politics” in Iowa this past weekend. He got both credit and criticism for sticking to his guns on issues that might alienate the conservative GOP base: his support for federal Common Core education standards and immigration reform that includes some kind of pathway to citizenship for those here illegally.

It seemed as though Bush was testing his theory that a successful GOP presidential candidate had to be willing to “lose the primary to win the general” – in Iowa, known for favoring right wingers like Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum, of all places.

But as usual, mainstream media gave Bush high marks for good intentions and ignored the contradictions of his actual remarks, particularly when it came to Common Core. He was pretty consistent on immigration. “Immigrants that are here need to have a path to legal status,” Bush said. “Nobody I know has a plan to deal with illegal immigration other than to just say they’re going to be rounded up and taken away.” On cue, a Drudge headline screamed “Jeb pushes amnesty,” and Alex Jones’s Infowars.com agreed. “Jeb Bush pushes amnesty: GOP candidate no different from Obama.”

But Bush was much squishier on the Common Core controversy, even if the media didn’t seem to notice. A headline on a widely published Associated Press story read “Jeb Bush refuses to back down on Common Core,” though what Bush actually told activists was more complicated.

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http://www.salon.com/2015/03/09/jebs_common_core_quagmire_how_the_monied_candidate_is_trying_to_evade_a_mess/

[yellowcanine]

1. Bush can try to back away from CC but it will follow him around.

Just one of his problems. Immigration and his name are two more.