Rupert Murdoch, owner of a media empire including Fox News, the Wall Street Journal, and Harper Collins, as much as anointed Jeb Bush as his personal choice for 2016.  And he’s cheering on Dr. Ben Carson as well.

In a vote of approval for the third Bush to run for office, Murdoch requested that Jeb sit next to Murdoch and Valerie Jarrett (see picture) at a December conference hosted by the Wall Street Journal in D.C.

From the New York Times:

Then there is Mr. Bush, who calls The Journal his “paper of record.” The fact that he sat between Mr. Murdoch and Ms. Jarrett at the conference hosted by The Journal in Washington was no accident: Mr. Murdoch requested it. Their ties have deepened over the years. Mr. Bush has collaborated frequently on education issues with Mr. Murdoch’s close friend and adviser Joel I. Klein, the former New York City schools chancellor, who now leads Mr. Murdoch’s education business, Amplify. [snip]

With his characteristic candor and deep, Australian-accented mumble, Mr. Murdoch is making known his high regard for Mr. Bush these days.

“I like Jeb Bush very much,” Mr. Murdoch said in New York recently. “He’s moving very cleverly, very well,” he added.

Then, last week, Murdoch weighed in on Carson.  This is from Murdoch’s Twitter account:

Campaign '16 starting. Very early, but watch Ben Carson. Read his autobiography years ago. Principled brave achiever. Great American story.

On the same day as Murdoch’s tweet (January 24, 2015), Carson echoed the media mogul while speaking at the Iowa Freedom Summit when he closed his speech with a call to be “brave.”

In conclusion, we today enjoy our freedom because there were those who preceded us who were brave. They were not afraid. We have to have courage once again in this country…The next time you sing our national anthem and you’re looking at that flag, and you get to the end of that first stanza it says ‘the land of the free and the home of the brave.’ Please remember that it is impossible to be free if you’re not brave.

It’s easy to see what Murdoch likes about Jeb Bush.  Bush has a major stake in education with his foundation and backing of Common Core.  And Murdoch owns the education company Amplify, which is heavily invested in making money off technology in the world of education.

But what is Murdoch’s interest in Carson?  Could there be some connection between the two regarding Carson’s time spent as a surgeon in Perth, Australia in 1983?  Carson served for one year, but he came away from the experience praising the two-tiered government-funded health care system.

Or could there be a relationship regarding Zondervan Publishing, the Christian imprint of Harper Collins publishing?  Recently, online site Buzzfeed disclosed that Carson’s book America the Beautiful had multiple plagiarized passages.

Carson apologized, and the publishing company promised to update future copies.  From CharismaNews:

Carson admitted that he "inadvertently missed some" of the source citations. “I attempted to appropriately cite and acknowledge all sources in America the Beautiful ... I apologize, and I am working with my editors to rectify the situation," Carson said.

Zondervan, a Christian publisher owned by HarperCollins, released a statement on Thursday that reiterated Carson's stance.

"It has become apparent that further source citation is appropriate in Dr. Carson's America the Beautiful. Any necessary updates will be made in subsequent printings."

Murdoch's support of Carson coming so soon after the plagiarism scandal involving his publishing company must mean that the billionaire is smitten.

What do you think?  A Bush/Carson ticket with the full support of a media giant?

Ann Kane is former editor of Watchdog Wire North Carolina and also writes at the blog ExZoom.net.