Bush launches airstrike on Trump, misses target
Jeb Bush's viagra-themed super PAC, "Right to Rise", launched an airstrike on a Trump rally last week. Fortunately, the munitions went off target and there were no political casualties to the Trump campaign.
A prop plane flying high carried a banner, which said in small letters, "Trump 4 higher taxes. Jeb 4 Prez."
Jeb Bush has been stepping up his attacks against real-estate mogul Donald Trump in recent days, and Friday night may have been the most audacious attack yet from the powerful outside group supporting Bush's candidacy.
Trump spoke at Ladds-Peebles Stadium in Mobile, Alabama, on Friday, and city officials are expecting a turnout of some 35,000 people.
Moments before Trump was expected to take the stage, a plane flew over the stadium with a banner saying "Trump 4 higher taxes. Jeb 4 Prez." The Washington Post's Robert Costa reports that the flyover was paid for by the pro-Bush super PAC, Right to Rise.
The problems with this effort were many-fold. First of all, from a practical perspective, the banner was very hard to see. Secondly the banner was written in ghetto English, with "4" for "for" and "Prez" for President, as if Bush were trying to "talk Jive" like the passengers from the movie Airplane!. And thirdly, the message they were conveying was too short to fit on a banner to make sense.
Donald Trump is for higher taxes? Really? What is that all about?
A statement released by the super PAC's website titled "Fact Check One Flyby" is critical of Trump's stance on taxes.
"We just wanted to fly by to tell you about the real Donald Trump. Did you know Trump proposed the biggest tax increase in American history? That’s right, Trump called for raising taxes by $5.7 trillion!" the statement reads.
Oh, I see. People reading the banner should have thought, "I don't know what that means, that he raised taxes, but I am guessing that this flight was arranged by the 'Right to Rise' super PAC, and maybe I should go to their website and find out more."
How many people do you think did this? I would guess zero.
The Bushies who paid for this should have realized that this message required context and explanation not available on the back of a plane. They also should have realized that people are generally aware of Trump's liberal past, so his past support for a tax increase is not going to be enough to move the dial. To be effective, they need to find something really scandalous he said or did, that has emotional impact, like "Conservatives are all nuts!" or "I love abortions!" (which I'm not saying he said).
Conservatives worry that Jeb Bush and his legions of orcs at the Chamber of Commerce are lined up at the Black Gate of Mordor with $120 million dollars, ready to begin the final assault on "Tea Party Hobbits". But given how they've spent their money so far, I'm not very concerned.
This article was produced by NewsMachete.com, the conservative news site.