His Brother's Keeper

Jeb Bush, former Republican governor of Florida, was asked on "Fox News" by host Megyn Kelly, "Knowing what we know now, would you have authorized the invasion (into Iraq)?"

"I would have," he answered.

That's not the problem, the problem is that -- well, okay, that is the problem.  It's a terrible problem, but what I mean is that it wasn't the only problem in the interview, and he made it worse.  But sure, it's a problem.  Knowing what we know now -- that there were no Weapons of Mass Destruction hidden in Iraq, and the supposed evidence we were given about Saddam Hussein trying to buy yellowcake in Niger was actually a lie -- it's sort of ghastly that Jeb Bush says he would still have sent war troops into Iraq.

But without almost skipping a breath, so as not to let the viewer linger on that, he immediately continued, "And so would have Hillary Clinton, just to remind everybody,  And so would almost everybody that was confronted with the intelligence they got."

Here's the big problem with that -- that wasn't the question.  The question, very clearly, began, "Knowing what we know now."  And what we know now is (again) that there were No Weapons of Mass Destruction hidden in Iraq, and it was a lie that Iraq was trying to buy yellowcake to make weapons.

His disingenuous obfuscation gets even worse when he rambles on explaining that the real problem with the wrong intelligence (and, again, to be clear, it wasn't just wrong, it was a lie) is that we didn't establish security in Iraq.  No -- the real problem with the wrong and lying intelligence is that, had it been accurate, we wouldn't have gone into Iraq in the first place!  And had to stay there for over 10 years, spent over $2 trillion and had 4,500 Americans killed. (And over half a million Iraqis, including civilians.) 

Somewhat smugly, Mr. Bush adds, "So just for the news flash to the world, if they’re trying to find places where there’s big space between me and my brother, this might not be one of those,"

Just for a news flash to Mr. Bush, not having a big space between you and your brother on the Iraq War is not the great selling point you think it is, and you've given a great news bite to your opponents, given that an NBC/Wall Street Journal/Annenberg poll just last year showed that only 22 percent of Americans feel that the Iraq War was worth it.  And given that according to a CBS/NY Times poll your brother left off office with an approval rating of that same 22 percent, you really might want to be pro-active and get in front of the news to make incredibly clear all those places where there is a massive space between you and your brother.  Because if the public is left to decide on their own whether a Jeb Bush presidency will just be a continuation of your 22-percenter brother, that's just not going to fly.  At least knowing what we know now...