I’m for Jeb

Former Gov. Jeb Bush is the most qualified of the Republican candidates running for president. Unfortunately for him, his party no longer resembles the traditional Republican Party of his father, Richard Nixon or Dwight D. Eisenhower.

A political party that embraces the building of walls, deportations, elimination of Medicare and Social Security, is uncompromising and prefers the shutdown of government to negotiations and alienates gays, minorities and women no longer fits within the political narratives of old-fashioned, traditional establishment Republicans.

It’s not Bush’s fault entirely that he may never be president. The blame falls squarely on the growing extremist faction of the party that is now calling the shots. It makes it easy for democrats and independents to vote for the democratic candidate for president, a lesson this new Republican Party fails to understand.

This story was originally published October 31, 2015 at 1:00 PM with the headline "I’m for Jeb."