In February 1998, as the Monica Lewinsky scandal exploded, Lewinsky's lawyer, a man by the name of William Ginsburg, performed the then-unheard-of feat of appearing on all five of the Sunday morning talk shows in a single day. In the years since (according to Wikipedia, at least) 15 other brave Americans have completed a "Full Ginsburg," as it came to be known. This Sunday, however, the Full Ginsburg may need to be renamed the Full Jeb. Former Florida governor Jeb Bush will not only be doing Meet the Press, This Week, Face the Nation,Fox News Sunday, and State of the Union, he'll also be interviewed on Univision's Al Punto– in Spanish, no less.
While Bush's facility with the Spanish language will certainly be appreciated by Univision viewers, he may get some uncomfortable questions about his stance on immigration. Previously considered something of a moderate Republican (without much justification), Bush has a new book coming out in which he rejects a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, positioning himself to the right of the GOP's newly Latino-friendly stance. Bush did note in one interview, "We wrote this book last year, not this year," which one could interpret to mean that he wrote it when Mitt Romney and the other Republican presidential candidates were competing to be the most anti-immigrant, so back then his position seemed moderate by comparison. On Sunday, you'll no doubt see some hemming and hawing about how he's actually right in the mainstream, now that his party has moved to join it. He may not have Romney's square jaw and lush hair, but given some time he might come to resemble the 2012 nominee more and more.
And if Jeb 2016 doesn't work out, there's always his son, George P. Bush, to make a future run for the White House. George P. raised $1.3 million in the first two months after announcing he was running for office in Texas, even though he hasn't actually decided what office he's running for (maybe land commissioner, maybe attorney general, maybe even governor). But he's a Bush, after all, and isn't that good enough?
So They Say
"The smartest thing would be for the president to disperse the '92-'93 Chicago Bulls in a couple of our major cities. Put Jordan in D.C., Pippen in New York, B.J. Armstrong in Los Angeles, Horace Grant in Austin, Luc Longley, Craig Hodges-I can keep going. I can name more of these guys. You let it be known. If your intention is to blow up Manhattan, are you okay having Scottie Pippen's blood on your hands, Kim Jong Un?"
-Wyatt Cenac's advice for how to prevent nuclear war
Daily Meme: Thank God It's Jobs Day
- New jobs report Friday! The economy added 236,000 jobs in February.
- Make that 960,000 new jobs if you look at the unadjusted numbers.
- The unemployment rate is now down to 7.7 percent, the lowest since before President Obama took office.
- Could this be the most promising jobs report since the start of the recession?
- Even conservatives had to admit that these were pretty good numbers.
- Perhaps resolving the fiscal cliff spurred the recent jobs boon.
- Or maybe a warmer winter inflated them.
- It wasn't all shiny happy news, though. The January numbers were revised down by 38,000.
- Government jobs are still evaporating every month.
- Too many new jobs are unstable and part-time.
- The employment-to-population ratio hasn't improved in the past year.
- And while the numbers look good for now, it's going to be tricky to maintain that growth once the sequester cuts kick in and pull money out of the economy. So enjoy the good news while it lasts.
What We're Writing
- Steve Erickson writes that Rand Paul's 13-hour monologue this week brought back some heroism to the tradition of the filibuster.
- Bryce Stucki drills into the data on women and the minimum wage.
What We're Reading
- We're having a much-needed debate about drones and the runaway, unaccountable executive power seized by President Obama. Why are liberals giving the White House a free pass on the issue?
- Bill Clinton finally admits he was wrong to sign the anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act.
- Philadelphia is shutting down around 10 percent of its public schools, mostly for low-income black and Hispanic students.
- Nate Silver takes issue with the data Chief Justice Roberts used to question the Voting Rights Act.
- Anna Clark unpacks the evil that is the zip code.
- Vanity Fair profiles the billionaires at the heart of the battle over Herbalife.
- Our youngest senator tries to prove his cool factor by name dropping ... Nick Lachey.
- Fox contributor Juan Williams gets caught plaigarizing, blames his assistant.
- A crappy airport tells Peggy Noonan all she needs to know about America.
Poll of the Day
Earlier this week, Michigan Senator Carl Levin announced his decision to retire rather than run for re-election in 2014. Democrats could have easily held the seat if he was in the race next year. Public Policy Polling, which surveyed the state before Levin's announcement, found the incumbent trumping every possible Republican challenger by double digits.
