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JEB Bush Campaign Exposes The Scam That Presidential Campaigns Really Are

Why do you really think there have been so many GOP candidates every 4 years?

SOTN Editor’s Note:
Make no mistake about the reality that Jeb Bush was meant to enter the Republican race for very good reasons.  However, the primary reason is far different from what many might think.

You see, as long as there have been presidential campaigns there have been extraordinary opportunities to fleece the naive voters out of millions of dollars—legally!

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Special Note:
Think about it, there is perhaps no better way to raise tons of cash in the span of a year for making a whole boatload of patently false promises than by running an election campaign. We’re talking about the ultimate con where everyone is in on it … except the gullible electorate.  These candidates take advantage of the stellar opportunity every 4 years of doling out the donors money to everyone and their brother … their sisters, their cousins, their friends, their affiliated businesses, etc.  Who do you really think gets all the campaign contracts to conduct “opposition research”?  Just who are all the newly registered PIs? Who do you think is spending ungodly amounts of money in Vegas … on your dime?  Even the ‘legitimate’ contracts all go to friends and family for “consultation, clubbing, advertising, and valets”!  Look it, we’re not saying’ it, the NYT is reporting it in the respectable article posted below.  This ritual misappropriation of funds occurs right on time every four years and yet few have a clue. Go figure … … … out your losses before you ever contribute again to this perfect example of real organized crime. 
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This is what presidential campaign politics is really all about for the great majority of candidates.  They get to raise LOTs of money — very quickly — with relatively little effort.

We’re talking about a real shady scheme here that has sucked and siphoned millions from people who have not a clue.

Presidential campaigns in particular are often successful at conning millions of people, and groups of people, out of their hard-earned money.  And for what?  To be forever deceived by the candidates whose only allegiance is to the biggest donors.  For real!

There are various and sundry facets to these legalized scams, but rather than bore you with the details, the following exposé by The New York Times delineates the fine details of the Jeb Bush Campaign scam.  His campaign takes the prize of election year flimflams.

State of the Nation
February 22, 2016

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How Jeb Bush Spent $130 Million Running for President With Nothing to Show for It

By NICHOLAS CONFESSORE and SARAH COHEN
The New York Times

When Jeb Bush formally entered the presidential campaign in June, there was already more money behind him than every other Republican candidate combined. When hesuspended his campaign on Saturday night in South Carolina, Mr. Bush had burned through the vast majority of that cash without winning a single state. It may go down as one of the least successful campaign spending binges in history. Here is Mr. Bush’s story, as told by his ledger:

Positive Advertising: $84 Million

When Mr. Bush finally did get in the race, he needed to reintroduce himself to the Republican electorate. After all, it had been eight years since the end of his final term as Florida’s governor, and he had spent the intervening period as a philanthropist, consultant and investment banker. His campaign and a “super PAC” supporting him spent heavily on sunny advertising spots in the hopes of announcing Mr. Bush to the post-Tea PartyRepublican Party as a credentialed conservative.

Clubbing: $94,100

Instead of spending last winter on the hustings of Iowa and New Hampshire, Mr. Bush held off, using the first half of 2015 to raise money in places like New York, Chicago, Texas and Florida. His goal: Raise enough money for a super PAC to scare other candidates — especially those with a similar political profile — out of the race. Over the entire campaign, Mr. Bush’s team racked up tens of thousands of dollars in dinner and event tabs at the Yale Club, the Union League Club of Chicago, Nantucket’s Westmore Club, and more than two dozen other haunts of the well heeled and racquetball-inclined.

Valets: $15,800

Donors’ cars don’t park themselves. With an aggressive fund-raising schedule and several major donor gatherings, Mr. Bush and the super PAC, Right to Rise, incurred a proportional parking tab.

As Mr. Bush’s campaign matured, he and the group supporting him built one of the largest organizations of any candidate in either party, banking that his superior fund-raising would sustain his high overhead costs, which in turn would yield him wins or near-wins in states like Iowa and New Hampshire, where organizing is critical. But Mr. Bush’s message — experience, civility and technocratic competence — did little to win over voters mesmerized by the billionaire provocateur Donald J. Trump, who outshone his rivals with a bare-bones organization and millions in free media exposure.

Branding: $88,387

Right to Rise, the super PAC supporting Mr. Bush, and then his campaign directly, retained 30 Point Strategies, a public relations company in Bethesda, Md., specializing in “thought leadership” and “brand journalism,” according to the firm’s website. But in the end, the most lasting label of Mr. Bush was supplied by Mr. Trump: “low energy.”

Vegas, Baby: $48,544

Mr. Bush and his staff racked up sizable travel bills, including $3.3 million in airfare and hundreds of thousands of dollars at hotels, ranging from a Best Western in Phoenix to the Biltmore in Coral Gables, Fla. But what stands out is the Bush team’s taste for the Vegas Strip, where aides and allies patronized the Bellagio, the Wynn and the Venetian, owned by Sheldon Adelson, the Republican megadonor.

The Consultants: $10 Million

A well-funded candidate tends to attract hordes of consultants, and Mr. Bush had plenty. All told, his team paid consulting fees to around 140 different companies or individuals, including senior campaign staff members, opposition research firms, and get-out-the-vote operatives in Iowa and South Carolina.

Pizza: $4,837

As his fortunes declined this winter, Mr. Bush sharply pared back employees’ salaries and consulting fees, even laying off some campaign staff members to bring down costs. But let it never be said that Mr. Bush allowed his team to go hungry. His campaign and super PAC were particularly fond of the pizza, whether from Domino’s or from Pizza Ranch, the Iowa chain.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/23/us/politics/jeb-bush-campaign.html?_r=1

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JEB Bush Campaign Exposes The Scam That Presidential Campaigns Really Are | SOTN: Alternative News & Commentary

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THE MILLENNIUM REPORT: Reporting the Most Important News in the World Today