Steve Benen points us to Jeb Bush’s latest YouTube video: a cheap 15-second spot calling out members of Congress for being lazy bums and suggesting that the laziest ones deserve to have their pay docked. “Bush’s proposed solution is quite foolish,” Benen says, but is it? If Jeb were serious, then yes, it would be pretty dumb. But I’m sure he knows perfectly well that presidents aren’t allowed to cut congressional pay any more than Congress can cut the president’s pay. This is pretty clear from the oddness of his phrasing—is he talking about Congress or about individual members of Congress or what?—which means he’s not really proposing anything at all.
So what’s the point? Once again, affinity marketing. Lots of people think Congress is doing a lousy job, and Jeb wants them to know that he agrees. But is it good affinity marketing? Well, the YouTube spot went up two weeks ago, and so far has gotten 767 views. That’s about as well as my cat videos perform. So this is probably just a routine attempt to throw some mud on the wall and see if it sticks. If it does, great. It becomes a campaign message. If not, move on. After all, you don’t think Jeb actually cares about this, do you?
