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Fox News Senior Political Analyst Brit Hume on Sunday suggested that an effort to rehabilitate President George W. Bush's image had worked and that the country "may now indeed be ready" for his brother, Jeb, to be the next president of the United States.

Before the dedication of the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum last week, former First Lady Barbara Bush said that she opposed the idea of Jeb Bush making a bid for the White House in 2016.

"There are other people out there that are very qualified and we’ve had enough Bushes," Barbara Bush explained to NBC's Matt Lauer. "He’s by the far the best qualified man, but no."

Hume told Fox News host Chris Wallace on Sunday that "this is absolutely what I would have expected from Barbara Bush."

"She suffered terribly when the slings and arrows were being aimed, first at her husband, then at her son and then -- to whatever extent it was -- at her other son," Hume insisted. "And I think she's fed up, and long had enough of her men being on the firing line."

"But I think in terms of the public's estimation, that cycles are accelerated these days and the country may now indeed be ready for another Bush," he added. "And if you think about Jeb Bush, he doesn't particularly look like either his father or his brother, he's a different breed of cat. Outwardly at least, he has some of the same qualities: traditional views, gentlemanliness and so on."

"I think if he decides he wants to run, he will be a formidable candidate."

Never mind the flip-flopping on his stance on immigration or whether he's hoping his family and their supporters will be doing their part to give Americans a big heaping helping of revisionist history when it comes to his brother's time in office, as Ring of Fire's Mike Papantonio and guest Sam Seder reminded their listeners this week, there is a whole host of other issues that the public should know about if Jeb Bush does actually throw his hat into the ring and runs for president in 2016.

As Pap noted, it's time to stop this campaign before it starts, because we sure as hell can't count on our "mainstream media" to do their part and tell their viewers that Jeb Bush has every bit as much baggage as his brother.

It seems Florida's current Gov. Rick Scott isn't the only one with problems involving Medicare fraud: Jeb Bush Lobbied On Behalf Of Infamous Medicare Swindler, Says Former HHS Secretary.

He was right there with the rest of the PNAC neocons who brought us the invasion of Iraq.

Mother Jones has more on some of the Bush family corruption problems mentioned here along with a host of others in this post: Bush Family Value$.

And as Sam discussed during the interview, eight years is probably not long enough to erase the nation's collective memory about just what a disaster George W. Bush was and for Jebbie to be out there trying to revive the family name. Sadly if the Villagers in the corporate media who care more about a horse race than issues have their way, no one will ever discuss any of Bush's past or he and his family's corruption.

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I don't know if Jeb Bush is going to run for president in 2016 or if he's just out there hawking his book, but if he is running, as Digby noted, it appears he's a little out of practice, or overrated to begin with, in part due to the contrast with his brother. If he is running, he's doing his best to give Mittens some competition in the flip-flopping department right out of the gate.

TPM's Benjy Sarlin has been keeping track for us here: TIMELINE: How Jeb Bush Pulled A 360 On Immigration Reform:

Jeb Bush completed a whirlwind one-week journey on immigration on Sunday, praising a Senate proposal to grant eventual citizenship for undocumented immigrants after attacking the idea in a newly released book he co-authored that was itself a reversal of his past position.

Bush’s experimental turn as a border hawk was so quick you could blink and miss it. Here’s a quick timeline of how the flip-flop-flip went down.

June 12, 2012
In an interview with Charlie Rose, Jeb Bush explains his support for eventual citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the country.

“You have to deal with this issue. You can’t ignore it,” Bush said. “And so, either a path to citizenship, which I would support and that does put me probably out of the mainstream of most conservatives; Or a path to legalization, a path to residency of some kind, which now hopefully will become — I would accept that in a heartbeat as well if that’s the path to get us to where we need to be which is on a positive basis using immigration to create sustained growth.”

Go read the rest but here's more just from this Sunday where Bush was out there doing a full Ginsburg.

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Most conservatives these days are doing their best to pretend that former President George W. Bush didn't exist at all and wipe him from their memory banks. It seems his brother is hoping for some revisionist history to redeem him instead: Jeb Bush: 'History will be kind to my brother':

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush says that the public will view his older brother, former president George W. Bush, more favorably as time passes.

"In his four years as president a lot of amazing accomplishments took place," said Jeb Bush, the son of former President George H.W. Bush, during an interview on NBC's Meet the Press. "So my guess is that history will be kind to my brother, the further out you get from this and the more people compare his tenure to what's going on now."

The 43rd president has largely stayed out of the spotlight since leaving office. After presiding over broad public discontent over the Iraq War and a flailing economy, George W. Bush left the White House with poor approval ratings and was notably unpopular even within his own party.

Jeb Bush said he hasn't yet spoken to their famous parents about the idea of his own 2016 run.

"I don't want to begin the process to think about it until it's the proper time to do so," he said.

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Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) is insisting that his famous family name will not hurt him at all if he decides to run for president in 2016.

Fox News host Chris Wallace pointed out to Bush on Sunday that his brother, George W. Bush, had been "somewhat unpopular" when he left office in 2009.

"Do you think there is any Bush baggage?" Wallace wondered. "Do you think that would be a problem?"

"No," the former Florida governor replied. "I don't think there's any Bush baggage at all. I love my brother, I'm proud of his accomplishments, I love my dad, I am proud to be a Bush."

"And if I run for president, it's not because of something in my DNA that compels me to do it. It would be that it's the right thing to do for my family, that the conditions are right and that I have something to offer."

According to a 2009 CBS News/New York Times poll, former president George W. Bush left office with an approval rating of 22 percent, the lowest approval since the Gallup began asking the question 70 years earlier.

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Jeb Bush Jr., the son of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R), on Tuesday defended Sen. Marco Rubio as "pro-science" after the Florida Republican said he was not sure if the Earth was created in seven actual days because "it’s one of the great mysteries."

“I’m not a scientist, man,” Rubio told GQ's Michael Hainey in the magazine's December issue. “I don’t think I’m qualified to answer a question like that. At the end of the day, I think there are multiple theories out there on how the universe was created and I think this is a country where people should have the opportunity to teach them all. ... Whether the Earth was created in 7 days, or 7 actual eras, I’m not sure we’ll ever be able to answer that. It’s one of the great mysteries."

In an interview with Jeb Bush Jr. on Tuesday, CNN's Soledad O'Brien noted that Rubio seemed to be pandering to scientists and people who support creationism with a "multiple non-answer."

"It was a strange question and kind of a head-scratching type of answer," the younger Bush agreed. "Going back to the Republican Party and how we kind of shape the tone, we got to be a kind of pro-science and pro-technology party. And I think Marco Rubio is just that.

He added: "But we also can't forget about our traditional values, things like faith and family. And Sen. Rubio certainly represents that. On the Earth question, I guess I have to read more closely in terms of getting a better understanding, but, yeah, kind of a strange response, I guess."

On the question of whether his dad would run for president in 2016, Jeb Bush Jr. offered a strange response of his own: "I don't know... no comment... I certainly hope so."

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From this Sunday's Meet the Press, David Gregory sat down with Jeb Bush prior to the Republican National Convention in Florida and Bush offered some advice for his party if they're going to appeal to more voters. Apparently Bush thinks if they just speak a little more nicely and tone down the hateful rhetoric, voters aren't going to pay any attention to their policies.

Jeb Bush: Republican Party Needs 'To Reach Out To A Much Broader Audience':

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) warned on Sunday that Republicans aren't doing enough to boost their appeal to a wider swath voters, a lack of action that could damage the party in the future as demographics shift.

"This is going to be a close election, but long-term, conservative principles, if they're to be successful and implemented, there has to be a concerted effort to reach out to a much broader audience than we do today," Bush said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

Bush often sounds the alarm about GOP rhetoric and Latino voters in particular, whom he said could be turned off by the way Republicans discuss immigration and other issues. Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney trails President Barack Obama by significant margins among Latino voters, the second-fastest growing population in the United States. Bush's brother, former President George W. Bush, held far better numbers with Latino voters than Romney currently does.

On Sunday, the former Florida governor did not refer to the GOP's need to appeal to any specific group, but said the party could find it seriously damaging if Republicans do not expand their base.

"I'm concerned about it over the long haul for sure," Bush told "Meet The Press" host David Gregory. "Our demographics are changing and we have to change not necessarily our core beliefs, but how we -- the tone of our message and the message and the intensity of it, for sure."

Gregory pointed to a recent poll that found 20 percent more voters think Obama would be better about caring for average people than Romney would. But Bush said the president's advantage won't stick, adding that Romney can boost his efforts to connect with voters in his speech Thursday at the Republican National Convention.

"As the president goes on the attack, constantly attacking, constantly using negative messaging, I think his connectivity with people will drop," Bush said. "Governor Romney has a chance at this convention going forward to reconnect with people to set the stage for the general election and show who he is, what's in his heart."

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From this Monday's Now with Alex Wagner on MSNBC, former Bush and McCain adviser, Nicolle Wallace was asked about Jeb Bush's recent statement that "both Ronald Reagan and his father George H. W. Bush would have had a difficult time getting nominated by today's ultra-conservative Republican Party."

Rather than give a straight answer, she punted, proceeded to spout some of their typical nonsense about who's for or against "big government," touting what Bush did to our public education system as "reform" and praising the prescription drug giveaway to big pharma as some great achievement for seniors. And then out of the blue, she made the claim that it's just terribly cynical and inaccurate to claim that Republicans will have to suppress the vote in order to win the next election.

If she or any of her fellow Republicans actually believe that, then why do they keep doing just that? Alex Wagner's show on MSNBC is nearly as bad as Morning Joe or Andrea Mitchell's show. Lots of right wing talking points like this one are spread on there daily, usually with little or no push back. Wallace didn't get any during this show and no one bothered to point out to her that her former boss, stole a couple of elections by suppressing the vote and caging voters in Florida and Ohio among other states. And they're going to keep doing it until somebody finally puts a stop to it.

It's amazing to me that after we're seeing Florida's Governor Rick Scott just be completely brazen where he doesn't even care if everyone knows what he's doing with purging his voting rolls, this woman can come on the air and make the statements she did with a straight face. If there's anyone who knows a thing or two about being cynical, I'd say it's Nicolle Wallace. But then you'd have to be to work for the likes of George W. Bush or John McCain for that matter.

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Looks like someone knocked themselves out of the running as a vice presidential candidate after daring to challenge King Grover this week: Norquist: Jeb Bush Insulted Mitt Romney By Abandoning Anti-Tax Pledge:

Grover Norquist lashed out at former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) on Friday, the latest Republican to buck the conservative leader’s anti-tax pledge.

During an appearance on CNN’s the Situation Room, a visibly frustrated Norquist — president of Americans for Tax Reform — said that Bush “kind of stepped in it a little bit” when he told the House Budget Committee that signing Norquist’s pledge to never raise taxes is tantamount to “outsourc[ing] your principles and convictions to people.” Norquist claimed that Bush had insulted Mitt Romney by abandoning the pledge:

NORQUIST: [Bush] went on to kind of insult Governor Romney because Governor Romney has made a written commitment to the American people said, ‘when I get to Washington I’m not going to raise taxes. The problem is too much spending and we’ll reform government and we’re not going raise taxes, so when i go and see a problem in Washington like Obama’s overspending, I’m not going to raise taxes, I’m going to reduce spending.’ And unfortunately what Jeb Bush said was that that was outsourcing his principles.

As Think Progress noted, Bush is not the only Republican to finally break with Norquist and his no tax pledge of late. Now if we could get Wolf Blitzer to challenge him on his assertions that Democrats are the ones responsible for busting the budget or that you could call anything the Republicans are trying to do "reform." They broke the bank with two unfunded wars and an unpaid for prescription drug plan and tax giveaways to the rich and now they're using the deficit as an excuse to destroy our social safety nets which they've wanted to do for decades anyway. Heaven forbid the likes of Blitzer and his ilk will ever point any of that out to him.

Bush has brushed aside any notion he was interested in a spot on the presidential ticket a while ago. If there was any doubt that he was not going to be Romney's running mate, I'd say this probably sealed it for him. God knows we can't have any Republicans failing to pay proper homage to their dear leader who came up with his tax pledge in the seventh grade.

Full transcript below the fold.

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Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) on Friday suggested that Republicans were outsourcing their "principles and convictions" by signing Grover Norquist's pledge to never raise taxes.

During a House Budget Committee hearing, Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) asked the former governor if he agreed with the Americans for Tax Reform pledge.

"No," Bush said, shaking his head. "OK, so I ran for office three times. The pledge was presented to me three times. I never signed the pledge. I cut taxes every year I was governor."

"I don't believe you outsource your principles and convictions to people," he added. "I respect Grover's political involvement. He has it every right to do it, but I never signed any pledge."

Since introducing the pledge in 1986, Norquist has been remarkably successful at getting signatures from Republicans. Only six of the 242 Republicans serving in the House today have not signed on.

But things could be changing this year as 25 of the candidates promoted by the National Republican Congressional Committee have so far refused to add their names to the list.

"For what it's worth, I don't necessarily see this as evidence of moderation," MSNBC's Steve Benen wrote on Tuesday. "On the contrary, many, if not all, of those who are rejecting Norquist's project appear to be very much in line with his party's anti-tax orthodoxy. They're balking, not because they intend to support tax increases, but because some are open to trading away tax credits, some don't like taking orders from D.C. lobbying groups, and some are just anti-pledge in general."

(h/t: Talking Points Memo)