Jeb Exploits Daughter’s Drug Struggles for Campaign Ad

Today, Jeb Bush — who is running for president as a Republican and is consistently polling around sixth place against all the other Republicans — released a new campaign ad. As the Iowa caucuses get closer, the candidates have been delighting in smearing one another in one-minute spots, but Bush bucked the trend and turned his attack inward, if inadvertently.

In a video called “Recovery,” Bush addresses the criminal history and previous drug addiction of his daughter, Noelle. He is careful to share an anecdote about calling her and letting her know he was going to tell a room full of strangers about her troubled past, claiming she responded enthusiastically to the idea that her story could help people, but it still feels pretty exploitative.

Obviously, the real recovery Jeb is interested in is that of his suffering campaign, but this might not have been a wise way to pursue that. After all, his wife Columba made headlines in 2002 for responding, “absolutely,” when a reporter asked if being born into a political family had anything to do with Noelle’s problems.

In the ad, Bush promises he “won’t be a yapper,” but will “figure out how to solve a problem.” The problem appears to be drug addiction, but he wasn’t always so compassionate. In 2002, as Florida’s governor, he opposed legislation that would entitle certain first- and second-time drug offenders to treatment rather than jail time, which would obviously help them, but also cut down on prison expenses. If anything, this ad, released in desperate times, highlights the hypocrisy of opposing the legislation while in office but suddenly caring when the threat of not being in office looms.

I would like to hear from Noelle herself, so if you need me, I will be waiting on that YouTube upload. If Jeb wants more credibility behind the drug-related parts of his campaign, he should bring in the person with the relationship to drugs to tell her own story.

[image via screengrab]

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This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.