On Tuesday night, Republican presidential hopeful Jeb Bush complained bitterly about conditions in Iraq, which he blamed on President Obama and his team, rather than the disastrous war launched and mismanaged by his brother. It was a topic Jeb should have gone out of his way to avoid, but the Florida Republican jumped in, head-first, anyway.

his way to avoid, but the Florida Republican jumped in, head-first, anyway. NBC News A day later, the former governor decided to go after Hillary Clinton’s emails. Once again, it’s a topic Jeb should have gone out ofway to avoid, but the Florida Republican jumped in, head-first, anyway. NBC News reported

The former Florida governor also knocked Clinton for her use of a private email server while secretary of state. Clinton’s campaign on Tuesday announced it would hand over the server to the Justice Department. “It looks like she’s hiding, the way she’s going about this I mean disclose it,” Bush said. “The FBI took it, it’s a little bit different than disclosing it.” […] Bush cited his own release of 33 years of tax returns and his own emails from his time in government as proof that his approach is superior to Clinton’s.

Right off the bat, when someone turns over a server to the Justice Department for review, as part of a probe in which that person is not a target, that’s not “hiding.” It’s the exact opposite.

But the more striking problem is Bush’s willingness to cite his own record. It’s one of the more obvious failures of self-awareness seen on the campaign trail this year.



Revisiting our coverage from March , the Washington Post reported the details that show just how vulnerable Bush is on the issue he’s now focusing attention on.