The rumbles about the Prince of Tallahassee's ascension to the throne continue

It is becoming impossible to believe that the "Jeb for President" rumblings are anything other than a trial balloon to see if Jeb Bush has anything approaching enough support so Republicans can steal an election for him and get away with it.

It started last week when President Thirty Percent said "Look, I think he'd be a great president," and Bush Family Fellater Elisabeth Bumiller made a parting shot across the bow on her way to book leave to speculate on a Jeb run in 2012:

No one, the president included, is suggesting that the younger Bush will run in 2008, and Governor Bush, whose second term is up in January, has adamantly ruled it out.

But Republican Party leaders continue to talk seriously about a continuation of the dynasty, a Bush III administration, with Jeb as a candidate in 2012 or 2016, when the memory of the current president's dismal poll ratings will be less of a factor. That, at least, is what happened the last time around: President George Bush's unpopularity at the end of his term in 1992 did not hurt his eldest son when he ran for president eight years later.

In other words, despite the fact that George W. Bush has managed to fuck up everything he's touched for the last five years, party leaders must be worried enough about the current stable of Republican hopefuls to believe that Governor Remove Terri Schiavo By Force is a viable contender. Or perhaps they're worried that they won't be able to steal the 2008 election and are counting on President Hillary so we can have a repeat of the LAST Clinton years, which resulted in everyone forgetting Bush Père's dismal approval ratings near the end of his term.

But now the Jeb meme has gone beyond the new form of "speculative journalism" that seems to have taken hold at the Grey Lady, and now Newt Gingrich is beating the Jeb drum:

Probably '08 is a little bit tricky, but " '12 or '16 isn't. And he's a young enough guy (53) that he has a great future," Gingrich said on the Political Connections television show airing today on Bay News 9. "I just think his natural, personal ability is so great that people are going to realize he is not his father and he's not his brother. He's a very unique, charismatic leader with extraordinary capabilities. ... Jeb Bush may well be the most innovative (governor) in the entire country."

If the Democrats had anything resembling a spine at all, I would love to see someone go at Jeb Bush the minute he starts beating the "family values" drum -- given that Jeb's wife is a smuggler, his daughter is a drug addict, his older son (the next Bush in line after Jeb for whom the Family has political ambitions) is a stalker, and his younger son has alcohol and anger management issues.

Can we make a deal, then? No more Clintons and no more Bushes? After all, this is NOT a monarchy, no matter how much the Bush Family might wish it were so.