Yes, Republicans really are this stupid

Either that or they did too many drugs in their youth and suffer from short-term memory loss. How else to explain this:

Jeb Bush in the Senate. Just imagine it.

The first day he walked into the chamber, Bush would already possess a more impressive record of accomplishment--not talk, accomplishment--than all but a few of his new colleagues. For that matter, his record would compare favorably with those of Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and nearly everyone else in Washington, including President Barack Obama.

Bush would have standing. He would be able to speak with authority. At a time when the Republican Party would almost certainly still find itself on the defensive, he would prove utterly unapologetic.

[snip]

Jeb Bush's older brother, George W. Bush, will soon return to Texas. John McCain has run his final campaign for the White House. Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson all possess impressive qualities, but the ability to win broad support among ordinary voters is not among them. Attention is now shifting to a new generation of Republicans. In governors' mansions, Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, Sarah Palin of Alaska, Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota, Mitch Daniels of Indiana, John Hoeven of North Dakota. In the House of Representatives, Eric Cantor of Virginia, Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, Jeb Hensarling of Texas.

And in the Senate?

"Politics," Jeb Bush said to me, "is a lagging institution, not a leading institution. Right now we need our politics to be more on the leading side of our national life."

You know what you can do about that, don't you, Mr. Bush?

Run.