For the second week in a row, Miami-Dade School Board Member Carlos Curbelo brought out a big gun in the primary 
that he’s suddenly paying attention to, after ignoring it for months, with a reminder of his endorsement from former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.
But that backing is soft and squishy.
Because Bush already sorta apologized in a hand-written note to one of the four other Republican candidates on the Aug. 26 ballot hoping to land on the November ticket against Democrat Rep. Joe Garcia.
Curbelo probably didn’t know when he launched a mailer this week in which Jeb urges Republican absentee voters to support the “proven education reformer and a proponent of expanding economic freedom and cutting wasteful spending.”
Read related story: Jeb Bush backs Carlos Curbelo in #FL26 – Duh!
Bush’s endorsement is old news. It first came out in February when the former guv tweeted his support for Curbelo.
When it first came out, Cutler Bay Mayor Ed “Mac” MacDougall wrote to the former guv, to let him know the kind of candidate 
that Jeb had just passed on — a Vietnam vet and former police officer who went on to found the town he is now mayor of for the second term — without so much as an interview.
Which, by the way, goes to show that it’s that kind of endorsement — one that wunderkid would get over no matter who. My words. Not Mac’s.
What other impression can we get when Bush didn’t even talk to the 
other candidates? It seems like he was sort of obligado to endorse Curbelo because the school board member has been the only local Republican to support the Common Core educational standards that Bush espouses, and which some conservatives have said they are against because it takes curriculum control away from teachers and parents.
Maybe if he had met MacDougall before he gave Curbelo his nod, Bush would have stayed out ’til the general election.
At least that is what was implied when Jeb wrote Mac back.
“Dear Mayor MacDougall, thank you for your thoughtful letter,” Jeb starts out in the hand-written note sent in early 
March. “If you win the primary, I will enthusiastically support your campaign. I am sorry that I hadn’t met you before.
“Again, thank you for the classy letter,” Bush ends, signing his name.
Well, I’ll be. If that doesn’t sound like someone second-guessing himself, I don’t know what does.
But maybe Curbelo is feeling the heat of the race, especially after a $35,000 poll he did in June that he hasn’t released the results of. Perhaps he felt the need to roll Jeb’s soft and squishy support out again for the AB race, on the heels of a commercial with Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen that he aired in the Keys, which she used to represent. After all, Bush is said to be one of the most popular politicians in Florida, enjoying the No. 1 spot for presidential contenders to the Dems’ Hillary Clinton, according to a Quinnipac University Poll. The fluently bilingual son of the former president, brother of another former president is popular among both Anglo and Hispanic voters.
But forget whatever you read in the Herald about Jeb Bush having some kind of impact on the FL13 race in the St. Petersburg area where Republican David Jolly trounced former CFO Alex Sink, a Democrat with at least twice as much money, in March.
Don’t forget it so much because that was a general election in which Jolly was the only Republican — making it an apples to cucumbers kind of thing.
Forget it, instead, because that’s not as important as Jeb’s own Monday morning quarterbacking.
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Don’t need endorsements to tell me how to vote. Curbelo is no teacher. His motives are evident. He’s been traveling from PTA to PTA meeting and speaking at commencement exercises. I saw him at my granddaughters school at it was nauseating. I don’t think the Principal liked him too much. Kept making funny faces. Kind of funny.
This ploy to run for school board was about self service, not public service. I don’t respect that.
Really Jeb? A measly hand written note on a cheap letterhead. I bet you thought it would make it more personal. Well maybe if the handwriting were a little more legible. Oh, that’s right you didn’t have the option to attend a charter school to learn proper penmanship. You probably didn’t go to a public school anyway. That note is an embarassment. It looks like Egyptian hieroglyphics.
Macdougal lost my respect with his anti-Cuban race baiting. Wonder what he thinks of Cuban Exiles that fought next to him in Vietnam. He will never get my vote.
What did he say/do that was anti-Cuban?
Funny, I never thought of Cuban as a race. You might want to mention that to a friend of mine, he is of African descent but from Cuba and his wife is of Chinese descent and also from Cuba. Yet, both now call themselves American.
At least MacDougall put his ass on the line in Vietnam and on the streets of Miami-Dade as a Police Officer, something I can’t say about any of the other candidates, though I will tip my hat in respect to Joe Martinez for also having patrolled our county as an officer, too.
Wrong Cheo. He never race-baited…that was Curbelo that did that. Just vote how you would have anyway…Cheo…and take a history lesson about Vietnam and Cuban Exiles.
Wow!!!! That is the only comment I can come up with!!!
Well, a soft, squishy endorsement for soft, squishy guy. Reality is that Jeb HAD to endorse Curbelo in order to continue the pushing of public money to their rich friends and supporters in the charter school business.
From an article in then Washington Post from Aug 2013:
Jeb Bush pioneered corporate-influenced school reform when he was governor of Florida from 1999-2007, and since then through two foundations he runs, becoming a national voice on the subject. A number of states have followed his program, which included using standardized tests for high-stakes assessment decisions, including an A-F school grading system that, incidentally, has become so corrupted that even Republicans in the state have recently denounced it. Bush also pushed a “choice” agenda which included charter schools run by for-profit companies, vouchers that used public money to pay for private school tuition, and more.
Wonderkid Curbelo is a pathetic little spoiled brat, grabbing, tugging and holding onto the hand and shirts of bigger more prominent, although not exactly respected, political figures. He’s like the little badly behaved child you see in Toys-R-Us screaming at Mami and Papi about a toy he wants.
As for Jeb, he should be ashamed of himself for prematurely supporting the runt-sized political neophyte, that has waffled on a number of issues and continues to operate a business under his wife’s name that, in the least, raises questions about his integrity-something he likes to attack his opponent about.
Little Carlito hasn’t been able to do that with Mac, instead he has used the race-card rallying, or trying to rally the Hispanic votes, all-the-while crying about Mac doing the same.
Wonderkid’s latest campaign ad about the Keys is also an attempt to drum-up White-Non Hispanic votes but is nothing more than a “Cheeseburger in Paradise.” What do you know or remember about the Keys Carlito…trips with your parents to Key Largo with you in the backseat?
Mac is a distinguished veteran, a former police officer and a mayor of city. He is the consummate statesman and has the pedigree we need. His integrity and character are of the highest moral fabric. Jeb’s pass on supporting him is a two fold error:Common Core ass kissing by Curbelo and Jeb’s failure to meet the most qualified candidate.
The prepubescent scrawny little kid, posing as a school board member, is enamored by his endorsements from Jeb and Ros-Lehtinen and plays with them as a child would his new toys on Christmas Day, showing them off.
Mac, although a long shot simply because of his name, is clearly the best qualified candidate for FL26. Curbelo the worst. It is that simple.