Jeb Bush’s Loose-Lipped Donors

Jeb Bush’s aides “have grown increasingly frustrated this fall with the loose-lipped nature of their fundraisers and financial backers. Hardly a week passes anymore without a fresh round of news articles featuring apocalyptic quotes from anonymous “donors,” and campaign strategy details leaked by unnamed “insiders,” BuzzFeed News reports.

“This is not a problem unique to Jeb, of course. Rich people have always written big checks to presidential candidates in part for the privilege of having reporters dial them up and treat them like political Svengalis. But Bush’s blabbermouth donors are further complicating the campaign’s already arduous task of raising money amid plunging poll numbers — and the dire quotes the contributors are feeding the press only serve to perpetuate the cycle of panic. When an unnamed Bush donor told the Washington Post last month that the campaign was in a ‘death spiral,’ the quote immediately ricocheted across the web and was stretched across TV screens in countless cable news segments.”