David Frum wins the coveted "Dumbest Article of the Day" award for his Atlantic story, "Is Jeb Bush a Republican Obama?" Look. I understand that at this early stage, journalists need to fill column inches by floating the most ridiculous theories possible. And I know Bush is trying to paint himself as a kinder, gentler compassionate conservative "right to rise" Republican. But this is just fucking dumb. Claiming that Jeb Bush is not his father's son because he switched to Catholicism, or because he has an ounce of compassion for immigrants, is a moronic surface reading of Jeb Bush. It's no better than the republication of a Bush camp press release. Jeb Bush is most definitely a part of his family—just today, Bush said he thinks George W. Bush was "a great president."

#JebBush: "My dad is the greatest man alive." On W: "And I love my brother. I think he's been a great president."

— Alan Rappeport (@arappeport) February 4, 2015

Let's agree not to play this game again, okay? This softening of Jeb Bush is a scam that shouldn't be perpetrated on the American people. We've already fallen for the same trick twice before. And Frum needs to entirely pack away this "Republican Obama" bullshit. As Ryan Teague Beckwith proved on Twitter, any number of Republicans have been hailed as the "Republican Obama."

People who have been called "Republican Obamas": Bobby Jindal, Michael Steele, Ben Carson, Jon Huntsman, Jeb Bush.

— Ryan Teague Beckwith (@ryanbeckwith) February 4, 2015

The Quest for the Republican Obama hasn't worked out in the past, and it's not going to work now.