Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush might have demonstrated Friday why he could face a rough road to winning his party’s presidential nomination in 2016.

He spoke of the Republican Party’s need to avoid be against everything and everyone.

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/other-races/288569-jeb-bush-gop-cant-be-anti-everything

Bush delivered his admonition to the CPAC conference, which has heard from a lengthy list of political clowns. Jeb Bush isn’t one of them. He’s a serious fellow who every political pundit in the country believes is considering a run for the presidency in 2016.

Yes, he is packing some baggage, such as the legacy of big brother George W. Bush’s two terms as president. But his message to the conservative faithful is plain enough. The party needs to stand for something constructive and end the perception among voters that it is composed of obstructionists exclusively.

Bush said this, among other things, to CPAC: “Way too many people believe Republicans are anti-immigrant, anti-woman, anti-science, anti-gay, anti-worker, and the list goes on and on and on. Many voters are simply unwilling to choose our candidates even though they share our core beliefs because those voters feel unwanted, unloved and unwelcome in our party.”

If people believe such things about your party, then you need to (1) change your message if that’s indeed what is being conveyed or (2) develop a whole new marketing strategy to persuade voters that their perception of you is incorrect.

It appears to me, though, that the hardliners are winning the intraparty struggle at the moment within the GOP. They likely don’t want to hear what Jeb Bush is trying to tell them.