Presidential Candidate Jeb Bush Pledges To Kill Baby Hitler

Okay, this is a very weird story that actually begins about 27 years ago, so let’s take it back a few steps.

In 1988 - ! – Governor Mike Dukakis was believed to have ruined his Presidential campaign after being asked during a debate if he would support the death penalty should his wife, Kitty, be raped and murdered. (Dark question, right?)

The Democratic senator dispassionately responded with a “No”, maintaining that he had “opposed the death penalty during all of my life.” His position didn’t bother voters as much as his seeming nonchalance at the ghastly scenario posed by the debate moderator did.

Smash cut to 2015! The New York Times Magazine releases a poll asking readers if they could “kill Hitler as a baby”; a variation on a timeless hypothetical question (explored pretty well in the movie Looper, FYI).

The poll, as you would imagine, captured the Internet’s imagination.

So, it was no surprise a concerned American posed the same question to Jeb Bush - once considered the front-runner for the Republican Presidential nomination in 2016 – via his publicly shared email address: jeb@jeb.org.

Perhaps wary of pulling a Dukakis and seeming dispassionate, or maybe just aware that he’s slipped considerably behind supposed straight-talkers Donald Trump and Ben Carson, Jeb gave a forthright response on camera for the Huffington Post.

“Hell yeah, I would,” he declared.

“You gotta step up, man.”

And there you have a glimpse at the current state of #USPol, which is considerably weirder than #AusPol (today, at least).