Live from La Farine: The problem with stories like this--and with reporters like Parker and Haberman--is that you never know (1) whether the reporters are spinning the situation in order to pay back their sources, (2) whether the (unnamed) sources are spinning the reporters, or (3) whether the story is accurate.
The lack of named sources takes us into a world where the only indication that the story is (3) rather than (2) comes from trust in the competence of the reporters, and the only indication that the story is (3) rather than (1) comes from the hope that the reporters are working for you rather than for their sources. And, as far as the New York Times political staff is concerned, nobody sane has either trust or hope.
Still: schadenfreude time:
: As Jeb Bush Struggles, Some Allies Blame His ‘Super PAC’: "When Jeb Bush and his allies began helping the ‘super PAC’ supporting him raise more than $100 million last year...
...his bid for the Republican nomination seemed like a safe bet. But as Mr. Bush’s campaign continues to lag, his backers are increasingly turning their frustrations over his floundering candidacy on the group, Right to Rise, and its inability to influence the race. Interviews with more than a dozen donors and advisers to the candidate revealed a complicated picture of dissatisfaction with the group and its chief strategist, Mike Murphy. Few wanted to openly criticize the group or Mr. Murphy on the record, but many raised questions about the role they had played in the campaign....
Some donors quietly worry about how the cash-rich group is spending its money, confounded by how few tangible results the tens of millions it has pumped into the race have yielded. Others have expressed dismay with negative advertisements Right to Rise has run and a 15-minute pro-Bush documentary that it produced. The frustrations spilled into full view at a private meeting Friday at the Palace Hotel in Midtown Manhattan between Mr. Murphy and roughly three dozen donors. Barry Volpert, a partner at the private equity firm Crestview Partners, sharply questioned Mr. Murphy about ads his group had aired attacking Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, one of Mr. Bush’s chief rivals for the nomination...
Most likely an attempted hit on Murphy by somebodies who want to push him out and take control of the money he is spending than an accurate reflection of JEB!! campaign internals. Everyone in JEB!!world understands that the big problem is not Murphy, but rather that half the Republican primary electorate dislikes JEB!! because he is his brother's brother, the other half dislikes JEB!! because he is his father's son, and the semi-moderate-competent-executive lane he is running in is crowded, with none of Christie, Katich, or Rubio going away anytime soon...
