Striving diligently to become an even worse columnist than David Brooks, former Bush White House speechwriting chief Michael Gerson endeavors to secure his berth on the Jeb Bush ’12 juggernaut:

The party, says Bush, faces “dramatically changing demographics, especially Hispanics in swing states,” the “alienation of young voters” and an unprecedented drop in support among college graduates.
“Trying to be all things to all people isn’t going to work,” Bush contends. The goal is “not to redefine our beliefs, but to recognize challenges and adapt,” particularly on the issues of national security, health care, education, the economy and the environment. Republicans need to “focus on creating policies relevant to today — not things relevant 20, 30 or 40 years ago.”

This column — as usual, no brief excerpt can capture the absolute wretchedness of large-scale Gersonism — is based on Gerson’s “recent conversation” with the former Florida governor. Given what his former White House colleagues say about Gerson, we can be sure that his primary interest was to offer himself as a 2012 campaign operative for Jeb.

And given what wonders the Bush family has wrought for the GOP over the years (among them, boosting the insipid Gerson to the Washington Post op-ed page) the only reasonable response for conservatives is the firm resolution: NO MORE BUSHES!