Not one moment passed after Jeb Bush announced he was creating an exploratory committee to consider running for president in 2016 before right-wing Tea Partiers began attacking him for not being conservative enough. Democrats got in their jabs too by sending a fundraising email soon after reminding voters what Jeb Bush's last name is.

For years it has been assumed that the two-term former governor of Florida and the younger brother of 43rd president George W. Bush has been eying the presidency. He considered running for Senate in 2010, and many pushed him to jump into the presidential race in 2012, so the arguments for and against Jeb Bush have already been expressed many times. But the actual announcement, coupled with the release of a treasure trove of emails he sent during his time as governor, have caused an even greater focus on analyzing every facet of Bush.

Bush's two terms in office were widely considered to be huge successes. He had relatively high approval ratings in office and got a lot of policies enacted. He was innovative on some fronts, being the first governor to successfully introduce school vouchers, now a popular conservative education reform idea in other states. But since leaving office, Bush has been slammed by the Tea Party for taking positions on Common Core, a national movement to reform education standards, and immigration reform that right-wingers detest. In truth, when you look at his record in office, he was a very conservative governor, cutting taxes up to US$19 billion, vetoing about US$2 billion in spending, strengthening gun rights laws, and suing to keep a feeding tube inserted in the body of Terry Schiavo, a brain dead woman whose case the "pro-life" community rallied around. All of these positions are clear conservative positions, but the Tea Party has moved the Republican Party farther to the right since Bush left office.

Furthermore, there are a few hot button issues that both conservative and liberal groups will use to attack Bush, based on positions he took in office and business interests he has taken out of office.

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