“Insiders: Common Core is Jeb Bush’s ‘No. 1 problem'” That’s the headline on Politico‘s latest survey of GOP “insiders” in Iowa and New Hampshire. The trouble is Politico doesn’t seem to even have asked the “insiders” about Jeb Bush’s position on immigration.** So Politico has no way of knowing which of Jeb’s problems insiders think is No. 1. … Moral: If you limit the choices, you get the answer you want! No surprises. Fashionably Kazakhstanish! … P.S.: Is the Establishment Consensus Machine already in pre-mortem mode, prophylactically steering blame for Jeb’s loss to Common Core and away from his embrace of the Gang of 8? [That’s a crude, paranoid and unsophisticated view of Washington–ed. So it could be right then!]

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** — Politico apparently doesn’t publish the full survey. At least I can’t find it. If you can, let me know! A Twitter query of author James Hohmann produced no response. ..

Why Doesn’t Rubio Answer Bob Scheiffer’s Question? — Part II: I was wrong to suggest that Marco Rubio couldn’t say he’d learned his lesson on immigration but also admit — as he refused to do on CBS — that he’d sign his old “Gang of 8 bill” if he were president and it came to his desk. Depends on what lesson Rubio’s learned:

1) Lesson 1:  Rubio could say “Yes, I’d sign it. ” The bill’s OK, he thinks. But he’s learned that enacting it is a political impossibility. “We can’t do it.”  Voters simply won’t go along with an amnesty until they see that the border is secure. This answer would get Rubio off the hook for pushing a bad bill. But it also implies that the voters are wrong — specifically, wrong to be paranoid about trying to legalize before border security measures are firmly in place. Since that’s exactly what the Gang of 8 bill does, Rubio shouldn’t sign it if the voters are right.

2) Lesson 2: Rubio could say, “No I wouldn’t sign it. It’s not merely politically impossible. I’ve realized it’s a bad gamble to legalize now and hope enforcement measures actually happen later. Voters are right to be paranoid.” This is the lesson many Democrats, ethnic lobbyists and Republican donors don’t want to hear Rubio say he’s learned. It would make getting Dem support for an immigration bill much more difficult. But it’s the substantive admission many GOP primary voters would like to hear. Were they wrong to be paranoid, or right?

If Rubio wants their vote, it seems like he should answer. Otherwise they’ll (rightly) conclude he thinks they’re wrong, or he just doesn’t care — and he’s likely to try to slip a Gang-of-8-style “legalize first/enforce later” bill past them at the earliest opportunity.

“Forcing Black Men Out of Society”: The New York Times ed board righteously decries the “shrinking labor market for low-skilled workers” — yet supports mass low-skilled immigr … Oh I give up.

The U.S. is sending ONE MILLION DOLLARS in aid to quake-ravaged Nepal. Has Mike Meyers taken over the Obama administration?