Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush insisted that he has not yet made a decision about running for president in 2016 in an interview with David Gregory Sunday.
After Gregory asked him which Florida Republican, himself or Sen. Marco Rubio, had better chances for 2016, Bush got downright cheeky.
“Man, you guys are crack addicts. You really are obsessed with all these politics. Marco Rubio’s a great guy, ” Bush said, referring to the media speculation about his presidential plans. “Put aside the politics for a moment, we’ve got big challenges and, to his credit, Marco Rubio is working on those and I’m very proud of him.”
A chuckling Gregory said he’s never been called a crack addict on television before, prompting Bush to say, “Ok, heroin addicts, is that better?”
Bush caused a stir last week after writing that he did not support a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants in his new book, “Immigrant Wars,” then saying that he would support just such a path in a Morning Joe interview.
Without singling out specific GOP lawmakers, Bush argued that his party needed to make an aspirational pitch in order to attract voters turned off by the 2012 campaign, which he said was too focused on criticism, not fresh ideas.
“We need to be offering a compelling narrative,” he said of the Republican party.
Bush also said that, while the 1992 election overshadowed his father, George H.W. Bush’s, presidency, he has become a beloved figure in the intervening years and he expects the same kind of legacy for his older brother, George W. Bush’s, presidency.
“My guess is that history will be kind to my brother, the further out you get from this and the more people compare his tenure to what’s going on now. I think history will be kind to George W. Bush,” he said.
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