Free Republic

Jeb Bush's confident affirmative answer this week that he would have authorized the invasion of Iraq "knowing what we know now"? All a misinterpretation, he says. On The Sean Hannity Show Tuesday, the former Florida governor said that he thought the question, asked by Fox News' Megyn Kelly during an interview that aired Monday night, was under the stipulation "given what you knew then." "I don't know what that decision would have been. That's a hypothetical," he said. "The simple fact is mistakes were made." The all-but-official presidential contender took a beating Tuesday from both the Left and Right over...

Jeb Bush said in an interview that he would not immediately move to repeal President Obama’s executive order on immigration — suggesting he would instead wait for a new law to be passed addressing the matter. In an interview with Megyn Kelly that is to be shown Monday night on Fox News, Mr. Bush said that rather than overturning the order, he believed in “passing meaningful reform of immigration and make it part of it.” The president’s executive order seeks to shield millions of undocumented immigrants from deportation. Most presidential candidates in the Republican field either oppose Mr. Obama’s order...

If Jeb Bush would still invade Iraq knowing what we know now, 12 years after the fact, then “there has to be something wrong” with him, conservative radio host Laura Ingraham said Monday morning. In a pre-taped Fox News interview, Megyn Kelly asked Bush whether he’d still send American forces into Iraq, as we did in 2003, knowing now about the faulty intelligence that drove the initial occupation. Not only did he answer in the affirmative, but he suggested Hillary Clinton would do the same. That response was worrisome, according to Ingraham. “No, Hillary wouldn’t,” she exclaimed. “[She] wouldn’t authorize...

Jeb Bush told Fox News Channel’s Megyn Kelly that he would not attempt to immediately reverse President Barack Obama’s executive action on immigration should he succeed him in the Oval Office. The former Florida governor said he would instead wait for Congress to pass a law to make changes in immigration policy. That sets Bush apart from many of his Republican counterparts who have said they would take immediate action. Obama in November issued an executive action to prevent millions of illegal immigrants from being deported. Bush suggested that GOP voters “can be persuaded” to his way of thinking on...

Michael Steel, one of Speaker John Boehner’s top aides, is moving to Miami to work in a “leadership role” for Jeb Bush’s political action committee. Steel has worked as the press secretary for Boehner since 2008, when the Ohio Republican was the minority leader of a battered Republican party in the House. He has guided Boehner’s communications operation for seven years, helping craft the strategy that made the Ohio Republican speaker, and subsequently playing a key role advising him in day-to-day governing, including high-stakes negotiations with President Barack Obama. Steel will be an adviser to Bush’s Right to Rise Policy...

In the 2016 presidential race, former Florida governor Jeb Bush is generally seen as the favorite of establishment Republicans – which is not necessarily a good thing if you want to make it through the GOP’s primary and caucus season successfully. There, more outspoken hopefuls hammer issues like immigration, foreign terrorism, the economy, and same-sex marriage with a heavier, tea partyish hammer. At the South Carolina Freedom Summit over the weekend, the rest of the pack – just about everybody but Mr. Bush – talked tough on defense and foreign affairs.

In an interview with Fox News host Megyn Kelly, Jeb Bush spoke out about his position on immigration reform, saying he believes some in the GOP base "can be persuaded" on the subject. In the growing field of official and prospective Republican candidates for the 2016 presidential elections, Jeb Bush currently stands out the most for his views on immigration reform, which could be described as closer to Hilary Clinton's position than many of his GOP rivals. As we previously reported, Bush believes in a path to "earned legal status" for the 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the U.S....

LYNCHBURG, VA. — Looking to win over skeptical evangelical voters, Jeb Bush pushed back Saturday against what he said are modern intrusions on religion as he lauded graduates and their families at Liberty University, a Christian college popular on the path to the Republican presidential nomination. “Fashionable ideas and opinions – which these days can be a religion all by itself – have got a problem with Christians and their right of conscience,” Bush told an audience of 34,000 in the school’s football stadium. “That makes it our problem, and the proper response is a forthright defense of the first...

At a luxury Miami hotel last month, one of Jeb Bush’s chief strategists stood before hundreds of top GOP fundraisers to deliver an unsubtle message: The former Florida governor will not be one of the “presidents of August.” During his closed-door presentation at the 1 Hotel in South Beach, Mike Murphy dismissed buzz-fueled candidates who rise fast early only to flame out once the primaries begin. Murphy ridiculed the early spate of presidential polls — many of which show Bush lagging, particularly in Iowa — as “noise meters.” And he insisted that the Bush team is patiently playing a long...

The man at the microphone spoke in a language most Republican presidential primary voters do not understand. "You are part of the new wave of hope for this country," Jeb Bush said in fluent Spanish to the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference this week. Switching to English, he said the U.S. needs immigrants for the country "to become young and dynamic again." It doesn't seem to matter that Hispanic voters typically do not have much say in Republican primaries. The former Florida governor's play to Hispanic values and policy goals has begun to shape his young political operation. Well before...

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush declared Wednesday that 11 million immigrants in the country illegally should have an opportunity to stay, wading yet again into his party's contentious immigrant debate. In tone and substance, Bush stands out among the many Republicans lining up for the GOP's next presidential primary, where conservatives who oppose an immigration overhaul often hold outsized influence. As he moves toward a presidential campaign, the brother and son of former presidents has not backed away from his defense of immigrants in the country illegally and a policy that would allow them to attain legal status under certain...

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush apparently feels comfortable enough with his standing in the field of Republican presidential hopefuls that he was willing to venture into the very turbulent waters of immigration reform on Wednesday. He recognizes what no one else in his party seems to see: that it’s not a solution to constantly snipe at proponents of immigration reform and shoot down their proposals.If you want to lead this country, you must have a plan of action, particularly as it concerns what to do with the 11 million undocumented migrants currently in this country. Bush told an audience in...

Columba Bush, the press-shy wife of presumed presidential candidate Jeb Bush, will make a co-star appearance at a Miami fundraiser for her husband next month. An invitation sent to donors Friday shows that Columba Bush and her husband will appear at the event the evening of May 18. The fundraiser will be held at a youth center in the couple's hometown of Miami, with a minimum entrance fee of $25, a notably modest sum for a Bush fundraiser.

eb Bush told about 350 of the top donors to his super PAC on Sunday evening that the organization has raised more money in its first 100 days than any other Republican operation in modern history, according to several people in attendance. Bush did not say how much had been raised, but senior Republicans said they think his super PAC, Right to Rise, is on track to collect $100 million by the end of May. Those who heard Bush speak said it signals that he and his team are confident that they've amassed a sizable political fortune that will help...

The former Florida governor and as-yet-undeclared presidential candidate spoke at an upper East Side meet-and-greet hosted by the Manhattan Republican Party during a trip that also included a visit to a Jewish school and some fundraising. Clinton is “going to have to be held accountable, like all of us, about dealings. That's part of the process, right?” Bush said when asked about the Democratic White House hopeful, who is facing new scrutiny of donations to the Clinton Foundation — including from foreign governments.

Cites ‘unorthodox’ views, such as support Common Core and immigration reform, as strength Jeb Bush said he would not make the same mistakes as Mitt Romney during a private event in New York on Thursday, saying the 2012 Republican nominee was unable to connect with voters in a genuine way. “[Romney] made it about a referendum on the president’s policies rather than about himself. He didn’t show his heart,” said the former governor of Florida. “He didn’t send a signal that he cared about people, when he did.” -snip- On immigration, he said he backs “earned legalized status.” “You would...

EXCERPT “What we’re doing is a drill-down investigation of Jeb’s finances similar to what we did with the Clintons in terms of looking at financial dealings, cronyism, who he’s been involved with,” Schweizer told Bloomberg Politics. “We’ve found some interesting things.” (snip) Schweizer told Bloomberg that his team of researchers has been poring over financial details from the former Florida governor for about four months.

“ I hope you saw the record. It’s a conservative record. It’s not a ‘Republican In Name Only’ record. Governor Jeb Bush says to a skeptical New Hampshire Republican ” Hmmm. Meanwhile, Newsmax reports otherwise: At the New England Council's ‘Politics and Eggs’ breakfast earlier Friday, Bush broke with many of his fellow presidential hopefuls by declaring that ‘the climate is changing’ and calling for a pathway to legal status for illegal immigrants. The liberal New Republic headlined the story this way: Jeb Bush Came So Close to Acknowledging Climate Change. Opening with: At an event in New Hampshire on...

Jeb Bush called on Republicans in the Senate to stop holding up the confirmation of the nomination of Loretta Lynch, President Barack Obama's nominee for U.S. attorney general. Lynch has been waiting for 160 days for congress to take a vote on her nomination, which is more than five times the amount of time that Janet Reno waited to be confirmed as President Bill Clinton's attorney general and three times the length of days that John Ashcroft waited to be confirmed as the attorney general under the George W. Bush Administration, reports The Huffington Post. However, a majority of the Republicans...

BUSH CAMPAIGN POSTER Jeb marked "Hispanic" in the field labeled “race/ethnicity” on his 2009 voter-registration app, obtained from the Miami-Dade County Elections Dept. Now says it was a "mistake."