Jeb Bush “appears to have unintentionally announced his candidacy for president in 2016 in a conversation with reporters on Wednesday that was caught on video,” Reuters reports.
Said Bush: “I’m running for president in 2016, and the focus is going to be about how we, if I run, how do you create high sustained economic growth.”
Just after those comments he quickly clarified that he had not made up his mind.
As Jeb Bush continues to struggle with whether he would have made the same decision as his brother did to invade Iraq, his likely rivals for the GOP presidential nomination are much clearer.
Sen. Ted Cruz to The Hill: “Knowing what we know now, of course we wouldn’t go into Iraq.”
Gov. John Kasich to the Columbus Dispatch: “If the question is, if there were not weapons of mass destruction should we have gone, the answer would’ve been no.”
Gov. Chris Christie to CNN: “I don’t think you can honestly say that if we knew then that there was no WMD that the country should have gone to war.”
The Des Moines Register reports that Jeb Bush “is the first well-known Republican in the 2016 presidential field to officially opt out of the straw poll, a nationally renowned event that has drawn significant criticism over the years.”
“The Republican Party of Iowa, which hosts the Iowa Straw Poll, has been working to shore up the event’s reputation and lure candidates by addressing some of the most prevalent complaints. Last week, Iowa GOP officials announced they’ll provide free tent space and utilities for the campaigns. The straw poll has been bashed as having outsized importance, even to the point of having losing candidates drop out of the race. Campaigns sometimes spend hundreds of thousands of dollars at the straw poll as a sort of dry run for the Iowa caucuses.”
Jon Stewart has a few thoughts on Jeb Bush’s recent endorsement of his brother’s foreign policy record.
Jeb Bush “sought to arrest a chorus of criticism from Democrats and some conservatives after he told an interviewer that, knowing what history has since shown about intelligence failures, he still would have authorized the 2003 invasion of Iraq,” the New York Times reports.
“Calling in to Sean Hannity’s syndicated radio show, Mr. Bush said he had misunderstood a question that one of Mr. Hannity’s Fox News colleagues, Megyn Kelly, had asked him in an interview shown on Sunday and Monday nights.”
Said Bush: “I interpreted the question wrong, I guess. I was talking about, given what people knew then.”
First Read: “If you’re a politician signaling you’re going to clean up a problem, then fully clean it up. But that wasn’t the case for Jeb.”
“Is it possible that in 2016, more than a decade after the invasion of Iraq, the Republican party’s presidential nominee could become bogged down in debating whether the war was the right thing to do? The answer, a depressing one for many in the GOP, is yes — if the nominee is Jeb Bush,” Byron York reports.
“Bush’s view of the war is considerably less clear-eyed than that of his brother, former President George W. Bush, the man who ordered the invasion. In his memoir, Decision Points, W. wrestled with the dilemma of his decision to start a war on the basis of bad intelligence. Only W. did not call the intelligence ‘faulty,’ as Jeb had. W. called the intelligence ‘false.'”
“Jeb’s statement is likely to resonate until he either changes his position or loses the race for the Republican nomination. Should he become the nominee, the issue will dog him into the general election campaign.”
Washington Post: “A nonprofit group allied with former Florida governor Jeb Bush is playing a more expansive role in his current political operation than previously known, housing several top policy advisers who are expected to join his eventual campaign, according to people familiar with the structure.”
“Bush’s reliance on the nonprofit as he prepares for a likely presidential bid puts him on untested legal ground, cloaking who is paying the salaries of his expected advisers. But a polarized Federal Election Commission is unlikely to scrutinize the maneuver, campaign finance experts said.”
“I don’t feel old. I don’t feel like yesterday’s news, and I’m not.”
— Jeb Bush, quoted by the Washington Post, in an interview set to air on Fox News tonight.
Rick Klein: “It’s too early to panic, of course, but… Jeb Bush’s quiet, no-rush non-campaign got a touch louder over the weekend, with a pair of moves that suggest a recalibration during this pre-announcement phase. He used a speech at the Falwell-controlled Liberty University to do what candidates speaking at Liberty University do these days: Blast the Obama administration for limiting religious freedom… Then, in an interview with Fox News’ Megyn Kelly, Bush said he would have invaded Iraq just like his brother did, saying it was a ‘news flash’ that there wouldn’t be ‘big space’ between them on the issue.”
“For context, Bush’s expected candidacy has scared exactly zero candidates out of the race. Two new New Hampshire polls showing a jumble at the top – a four-way tie in a state that’s pretty close to must-win for the former Florida governor. It might be time for Bush to send some signals to the party base, at least around the edges.”
Jeb Bush says he would have invaded Iraq, as his brother did in 2003, but told Fox News that mistakes were made, the Tampa Bay Times reports.
Said Bush: “I would have [authorized the invasion], and so would have Hillary Clinton, just to remind everybody. And so would almost everybody that was confronted with the intelligence they got.”
Politico: “It wasn’t clear at the time, but is increasingly so now, that Jeb Bush’s decision last December to signal, but not formally announce, his candidacy was a short-term logistical masterstroke befitting his family’s reputation for mastering the mechanics of elections. His undeclared status has freed him to raise what aides are saying will be as much as $100 million from rich patrons and outside groups (the second he files presidential paperwork, he’s prevented from requesting big super PAC checks), and it has temporarily shielded him from being the target of shots many of his would-be opponents are leveling at Hillary Clinton.”
“This inversion — building a campaign on the back of a super PAC instead of vice versa — is novel and could be a model for the future, but it also puts a lot of pressure on an opaque candidate who publicly has done little more than a set of sporadic, low-octane speeches with few specifics to offer.”
Jeb Bush “is putting in motion an ambitious plan to develop a super PAC that would be unprecedented in its size and scope — a blueprint growing in scale and intensity as he nears the formal launch of his presidential campaign,” Politico reports.
“The group, called Right to Rise, is said to be on track for raising an historic $100 million by the end of May, and its budget is expected to dwarf that of Bush’s official campaign many times over.”
“Bush is even setting the timing of his official campaign announcement — which is increasingly likely to come in mid-June, following a trip to Europe — around a cross-country fundraising tour. In the final weeks leading up to the launch, his strategists have been devising a plan to allow both arms of the campaign — the official one and the super PAC — to work seamlessly, even as they will be legally barred from coordinating once he officially becomes a candidate.”
“When asked this week at an exclusive Manhattan gathering about who advises him on U.S.-Israel policy, Jeb Bush surprised many of the 50-plus attendees by naming his brother, former president George W. Bush, as his most influential counselor,” the Washington Post reports.
Said Bush: “If you want to know who I listen to for advice, it’s him.”
“The remark came as part of an answer to a question about Bush’s political advisers and their policy views. Bush was pressed for details about who he surrounds himself with and consults as he thinks through his positions, guests said.”
During a closed-door presentation for donors last month, Bush strategist 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 game, one that will not be upended by the actions of his rivals,” the Washington Post reports.
“Murphy’s talk was aimed in part at quieting pockets of anxiety that have been percolating among Bush supporters who are beginning to worry whether he can excite Republicans in the same way that many of his younger rivals are already doing.”
“I think my mom and the woman who is bringing her child home have a lot in common.”
— Jeb Bush, quoted by the Washington Post, saying a Baltimore mom reminds him of his mother.
Jeb Bush “is quietly waging a behind-the-scenes offensive to pick off disillusioned home-state supporters of Chris Christie, the New Jersey governor whose presidential prospects have dimmed in recent months,” Politico reports.
“Bush’s effort to undermine Christie’s network of donors, power-brokers, and political players is conducted mainly through emails and phone conversations — and he tracks the progress closely.”
Jeb Bush “spoke in personal terms Wednesday to Hispanic evangelicals about his faith, his family and his hopes for overhauling the immigration system, part of a broader effort to aggressively court Latino voters who deserted the Republican Party in 2012,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“The appearances showed him laying the groundwork for a strategy that could pay dividends both in some GOP primaries and in a general election, reinforcing his supporters’ claim that Mr. Bush is the candidate uniquely suited to draw more Hispanic voters to the party.”
Hillary Clinton “had once planned to wait until May to hold her first fund-raising events. But in the last two weeks, she has moved up her schedule, primarily out of concern about Jeb Bush’s extensive super PAC fundraising,” the New York Times reports.
“The move to make a quicker dash for campaign funds, according to people close to Mrs. Clinton’s campaign, was driven by the Democratic candidate’s concern about the amount of money that Jeb Bush had been raising for his super PAC.”
Taegan Goddard
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire -- which for more than two decades has been one of the nation's most influential political news sites.
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