Jeb Bush says son 'didn't talk to me.' Not running in 2016 after all?
| Washington
Jeb Bush swatted down his son in an interview that aired Thursday on MSNBC. The son in question, George P. Bush, said earlier in the week that it was more likely than not that his dad would run for president in 2016. But Jeb said George P. 鈥渄idn鈥檛 talk to me鈥� before he made that statement.
鈥淲hen you have kids, you鈥檒l probably have the same frustration. You love them to death and they have their own opinions,鈥� he told . 鈥淏ut I鈥檒l make up my mind, just as I鈥檝e said, at the end of the year.鈥�
So ... does this mean the former Florida governor is not running, or is leaning against throwing his credentials in the ring for a shot at the White House?
We don鈥檛 think so. We鈥檒l stand by our earlier statement that the George P. Bush statement is the hardest bit of evidence yet that Jeb will run.
It鈥檚 not definitive. It鈥檚 true Jeb hasn鈥檛 had a family council to announce his intentions (if he had, it would have leaked in a day). But the end of the year is approaching, and if Bush is not going to run, he needs to start calling off the many donors and potential supporters who are awaiting his word. They are reaching the point where they won鈥檛 be happy if he leaves them in the proverbial lurch.
Plus, on stage he sounds like a politician who鈥檚 seriously thinking about a national run. At campaign appearances for 2014 mid-term candidates, he鈥檚 been criticizing President Obama鈥檚 Ebola response, as well as you-know-who, that woman who鈥檚 the Democratic 2016 frontrunner.
In Colorado on Wednesday night at a rally for GOP mid-term candidates, Bush made a hard jab at Hillary Rodham Clinton, referencing her gaffetastic statement that businesses don鈥檛 create jobs.
(鈥淒on鈥檛 let anyone tell you that it鈥檚 corporations and businesses that create jobs,鈥� were Clinton鈥檚 exact words. She鈥檚 said that was a slip of the tongue, and she was talking about the effect, or lack thereof, of trickle-down tax cuts.)
Jeb actually didn鈥檛 mention Hillary鈥檚 name. He only called her 鈥渁 former secretary of state who was campaigning in Massachusetts.鈥�
But he said her jobs statement was 鈥渂reathtaking.鈥�
鈥淭he problem with America today is not enough jobs are being created, but they are created by businesses,鈥� said Bush.
Bush might have been just trying to rile up the GOP crowd in advance of Tuesday鈥檚 vote. But it also sounds like somebody who might be trying out some 2016 attack lines.
