Jeb Bush is qualifying some recent criticism of fellow Floridian and GOP rival Marco Rubio. Last week the former Florida governor said that the young senator does not have the “skills to fix things” as president. (See update below.)
Zeke Miller of Time magazine reports on Bush’s change of tune Wednesday:
Jeb tells press he still thinks Rubio is qualified to be president, but says his own record of leadership is proven
— Zeke Miller (@ZekeJMiller) October 7, 2015
What’s with the change of emphasis? As CNN’s Sara Murray reported Sunday, some donors to Bush’s campaign are not pleased with prospect the super PAC supporting Bush, Right to Rise, will aim its fire at Rubio. “They actually like Rubio,” Murray said of the Bush donors. “They think he could be a good second choice if Bush can’t get his poll numbers up, they do not want to seem him annihilated by super PAC spending. A number of them have told me they’re not sure what to do about it.”
That’s one possibility. Another is that Bush could be worried about contradicting his previous praise for Rubio as presidential material. In 2012, Bush told CBS News’s Charlie Rose that Rubio was his “favorite” pick for the vice presidential nomination. Asked if Bush believed his political protégé had had enough preparation to be “one heartbeat away from the presidency,” he said Rubio had. “I think so,” Bush said. “Look, he has more experience than Barack Obama had when he ran.”
Whatever the reason, the decision shows how delicate and awkward the situation is for two friends and allies—with very similar political and donor networks—to both run for the White House at the same time. Especially now that the younger candidate has surpassed the older in the polls.
Update: In his appearance on Morning Joe last week, Bush responded to the question “You do not think [Rubio] has the skills to fix things?” with “It’s not known,” not “no.”
The Bush campaign has also sent along a transcript of Wednesday’s exchange regarding Rubio’s preparation for the presidency:
GOV. BUSH: Yeah he does, still does, but quite a low bar though. Compared to my leadership and my point was that, I was, I have a proven record and it’s not disparaging other people to toot your own horn and that’s what I just did and I’m going to keep doing it. I got a proven record as Governor, I took complex issues, put them in a forum, created a strategy, got people to come my way and we executed on those strategies and good things happened.
