MANCHESTER, N.H. — As part of one of his final pitches to New Hampshirites, Jeb Bush and his allies mocked former protege Marco Rubio Sunday after the Florida senator repeated the same line nearly verbatim numerous times in Saturday night’s debate.
Bush continued to tout his leadership qualities during two events and trying to snag voters considering Ohio Gov. John Kasich, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Rubio, telling voters that he is the one to fill the establishment lane and compete with Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz. Throughout his two events on the day, he made various jabs at Rubio after his underwhelming debate performance Saturday night.
“We’ve got two gifted freshman senators that are also front-running candidates, and they’re gifted. I got a monkey brain, to be honest with you. I can’t say the same thing [over and over],” Bush said. “Message discipline is not my strength. If something goes on in there, it’s fertile, it’s growing, it’s challenging, I’m always questioning myself, I’m intellectually curious — it’s not all scripted.
During multiple exchanges with Christie, Rubio repeated that President Barack Obama “knows exactly what he’s doing” with his sweeping changes of America instead of responding directly to charges from Christie — who earlier in the week called Rubio the “boy in the bubble.”
“I think that’s actually a strength to be president of the United States,” said Bush during his event in Nashua, where he was flanked by the likes of Sens. Lindsey Graham and Susan Collins. Graham poked fun at Rubio’s debate performance during a virtual stand-up comedy routine which served as an introduction for Bush.
“You saw [last night] that you never want to make Chris Christie mad. You saw a guy with a great memory, Marco, because he said the same thing over and over again,” said Graham, who told the Washington Examiner following the event that Rubio’s ability to stay on message was turned on its head Saturday night in Manchester.
“I like Marco. Here’s the problem: He’s been in the Senate for five years and for about the last year and a half he’s been running for president,” Graham said before hitting Rubio for “cutting and running” (as Bush put it) from immigration reform in 2013. “The Gang of Eight bill wasn’t perfect, but you can’t just walk away.”
“What happened last night is that his asset became his liability — able to turn a phrase. He couldn’t adapt,” Graham continued. “Chris Christie is tough, but there are tougher people out there. … The key is, can you learn?”
Early in the debate, Bush refrained from taking a whack at Rubio after previewing a possible attack late in the week. When asked about his 2012 support for Rubio to be Mitt Romney’s running mate, Bush pointed to Rubio saying the same about himself for the potential post that went to now-Speaker Paul Ryan before turning the issue to the 2016 race itself.
The former Florida governor is set to hold events in Nashua and Portsmouth Monday ahead of primary day. Bush currently sits fifth in the Granite State with nearly ten percent support, according to the latest RealClearPolitics average.
