Jeb Bush is closing a successful first week as a presidential candidate with a flap over his perceived reluctance to attribute the Charleston, S.C., shootings to racism.
The former Florida governor opened his remarks to the Faith and Freedom Coalition in Washington, D.C. by telling the audience that he wanted to first discuss the shooting of nine African-American worshipers who were gunned down inside a Charleston, S.C., church Wednesday. Bush had been scheduled to campaign in Charleston on Thursday, but canceled in light of the incident.
Bush, in the midst of otherwise eloquent and heartfelt remarks on the subject, said he could not speculate why suspected shooter Dylann Roof acted. “This was an evil act of aggression,” he said. “I don’t know what was going through the mind of the man who committed these atrocious crimes. But I do know what was in the heart of the victims. They were meeting in brotherhood and sisterhood in that church.”
Bush appeared to be commenting on the complexity of evil and what could have caused Roof to shoot nine innocent worshipers in cold blood after they had welcomed him into their church and invited him to pray with them. But Twitter erupted over “I don’t know what was going through the mind” portion of Bush’s comments and his campaign found itself fielding questions about whether Bush believed the shooting was motivated by Roof’s racism.
Questioned following the speech by a Huffington Post reporter, Bush elaborated on his thoughts, allowing that racism could have been involved.
“It was a horrific act and I don’t know what the background of it is, but it was an act of hatred,” Bush said, according to the Huffington Post. Asked again whether the shooting was because of race, Bush added, “I don’t know. Looks like to me it was, but we’ll find out all the information. It’s clear it was an act of raw hatred, for sure. Nine people lost their lives, and they were African-American. You can judge what it is.”
Bush campaign spokesman Tim Miller, in a Twitter conversation with reporters, wrote “of course” when asked if Bush believed the incident was racially motivated. Bush met privately with about 50 conservative activists following the speech. The Charleston shooting didn’t come up, according to a source who was present for the meeting.
The dust-up capped what was otherwise a winning first week for Bush as an official presidential candidate. The Republican announced on Monday during a speech in Miami that was lauded by supporters and complimented by opponents. He jetted off to Iowa and New Hampshire for campaign events that enjoyed good press and early momentum.
Chief Political correspondent Byron York contributed to this report.
Disclosure: The author’s wife works as an adviser to Scott Walker.
