In a middle school cafeteria, as voters rose to take pictures of 90-year-old former first lady Barbara Bush, Jeb Bush spent some more time writing the latest chapter in the political saga of his family – a short chapter if he doesn’t do well in New Hampshire or SC. Some people have asked me, however, if the vote recount left any hard feelings between my brother Jeb and me. The cameo comes after Bush’s dismal sixth place finish in the Iowa caucus and amid a heated battle for a top tier showing in New Hampshire’s primary next week.
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They said senior aides to Bush held conference calls for donors on Tuesday to reassure them, offering an upbeat message about Bush’s finances and ground game in New Hampshire and a determination to press on. “We brought him up that way”, Bush said in praise of her son.
After introducing him as “the next president of the United States”, Barbara Bush took a seat on the front row directly behind him. Lindsey Graham, R-SC, announced his support of Bush following Graham’s withdrawal from the White House race.
Bush, who has been relentlessly mocked as “low energy” by his rival Donald Trump, argued the country may in fact need a “quieter” president.
“I apologize mom”, Jeb Bush said while looking over his shoulder. “It validates a belief that you’re not ready to be president”, Bush told Bash. “The strategy is to not abandon who I am, ’cause I’m proud to be a Bush”.
“He hates Rubio so much, he can’t stand the sight of him”, Trump said, adding that Bush believes Rubio “violated the friendship” by deciding to run for the Republican nomination.
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There are also signs that the Bush saga will go on one way or another, as attention shifts to members of the up-and-coming generation, such as Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush, one of Jeb’s sons.
