Jeb Bush Gets Boos At CPAC, Pleads Unfamiliarity On ‘Ways Of Washington’

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush ponders a question as he speaks at the winter meeting of the free market Club for Growth winter economic conference at the Breakers Hotel, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2015, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP... Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush ponders a question as he speaks at the winter meeting of the free market Club for Growth winter economic conference at the Breakers Hotel, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2015, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Joe Skipper) MORE LESS
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It was hardly a coronation for former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) when he appeared onstage at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Friday.

In a back and forth with Fox News host Sean Hannity, Bush took on boos from the crowd twice for standing by his support of a bill that allowed the children of undocumented immigrants to pay in-state college tuition rates.

“I know there’s disagreement here,” Bush said to those in the crowd booing. “I feel your pain.”

Bush stressed that Republicans need to “start being for things again,” rather than being defined as a purely oppositional party. He said that many Americans “don’t know that they’re conservative” yet and that the GOP had the policies to attract Latinos and young voters.

Perhaps in an effort to prove his conservative credentials on the immigration issue, he told Hannity he wants to achieve a solution in which immigrants “don’t get government benefits” and “learn English.”

When pressed by Hannity as to whether Republicans should blink in the the current standoff in Congress that threatens a government shutdown, Bush lifted his shoulders.

“Look I don’t know,” he said, stepping back from his interviewer. “I’m not an expert on the ways of Washington,” as muted applause broke out.

“I’m not an expert on that,” he repeated.

Hannity threw Bush a bone later when he ticked off a list of accomplishments on the former governor’s record, noting that he “ended affirmative action” and “privatized government jobs.”

Bush won back some of the crowd when he began talking about his conservative views on repairing the economy, which he summed up as “growing the economic pie.”

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  1. Avatar for sooner sooner says:

    Ha! So I guess he did not pass Carnival Cruz’s call for a Conservative litmus test! It’s fun to watch the 2016 clown car entries try their darnedest to pander to a packed house of rubes and n00bs!

    OXON HILL, Md. (AP) — Republicans must not let themselves be tricked into picking a moderate presidential nominee in 2016, by demanding their hopefuls have a demonstrated commitment to conservatism, Sen. Ted Cruz told an enthusiastic audience Thursday.

    Cruz, himself a likely presidential candidate, warned activists gathered at the Conservative Political Action Conference near Washington that voters who pick the GOP nominee are likely to hear a similar pitch: “You betcha. Who-diddley. I’m as conservative as all get out.” But, without naming names, he suggested that many of those likely candidates lacked the record to back it up.

    CPAC is such a fun event for the tin foil hat crowd…Senator Jim Inhofe R-Conoco Phillips tosses snowballs in his celebration of Global Weather Change, TheDick and Rummie relieve their days of strangling puppies at the prayer breakfasts, Sarah Palin serves a lunch of word salad, and Carnival Cruz does everything he can to make it all about Carnival Cruz.

  2. Avatar for dnl dnl says:

    Bush boys

    The Boos Brothers…

  3. Terrible beginning. Dis immigrants, plead ignorance, nothing left to do but smoke some hash leftover from prep school days.

  4. What sane person would vote for Jeb Bush?

  5. Ugh - did he REALLY think he was gonna get to the top of their list? JEB? He’s lucky they didn’t get out the tar and feathers. Here’s a hint, jebbers; this ain’t your brother’s GOP.

    Hannity threw Bush a bone later when he ticked off a list of
    accomplishments on the former governor’s record, noting that he “ended
    affirmative action” and "privatized government jobs.

    Huh. That’s what passes for getting your base energized at Fantasyworld (a/k/a CPAC)

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