Jeb Bush Distances Himself A Bit More From Adviser James Baker

Former Secretary of State James Baker speaks during the groundbreaking ceremony for the U.S. Diplomacy Center at the State Department in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2014. Secretary of State John Kerry hosted five... Former Secretary of State James Baker speaks during the groundbreaking ceremony for the U.S. Diplomacy Center at the State Department in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2014. Secretary of State John Kerry hosted five of his predecessors, including Baker, in a rare public reunion for the groundbreaking of a museum commemorating the achievements of American statesmanship. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) MORE LESS

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) further distanced himself from foreign policy adviser James Baker on Thursday during a closed-door meeting hosted by the Manhattan Republican Party.

Bush had previously said it was a mistake for Baker, an adviser and former secretary of state, to speak at the left-leaning Israel policy group J Street. In that appearance, Baker criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over seeming to change his position on a two-state solution.

On Thursday, according to CNN citing two sources in the room, Bush light-heartedly noted Baker and former secretary of state George Shultz are over 85 years old. Bush then said he planned to bring in more foreign policy advisers who from hail from a different generation than Shultz or Baker.

Bush did add that he considers Baker a friend and he didn’t think the former secretary of state’s remarks at J Street were anti-Israel, according to CNN.

Queens Republican Party chairman Bob Turner told CNN that Bush was just trying to emphasize that some aspects of foreign policy are different than 25 years ago.

“The point he was making is that some of the complexities of the modern world are different from the mindset they were dealing with 25 years ago,” Turner said.

As he’s laid the groundwork for running for president, Bush has stressed that he’s not trying to be a carbon copy of his brother, former President George W. Bush, or his father, former President George H.W. Bush. However, the former Florida governor, as other media outlets have noted, has brought on foreign policy officials that served in previous Bush administrations.

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  1. “Queens Republican Party chairman Bob Turner told CNN that Bush was just trying to emphasize that some aspects of foreign policy are different than 25 years ago.
    “The point he was making is that some of the complexities of the modern world are different from the mindset they were dealing with 25 years ago,” Turner said.”

    Allow me to translate: “Baker is just a sad, bumbling old man whose mind is no longer sharp enough to deal with all those complicated parts of the modern world. Poor guy struggles to use his AOL email!”

    The balls on these people.

  2. Unlike his brother, Jeb Bush was a signatory to the “Statement of Principles” of the Project for a New American Century. Jeb’s head is so far up the neocon monster’s ass he can see it’s teeth. James Baker, who recognized that Israel isn’t the boss of America and that there are problems in this world that cannot be solved by military force, resides somewhere between Satan and Obama in neocon dead-ender demonology, and Jebbie has never left their fold.

    But, of course, our ever-vigilent MSM will never, ever, ever in a million years, acknowledge the existence of PNAC, the fact that it basically wrote the foreign policy of the last Bush Administration, the continuing influence of the band of tough-talking chicken hawk war criminals associated with it over the foreign policy teams of Republican candidates, including Jeb, or the fact that not a single person associated with it has ever acknowledge being wrong about anything.

  3. Avatar for dont dont says:

    It’s no surprise that Jebya keeps tacking to the right - he is running in the rethug primary. Baker’s foreign policy had many elements of reality attached. The rethug primary voters want nothing to do with reality,

  4. Avatar for dont dont says:

    Steve, I thought satan and Obama were the same?

  5. The right has (really this time) lost their fucking minds.

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