Former US President George W Bush on Monday joined the 2016 election campaign, speaking out on behalf of his brother Jeb and taking a swipe at Donald Trump. Mr Bush addressed a rally in South Carolina, the third state to vote in the race to choose a Republican nominee for the White House.
During the Republican debate in South Carolina over the weekend, Mr. Trump condemned former President George W. Bush in acid terms, saying his administration had lied about the presence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. “They lied,” Mr. Trump said words that even two Democratic presidential nominees declined to use about Mr. Bush and the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and that were more akin to what the rabble-rouser liberal filmmaker Michael Moore has said.
George W. Bush told voters here Monday that “we do not need someone in the Oval Office who mirrors and inflames our frustration” a clear swipe at Donald Trump during a campaign rally for his brother, Jeb Bush.
In his most political speech since he left office in 2009, George W. Bush said voters should choose a candidate who is “measured and thoughtful” over the loudest and angriest man in the room.
“I understand that Americans are angry and frustrated but we do not need someone in the Oval Office who mirrors and inflames our anger and frustration,” Bush said. “We need someone that can fix the problems that cause our anger and frustration, and that’s Jeb Bush.”
Bush called the 2016 campaign a “serious election for a serious job,” in a 20-minute speech that was both sober and at times light-hearted.
“I’m proud of his candidacy,” Bush said about his brother. “I came here for two reasons; one, because I care deeply about Jeb, and two, because I care deeply about our country.”
The former president pointed to the abundant “name-calling” in the 2016 election an apparent reference to the punches thrown between Jeb Bush and Trump in recent months and joked that according to their father, George H.W. Bush, “labels are for soup cans.”
“(The) presidency is a serious job that requires sound judgment and good ideas,” Bush said.
Although the former president did not once mention Trump’s name in his remarks, the implicit message was clear: Trump is not a serious candidate. “Strength is not empty rhetoric, it is not bluster,” Bush said, but rather based on “integrity and character.”
“In my experience, the strongest person usually isn’t the loudest in the room,” he added. “When Americans woke up on September 11, we did not know that the world was forever changed that day,” Bush said.
He called upon the voters “look for a candidate who has genuine respect for the United States military (and) who will support them on the battlefield and when they return home.”
“My dad is the greatest man alive, in my mind. While Donald Trump was building a reality TV show, my brother was building a security apparatus to keep us safe and I’m proud of what he did,” said Jeb Bush.
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