Jeb Bush Finds 2012 GOP Debate Rhetoric 'A Little Troubling'

Jeb Bush finds some of the rhetoric in the GOP presidential debates "a little troubling."

"I used to be a conservative and I watch these debates and I'm wondering, I don't think I've changed, but it's a little troubling sometimes when people are appealing to people's fears and emotion rather than trying to get them to look over the horizon for a broader perspective and that's kind of where we are," said the former Florida governor Thursday while answering a question from the audience during a speech in Dallas, according to Fox News. "I think it changes when we get to the general election. I hope."

In an interview with a local CBS affiliate, Bush cautioned the contenders not to campaign too far to the right. "I think it’s important for the candidates to recognize though they have to appeal to primary voters, and not turn off independent voters that will be part of a winning coalition," said the younger brother of former President George W. Bush.

Bush, who successfully courted the Hispanic vote in two terms as governor of Florida, has previously voiced concerns about immigration rhetoric coming from the GOP field. In an interview with Bloomberg before the Florida primary, he said that he didn't agree with Mitt Romney on immigration but likes him. The New York Times reported that Bush personally voiced his concern on immigration to Romney.

Bush shot down speculation that he would enter the 2012 race and said that the nominee would be one of the candidates currently in the race.

Former Bush White House Senior Adviser Karl Rove said he shared Jeb Bush's concern Thursday in an interview on "Fox News." "Look, I share his concern," he said. "These debates have tended to sort of focus the effort on exactly what he says -- operating out of fear, in part, because of the nature of the kind of questions and the fact that they're all trying to gain an advantage over each other.

Comments

[Cyke101]

12:29 AM on 03/22/2012

Karl Rove has a lot of nerve to say he opposes the current GOP rhetoric, seeing as how he was a key player in shaping that rhetoric of fear, hate, and "ends justify the means" logic during the Dubya years.

[Giggie]

05:26 AM on 03/02/2012

Jen makes a valid point, but he is too late. The horse is out of the barn door and charging. Rove is one to complain.....he created this monster and now it's taken on a life of it's own. Next you will see the candidates speaking at Klan rallies complaining about how the white race has lost it's place.

[MsMich]

11:33 PM on 03/01/2012

Jeb Bush should worry about his own issues. Let me tell you of my experience with baby Bush my brother was sent to prison for petty crimes when he was sick with aids (that he got in prison) he has never ever committeed a crime that was harmful to anyone but himself. The family pleaded with Mr. Bush to give a early release to my brother when he was dying in prison hospitals he was unable to walk and was no threat to anyone. The family only wanted to comfort him and help him accept his fate surrounded by people who loved him. Our request was denied and no reasons were given. Our brother died alone and was not even permitted special visitation for his mother. This guy like the rest of the Republican party lacks any sense of compassion or decency for Americans.

[Stephan Wilczek]

03:25 PM on 06/11/2012

And yet when Orlando Bosch, an unrepentant terrorist bomber wanted a pardon, Jeb and his daddy conspired to give him one. Jeb himself belongs more in a jail cell than in office, after having raped the taxpayers and defaulting on HUD and HEW loans. In his own words" I want to be VERY wealthy."

[cclaker]

08:29 PM on 06/11/2012

Thanks for that insight. I'll remember it.

[HTmfG]

11:54 AM on 02/27/2012

As if the opinions of W's older brother and his puppeteer mean anything this race. Whatever sense he makes have been forever tarnished by the family idiot and his puppet master.

[SuperHeretic]

10:06 AM on 02/28/2012

Especially when you consider that for three generations, the Bush family has engaged in war profiteering, committed treason TWICE (Prescott Walker Bush, and his son George Bush), and while it's debatable that George "Dubya" Bush did as well... he was definitely a war profiteer and used America as his own personal piggy bank, while his actions cost the lives of people in this country and around the world. What's more, he did this all while spending more time on vacation than any president in U.S. history.

The Bush family has pretty much damned itself. They are a prime example of just how evil and greedy men can be.

I firmly believe they hate what America stands for, and suspect that they're trying to make it crash and burn while making a profit.

If you want to really make yourself feel a little ill try looking up Prescott Bush and how he tried to sell out this country to the SS during the height of WWII.

Nice family... that's sarcasm to all the slow kids.

[McGyver1]

10:47 AM on 02/27/2012

This advice from Jeb is a reflection of the Bush's big government centrist view. But the Republican party is NOT the same any more. It has been filled with Libertarians and Tea Party's small government and fiscal responsibility view. I wouldn't expect any Bush to understand .

[Pherdnut]

03:18 AM on 02/27/2012

They haven't started goose-stepping yet but I think it might be a little late to urge them to not go too far right.

[DreamWeaver2nd]

02:04 AM on 02/27/2012

Have we been tormented by the Republican circus of presidential candidates only to have an original plan unfold as Jeb Bush takes to the center ring to announce that he will seek and he will accept the Republican nomination for president of the United States of America?

Oh, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO...
The electronic voting machines have not been fixed and the Supreme Court has.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[liarfire]

01:30 AM on 02/27/2012

The last champions of the people was the Kennedy's...The Oligarchy/banker cartels took them out...you will never see them again in American history..you are ruled by dynasty family and corporate political elite ...Modern politics is the theater for the mass's so you wont figure it out!

[AvgJoeBlow]

09:25 AM on 02/27/2012

They were a Dynasty family too.
It was no accident he was assasinated immediately before Executive order 11100 took effect.

[liarfire]

08:54 PM on 02/27/2012

They at least cared about the people and the planet they wished to preside over unlike the current Oligarchy elite...

[liarfire]

01:14 AM on 02/27/2012

IM well convinced JEBBY had a hand in rigging the election for his BRO!... but ya know Americans like criminal mentalities they keep electing them and worshiping their financiers. (banker mafias)

Oh and Obama is in on the scam by the way!

[booksnmoreforyou]

11:10 PM on 02/26/2012

In other words, Jeb is thinking of jumping the GOP Clown Boat for the Dem Sane Boat.

C'mon over Jeb. We Dems actually have room for moderates.

[Nardac]

06:55 PM on 02/26/2012

In other words, he hopes that voters are stupid enough in the general election so they won't remember what those clowns said in the primaries. Fat chance of that Jeb, considering how far out there they have gone it's going to be next to impossible to come back from that.

[Knute]

05:59 PM on 02/26/2012

Karl Rove says its the nature of the questions asked in the debates that have driven the rhetoric of the GOP candidate to such extremes?

Ya Karl. It's the debate questions. That's the problem with the GOP candidates.

[Nardac]

06:57 PM on 02/26/2012

Don't you love Karl's attempts at damage control. Poor guy, this goes even beyond his spinning skills.

[liarfire]

01:16 AM on 02/27/2012

KR the most despicable liar know to man..D.C. has the creeep factor on top of it!.. come to think of it they are both that creeepy pasty balding glass's wearing iky dudes....

[Geauterre]

05:49 PM on 02/26/2012

Jeb Bush and Karl Rove share a concern about America becoming too extreme. Gag.

[emperorofohio]

05:16 PM on 02/26/2012

A quick history lesson about the "conservative" Bush family.
Jeb Bush, George Bush Sr., and his son Neil Bush have all been implicated in the Savings and Loan Scandal, which cost American tax payers over $1.4 TRILLION dollars

[Knute]

06:05 PM on 02/26/2012

In another irony of Bush Conservatism, Prescott Bush (the father of Bush Sr. and Jeb & GWB's grandfather) was a U.S. Senator from Connecticut and one of the founders of Planned Parenthood. In fact, Prescott Bush was the treasurer of Planned Parenthood's first national fundraising campaign.

[need-to-know]

05:03 PM on 02/26/2012

Jeb knows the current Republican party is a mess and will more than likely loose. He is hoping they come to their senses after getting beat by Obama in 2012 and are ready for his less extreme version of conservatism.