Former President George W. Bush responded to criticism from his father, former President George H.W. Bush, by sticking up for former Vice President Dick Cheney.
Bush 43 said Cheney did a "superb job" as vice president and also stood up for former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in a statement:
I am proud to have served with Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld. Dick Cheney did a superb job as Vice President, and I was fortunate to have him by my side throughout my presidency. Don Rumsfeld ably led the Pentagon and was an effective Secretary of Defense. I am grateful to both men for their good advice, selfless service to our country, and friendship.
In a new biography of Bush 41, the former president criticized Cheney for becoming "very hard-line and very different from the Dick Cheney I knew and worked with."
"The reaction (to Sept. 11), what to do about the Middle East. Just iron-ass. His seeming knuckling under to the real hard-charging guys who want to fight about everything, use force to get our way in the Middle East," Bush told author Jon Meacham, according to Reuters.
In a statement to NBC, Rumsfeld responded to the comments.
"Bush 41 is getting up in years and misjudges Bush 43, who I found made his own decisions," Rumsfeld said.
Republican presidential hopeful Jeb Bush stood up for Cheney Thursday:
The biography, "Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey Of George Herbert Walker Bush," will be available in stores on Nov. 10.
Read more on George H.W. Bush's comments on Cheney and Rumsfeld here.
This story has been updated with responses from Jeb Bush and Rumsfeld.
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