In an interview with Bloomberg’s Mark Halperin Thursday, Speaker John Boehner said that it will take voters “a while” to get over former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush because of his “handicap”: his last name.
Boehner said he told Bush to not look at a poll for six to eight months, adding that it will take a while for Americans to “figure out” he’s not his brother George W. Bush or father George H.W. Bush.
HALPERIN: Jeb Bush. You have been a fan of his. Last year, you said that he’d be a good candidate and that you’ve been nudging him to run. You’ve said that, on the record and I know that privately in the last election and in this one, you have been pretty keen on him to run. What makes you think he would be a good candidate for your party and, if he won, a good president?
BOEHNER: Jeb and I have been friends for a long time. I think that Jeb can talk about the values of our party as good as anybody that we have. Secondly, he has a track record as governor of Florida. A conservative governing record that is exemplary. Obviously, he has a handicap. His name is Bush. But as I told him, I would not look at poll for the next six, seven, eight months. It’s going to take a while for them to get over the fact that his name is Bush. It’s going to take a while to figure out that he is not George or his dad. I think he is a good guy.