Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush defended his recent comments about impoverished people on “Fox News Sunday,” blaming the Left and pointing out President Barack Obama’s record on poverty.
“Our message is one of hope and aspiration, it isn’t one of division, and get in line and we’ll take care of you with free stuff,” Bush said Thursday while campaigning in South Carolina, drawing scorn from critics.
Host Chris Wallace noted that some have compared Bush’s comments to Mitt Romney, saying “the implication that they are drawing is that you think all some people want it is government handout.”
Bush argued that the Left has taken his comments out of context and pointed out that there are more impoverished people under President Obama than before.
“No, to the contrary we need to make our case to African-American voters and all voters that an aspirational message, fixing a few big complex things will allow people to rise up,” the former Florida governor told Wallace. “That’s what people want, they don’t want free stuff. That was my whole point. The Left argues all the time, taking things out of context. What we’ve had is 6 million more people are in poverty today than the day Barack Obama got elected president. Six million more more. $2,000 less dollars in American’s families in disposable income.”
“This idea that you can regulate and tax and spend your way to prosperity has failed. We spend a trillion dollars a year on poverty programs, and the net result is the percentage of people in poverty has remained the same,” Bush said. “We should try something different, which is to give people the capacity to achieve earned success, fix or schools, fix our economy, lessen the crime rates in the big urban areas. And I think people in poverty can be lifted up.”