Jeb Bush: 'I don't know' if Obama is a socialist

[Modbert]

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(CNN) – Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush told an interviewer that he could not say whether or not President Barack Obama is a socialist, and that the president would not have been elected if he had been honest with Americans about his agenda.

Bush would not answer the question of whether he agreed with the assessment of some congressional Republicans that the president is a socialist. "I don't know. Define socialism for me," he told Esquire magazine. "It's a word… I believe he's a collectivist. He believes that through collective action, through government, you can solve more problems." He added that he believed the word "socialism" was a pejorative, and "didn't help" the GOP make its case.

The brother of former President George W. Bush and son of former President George H.W. Bush dismissed the idea that his party's policies were unpopular with most Americans. "I don't think there's any seismic shift. The Democrats have won on tactics," he said. "Barack Obama would not have gotten elected if he'd let us in on his secret plan prior to the election," he said, pointing to the president's economic agenda and energy proposals.

Bush called conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh "a hugely important force for the conservative movement," but added that he was "more interested in elected officials, how they behave."

Asked by Esquire to name the leaders of the Republican Party, Bush included former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, but did not mention 2012 GOP frontrunners Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee or Sarah Palin.

He discounted the idea he might run for president one day.

Well how unsurprising that he would say such things.

My question for Mr. Bush is:

What exactly has Obama been hiding that he has only revealed now? I can't think of anything he's saying now that he was "hiding" on the campaign trail.

 

[Centrism'sVoice]

I do not know whether Jeb Bush manipulated the 2000 election, either.

 

[driveby]

I do, he is ........

 

[Oddball]

Jeb Bush: 'I don't know' if Obama is a socialist

Seeing as he comes from a long line of Fabian socialists himself, I'll be he "doesn't know".

 

[ozzmdj]

Obama is a Marxist or better a Statist.

 

[Zoom-boing]

.

 

[CrusaderFrank]

I don't know if Jeb is an idiot.

Wait a sec, yeah, he is