Monday on Fox News Channel’s “American Newsroom,” former White House Chief of Staff under President George H. W. Bush and former Gov. John Sununu (R-NH) said Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush should not go after Marco Rubio like he did in the last debate. Instead he suggested Bush needed to go after what he describe to be “two dancing bears at the top,” which are Donald Trump and Ben Carson in his view.
Sununu said, “There are two groups that have to sharpen themselves going forward. So one is the candidates, the serious candidates, Jeb, and Rubio and Kasich and Christie, but the other group is the Republican primary voters. They have to understand they have a serious responsibility especially in the first states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. They have to start sorting the serious candidates out in this process. The fact that we have gone up into now in what almost looks like a reality show with people success receiving because they are audacious or brash rather than the experience to do the job I think is a real problem.”
He continued, “I think, as I have said before, there are pluses and minuses to the Bush name. The art form for Jeb is to maximize the pluses and minimize the minuses. And I think what you are seeing is a part of that process. Look, this is the time he’s got to step up. He’s got to commit to talking about issues in a presidential manner. He’s got to latch on to some of the big issues the public cares about and he’s got to talk about those issues in a way that gives people confidence he can take the country moving forward. And frankly, that’s the challenge that all the candidates you listed have going forward at this time.”
Martha MacCallum said, “What do you make of the sort of back and forth between Rubio and Bush? Are you surprised by that?”
Sununu answered, “Actually, of all the things that I saw at the debate, I think that’s the biggest mistake Jeb Bush made. I don’t think there is anything to be gained by going after a serious candidate like Rubio. If he wants to go after somebody, he need to go after the two dancing bears at the top.”
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