Jeb Bush pulled off an epic faceplant on CNN when he was was asked why he blames President Obama and Hillary Clinton for Benghazi, but doesn’t his brother for 9/11.
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TAPPER: But how do you respond to critics who ask, if your brother and his administration bear no responsibility at all, at all, how do you then make the jump that President Obama and Secretary Clinton are responsible for what happened at Benghazi?
BUSH: Well, I — it’s — the question on then Benghazi, which is — hopefully we’ll now finally get the truth to, is, was that — was the — was the place secure? They had a responsibility, the Department of State, to have proper security.
There were calls for security. It looks like they didn’t get it. And how was the response in the aftermath of the attack? Was there a chance that these four American lives could have been saved? That’s what the investigation is about. It’s not a political issue. It’s not about the broad policy issue, is, were we doing the job of protecting our embassies and our consulates, and during the period, those hours after the attacks started, could they have been saved?
TAPPER: Well, that’s — that’s kind of proving the point of the critics I was just asking about, because — you don’t want to have your brother bear responsibility for 9/11.
And I understand that argument and al Qaeda is responsible. But why are the terrorists not the ones who are responsible for these attacks in Libya?
BUSH: They are. Of course they are. But — of course they are. But if the ambassador was asking for additional security and didn’t
get it, that’s a proper point. And if it’s proven that the security was adequate compared to other embassies, fine. We’ll move on.
There is a reason Jeb is polling in single digits everywhere, and that reason’s name is George W. Bush. Jeb Bush’s hypocritical non-answer perfectly summarized why he probably not going to be elected president.
Bush can’t both attack Obama, and defend his brother’s horrible record. His attempts to do both have resulted in the rewriting of history. Bush’s answer today left out the pre-9/11 intelligence that his brother’s administration ignored.
Jeb Bush has been a disaster as a candidate, and answers such as the one he provided to CNN are a big part of why he is failing.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
