During a conference call with former supporters and allies from his days as Florida's governor, presidential hopeful Jeb Bush said that his "bilingual, bicultural" background will be an asset to him should he run for president in 2016.
Bush was responding to a question from Frank Jimenez, a Florida attorney, who said that since the Florida Republican is a fluent Spanish speaker, he is in a unique position "to reach out to Hispanics,"
The Miami Herald is reporting.
In light of that fact, Jimenez then inquired "What are some of the best ways to bring the entire party along in" reaching out to Hispanics?
"My personal belief is that Republicans can win if we’re more hopeful and aspirational, which is why we’ve used the terminology Right to Rise," Bush said in response.
"We’ve lost some sense that it’s possible that the future can be brighter for people. This is not just focused on Hispanics but in general people do want to rise up," he explained.
"As conservatives, if we offer them a compelling alternative to the failed policies of the left, we’re going to do a lot better," the former Florida governor told his supporters.
"If we campaign amongst people that traditionally haven’t voted Republican, we’ll do a lot better. If we show respect for people, they’ll listen to us," he added.
"We have these emerging demographic groups that because our message was maybe too harsh or harsher voices were the ones that seemed to dominate, we’ve lost a little ground.
"But we can recover," he said. "The fact that I’m bilingual, bicultural can’t hurt."
During the conference call,
Bush told supporters that he is planning to publish a website Tuesday, which will include emails from his tenure as Florida's governor, which he has used for a forthcoming book. He will also release the first chapter of that book on the same website.
He contends that the emails, which were previously published by a Democratic opposition research group and some news organizations will provide a glimpse into his "conservative record."
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