Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio are "gifted politicians," but "we need someone with a proven record to fix the mess in Washington," Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush told
Newsmax TV on Wednesday.
"We need a leader as president of the United States," the former two-term Florida governor told "Newsmax Now" hosts J.D. Hayworth and John Bachman in an exclusive interview. "Someone with a proven record.
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"These are two gifted politicians who have spent their entire adult lives focused on their own ambitions rather than dealing with hurricanes and tropical storms — which I had to do — or create the first, the second, and the third statewide voucher programs in Florida.
"I cut taxes $19 billion in eight years," continued Bush, who served in the Tallahassee Statehouse from 1999 to 2007. "They called me 'Vito Corleone' because I brought discipline using line-item veto power.
"We had eight surpluses, eight balanced budgets. We're one of two states to go to a triple-A bond rating," he said.
That's the message that Bush said he is taking to New Hampshire voters, who cast their primary votes on Tuesday.
He added that his record would stand up to Govs. Chris Christie of New Jersey and John Kasich of Ohio, who also are seeking the presidential nomination.
"I've had eight years as the most successful conservative reformer in our state's history — and certainly one of the governors who, in the last 20 or 30 years, people look to as the most successful.
"I've got a story to tell and it's a story of consistently applying conservative principles and never wavering and generating results," Bush told Newsmax. "No disrespect to back-bench United States senators.
"No disrespect because they are gifted — and I would support them if they are the nominee, but we need a nominee to go up against Hillary Clinton that has a proven record, because she's going to come at whoever our nominee is with a vengeance."