Laura Bush was "shocked" that Barbara Bush initially disapproved of her son Jeb Bush running for president, but said she held her tongue. "Do you think I would tell my mother-in-law something?" the younger former first lady said.
In an ABC News "This Week." interview on Sunday, Laura Bush expressed support for Jeb Bush's expected run and said Barbara Bush caught her off guard with her comments on
NBC's "Today" show in 2013.
"There are other people out there that are very qualified and we've had enough Bushes," Barbara Bush said then. "It's a great country. There are a lot of great families and it's not just four families. He's the most qualified, but I don't think he’ll run."
"I was shocked," Laura Bush said Sunday, but noted she didn't make her mother-in-law aware of her own feelings.
"Do you think I would tell my mother-in-law something?" she said.
Barbara Bush eventually changed her mind about having another U.S. president in the family, emphasizing that fact in an email to supporters last month as she campaigned for donations to Jeb Bush,
reported the National Journal.
"When the idea of Jeb running for president first came up, I was hesitant," Barbara Bush said in a March fundraising email. "You may have heard about that. When you see the pounding candidates, their spouses, and even their children take, what mother wouldn't be? But our problems are so profound that America needs a leader who can renew the promise of this great nation."
The Dallas Morning News reported she expressed similar sentiments during a February gala via Skype in Bonita Springs, Florida. That event was attended by about 350 Bush supporters during her family literacy foundation.