In a jaw-dropping assessment of Hillary Clinton that is bound to raise eyebrows, Jeb Bush tells
Newsmax TV he is better suited to be commander-in-chief because the Democratic presidential front-runner is "not a work horse, she's a show horse."
The former Florida governor's swipe at Clinton, comparing her to a four-legged racetrack animal, came during an exclusive interview airing Thursday on "Newsmax Prime" with J.D. Hayworth.
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"We need to figure out ways to persuade people toward our cause. She's wrong on taxes and on regulation. She's wrong on foreign policy. Her record of accomplishment is really thin," Bush said.
"Do you know how many bills she passed in ten years while in the United States Senate? Three. Renaming a highway for [the late 'Meet the Press' host] Tim Russert, renaming a post office, and naming a monument. That's it."
"She's not a work horse, she's a show horse. I have a record of accomplishment that I can take to the American people of cutting taxes, of reducing government, of creating an environment where we led the nation in job growth. That's the record I would take to her."
Bush said that if chosen as the Republican presidential nominee, "I would run an aggressive campaign against the failures of the Obama administration's economic policies and [Clinton's] failures as secretary of state."
"The reason why the Obama administration is important to bring up is that [Clinton is] doubling down on the same economic policies of higher taxes, more regulation, suppressing people's ability to rise up."
"She talks about income inequality, but six million more people are living in poverty the day that Barack Obama got elected president and she just thinks this is all great. Declining income, low expectations of what the future looks like for people's families."
Bush said he wants to aggressively pursue the "failed" Democratic policies and offer a compelling alternative of "reforming our taxes, how we regulate, embracing the energy revolution."
He said Clinton has finally fessed up that she's against the Keystone XL Pipeline project and not in favor of exporting crude oil.
"All of these things suppress economic activity and suppress income for the great middle of our country that hasn't gotten a raise in a long while," Bush said.
He also described to Hayworth the differences he would bring to managing the nation's foreign policy goals.
"First, with leadership. The notion President Obama and Hillary Clinton express is that if you're not for our nuance of sophisticated, smart power view, then you're either in cahoots with our enemies or you're just not capable of understanding how great we are," Bush said.
"The simple fact is that there is tried and true American foreign policy — it's peace through strength. We need to rebuild our military and out counterintelligence and intelligence capability to keep us safe and we need to project our leadership in the world again."
"Name a country where our relationship is better today than the day that Barack Obama got elected as president or Hillary Clinton was elected as secretary of state. The only two I can think of are Cuba and Iran. The rest of the world is wondering where America is."
Bush said he believes that void in leadership is creating "great risks" for the United States.
"There's a direct relationship between our national security interests and our lack of leadership and so when she says that Libya was a success leading from behind, or that Syria worked out pretty good, and we see the slaughter of innocence and a huge refugee crisis, I think we can hold her account by saying America's leadership is desperate in the world," Bush said.
"We need to create a no fly zone in Syria and a safe zone to build an army financed by the Arab countries in the neighborhood that have a direct impact by our negligence and their inaction."
"We need to re-engage with our allies in Europe and others to create a fighting force and a strategy to take out Assad and to take out ISIS and allowing the Russians to engage in the kind of outsource our foreign policy will be a disaster."
Bush also said that the 2012 terrorist attack on the U.S. compound in Benghazi, Libya, in which four Americans died including Ambassador Christopher Stevens remains a big "problem" from Clinton.
"Not so much because of the fact that it happened, although there were requests for security, but it's how the government responded afterwards … Could those four Americans been saved or was there a serious effort to help?" Bush said.
"And then afterwards, when they tried to create the fog of war and call it a response to a stupid video, was that appropriate? This was in the midst of a campaign and I think the Obama administration was trying to avoid a controversy that would hurt their re-election chances. The four Americans that lost their lives are deserving of a fair hearing on this."
Bush — the son of President George H.W. Bush and brother of President George W. Bush, who was once considered a shoo-in for the 2016 GOP presidential campaign — has been struggling in the polls.
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Newsmax poll conducted after Wednesday night's third GOP presidential debate on CNBC showed Bush placing dead last, with Donald Trump, the huge winner, followed by Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas in second place and retired pediatric neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson in third.
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