Jeb Bush Quotes

The Kurds are the greatest fighting force and our strongest allies. They're Muslim.

Sometimes when people say things, we should actually believe what they say.

We've got to be willing to lose the primary in order to win the general election.

We need to increase our military spending. We need to deal with a no- fly zone in Syria, a safe zone.

We mustn't assume that we are going to deinvent government solely from inside the Beltway or within one or two sessions of Congress. We will do it one step at a time, in one community at a time - at the local level and through local institutions like churches, nonprofit and volunteer organizations and families.

If we're going to ban all Muslims, how are we going to get them to be part of a coalition to destroy ISIS?

Half of the interview is substantive and half of it I think is sizing the person up.

Don't just talk about Hispanics and say immediately we must have controlled borders. It's kind of insulting when you think about it. Change the tone would be the first thing. Second, on immigration, I think we need to have a broader approach.

I've always believed that if you support reform or you support a particular idea that you ought to fund that idea first and not the system.

When businesses go through hard times, through down markets, what do they do is they challenge every basic assumption of how they operate. They innovate. They create disruption for a while that leads them to even greater heights when the economy turns around.

[Barack Obama] believes climate change is a bigger threat to our country than these barbaric Islamic terrorists that have as their organizing principle the destruction of Western civilization.

ISIS has a caliphate the size of Indiana! Also, US military has been totally gutted. Can't even project power anymore.

I think it's very sad that CNN leads Jeb Bush, down a road by starting off virtually all the questions, "Mr. Trump this, Mister" - I think it's very sad. I watched the first debate, and the first long number of questions were, "Mr. Trump said this, Mr. Trump said that. Mr. Trump" - these poor guys - although, I must tell you, [Rick] Santorum, good guy. Governor [Mike] Huckabee, good guy. They were very nice, and I respect them greatly. But I thought it was very unfair that virtually the entire early portion of the debate was Trump this, Trump that, in order to get ratings, I guess.

Low standards are a tactic that takes pressure off teachers unions by accepting mediocrity and failure for kids.

Donald [Trump], you're not going to be able to insult your way to the presidency. That's not going to happen.

I would let the military commanders give the commander in chief options rather than tell them what you want to hear. Not having gotten those options, I can't tell you if we are going to have boots on the ground but certainly, a more expanded role for the special operators would be essential. And being more effective in strikes as it is relates to the air.

I think I can fix the problems in Washington that people desperately want to see fixed.

I believe that the great majority of people coming here illegally have no other option. They want to provide for their family. But we need to control our border. It's not - it's our responsibility to pick and choose who comes in.

The role of the federal government, if any, is to create more school choice.

We need to embed our forces - our troops inside the Iraqi military. We need to arm directly the Kurds. And all of that has to be done in concert with the Arab nations.

I am my own man. I governed as a conservative, and I govern effectively.

I do have the strength. Leadership, leadership is not about attacking people and disparaging people. Leadership is about creating a serious strategy to deal with the threat of our time.

There's a whole lot of America that looks at each other and says, 'Well, there's 340 million people living in America. Isn't there somebody other than a Bush or a Clinton who can be president in these modern times'?

America does not have the luxury of withdrawing from the world, our security, and our prosperity, and our values demand that we remain engaged and involved in -- often distant places.

You have to remember that in a state like Florida, independent voters will decide the election.

Hillary Clinton has aligned herself with Barack Obama on ISIS, Iran and the economy. It's an alliance doomed to fail. My proven record suggests that - my detailed plans will fortify our national and economic security. And my proven record as governor makes - will give you a sense that I don't make false promises.

I was blessed to have a mother and father that recognized the value of education.

A lot of conservatives, a big part of the Republican base don't like his position on common core, don't like his position on immigration.

We need a strategy to destroy ISIS there. You can't do that without the cooperation of the Muslim world because they're as threatened as we are.

We now have a national security consideration, public health issues, we have an epidemic of heroine overdoses in all places in this country because of the ease of bringing heroine in. We have to secure the border.

Everything's viewed with a political lens in Washington, and that's just the nature of the beast, and it is what it is.

If Americans are working harder than ever earning less than they once did, our government and our leaders should step up, offer a plan, fix what's wrong -- or they should step aside, the recovery has been everywhere but in the family paychecks. The American Dream has become a mirage for far too many.

Regarding national security, we need to restore the defense cuts of Barack Obama to rebuild our military, to destroy ISIS before it destroys us. Regarding economic security, we need to take power and money away from Washington D.C. and empower American families so that they can rise up again.

Hillary Clinton is using a private server for - where classified information go by. This is a - this is a serious administration?

I don't want to be elected president to sit around and see gridlock just become so dominant that people literally decline in their lives. That's not my motivation. I have a lot of cool things to do other than sitting around, being miserable, listening to people demonize me and being compelled to demonize them. That is a joke. Elect Trump if you want that. If you want somebody who has a heart for people, who can fight for people, and can fix these things, then there are a couple other people, and I believe I'm the best one.

I will seek out the best advice, and I will create a strategy and I will persuade the American people what the role of America should be. I've laid out a policy of rebuilding our military.

I don't believe the federal government should be involved in the creation of standards directly or indirectly, the creation of curriculum or content. It is clearly a state responsibility.

I'd say my greatest weakness is impatience. I don't suffer fools well.

I know what I don't know. I would seek out, as I have, the best advice that exists. I won't get my information from the shows.

I have a blessed life in so many ways.

I had the chance to be governor for eight years and I took a year to transition out and a year to transition in, so that's a decade of my life where I pursued my own ambitions and I thought it was time to rearrange my life to focus on other things.

Developing a strategy, leading the world, funding it to make sure that we have a military that's second to none, and doing the job and making sure that we destroy ISIS there. That's how you keep America safe.

You cant just be against the president.

To honor the people that died, we need to stop the Iran agreement, for sure, because the Iranian mullahs have their blood on their hands, and we need to take out ISIS with every tool at our disposal.

I really think that elected officials should be focused on how you create sustained economic growth, how do you create jobs and all of these issues that made people - segments of our society believe are really important are diversions politically.

Why would our president close the embassy to the Vatican? Hopefully, it is not retribution for Catholic organizations opposing Obamacare.

I want to win. [...] We're not going on win by doing what Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton do each and every day. Dividing the country. Saying, creating a grievance kind of environment. We're going to win when we unite people with a hopeful, optimistic message. I have that message because I was a governor of a state that saw people lifted up, because we had high sustained economic growth.

You can love the Mexican culture, you can love your Mexican-American wife and also believe that we need to control the border.