Jeb Bush finally disagrees with his brother on something
(Joe Raedle/Getty Images) "I am my own man," Jeb Bush insists.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) has finally found a point on which he diverges from his older brother, former President George W. Bush.
"Are there differences? Yeah, sure," Bush said Wednesday night at a sports bar after a New Hampshire resident inquired about what separated the two Bush brothers.
"I think in Washington during my brother's time Republicans spent too much money," Bush said, adding: "I think he could have used the veto power — he didn't have line-item veto power, but he could have brought budget discipline to Washington, D.C.," according to MSNBC.
Bush placed much of the blame on his brother's successor, President Barack Obama, for an "astronomically" large increase in spending. He conceded, however, that under his brother's administration "having constraints on spending across the board during this time would have been a good thing."
The former Florida governor has long said "I am my own man" in response to skeptics who question his originality in light of his family lineage.
But on May 10, many were surprised when he initially voiced support for his brother's decision to invade Iraq in 2003. After a few shots at a clarification, Bush ultimately changed his answer and said he would not have authorized the invasion if he knew intelligence indicating the country possessed weapons of mass destruction was incorrect.
As Bush, who is related to two of the five living US presidents, considers a run of his own for the presidency, he has repeatedly faced questions about his family's political dynasty, including at a Wednesday roundtable discussion with small-business owners in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
"I love my mom and dad. I love my brother, and people are just going to have to get over that," he told those gathered about his famous family, according to The New York Times. "That's just the way it is.
"I'm a Bush; I'm proud of it," he told reporters after the event. "Like what am I supposed to say?"
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