After a week of misinterpreting, misspeaking and mismanaging the media over his position on the Iraq war, Jeb Bush’s hoped-for shock-and-awe campaign-in-waiting looked nothing like a political juggernaut.

“It’s the Bad News Bears,” quipped Dave Bossie, president of the Citizens United conservative group. “The problem for Jeb Bush is he didn’t look very agile. He didn’t look smart in the sense of a rapid-response communications system that could get him out of the trouble he was in.”


More troubling for Bush is that many supporters are getting jittery because he appeared ill-equipped to appreciate and manage the demands of the modern-day, 24-hour news cycle. And, they note, this isn’t the first time Bush has floundered over what he believes – a waffling that could undermine his reputation as a deep-thinking ideas man comfortable in his own skin, one who decries politicians “who just bend with the wind.”

But Bush appeared to do just that last month, according to conservatives who criticized his shifting positions over Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which allowed some businesses to deny some services – in effect, to gays — based on the owner’s religious views. Bush said it was “the right thing” to do.

Then, an anti-discrimination national backlash against Indiana brewed. The state clarified the law to ensure it didn’t allow for discrimination based on people’s sexual orientation or gender identification. Bush changed right along with it by saying the law was “in the right place [because] we shouldn’t discriminate based on sexual orientation.”

“Jeb Bush Backtracks on Religious Liberty,” a Reason blogger wrote. “How Does Jeb Bush Feel About RFRA? Apparently, He Can’t Decide,” the blog Chicks on the Right opined. “Jeb Bush seems to shift tone on Indiana RFRA at fundraiser,” said a Hot Air blog headline.

Bush was in eerily similar circumstances two years before, in 2013, when he was plugging his new book “Immigration Wars: Forging an American Solution.” The former Florida governor, who previously supported a pathway to citizenship for some illegal immigrants, wrote that he now backed a pathway to legal residency only.

“Those who violated the laws can remain but cannot obtain the cherished fruits of citizenship,” Bush and co-author Clint Bolick wrote.

Oops. By the time Bush’s book was out, the political landscape had briefly shifted and his longtime friend and protégé, Sen. Marco Rubio, was at the time a member of the so-called “Gang of Eight” that proposed a pathway to citizenship in its legislation. So Bush, after fumbling to explain his change of heart, reversed course again and explained that he supported a pathway to residency because he generally thought it was the most politically palatable option when he was penning the book, before the Gang of Eight bill.

“I have supported both — both a path to legalization or a path to citizenship — with the underlying principle being that there should be no incentive for people to come illegally at the expense of coming legally,” Bush told CNN in a tortured explanation that The New York Times described Bush as “backpedaling.”

“As political re-entries go, Jeb Bush’s has been rocky,” the Times wrote on March 5, 2013.

“Welcome to life as a potential presidential candidate! When you leave open the door to a presidential bid, and are no long just an elder statesman for the party, every little thing starts to become magnified – which has happened to Jeb Bush over the past 24 hours,” NBC’s “First Read” blog wrote at the time. “Here’s something to remember about Bush: He hasn’t run a race since 2002 (before Facebook, Twitter, and more partisan media).”

Change the dates and the topic, and Bush’s multiple explanations and prolonged waffling are much like what happened to him in describing the Iraq War to FOX’s Megan Kelly, who asked last Saturday if he would have invaded Iraq “knowing what we know now.” Bush said yes and falsely said Hillary Clinton would have done the same thing.

After that interview, which took place Saturday, some in Bush’s orbit realized he might have a problem and discussed whether to call Kelly to clarify his remarks. On Sunday, Fox published a news story teasing the interview that was to air the following day. Once the interview aired, critics and opponents pounced.

On Tuesday morning, Bush’s longtime friend and CNN commentator Ana Navarro said on the network that she asked Bush what he meant because even she was confused. Navarro said Bush told her that he “misheard” the question. Some in Bush’s inner circle were furious with Navarro and blamed her for making the situation worse – though many believe she felt the need to try to protect her friend as the situation spiraled out of control without an adequate explanation.

Bush finally decided to address the issue in a softball interview Tuesday on conservative commentator Sean Hannity’s radio show, where he explained he “interpreted the question wrong, I guess.” Bush said he believed the question referred to what he would have done with the available intelligence at the time.

“I don’t know what that decision would have been. That’s a hypothetical. But the simple fact is that mistakes were made,” Bush said. On Wednesday, at a Nevada event, Bush continued to refuse to answer “hypotheticals” and said that, in this case, such speculation “does a disservice for a lot of people that sacrificed a lot.” He then had a testy exchange with a college student who accused him of being “pedantic” in responding to her.

Finally, after four days and four different explanations, Bush broke down: “If we’re all supposed to answer hypothetical questions: Knowing what we now know, what would you have done? I would not have engaged. I would not have gone into Iraq.”

Former Republican consultant Ed Rollins, who worked on Ronald Reagan’s campaigns as well as Mike Huckabee’s 2008 race, said running for president today takes a deep appreciation for the changes in the news media cycle. And, he said, it didn’t appear Bush was aware of that.

“Both he and Hillary Clinton don’t appear ready for prime time. She’s had the worst few weeks of any candidate I’ve ever seen, and Jeb was a close second this week,” Rollins said. “But she has no real Democratic challenger while he’s got a very, very tough battle in the Republican primary. He can’t afford to make these types of mistakes.”

“Making a basic misstep like that with a question that was perfectly, 100 percent predictable is frankly astonishing,” Randy Scheunemann, a former adviser to defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld under Bush’s brother, told BuzzFeed. “It does not bode well for his candidacy.”

State Rep. Matt Gaetz, a Bush backer, said the coverage surrounding Bush’s statements over Iraq was overblown. He said that voters would ultimately support Bush because, in the end, they would view his comments and his accessibility – in stark contrast to the off-limits Clinton – as “authentic.”

But many longtime Bush supporters were baffled.

“Jeb doesn’t surround himself with yes men. But he hates being handled, and this is what happens when you don’t have a real campaign, when you don’t have someone who manages the candidate because he’s not really a candidate,” said one longtime Bush-backing Republican. “And even if Jeb was prepared, if he had his talking points, he obviously didn’t prepare enough.”

Another Bush supporter pointed out that Bush, before Kelly’s interview, had just come from a speech at Liberty University in Virginia. He was likely tired. And he underestimated the importance of the interview.

“He probably thought ‘Oh, it’s FOX. It’s a friendly interview.’ And he got caught with his guard down. And this is like boxing without a rest: Never let your guard down,” the supporter said. One Bush donor said the problem with Bush’s management of the situation gives Rubio an opening to win Republicans who were already concerned with Bush’s electability.

“These gaffes only serve to make Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz more serious candidates,” said Bossie, the Citizens United president. “This isn’t a fatal mistake. It’s nothing that $100 million can’t fix,” said Bossie, referring to the quarterly fundraising goal the Bush camp hopes to meet by the end of this month.

Bossie said he believed Bush needed to declare his candidacy so he can have a traditional campaign infrastructure around him to help him handle all of the rigors of the campaign trail.

Bush made clear in his FOX interview that he wasn’t yet a candidate. And, he seemed not to realize that he’d just made a mistake that could ripple across the 2016 race for months to come.

“Here’s the deal, Megyn,” Bush said. “If I go beyond the consideration of running to be an actual candidate, do you want people to just bend with the wind, to mirror people’s sentiment, whoever is in front of you? ‘Oh, yes, I used to be for that but now, I’m for this.’ Is that the way we want to elect presidents?”

Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated where Liberty University is based.