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"But she was the one that taught us right and wrong, I can promise you that. And it’s worked out pretty good," said Jeb Bush of his mother. | Getty Jeb jokes his mom was lucky there was no 'child-abuse hotline'

Former first lady Barbara Bush is "not as great as everybody thinks she is," Jeb Bush said during a lighter moment at a campaign event in Derry accompanied by his mother, in which he joked about her proclivity to discipline.

Recounting how many times people in New Hampshire have come up to him praising his mother, Bush made sure to emphasize just who was the disciplinarian in the Bush clan when he was growing up in Texas.

"I jokingly say that when we were growing up in Midland, in Houston, that mom was fortunate not to have a child-abuse hotline available," he said, as attendees laughed, explaining that "the discipline of learning right and wrong was her doing."

Bush then got choked up in describing his father, former President George H.W. Bush, as "this perfect, idyllic man who to this day is the greatest man alive."

"But she was the one that taught us right and wrong, I can promise you that. And it’s worked out pretty good,"he said. "All the mistakes that I’ve made are my own doing, I can tell you that."

The former first lady has taken a larger role in promoting her son's candidacy on the trail in recent days, last month personally writing a letter to voters in the state asking for support and appearing in a video in which she called her son "a very good father, a wonderful son, a hard worker." The former first lady initially expressed skepticism toward a potential Bush run, remarking in 2013 that the United States has had "enough Bushes in the White House."