Bush: ‘I’m Part of the Establishment Because I’m Barbara Bush’s Son’

Barbara Bush jokes with her son Jeb while introducing him at a town hall meeting at West Running Brook Middle School in Derry, N.H., on Feb. 4, 2016. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush, who is gaining some traction in New Hampshire, said he embraces his role as an “establishment” politician every day.

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A recent Harper Polling survey showed Bush in second place with 14 percent behind frontrunner Donald Trump at 31 percent.

A new CNN/WMUR poll shows Trump in first place at 29 percent, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) in second place at 18 percent, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) at 13 percent, John Kasich at 12 percent and Bush with 10 percent.

“We need someone whose ambition is to serve others, not to serve their own ambitions. I’m part of the establishment. I figured this all out. I’m part of the establishment because I’m Barbara Bush’s son. I embrace that every day — that doesn’t bother me a bit. I’m proud of my dad, I’m proud of my brother, I’m proud of being a Bush,” Bush said during a town hall in New Hampshire.

Bush’s mother, Barbara, made her first campaign appearance for Jeb at the event.

“I didn’t really plan on this,” Barbara Bush said at the town hall. “But Jeb is the nicest, wisest, most caring, loyal, disciplined.”

The former first lady said Jeb is “not a bragger.”

”We don’t allow that,” she told supporters.

Bush said he was an “equal opportunity vetoer” as governor, regardless of which party was “porking out” with certain line items in the budget.

“The basic concept is government cannot grow faster than our ability to pay for it, and if you believe that then we need a line-item veto power in Washington, D.C.,” he told supporters.

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Rubio promised his N.H. supporters he would beat Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton without any coin flips – how she beat Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) at some tied caucus locations in Iowa.

“We have a chance to be greater than we’ve ever been; I believe that with all my heart. There is a chance – a real chance within our reach – that my children and the children that are here today and your children and grandchildren could be the freest and most prosperous Americans that have ever been,” he said on Tuesday. “That’s within our reach — that will not happen if the next four years are anything like the last seven.”

Rubio said the sense of anger and frustration voters feel is justified because neither party has done enough to stop President Obama’s agenda.

“He doesn’t view the Constitution the way you and I do. He views the Constitution as an annoyance, as an outdated and stale document that we need to figure out how to get around — that’s why he issues these unconstitutional executive orders, that’s why he undermines the second amendment, that’s why he undermines religious liberties,” he said.

Trump opened up his rally on Thursday with his stance on illegal immigration, explaining that offering amnesty is unfair to those that go through the legal immigration process.

“You have people that are waiting for years to get in. They’re going up a list and they have worked hard,” he said.

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In a separate event, Trump connected border security to New Hampshire, saying voters have told him about the heroin problem in the state.

“If you look at New Hampshire, you have a tremendous heroin problem,” he said at a CNN town hall. “It’s coming from the border. People are driving trucks right over the border loaded with cocaine, loaded up with heroin, loaded up with all sorts of drugs, and they’re taking the money back.”

Trump emphasized the need to bring jobs back from Mexico to New Hampshire.

“We’re not going to let Mexico steal all our businesses. This has been going on for years; I mean, you look at New Hampshire,” Trump said at the rally.

“We’re going to have businesses that used to be in New Hampshire that are now in Mexico come back to New Hampshire and you can tell them to go … themselves,” he added, mouthing the F-word.

Trump moved a scheduled campaign event from Friday to Monday due to snowy weather.

Bush shot back on Twitter with a photo of his mother meeting a child.

“My 90 year old mother made it out to campaign. She met Destiny, age 5,” he wrote.

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