Bush Touts Canada, ISIS Plan in New Hampshire
The potential presidential candidate also blasted public schools as 'monopolies' in a pre-campaign jaunt.
HUDSON, N.H. – In his first trip to the Granite State as a potential 2016 presidential candidate, Jeb Bush defended his inclusive immigration position, blasted public schools as “monopolies” and provided a fresh outline for how he’d confront the barbaric Islamic State group as commander-in-chief.
The former two-term Republican governor of Florida toured a biosciences lab Friday and then fielded nearly 40 minutes of questions from local business and education leaders during a round-table. All the while, a jostling herd of media trailed, photographed and livestreamed his every move, reinforcing his outsize presence in the pre-primary phase of the campaign.
Immigration
Bush stood by his view that the U.S. should move toward an immigration system driven by economics that would allow millions to come out of the shadows and attain legal status.
He pointed due north for an example.
“Canada has more economic immigrants than we do,” he said. “I wonder which country has the best economic benefit. I think Canada probably has the better deal.”
To those on the right who malign him as an advocate of amnesty, Bush formulated a response.
“It’s easy to say, ‘Anything you propose is amnesty.’ But that’s not a plan. That’s a sentiment,” he said.
School Vouchers
Bush is “all in” on moving to expand vouchers to allow more children to attend private schools. And his disdain for the current public school system was on full display, as he compared it to a company that has grown so large it’s overwhelmed the competition.
“Our funding is based on funding the monopolies. It’s about funding the public school system,” he lamented, “not necessarily the needs of the students.”
Asked later if he favored privatizing the Department of Veterans Affairs to increase the efficiency of care for veterans, he said he didn’t know if that was appropriate.
The Islamic State Group
Bush also provided his most extensive answer to date on how he would “tighten the noose” on the Islamic State group.
He said he favored carving out a protected zone in northeast Syria that would provide a haven for an international army led by the Free Syrian Army, which includes defectors from the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad. This would allow an allied coalition to “engage and isolate” the extremists, Bush argued.
He indicated U.S. troops would be part of an overarching plan to deal with borderless violence in the Middle East. Bush said he favored placing “some small-force level” of troops in Iraq to train and assist Iraqi forces.
“You can’t do it by going to the U.N.,” he said.
But Bush also carefully rejected the perception that he’s an Jeb Bush Touts Canada, School Vouchers, ISIS Plan in New Hampshire - US News:
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