Jeb Bush spoke out Friday in support of immigration reform, but his claim that immigrants are “more fertile” might have startled people who otherwise share his beliefs. The former Republican governor of Florida spoke today at the Faith and Freedom Coalition in Washington, D.C. You can see his remarks in the video I posted below.
Well-known as the brother of former US President George W. Bush, Jeb Bush has been widely regarded as a possible front-runner for the US presidential race in 2016.
Twitter blew up within moments of Jeb Bush making the comment . He made the address to a crowd of mostly conservative activists.
In fact, the speaker ahead of him at the conference was Tea Party favorite Michele Bachmann, who opposes immigration reforms — as do many other conservatives and Republicans.
But Jeb Bush, who is a Spanish speaker married to a woman born in Mexico, insisted that immigration reform can be a conservative value:
“The one way we can build the demographic pyramid is to fix a broken immigration system to allow more people to come to learn English, to play by our rules, to embrace our values and to pursue their dreams in our country…This is a conservative idea. And if we do this, we will rebuild our country in a way that will allow us to grow. If we don’t do it — we will be in decline.”
A few moments later, Jeb Bush voiced his opinion that immigrants are “more fertile and love their families.”
His point of view wasn’t well-received. CNN called it “inarticulate,” and Yahoo News said that he was greeted with “tepid and sometimes absent applause.”
Check out the video and decide what you think for yourself, then enjoy a few of the reaction tweets:
Oh, Baby! ” @NROcorner : Jeb Bush Push for Immig Reform (natch), says illegals have more kids, so let ’em in! http://t.co/TOoee8tkpL ”
— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) June 14, 2013
Disaster Confirmed: Jeb Bush Backs Senate Immigration Bill, ‘Hopes’ It Won’t Lead To Millions Of New Dem Voters http://t.co/3uZAmlPyj6 #WAR
— Patrick Dollard (@PatDollard) June 14, 2013
Well it’s a bit of a relief to know Jeb Bush has no interest in ever being president.
— John Fugelsang (@JohnFugelsang) June 14, 2013
Feel free to voice your own opinion in our comments section. What’s your take on his immigration position or the Jeb Bush theory that immigrants are more fertile?
[Jeb Bush photo by Gage Skidmore via Flickr and Creative Commons ]