Jeb Bush Slips: Is He Running?

Everyone has been asking the same question regarding Jeb Bush for the last several months: “Is he running?” It looks like the rumor might be true. He let slip in a press conference Wednesday that he will, in fact, be running. With just half a sentence, Bush sealed his fate as a 2016 presidential candidate.

He was speaking with reporters following a town hall meeting in Reno, Nevada, when he said, “I’m running for president in 2016 and the focus is going to be about how we, if I run, how do you create high sustained economic growth.”

Even though he tried to save the slip-up, it looks like the secret is out.

This isn’t the first time he has let reporters know just how seriously he’s considering a candidacy. In that same conversation, Bush remarked several times that he might run, particularly in an exchange about his brother, former President George W. Bush, when he reiterated variations of, “If I run, it will be 2016, not 2000.”

When reporters asked his team if they could confirm or deny the statement, they made no comment.

It’s not much of a surprise that he’s this serious about running for president. People have been asking: “Is he running?” since the beginning of the year when he began traveling the country to meet voters, particularly to the swing states.

However, it looks like the reason he hasn’t officially announced his presidency is because of his current super PAC, which has gained countless investors and high sums. As law mandates, once candidates officially announce their intentions to run for office and launch a formal campaign, they can no longer work with the super PAC. It’s usually obvious that those in this situation are running for president as observed through their time spent meeting voters, making speeches, and engaging in other political activities, but they won’t reveal themselves until the last possible moment so they can continue raising money for the campaign.

The former Florida governor discussed several other opinions on political matters in the meeting with reporters, but when asked if he would have ordered the 2003 Iraq invasion as his brother had, he claimed he had no intentions of looking at the past, only focusing on the future.

If Jeb Bush officially announces his candidacy, it’s likely he will not be able to step out from his brother’s, or even his father’s, shadow. That press conference was definitely not the first time Jeb has been asked about his brother’s decision to invade Iraq. In fact, as reported previously on the Inquistr, he told Fox News that he would have made the same decision.

“I would have [authorized the invasion], and so would have Hillary Clintion, just to remind everybody. And so would almost everybody that was confronted with the intelligence they got… By the way, guess who thinks that those mistakes took place as well? George W. Bush. Yes, I mean, so just for the news flash to the world, if they’re trying to find places where there’s big space between me and my brother, this might not be one of those.”

Jeb never has anything bad to say about his family’s past presidential decisions. When asked, he generally redirects the question towards the future and what he will be doing in 2016, not in years past.

Some call it familial loyalty, some call it smart politics. Either way, it’s looks like we’ve found the answer to the question, “Is he running?”

[Image via NBC News]