Bush: From South Carolina cameo to starring role

How did that come across in this rally tonight with both Bush brothers? “I think you can look back in hindsight and say a couple of things, but he kept us safe”, Mr Rubio attempted.

“I can beat Hillary Clinton”, he said of the Democratic front-runner. “That’s what will probably get me to vote for Marco Rubio”.

A moment later, he proved the Bush family is apparently an exception.

With less than a week to go before the SC primary, the Republican candidates left the debate energized.

Hogan Gidley, former executive director of the South Carolina GOP, said it is clear that South Carolina has a special place in its heart for George W. Bush, and that voters here remember Bush’s comeback win in the state in 2000.

Now it’s Jeb Bush’s turn to seek SC salvation. He’s also a reminder to voters eager to break with the political establishment that Jeb Bush would be the third man from his family to serve as president.

The comments came minutes after Trump first brought up the 9/11 attacks in a barb with Bush’s brother, White House hopeful Jeb Bush.

He also quipped about his new hobby of painting: “Let me assure you, I know that the signature’s worth more than the painting”. “The presidency is a serious job that requires sound judgment and good ideas”.

The nation’s 43rd president said his brother will “rise above petty name-calling”, a not-so-veiled dig at Trump.

“I understand that Americans are angry and frustrated but we do not need someone in the Oval Office who mirrors and inflames our anger and frustration”, Bush said.

Whether it works is up to Jeb.

“I’m a Bush, proud of it. I love my brother”. And I know for a fact what happened.

Barbara Bush, the former first lady, hit the trail with Bush in New Hampshire, boasting to voters that her son is an honest and decent man.

Jeb comes into SC having struggled for months and trailing in the national polls by a significant amount.

This is how Jeb Bush wants to fundamentally transform America.

Bush has work to do.

Dr. Ben Carson and Ohio Gov. John Kasich tried to remain positive and above the fray, addressing problems in the American economy.

“All the sloganeering and all the talk doesn’t matter if we don’t win”, Bush said. “It’s just competition. He has a stronger field than his father or his brother had”.

Real strength, he said, means facing challenges and prevailing. It came down. That was the greatest attack in the history of the United States – worse than Pearl Harbor… “Their values are close to SC values”. “If Carroll were with us today, he would want the people of SC to get behind Jeb”, she said in a statement. Scott and Gowdy have tossed their support to Rubio. George W. Bush remains very popular here, especially with, you know, mainstream Republicans and military Republicans, military families and veterans.

Bush hasn’t always embraced his family legacy.

As Trump assailed the former president over 9/11 and Iraq during a weekend debate, Jeb Bush responded that “while Donald Trump was building a reality TV show, my brother was building a security apparatus to keep us safe – and I’m proud of what he did”.

Daniel Nichols, a 36-year-old from Central, S.C., added that some of Jeb Bush’s troubles in SC are of his own making.

There were plenty of attendees at the North Charleston Coliseum who said their main motivation for coming to Jeb Bush’s rally Monday night was to see an ex-president in person.

The former president’s return to presidential politics has been met with blistering attacks from Trump about the unpopular Iraq war and the economic recession that began at the end of his administration. George H.W. Bush, the 41st president, won twice here, beating Bob Dole in 1988 and demolishing Pat Buchanan in 1992. “I disagree with him on that”, said Cruz.