On the same evening that MSNBC’s Hardball seemed rather excited about a possible run for President in 2016 by Republican and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, NBC Nightly News was busy doing the same thing during on a news brief on Tuesday.
Anchor Brian Williams opined that Bush was “the latest in the Republican Party to speak truth to power or at least try to” during an event sponsored by The Wall Street Journal on Monday evening. [MP3 audio here; Video below]
During the event, Williams said Bush was thinking about a White House run, but also “put forth the belief that he would have to lose in the primaries, especially early on, to win the election.” The reason for that belief would be due in large part to Bush’s many moderate positions compared to other expected presidential candidates on issues such as immigration and Common Core standards.
To cap off the 23-second brief, Williams gushed that Bush brought up “the missteps” that past GOP presidential candidates made “in perhaps trying to play too far to the right” in the primaries “before heading into the general election.”
It will remain to be seen just how Bush would fare in the 2016 primaries in what’s expected to be a large field of candidates. In a poll released on Tuesday by CNN and ORC International, former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney received the most votes among 16 other contenders with 20 percent of the vote.
When the poll asked respondents who they would support among the same group of candidates minus Romney, Bush was first with 14 percent. Bush was followed in second and third by retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee at 11 and 10 percent, respectively.
The transcript of the news brief that aired on NBC Nightly News on December 2 can be found below.
NBC Nightly News
December 2, 2014
7:13 p.m. Eastern[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE CAPTION: In the Running?]
BRIAN WILLIAMS: Jeb Bush, last night, became the latest in the Republican Party to speak truth to power or try to. While admitting he is thinking about running for President, he put forth the belief that he would have to lose in the primaries, especially early on, to win the election. Noting the missteps past candidates have made in perhaps trying to play too far to the right before heading into the general election.
