After NBC spent Tuesday hyping likely Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush having his "first interview fail" and being in "damage control," on Thursday's Today, co-host Savannah Guthrie piled on: "Things getting off to a rocky start on the campaign trail for likely Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush. He has repeatedly faced sharp questions in recent days about his support for the Iraq war and his brother's legacy in foreign policy."
As evidence, she cited a left-wing Democratic student activist in Nevada launching into a rant against Bush following a town hall event: "...he was confronted this time by a 19-year-old college student and a Democrat."
A clip ran of Young Democrats member Ivy Ziedrich blasting former President George W. Bush:
Your brother created ISIS....My question is why are you saying that ISIS was created by us not having a presence in the Middle East when it's countless, pointless wars when we send young men to die for the idea of American exceptionalism?
Jeb Bush replied: "We respectfully disagree. Look, you can rewrite history all you want, but the simple fact is that we're in a much more unstable place because America pulled back."
The clip left out Ziedrich's parting shot: "It's this idea – like, why are you spouting nationalistic rhetoric to get us involved in more wars?" It also left out much of Bush's full response:
We respectfully disagree... Al Qaeda had been taken out, there was a fraudulent system that could have been brought up to create, to eliminate the sectarian violence and we had an agreement that the president [Obama] could have signed, it would have kept 10,000 troops, which is less than what we have in Korea. It could have created the stability that would have allow for Iraq to progress. The net result was, the opposite occurred because immediately that void was filled. And so, look, you can rewrite history all you want but the simple fact is that we’re in a much more unstable place because America pulled back.
NBC seized on the ambush of the Republican contender while at the same time ignoring that Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton has refused to conduct a single interview with the press and has been caught planting Democratic operatives and supporters at her supposedly spontaneous campaign events.
Here is a full transcript of the May 14 Today segment:
9:08 AM ET
SAVANNAH GUTHRIE: Politics is getting busy. Things getting off to a rocky start on the campaign trail for likely Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush. He has repeatedly faced sharp questions in recent days about his support for the Iraq war and his brother's legacy in foreign policy.
[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: New Bush Legacy Issue for Jeb?; Confronted by Student Over Brother's Foreign Policy]
And after a town hall meeting in Reno, Nevada, he was confronted this time by a 19-year-old college student and a Democrat. Take a listen to what happened.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN [STUDENT]: Your brother created ISIS.
JEB BUSH: Is that a question?
WOMAN: You don't need to be pedantic to me, sir.
BUSH: So what is the question?
WOMAN: My question is why are you saying that ISIS was created by us not having a presence in the Middle East when it's countless, pointless wars when we send young men to die for the idea of American exceptionalism?
BUSH: We respectfully disagree. Look, you can rewrite history all you want, but the simple fact is that we're in a much more unstable place because America pulled back.
MATT LAUER: Alright, a little testy exchange there. If that's not enough, earlier in the day the former governor, who has yet to officially declare that he is running for president in 2016, had a slip of the tongue when answering questions about the economy. Listen.
BUSH: 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 where more people have a chance to earn success.
GUTHRIE: Cat's out of the bag.
LAUER: "I'm running for president."
AL ROKER: We just witnessed the most low-key announcement ever.
GUTHRIE: Oh, the campaign trail.
MATT LAUER: "If," he did get "if" in there.
GUTHRIE: Yes, he did.
