It's okay, Dubya. We don't like him, either. But don't make the mistake of thinking that means we like your bro. We don't.
“I just don’t like the guy,” Bush said Sunday night, according to conversations with more than half a dozen donors who attended the event.
One donor in the room said the former president had been offering mostly anodyne accounts of how the Bush family network views the current campaign and charming off-the-cuff jokes, until he launched into Cruz.
“I was like, ‘Holy sh-t, did he just say that?’” the donor said. “I remember looking around and seeing that other people were also looking around surprised.”
He wasn't finished.
Bush took a harsh view of Cruz’s apparent alliance with Trump, who stood with the senator at a Capitol Hill rally last month in opposition to the Iran deal. While Trump, the current GOP poll leaders, has attacked most of his competitors in the 2016 field, he has avoided criticizing Cruz.
One donor, paraphrasing the former president’s comment in response to a broad question about how he viewed the primary race and the other Republican candidates, said: “He said he found it ‘opportunistic’ that Cruz was sucking up to Trump and just expecting all of his support to come to him in the end,” that donor added.
Opportunism isn't unique to Ted Cruz.
Honestly, there's not much to like. But equally honestly, the Bush family is dreaming if they think Jeb! has a shot at the nomination.
"The first words out of President Bush's mouth last night were that Jeb is going to earn the nomination, win the election, and be a great president," said Freddy Ford, George W. Bush's spokesman. "He does not view Sen. Cruz as Gov. Bush's most serious rival."
Be careful there, Dubya. Don't get cocky.