What Jeb Bush Says About George H. W. Bush's New Biography
"I love my dad, he’s a great guy," he said on the trail today.
— -- Jon Meacham's new biography, "Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush," isn't out until next week, but it's already making waves.
George H. W. Bush criticizes key members of his son George W. Bush's administration, including Vice President Dick Cheney and U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, according to a copy of the book obtained by ABC News.
As his other son, Jeb Bush, was boarding a campaign bus today after his last public campaign event of the day in New Hampshire, he said, "I love my dad, he’s a great guy."
The 2016 Republican presidential candidate also said he "think[s] the book’s worth reading and I recommend it.”
George H. W. Bush, 91, writes in the book that Cheney built "his own empire" and asserted too much "hard-line" influence, and Rumsfeld was an "arrogant fellow" and "served the president badly,” as first reported by The New York Times.
Former President George W. Bush responded today that he is "proud to have served with Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld."
“Dick Cheney did a superb job as vice president, and I was fortunate to have him by my side throughout my presidency,” he said in a statement. “Don Rumsfeld ably led the Pentagon and was an effective Secretary of Defense. I am grateful to both men for their good advice, selfless service to our country, and friendship.”
Rumsfeld wrote in a statement provided to ABC News, "Bush 41 is getting up in years and misjudges Bush 43, who I found made his own decisions. There are hundreds of memos on www.rumsfeld.com that represent advice DoD gave the President.”
George H. W. Bush also worried about the fiery language that he thought his son gave in to.
“I do worry about some of the rhetoric that was out there — some of it his, maybe, and some of it the people around him,” Bush told Meacham of George W. Bush. “Hot rhetoric is pretty easy to get headlines, but it doesn’t necessarily solve the diplomatic problem.”
ABC News’ Rick Klein and Shushannah Walshe contributed to report.
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