Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush called the media "crack addicts" Sunday after he was asked who is more likely to end up in the White House one day - him or Sen. Marco Rubio, his fellow Floridian for whom Bush served as political mentor.

"Man, you guys are crack addicts. You really are obsessed with all this politics. Marco Rubio's a great guy," Bush said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

"You know, I've been called a lot of things," host David Gregory said.

"OK, heroin addict. Is that better?" Bush said. "Put aside the politics for a moment. We've got big challenges, and Marco Rubio, to his credit, is working on those. And he deserves a lot of credit for it, and I'm very proud of him."

The relationship between Bush and Rubio came to the spotlight earlier this week after the former Florida governor released a book that did not support a path to citizenship in immigration reform - a point Rubio is promoting in his Gang of 8 proposal. One day later, Bush changed direction and said he would endorse a path to citizenship.

Bush later pointed out Rubio did not support the measure when he was writing the book.

"When we were working on this, Marco Rubio wasn't for a path to citizenship," Bush told the Washington Post.

In an interview with Time Magazine last month, Rubio said his conversation with Bush regarding immigration reform while the former governor was writing the book amounted to a text message.

Bush told ABC News' George Stephanopoulos Sunday that he is "in sync" with the bipartisan group of senators on immigration reform.

"Senator [Lindsey] Graham and I talked. He was responding to concerns that were expressed before the book was actually published," Bush said ABC News' "This Week." "I told him that I support his efforts and I applaud what he's doing. And he concluded, after he heard what the thesis of the book is, that we're in sync. We're on the same - on the same path."