House Republican: Bush ‘destroyed GOP’

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) said Bush had “destroyed” the GOP during his eight years in office in a blunt shot at the former Republican president, who on Tuesday released his book, “Decision Points.”

Rohrabacher tweeted Wednesday:

@MarkRMatthews Bush not class act, destroyed GOP, jailed Ramos & Compean, left us bailouts, gave more power to fed gov & China.

The GOP lawmaker, who won reelection to his fifth term last week, was responding to another conservative on Twitter who called Bush a “class act” for avoiding criticism of President Obama since leaving office. Even in interviews supporting his book, Bush has refused to take any shots at his successor.

Rohrabacher alluded to the jailing of two Border Patrol agents — Ignacio Ramos and Jose Compean — whose sentences Bush commuted in his last day in office. The pair had been convicted of shooting a Mexican drug dealer, and conservatives had championed their release.

The California Republican also complained about other elements of Bush’s time in office, including his administration’s work to set up the Wall Street bailout program in 2008, a program that conservatives have bemoaned.

Bush told conservative talk radio show host Rush Limbaugh that he’d set up the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) again if given a second chance.

“Yeah, I would’ve,” Bush said.