Conservative group targets Jeb Bush as ‘unelectable’ in ad

by Jonathan Easley - 05/13/15 4:00 AM ET

The conservative group ForAmerica will launch a five-figure Web campaign Wednesday in early-voting states featuring an ad that ties Jeb Bush (R) to Hillary Clinton (D), and that blasts the former Florida governor as “unelectable.”

“Almost all Republicans understand Hillary Clinton would make a terrible president,” text from the ad reads.

The ad cuts to a handful of GOP presidential contenders — including Sens. Marco Rubio (Fla.), Ted Cruz (Texas), Rand Paul (Ky.), Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and businesswoman Carly Fiorina — criticizing the former secretary of State for a variety of reasons.

{mosads}“All except one,” text from the ad continues.

The ad then cuts to Bush speaking at a National Constitution Center event in September 2013, where he presented Clinton with the group’s Liberty Medal award for her career in public service and as an advocate for women’s rights around the world.

“I want to say thank you to both Secretary Clinton and to President Clinton, thank you for your service to our country,” Bush says in the ad.

Bush’s father, former President George H.W. Bush, shared the award with Clinton’s husband, former President Bill Clinton, in 2006 for their shared work in revitalizing the region in Southeast Asia that was devastated by a tsunami.

ForAmerica Chairman Brent Bozell, a frequent critic of many establishment Republicans, including Speaker John Boehner (Ohio) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), said Bush’s speech makes him “unelectable” because he has “handed her the ammo to bury him.”

“Mr. Bush is unelectable and there are several better options for conservatives and Republicans if they want to win in 2016. Period,” Bozell said in a statement. “By heaping praise on Hillary Clinton, Mr. Bush has handed her the ammo to bury him … and she will. No other potential GOP nominee has that fatal disadvantage.”

ForAmerica says it will be pushing the one-minute-long ad through a five-figure Web campaign and on its “massive digital and social media network” presence in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada, the four carve-out states, as well as Florida, Maine, Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri.

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