Former GOP senator: ‘We don’t need another Bush’

Former Sen. Alfonse D’Amato (R-N.Y.) bashed Jeb Bush’s campaign team as “the same old tired crew” ahead of the GOP presidential hopeful’s expected campaign launch on Monday.

“I go back to mama Bush when she said initially, ‘Really? We don’t need another Bush or another Clinton. Can’t we come up with something else?’” said D’Amato, talking to John Catsimatidis on his Sunday AM 970 New York radio show, “The Cats Roundtable.”

{mosads}“She was right then,” D’Amato added. “She would be right now. And the fact of the matter is, it’s the same old tired crew that surrounds Bush.”

D’Amato, who was a senator from 1981 to 1999, is the last New York Republican to serve in the upper chamber.

The former lawmaker still gave Bush the upper hand when handicapping the Republican presidential field, which could easily grow above a dozen contestants.

“In the horse race of Republicans, Bush has a slight lead because of his name,” D’Amato said.

That’s a negative, he added.

“I think the American people need — are entitled to — fresh faces on the Republican side,” D’Amato said.

He did have kind words for potential candidate Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R), calling him “very interesting”

D’Amato gave the governor credit for having “the courage” to challenge the teachers’ union in his fight to limit employees’ collective bargaining rights.