Bush won’t back down from ‘core beliefs’

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said Thursday night that he won’t back down from his “core beliefs,” signaling he doesn’t intend to change his positions on immigration and education to court conservatives.

Bush’s remarks at the Club for Growth’s annual retreat in Florida come on the eve of his Friday appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), where attendees are expected to greet him with some skepticism. 

{mosads}“I’m not backing down from something that is a core belief,” Bush told the audience, according to The Wall Street Journal. 

“Are we all just supposed to cower because, at the moment, people are upset about something? No way, no how,” Bush added, according to a separate report in the Washington Examiner. 

Bush, who is exploring a 2016 run for the White House, reportedly made a point of discussing the “broken” immigration system in his speech.

“It’s broken because we have a president that uses authority he doesn’t have to pick and choose who gets to stay and who doesn’t,” Bush said, according to the Examiner. “It’s broken because 40 percent of the illegal immigrants in our country came here legally and overstayed their time. It’s broken because businesses sometimes hire illegal immigrants, and they shouldn’t do that, and there should be true enforcement so that people know that that’s the wrong thing.”

Conservative radio host Laura Ingraham took to the main CPAC stage on Friday morning to rip Bush just hours before his appearance for an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity.

“How many of you are skeptical of another Bush presidency?” Ingraham asked, which led many in the audience to raise their hands. 

She then launched into an attack on Bush, and suggested he and presumed Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton could run on the same ticket.