Jeb Bush Talks About His Dad Again

3 minute read

Jeb Bush is talking about his father again.

Since his campaign launch in June, the Republican presidential candidate has periodically talked about his father, George H.W. Bush, who served as vice president and president. This week, it came up again twice.

During an interview on “Meet the Press” Sunday, Bush talked with host Chuck Todd about how much he loves his dad.

“I love my dad. I’d kill for him. I’d go to prison for him because, I love him so much,” he said. “Thankfully I haven’t had the need to do that.”

After a speech at a charter school in New Hampshire Wednesday, Bush responded to a question about his father with more praise.

“When I was a kid, he was just a dad,” he said. “And he was the greatest dad alive.”

But, he added, if his father said he was “disappointed” in him, it would send him into a “deep spiraling depression for days.”

Here are some other times that Bush has talked about this father on the campaign trail.

February: During a speech on foreign policy, Bush said that he would follow his own path. “I love my father and my brother,” he said. “But I am my own man—and my views are shaped by my own thinking and own experiences.”

April: During a campaign stop in New Hampshire, Bush joked about his family ties, saying he is not running “to try to break the tie between the Adams family and the Bush family.”

June: On his father’s birthday, Bush tweeted a photo of his dad. “To the greatest man I’ve ever known. Happy Birthday, Dad,” he wrote.

August: Bush opened an online campaign store with a T-shirt praising his dad. “My dad is the greatest man I’ve ever known, and if you don’t think so, we can step outside,” it reads.

At the first Republican debate, Bush said the bar was higher for him because of his father. “That’s fine. I’ve got a record in Florida. I’m proud of my dad, and I’m certainly proud of my brother,” he said. “In Florida, they called me Jeb, because I earned it.”

September: Bush argued that his father would set a good example for his presidency on foreign policy. “I know how to do this because, yes, I am a Bush,” he said. “I happen to have seen two really good presidents develop relationships with other countries.”

October: Bush said his campaign was helping keep his father’s spirits up. “I noticed he’s not watching CSI reruns anymore,” he said. “He’s watching FOX, getting mad about people that attack me. I feel like I’m making a contribution to keep him strong.”

November: Bush included an email from his father in a new book in which he talks about he loves. “It is so good of you that I have gotten over my being cropped out by the photographer,” the elder Bush wrote.

See Jeb Bush's Life in Photos

Jeb Bush Life in Photos
George W. Bush and Jeb Bush, Jan. 1, 1955.Sygma/Corbis
Jeb Bush Life in Photos
From left to right: Doro, Marvin, Neil, and Jeb Bush, fall 1963.George Bush Presidential Library
Jeb Bush Life in Photos
From left to right: Doro, George, Jeb, Marvin, George W., Neil, and Barbara Bush, 1966.George Bush Presidential Library
Jeb Bush Life in Photos
Jeb Bush (center) was the varsity tennis team captain during his senior year at Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass., 1971. Seth Poppel/Yearbook Library
Jeb Bush Life in Photos
George Bush and his four sons, Neil, Jeb, George W. and Marvin in 1970. Bob E. Daemmrich—Sygma/Corbis
Jeb Bush Life in Photos
Jeb and Columba Bush on their wedding day, Feb. 23, 1974.George Bush Presidential Library
Jeb Bush Life in Photos
Jeb Bush loudly applauds his father, Republican presidential hopeful George Bush, at a campaign rally in Concord, N.H. on Feb. 28, 1980.Frank Lorenzo—Bettmann/Corbis
Jeb Bush Life in Photos
Vice President George Bush holds a fish with his sons George W. and Jeb during a family vacation in Kennebunkport, Maine in Aug. 1983.Cynthia Johnson—Getty Images
Jeb Bush Life in Photos
From left to right (without children): Neil and Sharon Bush, George W. Bush and wife Laura, Barbara and George Bush, Margaret and Marvin, Bobby Koch and Dorothy, Jeb and Columba, are seen in this Bush family photo taken in Kennebunkport, Maine on Aug. 24, 1986.Dave Valdez—White House/Sygma/Corbis
Jeb Bush Life in Photos
Jeb Bush plays cards with his son while riding in a recreational vehicle, Nov. 8, 1993.Christopher Little—Corbis
Jeb Bush Life in Photos
Jeb Bush is interviewed at a Miami Radio Station, WIOD, Mar. 1980. He went on to become Governor of Florida in 1999.Tim Chapman—Getty Images
Jeb Bush Life in Photos
George W. Bush and Jeb Bush at the Republican Governors' Convention in New Orleans, 1998. Nina Berman—SIPA
Jeb Bush Life in Photos
Texas governor George W. Bush celebrates good news with his brother, Florida governor Jeb Bush, while watching the presidential election returns, prior to being elected as President of the United States, inside the Governor's Mansion in Austin, Nov. 7, 2000. Brooks Kraft—Sygma/Corbis
Jeb Bush Life in Photos
Republican governor of Florida, Jeb Bush, studies his laptop watching vote returns for his reelection his wife Columba Bush and his parents, former President George Bush and first lady Barbara Bush in Miami on Nov. 5, 2002.Joe Burbank—Orlando Sentinel/MCT/Getty Images
Jeb Bush Life in Photos
Republican nominee for President, Mitt Romney, campaigns around Florida with Governor Jeb Bush, left, Senator Marco Rubio, right, and Congressman Connie Mack, left back of head, in Coral Gables, Fla. on Oct., 31, 2012. Melina Mara—The Washington Post/Getty Images
Jeb Bush speaks at CPAC in National Harbor, Md. on Feb. 27, 2015.
Jeb Bush speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Md. on Feb. 27, 2015.Mark Peterson—Redux for TIME

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