"He can give a speech, complete speech, in Spanish."
In an appearance on The Daily Rundown With Chuck Todd, George W. Bush endorses Jeb Bush's Spanish language skills while he admits he can only speak about "50 words."
BUSH: “I hope he runs. He’ll make up his own mind. I’m thinking, he, solely, knows if he can do the job. No matter who says he should run, he knows he’s going to make up his mind based upon what he thinks is right for his family. And I have no idea, I really don’t.”
GUTHRIE: “You know politics.”
BUSH: “Yes, I do.”
GUTHRIE: “Do you think he can get through the Republican primary?”
BUSH: “Absolutely. I think if he runs, people will say, ‘I know this guy could be a great president.’ This man has got a vision and can articulate it. He’s good, really good. And he also — he can give a speech, complete speech, in Spanish, that — you know, my vocabulary is about 50 words. And he’s not afraid of the competition should he decide to run.”
In October, Jeb Bush took the opportunity to show off his Spanish in a presentation to Denver’s Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, where he took questions from Spanish-language media about immigration:
The former Florida governor warned against President Barack Obama’s expected executive action to limit deportations, promised for some time shortly after the election. Instead, Bush said Congress needs to pass a bill and that a newly Republican Congress would solve the nation’s immigration woes — although the Republican-controlled House refused to vote on a major immigration bill this year.
“The constitution requires Congress to pass laws, not the president,” Bush said in Spanish, contrasting that with some Latin American strongmen’s ability to implement laws by fiat.