Jeb's Roots Gone Awry
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) - No question Jeb Bush - a sure shot to run for president - is popular among Hispanics. They like his moderate view on immigration.
Bush speaks fluent Spanish, his wife Columba is Mexican, his kids and grandkids are part Hispanic, he spent some time in Latin America, but Jeb is a white guy from Texas, the son of the very not-Hispanic George Herbert Walker Bush, brother of the quite white George W. Bush.
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But in a story going viral now, the New York Times reports "Jeb Bush marked Hispanic" on his Florida voter application form. Sure enough, CBS4 News obtained a copy of Jeb's voter application form filed in 2009, when he changed addresses in Coral Gables, and under "race and ethnicity" he clearly checked "Hispanic."
Unlike Jeb, this writer is not fluent but l speak a little Spanish, I've been to some Latin American countries, even been to Spain, but I'm not Hispanic. I don't think.
Still, I've sometimes wondered about an unexplained fondness for mariachi music and so just to make sure, I went down to the elections office and spoke to the nice lady at the counter and she pulled up my voter registration form and right there under race and ethnicity, I had indeed checked "white, non-Hispanic."
It was a relief to confirm who I am.
So what's with Jeb, his voter form claiming he's Hispanic? Spokesperson Kristy Campbell told me, "It is unclear how the error was made. The governor is not Hispanic."
Bush himself weighed in on his twitter page, tweeting out, "My mistake! Don't think I've fooled anyone!"
His son, Jeb, Jr., tweeted "Come on Dad, think you checked the wrong box. #HonoraryLatino."
Must give Bush points for humor. No word as yet on whether he will corregir - correct - his culturally challenged voter form.