George Bush featured in super PAC ad backing Jeb Bush
The Bush family is throwing its weight behind Jeb Bush in the race for the White House -- and former President George W. Bush is the latest family member to join the ranks.
In a new television ad for Right to Rise USA, a super PAC backing Bush's presidential campaign, the eldest Bush brother discusses the "first job of the president" and how Jeb is best equipped to protect America.
"Our next President must be prepared to lead," the former president says in the 30-second spot. "Our next president must be prepared to lead."
"I know Jeb," he continues, as patriotic images of an American flag, the White House and uniformed military men play across the screen. "I know his good heart and his strong backbone. Jeb will unite our country. He knows how to bring the world together against terror, and he knows when tough measures must be taken."
The elder Bush concluded the ad with a pitch to his brother's "experience and judgment."
"Jeb Bush is a leader who will keep our country safe," he said.
The Right to Rise television spot will air over the weekend in South Carolina, according to a super PAC official. Right to Rise did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the amount of the ad buy.
The younger Bush brother has spent much of this campaign trying to get away from the legacy of his family name, and now he seems to be embracing it, or at least trying to harness its remaining power, as his poll numbers show him lagging. A poll released Friday shows Bush tied for fourth in New Hampshire, and he finished in sixth place in the Iowa caucuses this week.
Bush has begun to bring his famous family onto the campaign trail, too. His mother, Barbara Bush, flew from Houston to campaign with her son in New Hampshire on Thursday.
"I love my son and I know that America needs him," Mrs. Bush told CBS News in her first TV interview since the 2016 campaign started. "He's honest, dependable, loyal, relatively funny! Good looking, but funny."
George W. Bush has already attended fundraisers for his brother and is expected to make his first appearances in South Carolina before the Feb. 20 Republican primary.