Jeb Bush Calls Father ‘My Total Hero,’ Brother ‘Principled’ - East Idaho News
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Jeb Bush Calls Father ‘My Total Hero,’ Brother ‘Principled’

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Getty 060112 JebBush2?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1339086320094Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images(ORLANDO) — Jeb Bush called his father “my total hero” in an interview that aired Thursday morning, pointing out that the former president treats everyone he meets with kindness and that he’s the “full package.”

“I mean, I’ve never met a man as near perfect as George. H.W. Bush,” Jeb Bush said in an interview with Charlie Rose on CBS.

The former Florida governor told Rose his father, 87, is slower now, but good “mentally,” although “he can’t walk.”

“He’s held up by a stroller,” Bush, 59, said.  “That’s hard for a guy that’s been so vital and vigorous in life.”

Bush, the son of one president and brother to another, said his brother, George W. Bush, will be “admired for his determination and fortitude.”

He called his brother more “disciplined” than he is and denied that stubbornness ran in the Bush family, but “maybe in the case of my brother.”

“There’s a fine line between stubbornness and the positive side of that, which is dogged determination,” Bush said, before discussing his brother’s legacy.  “And I think what people will begin to see is that he wasn’t stubborn.  He was totally determined and principled about it.  And the country was safer because of it.  That will be the positive legacy of George W. Bush.”

Bush said he admired the way his brother dealt with criticism during his time in office and the country is safer now because of George W. Bush.

“To take the beating he took and to stay on course, I admire it tremendously.  I’m not sure I would have.  I probably would have lost my temper.  I think a lot of people would have lost their temper actually,” Bush said.

Earlier in the interview, Bush addressed speculation that he would join Mitt Romney on the GOP ticket.  “Under no circumstances” will he be vice president, he said.

But he kept the door open to a run for the White House himself, saying he has not “made that decision” yet.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

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