the elder bush, h. bush, and barbara bush, the former first lady went and looked around. she actually said this. "so many of the people in the arena here were underprivileged anyway. so this is working well for them." [laughter] remember the prime minister of great britain, tony blair, former prime minister was a great ally with george w. bush and also a friend. they had a press conference said he knewe bush what type of toothpaste the former prime minister used. i thought, this offers an opportunity for a cartoon. based on that iconic photograph that you may see in one of the catalogs here. right after 9/11, bush went down to ground zero, stood on top of a pile of rubble. the people that were milling around said, i can't hear you. going,e iraq war kept and popular opinion turned against the president and his policies, i thought, you didn't hear us. >> that's great. >> the last one. "interrogation methods do result in saving american lives." that's the press interrogating, which is their job, the president and vice president -- why are we invading iraq when osama bin lade

"jeb bush expresses despair." and politico.com, this rather devastating one in the foreground here, "bush family gathers in texas to rescue jeb." it also led to some unkind criticism on the campaign trail as to why exactly governor bush was going out of the way to do this event with his brother and his dad and his mom at this particularly difficult point in his campaign. >> think of this. here's a guy, here's a guy wants to run our country, and he can't even run his own campaign. no, think of it. and you know what? he's cutting back big. he's cutting back 40%. so bush has no money. he's cutting. he's meeting today with mommy and daddy. and they're working on their campaign. they're working. >> 40% payroll cut for the whole campaign. with all of the terrible press. with even their donors telling the press they think the campaign is over and he'll be out in 60 days, with that kind of thing ringing in their ears the bush family convened their donors this weekend. in the middle of that epic storm. for what was either

bush presidency. they spoke about their methods for detecting serious issues and extent they go into adequate wiseacre subject. is the part of a three-day conference on the bush administration hosted by hofstra university india. india. 0te minutes.ur and 2 >> welcome to political --cartoe "political cartoonists and the george w. bush presidency." my name is lawrence levy, and cean of the national center for suburban studies at hofstra university. it's been a long week, believe me. and my own irrelevance to this gathering is that for 20 years n sat on the newsday editorialard board, it is my distinct pleasure to have an adjoining oc offices with the cartoonist at newsday and to set within an dditorial board meetings, thebor ofmeetinst among a sea writers was gsjust a treat. he always kept us loose and on our toes.ure now it's my pleasure now to introduce my co-moderator. spent half of her remarkable career in private law practice and the other half in social service in washington. associationted the of

bush, poppy bush's son. the story of his service, how he got that spot, what was the character of his service once he was in the texas air national guard. that issue simmered as sort of an intriguing, back burner biographical/political story through out his first effort to become president and after 9/11, the start of the iraq war, democrats picked john kerry to run against george w. bush in 2004. when republicans and conservative groups in 2004 decided to attack john kerry that year on the basis of his war record, claiming that john kerry didn't deserve his medals, he had somehow faked his apparent heroism in vietnam, once that happened, it was bound to be next that george w. bush's contrasting experience from a that time period when he was serving under somewhat mistier yaw circumstances in what was called the champagne unit of the texas air national guard, after the whole swiftboating thing it was bound to happen this aspect of george w. bush's life would become focus and a lot of aggressive reporting in

bush, and then each of our cartoonist bush and some of their bush era cartoons. if we have time, a couple of our cartoonist will drive -- draw live sketches and then we will invite your questions. to kick it off, let us start at the end with mike. i wanted to ask -- was george w bush good to you as a cartoonist from a creative point of view? mike: yeah, gosh. someone mentioned all conrad earlier and he used to talk about how nixon administration was like the late -- the greatest time in cartooning history. the golden era was the bush administration because first of all, you had 9/11, that they knew something was coming and did not do anything about it. he misled us into iraq and then you had katrina and the economic health down. the bush administration could not have been any better for cartoonist unless they had discovered cheney and bush naked together. that would've been fabulous. they were great. the job was easy. ann: he is right. easyesn't make your job but it does give you a lot of material to actually draw from. it -- i didfound not get him at first. i kn

al gore and george bush. so i think donald trump is basically playing to those republicans that wish that al gore had been president on 9/11. i think that's a pretty small group of people. you know, i think trump just keeps throwing these things out. i think ultimately at a certain point people become tired of it. you know, it's -- custer was looking for the indians, too. at a certain point, you know, when you have this path, it's not one that leads, necessarily, to glory. >> but he is throwing these things out and a lot of these attacks, specifically against jeb bush, harry, you say he has gotten inside of jeb bush's head. >> you know, jeb bush was supposed to run a joyful campaign. i have to be honest, my father's funeral a month ago was just moref more joyful than this campaign has been. look at marco rubio who has a nice, steady straight line. compare that to bush who has been falling down. even his own home state to florida is forth to donald trump. >> i want everyone to take a listen. we've just turned

bush and jeb bush, which is a fascinating document. there's one pooled reporter allowed in. we don't have tape to play you but we can find it, we can post it on our website. and one of the things that struck me was, you know, for understandable familial reasons, right? he understands his brother. jeb bush loves his brother george w. he thinks he was a great president. and i think they're a little out of sync with how that presidency and the bush family and the entire kind of gop-aristocracy which they are indisputably, the way all those folks are viewed not just by democrats or independent viewers but even by the gop base. >> yeah, i think that that's an early card that fell flat very quickly when they tried to play it. the reality of it is not understanding where the base was, where activists were, where even donors in some cases were relative to the rest of the bush narrative i think was a fatal flaw out of the gate. i always thought that jeb should have made it very clear that he's not his father, he's not his brother, and in so many ways he is his own man, and to demonst

jeb bush. what do you think is the strategy or smart that jeb bush is taking him on? >> well, you know, uhm until just a few months ago, jeb bush allowed these attacks to go on and go on and and go on. many of his supporters were upset by it. the jeb bush we've seen in the past month or so since that debate has decided to take donald trump on and just because of these comments made by his brother, we've seen a video put out on saturday that questions donald trump as a leader. also they put a fund-raising e-mail out to try to raise money off this. we also saw jeb bush on "state of the union" question whether donald trump is the person you want in charge of the nuclear code. it's getting really nasty at this time. >> mark preston, thank you so much. this dispute was a focal point last night, jeb bush and several other republican candidates were speaking at the faith and freedom coalition near dallas. trump was not there. >> one of the bigger moments came when the pastor weighed in on this back an

and with the bush campaign, who thought jeb bush was going to walk away with the nomination. this republican told me a short time ago that this is the first time i think that jeb bush may not actually win the gop nomination. >> a lot of people asking so many questions. thank you very much. joining me is a jeb bush supporter. good to have both of you. rick, let me start with you. george w. bush coming to the rescue tonight trying to moments ago reach with donors. here he is. >> thank you. god bless you. >> thank you. >> don't put that on ebay. >> all right. a light moment. he's signing autographs. saying don't put this on ebay. the question is, though, he's immensely popular, nearly 90% of the electorate have a popular opinion of him. can he save jeb bush right now? >> there is a sense right now in the commentary that's probably a little too panicked. i think jeb has not been enough panicked in the last few weeks. i think w is a very popular figure and great president and republicans do love him. he can certainly help keep the fuel in the tank going forward by helping raise so

bush has no money. he's cutting, he's meeting today with mommy and daddy and they're working on their campaign. >> he is languishing way back in the pack, but his campaign is a total disaster. he paid people far too much. his campaign is in disarray. his whole thing is a mess. is campaign is a disaster. i came along. i'm proud of it. >> gene, a guy who says i've got better things to do. what would they be? what relevance would the life of jeb bush be if he weren't running for president? would we be thinking about the guy? >> that is a very good question. maybe he would be in the private sector. i don't know. if you don't think being president is cool, you really shouldn't run for it. it's a whole lot of stuff to go through to run for being president. i think trump, of course, is clever and he sees that by attacking jeb bush, even if he doesn't think bush is the major threat any more, by attacking bush, he attacks the republican establishment. that has been sort of a winning strategy for him to be the ou

they have to hear the bush name area -- bush name. bush has been up massively on this show. even though they have spent twice as much as hillary, they are getting less than half the impact in terms of advertising. governor bush remains forth in iowa and new hampshire. we have not seen movement there. have not had a lot of incredible polls in iowa and new hampshire. i think we will see more coming out of the next week. it will be interesting to see if this massive buy buy right to rise has move in the numbers for governor bush at all. mark: the group supporting rubio is on the air. i want to ask about governor kasich. there are other factors in media. not just the volume of the ads but the content, what is your sense about how those ads are doing given his numbers in new hampshire ticking down as of late? ken: he went up early in the summer. he was the only person up with a significant buy in new hampshire. then he got into that conversation, that 10 percentage point range. they have just recently made another $3 million by. we have no

right now on physician first look" the battle between donald trump and jeb bush over president bush's role in the 9/11 tragedy, a political blame game. >>> incredible images of devastation as typhoon slams into the fill peends with 150-mile-per-hour winds and the equivalent of six feet of rain. >>> police are still searching for a shooter who opened fire, killing one and wounding five at a florida zombie festival. >>> the mets have the cubs against the wall as they head to wrigley. >>> deflate gate rivals battle at indy and ed ye murphy trading places with mark twain? "first look" starts right now. good monday morning to you. thanks for joining us today. i'm betty nguyen. 55 weeks until election day 2016 but this upcoming week could prove to be explosive. "the washington post" is reporting the inside story of trump campaign's connections to a big money superpack. the campaign strongly denies green lighting the make america great again pack and threatening a lawsuit should "the washington post" report truch has given his blessing. if true this could hurt the reputation of a candidate.

again, meetings today in houston, this time with bush 43, george w. bush, and more donors. of course, we do know the one thing jeb bush certainly has in its favor is the fact that he comes from a very well-established political family here in the united states. and we also know as they are promoting the fact that sometimes in politics at this stage in a presidential campaign, the first can very well be last when the primaries come around, wolf. >> we do know he seemed to show some frustration with what's going on in this race right now. listen to this. >> if this election is about how we're going to fight to get nothing done, then i don't want any part of it. i've got a lot of really cool things that i could do other than sit around being miserable, listening to people demonize me and me feeling compelled to demonize them. that is a joke. elect trump, if you want that. >> to some, it suggested that he was ready to maybe throw in the towel if things get uglier and uglier all the time. how's he responding to some of the criticism that's come up in the aftermath of that commen

bush. there's a reason why you were saying ben carson and mike huckabee are separating themselves. it's an unclear question. a lot of republicans don't like the aftermath of what happened with 9/11 with. they don't like the extended fight in the middle east. you saw trump kind of turn it toward that. trump dealt an initial blow and tried to clean it up. you are going to see him play toward the idea of george w. bush having some play. >> he's saying because of my tough immigration policy, where i wouldn't be letting people in, i would haveeen able to prevent 9/11. let's hear him make that case. >> i am extremely, extremely tough on illegal immigration. i'm extremely tough on people coming into this country. i believe that if i were running things, i doubt those families would have -- i doubt those people would have been in the country. so there's a good chance that those people would not have been in our country. with that being said, i'm not blaming george bush but i don't want jeb bush to

jeb bush's problem is not donald trump. jeb bush's problem is jeb bush. you all need to do 7,000 word interviews on why jeb bush is mad as hell at the republican establishment and what he's going to do to change it. it's not trump that's in his way it's jeb that's in his way. >> with all that as the backdrop, donald trump continued his feud with jeb bush yesterday over the 9/11 terror attacks. yesterday morning trump tweeted quote, jeb is fighting to defend a catastrophic event. i'm fighting to make sure it doesn't happen again. jeb is too soft. we need tougher and sharper. bush responded last night. >> his view of history is just wrong. the simple fact is that when we were attacked my brother created an environment wherefore 2,600 days we were safe. nobody attacked us again. he changed laws. united the country and kept us safe. a tip of hat to that and moving on to what the threats are today is what we should focus on. >> what's your take on that? >> donald trump has proven time and time again he's gotten under jeb bush's skin. in october of 2015, the wa

what does bush do? trump bestne is bush. john: very difficult. that --s time for gilligan's island. carly fiorina won the last debate. the question is how she would do tonight. rand paul did an interview with larry wilmore. he will be with us shortly. chris christie is apparently upset about his greenroom. let's listen to a part of this rant. >> i have about had it with these people. let me tell you want. we have one candidate who says we ought to abolish medicaid and medicare. have you ever heard of anything so crazy as that? telling people that we are going to abolish medicaid and medicare? we have one person who says we ought to have a 10% let tax to drive up this this is -- deficit by trillions of dollars. why don't we have no taxes? a chicken in every pot on top of it. out: i know what a break moment would look like for the professor and marion, but for the rest of these? you see in john kasich, this is more tactical than pure frustration. there is no doubt he is frustrated. he is going to denounce what he sees as superficiality of the race. chris christie, rand paul, carly , m

bush. but let's senator new hampshire, jeb bush spent the day. kasie hunt joins me from the grant it state. kasie, you've been doing a lot of reporting behind the scenes. today about jeb bush trying to say all is calm, all is well. what have you learned behind the scenes? >> chuck, trying to spin this as well as it can be spun but they also know that that's an uphill battle. jeb bush himself on a conference call trying to calm down some of those nervous donors around 3:30 this afternoon, sally bradshaw, a top adviser also on the call. he vowed to improve, that he said he's going to try to get better as a debater, campaigner and looking forward to get back out on the trail. he also thanked donors for hard work and refuting the national media narrative pushing behind him. of course the challenge is, that narrative has just turned so aggressively against him. chuck, i've been talking to people in rubio's campaign, and those who have given to him, there are rubio people reaching out softly, gently, to some of the bush donors who feel might be willing

bush who put maliki in office in the first place, so does bush bear the blame? richard clarke made a point earlier on in which he tells us what he thinks. >> if it were not for the american invasion of iraq and the subsequent disbanding of the iraqi army by the united states, there would be no isis. isis is a direct outgrowth of the american invasion. >> clark's former colleague douglas feith sticks to his guns. >> if today you knew what we know about what happened in iraq, would you going back have invaded iraq? what's your answer? >> i think that the only meaningful way to approach that is to ask whether president bush, knowing what he knew at the time, made the right decision, and i think he did. >> tony blair, when he was prime minister of the united kingdom, was bush's most public partner on the iraq war. >> of course you can't say that those of us who removed saddam in 2003 bear no responsibility for the situation in 2015. >> but blair still wonders what was the alternative. >> we have tried intervention and putting down troops in iraq. we've tried interve

george bush '41 there, george bush '43 there, jeb bush is there. these donors have given a lot of money and watched this campaign and super pac spend a lot of that money on ads. jeb is in single digits everywhere. can you see a way that jeb bush actually turns this around and actually gets traction if all this spending hasn't gotten him that? >> it's going to be tough this debate wednesday is going to be huge for jeb bush without question. he's done okay in the last couple of debates. he hasn't done well enough to change the dynamic. it's still trump's race. carson is coming up, sliding into that great position in iowa as you discussed earlier in the show. this meeting with his father and brother, it just reenforces everything trump is going after about him. trump has mocked jeb bush. he needs his mommy and daddy to help him. it's that bullying, taunting thing he does so well. jeb had to see his mom, dad and brother and step out with them. that's part of hoe is. i don't think it helps him in the long run. >> he really has, donald trump is the perfe

jeb bush was touted as the guy who will be better than george w. bush. >> george w. bush 2.0. the thing about the siblings i find out is it is even uncome tortable for him when reporters say what about your brother's record? he fires back and you don't see him so fiery and he says oh are you like your brother? are you like your sister? and you can see them going -- are you an exact replica of your sibling? it is hard for him. the bush money. the fundraising pool that is there. it is probably pretty hard to distance himself too much, but he wants to be seen as his own man. >> you have the brothers, right? then you also have the dad who wasn't not that long ago. we remember when george hw wasn't. we have the clintons and the bushes and are people going i don't want anymore of this? >> i think the country is over the clintons and the bushes. they are like, are you serious? this is mark where anyone can be president whether they want to or not. >> trump or sanders, right? >> i think we would rather that. i also think it is jeb's unfor the fat only hope -- unfor few natalie -- unfo

bush younger brother. mr. trump claiming he would have done a better job protecting america. >> i am extremely, extremely tough on illegal immigration. i'm extremely tough on people coming into this country. i believe that if i were running things, i doubt those families -- i doubt that those people would have been in the country. >> in moments, we'll look at the politics of it all with brad woodhouse, who agrees with mr. trump. and new york congressman peter king who has an issue with him. plus, senator marco rubio is here to respond. but we begin with trace gallagher and a fact check on donald trump's argument that he would have headed off the hijackers here. trace? >> reporter: back in 2000 when donald trump was considering running for president on the reform ticket, he wrote about the terror threat facing the united states. saying, i am convinced we're in danger of a terrorist attack that will make the bombing of the world trade center look like kids playing with firecrackers, though he believed the method

bush. he said the director of the cia knew about the attack before it happen. that was not true. there was increased chatter about an attack but no actual intelligence on which they could act. the 9/11 commission looked at the cia knew in advance and found it was unsupported. cia was not talking to each other and everybody knew it at the time. that was decisions made in previous administrations in trying to interpret the laws of the united states. and not until the passing of the patriot act and homeland security that the wall was torn they could legally talk to each other. and one of the points, mr. trump said he could have stopped 9/11 because he was tough on immigration. i examined the comments and i can't find a statement where there would be a policy where xrp with a mideast passport would be here in the united states. either he doesn't know the facts or twisting the facts to achieve the political purpose. using 9/11 and claiming that george bush was responsible for 9/11 happening is b

bush stayed on that theme today. i want to play that. >> i think people when they get elected to serve they ought to serve. the fact is that the three senators on the stage have combined two bills that they sponsored that became law. the grid lock has to be fixed. i don't think you fix it with someone who is part of that. i think people ought to show up for work. >> can he turn this particular issue around? that exchange last night rubio seemed to own him in it. is there a way for bush to turn it around or is he junk talking about this? >> the fact that he couldn't execute that came comment during the debate in a way that resonated is telling. that debate was made of nightmares for bush donors. everything they feared is coming true, that he was off the campaign trail too long and isn't up to this. last night that seemed to be the case. can he still use this line about marco rubio? sure. last night marco rubio did a pretty darn good job of diffusing that. if jeb bush isn't able to do that during a debate when most peo

rather the bush campaign. they have every desire and need to pull marco rubio down to stay in this race, and the issues that were raised in the memo that was leaked to the press are actually important issues. so i think the bush campaign right now is on its heels, it's trying to survive, and this is a very important way of doing it, and i wouldn't count them out just yet. obviously, people say the campaign's on life support, but there's a really good chance they could survive to iowa, and if they do, it's anyone's game. john mccain, people said he was dying, too, and they were able to pull it out. >> i don't know whose phone is ringing, but that's very true. guys, when you look at the -- and the amount of money jeb bush has, he still has a ton of money, what's interesting to me, ben, this memo that came out also shows the bush camp doesn't expect to win iowa, their focus is new hampshire and south carolina. is it smart to tell people that? >> yeah, well, look, this is a smart political muay to put out this mem

the ultimate undoing of jeb bush is the legacy of the george w. bush era because george w. bush became -- the reason they were willing to fall into line for george w. bush was republicans in 2000 the mindset was we want our own bill clinton. he beat us in the '96 election. he beat us in impeachment. he keeps beating us, we can't figure it out, let's get our own guy. that's what compassionate conservatism was all about, the idea that you can be conservative and still be pro government. and at the end of the bush years when barack obama became government the lesson the conservative movement took was we should never, ever, ever try to be like the other party again. that's what the tea party grew up out of. that's what that anti-establishment mindset came from. now jeb bush comes along and today's republican party says absolutely not. >> peter beinart had a piece today thought was good where he said basically this is kind of a triumph for democracy. it shouldn't be the case that literally the smoke-filled room, right? a bunch of donors get together and say i wrote a check for y

does it play into bush's hand. >> if you're bush you have to do something different. right now you are stagnated in the polls. and people are starting to worry maybe they shouldn't be writing you the next big checks to keep your campaign going with the war chest he currently has. i don't think it's a bad play. will it affect those that already support donald trump? realistically probably not at all, if any. they don't care what you put out about donald trump. you say rip on him, attack him, we like him, trust him, we think he's the best guy for the job. we don't care what you say about him. we'll see if it has an impact on stealing votes from another candidate. >> maria, purely as a strateg s strategies. is this the time that jeb bush should start to be a little more critical of the campaign or the super pac should the ad go negative. you have about 100 days until iowa. 113 until new hampshire. >> i agree with ben that jeb bush needs to do something. he's stagnating. the problem with the ad it's sort of clever but it makes them both look maimmature because of the back

>> i feel for jeb bush. because all he keeps doing is getting caught up in defending his brother's presidency, and you know, god forbid, i hate to agree with donald trump, but there were -- there were 25 different cia notices into the bush administration in the year prior to 9/11 suggesting that al qaeda was preparing to launch attacks against the u.s. now, having said that, you know, the day after 9/11, you know, even al gore, my friend and candidate, said george bush is my president. right? we united. we got together. you know, we said let's go forward here. many of us don't agree with what george bush did after that, but to keep hammering in on this 9/11 issue with donald trump. he's clearly doing it to get under jeb bush's skin and jeb bush is letting him. why isn't jeb bush answering every attack from donald trump with what he would do as president instead of actually trying to answer the question and getting caught in a quagmire of george bush's presidency. >> i mean, that is a very interesting point a

. >> i george walker bush do solemnly swear. >> george w. bush had a dream. a vision where saddam would fall, the people would rejoice, and iraq would become a stable democracy, a beacon of hope breaking the endless cycle of extreme extreme is m in the middle east. if you think this is just history, it isn't. many politicians want to send more troops back into iraq and syria, as well. it's the only way to defeat isis they say, but will another american intervention be more successful than the last one? this time it's crucial that we understand how the iraq war went so terribly wrong. go back to the beginning of the story. it's tempting to ask what if. what if there had been someone who could have warned us what would happen if we invaded iraq? in fact, there was one man who did just that. >> once you got to iraq and took it over and took down saddam hussein's government, what are you going to put in its place? that's a volatile part of the world and if you take down the central government in iraq, you can see pieces of iraq fall off. it's a quagmire. >> that'

governor bush: absolutely. [chatter]

it's father bush, son bush. there is something to be said for jeb bush to say you can stand by my name and trust us. right? >> see how well that holds up. brand-new nbc/"wall street journal" poll shows trump continuing to lead the republican field of candidates. trump gets the support of 25%. ben carson is close behind at 22%. they are followed by marco rubio at 13%. jeb bush is far back in fifth place. he's just got 8%. that is 1-12 for a guy everybody knows. you reported many in the republican establishment are starting to believe something that was once unthinkable. i love reading your reporting to you. it began as whispers in hushed corners. members of the republican establishment are starting to give voice to an increasingly common belief that trump, once dismissed as a joke, a carnival barker and circus freak might very well win the nomination. are these people you're talking to, are they county and state chairs? what kind of people are they? >> the regime is falling. >> this is a recognition the republica

bush. the back and forth over 9/11. george w. bush, america's national security and which candidate has the temperament to be commander in chief? joe biden could decide whether he's in or out in the next 48 hours. that's just hours before hillary clinton testifies before the benghazi committee. awkward timing? just maybe. and voters to the north heading to the polls today. will canada keep a leader called anti-muslim and a climate change denier? hello, i am richard wolffe. we start with breaking news at the end of another busy day on the campaign trail. any minute, donald trump will kick off a rally in anderson, south carolina. we are watching it to begin any minute now. trump will walk into the room with new momentum a brand-new nbc news/"wall street journal" poll shows he has more support than ever before. right now he has 25% a republican support. that's 1/4 of the vote. ben carson has 22%. marco rubio has 13%, ted cruz 9%, jeb bush 8% and carly fiorina has 7%. no other candidates tops 3

bush: go ahead. has let the world because we are dynamic in the world doesn't work in a planned way. we don't plan it all out really well. we respond to opportunity and that is how we succeed. we are a 10 steps forward, five steps back, three steps forward, two steps back, we are not just marching how we should be told and just get in a line. we are totally horrible at that. the small business sector is the one that has been hurt by all of these rules on top of every aspect of human endeavor. it starts in washington, but frankly, some states have also imposed major rules on top of everything. i mean, to start a business in california, you've got to pay $800 to start, and then you have to pay it every year after every year. a lot of businesses start with borrowing money from crazy uncle grandand he gives you 10 and you're out just killing it, trying to do your best, and if you have to pay $800 for an occupational license fee or tax and then you've got to pay another tax and then you got to pay the exc

bush he'll get at jeb bush. he also needs to remember while george w. bush is not popular with the general population and that's an understatement, especially with democrats and many independents, he is actually become popular again with republicans and after all, they are the ones who vote in iowa and new hampshire and republican contest. he'll probably want to move on and insult somebody else tomorrow. >> douglas, i want you to listen to this. this is ben carson reacting tonight. >> i think he said he was -- it happened on his watch but did he say that he was blaming him for it? >> you don't think he was? >> i didn't hear the statement but i would be surprised if he blamed him. that makes no sense. >> you don't think george bush has any responsibility for the attacks on 9/11? >> i think it's ridiculous to suggest he's responsible. >> what do you think of that, douglas? >> i think donald trump was totally wrong for starters to have said such a ridiculous thing. do we blame james madison for the burning of washington. do you blame fdr for personal harbo

bush's watch. >> i don't want jeb bush to say my brother kept us safe because september 11th was one of the worth days in the history of this country. i'm not thin skinned when something is truthful. if i did something wrong, i can handle that and if the press is bad. it's when people hit me when i didn't do anything wrong. you know, it's like then it's not a question of thin skin. i will fight back. >> and fighting back is exactly what jeb bush is doing referring to a two minute social ad media.

bush to go after republican rival jeb bush. in the last hour, jeb bush has now posted a column on the national review's website comparing trump's criticisms to those of left wing film maker michael moore. let's be clear. let me read you part of the piece. donald trump simply doesn't know what he's talking about. and his bluster overcompensates for shocking lack of knowledge on the complex national security challenges that will confront the next president of the united states. i have someone joining me who lost her first born around the towers that day. thank you so much for coming down and seeing you again. you have been on the show before. looking at your son here, can we begin with him. he was coming in on the train into the city. he saw the towers burning. >> the burning towers, yes. >> he went where? he. >> he went downtown toward the tower. he would respond to people in trouble. he was a cad et of the nypd so he changed his route. he went toward the towers and gave. the ultimate sacrifice. >> because this day affects you a

a bush aide told "u.s. news" that was a reference to rubio being vetted for vice president by mitt romney's team in 2012 but long-time top romney aide beth meyers pushed back telling politico that "senator rubio passed our vetting. we found nothing that disqualified him from serving as vp." meanwhile, bush's campaign manager, danny diaz, has reportedly bragged about the size of their operation research file on senator rubio and said they were prepared to begin a full-scale attack. the bush campaign isn't the only one going to war. while rubio has been relatively restrained in his public comments about bush, the super pac backing him which just unveiled this, its first campaign ad, today found a memo that includes this remarkably cutting line, "when you consider all angles as we do, we believe there are really only four candidates with a reasonable chance of becoming the republican nominee. senator marco rubio, dr. ben carson, donald trump, and senator ted cruz." you probably noticed that a certain former fl

bush is not his problem at this point. >> donald trump keeps going after jeb bush. >> i watched jeb bush yesterday. he can't even put on a tie and jacket. he's running for president. this guy can't negotiate his way out of a paper bag. he's terrible. he's terrible. he's weak on immigration. let's assume a very low-energy person, very, very low energy, so low energy that every time you watch him you fall asleep. so let's say jeb becomes president. >> jeb bush, the only major gop candidate republicans have an unfavorable view on. donald trump likes to take personal credit for this is it true? have people internalized things from donald trump? >> this is about being nonestablishment candidate. many people believe that jeb bush was mitt romney or john mccain 2.0. he was the establishment's pick. i think he made a big bad decision early on. he should have come out with his brother more in public. he should be on stage with him and traveling as much as his brother is willing to. people love george bush. they really do. especially conservatives. they still love him. they love him for how he pro

when we come back, jeb bush versus marco rubio. ♪ mark: everybody has seen the clip of jeb bush trying to slam marco rubio on the attendance record. that wasn't the only problem last night. not the only thing that made his night so atrocious. let's take a look. >> the biggest tax increase happened under the obama -- you find a democrat for cutting spending, i will give them a warm kiss. i'm 7-0 in my fantasy football league. they cannot regulate themselves, the nfl needs to look at moving away from them a little bit. there should be some regulation. i have no clue whether the government is the proper place. my instinct is to say, hell no. >> [indiscernible] >> are we talking about getting the government involved in fantasy football? we have $19 trillion in debt, people out of work, isis and al qaeda attacking us, and we are talking about fantasy football? john: so that was chris christie showing how jeb bush should've answered that question. break it down for me what you thought was so bad. mark: the big moment with marco rubio was a disaster but he talked less than anybody. he was not

bush slamming trumps' remarks. does anybody actually blame my brother for 9/11? i am proud of him. it just calls to question mr. trump's credibility. >> cheryl: so the trump/bush debate started when bush deafened his brother. >> nicole: vice president will make a decision soon, meanwhile david, former top advisor president obama says he has challenges ahead if he gets in the race. >> you have to do certain things to get ready for those. i also think particular within the democratic community there's -- there's a growing impatience with this period of reflection. >> nicole: vice president received a human rights award over the weekend. but he didn't make any reference to presidential ambition. >> cheryl: house speaker john boehner, former president mitt romney suggests that his esm running mate should not run if he wants to be president. >> there hasn't been a lot of people who has gone as peaker to the white house. he is a man of such talent and integrity and character that he's a real resource to the country. >> c

last month the super pac backing bush, right to rise, unleashed a $24 million ad campaign to tout bush in the early states, with spots like this. >> the state was florida. the governor was jeb bush. proven conservative. real results. jeb. right to rise usa is responsible for the content of this message. >> according to politico, in the key early state of new hampshire bush and right to rise have spent at least $4.8 million to support bush since early september. the results -- bush's numbers have actually moved down in the granite state from 9% to 8.7%. bush is reportedly now cutting back on spending staying at cheaper hotels, often flying commercial, and traversing iowa not in a private plane as he did in august but by car. and in a pretty depressing development for the one-time favorite ben carson who is pulling ahead of bush and easily outraised him last quarter has decided ton do any more campaign events until the next gop debate so he can focus on selling his book. bush is now losing badly to a guy who at the moment isn't even bothering to campaign. can jeb bush be saved? that's ne

jeb bush touting reaching out for the bush network is not going to help. >> thanks for joining us. have a great weekend. >> be sure to watch meet the press this weekend. moderator chuck todd speaks exclusively with jeb bush. if it's sunday it's meet the press on your local nbc station. still ahead on our show, hillary clinton's allies calling on bernie sanders to fire his campaign manager. we'll tell you why. >>> marco rubio got rave reviews for his debate performance this week. can his campaign hold up under new scrutiny? go all in on the internet of things. what we're recommending as your consultants... the new consultants are here. it's not just big data, its bigger data. we're beta testing the new wearable interface... ♪ xerox believes finding the right solution shouldn't be so much work. by engineering a better way for people, process and technology to work together. work can work better. with xerox. i started with pills. and now i take a long-acting insulin at night. i take mine in the morning. i was trying to eat right, stay active. but i wasn't reaching my a1c goal anymor