FLORIDA GOVERNOR JEB BUSH

August 3, 2000
		Florida Governor Jeb Bush discusses his brother's hopes to win the White House. Then, syndicated columnist Mark Shields and Wall Street Journal columnist Paul Gigot discuss his remarks.

Online NewsHour Special Reports: GOP Convention 2000 Text of the 2000 GOP Platform Election 2000 Media coverage has a new look Browse the NewsHour's coverage of politics	GWEN IFILL: So, how is it going tonight? How are you enjoying this? JEB BUSH: I'm having a lot of fun, but I'm also a little nervous, because my son will be speaking in about 30 minutes and that's a big deal for me. GWEN IFILL: So you'll have three Georges? JEB BUSH: I've got three Georges, I got a George overdose going on. I love my dad more than any human being. I'm so proud of my brother for what he's achieved. And my son is just incredible. GWEN IFILL: We talked to your son this afternoon. He is quite something. What has to happen in the next couple of months in order for your brother to win the presidency? JEB BUSH: I just think he needs to keep focused on a hopeful, optimistic agenda and kind of brush off the attacks that will come, let people know who he is, and people are looking for a real person, someone who is genuine, who really cares about their needs, and if he does, that he's going to be elected. We're in a time when ideology is less relevant, I think, than character, and people in public life -- people feel so disenfranchised, they're looking for someone they can trust. My brother is the guy.
	Hard work ahead
	GWEN IFILL: You've kept a pretty low profile so far in this campaign. JEB BUSH: Well, come down to Florida, and I'll show you a little higher profile. I'm - it's an important state, and he's going to carry it, and I got a duty to serve which is the best job in the world to be the governor of the state of Florida, and that's my first priority, based on the advice my brother gave me. GWEN IFILL: Last question, how big a fight is Florida going to be? JEB BUSH: Well, I think we're in good shape, and I think this convention will help, but we're not going to take it for granted; we're going to work really hard.
	Political analysis
	JIM LEHRER: Mark, is Gov. Jeb Bush right, when he says ideology doesn't mean as much as it used to? MARK SHIELDS: Well, it certainly doesn't -- hasn't -- this week here. JIM LEHRER: He was talking in terms of politics now. MARK SHIELDS: That's right. That's right. And I think in a presidential race, Jim, ideology recedes in importance. It's a personal decision. That's why we talked about what Governor Bush, the nominee, has to do here tonight because he has to show the qualities people are looking for in a president, which have little to do with ideology - I mean, command, comfort, confidence, those aren't whether you're liberal confidence or conservative confidence, because when Americans vote for President, it's a personal choice. They're saying, am I going to be comfortable with this fellow, does he understand what my hopes are for my own family and for the country? And those are the decisions that have been made, and those transcend party or ideology. JIM LEHRER: And, Paul, isn't George W. Bush reflecting that, in other words, what his brother just said, he's trying to remove ideology, is he not, from this race? PAUL GIGOT: Well, I think that goes too far, I really do. He ran on several big ideas in the primaries to help him cement his right. He didn't just roll up the conservatives in this party with nothing. JIM LEHRER: He gave them something, right? PAUL GIGOT: Well, he gave a big tax cut. I mean, he's the first Republican since Goldwater to talk about changing the Social Security system, that's a pretty big deal. JIM LEHRER: And on gun control and on abortion he's very much -- PAUL GIGOT: He's very much a conservative. So I don't think -- ideology is not irrelevant. But peace and prosperity have a way of dulling their intensity. 1994 was an ideologically polarizing year because people were mad, they were fired up, Clinton had put so much on the table, people were frightened; they were angry; they really came out. Since then with this kind of rough truce we've had in Washington, an angry truce, and peace and prosperity, there's been a detachment from politics, and that dulls the edge of ideas.
	Submerged ideology
	JIM LEHRER: Do you agree with that, Mark, that the tension that you all were talking about earlier with Newt Gingrich and Bill Clinton, that, yes, it all went away because of various things, but did peace and prosperity help put that one aside as well? There wasn't so much to argue about when everybody had a little bit? MARK SHIELDS: Well, I think not only weren't as many things to argue about, Jim, but basically we had one ideological presidential election in the past quarter century; it was 1980, when Ronald Reagan ran an openly ideological campaign about cutting the size, scope, and spending of government, cutting taxes by a third, doubling the defense budget, and won. But since then I think it's fair to say that the winners, whether it was George Bush in '88 or Bill Clinton in '92, sort of submerged ideology - and 1996 after the '94 experience Paul described, Jim, what happened was it became in both parties' interest, Bill Clinton and the Republican Congress, to cooperate. So that muted the differences further in the election of 1996. Democrats still are angry that Bill Clinton didn't lead his party in a victory where he was having - Bob Dole - didn't expend any political capital to his own congressional party and that he cut a deal with a man Gwen Ifill just interviewed, Newt Gingrich, and it helped the Republicans keep the House that year. And that certainly took ideology, philosophy and differences off the table. PAUL GIGOT: Both candidates represent bigger differences, though, than either one wants to admit for the sake of this election. I mean, the differences between the parties are still wide. JIM LEHRER: They don't talk about them very much, do they? PAUL GIGOT: Well, they want to - JIM LEHRER: Are they going to have to now? PAUL GIGOT: They want to mute them for the election, except when they see a real advantage. But they want to appeal to that 10, 15 percent of the electorate that is really up for grabs, and those people are the least ideological voters in this whole country.

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