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The latest heavyweight Republican rivalry is spilling out into the open
(REUTERS/Jim Young)
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R).
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) has repeatedly needled former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) in recent days for his supposed unwillingness to shred the Iran nuclear deal on "day one" of his presidency.
Walker's sharpest critique came Monday in a slick campaign video that labeled Bush as one of the Republicans "who don't know what they stand for" on the Iran issue.
"One thing that I won't do is to say, as a candidate, 'I'm going to tear up the agreement on the first day,'" Bush says in the video.
In contrast, the ad said, Walker is demonstrating "real leadership" on Iran.
Continuing to open up the new rivalry between Republican heavyweights, Walker threw barbs at Bush during a Fox News interview on Tuesday. However, he insisted he was simply explaining "a personal difference" between their candidacies, which is "not an attack."
"If you know it's a bad deal, why would you wait a month, or six months, or even a week or two?" Walker asked.
He further said voters should back Bush if they want a president who won't do the right thing.
"If you want a president who's going to wait some time even though they know something is wrong today, then he's probably your candidate," Walker offered. "If you want someone who knows today it's a bad deal — and is not going to wait until the folks in Washington tell you it's all right, who's going to do what's right immediately, on the very first day in office — then I'm your candidate."
(Fox News/screengrab)
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) on Fox News.
Walker also noted that Bush took the first (but much more subtle) shot in their Iran dispute. Bush, who also opposes the deal, said in July that it would not be "mature" to vow to terminate US' agreement on his first day as president.
"I will not probably have a confirmed secretary of state; I will not have a confirmed national security team in place; I will not have consulted with our allies. I will not have had the intelligence briefings to have made a decision," Bush said then of his first hypothetical day in office, according to Politico. "If you're running for president, I think it’s important to be mature and thoughtful about this."
The nuclear deal — struck earlier in July among the US, Iran, and other world powers — grants billions of dollars of sanctions relief in exchange for Tehran curbing its nuclear ambitions. Republicans in Congress, nearly unanimous against the deal, are trying to get enough Democrats on their side to achieve a veto-proof majority and block its implementation.
The GOP candidates for president have varied in how they would approach an already-implemented deal with Iran should they win the White House next year. For example, Republican front-runner Donald Trump says if though he thinks the agreement is terrible, he would use its framework to crack down on Tehran.
"It's very hard to say, 'We're ripping it up,'" real-estate mogul argued during an NBC interview.
(Fox News/screengrab)
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) on Fox News.
For his part, Bush responded to Walker's criticism during his own Tuesday interview on Fox News. He defended his original remarks but did not ratchet up his criticism of Walker.
"What I said was that we need a strategy. Tearing up an agreement is not a strategy. The strategy needs to contain Iran's ambitions in the region. They're going to get $100 billion if this agreement goes through, at least, to be able to continue to be the largest sponsor of terrorism in the world," he said.
Bush continued to list what he would do to contain Iran while not immediately retracting the agreement.
"We need to make sure that their conventional weapons — that they can now get over the next years — that people selling them arms know there's a price to pay. We need to encourage and support our traditional Arab allies," he said. "What I'm saying is on day one, I'll have a strategy. And that strategy will be to protect us against what could become the most significant threat that exists in the world."
Although Bush didn't go after Walker by name, both of their camps have been increasingly public in their criticisms of one another. Before candidates like Trump and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson surged in the polls, Bush and Walker were widely treated as — and according to some observers, still are — the two leading front-runners in the GOP primary.
Mike Murphy, a veteran Republican strategist now leading the super PAC supporting Bush's campaign, sniped at Walker on Monday for comments he made about the US border with Canada:
Jeb strongly opposes Iran deal. Walker distracted; focused on his plan to build wall with... Canada. #NotReady https://t.co/p4VDGMrDSt
— mike murphy (@murphymike) August 31, 2015
Walker told Fox News that the tweet was "just a joke in terms of how people react to things" and his campaign manager, Rick Wiley, fired back on Twitter:
.@murphymike problem is @JebBush shouldn't need to consult with a committee before ripping up this horrible deal. https://t.co/ESxaiqJMtb
— Rick Wiley (@rick_wiley) August 31, 2015
This caused Murphy to fire back at Walker on a range of issues:
@rick_wiley You guys seem to need a committee; to figure out where to stand on Life, Immigration, 14th amendment, and who campaign mgr is…
— mike murphy (@murphymike) August 31, 2015
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