Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush delivered a verbal slapdown to the Tea Party’s biggest cheerleader on national TV Sunday.
Bush said on ABC’s “This Week” that Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas needs to show some “self-restraint.”
Bush also argued that the failed strategy by Cruz and other Tea Party backers to shut down the government to defund Obamacare “was not grounded in reality” and damaged the credibility of the U.S. around the world.
Sounding very much like a stern father of the GOP, Bush said:
“I do a lot of traveling overseas and when we have these spikes in political conversations that are not grounded in reality, the rest of the world looks at us as untrustworthy. This has implications not just for us, slowdown of economic activity, it has implications around the world because people have to count on the United States.”
More this morning:
Hospital accident complicated Congressman's injuries: The widow of Congressman Bill Young spoke this week to the Tampa Bay Times about U.S. Rep. Bill Young's final hours and about a hospital accident two years ago that had worsened his medical problems.
Beverly Young, the 82-year-old Congressman’s widow, told The Tampa Bay Times that Young had suffered "unbearable" back pain stemming from a plane crash in 1970. Doctors also told him this month that they suspected he had developed a blood clot in his lung, but he refused surgery.
Young had multiple back operations, and two years ago was dropped by a young medic attempting to lift him during a stay at a military hospital. That accident intensified the pain and complications.
The Youngs never had spoken publicly about the accident, nor did they seek legal action. Beverly Young declined to name the facility.
"He would never sue his country," she told the Times.
A public visitation and funeral are scheduled for Young, who died Friday at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
The public visitation will be from 5-8 p.m. Wednesday at the Bill Young Armed Forces Reserve Center, 2801 Grand Ave. in Pinellas Park.
On Thursday, a funeral is scheduled for 1 p.m. at First Baptist Church of Indian Rocks Beach, 12685 Ulmerton Rd., Largo. A private burial service will follow.
Bill and Rick get frank: Do St. Pete’s two mayoral candidates have anything left to argue about?
After debating about two dozen times in two months, incumbent Mayor Bill Foster and challenger Rick Kriseman seemed to have talked about everything — from what books they've read to the future of the city’s downtown waterfront.
But a Wednesday night debate sponsored by the Council of Neighborhood Associations may cover some new political ground.
Billed as a “frank discussion” with the candidates, the forum will include question-and-answer sessions with neighborhood association leaders, as well as the local chapter of the NAACP. The debate will end with the candidates getting the chance to question each other.
The forum will be held at the Sunshine Center, 330 5th St. North, in St. Petersburg. Doors open at 6 p.m., with the debate getting under way at 6:30 p.m.
The future of St. Pete’s neighborhood associations has come into question, after Foster defunded the city grants program that aided the groups last fiscal year.
While Foster’s budget plan injected $30,000 back into the grants program this fiscal year, which started Oct. 1, a majority of the City Council restored most of the $250,000 in funding.
This article appears in Oct 17-23, 2013.