A movement is underway to stage an informal protest when former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush hits the CPAC stage Friday.
William Temple, a member of the Golden Isle Tea Party, told The Washington Times that the party doesn’t need another Bush in office, and said that the party should listen to the grass-roots activists that helped fuel their gains in the 2014 election.
“A lot of peoples were not going to come here because they heard Jeb Bush was speaking,” Mr. Temple said before laying out his plan at the Conservative Political Action Conference.
“We are going to get up en masse, and we are going to walk out on him,” the 64-year-old said. “We are not going to interrupt anyone’s speech, but we are all going to exercise our right to [use] the bathroom at the same time.”
Mr. Bush is expected to take part in a 20-minute question-and-answer session on Friday with Fox News host Sean Hannity.
He is leading in many early GOP presidential polls, but also is out of sync with many conservatives because he supports Common Core K-12 education standards and an immigration fix that includes legalizing the millions of people who are living here illegally.
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Kristy Campbell, a Bush spokeswoman, said her boss is looking forward to being at CPAC tomorrow and engaging with the crowd during the scheduled question-and-answer session.
“It will be an opportunity to discuss his strong conservative record of leadership. We are hopeful it will resonate with attendees,” Mrs. Campbell said.
Mr. Temple, meanwhile, is a familiar face at CPAC and other conservative events. Sporting a colonial soldier private suit and carrying a yellow “Don’t Tread on Me” flag, he said the Republican party and the mainstream media are underestimating the conservative anger over illegal immigration.
He also said he wants a presidential candidate who will reduce the national debt.
“We want new faces. We want younger faces,” Mr. Temple said.
He said the party should nominate the like of Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas or Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, describing them as “true conservatives.” He called Ben Carson a “good guy.”
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“We don’t want another Bush or another Clinton,” Mr. Temple said. “We don’t have royalty in this country, and as much as he is trying to say I am a different Bush, I am a different person — OK, you have had two in your family. Let someone else in there.”
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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