Damn fool. Big time. Just like Daddy Bush and Brother “W”.
Maybe like brother "W." But the older Bush--for all his ideological flaws, was a man of intelligence. I am not excusing the ideological flaws, but seriously doubt that he would ever make as stupid a blunder as this.
In my estimation, this remark demonstrates a thoroughly slip-shod method of analysis--if not outright stupidity. It is the result of counting on a political organization & aura that his father--and perhaps even his grandfather, the Liberal Republican Senator Prescott Bush--built, which made him too lazy to do any serious analysis.
In any event, if he decides to run, Conservatives should run clips of this remark, with actual clips of other data from the 1960s, in the campaign. We have been given fair warning of the potential candidate's actual competence, here.
William Flax