On Tuesday, former Florida governor and rumored 2016 GOP Presidential candidate Jeb Bush was on the Michael Medved Show with conservative talk radio host Michael Medved.
In addition to discussing current opposition to President Obama, how Bush will handle rivals in his own party, where Bush stands on education and poverty, and whether or not Bush can connect with “everyday people,” Medved also asked Bush what he thinks has been the “best part of the Obama administration.”
“I would say the best part of the Obama administration would be his continuance of the protections of the homeland using the big metadata programs, the NSA being enhanced,” Bush said. “Advancing this — even though he never defends it, even though he never openly admits it, there has been a continuation of a very important service, which is the first obligation, I think of our national government is to keep us safe. And the technologies that now can be applied to make that so, while protecting civil liberties are there.”
Bush shared a similar sentiment during a speech at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs on Feb. 18. He defended the NSA’s massive surveillance program, calling it “hugely important” in the United States’ long-term battle against terrorism, and saying that it was necessary to “protect our civil liberties,” and to “keep us safe.”
Writing for The Intercept, Glenn Greenwald noted that the notion of bipartisanship being impossible to achieve is “one of the most glaring myths propagated by Washington,” and that in reality, “from trade deals to Wall Street bailouts to a massive National Security and Penal State, the two parties are in full agreement on the bulk of the most significant D.C. policies.”
While Bush agrees with Obama’s enhancement of the NSA’s spying program, his views differ drastically from his GOP rival, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky), who announced that he was running for President on April 7.
During a speech in New Hampshire on April 8, Paul condemned the NSA’s massive data collection, and vowed that if elected as President in 2016, he would end the program “on day one.”
“Warrantless searches of Americans phone records and computer records, are un-American and a threat to our civil liberties,” Paul said. “I say that your phone records are yours. I say the phone records of law-abiding citizens are none of their damn business. The president created this vast dragnet by executive order. As President, on day one I will immediately end this unconstitutional program.”