There are many words used to describe Jeb Bush during his eight years as governor of Florida, but one popping up in coverage of his nascent presidential ambitions is a bit jarring to some of the state's politicos and journalists.
"I think what's intriguing and I'm sure y'all have been reading the national media (reports) that Jeb is a moderate or middle of the road, and -- y'all covered him," Senate President Andy Gardiner, R-Orlando, said skeptically this week during a meeting with reporters.
Gardiner expanded on his views of Bush a bit after the meeting.
"I consider him a very principled Republican conservative. He coined the term compassionate conservative," Gardiner said.
Almost as soon as Bush announced this week that he would "actively explore" running for president in 2016, potential rivals began suggesting he might be too squishy for the job. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, told Politico that if the GOP has "another candidate in the mold of a Bob Dole or a John McCain or a Mitt Romney" as its standard bearer, it will once again lose the White House. Cruz wouldn't directly answer whether that description applied to Bush.
But Bush was more likely to be described as a rock-ribbed Republican during his time in Tallahassee. He cut taxes, pushed school-voucher programs and tried to intervene in the decision about whether to disconnect life support for Terri Schiavo, a woman who doctors said was in a persistent vegetative state. The Schiavo debate became a cause cre among social conservatives.
And that was the case Democrats and left-leaning groups quickly moved to make this week.
"Heres the good news: With this announcement, Americans are going to get their first chance to learn about Jeb Bush," said Florida Democratic Party Chairwoman Allison Tant. "As Florida governor, Jeb was a partisan extremist who fought to privatize public education and abused the power of government to interfere in private medical decisions in the Terri Schiavo case."
There are, in fact, some issues on which Bush seems out of step with the GOP's conservative base. His support for comprehensive immigration reform and the Common Core education standards are anathema to tea party activists in particular.
But Bush's position as an establishment favorite and purported moderate also shows a shift in the Republican Party that is as much temperamental as it is ideological. The GOP is focused on a grinding conflict with President Barack Obama, in which the House and the new Republican majority in the Senate are working to slow down or reverse Obama's policy changes.
Love him or hate him, Floridians remember Bush for more than just trying to stop the other side from achieving its goals.
"When you talk to people, Republican or Democrat, Congress is referred to as a 'do-nothing Congress,'" Gardiner said. "And for those of us that lived through the Bush governorship, (there) was no 'do-nothing' about that."
POT PROBLEMS
Gardiner seems a little peeved with the Department of Health's handling of the state's new medical marijuana law that is supposed to go into effect Jan. 1. An administrative law judge last month threw out the department's first stab at a rule to implement the legislation, which authorizes strains of pot that purportedly don't get users high.
Judge W. David Watkins ordered health officials to craft a new rule. Instead, the Office of Compassionate Use decided to hold another workshop -- the fourth since July -- on Dec. 30, two days before the new rule was supposed to be in place.
Gardiner told reporters that "you (can) workshop an issue to death" and promised that lawmakers will revisit the issue when they come back to Tallahassee next year.
"I think that there are some legitimate questions about the rule-making process. The families deserve to know where we are. We passed something. The legislative branch, the governor, everybody agreed where we wanted to go last year. It's unfortunate that we haven't seen it actually take effect," Gardiner said.
Among the many things Watkins found problematic with the rule was a controversial lottery system health officials wanted to use to select who would grow, manufacture and distribute marijuana that is low in euphoria-inducing tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, and high in cannabadiol, or CBD.
Gardiner shied away from outwardly criticizing health officials.
"The only thing I will say is we're in unchartered territory, right?" he said. "So when you're going down a road that we haven't gone before, they probably have attempted to get it right. There are some very strong opinions on the other side, but just like every other piece of legislation that we pass, we have every right to come back and review it and potentially make some changes. I think we should do that."
When pressed, however, Gardiner indicated he was not happy with the decision by the Office of Compassionate Use, which got a new director this week, to hold another workshop instead of rewriting the rule.
"There comes a point where you workshop stuff to death. Not getting into every aspect of the court situation, all I know is when we come back up here in January I think you'll see some legislators that want to bring people in and talk to them about it and see where we are. We have an obligation," he said.
TWEET OF THE WEEK: "This studio in Miami feels a little like a brothel tonight. 1 client leaves, another comes in. Every commentator in Miami is on tv right now." -- Ana Navarro (@ananavarro), a CNN and ABC contributor based in South Florida, after President Barack Obama announced Wednesday the U.S. would re-establish diplomatic relations with Cuba.
News Service of Florida reporter Jim Turner contributed to this report.
