Jeb Bush doubles down on 1995 critiques of out-of-wedlock births: 'My views haven't changed at all'
Earlier this week, a passage from Jeb Bush's 1995 book Profiles in Character resurfaced, in which the presumptive GOP presidential candidate argued against the "irresponsible conduct" that led to out-of-wedlock births and cited an end of "public condemnation" of such behavior as one of its main causes.
Asked on Thursday whether his views had changed at all in the 20 years since he penned those lines, Bush gave an emphatic no.
"My views about the importance of dads being involved in the lives of children haven't changed at all," he told MSNBC. "This book was a book about cultural indicators (and) the country has moved in the wrong direction. We have a 40-plus percent out-of-wedlock birth rate (now)."
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Bush also clarified that the passage was meant to focus on "marriage in the policy context."
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Sarah Eberspacher is an associate editor at TheWeek.com. She has previously worked as a sports reporter at The Livingston County Daily Press & Argus and The Arizona Republic. She graduated from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.
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