Marco Rubio Says Jeb Bush Would Be a Fantastic VP But Wants the Job Himself (+Video)

Impact

Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and former Florida governor Jeb Bush, two of the Sunshine State’s most popular politicians, are endorsing each other for likely Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s running mate job.

“I think he’d be a fantastic vice president,” said Tea Party favorite Rubio of mentor Jeb Bush right after the son of former president George H. W. Bush and brother of former president George W. Bush said while he’d considered the job if offered by Romney he thinks Rubio is “probably the best choice” for 2012 vice presidential nominee.

However, that didn’t prevent the young Cuban-American conservative from slipping in a rather Freudian manner “if I do a good job as vice president” as he meant “as a senator” during a recent interview with Major Garrett from the National Journal.  

Rubio, who coincidentally will be delivering a “major speech on the future of U.S. foreign policy” this Wednesday at the Brookings Institution, joined Mitt Romney on the campaign trail in Aston, PA, where both men dodged the question whether the freshman senator is experienced enough to be “a heartbeat away from the Oval Office,” a talking point likely to be hammered away by the “lamestream media” if Rubio does indeed get the nod.

While both Bush and Rubio would potentially help Romney get Florida’s 27 electoral votes as well as a sizable portion of the Sunshine State’s Latino vote, Jeb’s appeal with this increasingly important voting bloc could transcend Florida and help Romney with Hispanic voters in California, New Mexico and Texas via his Mexican-born wife Columba Bush (first Latina Second Lady of the United States anyone?) as well as his pro immigration positions and his fluent Spanish.

On the flip side, while the Bush brand is starting to show signs of repair with building consensus around the success of former President Bush's Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) and even actor Matt Damon saying he would “kiss George W. Bush on the mouth” for his labor to relief AIDS in Africa, adding another Bush to the 2012 Republican presidential ticket could doom Romney’s chances as the “lamestream media” would try to link the ticket to W’s disastrous legacy.

And while Rubio is not exempt of baggage (he had to apologize for “embellishing” his parent’s biographies to make it sound as if they left Cuba because of Fidel Castro’s regime when in fact they left the island before the dictator rose to power), the worst they can say about the senator is that he used a GOP credit card for personal expenses, which he later repaid, when he was Speaker of the Florida House. A charge which would pale in comparison to our current era of Secret Service South American prostitution scandals and corrupt government agencies’ orgiastic spending sprees.

Watch Mitt Romney and Marco Rubio stumping in the video below. Do you agree with Jeb Bush that the Florida senator is the “best choice” for vice president?