Florida’s Governor Jeb Bush had a horrible, terrible, awful, bad week, in part due to his obtuse lack of comprehension of all things Iraq, and in no small way because of Ivy Ziedrich, the student who broke the news to him that his brother George Bush created ISIS
This is Ivy’s first interview, in which the University of Nevada political science major tells Lawrence O’Donnell why she was moved to take Bush on, and what she would have asked had he not turned his back on her and exited abruptly. .
The two met while Bush was wrapping things up and signing autographs after a town hall meeting with Nevada supporters, when the petite 19-year-old Democrat asked if he would take a student question. Ziedrich does not agree with Bush’s claims that Obama’s actions led to the rise of ISIS, and got things rolling by telling him who she believes is responsible, saying:
“It was when 30,000 individuals who were part of the Iraqi military were forced out – they had no employment, they had no income, and they were left with access to all of the same arms and weapons.”
Ziedrich exclaimed: “Your brother created ISIS!”
Bush replied dismissively: “All right. Is that a question?”
Ziedrich: “You don’t need to be pedantic to me, sir.”
To which the presidential candidate replied: “Pedantic? Wow.”
Ziedrich elaborated:
“Why are you saying that ISIS was created by us not having a presence in the Middle East when it’s pointless wars where we send young American men to die for the idea of American exceptionalism? Why are you spouting nationalist rhetoric to get us involved in more wars?”
The exchange continued, and Jeb could have learned a great deal had he been listening. Jeb Bush would do well to hire Ivy Ziedrich as a tutor, if for no reason other than to stop embarrassing himself.