If they can have a litmus test, what about you? Would you have a litmus test for a nominee, and what would it be?

Not on specific issues, not at all.

I think the next president, if I'm president, I'll appoint people, I'll nominate people that have a proven record in the judiciary.

The problem in the past has been we've appointed people thinking you can get it through the Senate because they didn't have a record, and the problem is that sometimes we're surprised.

The simple fact is the next president needs to appoint someone with a proven conservative record similar to Justice Scalia, that is a lover of liberty, that believes in limited government, that consistently applied, uh, that kind of philosophy, that didn't try to legislate from the bench, that was respectful of the Constitution, and then fight and fight and fight for that nomination to make sure that that nomination passes.

Of course, the president, by the way, has every right to nominate s- Supreme Court justices.

I'm an Artic- Article II guy in the Constitution.

[clapping and cheering] Governor, Governor Bush.

What would you do to get that college student back home?

Well, first of all, it's interesting that that happened literally days, uh, when this hostage release took place, but in Iran.

A day or two days afterwards, North Korea took a, held American, uh, s- student hostage.

I think it's when we send a signal of weakness, when we're negotiating to release people that committed crimes in our country for people that didn't commit crimes that are held hostage in Iran, we saw the shameful treatment of our sailors, that this creates weakness, sends a signal of weakness around the world.

The next president of the United States is gonna have to re-get, get back in the game, where the United States word matters, where we back up our allies, where we don't send signals of weakness.

We need to use every, every influence possible to get this student back.

And I think John is right about this.

Would you support renewed airstrikes or any US involvement on the ground?

If you were president, would you police these charity organizations that say they're helping vets?

Of course.

And there's all sorts of ways that that can be done at the state, local, and federal level to do that.

But the first duty of the next president of the United States is to fix the mess of the Department of Veterans Affairs.

That's his first responsibility.

[clapping] Look, we have waiting lists for veterans that are, that are leaving.

Because of the sequester, where we're gutting the military, more and more, uh, military personnel are leaving, becoming veterans, and the waiting list grows.

So should American citizens, who you say are already overtaxed, bail out Puerto Rico as well?

say?

Well, first of all, the idea that somehow we're better off today than the day that Barack Obama was inaugurated president of the United States is totally an alternative universe.

The simple fact is that the world has been torn asunder.

Think about it.

With grandiose language, the president talks about red lines and nothing to follow it up, talks about ISIS being the JV team.

They form a caliphate the size of Indiana with 35,000 to 40,000 battle-tested terrorists.

He's missing the whole point that America's leadership in the world is required for peace and stability.

What is the harm in tightening standards for not only who buys guns but those who sell them?

Do you?

I think it should be states should drive policy.

It should be implemented locally, of course.

The federal government should be a partner with the states, but their role should be narrow.

So, for example, No Child Left Behind was popular for a while, for sure, because it forced states to actually create accountability.

That was its main contribution.

Florida had already started down the accountability path, so it didn't matter too much to us.

Yeah.

Do you?

I think it should be states should drive policy.

It should be implemented locally, of course.

The federal government should be a partner with the states, but their role should be narrow.

So, for example, No Child Left Behind was popular for a while, for sure, because it forced states to actually create accountability.

That was its main contribution.

Florida had already started down the accountability path, so it didn't matter too much to us.

Yeah.

The lessons learned must have been

extraordinary.

In 99, we had a storm that was going to hit Jacksonville, and I was convinced we should have a mandatory evacuation of Jacksonville, and we reversed lane to I-10, and it didn't work.

It was a complete unmitigated disaster, and so I learned to be smarter about taking advice, but I also learned that we can't evacuate off of I-75 north.

You can't evacuate going east from here.

You can't evacuate Tampa Bay.

You can evacuate maybe Lake City.

Yeah.

Was it these abysmal outcomes that inspired you to focus on education, education policy, transformative plans for the state, or was it something else?

No, it was.

Part of it was I was Secretary of Commerce in the late 1980s.

And I went to all 67 counties and asked people in the business community, what's their number one issue? And it was, our mediocre education system is impeding our ability to grow economically.

And that link to this day is still pretty powerful.

But back then, it was like the number one issue in the state.

And there wasn't a sense of urgency about it.

So with Iowa and Louisiana receiving what's called returning education to the state's waivers, Do you think that the federal government is finally taking your advice?

Was it these abysmal outcomes that inspired you to focus on education, education policy, transformative plans for the state, or was it something else?

No, it was.

Part of it was I was Secretary of Commerce in the late 1980s.

And I went to all 67 counties and asked people in the business community, what's their number one issue? And it was, our mediocre education system is impeding our ability to grow economically.

And that link to this day is still pretty powerful.

But back then, it was like the number one issue in the state.

And there wasn't a sense of urgency about it.

So with Iowa and Louisiana receiving what's called returning education to the state's waivers, Do you think that the federal government is finally taking your advice?