Jeb Bush: Today's GOP might reject Reagan

Jeb Bush says that even Ronald Reagan might have trouble winning the presidential nomination of the modern-day Republican Party because he frequently cooperated with Democrats.

According to the website BuzzFeed, the former Florida governor -- and son of former president George H.W. Bush -- told Bloomberg reporters and editors today, "Ronald Reagan would have, based on his record of finding accommodation, finding some degree of common ground, as would my dad ? they would have a hard time if you define the Republican Party ? and I don't ? as having an orthodoxy that doesn't allow for disagreement, doesn't allow for finding some common ground."

Bush said on CBS last week that 2012 might have been his only window of opportunity to run for president, but said even if he had run it was not clear he would have won because of the deep partisanship in American politics, a theme he returned to this morning.

"Back to my dad's time and Ronald Reagan's time ? they got a lot of stuff done with a lot of bipartisan support," he said today. Reagan "would be criticized for doing the things that he did."

Bush pointed out that one of the reasons his father lost his re-election bid was because he had reached a budget deal with Democrats that included raising taxes, despite having earlier made a "no new taxes" pledge.

"It's just a different environment left and right," he said, accusing both sides of being part of "this dysfunction."

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