Jeb Bush will speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference this afternoon. But Laura Ingraham wasn't going to let him have an easy welcome.
In her speech Friday morning, the conservative talk-show host opened with a warning shot at Bush, asking attendees to raise their hands if they were skeptical of another Bush presidency. The crowd applauded.
"Jeb and Hillary could run on the same ticket," Ingraham continued. "The idea that we should conduct any kind of coronation ... because 50 rich families decide who will best decide their interests? No way, Jose."
She went on to jab at Bush for a recent Washington Post story documenting the plush spending habits of his wife, Columba Bush. Ingraham joked that Bush's marriage could help him appeal to women voters. "What woman doesn't love a man who gives her a blank check at Tiffany's?" Ingraham said.
She also criticized Bush for thinking "the American worker is lazy" and that "we should repopulate Detroit with foreign workers."
In this way, Ingraham expertly set the tone for the day at this large gathering of conservatives. That bore out later Friday morning, when the crowd—largely made up of Rand Paul supporters ahead of his appearance—loudly booed when Fox News' Sean Hannity asked who in the crowd supported Bush. During her speech, Ingraham appealed to the crowd while starkly reminding Bush that he won't be able to simply show up and gain support from the Republican base.
