Jeb Bush — who was always derisively referred to as the smartest of the Bush brothers — seemed presidential at the state Republican convention at the Sheraton New York on Wednesday night.
After Fox News pundit Monica Crowley fired up the crowd and Mayor Bloomberg drew surprisingly enthusiastic applause considering he left the GOP, Jeb spoke and brought down the house, leading to speculation that the former Florida governor will run for president.
Overhead from a top GOPer: “After this Obama nightmare, the Bush brand is looking pretty good.”
The Republicans were also talking about how President Obama spent Memorial Day weekend in Chicago and VP Joe Biden vacationed in Southampton — as the BP oil leak kept gushing.
“Imagine if George W. Bush or Dick Cheney had escaped to the Hamptons for some R&R in the middle of Katrina,” scoffed one party loyalist.
Insiders report Rick Lazio, who won the GOP nomination for governor, desperately tried to prevent his conservative challenger, Carl Paladino, from speaking. But after much parliamentary maneuvering, Paladino was given a proxy by a delegate so he could nominate himself. “He rocked,” said one source.
The provenance of Paladino’s best line — “All Andrew offers us is the status Cuomo” — was in dispute. Lazio claimed Paladino stole the line from him. But veteran Republican operative Roger Stone told Page Six, “It was a line by Congressman Jack Kemp to describe Gov. Mario Cuomo and written by his young speechwriter, Mike Caputo. The Lazio children don’t know their ass from their elbow. It’s Kemp’s line recycled by the guy who wrote it 20 years ago.”
Caputo, who’s now Paladino’s campaign manager, told one blogger: “We welcome Rick Lazio to use any of our rhetoric: All he has to do is give me a call, and I’ll transfer files to him anytime he wants.”