Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker says a line he delivered earlier this week when describing his humble upbringing wasn’t intended to be a slight at former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, a potential rival in the 2016 GOP presidential contest.
“Unlike some out there, I didn’t inherit fame or fortune from my family,” Mr. Walker said in Nashville earlier this week at a meeting of the National Religious Broadcasters.
But Mr. Walker said from his standpoint, people have heard him talk about his narrative for years - well before there was the thought of even potentially running for office at that level.
“I’ve talked about the fact that unlike others out there - I’m not talking about candidates, just people in general inherited fame or inherited fortune - and what I got from my parents and my grandparents was the belief that if you work hard and play by the rules, you can do anything you want,” Mr. Walker said on Fox News’ “On the Record with Greta Van Susteren” when presented with the line.
“Now there’s plenty of people, regardless of economic background that got that, regardless of their political heritage that got that - that discussion was all about my narrative, not anybody else’s,” he said.
Mr. Bush, the son and brother of former U.S. presidents, figures to be one of Mr. Walker’s chief rivals if both ultimately run for president in 2016.
But Mr. Walker said he’s talked for years, for example, about his dad’s background as a small-town minister, his mother’s working as a part-time secretary and his grandparents growing up on a farm where they didn’t have indoor plumbing until his mother went to high school.
“My point was that what I inherited wasn’t about wealth, wasn’t about fortune, it wasn’t about fame - it was ultimately about this belief that if you worked hard and played by the rules, you could do or be anything you want,” he said.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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