State: Jeb spins W.'s gaffe with a laugh

Jeb spins W.'s gaffe with a laugh

By JULIE HAUSERMAN

TALLAHASSEE -- A day after his brother, George W. Bush, got caught on a live microphone calling a New York Times reporter a "major-league a--h---," Florida Gov. Jeb Bush joked that the media are his "brothers" and then hugged a startled 6-foot-3, 215-pound radio reporter.

The hug -- a spoof after Bush quipped that the capital press corps were not just "major league" but an "All-Star team" -- happened in a narrow corridor after an unrelated news conference.

Bush hugged Rick Flagg, an often-irreverent reporter for Florida Radio News who has a long beard and red hair down to the middle of his back and drives a Harley Davidson motorcycle. Flagg was trying to goad Bush into saying something about his brother's gaffe.

A clearly amused Bush said he thought George W.'s comment "was kind of humorous."

And, he said, "Somebody reminded me this morning I've been there and done that."

Bush had his own embarrassing moment in January, when two lawmakers held a sit-in at Lt. Gov. Frank Brogan's office. A news camera was set up in Bush's office to do an unrelated interview, and Bush didn't realize it was on. The camera caught Bush furiously telling an aide to "kick their a---- out."

Bush later said he was referring to the reporters camped in the office, not the two black lawmakers who held the sit-in to protest changes in state affirmative action programs.

Later, the 43-year-old Flagg said: "While I'm thrilled to be considered an honorary Bush brother, I have no plans to get involved in failed savings and loans, Nigerian water pumps or open-mike screw-ups. Notice my grammar was correct, and that's another important distinction."