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 In a video, the Bush campaign used Trump's own words in support of
Democrat Hillary Clinton and for a universal healthcare system,
higher taxes and partial-birth abortion to make the case that he is
not a conservative.
Asked by a TV interviewer whether he was a Republican or a Democrat,
Trump is seen on the video saying: "You'd be shocked if I said that
in many cases I probably identify more as a Democrat."
Bush, 62, is among the Republican presidential candidates whose
standing has been damaged by Trump's summer rise. An average of
recent opinion polls by Real Clear Politics puts Bush in third place
with 9.5 percent, behind Trump at 26.5 percent and retired
neurosurgeon Ben Carson at 12 percent for the November 2016
presidential election.
 The video and other comments by the former Florida governor suggest
Bush is willing to take on Trump in a way other Republicans have
thus far avoided, raising the possibility of fireworks at the next
Republican debate on Sept. 16 in California.
The Bush video came the day after the Trump organization issued a
video that attacked Bush's belief that immigration is an "act of
love" by showing mug shots of three illegal immigrants either
convicted or suspected of murder.
Asked by reporters in Miami on Tuesday about the Trump attack, Bush
said he considered much of the criticism from his rival to be
personal in nature.
The Bush video shows Trump praising Clinton, the former secretary of
state and favorite for the Democratic presidential nomination, as a
good negotiator on Iran at a time when Republicans are denouncing
the Obama administration's proposed nuclear deal with Tehran.
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"If you look at the record of what (Trump) believes, he supports
Democrats," Bush told reporters in Miami. " .... This is not a guy
who is a conservative.
"And using his own words is not a mischaracterization. It came out
of his own mouth."
Trump acknowledged in a CNN interview on Tuesday that "at one point,
I was a Democrat for a period of time," saying that in New York
City, "everybody was a Democrat practically."
"Over the years as Ronald Reagan changed, I also changed," Trump
added, noting that the late Republican president had also once been
a Democrat. "I became much more conservative. I also became a
Republican."
In a set of tweets about the Bush attack, Trump said: "Yet another
weak hit by a candidate with a failing campaign. Will Jeb sink as
low in the polls as the others who have gone after me?"
(Reporting by Steve Holland, additional reporting by Peter Cooney;
Editing by Lisa Von Ahn and Lisa Shumaker)
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