GOP leader: Biden will be the ‘Jeb Bush of this cycle’

House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy on Thursday panned Joe Biden’s prospects in the 2020 Democratic presidential race, calling the former vice president the “Jeb Bush of this cycle.”

“I think Biden, no disrespect, is the Jeb Bush of this cycle,” the California Republican said at an Axios event. “I think he could have run at a different time and he would have been the nominee. I think he has too much to apologize for.”

McCarthy argued that Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who has trailed Biden in recent national polls, “has a much better chance” of winning the Democratic nomination. He noted that candidates need an energized base to sustain and fund their campaigns, saying Sanders “has a bigger base for a longer duration of the time.”{mosads}

Bush, the former governor of Florida, entered the 2016 Republican presidential primary as a heavy favorite, given his high name recognition as the brother and son of two former presidents as well as his breadth of experience serving as the governor of a swing state.

But then-candidate Donald Trump repeatedly mocked him as “low energy” and the former governor’s big-dollar campaign failed to break through the large GOP field. Bush dropped out of the race in February 2016 after a poor showing in the South Carolina primary.

Asked on Thursday about the presidential bid of his home-state senator, Democrat Kamala Harris, McCarthy said he hoped that the first-term California senator would “accomplish something” and gain more experience in Congress before running for president.