It was an utterance worthy of “Bulworth,” a moment of straight talk from Jeb Bush that showed why the GOP donor class is so eager for the former Florida governor to run in 2016 – and spurred questions about whether, after 12 years out of office, he’s ready for the rough and tumble of today’s Republican Party…

Conservative commentator Michelle Malkin put it more bluntly on Twitter: “He’s pro-amnesty, pro-Common Core, pro-Big Business & he wants to be president. #CancelJebBush.”

Bush did get some back-up from former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, who on Tuesday likened his comments to remarks made by Ronald Reagan. The former president and Republican icon used to say, “apply the ‘gates’ test,” Barbour said, which entailed imagining that if every “gate” in the world was opened, many people would “run to America.”

“And that’s what Jeb is saying to me, that this is the place, for good reason,” Barbour said, speaking at the LBJ Presidential Library’s Civil Rights Summit. “And we ought to be proud of it, that when you apply the gates test, that people want to come here.”