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Another ill-advised ad lib from Jeb Bush, another opportunity for Democrats. Looking to curry favor with religious conservatives at the outset of a competitive primary fight, Bush on Tuesday repeated his call to cut off funding for Planned Parenthood — and then he went even further, questioning the amount of government support for women’s health programs generally. The Romneyesque unforced error drew a fast and furious backlash from Democrats, causing Bush to backtrack almost immediately and to acknowledge that he “misspoke.” (Stokols, 8/4)

Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush vowed Tuesday to cut off federal funding for Planned Parenthood if elected to the White House, but drew immediate fire from Democrats for adding, "I'm not sure we need half a billion dollars for women's health issues." Democratic frontrunner Hillary Rodham Clinton replied on Twitter, "@JebBush: You are absolutely, unequivocally wrong." And Planned Parenthood issued a statement saying Bush "told the rest of America what Florida women have known for years, which is that he doesn't believe women's health is worth much." Bush leapt at the chance Tuesday to prove his anti-abortion bona fides before a group of largely conservative Christian voters at a meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention. The former Florida governor was asked during an onstage interview, "Shouldn't we ... say not one more red cent for Planned Parenthood?" (Bustos and Schelzig, 8/4)

Clinton, running for the Democratic presidential nomination, ... noted that the entire GOP field agrees with Bush. “When you attack Planned Parenthood, you attack women’s health, and when you attack women’s health, you attack America’s health,” Clinton said to cheers from hundreds of Democrats crowded into a small Denver nightclub. (Riccardi, 8/4)

In recent weeks, conservative media have taken [Bush] to task for the time he spent on the board of a charity run by former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg that gave money to Planned Parenthood, which provides contraceptives and STD treatment among other services. Republicans have been calling for the organization’s defunding after an anti-abortion group secretly recorded a series of videos with the organization’s medical officer speaking in a manner that critics called calllous about how best to extract fetal tissue during abortions before transferring it to research facilities. (Bailey, 8/4)

And by Tuesday afternoon, word went out via Twitter. Jeb Bush had told a group gathered at the Southern Baptist Convention that he was less than certain that "half a billion" dollars was needed to cover "women's health issues." ... That little aside was quickly highlighted on social media as precisely an example of the GOP "attacking women's health issues." And less than two hours later, the Bush campaign released it's own statement clarifying Bush's comments. (Ross, 8/4)