Two potential top 2016 Republican presidential contenders took the stage at the Values Voter Summit on Friday but it was a former presidential candidate, outgoing Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), who shaped her speech around Hillary Clinton.
One would think that Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) or Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who have both strongly indicated they’re gearing up for a 2016 presidential run, would have happily devoted a chunk of their respective speeches at the Values Voter Summit to attacking Clinton. After all, the crowd on Friday was quick to cheer any attack against the former secretary of State and heavy favorite for the Democratic nomination for president.
But it was Bachmann who really brought the red meat on the Hillary front, not either of the senators who haven’t run for president yet (unlike Bachmann) and some argue have a chance of winning the GOP nomination.
“And during my time on the [House] Intelligence Committee, I had a front row seat to the world set on fire from Islamic jihad, and what we’ve seen is one disaster after another from the Obama-Clinton foreign policy team,” Bachmann said. “And in their fantasy world, a smaller, diminished, less powerful United States is somehow supposed to bring about global tranquility. Well, Mr. Obama, Mrs. Clinton, we want our 1980s foreign policy back.”
Bachmann then pivoted to Clinton’s post-Obama administration movements.
“It’s no wonder that Hillary Clinton couldn’t think of an answer when asked on her book tour to name her accomplishments as secretary of State,” Bachmann said at a different point during her speech. “I have one: permanent retirement. Quite simply, because she basically fails to inspire in anything, and never forget, she will be Barack Obama’s third and fourth term as president of the United States.”
Near the end of her speech Bachmann said “And we need to expose Hillary Clinton’s record of failure, and we will defeat her in 2016. Of that I have no doubt.”
Other major speakers didn’t go full attack dog on Clinton. Paul’s speech was bereft of Clinton’s name while Cruz devoted just one small portion of his speech to mentioning Clinton (even though the crowd liked it). Cruz argued that Clinton should “spend a debating the Little Sisters of the Poor.”
“She can embrace, yes, the federal government should be suing and fining Catholic nuns to force them to pay for abortion-inducing drugs,” Cruz said. “As for me, I’ll stand with the nuns. And a pretty good rule of thumb, by the way — if you’re suing nuns, you’ve done something really wrong.”
Still, Bachmann and Clinton have one thing in common: They insist on remaining in the public light even after they step out of public office.
“And while it’s true that I’m leaving Congress, I want you to know I’m not leaving the fight,” Bachmann said.
