Former Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D) seems to be doing all he can lately to differentiate himself from presumed 2016 frontrunner Hillary Clinton while fueling speculation about his own presidential ambitions.
After a Weekly Standard interview highlighted comments Schweitzer made suggesting the former secretary of state might take a turn to the “hard right” politically, the former governor took an implicit shot Wednesday at Clinton’s voting record.
“Anybody who runs in this cycle, whether they are Democrats or Republicans, if they were the United States Senate and they voted with George Bush to go to Iraq when I would say about 98 percent of America knows that it was a folly, that it was a waste of treasure and blood, and if they voted to go to Iraq there will be questions for them on the left and from the right,” Schweitzer told CNN after speaking to Iowa Democrats.
The former governor did not mention Clinton by name, according to CNN. Clinton voted for the authorization of military force in Iraq while serving as a Democratic senator from New York.
Schweitzer brought up Iraq again Wednesday night at a holiday party organized by liberal group Progress Iowa, emphasizing his opposition to the war at the time.
“When George Bush got a bunch of Dems to vote for that war, I was just shaking my head in Montana,” he said, as quoted by CNN. “I’m asking you to pick the leaders who aren’t going to make those mistakes.”
