Hillary Clinton delivered a fiery barn burner to a gathering of more than 1,300 Iowa Democrats Friday night.
At a Democratic party hall of fame dinner in Cedar Rapids, Clinton attacked three Republican presidential candidates by name as well as railing against Iowa’s Republican governor, Terry Branstad. The Democratic frontrunner did not mention any of her opponents in the Democratic primary by name.
The speech felt more like a general election address with Clinton going after both Jeb Bush and Scott Walker by name and arguing Democrats “are in the future business … but [the Republicans] are the party of the past”. But perhaps the best applause came for her attack on the state’s Republican governor who is currently in a showdown with the state legislature after vetoing education funding.
The former US secretary of state built on her typical stump speech by delivering a series of cable news ready zingers towards conservatives. Clinton mocked those Republicans who express skepticism about climate change by claiming “I’m not a scientist” by declaring: “I am not a scientist either. I’m just a grandmother with two eyes and a brain and I am not going to let them take us backwards.”
The former secretary of state also took a jibe at the GOP’s economical policy, saying “trickle down economics was one of worst ideas of 1980s along with New Coke, shoulder pads and big hair”.
Clinton also took care to emphasize her work on women’s issues, highlighting the struggles of her mother’s impoverished childhood and her work as a young lawyer at the Children’s Defense Fund.
