Fiorina casts herself as the anti-Clinton

Carly Fiorina cast herself as the anti-Hillary Clinton and criticized the Democratic presidential front-runner’s record during a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Thursday.

“She tweets about women’s rights in this country and takes money from governments that deny women the most basic human rights, she tweets about equal pay for women but won’t answer basic questions about her own offices’ pay standards,” the potential 2016 hopeful jabbed. 

{mosads}“Hillary likes hashtags. But she doesn’t know what leadership means.”

Fiorina, the former CEO of Hewlett-Packard and failed 2010 California GOP Senate nominee, piled on the criticism against Clinton and her family’s Clinton Global Initiative for accepting money from foreign governments.

“Mrs. Clinton, name an accomplishment,” said Fiorina, echoing a speech she gave last month to the Iowa Freedom Forum. 

“And in the meantime, please explain why we should accept that the millions and millions of dollars that have flowed into the Clinton Global Initiative from foreign governments doesn’t represent a conflict of interest.”

She also bashed Clinton on her response to the attacks on the U.S. compound in Benghazi and panned her for presenting Russia with a “reset button” to symbolize a reset of the relationship between the two countries.

During the question and answer period, Fiorina added that she’d take away Clinton’s largest advantage if the two squared off.

“If Hillary Clinton had to face me on a debate stage, at the very least, she would have a hitch in her swing,” she said to cheers from the audience. 

Asked about whether the GOP should have a female presidential nominee, she pointed out that women are a majority of the country’s population and that the party should be as diverse as the nation. 

Her speech also included a strong pro-free-market message as she shared her background and her accomplishments. She explained how she rose up the corporate ladder from a secretary to become CEO of a major technology company and mentioned that her step-daughter died from addiction. 

“Most Americans get their start the way I did — in a small business. The dry-cleaners, tacquerias, coffee shops, hairdressers and real-estate firms of American Main Street create most of our new jobs and employ half our people,” she said.

“So if we want more jobs, we need more small businesses.” 

Fiorina, who majored in medieval history and philosophy at Stanford, also took a jab at President Obama’s recent remarks comparing the violence by Islamic extremist groups to Christian violence in the Crusades.

“Yes, Mr. President, ISIS wants to drive the whole world back into the Middle Ages, but the rest of us moved on about 800 years ago,” she said. While you seek moral equivalence, the world waits for moral clarity and American leadership.” 

Fiorina is publicly weighing a bid for president, but is currently polling outside of the top 12 candidates in the Republican field, according to an average from RealClearPolitics.