Clinton slams Trump, GOP debate in NH speech

Hillary Clinton on Saturday infused Donald Trump’s latest controversy into her stump speech in New Hampshire, saying his reaction to questions about Obama’s citizenship and religion were “shocking but not surprising.”

“He’s been trafficking in prejudice and paranoia throughout this campaign, but I got to tell you if you look at the policies of the other Republican candidates, they are just Trump without the pizzaz or the hair,” the former secretary of State said, repeating a commonly used line. 

{mosads}During her speech in front of the New Hampshire Democratic Party Convention, Clinton also mocked the marathon GOP debates Wednesday night on CNN. 

“Who watched the Republican debates the other night? Oh you gluttons for punishment you — 15 candidates, five hours, not a single fighter for the middle class,” she said. 

She scolded the candidates for not addressing issues like paid family leave, preschool education or the gun violence that “plagues our communities.”

Clinton did not address her party’s own debate schedule, however. She is the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination but she has trailed rival Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in the early voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire. Both Sanders and Martin O’Malley, the former Maryland governor, have urged the party to add more than the six scheduled debates during the primary.  

The heated crowd just hours earlier had pressed DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz on the debate issue, chanting throughout her speech and forcing her to go off-script multiple times.  

Clinton’s nearly 40-minute speech touched on a number of issues, from Planned Parenthood and the “Black Lives Matter” movement to climate change, raising the minimum wage, substance abuse and the economy. 

Echoing a line she has used before, Clinton said she is not running for the “third term” of her husband, former President Bill Clinton, or President Obama. 

But she said she, “will proudly carry forward this record of Democratic achievement.”