At the Conservative Political Action Conference that wrapped up today in Washington, PJ Media asked former HP CEO Carly Fiorina how she would differentiate herself from likely Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
“I’m going to talk about the difference in our policies. I’m going to talk about the difference in our approaches and I’m going to talk about the difference in our track record,” she said. “I think accomplishments and results matter, particularly to the American people, and so I think we need to be able to hold public servants to account if they have not accomplished a track record.”
Fiorina said questioning Clinton’s accomplishments is not “below the belt.”
“We need to ask everyone, whether they are in business or in politics, what are your results? What have you accomplished? Because the American people expect results and, among other things, we now know under Secretary Clinton’s tenure, the world has become a more dangerous place,” she said. “I talked about Vladimir Putin and the red reset button but we should remember as well she traveled to Syria and said Bashar al-Assad was a reformer that we could do business with and got that one wrong, too.”
She criticized the Obama administration for having a “wrong-headed policy” on Syrian refugees. The Obama administration is reportedly planning to increase the number of refugees allowed in the United States. House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mike McCaul (R-Texas) said admitting thousands of refugees is a very dangerous and reckless policy.
“ISIS has telegraphed that they want to exploit the refugee process to gain entrance into the West and United States. And we need to stop that,” he said.
Fiorina holds the same position as McCaul, arguing that ISIS is trying to “exploit” the problems with the U.S. legal immigration system that exists today.
“It’s a wrong-headed policy. I mean, this is an administration that is telling us that the reason they are not arming moderate rebels in Syria is because they can’t distinguish the good guys from the bad guys,” she said. “Now, if we can’t distinguish the good guys from the bad guys there, why would we think we could distinguish the good guys from the bad guys here?”
Also at CPAC on Friday, a huge crowd of attendees swarmed potential 2016 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump for autographs and photos.
Members of the hotel security team had to step in to control the growing crowd following the host of NBC’s The Apprentice.
Trump attended a meet-and-greet event where he addressed CPAC attendees before his speech in the main ballroom. Trump has said he is seriously considering a presidential run.
Some attendees told Trump they would support him for president. He encouraged the large group of CPAC attendees asking for photos and autographs to vote in the CPAC straw poll.
“Go out and vote,” he said.
PJ Media asked Trump what separates him from other potential Republican candidates such as former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker.
“I’m the one that can make America great again. It’s that simple,” he said.
Trump told reporters who approached him that the media would not report the level of the turnout at his meet and greet compared to the other candidates’ events.
Fiorina, another possible Republican presidential candidate, also held a meet and greet on Friday, which was not as widely attended as Trump’s event. Bush did not hold a meet-and-greet before or after his onstage interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity.
“Is the press going to report this? I don’t think so,” Trump said as the crowd followed him to the main ballroom.
“You’ll report it because you’re fair,” Trump told this reporter as he walked through the crowd.
Trump emerged from the CPAC straw poll, announced today, with 3.5 percent of the vote. Fiorina had 3 percent. Both came out ahead of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
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