Hillary Clinton laid into Scott Walker on Thursday, telling an audience of students in his home state that their governor is not a real leader.
Near the end of a fiery speech at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Clinton teed up the crowd by simply saying, “Let’s talk about your governor.” The line was met with a chorus of boos.
“It seems to me, by just observing him, that Governor Walker thinks because he busts unions, starves universities, guts public education, demeans women, scapegoats teachers, nurses and firefighters, he is some kind of tough guy on his motorcycle — a real leader,” Clinton said, referring to Walker riding his motorcycle on the campaign trial. “Well that is not leadership, folks. Leadership means fighting for the people you represent.”
Clinton said it was Walker’s “personal mission to roll back women health and rights,” citing his decision to defund Planned Parenthood in his state and sign a ban on abortions after 20 weeks of presidency.
Walked backed legislation in 2011 that defunded Planned Parenthood, the controversial women’s health organization, in his state and signed the abortion ban earlier this year.
“And even though women in Wisconsin are still paid less than men, with women of color making even less,” Clinton continued, “Scott Walker repealed protections for equal pay.”
Walker gained national notoriety when he limited public employee collective bargaining rights in 2011. The decision propelled Walker to national notoriety — in many respects making his 2016 presidential run possible.
Before Clinton’s speech, Walker said Clinton “could learn a few lessons from the bold reforms we’ve enacted in Wisconsin since I took office.
Walker himself took to Twitter after the speech to respond to Clinton, tweaking her use of private jets and including a photo of him riding a motorcycle.
“.@HillaryClinton your affinity for flying private jets on taxpayers dime is well known. I for one prefer this ride-SW”
He then defended his approach toward unions in Wisconsin, tweeting, “.@HillaryClinton while you pander to union bosses, I give workers freedom to choose if they want to be in a union or not. – SW”
AshLee Strong, Walker’s national press secretary, also tweeted, “Maybe Hillary should focus on her primary challengers first,” linking to a story about the surging Bernie Sanders, Clinton’s most stout Democratic challenger.
Clinton, however, has committed to remaining focused on Republicans.
“It certainly is clear that my campaign is focused on the Republicans. That’s who I talk about, that’s who I criticize, because I think they’ve earned it,” Clinton said last week in New Hampshire. “I’m running my campaign and I am criticizing the Republicans on a very regular basis because I want the American people to know what the real choice is.”