After Hillary Clinton’s shocking third-place finish in Iowa last week, the former first lady said the state was “full of idiots” and likened the caucus system to Stalin’s Russia.
“Iowa shouldn’t even be a state anymore,” said Clinton on the stump in New Hampshire, which she called “a real democracy.”
“Frankly Iowa is un-American.”
“What about the people driving to the caucuses whose cars ran out of gas and couldn’t make it,” she said. “Do we as a country just tell them, ‘You don’t matter because your car ran out of gas?’”
Clinton, who has tried to appeal to voters who constantly forget to refuel their cars, has lost her aura of invincibility after getting trounced by black man Barack Obama in a nearly all-white state.
Advisers have urged Hillary to be “more likable,” but she has scoffed at that notion.
“America doesn’t need someone it likes as president,” she said. “We need someone calculating and cold, who refuses to speak off the cuff or answer questions at campaign events.”
In New Hampshire polls, Clinton is virtually tied with Obama. Analysts say this is a must-win for her, and her message to voters here over the weekend seemed to convey that sense of urgency.
“Do you people in New Hampshire want to be as stupid as those bumpkins in Iowa?” she said to scattered applause.
