Hillary Clinton slams Jeb Bush, calls for end to Cuba embargo

(Image credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

published 31 July 2015

Hillary Clinton, the frontrunner in the race for the Democratic nomination for president, on Friday morning didn't shy away from attacking former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, a GOP 2016 frontrunner, on his home turf, where they both took the stage to speak at the Urban League conference in Fort Lauderdale.

"I don't think you can credibly say that everyone has a right to rise and then say you're for phasing out Medicare, or repealing ObamaCare," Clinton said, referring to Bush's super PAC Right to Rise. "People can't rise if they can't afford health care. They can't rise if the minimum wage is too low to live on. They can't rise if their governor makes it harder for them to get a college education. And you can't seriously talk about the right to rise and support laws that deny the right to vote."

Clinton continued on her warpath later in the day at Florida International University, where she urged Congress to put an end to the trade embargo on Cuba. "We were unintentionally helping the regime keep Cuba a closed and controlled society, rather than working to open it up to positive outside influences, the way we did so effectively with the Soviet bloc and elsewhere," Clinton said. "The choices we make will have lasting consequences, not just for more than 11 million Cubans, but for American leadership across our hemisphere and around the world."

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.

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