We Love The Way Hillary Clinton Throws Shade

How many times has Hillary Clinton said what we've all been thinking? "Women's rights are human rights." "I wonder if it’s possible to be a Republican and a Christian at the same time." "I'm running for president." She always makes the sharpest statements with a veneer of class, because that's just what she does, and calling out Republican presidential candidates' boring smack talk is no exception. Clinton once again said what we're all thinking: What would they even talk about if she weren't running for office?

During her first visit to New Hampshire as a Democratic presidential candidate, Clinton directly addressed the elephant in the room. Republicans have accused the Clinton Foundation of accepting money from foreign governments, as is alleged in the forthcoming book Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich. But Clinton brushed off reporters asking about the book by mentioning how curious it is that instead of talking about other fellow candidates or maybe even political issues, Republicans seem to be completely focused on discussing whatever Clinton is doing and saying. As she once said, all she needs to do to make headlines is change her hairstyle. Anyway, here is Clinton's snappy comeback:

It is, I think, worth noting, the Republicans seem to be talking only about me. I don’t know what they’d talk about if I wasn’t in the race. But I am in the race and hopefully we’ll get on to the issues and I look forward to that.

Did you catch her throwing that shade? You might have missed it because it seemed too much like an objective statement of fact, but it's there, and it's certainly based on more substantial observations than some of the jabs she's alluding to here. Over the weekend before Clinton arrived in New Hampshire, 19 Republican presidential hopefuls gathered in the same state. But instead of aiming knocks at each other, which is the traditional way to compete against fellow competitors for the candidacy, they took aim at Clinton. Though this part of campaigning is usually saved for after the primaries, when the two candidates are actually in a race against one another, they got ahead of themselves. Marco Rubio made this bizarre quip about Clinton's fundraising:

Hillary's going to raise $2.5 billion — that's a lot of Chipotle, my friends.

I won't get into it here about how much it irks me that Rubio uses Clinton's first name instead of her last name, as he would with literally any other (male) candidate. That is an issue for a different article. But I will say that I just don't understand what the big deal is about Clinton's trip to Chipotle. What would Republican candidates say if Clinton actually did something scandalous? While they are busy talking about her burrito bowl choices, Clinton is going to address the problems that actually inspired her to run for office.

These issues are in my view distractions from what this campaign should be about, what I'm gonna make this campaign about. I'll let other people decide what they want to talk about. I'm gonna talk about what's happening in the lives of people in New Hampshire and across the country.

Images: Giphy