WASHINGTON — (CNN) Hillary Clinton didn’t even have to mention Donald Trump’s name to slam the loquacious businessman as anti-women on Thursday.
To big applause, Clinton hit Trump as someone who “just seems to delight in insulting women.”
“We hear from candidates on the other side about turning back the clock on women’s rights. And there is one particular candidate who just seems to delight in insulting women any chance he gets,” Clinton said in Columbus, Ohio. “I have to say, if he emerges, I would love to debate him.”
The line brought Clinton sustained applause.
Her jab came the day after Trump knocked businesswoman Carly Fiorina’s looks in a Rolling Stone profile published Wednesday.
“Look at that face!” Trump said while sitting with a Rolling Stone reporter as Fiorina appeared on TV. “Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that, the face of our next president.”
Trump told CNN on Thursday that his remarks was not about her physical looks, but instead about her “persona.”
Clinton’s line on Trump fit with the theme of the event: Women for Hillary.
The former first lady peppered her remarks with issues her campaign hopes will invigorate women to support Clinton, including minimum wage, childcare and abortion.
“I will stand my ground. I will defend a woman’s right to choose and I will defend Planned Parenthood,” Clinton said to raucous applause.
The line appeared to resonate more than normal with the audience, in part, because about a dozen anti-abortion protesters stood outside Clinton’s event holding up graphic signs.
Although the event was fiery, the audience was not big enough to pack the 2,000-person Columbus Athenaeum, a venue that was also the site of Clinton’s 2008 Ohio primary victory speech. Clinton’s campaign said 700 people attended the rally.
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