Haley responds to SOTU backlash by ripping Rubio, Bush

Facing backlash for her criticism of Donald Trump the night before, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) on Wednesday said she has differences of opinion with several other Republican presidential candidates.

{mosads}Haley told reporters that she also disagrees with Sen. Marco Rubio’s (R-Fla.) position on immigration, which she termed “amnesty,” as well as former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush’s previous support of Common Core.

“You know, I have disagreements with other presidential candidates,” she said. “You know, Jeb Bush passed Common Core, and Marco Rubio believes in amnesty, which I don’t. There’s lots of things.”

Haley, who seemed to rip Trump in her GOP response to President Obama’s State of the Union address Tuesday, has long been floated as a potential vice presidential candidate.

She said she has too many things on her plate to worry about whether that will come to fruition.

“You know, I think that the media has spent a lot of time on this, but the truth is we’ve come off of a tough 2015 for South Carolina, and I’ve got this education rollout, I’ve got the budget rollout on Friday, I’ve got State of the State next week,” she said. 

“It’s just not something I think about it. And I don’t think anybody else should think about it, because we’ve got to get a candidate first.”

In her address, Haley implored Americans not to “follow the siren call of the angriest voices.”

She said Wednesday that Trump’s call for a temporary ban on Muslim immigration to the country is what compelled her to speak out.

“You know, the one thing that got me, I think, was when he started saying ban all Muslims,” she said.

“We’ve never in the history of this country passed any laws or done anything based on race or religion,” she added. “Let’s not start that now.”

But Haley said she still considers Trump a friend and encouraged him not to take differences of opinion personally.

“I consider Mr. Trump a friend,” she said. “He was a supporter, he supported me in both campaigns, but just because you disagree with someone doesn’t mean you’re not a friend.”

“You know, when I say it about my other friends who are running for president, they don’t throw stones,” she added. “And so what I would say to Mr. Trump is don’t take it personally.”