Conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh on Thursday said Hillary Clinton only has a shot at the presidency because she’s a woman.
“You boil it down here and the only and greatest achievement Hillary Clinton has is her gender, being female,” he said on his radio show.
Limbaugh referred to a video posted Wednesday by conservative media outlet PJ Media in which young people were questioned about their impressions of Clinton. They expressed their excitement over the prospects of a first female president, but PJ Media said they struggled to identify any of her accomplishments as secretary of State.
{mosads}One of the reasons Clinton is back in the political world is because of gender, Limbaugh said, adding that Democrats would vote for a Hispanic president if Clinton doesn’t run in 2016.
“Because they see what they’ve pulled off with Obama,” he said. “The first African-American president is beyond criticism. You can’t criticize anything. You can’t chronicle his failures. You can’t do anything! Because you’re being racist.”
If a woman were elected president, Limbaugh said, any criticism of her would be considered sexist. He said any criticism of a gay president would be deemed homophobic and criticism of a Hispanic president would also be considered racist.
“Identity politics is such a major aspect of the liberal, leftist, Democratic agenda,” he said.
Limbaugh’s comments come a week after Republican strategist Karl Rove raised Clinton’s health issues from 2012 as a factor for the 2016 presidential election.
An initial report suggested Rove said Clinton had brain damage, but he disputed the report and said he never used that phrase.
“Thirty days in the hospital? When she reappears, she’s wearing glasses that are only for people who have traumatic brain injury? We need to know what’s up with that,” Rove said, according to the New York Post last Thursday.
In December 2012, Clinton fell in her Washington home, hit her head and was diagnosed with a concussion. Doctors at the time said a blood clot had formed behind her ear.
Clinton spokesman Nick Merrill strongly denounced Rove’s remarks and said the former secretary of State is “100 percent.”