'Repeal every word': Potential GOP 2016 rivals hammer ObamaCare, IRS at Iowa summit

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Fox News:

DES MOINES, Iowa – Conservative heavyweights joined with up-and-comers in hammering President Obama Saturday over everything from the health care law to his immigration policies as they played to a sold-out Iowa crowd in what amounted to the opening bell of the Republican presidential campaign.

 

They spoke at the Iowa Freedom Summit in Des Moines, held in the first-in-the-nation caucus state at a time when big-name Republicans are getting close to announcing whether they’ll seek the presidency.

 

While nobody at the summit has definitively declared a 2016 bid, nearly a dozen of the summit’s speakers are flirting with one. Testing their message on the conservative Iowa crowd, they took a hard line in their prescriptions for the country.

 

“The most important tax reform we can do is abolish the IRS,” Texas Sen. Ted Cruz told the fired-up audience.

 

The firebrand senator compared the EPA to a locust and got a huge reaction when he demanded to “repeal every word of ObamaCare.”

 

Sarah Palin, too, after telling reporters she’s thinking about a 2016 run, laced her speech with snappy one-liners as she lit into the current president.

 

Of Obama, she said: “America, he’s just not that into you.” The 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee also knocked the idea of a Hillary Clinton run.

 

“Hey Iowa, can anyone stop Hillary? To borrow a phrase, yes, we can!” she said.

 

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former Texas Gov. Rick Perry – who was interrupted by immigration protesters – helped closed out the daylong event. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum spoke earlier.

 

Christie also was interrupted by a protester in the crowd. Unlike Perry, who kept talking through it, Christie couldn’t resist. “Don’t they know I am from New Jersey? This stuff doesn’t bother me one bit,” he said. He went on to dismiss the notion he’s too blunt for Iowa.

 

“If that was the case, why would you keep inviting me back and why would I keep coming back?” he asked, to applause.

 

The summit, which included a packed schedule of speeches back-to-back, served as the unofficial kickoff to the 2016 Republican presidential race.

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Why is Donald Trump there? Everyone else has credibility.