Sen. John McCain is essentially a Republican in name only, challenger Kelli Ward said at a Tucson GOP appearance Tuesday.
The self-described “insurgent candidate” vowed to “slay this D.C. dragon” in the Republican primary.
Rattling off a long list of controversial positions McCain has taken over the years, Ward, 47, told some 40 people at the Tucson Republican Club that her 79-year-old opponent often is named by liberal Democrats as their favorite Republican to work with.
She ended her thought with assurances that Hillary Clinton would never name Ward as her favorite Republican.
The applause only grew louder at the midtown luncheon as Ward wondered aloud if Clinton would be ranking Republicans if she were in prison.
Her speech and a follow-up question and answer session lasted nearly an hour with Ward offering her thoughts on several topics.
- Ward, a physician, said she would work to replace Obamacare with a market-based system that would rely heavily on health saving accounts. She told the audience the new system would save taxpayers billions, perhaps trillions.
- The Veterans Affairs healthcare system should be forced to compete with the private sector for patients, Ward said. And those who served in the military should be able to walk into any doctor’s office to receive care.
- Ward said she opposes Common Core education standards and supports vouchers for every child in Arizona. She said there are good public schools but believes vouchers would force all schools to compete for students.
- Ward said she wants to drastically reduce the number of refugees coming to the U.S. She said refugee groups are essentially part of the U.S. State Department, and benefit from settling immigrants here.
- Ward said she doubts there ever could be peace in the Middle East and said the United States should set up a “U.N. for the Middle East” to help foster stability in the region.
- Saying McCain had overstayed his welcome in Washington, D.C., Ward said she would serve no more than two terms if elected.
Go to Ward’s website, kelliward.com, to find her schedule of public appearances.
