“This a great nation. It is a unique nation, in all of human history and on the face of the planet. Because here our founders believed that everyone has a right to fulfill their potential. And that that right, they called it life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, comes from God and cannot be taken away by government.
“We have arrived at a point in our nation’s history where the potential of this nation and too many Americans is being crushed by the weight, the power, the cost, the complexity, the ineptitude, the corruption of the federal government. And only someone who will challenge the status quo of Washington, D.C. can lead the resurgence of this great nation. I will do that.”
–Carly Fiorina
It really doesn’t get any better than this. If she doesn’t rise in the Presidential polls quickly, I would love to see her face Kamala Harris for US Senator from California.
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Her claim to fame is that she was the first female CEO of a top-twenty company. However, from the day she took over until the day her Board of Directors forced her to resign, Hewlett-Packard’s stock fell more than 50%.
Her last political run ended in a double digit loss to arguably the Senate’s most liberal member in a year which was generally referred to as either a “Republican landslide” or a Democratic debacle.”
She was good last night, but it was probably the pinnacle of Carly Fiorina’s political career.
And The Donald had four bankruptcies, so this shouldn’t prevent popularity.
HQ, I doubt one can hold her responsible for a double digit campaign loss in California. This IS California!
And BTW, a it was BARELY a “double digit loss” — 52.2% to 42.2%.
The voting pattern has been largely the same for the GOP in this state — and she did better than most statewide GOP candidates. This state is not up for grabs.
Moreover, she was outspent — $29.5 million for Boxer vs. $21.5 million for Fiorina.
http://www.opensecrets.org/races/summary.php?id=CAS1&cycle=2010
Richard,
It was Brian Brady, not me, who said he would love to see Carly Fiorina make anothet run at a California Senate seat.
Craig,
You make a good point about the two Republican candidates who tout their private sector business expertise. Four bankruptcies and the near-destruction of an iconic American company – the latter achieved despite there being a tax-cutting Conservative in the White House.
HQ. My bad. I thought we were discussing her running for President, which — BTW — she is.
Running for CA U.S. Senator as a Republican is essentially a human sacrifice — unless, perhaps, one is an action movie star (after all, this IS California!). Like such bloody sacrificial rituals, the lead-up can be entertaining, but the actual result is grisly to observe.
That being said, running in an open seat should narrow the margin defeat for such a sacrificial GOP candidate. IF Carly ran against Harris rather than incumbent Boxer, and IF the funding was as her previous race, it would be a closer race, I suspect.
But the same grisly outcome.
Richard,
My comment about Fiorina’s ill-fated Senate run was in direct response to Brian’s post in which he said, “…I would love to see her face Kamala Harris for U.S. Senator from California.”
As for the Presidential race, what do you think of a candidate who touts herself as a successful businesswoman yet her only stint as a CEO ended with her company’s stock value dropping 50% (well before the crash of 2008)?
HQ,
Maybe you’re too young to know this, but there were other crashes before 2008.
Florina took over a tech company in 1999. Look it up.
W.C.,
During Fiorina’s tenure at HP, their stock dropped 65% while the S&P 500 dropped 15% and the NASDAQ fell further, but less than 30%.
More interestingly, HP’s revenues grew dramatically during her tenure, but not so their net income. In fact, there was essentially zero increase in net income during her time despite the fact that the other companies that make up the S&P 500 had an average 70% increase in net income.
What Fiorina did do was create a larger company (in terms of revenue) by accumulating a massive amount of debt. Maybe she can do the same for the Federal Government.
Not that her business record is irrelevant, but she is, after all, running for public office.
Let’s hear what she has to say. Whatever it is, she does say it well.
HQ,
All true. Why didn’t you say that in the first place instead of the bizarre reference to 2008 which made you seem uninformed?
Trump: “I just realized that if you listen to Carly Fiorina for more than ten minutes straight, you develop a massive headache. She has zero chance!”
Trump is right. Carly knows WAAAAYYYYYY too much about the problems our country faces, and has the unmitigated gall to have pragmatic ideas to help with these problems. It’s all too much for The Donald’s petrifying brain to absorb.
FULL DISCLOSURE: She’s not my first choice, but is a great choice nevertheless. I’ll certainly back her if she wins the nomination. With gusto!
An intelligent, articulate conservative woman– looks good to me, certainly when compared with the rest of the line-up.
Carly is campaigning on the notion that warfare is changing from killing people and blowing stuff up to cyber and hacking. Like her or not. The message is sound.