Posted on 08/19/2008 7:42:36 AM PDT by Born Conservative
Carly Fiorina, the ousted Hewlett-Packard chief, makes her pitch in W-B. BILL O ’ BOYLE boboyle@timesleader.com
WILKES-BARRE – Carly Fiorina believes Sen. John McCain is the best choice to be the next president of the United States, and Monday she said voters will cross party lines to choose who is best for the country.
Carly Fiorina, the former CEO at Hewlett-Packard and a supporter of Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, was in Wilkes-Barre on Monday.
Fiorina, the ousted chief executive officer of Hewlett-Packard, signed on with the McCain campaign 18 months ago and is one of the few surrogates who is not a politician. She did not dismiss, however, the possibility that she could hold a position in the McCain administration should the presumptive Republican nominee defeat Sen. Barack Obama in November.
“I guess it’s a possibility,” Fiorina said. “But I would be doing this anyway because I feel John McCain will make a great president. He is one of the most authentic leaders I have ever seen.”
She was forced out by the Hewlett-Packard board two years ago after months of infighting. Fiorina was scheduled to meet with several people Monday – including a few Democrats – who she says believe this election is more important than any political party.
“John McCain has stood up against his party and his president,” Fiorina said. “There is a hunger now in this country for a leader – a president – who is clearly bi-partisan, a leader who will reach across the aisle to solve problems.”
Fiorina was the guest of Jamie Brazil, a longtime friend of the Rodham family and a staunch supporter of Sen. Hillary Clinton, who lost her bid for the Democratic nomination to Obama. Brazil is serving as national director of Citizens for McCain.
“It’s my goal in this position to target Independents and Democrats to vote for John McCain,” Brazil said. “First, I have a personal reason to support Sen. McCain -- my dad was a prisoner of war like McCain. Second, like Sen. Clinton, McCain has worked across the aisle to get things done and that’s what we need.”
Fiorina said she has met with many Democrats who were strong supporters of Clinton who are now supporting McCain.
“Most of the Democrats I have talked to feel that Obama’s positions would move the country too far to the left,” Fiorina said.
She said there are many undecided voters who are leaning to McCain.
“People look at this race and they realize that whoever gets this job will have a tough road ahead,” she said. “The economy is bad and there are crises all over the world. When they look at Obama’s resume, they just don’t see the qualifications there.”
Fiorina said recent polls show the race is close and attempts to link McCain to President Bush are unfair.
“John McCain is not George Bush, and I think Americans are smart enough to see that,” Fiorina said. Fiorina said McCain advocated “more boots on the ground” in Iraq long before Bush agreed.
She called Obama “a rock star,” noting that McCain could never fill a stadium with 75,000 people. “I don’t think it’s proven that fans become voters,” she said.
Fiorina said McCain can win Northeastern Pennsylvania and the state, which is critical for him to win the election. Many women that supported Clinton are now being courted by both candidates.
“Women make up 52 percent of the voting public,” she said. “That’s not a constituency; that’s a majority.”
Interestingly, Fast Eddie Rendell, not wanting to be outdone, found out about the interview, and called Steve up as well (Fast Eddie defected to the Obama camp).
Unfortunately, I missed both interviews as I was working, but heard Corbett talk about them later in his show.
I think there are a number of Hillary supporters who will not tell anyone of their actual intention to vote for McCain.
Carly Fiorina ruined HP; she is the Bob MacNamara of the Republican party. I’ll vote for McCain, but it would help if she would just shut up and go away.
Thus saith the woman who did her level best to destroy Hewlett Packard.
the media has tried to make a big deal of the so called obamicans republicans that will vote for obama, but I believe McCain will win the election due to the ‘McRats’ those voters formally known as reagan democrats...
This is not to say that John McCain is the “best” choice for President, just the “less-bad” choice.
America is SO screwed.
“Carly Fiorina ruined HP; “
That’s a fact. Carly is the poster child for PC gone wild. She was celebrated like a rock star, (sound familiar). She had broken the “glass ceiling” and was going to do big things at HP.
Yeah, she did big things, she tanked a once proud company. Got huge money in compensation, and was paid to go away.
She can now be the poster child for CEO compensation gone wild.
I agree.
She was a risk taker. What help ruin HP was those in the organization who were so tied to “This is the way we’ve all done it” metality that they rebelled like the techno-geek children they were.
“She was a risk taker.”
When one is given the top spot, there’s no room for blaming others. If she had good ideas, it was up to her to get others to buy in. She didn’t, she wasn’t ready for her position.
I don’t think she had good ideas. When she took over HP, the word on HP was: Expensive, but no better quality, anywhere.
When she was done the word on HP was: Overpriced, problematic stuff you’d be better off buying elsewhere.
I can’t really comment on her tenure, as I didn’t really follow the news on that back then, but HP seems to have made a comeback, and from what I’ve seen, has a good product.
In fact, my employer switched to HP/Compaq several years ago,and has stayed with them (we have over 11,000 employees and MANY computers).
Every Fiorina thread deserves a giant
She trashed it. Just face it.
No dog in the fight, other than being a sad consumer.
I believe there has been some rebound since she was booted, but I don’t trust it enough yet. Too many hours spent trying to help friends and family with their “great deal” HP purchases.
I’ll be in the market for a new computer this fall (for my son). What brand have you found is dependable (overall)? I bought a Gateway back in the mid 90’s, and it was a good computer, but I bought another 5 years ago, and I’m now done with Gateway.
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