Posted on 04/23/2015 8:14:22 AM PDT by upchuck
Carly Fiorina may not be an official presidential candidate yet, but her Iowa itinerary seems to indicate that she’s all in. Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard CEO, is in the midst of a five day, 13-stop tour of Iowa that included stops in all of the state’s major media markets.
On Wednesday evening, Fiorina traveled to Marshalltown for a campaign event at Legends Bar & Grille. Marshalltown is about 50 miles northeast of Des Moines and 40 miles east of Ames. Fiorina might not be a household name like Senators Ted Cruz and Rand Paul, or as known to Iowans as former caucus winners Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum are, but that didn’t stop 70 locals from turning out to see her.
Fiorina began her remarks by saying that she couldn’t confirm the Wall Street Journal story from earlier in the day that said she would be launching her campaign on May 4th. She did, however, say that when a man approached her in the airport on her way to Iowa earlier in the week and asked if she was still 60/40 in her decision to run for president, she replied, “The probability is more like 98 to 2.”
Fiorina’s remarks were centered on leadership and citizenship. During her remarks, she stated, “Leadership is different than management. Leaders change the order of things for the better.” She also added that the highest priority for a leader is to unlock potential in others. Underlying her remarks was the idea that leadership is sorely missing in Washington.
While traveling the country, Fiorina said that she gets the sense that people are afraid that we as Americans are losing something. Fiorina believes that what’s being lost is the limitless possibilities that Americans are used to having. “When we lose that, we are losing the core of what we are,” Fiorina added. “The root cause of this is that the weight and cost of our government is crushing the people’s potential.”
Fiorina is an excellent communicator. While her voice may not soar like some others in the race, she speaks with authority on a number of issues. Even though she has not ever held public office, her business background and life story give her credibility with audiences large and small. Most importantly, Fiorina is able to connect with people by talking about how she began her career as a secretary, how her faith has played a critical role in her life, and having to fight cancer.
It’s not just noteworthy that Fiorina is making 13 planned stops across Iowa this week, it’s what she’s doing at those events that really matters. In Marshalltown, Fiorina spoke for maybe 20 minutes and took questions from the audience for another 50 minutes. All told, she answered 13 questions from the audience ranging from border security to whether or not she’s a Christian and what her definition of marriage is. Not only did she directly answer every question that was asked of her, but she provided plenty of details that will help people get an understanding of how she would lead the country.
Fiorina reminded the audience in Marshalltown, “We need to think about what it takes to do the job, not just what it takes to win the election.” Fiorina stated that we need a nominee that has an understanding of how the economy works and how the world works. Gauging the audience’s response, she did an excellent job of making her point.
At the conclusion of the event, Diane Rogers, who turns 84 on Monday, told Fiorina how impressed she was with her remarks. Fiorina told her to find a reporter and tell them that. Ms. Rogers found me typing in a room of to the side of where the event was held. She told me, “It was the best political speech I have ever heard.” Obviously this isn’t the first presidential campaign Rogers has seen come through Iowa. What impressed Rogers, and I assume most of the people at the event on Wednesday night, was how thorough Fiorina was when answering someone’s question.
Other candidates may draw bigger crowds and more media coverage when they campaign in Iowa, but it’s clear to me that Fiorina is making a good first impression as she barnstorms through Iowa.
Here are some highlights from the question and answer segment of the event.
Boarder Security: Fiorina said it takes manpower, money, and the will to actually secure the boarder. “Countries all over the world secure their borders, we can do it.” She also talked about how the U.S. has had a broken legal immigration system for the past 30 years.
Renewable Fuels: Over time, Fiorina supports phasing our out all subsidies, tax credits, and anything where the government is essentially picking winners and losers. On the Renewable Fuel Standard, Fiorina said “It’s not the government’s job to determine market access.”
First three things she would do if elected: One, switch to zero based budgeting. Two, institute a pay for performance system. Three, don’t replace baby-boomers who work for the federal government when they retire.
Foreign Policy – How to negotiate: One, know what your goals are. Fiorina believes that President Obama has not achieved any of his stated goals with his deal with Iran. Two, be prepared to walk away from the table. Three, never celebrate a deal until you have the deal you want.
Other Foreign Policy Actions She Would Take: Immediately re-institute sanctions on Iran and not lift them until Iran allows full and unfettered inspections of their nuclear facilities. Rebuild the sixth fleet and missile defense in Poland. Conduct aggressive military exercises in Balkan states. Arm the Kurds. Share intelligence with Egyptians.
What should the definition of marriage be: “I believe that marriage is a spiritual institution,” Fiorina stated. She also said at its core, the gay marriage debate in America is really about how government distributes benefits. She believes that everyone should be treated equally, and stated that at Hewlett-Packard benefits were extended to same-sex couples just like they were to heterosexual couples.Hewlett-Packard
Tough on Romney: “Benghazi want’s an issue in 2012, because our nominee wouldn’t throw the punch.” We are in a fight about the future, we need a nominee who will throw the punch every time,” Fiorina said to applause.
Carly has a long way to go. Lucent: trashed. HP: trashed. Where are her positive outcomes? What would make me want to vote for her? Loooong way to go.
Carly is a useful counterweight to Hillary, as far as the gender issue goes. Other than that Carly has nothing going for her.
She has no chance at the nomination. But she will take some of the attention away from Hillary.
We endorsed Chuck DeVore in the GOP California Senate primary over Carly Fiorina. We did so because of DeVore’s proven record of staunch conservatism — which he continues fighting for now, having just helped kill a California open-carry ban — but also because we didn’t really trust or know anything about Fiorina. Carly’s conservative record was thin to nonexistent, and there were many troubling signs that she held liberal views. From her praise of Jesse Jackson, to her playing the race and gender cards against DeVore, to her support for the Wall Street bailouts, to her qualified support for the Obama stimulus, to her past support for taxation of sales on the Internet, to her waffling on immigration, to her support for Sonia Sotomayor, to her Master’s thesis advocating greater federal control of local education, to her past support for weakening California’s Proposition 13, to her statement to the San Francisco Chronicle editorial board that Roe v. Wade is “a decided issue,” Carly Fiorina’s oft-repeated claim to be a “lifelong conservative” was only plausible in the universe of NRSC staffers who recruited her in the first place.During the primary, Fiorina aggressively positioned herself to the right, aided by millions in self-funding and the support of a DC-based network more interested in her money and her connections than in any conservative principles. In addition to the NRSC’s unashamed support, Fiorina received the endorsement of major DC “pro-life” groups like the Susan B. Anthony List and the National Right to Life Committee — and got the backing of Gov. Sarah Palin and a host of DC Republicans, from Lindsey Graham to John McCain.All these groups, and our supposed betters in the party establishment, fed us several lines on Carly: that no matter what her actual record said she was “one of us”; that she would hold to her conservatism in the general election and in the Senate; that she had a better chance of beating Barbara Boxer than Chuck Devore; and that even if she wasn’t conservative, she was still better than Barbara Boxer.Whether the latter two are true or not, and I think for certain that Carly Fiorinia will be demonstrably better than Barbara Boxer, everything is hypothetical now except that those of us who knew better understood that in the general election, the great lurch left of center would begin.Let’s not abandon Carly Fiorina, but lest you be under some impression that she’ll be solidly and forthrightly with us in the Senate, understand what you are getting.The moment the great lurch left began came this past Wednesday, September 1st, in the televised debate between Carly Fiorina and Barbara Boxer.In the debate, which was dominated — as I told you repeatedly during the primary that it would be — by Boxer going on offense over Fiorina’s time as CEO of Hewlett-Packard, Carly Fiorina let loose three bombshells on conservatives:
On that last, Barbara Boxer was swift to respond: “If you can’t take a stand on Proposition 23, I don’t know what you will take a stand on.” Which brings us to the only time in the history of RedState we’ll agree with her. On September 3rd, her campaign sent out an e-mail saying she supports Prop 23 — not quite 48 hours after refusing to take a position in the televised debate with Boxer.To restate all this, Carly Fiorina abandoned pro-lifers, immigration conservatives, and every Californian who can’t find work because of their state’s eco-radical legislation (she did try about 48 hours later to get that group back). Here’s the kicker: none of this is a surprise. At least, none of it is a surprise if you paid attention to Carly’s actual record, instead of her campaign claims.So what now? Do we abandon Carly Fiorina? Polls show that she’s got an even shot at becoming the next Senator from California, which is better than any Boxer opponent has managed since 1992. Now that she’s shed any pretense of being a full-on conservative — and now that she’s apparently decided she doesn’t need her own party’s base — where does that leave us? Sure, she’s still better than Boxer. So is my dog, at least my hypothetical dog I intend to get and name Max once I have a house and yard big enough to accommodate a Chesapeake Bay Retriever.Here’s what we need to understand from this:
If you’re in California, absolutely and willingly vote for Carly Fiorina. But do so understanding who Carly Fiorina actually is. The mask is off, and there’s a squishy moderate underneath. In the Golden State, the sad truth is that our best hope is to replace a radical with a RINO. Considering the choice we could have had, that’s a shame.
I think she is running for VP and has a good shot at it. If the beast is the rat nominee that the GOP will want a woman on their ticket.
Wouldn’t Martinez be a better choice for a female VP?
She’s not going to win and she won’t even be chosen for VP since she won’t bring California and is a real light-weight candidate. But I like what she has been saying about Hillary. She is making a fairly articulate case that Hillary has zero accomplishments.
Their are lots of better choices but Carly is the only one playing the game. I don’t know to much about Carly’s politics but she not at all shy about criticizing Clinton. Carly also strikes me as very bright. She had no chance at the top of the ticket and surely she must know that herself so what is her end game VP / name recognition? It has got to be one of the two.
I don't get that two idiots are better than one. Affirmative-action tokens are unreliable, will not attract a single Democrat, and will turn off real voters. Besides which, a female President (that's what VPs can become) will appear weak in wartime. And in today's world, every time is wartime.
If you could get me a young Maggie Thatcher, I might listen to argument.
Man...the Cruz supporters are super paranoid. Yesterday there was a thread that FOX news was the enemy...now Carly Fiona’s a plant....what’s next?
Hillary has a vagina, just like half of the country, and that is her only accomplishment. "First woman to . . ." is a resume entry, not an accomplishment. Anatomical details will not affect my vote, whether the detail is genitalia, skin tone, or eye color. I want the most qualified person for the job, and that looks like Senator Ted Cruz, with Governor Scott Walker as a backup.
Nope. Pro immigration. Not that I’m against immigration. As long as you aren’t a trespasser, I don’t have an issue. If you are here in violation of the law, no sympathy. And, no benefits. If you can’t prove you’re here using the protocols as defined, best plant yourself a victory garden.
Bump! Thank you.
I don’t see her as VEEP. The fresher GOP is doing well, why bring her on to a ticket.
The Presidency is not an Entry Level politician’s job.
So why does she think she’s better than either Cruz or Walker?
she’s a “woman” ...
Ego.
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