Fiorina draws ire of right with praise for Rev. Jesse Jackson push for more women in politics (2010)

San Jose Mercury News ^ | 1/22/10 | Mike Zapler

[jimbo123]

Former Hewlett-Packard CEO and Republican Senate candidate Carly Fiorina found herself in political hot water Friday after speaking warmly of Jesse Jackson and saying democracy won't be "truly representative" until "at least" half of elected officials are women.

In a speech that became public Friday, Fiorina fondly recalled the Rev. Jesse Jackson — a controversial figure across the political spectrum but anathema to many on the right — "very graciously" visiting her at HP years ago, when the two worked together to boost diversity among Silicon Valley's work force.

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As HP CEO in the early 2000s, Fiorina worked closely with Jackson and his Rainbow Coalition on several diversity initiatives — such as training minority youth for careers in high-tech and boosting diversity in Silicon Valley's work force — for which she became an outspoken advocate.

"In the past 40 years, there are very few people who have used their talent ... to achieve more things for more people in more places than Reverend Jackson," she said in a 2003 speech posted on HP's Web site. "And we are all better off for his leadership."

A spokeswoman for Fiorina, Julie Soderlund, said she had nothing to apologize for.

[Lucy Hamilton]

I don’t know much about Carly Fiorina. How I know about Jesse Jackson and from what I know, I find him a repugnant figure.

[BfloGuy]

I still can’t understand why Carly’s leftist pronouncements mean something and Trump’s don’t.

[sergeantdave]

It’s not often that one can witness a political candidate commit public suicide, but here it is.

Squish!

[mosesdapoet]

Fiorina us not a favorite of mine. But the time she’s refering to, 2000, is when Jackson was starting out and everybody was falling over themselves praising him. What he turned into since then is something else.