Sep 16 2008
Fiorina contracts foot in mouth disease
She had seemed like one of the most poised McCain surrogates out there, but the past couple of days have not been kind to former HP CEO Carly Fiorina. Yesterday she repeated the campaign line when anyone dares to even imply anything disparaging of Sarah Palin (even if it’s in jest) by saying that the Saturday Night Live sketch that featured Tina Fey as Sarah Palin and Amy Poehler as Hillary Clinton was “sexist.” That alone would have been ridiculous, but it was made even moreso by the fact that the support she offered for this view seems to actually debunk her own claim:
Well, I think that she looked a bit like her. I think that, of course, the portrait was very dismissive of the substance of Sarah Palin, and so in that sense, they were defining Hillary Clinton as very substantive, and Sarah Palin as totally superficial. I think that continues the line of argument that is disrespectful in the extreme, and yes, I would say, sexist in the sense that just because Sarah Palin has different views than Hillary Clinton does not mean that she lacks substance. She has a lot of substance.
[From Carly Fiorina Criticizes Tina Fey As "Disrespectful...Sexist" | The Huffington Post]
Perhaps I’m confused, but last I checked Hillary Clinton is a woman. So forgive me, but I don’t quite understand how drawing a contrast between one woman and another is sexist. Take out the “sexist” claim and Fiorina had set up a great defense for slamming Saturday Night Live as a bunch of Hollywood liberals, but the implication of sexism doesn’t pass the smell test.
But sexism and SNL seem like small potatoes when compared to what Fiorina got herself into today.
It began when she appeared on the McGraw Milhaven Show on St. Louis KTRS Radio this morning. The host asked Fiorina if she thought that Sarah Palin had the experience to run a major company like Hewlett Packard. Her response:
No, I don’t. But you know what? That’s not what she’s running for. Running a corporation is a different set of things.
She goes on to repeat the party line about how Sarah Palin is more experienced than Obama because she has executive experience. But still, how can you make the case that Palin doesn’t have the experience to run a corporation but does have the experience to run a country with a population of more than 300 million people and a GDP of more than $13 trillion?
But Fiorina didn’t stop there. She appeared on MSNBC later in the day to give her comments about the governor’s experience some context…by saying that John McCain (as well as Barack Obama and Joe Biden) couldn’t run a corporation either.
Well I don’t think John McCain could run a major corporation. I don’t think Barack Obama could run a major corporation. I don’t think Joe Biden could run a major corporation. But on the other hand, a major corporation is not the same as being the president or vice president of the United States. It is a fallacy to suggest that the country is like a company. So of course, to run a business, you have to have a lifetime of experience in business. But that’s not what Sarah Palin, John McCain, Joe Biden or Barack Obama are doing.
Obama campaign spokesman Tommy Vietor responded:
If John McCain’s top economic advisor doesn’t think he can run a corporation, how on Earth can he run the largest economy in the world in the midst of a financial crisis? Apparently even the people who run his campaign agree that the economy is an issue John McCain doesn’t understand as well as he should.
[From Fiorina clarifies: ‘I don’t think John McCain could run a major corporation.’ | Think Progress]
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