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Former HP CEO Carly Fiorina Considering US Presidential Run

McGruber writes: Fired HP CEO and failed Republican Senate candidate Carly Fiorina is "actively exploring a 2016 presidential run." Fiorina has been "talking privately with potential donors, recruiting campaign staffers, courting grass-roots activists in early caucus and primary states, and planning trips to Iowa and New Hampshire starting next week."

42 of 433 comments (clear)

  1. Can Iowa handle a circus that large? by damn_registrars · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The republican candidate list now includes (at least)

    Mitt Romney

    Jeb Bush

    Scott Walker

    Chris Christie

    Sarah Palin

    Bobby Jindal

    And now Carly Fiorina wants in, too? That will be quite a crowd.

    --
    Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
    1. Re:Can Iowa handle a circus that large? by ganjadude · · Score: 5, Funny

      none of those will be taken seriously. Its all about Rand Paul in 2016

      --
      have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
    2. Re:Can Iowa handle a circus that large? by damn_registrars · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Its all about Rand Paul in 2016

      Rand Paul would break the GOP; possibly the greatest gift the the democrats could ever receive. He is running for the nomination for sure, but he will be one of the first pushed out.

      --
      Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
    3. Re:Can Iowa handle a circus that large? by ganjadude · · Score: 4, Insightful

      the GOP needs to be broken because they are a sick joke right now.

      The democrats are only slightly worse than the GOP as a whole these days

      --
      have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
    4. Re:Can Iowa handle a circus that large? by Trailer+Trash · · Score: 4, Insightful

      So two people that couldn't even win a senate seat during favorable election conditions, a retread candidate, a guy with a toxic last name, a complete idiot who is known for being a punch line to everyone except the extreme right wing, a governor who barely dodges scandals erupting from typical New Jersey politics, and Bobby Jindal.

      Anyone else want in, because I'm not seeing a lot to get fired up about here...

      Yeah, all that vs. Hillary Clinton. We so desperately need a third party or Ross Perot type candidate.

    5. Re:Can Iowa handle a circus that large? by Scottingham · · Score: 3, Insightful

      haha, you think Clinton is extreme left wing? You need to recalibrate, she's moderate right wing if anything!

    6. Re:Can Iowa handle a circus that large? by jeffmflanagan · · Score: 3, Insightful

      >The democrats are only slightly worse than the GOP as a whole these days

      What? The Democrats are pretty bad, but much better than the degenerate remains of the Republican party, which is nothing but wingnuts now that they've driven all the smart people out of the party with their superstition, reality-denial, and bigotry.

    7. Re:Can Iowa handle a circus that large? by jeffmflanagan · · Score: 4, Informative

      The GOP has been broken for decades now. Their last good President was Eisenhower. They just keep drifting into more extreme white christianist views, and have doubled-down on religion at a time when smart people understand that the supernatural is imaginary.

    8. Re:Can Iowa handle a circus that large? by DigiShaman · · Score: 3, Informative

      Which is why I haven't donated to the GOP since after GWB 2nd term. The Republican Party is dead to me. Fuck both parties.

      For all you Republicans out there, there will NEVER be another Ronald Reagan. Forget about it. Just move on and go back to core basics in freedom and liberty. The Libertarian platform is your best hope, just drop the identity politics as authoritative tyranny needs to be stopped. It's urgent!. Unfortunately it's tainted by a bunch of anarchist nut balls, but I believe it's worth cleaning up and reorganizing to make it a viable serious party.

      --
      Life is not for the lazy.
    9. Re:Can Iowa handle a circus that large? by Jason+Levine · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The irony is that, were a candidate to arise that held Ronald Reagan's values, he (or she) would be kicked out of the GOP for not being conservative enough.

      My fondest hope is that the GOP splits in two. One half can be made up of the actual conservatives and the other half can be made up of the nut jobs. This way, the crazy-GOP can fade away to the side-lines and the serious-GOP can actually get stuff done without needing to worry about appeasing the crazy elements of their party.

      --
      My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
    10. Re:Can Iowa handle a circus that large? by MightyMartian · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Toxic to whom? Bill Clinton left office in 2000 with astonishingly good approval ratings, despite Gingrich's and Co's endless attempts to destroy him.

      Now Hillary Clinton is no Bill Clinton, but I don't think the Clinton name in general is nearly as toxic as, say, the Bush name (although, in Jeb's defense, I don't think he's the mumbling bumbling alcohol-fried moron his brother is).

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    11. Re:Can Iowa handle a circus that large? by LiquidAvatar · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Ah, the state of American politics. It's like being a starving man who is only presented with moldy leftovers. If you choose well, maybe you'll only be disgusted by your choice... choose poorly and you're left with an uncontrollable shit.

      --
      It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere.
      -Voltaire
    12. Re:Can Iowa handle a circus that large? by dcw3 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I'd be happy if we could get a GOP w/o the religion, that along with getting rid of the Citizen's United decision, and the money out of the political mess that is both parties.

      --
      Just another day in Paradise
    13. Re:Can Iowa handle a circus that large? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It's not even the theocratic bullshit that's the major problem. It's their insane dogma of coddling the rich and skullfucking anybody who works for a living. How can I support a party that uses big government to funnel my tax money into the pockets of dunces and takers in corporate boardrooms that hate 99% of America? I can't and nobody else who's thinking should either. Would anybody who's really concerned about communism crawl into bed with China? Would anybody who's really serious about small government howl for globe-spanning wars at every opportunity? Would anybody who's really grasped Jesus' teaching keep trying to cheat, enslave, disenfranchise, and murder the less fortunate? No, but Republican oligarchs and their useful idiots sure as hell do.

    14. Re:Can Iowa handle a circus that large? by plopez · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You must have missed the last election. Low turnout, which always favors Republicans, but every minimum wage increase passed, pot legaization passed, person hood amendments failed etc. In other words the liberal agenda made lots of progress. Here's a nice analysis by a GOPer:

      http://blog.chron.com/goplifer...

      --
      putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
    15. Re:Can Iowa handle a circus that large? by firewrought · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Forget about it. Just move on and go back to core basics in freedom and liberty. The Libertarian platform is your best hope, just drop the identity politics as authoritative tyranny needs to be stopped.

      Sigh... if only. Unfortunately, the libertarian brand of freedom is in effect more about shifting federal power to wealthy corporations, religious institutions, and state-level control than it is about empowering individuals to have control over their own lives. There's no emphasis on education, healthcare reform, consumer protection, or intellectual property reform; there's very inconsistent support for the broad field of civil rights (including digital rights, women's rights, LGBT rights, worker's rights, immigration policy, police accountability, civil asset forfeiture reform, etc.).

      They've got some good points: supporting gun rights, legalizing/decriminalizing marijuana, limiting federal power, challenging the DOD budget, and opposing pointless wars in the middle east. I give them points for wanting to confront reality on social security/medicare, even if their solution is to tear down most of the safety nets. When it comes to taxes or the environment, they seem to live in some far off fantasyland that wants to entrust our air/water/infrastructure/dignity to profit-focused institutions.

      Unfortunately it's tainted by a bunch of anarchist nut balls, but I believe it's worth cleaning up and reorganizing to make it a viable serious party.

      It's tainted even more by plutocrat backers that want power over others (without the pesky need to get elected) and zero taxes. But yeah, there is a core to their message that might be worth redeeming. It seems to me like they should seek out moderate democrats and try to establish a new liberalism. Maybe some progressives could acknowledge that life is just going to have some unhappy stories sometimes, and you don't need to pass a law or start a new government program everytime something on the news make you sad. Ultimately, we need both individual liberty and social responsibility.

      --
      -1, Too Many Layers Of Abstraction
    16. Re:Can Iowa handle a circus that large? by dcw3 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Your measure of left and right does not match up with American political norms. Now if your basing it on outside U.S., that's fine, but it doesn't play here.

      --
      Just another day in Paradise
    17. Re:Can Iowa handle a circus that large? by taiwanjohn · · Score: 3, Informative

      Overturning Citizens United will require a constitutional amendment. Have you done your part to move that process forward yet? Here are a couple of things you can do:

      1. Visit MoveToAmend.org and sign the petition.

      2. Visit Wolf-PAC.com and volunteer.

      3. Contact all of your elected representatives at every level of government and make sure they know where you stand on the issue of corporate personhood, and why.

      --
      XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve your problem, you're not using enough of it. --AC
    18. Re:Can Iowa handle a circus that large? by Actually,+I+do+RTFA · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Toxic [among] whom?

      Among conservatives who where not going to vote for a Democrat anyway. They hate her so much, they consider it a win if she gets nominated, because surely everyone else hates her as much as they do. Therefore, if she is nominated, it will be an easy victory. See also, liberals and GWB's 2nd term.

      --
      Your ad here. Ask me how!
    19. Re:Can Iowa handle a circus that large? by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 4, Informative

      You must have missed the Katie Couric interview that herald Sarah Palin's self-destruction. She wasn't ready for the national stage -- and it showed.

    20. Re:Can Iowa handle a circus that large? by micahraleigh · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Does anyone else see the template here?

      GOP nominee [insert name here] is the stupidest person who has ever represented the party.

      Even Maureen Dowd's Republican brother won't vote for him.

      9 out of 10 psychologists think [insert name here] has mental health issues -just by looking at his grammar!

      And these same psychologists made this determination before they even finished their breakfasts!

      Consequential publications (such as Rolling Stone magazine) have taken the unprecedented step of endorsing the Democrat!

      Nothing new under the sun, folks ...

    21. Re:Can Iowa handle a circus that large? by Sique · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I wonder what Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; means then. It is probably about Congress giving priviledges to some religions while reigning into the exercise of others and forcing religion down everyone's throat including that of atheists.

      --
      .sig: Sique *sigh*
  2. A millionaire who won't pay back her loans by McGruber · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Carly Fiorina still has not paid off the loans her 2010 campaign took out, despite having a net worth of $30 million to $120 million according to campaign paperwork she filed in 2009. From the WP article:

    The organization, Carly for California, still owed vendors nearly $500,000 as of the end of September, according to Federal Election Commission filings. The committee’s outstanding debts included more than $80,000 to strategist Martin Wilson and his former firm; $43,000 owed to D.C. law firm Patton Boggs, where campaign counsel Benjamin Ginsberg worked at the time; $36,000 to fundraiser Renee Croce; $5,000 to press aide Jennifer Kerns; and $7,500 to political director Jeff Corless.

    The Fiorina campaign also owed $30,000 to Joe Shumate, a storied political strategist in California who served as Fiorina’s senior adviser and died one month before Election Day in 2010.

    Fiorina “hasn’t really communicated with anybody in 18 months about how she intends to deal with the campaign debt,” said Wilson, now a vice president at the California Chamber of Commerce. “Hopefully, if she gets more serious about running for another office, she’ll revisit the issue and get some of those bills paid off.”

  3. Um, what? by gstoddart · · Score: 5, Insightful

    She was a largely incompetent CEO.

    WTF skills does she thinks she brings to the table as a fscking President?

    Pretty much her entire time at HP was marked with terrible decisions, bad planning, and disastrous outcomes.

    Well, I guess that's no different from Presidents, really.

    --
    Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    1. Re:Um, what? by gweihir · · Score: 5, Insightful

      From her perspective, this move makes perfect sense. Megalomaniac fuck-ups never realize that they are the problem. They are not equipped for it.

      --
      Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
    2. Re:Um, what? by sjbe · · Score: 3, Insightful

      She was a largely incompetent CEO. WTF skills does she thinks she brings to the table as a fscking President?

      Ask George W Bush.

      Pretty much her entire time at HP was marked with terrible decisions, bad planning, and disastrous outcomes.

      See previous answer.

    3. Re:Um, what? by dgatwood · · Score: 5, Interesting

      The ultimate horror for me, as a voter, is realizing that I may have to choose between Carly Fiorina and Hillary Clinton—between someone who nearly bankrupted one of the most profitable companies in the Bay Area and someone who seems to be hopelessly authoritarian in her positions on most issues—in effect, a choice between an incompetent Republican and an ultra-competent one.

      --

      Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.

    4. Re:Um, what? by sjbe · · Score: 4, Informative

      How's that Hopey-Changey guy working out?

      Mediocre mostly. That said it's unclear what Obama has to do with the profound incompetence of George W Bush. Obama has his own set of defects that are unique to him. GWB is without question the least competent president we've had since probably Herbert Hoover.

      I bet he's going to make the Middle East stable, stop warrantless wiretapping, get the US out of Afghanistan.

      Nobody is going to make the Middle East stable particularly after Bush the Lesser started two wars over there that we are still dealing with over a decade later. And anyone who expected any president to voluntarily give up their expanded surveillance powers is a naive fool.

      Oh, yeah, and reset relations with Russia.

      Kinda hard to do that when you are dealing with a megalomaniac like Putin. You go ahead and tell everyone how to play nice with Russia because nobody else seems to have a good idea.

      And I bet he comes up with healthcare reform that will allow people to keep their insurance plans and doctors, too.

      Most people did. And now millions more have insurance that previously could not afford any. (including myself btw) But way to miss the big picture over rhetorical nitpicking. Yes there are significant problems with the law but the basics of what it accomplishes are a good thing.

    5. Re:Um, what? by dunkelfalke · · Score: 3, Informative

      Communism, really? So which candidate supports workers owning the means of production, getting rid of money, and, ultimately, the government?

      --
      "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
    6. Re:Um, what? by mr_mischief · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Marxism on a local, voluntary basis can work pretty well. There are communes and kibbutzes all over. What doesn't work is applying that to a nation state.

  4. she almost crashed both Lucent and HP by swschrad · · Score: 5, Informative

    so let's not talk any further about Carly ruining the US, OK?

    --
    if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?
    1. Re:she almost crashed both Lucent and HP by halivar · · Score: 4, Informative

      By the time Bush Sr. got into office, the decline and fall of the USSR was already well under way. I read a fascinating article (can't find it, sorry) recently detailing how Reagan convinced the Saudis to flood the oil market; with USSR oil production taking up enough of its GDP to put it into an economic death spiral. Interestingly enough, the Saudis are once again flooding the market (according to Iran, which has been raising a small stink about it), and the Russians are still oil-dependent.

  5. She does have experience destroying companies... by gweihir · · Score: 4, Informative

    ... that were once great. I bet she can do the same with a whole nation-state. From statements by some former HP executives, her specialty is "shoot-the-messenger", which means that she has one of the worst possible management mistakes down pat and uses it as standard operating procedure. It really does not get much worse than this.

    --
    Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
  6. HAHAHAHAHA ,,,, by Mansing · · Score: 3, Funny

    ,,,, breathe .... HAHAHAHAHAHA!

    Glutton for punishment? Didn't the stomping in the 2010 Senate race teach her anything?

  7. Not my first choice by ErichTheRed · · Score: 4, Informative

    I know a few people who worked at HP in the 2000s, and even with the sour grapes filters on, every one of them describes how she let HP rot away, killing divisions and outsourcing any function she could for quick balance sheet cash hits. There's still some soul left there though -- the non consumer PC and laptop division is doing OK, as is their server line with the exception of the Itanium mess. Their software and the former EDS is a disaster, and let's not even mention the Autonomy acquisition. (OK, Autonomy was done after she was kicked out.) Still, HP is a long way from its engineering-driven roots and I don't know if it can ever get back there.

    Politics aside, I can't see what she could offer as President.

  8. WHOOSH every single one of you! by Thanshin · · Score: 4, Funny

    The OP was obviously joking!

    So much whoosh!

    Right?

    right?

    Oh dear god.

    America is dying of political trolling.

  9. Re:Against Clinton? Good luck. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    The Republicans could put a Ham Sandwhich against Hillary and win. That's what is so frustrating about the Democrats. They think that just because they want Hillary's cock that she can win the White House. I'm a registered Republican swing voter who has voted almost entirely for Democrats for the past 3 elections.

    If the Democrats chose Elizabeth Warren: I'll vote Democrat. If they chose Hillary I'm voting 3rd Party unless the Republican Party nominates Rand Paul. He's 75% the man his father was, but after the last 14 years of Republicrats consider it a protest vote for some REAL change. A vote for Hillary Clinton or Jeb Bush is a vote for the Plutocracy(DUH).

    Back to Carly Fiorina, if the Republicans think Mitt Romney was bad: I would vote for Hillary Clinton before I voted for a Margaret Thatcher 2.0.

    That bitch is crazy incompetent on wheels. She's "Gordon Gecko greedy" mixed with "Newt Gingrich level retarded". The only reason to even have her in the race is as a spoiler candidate to pull votes away from the most attractive male candidate during the Republican primary. Her first move as President would probably be to sell the US Navy to China and expect the US Air Force to get their air superiority fighters off the coast of hostile nations by asking them to work smarter and offering them vouchers for 10% off Amtrack tickets. Bonus points if she suggests getting them in the air by "pulling on their bootstraps". That bitch thinks just because shoving her head up her own ass has turned her in to a gravity defying perpetual motion machine, that the rest of us can be so effective at demonstrating the colossal heights of the Dunning Kruger effect which can be achieved if you work hard at it.

    I would ACTUALLY vote for an Adolf Hitler/Stalin ticket before I voted for Carly and it wouldn't even be a hard decision. Gas chambers vs 99% unemployment? That bitch makes Gas Chambers and concentration camps seem appealing by comparison. Gulags vs Carly? Gulags every time. FUCK CARLY.

  10. Why settle for second rate failure? by Tridus · · Score: 3, Funny

    Unlike the other candidates, Carly has a proven track record of spectacular failure.

    Don't settle for less, vote for first rate failure in 2016!

    --
    -- "So they told me that using the download page to download something was not something they anticipated." - Bill Gates
  11. George HW Bush by sjbe · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'd probably consider him the best President we have had in the past 40 years, especially considering the fact that the Iron Curtain fell during his administration and the US had no significant enemies to worry about for almost a decade.

    I think calling the elder Bush the best President we've had in 40 years is more opinion than fact but he certainly was among the most qualified guys we've had in the job. Reagan gets the love from Republicans but I think Bush Sr. was a better president overall. Congressman, Ambassador to the UN, Envoy to China, Director of CIA, and Vice President. Unlike his son he was actually genuinely qualified for the job - at least as much as anyone can be. He was quite good at foreign policy which is about 2/3 of the job description for a president. Unfortunately he was not especially talented at domestic policy and even said publicly that he didn't enjoy it much. He did nothing to combat deficit spending and basically continued policies started under Reagan. When the economy tanked (not really his fault) near the election he was pretty much screwed regarding getting re-elected.

    1. Re:George HW Bush by Jason+Levine · · Score: 5, Insightful

      He also knew how to stand up to the hawks in his party. After Kuwait was freed, people in his party/administration called for the US to keep marching past the Kuwait border and all the way to Baghdad. Bush Sr refused to do so, rightly seeing that this would be a disaster. Too bad Bush Jr listened to those exact same people and made the mistake his father avoided.

      --
      My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
  12. What is her platform? by pulse2600 · · Score: 4, Funny

    What is she going to do? Orchestrate a merger between US and Canada, then rebrand everything from the US as Canada, and everything from Canada as US? Then sell off Canada again when she finally realizes it is a disaster?

  13. Doing for America by stox · · Score: 3, Insightful

    What she did for HP.

    Be afraid, very afraid!

    --
    "To those who are overly cautious, everything is impossible. "