Former HP CEO Carly Fiorina Near Launching Presidential Bid

Rambo Tribble writes Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina announced on Fox News Sunday that she stood a 'higher than 90 percent' chance of running as a presidential candidate in 2016. Fiorina's tenure at HP was marked by controversy over her leadership, and it is unclear what level of name recognition she enjoys. Her only previous political experience appears to be a failed U.S. Senate seat effort in 2010, as the Republican candidate challenging sitting Democrat Barbara Boxer, in California. Fiorina lost by 10%.

Comments

Oh goody

[Rinikusu]

Maybe she can fire Congress and fill their positions with H1Bs. Not like they can do any worse.

Re:Oh goody

[DoofusOfDeath]

Maybe she can fire Congress and fill their positions with H1Bs. Not like they can do any worse.

Wait until the SCOTUS tells states that immigration enforcement is a federal matter, and that states therefore cannot prevent illegal immigrants from voting or holding elected office. That's basically your joke come true.

Re:Oh goody

[CrimsonAvenger]

Wait until the SCOTUS tells states that immigration enforcement is a federal matter, and that states therefore cannot prevent illegal immigrants from voting or holding elected office.

While some elected office require citizenship, not all do, in case you are unaware.

However, voting requires citizenship at local, state, or federal level.

Which means that even if SCOTUS says that immigration enforcement is a Federal issue (it is, frankly), that won't result in any new voters until citizenship requirements are met. Though it might result in some new candidates for public office....

Re:Oh goody

[tranquilidad]

Have to start somewhere:DC Considers Allowing Non-Citizens to Vote

Re: Oh goody

[Anonymous Coward]

States can't, actually, as all questions of citizenship are decided by Congress under the Constitution, who has the right to set Naturalization laws.

All states can determine is residence.

Re:Oh goody

[Anonymous Coward]

She would find a way 'fire' the voters and replace all of them with H1Bs.

Re:Oh goody

[reboot246]

SCOTUS can go jump. For most of this country's history immigration was a state matter. Go read your history and you'll see that states controlled immigration, and the feds stepped in only when requested. It makes sense when you read the word "state" as "country", the way it was meant to be by the Founders.

Re:Oh goody

[Fire_Wraith]

The Constitution doesn't tell the States (or DC for that matter) who can vote in their internal elections, or what sort of form those can take, save that it guarantees them a "republican form of government," meaning essentially that your state can't decide to replace its legislature with a hereditary Monarchy for instance. Most states mimic the federal government in form (executive, bicameral legislature, etc) but not all do - Nebraska for instance has a unicameral (one house) legislature.

The States though have some reasonable discretion at how they run their elections. While I find it difficult to think of a situation where a State might have more strict requirements for voting in its non-Federal election, there is precedent for a State allowing someone who can't vote in a federal election to vote in a state election. Prior to the 26th Amendment lowering the voting age to 18, many States already allowed 18 year olds to vote in non-federal elections, and the Supreme Court upheld that Congress had the right to regulate the minimum age in federal elections, but not at the state and local level.

Now, whether that would extend to citizenship would be an interesting question, but there's certainly precedent for it in terms of both age and women being allowed to vote in state/local elections, when they could not do so in federal elections.

Re:Oh goody

[AK Marc]

Prior to the 26th Amendment lowering the voting age to 18, many States already allowed 18 year olds to vote in non-federal elections, and the Supreme Court upheld that Congress had the right to regulate the minimum age in federal elections, but not at the state and local level.

What's odd is that Congress would have been able to require 21+ to vote for a congressman, but not for president. The presidential elections are not federal elections. Congress could require the electors in the Electoral college be 25+ or whatever they like, but not the ages of the state voters selecting them, that's a local election, not a federal one.

Re: Oh goody

[AK Marc]

The right to vote is Constitutionally guaranteed to citizens, but not denied to residents (legal or illegal). A state could allow residents to vote. A state "grants" most of the rights of citizenship. So ignore the feds. The most they'll do is pass a law that takes away the state's highway's funding if they don't enforce laws the feds can't enforce. Like how they set 55 as the NMSL, 21 for the drinking age, and tight laws on drunk driving.

Re:Oh goody

[dbIII]

You mean just like in the early days of the USA when anyone who moved in could vote? Can't have that!

Re:Oh goody

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, the word "state" means "state". It's become a problem in America, because our states started out as states, and now are provinces. A nation comes from the same root as "nativity", but that "common blood" definition has been a lot less important. But the "state" term is becoming redefined more and more over time.

Re: Oh goody

[Anonymous Coward]

Haha, they were British!

Re:Oh goody

[BVis]

Well, fortunately we have strong voter id laws on the books that are intended to make it harder for Democrats to vote

FTFY.

Voter fraud is a rounding error. You should try finding a more compelling bogeyman.

Re:Oh goody

[Anonymous Coward]

No, she can merge the three branches of the U.S. government! Synergy!

Re:Oh goody

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh yeah! Voter/Vote fraud was the topic of the day when Bush was elected president. Now that "your guy" is in the white house, it's a "rounding error".

Re:Oh goody

[Anonymous Coward]

Whatever you say, Eurotrash.

Re:Oh goody

[BVis]

2000 wasn't about voter fraud, it was about terrible ballots and the closeness of Florida's result. SCOTUS put him in office. Actual voter fraud (where you're ineligible to vote and vote anyway) is what is the rounding error.

This is great!

[ColdWetDog]

She can follow up on her work at HP and merge the Democrat and Republican parties together. That should make things much more efficient, increase shareholder value and offer synergies to enhance international competition.

Re:This is great!

[Anonymous Coward]

I thought they'd already merged. They both do pretty much the same thing when they're in power.

Re:This is great!

[PolygamousRanchKid]

. . . you forgot the part about how she is going to lay off Americans . . . revoke their citizenship, and force them to leave the country, and try their luck elsewhere in the world.

She also ditched the old concept of "The HP Way". I'm guessing that she will change the "Pledge of Allegiance, to the Flag" to "With Freedom and Justice . . . for the Rich".

Re:This is great!

[davester666]

They would be "Battling Business Units"

Re:This is great!

[sphealey]

What's a "Democrat Party"? Whig, Republican, Bull Moose, and Democratic are some major US political parties that come to mind but I don't recall a "Democrat Party" from the history textbooks.

sPh

Re:This is great!

[Anonymous Coward]

I think the term for the party you are affiliated with is "Arrogant asshole".

Re:This is great!

[r1348]

Nitpicking, or complete lack of imagination?

Re:This is great!

[Anonymous Coward]

"The HP Way" was ditched long before she came along.

Re:This is great!

[sphealey]

"Democrat Party" is a slur, originally developed by Jesse Helms and later picked up and expanded upon by Karl Rove, intended to take away from Democrats - that is, members of the Democratic Party, the right to choose their own name.

As Theon can tell you having an entity that is attempting to obtain dominance over you impose a name not of your choosing is not a good thing. Members of the Democratic Party have been pretty vigilant about this since George W. Bush started doing it regularly. Hard right wing radicals don't like to be called out on their attempts though for some weird reason.

sPh

Re:This is great!

[Anonymous Coward]

She can follow up on her work at HP and merge the Democrat and Republican parties together.

If her goal is for the Democratic and Republican parties to reach agreement on the value of her candidacy, I think that can be readily attained.

Re:This is great!

[RabidReindeer]

Nitpicking, or complete lack of imagination?

"Democrat Party" is what conservatives call it because the idea of a "democratic party" offends them. You don't hear too much mention of the "Republic Party".

So, nitpicking if you will. Refusal to accept a slur, if you won't.

Re:This is great!

[Livius]

They could never merge - they're as different as Coke and Pepsi.

Re:This is great!

[Anonymous Coward]

I thought they'd already merged. They both do pretty much the same thing when they're in power.

Translation: neither party is especially friendly to Slashdotters on the all-important file sharing and IT immigration issues, which is all a lot of people here care about.

Re:This is great!

[catchblue22]

She can follow up on her work at HP and merge the Democrat and Republican parties together. That should make things much more efficient, increase shareholder value and offer synergies to enhance international competition.

Or she can sell off the US government's core technological assets and turn America into a hollow corporate brand name that creates almost nothing. Just like she did with HP when she sold off HP's advanced technology division as Agilent, and changed HP from a technological powerhouse into a brand-name for shitty computers and components.

Re:This is great!

[pnutjam]

and:
Privacy
1st amendment issues
4th amendment issues
single payer healthcare

just to name afew more of mine.

Re:This is great!

[TheGratefulNet]

right now, the only thing they don't do is 'sell ink'.

I think she's the right person to help with that.

not much else, though. but if ink at a high price is your game, she's the lady to go see.

Re: This is great!

[DigiShaman]

Only on social issues; which is a dog and pony show for the simple minded sheeple.

Re: This is great!

[DigiShaman]

Democrat Party. As in 'Democratic Party' is an affront to the true meaning of democracy.

Re:This is great!

[Bing Tsher E]

Agilent is better off without the crappy consumer electronics. Laser and Ink Jet printers became commodities. The old H-P was dead no matter who took charge. Hillary could have become the H-P CEO and it wouldn't have gone differently.

Re:This is great!

[Anonymous Coward]

But under her guidance, they will flourish just like HP did.

Re:This is great!

[Anonymous Coward]

She'll be buying Greece and Ukraine for $1trillion each, to incorporate them into the USA... then have no idea how to manage such a thing, realize that she massively overpaid for them and they weren't worth anywhere near what was paid, and then will try to sell them off for $10billion each... just like all the other acquisitions HP has made in recent years.

Re:This is great!

[the gnat]

Then why is it exclusively conservatives who use the incorrect term?

Re:This is great!

[Anonymous Coward]

She can follow up on her work at HP and merge the Democrat and Republican parties together. That should make things much more efficient, increase shareholder value and offer synergies to enhance international competition.

Or she can sell off the US government's core technological assets and turn America into a hollow corporate brand name that creates almost nothing. Just like she did with HP when she sold off HP's advanced technology division as Agilent, and changed HP from a technological powerhouse into a brand-name for shitty computers and components.

I think we've accomplished most of that already without her. We've handed off most of our 'advanced technology' to China/Asia, unless it's military tech... then we just let them steal it instead.

Re:This is great!

[Anonymous Coward]

Why not Stephen Elop as VP?

Re:This is great!

[Anonymous Coward]

Well played, Sir!

Also it should be noted that if she is serious about running for any public office, she needs to learn to control that lip gloss. She looks like she's slobbering.

Re:This is great!

[ixidor]

and.... Bingo. thanks folks, turn in your cards to the right as you exit.

Re:This is great!

[Anonymous Coward]

That illiterate, GWB, used to call it the Democrat party. He was wrong then, as he was with a lot of things, including his mission accomplished.

Re:This is great!

[Anonymous Coward]

That's what some libertarian fringe weirdo says in every single thread mentioning politics, and even threads that don't. Congratulations on being that guy.

Re:This is great!

[Anonymous Coward]

The idea that the democrats and republicans are the same is such a load of crap. It's an easy way for self-satisfied and politically ignorant cynics to just offhandedly dismiss isses that are actually pretty complex. Let the downmodding commence.

Re:This is great!

[sphealey]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democrat_Party_%28epithet%29
Use of the term has been a point of contention within the Republican Party. In 1984, when a delegate of the Republican platform committee asked unanimous consent to change a platform amendment to read the Democrat Party instead of Democratic Party, New York Representative Jack Kemp objected, saying that would be "an insult to our Democratic friends" and the committee dropped the proposal.[2] In 1996, the wording throughout the Republican party platform was changed from "Democratic Party" to "Democrat Party": Republican leaders "explained they wanted to make the subtle point that the Democratic Party had become elitist".[19] A proposal to use the term again in the August 2008 Republican Platform for similar reasons was voted down with leaders choosing to use "Democratic Party". "We probably should use what the actual name is," said Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, the panel's chairman. "At least in writing."

Yeah, Jack Kemp and Haley Barbour, flaming libruls both. Got it. Nice try though.

Re:This is great!

[ChrisMaple]

You don't hear "Republic Party" because it is a compliment of the highest order.

Also, the word "republics" refers to countries with a certain type of government; whereas "democrats" refers equally well to people espousing democracy and many members of the Democratic Party.

The Democratic Party contains many people who claim and believe that democracy is a good thing, and consider themselves both democrats and Democrats. It is therefor accurate to describe the Democratic Party as the democrat party, i.e. the party of democrats. Calling it the Democrat Party, though inaccurate, is a subtle way of insulting those Democrats who understand the deficiencies of democracy by those who also understand the deficiencies of democracy.

It's a slur only if it's inaccurate.

Re:This is great!

[Anonymous Coward]

Universal Basic Income or negative income tax
Student loan interest caps
Maybe free tuition for a couple years of college (including university)
etc.

Re:This is great!

[Greg_D]

Some of us got past the mentality of a 10 year old who still thinks their mother picks on them. You'll get there one day, champ.

Re:This is great!

[dave420]

Read up on the history of the name, and you'll see you're not only wrong, but fantastically so.

Re: This is great!

[Anonymous Coward]

Bullshit! I'm a 30yr Hp veteran and "The Hp Way" was alive and well when Ms. Fiorina took over. Her "policies" and "vision" layed the seeds of rot that were followed by her successors Mark Hurd ( the "cut your way to profits" CEO ) & Meg Whitman (the "let's break up the company but not change our strategy" CEO) - all republicans I might add - that have led to HP's current demise.

If that's not a case study for poor leadership & mgmt and a verdict on republican polices - I don't know what is!

Re:This is great!

[Anonymous Coward]

Why can't we get someone else better known that ACTS like a business executive? After all, we've had actors before. Remember Ronald Reagan?

I don't know the actors name, but let's go with the Jack In The Box guy, and as dressed on TV.

For vice president get someone from the FCC, like whoever allowed those drug ads, infomercials, and lawyer ads.

The lawyer ads could solve the national debt. All we need is more of those Trans-Vaginal-Mesh suits to bring in revenue from other countries.

Who knew that nuclear was so green? It's a good thing that industry doesn't have the money to cloud the climate discussion. Those poor guys. There must be some kinda of subsidy we could give them. Maybe big transmission fees for neighbors running on each others solar?

Re:This is great!

[thunderbird32]

Don't blame me! I voted RC Cola.

Re:This is great!

[ebvwfbw]

And both are like crab juice.

Re:This is great!

[Anonymous Coward]

Well... I would scrap that universal income and the free tuition... But interest-caps on student loans, or maybe even interest-free student-loans would be great...

Re: This is great!

[Anonymous Coward]

I pity you that you stayed... I got fed up with it and just left shortly after Fiorina joined..... There are many opportunities, especially if you got that amount of experience... Just remember the stuff with firing thousands of people, and then buying a couple of new corporate jets... Just insane...

Btw.. It made me really laugh when she visited our office, and she ordered that no one where allowed to smoke during her visit... Heck.. Sure you have people that are allergic, but allergic enough to be affected by a little bit of smell, when she walks by, from someone that smoked 30-60 minutes ago...

Disclaimer.. I *was* a (stupid) smoker at that time and have long since quit.. But still...

Simplr math ...

[BarbaraHudson]

Since she has a greater than 90% chance of running, she has a greater than 90% chance of losing. This truly is a case of "the only way not to lose is not to play the game."

Re:Simplr math ...

[slashdime]

Your two sentences are in disagreement.

"The only way not to lose is to not play the game" -> not running = !losing

Probability of losing (at the decision to run or the election itself): p=.9

Re:Simplr math ...

[BarbaraHudson]

No it's not. The best way to not lose at a lottery is to not buy a ticket.

Re:Simplr math ...

[Anonymous Coward]

depends on your definition of losing. I see you've chosen - if you don't try, you can't fail. Typical nerd tactic to not try anything out of their comfort zone.

Re:Simplr math ...

[BarbaraHudson]

depends on your definition of losing. I see you've chosen - if you don't try, you can't fail. Typical nerd tactic to not try anything out of their comfort zone.

I've had to do plenty of things outside my comfort zone. That's how we learn. A lot of those things I'm now comfortable with.

As for Carly Fiorina, as I said before, the only hope she has of not losing is to not run.

Re:Simplr math ...

[sumdumass]

I doubt that. She seems like less of a bitch than Hillary, is more media and business friendly in ways Hillary simply tries to put on a show about, and not too many people outside the tech world actually hate her.

Outside of her name sounding foreign, I would think she has just as much chance as any other woman running. I bet she would be picked as a vice president candidate too- if the primaries don't get too ugly.

Re:Simplr math ...

[Anonymous Coward]

I define losing as the path which I lose the most. So, in the case of the lottery with one ticket a week my entire life, 52 * 70 (have to be 18 to play) means that if I play I have a probable winnings of -$3640 (assuming $1 ticket price, I honestly don't know since I don't play). Now, if I don't play, my winnings are $0. Thus by that definition, I'm better off not playing.

Re:Simplr math ...

[Moof123]

Plenty of HP/Agilent/Keysight folks will happily get in front of the camera to tell war stories about how effective she was at steering a very good and well loved company into the rocks. It broke into pieces that still limp on with the scars and damage that her bad management caused. The country is littered with old HP campuses that have been abandoned after off shoring and consolidation, in large part due to activities on her watch.

Her appeal to the right is how effective she was at dehumanizing a culture that used to place great value on its people into 3 pieces that now tout "shareholder value" above valuing its people. Sadly the pieces are pretty un-special at even shareholder value these days. Bill and Dave have to be doing about 3600 rpm in their graves.

Re: Simplr math ...

[Anonymous Coward]

You assume that your utility is linear, this is why you will stay a corporate slave, little engineer ... you just don't get it. You are probably the kind of person who also believe that the cost of production is a factor in setting prices of merchandise.

Re:Simplr math ...

[Anonymous Coward]

So you think that "King Tutankhamun lost the 2008 presidential election" is a true statement.

Re: Simplr math ...

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, it sets a lower bound for long-term pricing.

Re:Simplr math ...

[Dragon Bait]

Her appeal to the right

Okay, I missed it. Other than her own ego, who wants her to run? I haven't heard anyone say that she was going to be their first choice, or second, or third. Maybe I'm too close to the tech industry, but I have no clue who her target market is. Other than her ego, she has no core constituency.

Re:Simplr math ...

[BarbaraHudson]

So you think that "King Tutankhamun lost the 2008 presidential election" is a true statement.

No, because he never ran. Duh! Just like I didn't lose it, because I didn't run. How many people did not lose at the most recent lottery because they never bought a ticket? You can't say they lost anything - unlike the losers who bought tickets.

Re:Simplr math ...

[the gnat]

I think her target market is Republicans who want a viable female challenger to Hilary. Realistically, she's setting herself up for Sec. of Commerce, or maybe, if she's extremely lucky and does moderately well in the primaries, VP. I am no fan of hers for all of the obvious reasons, but she is a rocket scientist compared to Bachmann and Palin.

Re:Simplr math ...

[Anonymous Coward]

She has a lot of money, which politicians always admire in a woman (or man). Other than that nobody wants her around. If the Republicans really want a woman on the slate they'll go after Condi Rice or Nikki Haley.

Re:Simplr math ...

[Anonymous Coward]

3600 rpm is, incidentally, spot on for residential ac power 60 Hz

(though i think in the US it is 50 Hz?)

Re:Simplr math ...

[Bing Tsher E]

Have you ever thought that maybe Bill and Dave having gone away was the cause of HP crumbling, and not whomever happened to be at the helm during the dissolution.

I love my HP calculators and even the Omnibook 300 which was probably the last really nice piece of hardware the Corvalis Division came out with. But times had changed. My Tektronix 465M scope is a beautiful piece of gear and the 547 mainframe before it a stunning technical achivement. But those days are over. Tech equipment cannot be the works of art that it was back in the cold war era when gear was designed to last a century. General Radio is over. H-P is over.

Don't blame it on people like Carly. She was just the corporate type who happened to take the seat at that point in history. You come off like misogynist assholes to regular people if you try.

Bill and Dave were smarter than that. You'd really disappoint them if they knew you were invoking their name the way you are.

Re:Simplr math ...

[dbIII]

Those empty buildings HP are a selling point to a certain ideology. A wrecking ball is the ideal for those "small government" folks who want a government too small to be able to catch those buying off government granted boons with bribes.

Re:Simplr math ...

[pixelpusher220]

She's not running for President anymore than Ted Cruz is. the real reason is anonymously pocketing all the anonymous SuperPAC money.

Re:Simplr math ...

[ChrisMaple]

Fiorina did not have to break the HP Way. Her personality flaws were incompatible with a position of power in the HP culture, and those same flaws will be bad for the country if she's elected. Not as bad as Hillary or the current occupant of the White House, but bad nonetheless.

Re:Simplr math ...

[ChrisMaple]

One point of a small government is to not have enough power to grant boons.

Re:Simplr math ...

[_merlin]

US is 115V 60Hz. Europe/Aus/China is 230V 50Hz. Japan is 100V 50Hz or 60Hz depending on the area.

Re:Simplr math ...

[dbIII]

It has to be a joke because obviously even when government gets down to the level of minor warlords they can still grant boons. So please explain the joke because I'm missing it.

Re:Simplr math ...

[serviscope_minor]

You come off like misogynist assholes to regular people if you try.

Her gender has nothing to do with it: the mental obsession with outsourcing, offshoring, mergers and splits is what caused the problem. This is a non gender specific disease which has infected a large number of professional CEOs.

Re:Simplr math ...

[silentcoder]

Palin, Bachman, Fiorina... she certainly fits the mould of the average republican female candidate: "I have a vagina and I'm not afraid to insert my head into the cavity right next to it !"

Re:Simplr math ...

[silentcoder]

And of course the irony is that their ideology never actually works, but it does turn them into valuable useful idiots.
The sincere ones among them want to cut things like crony-capitalism, regulatory capture and corporate welfare as well.
But that NEVER happens, instead by using their support for "small government" big business simply gets to have government plunder all the actual services it provides, and social safety netts and hand over the results to MORE crony capitalism.
I think the perfect example was Denver where the local government basically just took everybody's pensions because they "couldn't afford to pay them anymore" - but never cut a penny of their corporate welfare bill - which could have paid the pension liabilities ten times over !

Even their lord and saviour Ronald Reagan pulled of the scam perfectly. In theory the Laffer-curve based tax-cut concept is that you cut taxes for EVERYBODY, so EVERYBODY has more money, people spend it to buy things - and this means more business open (since there are customers to supply) so that means more jobs - and so even though you cut taxes very soon your revenues are higher than before. It ONLY works if you are AT the Laffer curve peak -any other time the tax cuts will simply mean less revenue, and the theory also demands that when you do it you cut ALL spending to the bone so you stay liquid until the increased revenue realizes, at which point you are supposed to end the austerity and use this higher revenue to fund bigger projects and MORE expansive social safety netts.

But you won't hear THAT from the politicians, they take a sound economic theory out of it's very narrow context and then apply it across the board - and what's worse, they only apply half of it. What DID Reagan do ?
He cut taxes only on the rich, then he increased spending - a LOT - especially on the military, and cut the social safety nett.
That's been the republican playbook ever since despite that fact that it never worked once in all that time. Well worked at what they said it would do - as a means of handing over poor and middle class folk's taxes to rich people it works brilliantly.

And the small government libertarians are the idiots who keep electing them because they promise to make government smaller and still haven't figured out the scam.

Re:Simplr math ...

[Anonymous Coward]

You come off like misogynist assholes to regular people if you try.

Really? I suppose you think it's racist to disagree with the President of the United States.

Protip: Playing that card comes off as moronic to intelligent people.

Re:Simplr math ...

[Anonymous Coward]

Except maybe one who is married to the most popular president of the past 50 years.
Lets face it, most people who vote for Hillary are really assuming they're voting for Bill again.

Re:Simplr math ...

[Anonymous Coward]

Plenty of HP/Agilent/Keysight folks will happily get in front of the camera to tell war stories about how effective she was at steering a very good and well loved company into the rocks.

Truth. I worked for HP after Fiorina's tenure. To be fair, HP has had several CEOs that have made unpopular decisions - and were then (eventually) invited to leave.

Perhaps it is a case of having no good moves and only being able to choose from a buffet of bad ones?

Re:Simplr math ...

[Fire_Wraith]

There's actually one spot along the income spectrum where the Laffer curve is actually correct. The problem is, it's right around the poverty line, at the point where your benefits drop off faster than your income increases. At that point, you're actually doing yourself a disservice by working harder/earning more, because you wind up with more money.

But good luck getting Republicans interested in fixing that, short of just having them gut the original benefits in the first place.

Re:Simplr math ...

[Anonymous Coward]

Your position is internally contradictory.

On the one hand, you claim that times are changing, "Tech equipment cannot be the works of art that it was back in the cold war era when gear was designed to last a century", and that whomever "take(s) the seat at that point on history" can't be blamed.

On the other hand, you claim it was Bill and Dave having gone away that caused HP to crumble.

But if times are changing, if the forces of history determine everything, then Bill and Dave would not be able to have an effect, even if they were still here.

Re:Simplr math ...

[Anonymous Coward]

You've conspicuously left out eMeg Whitman, another GOP vanity projectrix.

Re:Simplr math ...

[silentcoder]

Well they are the source of quotes like
"If you cut taxes on the poor they just spend it on food and shelter" and "When last did a poor person give you a job ?"

Basically - they think they are smarter than the real economists who came up with the theory. Economists who are generally horrified by the way republicans "apply" it.

Re:Simplr math ...

[silentcoder]

I forgot about Maggie, she is indeed a perfect example of the species.

Re:Simplr math ...

[Hognoxious]

I thought the idea was that gubbermint should be too weak to prevent the 1% just grabbing whatever they want.

Now I understand her record at HP

[MouseTheLuckyDog]

when I see how she thinks she has any possibility to win, especially given her tenure at HP.

Re:Now I understand her record at HP

[Anonymous Coward]

Depends on how you look at it. She won big time working at HP.

Re:Now I understand her record at HP

[Anonymous Coward]

She won big time,and yet HP lost

Re:Now I understand her record at HP

[phantomfive]

Would you rather have her, or President Cruz?

Now, I remember rumors that when she was fired, engineers at HP spontaneously started singing, "Ding Dong, the Witch is Dead."

She was the most powerful business woman in the world for a while. And that's how people remember her. If she can build on that reputation, she has a chance.

I don't think she can build on that reputation, and I don't think she has a chance......but she does.

Re:Now I understand her record at HP

[Anonymous Coward]

Wow, Fiorina and Cruz. The CEO who halved shareholder value in HP vs. the anti-immigrant candidate born in Canada. Christ, what is wrong with the Republican party? I really, really want to see them run someone strong, because I think electoral competition is healthy for America, but it's like they gave up hope of ever winning back the White House after Bush left.

Re:Now I understand her record at HP

[Darinbob]

This is a CEO syndrome. You're surrounded all day by sycophants who claim you're the smartest, brightest, and wisest person they know. No matter what obscure VP you go to visit they all seem to recognize you on sight, so clearly you've got name and face recognition. All of your decisions are praised. Most of the time even the board of directors treat you like their best friend.

Re:Now I understand her record at HP

[ganjadude]

the anti-ILLEGALimmigrant candidate born in Canada

FTFY

Re:Now I understand her record at HP

[phantomfive]

As I see it, the serious candidates in the Republican party are (in no particular order):

1 Marco Rubio (experience: over ten years in congress, can win elections).
2 Scott Walker (experience: Governor, smashing unions and winning hard political fights)
3 Chris Christy (experience: Governor, reaches across the aisle, achieves Republican goals in a Democratic state).

The Jokers are:
1 Ted Cruz (no experience, he's a waffle, special gift of annoying people and destroying things).
2 Rand Paul (no experience, a big name to run on, but that name didn't win many presidential elections).
3 Carly Fiorina (doesn't know how to run a campaign)
4 Jeb Bush (Even his mom discouraged him from running)
5 Mike Huckabee (nice guy, evangelical.....that's the sum total of his platform).
6 Rick Perry (he's like Bush but with none of the brains).
7 Mark Everson (who would vote for a retired IRS commissioner?)

Re:Now I understand her record at HP

[Necron69]

That isn't a rumor. I was there, and yes, people did burst into song. I've never worked for a more hated CEO. She sure as Hell isn't getting my vote for anything.

- Necron69

Re: Now I understand her record at HP

[Anonymous Coward]

No, anti-immigrant. You think Cruz wouldn't take up a Nativist position in a heartbeat?

Most people don't realize that immigration laws are a matter of bureaucratic compliance, not a matter of justice.

Re:Now I understand her record at HP

[McGruber]

As I see it, the serious candidates in the Republican party are (in no particular order): 1 Marco Rubio (experience: over ten years in congress, can win elections).

You're wrong about Rubio's having "over ten years in congress". Rubio did serve several terms in the Florida State House of Representatives, but he has never been a US Representative and is still a first term senator, having been elected in 2010. He's about as qualified as Obama was when Obama won the Presidency. He's probably unelectable thanks to some stupid moves he's made -- he voted against the Violence Against Women Act.

2 Scott Walker (experience: Governor, smashing unions and winning hard political fights)

George W. Bush used to say "I'm a uniter, not a divider." Scott Walker is his opposite, which leads me to think that he is not electable. Walker is still in his first term and he dropped out of college, which is a big negative (in my view). He was only one semester short of a degree, but he's never bothered to finish? Something's not quite right there.

3 Chris Christy (experience: Governor, reaches across the aisle, achieves Republican goals in a Democratic state).

Christy is a corrupt New Jersey politician. The question is whether or not that corruption will catch up to him before the election. I think it will.

IMHO, Republican primary voters appear incapable of recognizing competency. There are several good Republican Governors out there, but they're not on anybody's radar screen. The Governor of New Mexico is one -- she's in her second term, has apparently done a good job because she has very high public opinion poll ratings, and she happens to be a hispanic woman.... but few people outside of NM (and its neighboring states) have ever heard of her.

Re:Now I understand her record at HP

[Fire_Wraith]

Depends on what she's really running for. Recent history indicates that a lot of the second tier candidates for the Republican nomination have managed to sufficiently raise their profile in so doing, and gone on to reasonably lucrative work as commentators on various news networks, especially Fox.

Or, as someone snarked to me about one candidate or another recently, "He/she's running for a Commentator spot on Fox, not for President."

Re:Now I understand her record at HP

[Grishnakh]

He's probably unelectable thanks to some stupid moves he's made -- he voted against the Violence Against Women Act.

Walker is still in his first term and he dropped out of college, which is a big negative (in my view). He was only one semester short of a degree, but he's never bothered to finish? Something's not quite right there.

Christy is a corrupt New Jersey politician.

What makes you think these people are unelectable based on these factors? I think you're vastly overestimating the competence of Republican voters.

My prediction is that we're going to have a Republican president elected in 2016, and it'll be Jeb Bush. He's going to run against Hillary Clinton. After Obama disillusioning the progressives and blacks, turnout on the Democrat side is going to be weak because no one except middle-aged and up white women are excited about Clinton. Bush is going to win the Republican nomination somehow. Bush speaks fluent Spanish and is married to a Mexican-American woman. Republican voters are going to vote for him just because he's Republican, and the Latinos are all going to vote for him too because of the above factors, and because he'll appeal to their religious sensibilities with his anti-abortion rhetoric, plus his positive views on immigration reform.

Re:Now I understand her record at HP

[meglon]

Well, that's not entirely accurate.... she can rightfully claim that she's the reason HP's stock went up: http://money.cnn.com/2005/02/0...

Personally i like this part....

"The stock is up a bit on the fact that nobody liked Carly's leadership all that much," said Robert Cihra, an analyst with Fulcrum Global Partners. "The Street had lost all faith in her and the market's hope is that anyone will be better."

Re:Now I understand her record at HP

[meglon]

Are you sure that's what she's remembered for?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C...

Fiorina frequently has been ranked as one of the worst CEOs of all time.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/am...

http://www.cnbc.com/id/3050209...

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com...

http://ca.complex.com/pop-cult...

Oh... and this....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

Re:Now I understand her record at HP

[phantomfive]

My prediction is that we're going to have a Republican president elected in 2016, and it'll be Jeb Bush. He's going to run against Hillary Clinton.

Ironically, if that happens, we'll have democrat who voted to invade Iraq running against a Bush who didn't.

Re:Now I understand her record at HP

[phantomfive]

He's probably unelectable thanks to some stupid moves he's made -- he voted against the Violence Against Women Act.

That won't matter.

Walker is still in his first term and he dropped out of college, which is a big negative

That won't matter.

There are several good Republican Governors out there, but they're not on anybody's radar screen. The Governor of New Mexico is one

She doesn't oppose medicinal marijuana, she doesn't oppose same-sex marriage, she does not want to repeal ACA.......essentially you like politicians who agree with your political opinions.

Re:Now I understand her record at HP

[phantomfive]

Are you sure that's what she's remembered for?

Among tech guys, like you, no.

Re:Now I understand her record at HP

[Grishnakh]

Um, Jeb AFAIK has never held a Congressional seat at the Federal level, so it's not like he had a chance to vote on it. That doesn't mean he wouldn't have voted for it.

But yeah, Hillary is basically a Republican with a "(D)" next to her name, except maybe for the HillaryCare thing she tried.

Re:Now I understand her record at HP

[phantomfive]

Probably.

The fact that you feel you need to explain, instead of just enjoying the irony, shows you are taking the whole thing way too seriously.

Re:Now I understand her record at HP

[Anonymous Coward]

Sure, if you ignore it going from 25 to 12 while she was there

Re:Now I understand her record at HP

[catchblue22]

Chris Christy scares the bejesus out of me. His personality is scary. He is the kind of guy who in my opinion you don't want to give too much power. The way he shouts down people who are weaker than him particularly concerns me. This article is a good summary of him.

Re:Now I understand her record at HP

[phantomfive]

Well, I agree with you on that point.

Re: Now I understand her record at HP

[DigiShaman]

I'd vote for Cruz because he destroys things; specifically the political establishment and aims to realign with the constitution. I want him to be the embodiment of the Fear of God to them!

Nuke and pave the system. And he's the nuke!

Re:Now I understand her record at HP

[Anonymous Coward]

what, are people supposed to support traditional anti-american republican scum instead?

Re:Now I understand her record at HP

[the gnat]

reasonably lucrative work

I could understand Fiorina just wanting the attention - but dear God, I hope she doesn't need the money. That $20 million severance package would last most ordinary people a lifetime.

Re:Now I understand her record at HP

[Anonymous Coward]

The good thing is that she'd never get elected, once people heard the stories. On the plus side, she'd buy new Air Force 1's, as she did with the Gulfstreams.

Re:Now I understand her record at HP

[Will.Woodhull]

I would like some kind of Phoenix Party to rise from the ashes of the Republican Party. But I don't think that is going to happen. I think America is going to become a one-party system with jumble of political clowns on the other side of the aisle for perhaps a decade. It will probably take that long for the clowns to destroy the remaining infrastructure that the GOP had put together between its re-emergence in the early 1900s and 1980.

Re:Now I understand her record at HP

[Bing Tsher E]

The staff at HP a generation earlier, you know... the people who actually made HP what it was, not the people who climbed on in the 70s... would not have carried on like that.

Re:Now I understand her record at HP

[Will.Woodhull]

IMHO, Republican primary voters appear incapable of recognizing competency. There are several good Republican Governors out there, but they're not on anybody's radar screen.

IMO, the problem is that the Republicans who are politically savvy are seeking to become governors or powerful legislators at the State level because they have sense enough to stay away from the national scene. At the national level, Republican politics is a chaotic whirlpool of tea partiers, evangelicals, super-capitalists, anti-thises and anti-thats that will suck under anyone who can actually DO politics, and will toss some random joker up to the top to be the next candidate.

Re:Now I understand her record at HP

[Anonymous Coward]

Ah yes, New Mexico. Where they imprison people for decades because they bought the wrong flowers at the market.

Re:Now I understand her record at HP

[dbIII]

The bridge closing guy is still in the race? They really must be short on contenders since he's got the stink of a scandal to overcome before he can convince anyone that he's be a viable President.

Re: Now I understand her record at HP

[dbIII]

Ah yes, another career politician who plays the "not a politician" card. Well if he hasn't been working as one for all this time kick the lazy leech out.

Re:Now I understand her record at HP

[dbIII]

No matter what obscure VP

That's part of the problem right there. There should never be enough VPs that you can't put them in a small room.

Re:Now I understand her record at HP

[digsbo]

Are you saying the people who joined in the 1970s are still working there and singing the song? I can't imagine more than 3% of the workforce at HP started during the 70s. That doesn't disprove your contention that "the people who actually made HP what it was" wouldn't act this way, but it does kind of suggest that you aren't remotely in touch with the current makeup of the workforce there. Care to elaborate?

Re: Now I understand her record at HP

[ChrisMaple]

Immigration laws are a matter of LAW. Enforcement is a matter of bureaucracy. Whether immigration laws are just is an open debate, as is the question of whether they're being enforced justly.

Re:Now I understand her record at HP

[ChrisMaple]

Scott Walker left college because he was offered a job that paid very well, that wouldn't still be available when he finished college. It paid more than he was likely to get if he had finished college. Judging from his success, there was no reason to return to college. What did you learn in your last term of college?

Walker is active and dynamic. People who complain that he is divisive fall into 2 camps: those who plan to run against him and their sycophants, and those who like a sneaky or convictionless candidate. A candidate who has successfully opposed unions is a candidate who has successfully opposed entrenched power, and that should be a tremendous plus.

Re: Now I understand her record at HP

[Anonymous Coward]

you won't survive.

Re:Now I understand her record at HP

[Anonymous Coward]

Yep, same reason MSFT went up when Steve Ballmer finally found the doorknob.

Re:Now I understand her record at HP

[silentcoder]

>essentially you like politicians who agree with your political opinions.

Erm... yeah, that's sort of the whole POINT of having elections.

Now what I can tell you is there is no way the Reps can take the whitehouse again as long as they court the batcrap crazy and the religious right so exclusively. Their extreme partisan behaviour under Obama has done them NO favours and in presidential elections the liberals actually VOTE.
The only way they can win now is if they can get a candidate who has broad appeal outside that narrow band. Somebody who can get the independents to vote for them.
Even an old-school republican has a shot.

The trouble is that to get the nomination you need to win a bunch of elections where ONLY those religious right extremists vote and the teaparty has enormous influence.
Mit learned last time round that going batshit crazy to win the nomination and then somehow getting back to the centre for the national election is REALLY hard.

If the reps want a shot at this - they need somebody who can appeal across the aisle, and that person needs to be able to convince the batcrap crazies to give her the nomination first.
Trust me, it's going to be a very interesting 18 months ahead.

Re:Now I understand her record at HP

[silentcoder]

>A candidate who has successfully opposed unions is a candidate who has successfully opposed entrenched power, and that should be a tremendous plus.

No it's the exact opposite of what America needs. What you desperately NEED is another Teddy Rooseveldt. You need a man who DEFENDS unions and goes to war against oligarchies and monopolies. Who actively promotes environmental protection and realizes that severe inequality WILL lead to revolution and so takes it upon himself to ensure the market is REALLY free, labour conditions are safe and paid fairly, and hold corporations to account.

The greatest irony of the 21st century is hearing people call Obama a liberal. He is centre-right at best. Now Rooseveldt, HE was a liberal worthy of the name.

Re:Now I understand her record at HP

[Anonymous Coward]

You mean she actually supports things her constituents want instead of what big business does?

The horror!!!

Re:Now I understand her record at HP

[Anonymous Coward]

Why is OP modded 'informative'? That's just one person's opinions, and not particularly well thought out ones either, just barroom caliber.

Re:Now I understand her record at HP

[Anonymous Coward]

Scott Walker would be great as President, you'd get all of the advantages of a shadowy Dick Cheney puppetmaster in the Koch brothers pulling his strings.

Do some research on Chris Christy's "reaching across the aisle". It was usually to first lie to the other side to come to an agreement, then redline those agreements and give out crony and partisan favors to the Republicans. He's had several scandals (shutting down the bridge, screwing over Democratic mayors, misuse of Hurricane Sandy money,... ). It's getting so cramped in Christy's scandal-laden office that he's as comfortable as a pig in an Iowa gestation crate.

Re:Now I understand her record at HP

[Anonymous Coward]

As a current HP employee who has lived through her "tenure" I would absolutely vote for Cruz before her. Those were dark days at HP, and nothing was ever her fault. She made bad decisions, put together a bad executive team, and made HP into an integrator rather than an innovator. I heard her praise the company's patent record during that period (something like 2-3 patents granted per day). Whatever. Given the way things go with the USPTO, most of those patents were filed 5-6 years before she took over. Way to take credit for someone else's work. She would be just like Obama, where nothing is his fault, it's always the Congress fault, or Bush' fault, or who knows what.

Re:Now I understand her record at HP

[Anonymous Coward]

You can't tell the difference between an immigrant and an illegal alien, and yet you want to know what's wrong with the Republican party? You should look inward when finding fault before looking outward.

Re:Now I understand her record at HP

[Anonymous Coward]

Neither are capable of winning. Both are entering the presidential race for other reasons.

Ted crook with zero morals that will say anything you want if you slip him a buck. He's there, backed by people that want to lend legitimacy to the extreme far right religious nuts. The goal is to push the republican party further right, and to make extreme religious zealotry seem more normal.

Carly is there representing the neo-fascist, to lend legitimacy to the idea that we should be governed by the rich. She's there, backed by people that want to make sure that corporate interests come before everything else. The goal is to push the republican party further right, and to make corporatocracy seem more normal.

Neither of these two will win, but they will influence the election and steer public discourse for their backers. And probably make a buck while enhancing their political image at the same time.

Scott Walker will likely win the Repub ticket. He appears more moderate, and has an image that has the widest appeal. This is frightening, because he's not a single issue joke like the above candidates. He's a slick talking, manipulative psychopath with a disturbing ability to normalize disturbing public policy. He has a proven, pathological hatred of his common man and doesn't hesitate to stomp on the poor and disadvantaged every chance he gets. This man is pure evil, and he has the ear of the right.

Re:Now I understand her record at HP

[phantomfive]

Erm... yeah, that's sort of the whole POINT of having elections.

We're nor having an election here, we're discussing who is electable. Letting your own partisan views enter in makes it harder for you to see.

Their extreme partisan behaviour under Obama has done them NO favours

Except give them the senate and their largest house majority since 1930.

and in presidential elections the liberals actually VOTE.

You are reading too much Salon and DailyKos. Who won more congressional seats in 2012?

Trust me, it's going to be a very interesting 18 months ahead.

Well that's definitely true.

Re:Now I understand her record at HP

[Anonymous Coward]

Now, I remember rumors that when she was fired, engineers at HP spontaneously started singing, "Ding Dong, the Witch is Dead."

As a young intern at the Boise campus at the time, I can confirm that these are not rumors but did in fact happen.

Plenty of room on the GOP's third tier

[Anonymous Coward]

The problem is, they really don't have a first or second tier

Never Forget Lucent

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't forget she killed Lucent which resulted in Bell Labs being sold off to the French in a fire sale. She's evil. She's definitely prepared for a career in politics.

Re:Never Forget Lucent

[umghhh]

There is plenty of CEOs out there that could be president of US or some other country (not that they would notice anyway).

Re:Never Forget Lucent

[Austerity Empowers]

China has their checkbook ready!

Re:Never Forget Lucent

[Anonymous Coward]

There is plenty of CEOs out there that could be president of US or some other country (not that they would notice anyway).

In my opinion no CEO should be allowed to ever hold any public office whether elected or appointed. I would trust Willie Nelson and the Duck Dynasty clan and vote that ticket into the White House and Oval Office without hesitation. Uncle Si could be the Secretary of State. ;-)

Re: Never Forget Lucent

[Type44Q]

Is?! "Arrgh!" :p

Re: Never Forget Lucent

[umghhh]

me apology. Shocked to see it too.

So she can do to the US...

[SvnLyrBrto]

... what she did to HP?

No thank you.

I wonder what irrelevant, fourth-rate, POS country that would a complete mismatch and no one in their right mind would ever want anything to do with anyway she has in mind to merge with the USA?

Re:So she can do to the US...

[garyisabusyguy]

Reason.com has a story about how Somalia has done really well without a functioning government, so maybe she will let the warlords take over America and turn it into _another_ libertarian paradise

Here is her pitch to the small government crowd:
"A wide range of scholarship and commentary on Somalia, most with no ideological ax to grind, tells an interesting and even somewhat encouraging story—one about a society with an unusual and robust clan-based system of dispute resolution and goods provision that has managed to keep daily life moving along even without a "Somali government.""
http://reason.com/archives/201...

Re:So she can do to the US...

[Anonymous Coward]

Another reason why Reason is full of shit.

Somalia does have a functioning government and has had one for years.

Re:So she can do to the US...

[epyT-R]

1. libertarians are not anarchists and do not believe in 'no government.'
2. expecting the government to operate within budget like everyone else is not anarchy.
2. fiorina is likely not libertarian.

Re:So she can do to the US...

[ganjadude]

ahh yes, good ol somalia, which for some reason complete idiots like to relate them with libertarians.....

as soon as I see somalia in a comment, I know we are dealing with a wingbat of some sort

Re: So she can do to the US...

[Anonymous Coward]

Nice Somalian Gambit asshole.

Re:So she can do to the US...

[garyisabusyguy]

To be honest, I was going for funny...

You should take a minute and read the article in Reason because the mental acrobats that the author goes through are stunning.
I lost a lot of respect for the publication as a result

Re:So she can do to the US...

[garyisabusyguy]

While I agree with you that Libertarian =/= Anarchy, you will probably get a lot of arguments that 'getting government to operate withing budget' =/= Libertarian either.

In my mind 'getting government to operate withing budget' == Fiscal Conservative, which is why I cannot vote for the 'modern' GOP which thinks that it's roles is to play world police while cutting taxes for the wealthy and putting the country into deep debt.

I find it odd that the most fiscally conservative national figure these days is President Obama, whose tight-fisted use of stimulus and reduction of the deficit during he recover would have probably pissed off FDR.

President Obama could pull off a really good Goldwater impersonation if he was only more willing to nuke some third world countries, he already manages to pull off most of the positive traits of Nixon.

Re:So she can do to the US...

[Anonymous Coward]

if you were truly going for funny, might I recommend a /sarcasm tag. Since your post comes across as dead serious and sits in a lot of company on Slashdot. People making ludicrous claims about political ideologies without actually knowing anything about those political ideologies.

Re:So she can do to the US...

[Moof123]

1. libertarians are not anarchists and do not believe in 'no government.'
2. expecting the government to operate within budget like everyone else is not anarchy. ...

1. Libertarians want minimal government, but not one that collects taxes, just one with enough army to enforce all the contracts they want the world to run on. And they want that army to be paid for by someone else, not them. I am pretty sure they miss company towns and want to bring back that model to the whole country, but with th emight of the US military to back it up and give it legitimacy this time around.

2. They expect the government to operate within a budget, but they want that budget to be $0. The whole notion they have is to "starve the beast", to set the budget low enough that the government is bound to be both badly run, and to badly overrun their budget by design. In so doing they can show the A) government doesn't work, and B) government doesn't stay within its budget so that they can be justified in destroying departments or installing their cronies using an invented crisis to further erode it from the inside.

Take Social Security for example. Rather than do something minimal like removing the income cap for taxation, or raising the tax by 2% to cover the long term demographic driven shortfall, they want to burn the whole thing down. We would be better off lower the retirement age than raising it, but the debate has already been pulled so far to the right you can't even talk about improving social security, you can only argue about how big the cuts *MUST* be to save the program.

I heard a lot of Libertarian ranting from my grandfather who spent much of his life in the John Birch society, and spent most of his later years running a small group trying to get income taxes repealed. So yeah, I have heard a lot of the crazy behind Libertarian ideas. It is a fantasyland for the most part. It has gotten recent attention thanks to our two major parties screwing up so bad that folks are ready to vote for the "anything else" option more so than ever before.

Re:So she can do to the US...

[ganjadude]

i got ya, and I wasnt calling you out my apologies as I can see how it looked that way.

and i see your point. Im just really getting annoyed with everytime one brings up libertarianism, someone brings up somalia, meanwhile libertarians have nothing to do with somalia, nor do we want that.

Re:So she can do to the US...

[Anonymous Coward]

Obama? Tight-fisted? You are kidding, right? His deficits are and always have been enormous, especially when Pelosi was running the government. The only thing holding him back now is Congress.

Re:So she can do to the US...

[garyisabusyguy]

Obama is living with the structural deficits placed on him by the prior admin and Congress, recognized war debt and the need to pull the country out of the recession.

The prior administration received a country with a positive position to reduce the national debt and ran it into the ditch with tax breaks to the wealthy and unfunded mandates, much like Reagan did before

I am continually taken aback at how the gop talks up the need to be tight with the purse strings, but continually drives more debt up, while the last two dem administrations have shown more economical savvy

The last time around, with Clinton, the gop claimed that he received a lagged positive effect from the prior admin, I doubt that anybody will believe that bull this time around

Re:So she can do to the US...

[epyT-R]

Well if libertarian != anarchy or 'within budget', then what would libertarian mean exactly? The former is no government, and the latter implies one. One that works within a budget set by the tolerances of the taxpayers seems best.

I guess I was looking at it in terms of raising national debt. In that regard, both parties have the blame. If the state really wanted to help the poor they would move to pay it off and, ideally, abolish the federal reserve. All needed funding should come from taxes, one tax for each initiative (ie road construction) with no redirection into black hole slush funds.

Obama is NOT fiscally conservative. If he was, he would not have pushed for nationalizing healthcare.

Re:So she can do to the US...

[epyT-R]

1. Obviously not reasonable since any government needs funding, esp one with a military that could do that. ..and no, company towns would just be more authoritarian garbage under a new management...

2. Didn't you just say this? An unfunded government is no government at all, which is anarchy.

what? you're not even making sense. How about instead we have the government work within a budget like everyone else instead of like a 16 year old with the parental credit card? You talk about cronyism? The term 'crony capitalism' comes to mind, you know, the 'capitalists' who use the state to corner the market and impose their social views on us? Why would you want to grow the size of the hammer (and sickle?) they wield? Nothing hurts the poor more than creeping taxation coupled with creeping inflation.

The fantasy is printing more money whenever you run out and hoping the whole thing doesn't drop on your watch, then leaving the debt to the next generation. Your grandfather doesn't sound like a libertarian, he sounds like he's an anarcho capitalist, unless of course you're misrepresenting his views. Personally, I'd like to try for a 10% flat income tax state. That would give them roughly 1998 levels of funding, something like 1.8trillion.. really, that ought to be enough, and should be once the inflation is under control.

Re:So she can do to the US...

[AK Marc]

In my mind 'getting government to operate withing budget' == Fiscal Conservative,

I'm a rabid left-wing radical, and apparently a fiscal conservative as well.

That's the problem with the current definitions. Everyone labels with the intent of shaming, not describing. I want a small government that does nothing but protect the rights of people from anyone who would impinge on them, from private or governmental sources.

A Libertarian wants a government that doesn't defend rights, but defends contracts. If property has rights, and people only have rights assigned to them by their property, then you are libertarian. If you believe people have rights, and property is one of the lowest rights in the hierarchy, then you are liberal. If you believe money has rights, and people don't, then you are a conservative.

Re:So she can do to the US...

[AK Marc]

Take Social Security for example. Rather than do something minimal like removing the income cap for taxation, or raising the tax by 2% to cover the long term demographic driven shortfall, they want to burn the whole thing down. We would be better off lower the retirement age than raising it, but the debate has already been pulled so far to the right you can't even talk about improving social security, you can only argue about how big the cuts *MUST* be to save the program.

Of course, you can shut them up with a "what do you do about the old person targeted by scammers who steal all her savings, so she's left penniless at 80, with no means of income or self support? She'll lose her home, and die starving on the streets if nothing is done. What would you have done? Yes, but what if the donations don't cover that? Is there any safety net at all?

That usually gets them on a 6 hour rant about personal responsibility, and some blaming the victim and such. But never an answer.

Re:So she can do to the US...

[ChrisMaple]

The recession continues, but the media is hiding the fact by cherry-picking statistics and ignoring inflation (inflation used in the technical sense here.) Government dispersing money is not the way to end a recession, and the systematic damage being done will hurt the country for decades.

Obama's biggest monetary cockup came during the first 2 years, when Congress obeyed him slavishly. Blaming Congress for Obama's failings is like pointing at a mirror and saying "It's your fault!"

Re:So she can do to the US...

[garyisabusyguy]

I will have to say that we have a fundamentally different views on how the economy works

A recession is great for people who have cash on hand to buy up assets at foreclosure rates, it is horrible for everybody else who has debt against their assets, needs jobs or has their money in the stock market

The primary way to end a recession was demonstrated by FDR as he applied Keynesian economics to put cash into the economy at the consumer level, by hiring them to create infrastructure. This ignites markets by creating demand, and prolongs the recovery by creating resources for those markets to use and grow larger.

This continued growth was demonstrated over the following three decades as the American economy, and middle class grew at phenomenal rates

Some people do not believe in Keynesian economics. They call their version supply side economics and believe that you need to 'give' money to the corporations (via tax breaks and corporate welfare), and that it will somehow trickle down to the consumers. This has not been demonstrated to work out very well for the American economy (makes it prone to boom bust cycles) or the American middle class, which has been reduced by these policies.

I only see President Obama's shortcomings to be that he paid heed to supply side demands by including tax breaks in the stimulus and failing to spend more money on infrastructure build outs

As far as your claims of inflation, I find those to be spurious, much like the cries about hyperinflation resulting from the initial stimulus

Re:So she can do to the US...

[garyisabusyguy]

Our current health care system is profit based, and has seen larger increases in cost than nationalized healthcare systems like Britain, Canada, Spain, Taiwan or Australia

How is promoting a healthcare system that is not cost effective fiscally conservative?

Re:So she can do to the US...

[garyisabusyguy]

I find your definitions to be very insightful, and have found myself in the liberal end of the pool based on the groups that you have defined

I think that the current conservatives have co-opted the definition to line their pockets and I find that to be unfortunate because I come from a long line of decent conservatives who did not value money over people

Re:So she can do to the US...

[serviscope_minor]

I'm a rabid left-wing radical, and apparently a fiscal conservative as well.

This is why I can't stand the fake left-right divide, it's trying to project a high dimensional thing down onto a one dimensional space and it's just too coarse.

Furtunately some people are taking a stand against it. For the UK bigots/xenophobes tended to the conservatives so it was always seen as a right wing thing. Now we have the UKIP which is the bigot's leftie party.

While I jest, I'm seriously hoping we end up with a multiparty government. We've already got 4 (juuuuuust---though the Green's one MP barely counts), but more parties is a better opportunity to represent the political spectrum. It's likely we might end up with Consrevative, Labour, Lib Dem, Green, UKIP and SNP this time round, which will be historic.

A Libertarian wants a government that doesn't defend rights, but defends contracts.

Depends which libertarian. The internet is infested with internet-libertarians who think all govenment==evil, and you should enforce contracts via a private army.

Re:So she can do to the US...

[dpidcoe]

It's profit based in a system where there's no incentive to lower price, and lots of incentive for people to rack up huge bills with no immediate consequences. Someone could run crying to the doctor because they have a cold, demand every test and scan in the book be run, and it's less than $100 in co-pays with insurance. It's easy for them to rationalize it becuse "this is what I pay all this money every month for and I want to get the most out of it". The insurance buracracy doesn't really care as long as all the Is are dotted and Ts are crossed, but the accountants notice rising costs and make it harder for people with legitimate issues to get tests run next year.

Re:So she can do to the US...

[rickb928]

Really well? They seem to be losing the lead in the sea pirate business.

Re:So she can do to the US...

[AK Marc]

I left out one. If you think the government has rights, you are fascist.

Re:So she can do to the US...

[Fire_Wraith]

Unfortunately, there's an underlying mentality in some people that if you can't support yourself, you're basically worthless, and deserve to die. Nobody phrases it like that, because it's a horrible way to think... but that's the end result of it. Point out that it's the logical conclusion, and the response is something like "Well that's just not my problem, why should I support them if they're lazy and irresponsible?" Some of it is a lack of empathy, but mostly it's just distance. It's much harder to get people to care about hypotheticals, or with someone that they would never identify with and never see, than it is to get them to care about some poor cold starving wretch that's right in front of them (at least until they manage to desensitize themselves).

It's also something that comes from a highly understandable and logical notion. There was a time in the past where, if you were an able bodied adult that didn't contribute, you -were- a direct drain on everyone else around you. Back when a single bad harvest could mean the difference between starving or not, that was a life or death matter. If I didn't work, I would be putting you and the entire rest of the village/etc at risk, potentially. That's not the case anymore, not by a long shot - but notions like that don't just go away.

Re:So she can do to the US...

[AK Marc]

Unfortunately, there's an underlying mentality in some people that if you can't support yourself, you're basically worthless, and deserve to die.

My belief is that it's an unconscious belief. They act as if they believe it, but when confronted, they say things like "if you cut taxes, people will give more." and "nobody will go without, you are making false assumptions."

Because they are unwilling to think about the reasoning that must exist for their position to be valid. Though, the prisons are becoming debtor's prisons. Deadbeat dads can't declare bankruptcy to get out of child support, but if they go to prison, they never have to pay a dime. Same with student loans, and other debts that can't be discharged. Also, health care is free in prison.

People aren't sent there for being in debt, but they end up making choices that land them there because of debt. Interesting that the Libertarian is against spending $0.50 of preventative care to stop $10 in enforcement costs. That's why I think Libertarians are as much big-government as the two main parties, it's just all military and police. If they were actually small government, they'd be for Head Start and other programs that increase tax revenue and reduce prison and enforcement costs. But they aren't. Don't ask them why, or they get angry. Just like the people you question who want poor people to die to decrease the surplus population.

Re:So she can do to the US...

[AK Marc]

Libertarians want minimal government,

If that were true, they'd be for programs like Head Start, where every $1 spend saves more than that in future costs the Libertarian approves of (like prisons and police). Head Start is a reasonable program for a "small government". Instead the Libertarians are spiteful racists. They want to make sure nobody else gets an opportunity by rigging the game and eliminating all help for others.

In that sense, Bush Jr. was the ultimate Libertarian. He used affirmative action to get into Yale, but would like to end Affirmative Action (he got in under "legacy" where who your daddy is counts for admissions, but wants to eliminate AA, where who your daddy is counts for admissions). That's the real ideal of Libertarian. An actual libertarian would want open borders. Less government regulation. If there's a cost to that, then charge the entrants for coming here - service based fees. But the US-Libertarians want closed borders and large government securing them. That's no libertarian. That's a new brand of conservative that's labeled neo-liberal outside the US.

Echo chamber

[RightwingNutjob]

What sort of echo chamber does this woman live in to think she's got a good record as a manager to run on? Romney at least made real money and ran a real state government. Fiorina started lots of pissing contests, got booted by the shareholders for loosing money and assets, and lost a senate (not even governor's) race. Wow.

Re:Echo chamber

[Anonymous Coward]

I think all you have to do is listen to her talk to know how delusional she is

Re:Echo chamber

[Anonymous Coward]

She could be positioning herself as a VP candidate if she manages to have a decent showing in the Iowa caucus and wins a few primaries along the way.

Re:Echo chamber

[hey!]

She can't hear reality over the roar of the hundred million dollars she was paid for halving the shareholder value of HP. Clearly she isn't deluded; she just lives in an alternate reality from the rest of us.

Re:Echo chamber

[quax]

Your point is well taken, but then look at the other contenders in the Republican camp. If there's any group of people who can make Fiorina look good in comparison in must be Ted Cruz et al.

Re:Echo chamber

[ColdWetDog]

She could be positioning herself as a VP candidate if she manages to have a decent showing in the Iowa caucus and wins a few primaries along the way.

Channeling Sarah Palin? That's a scary thought.

Re:Echo chamber

[Anonymous Coward]

What sort of echo chamber does this woman live in to think she's got a good record as a manager to run on? Romney at least made real money and ran a real state government. Fiorina started lots of pissing contests, got booted by the shareholders for loosing money and assets, and lost a senate (not even governor's) race. Wow.

Since when is utterly no record as a manager an impediment to winning the Presidency?

Re:Echo chamber

[Anonymous Coward]

Go look up the definition of delusional, you summed it up pretty well there

Re:Echo chamber

[Ryanrule]

a very rich echo chamber who will be pilfering her pockets some more.

Re:Echo chamber

[Anonymous Coward]

This is my thinking, also. The fact that she lost in CA by only 10% shows that she has something a lot of people like. Having a woman on a Republican ticket would be a plus given that the opponent is likely Clinton.

Re:Echo chamber

[Darinbob]

Sarah Palin actually held a political office. I'm not sure if Fiorina was even on a student council.

Re:Echo chamber

[Anonymous Coward]

Yep, a Jeb Bush/Carly Fiorina ticket could snap up two big electoral states.

Re:Echo chamber

[ganjadude]

its cali, have you seen the kinds of people they vote for?

Re:Echo chamber

[ganjadude]

good point. but I think we have learned why its a bad idea because of him

Re:Echo chamber

[jd2112]

I have a slogan for them:

Fiorina/Palin 2016: Making Hillary the sensible choice.

Re:Echo chamber

[fahrbot-bot]

Sarah Palin actually held a political office. I'm not sure if Fiorina was even on a student council.

Yes, but I'm pretty sure Carly can read and write.

Re:Echo chamber

[TWX]

No, think that hey! summed it up fairly well. Fiorina has been extremely successful, even to the point of literally being phenomenal, for her own interests. The problem is, her interests are most every other person's interests are not necessarily compatible and may be outright hostile. One can argue that her success, while bad for just about everyone else that she has done business with, is still good for her.

Take another look at Mitt Romney for a moment, in the sense that his corporate interests have been successful, by and large, for shareholders in the firms that his loyalties have been to. He could at least claim that his policies were beneficial for shareholders and for the company, but even with such claims he still lost an election. I expect that many of the stories of companies purchased and stripped by Romney's companies, promptly laying-off thousands of workers in the process.

If Romney couldn't win despite having arguably a successful track-record, then I don't see how Fiorina could.

Re:Echo chamber

[Anonymous Coward]

Rmoney only made money because he was so dishonest. That's true of pretty much all wealthy people. They're only wealthy because they steal from us. Also, the Olympics he came in and saved isn't an important fact. There's no proof that someone else couldn't have done the same thing.

Re:Echo chamber

[sjames]

Only if the alternate reality doesn't exist. She actually turned HP into a ruin of it's former self, but she also actually got a massive pile of cash for it and Lucent actually started waving money and stock offers at her before her seat was even cold. Then she actually left a smoking crater where Lucent used to be but she actually made big piles of cash doing it.

That's the thing. She lives in an actual alternate reality where terminal fuck-ups are coveted.

For the rest of us, no matter how many times you discharge the halon, EPO the datacenter and delete the database server and all of the backups, you won't make CEO money, so it is truly an alternate reality.

Re:Echo chamber

[sjames]

He at least held an elected office first.

Re:Echo chamber

[McGruber]

She can't hear reality over the roar of the hundred million dollars she was paid for halving the shareholder value of HP.

I hope she runs.

A Fool and Her Money Are Soon Parted....

Re:Echo chamber

[RightwingNutjob]

Yeah, but it's the add, subtract, multiply and divide that must be missing...

Re:Echo chamber

[Anonymous Coward]

Consider that criticism of Hilary Clinton or Marissa Mayer has been dismissed as misogyny. If you've already accepted as testament that there is a worldwide systemic effort to oppress women, any personal failing is proof-positive that it exists, and details like results are just a male-centric view of the world.

And that's not to say women don't experience discrimination, but especially in the case of Fiorina, being one of the first highly visible female CEOs, the discussion has mostly focused not on results (which have been abysmal), but the status of women in business (and now government) in a patriarchal society. That makes evaluation all but impossible (and on the fringes of feminism, even that discussion is considered patriarchal oppression, judging women on criteria that matters to men instead of feminine values, like relationships).

This has been a particular sore sport on the right, being tarred and feathered with the brand of patriarchy (although I'd argue the right has been more progressive in many respects towards women than the left), and leaves obvious hucksters like Fiorina to step in, freed from all personal examination, as especially no challengers on the right dare question her credentials too vigorously lest they reinforce that the right is nothing but misogyny incarnate.

Re:Echo chamber

[Anonymous Coward]

Umm, yeah. To say she "only" lost by 10% is charitable. She lost by a million votes in which the winner only got 5.2 million votes. She has a horrific reputation for incompetence in leadership after tanking HP (Infoworld called her the "anti-steve jobs"-- HP lost half its value when she was in charge) and walked away with a golden parachute of $20m as a reward. The day she left, HP stocks jumped about 7%. There would be no end to the number of HP employees at every level dying to go after her in the press.

After being forced to resign from HP and then personally dumping $6.5 million of her own money in her Senate race, she lost... along with Meg Whitman who lost the governorship to Jerry Brown after spending even more... in what was otherwise a gigantic tea-party big-Republican sweep nation-wide. That was five years ago. Since then, she's done what? Appear on Bill Maher's show and too many episodes of Sunday talk shows (where she speaks authoritatively for no reason)?

It would be amazing entertainment if she had a chance to win the R nomination. But I find it very very very very very very VERY unlikely.

Re:Echo chamber

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually the Hillary angle is the one thing that makes her a plausible VP option if she fares respectably in the primaries. Remember, the reason to McCain chose Palin was to target the youth/excitement of the base to counter Obama's advantages as well as the women's vote that was disillusioned by Hillary's defeat. Personally, I see Ben Carson as a attempt to woo the black vote (other side of the Hillary/Obama schism) as more likely, but her odds are (hopefully) better than Ted Cruz's of begin Pres/VP.

Re:Echo chamber

[Anonymous Coward]

You're never going to recognize the difference between loose and lose, are you.

Re:Echo chamber

[dbIII]

What sort of echo chamber does this woman live in to think she's got a good record as a manager to run on?

The Enron book "The Smartest Guys in the Room" has got some good examples of people that far out of touch with reality and some broad hints as to how they ended up that way.
Goldman Sachs was another very weird 1300s Venetian Merchant Prince sort of environment that was probably even more fucked up.
IMHO she's thinking she was born to rule and everything else is just a detail or someone trying to get in the way of her destiny.

Re:Echo chamber

[ChrisMaple]

If Fiorina runs true to form, only other people's money will be lost.

Re:Echo chamber

[ChrisMaple]

If you've already accepted as testament that there is a worldwide systemic effort to oppress women...

There is. There are 1.6 billion members of this conspiracy, called Islam.

Re:Echo chamber

[quantaman]

What sort of echo chamber does this woman live in to think she's got a good record as a manager to run on? Romney at least made real money and ran a real state government. Fiorina started lots of pissing contests, got booted by the shareholders for loosing money and assets, and lost a senate (not even governor's) race. Wow.

Unless she's running for VP.

It wouldn't be that hard for her to make a little noise in the primaries given she could be the only female (certainly the only establishment female).

Then if Hillary wins the nomination the Republicans are going to want a female or minority to stick in the VP slot. Right now that means Marco Rubio or Ben Carson but there's lots of reasons a nominee might not want one or both. In that case Fiorina might be the only option who isn't a white male, it's still a long shot but a VP nomination is far from impossible.

Re:Echo chamber

[silentcoder]

>lest they reinforce that the right is nothing but misogyny incarnate.

If there weren't over 400 anti-choice laws passed by republican state legislatures JUST last year, then maybe that perception wouldn't be true.

Re:Echo chamber

[cyberchondriac]

NOTHING makes Hillary the sensible choice.

Re:Echo chamber

[AK Marc]

Wait, wouldn't getting paid millions for failing itself be a success? You've never been offered such a contract.

Maybe she'd have luck as an independent?

[damn_registrars]

She won't really stand out in the crowd of crazy that the GOP is already assembling.

Re:Maybe she'd have luck as an independent?

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't know -- a Carly-Hilary matchup is probably the *only* way I'd vote for Hilary...

Re:Maybe she'd have luck as an independent?

[dackroyd]

I'm not so sure. The rest of the GOP pack is a bunch of people who have been politicians for most of their life.

Fiorina does kind of stand out as someone who has led a large company. Which would be better for her if her leadership wasn't absolutely terrible.

Re:Maybe she'd have luck as an independent?

[damn_registrars]

The rest of the GOP pack is a bunch of people who have been politicians for most of their life.

We could still see the godfather's pizza guy, and Trump keeps teasing us about planning to run as well. We also have Rand Paul, who is definitely running and was busy doing non-government stuff before running for senate. And don't forget that the last president from the GOP - as much as they encourage us to forget him - had more years of experience in business than in government.

Fiorina does kind of stand out as someone who has led a large company. Which would be better for her if her leadership wasn't absolutely terrible.

Don't forget, though, terrible leadership in business generally ends up ranking as "above average". HP does still exist as a company, so she did vastly better than a lot of other CEOs who drove their companies straight into the ground. Also remember that both of those strategies generally warrant multi-million dollar bonuses.

Re:Maybe she'd have luck as an independent?

[Anonymous Coward]

> She won't really stand out in the crowd of crazy that the GOP is already assembling.

The GOP is self-organizing to make Jeb Bush their candidate. Cruz and the others are playing up their crazy sides and Bush is playing up his moderate side. It is the same tactic that happened with Romney last time. Paul might be a wildcard, but he's started playing up the racism (particularly about america's favorite whipping boy, the muslims) and anti-gay stuff recently, so he's probably going to self-destruct. Fiorina will get play as the anti-hillary but it won't be enough to make her a serious contender, just a token from the 3% of Fortune500 CEOs who are female.

Re:Maybe she'd have luck as an independent?

[Ihlosi]

P does still exist as a company,

That's because it started out large enough to have quite a bit of momentum.

Re:Maybe she'd have luck as an independent?

[ganjadude]

really? because paul seems to be the only one running on civil rights. prison reform, generally issues one would not use to call someone a racist on

Re:Maybe she'd have luck as an independent?

[Anonymous Coward]

The civil rights stuff he runs on is a means to an end. He's not for reforming the prison industry because it disproportionately hurts the poor and disadvantaged, he just doesn't like big government and when he talks about how it hurts the disempowered he's throwing a bone to people who care more about helping the disempowered than care about dismantling big government, trying to find common cause with them but not common motive.

Consequently, when government is not the organization hurting people, he's not so interested in championing civil rights. I don't even have to look it up to know he's OK with the new Indiana bill to permit business discrimination against gays. Ok, I looked it up because never say never, but I was right. He's balls-deep in it with stuff like "The First Amendment says keep government out of religion. It doesn't say keep religion out of government."

Re:Maybe she'd have luck as an independent?

[ganjadude]

oh I see, so because hes doing good, but not for the reasons you think he should be doing them, its somehow bad

its STILL better than doing nothing, or doing the opposite

as for the bill in question, I wish people would be more factual with their coverage. The law protects business owners from abuse. Should a black banquet hall owner be forced to hold a KKK rally against his will in the name of equality??? no of course not. This new law would protect him.

Re:Maybe she'd have luck as an independent?

[Anonymous Coward]

> it ts STILL better than doing nothing, or doing the opposite

Yes, common cause. The problem is that because the reasoning behind it isn't rooted in a belief in civil rights and equality he will do things that are damaging to those ideals in cases where it does not line up with his motives. Like promote discrimination against muslims.

> as for the bill in question,

Poltiics is a battle of half-truths. Just because the bill also protects against your scenario does not mean it has to nor does it mean that was the motive for the law. The KKK has been around for over a century, but this law only gets passed now? Protecting against the KKK was not the goal, that's just cover.

Re:Maybe she'd have luck as an independent?

[Overzeetop]

They'd never be able to run together - they both want to hold the handbasket.

Re:Maybe she'd have luck as an independent?

[ChrisMaple]

Karl Rove is a money-raiser who makes heaps of money for himself by running GOP campaigns, win or lose. He sees Jeb Bush as his best bet for making money from a compliant, non-distinctive candidate. Cruz won't touch that bastard, more credit to Cruz.

Re:Maybe she'd have luck as an independent?

[Anonymous Coward]

and business leadership skills don't seem to translate all that well into political skills. But maybe we'll get lucky this year and the Koch brothers will run themselves. As a team.

Re:Maybe she'd have luck as an independent?

[Anonymous Coward]

"The law protects business owners from abuse. "
Are my gay atheist octaroon dollars good there? I think not.

Re:Maybe she'd have luck as an independent?

[Anonymous Coward]

Fiorina does kind of stand out as someone who has led a large company.

"Led" is being generous. Very generous.

Re:Maybe she'd have luck as an independent?

[Anonymous Coward]

HP does still exist as a company

That's because the majority of HP is staffed by competent engineers doing their jobs. It takes a special type of incompetence to completely negate the progress of thousands of engineers. Fortunately for HP, Fiorina was not at that level of colossally stupid

Re:Maybe she'd have luck as an independent?

[Fire_Wraith]

Connections. It's all about your connections. The biggest thing you need to get into politics today, at least for either major party, is connections - mostly to donors and supporters. The best way to establish these is to start by working your way up from smaller levels, working with the local/state party, winning smaller offices, and moving on to bigger. It's how many of the successful presidential primary candidates started.

There are shortcuts though. For one, being the relative of a successful politician gives you access to their contacts. Rand Paul may have been outside of government prior to his Senate run, but his father was a nationally known politician. Al Gore is another example, as is George W. Bush, JEB Bush, Mitt Romney, Kennedy, etc etc.

The lone exception to this has been massively successful Generals - Grant and Eisenhower. In those cases, their profile was high enough and impressive enough that the contacts pretty much came to them.

Perot may be the other exception, but he ran a mostly self-financed independent campaign, and harnessed a lot of circumstances that I'm not sure are easily replicable in a given election. Had he tried to win the primary instead, I doubt he would have succeeded.

Re:Not what we need

[Anonymous Coward]

Cruz has my vote if only to see slashtards pull out their hair and whine the world is over.

It is already determined

[Anonymous Coward]

The next president will be either Jeb Bush, or Hillary Clinton, because they are willing to push the most aggressive foreign policy.

Re:It is already determined

[Hartree]

"The next president will be either Jeb Bush, or Hillary Clinton"

Making such an utterly conventional wisdom prediction anonymously so no-one can say you were wrong after 2016?

I dub thee the Anonymous-Uber-Coward.

Re:It is already determined

[ChrisMaple]

Hillary's foreign policy will be to refuse to act, and then be unavailable when something goes badly wrong, and then try to destroy the records. Again.

So we all can take a crack at it.....

[zawarski]

How to Become President http://www.wikihow.com/Become-...

Money

[rsilvergun]

she's got lots of money. Also, she has connections with other folks who have lots of money. It's not echo chamber. She doesn't need a good record, just enough to bury the past. If you're old enough to remember Regan he didn't have much to run on, but his ad campaigns were _fantastic_. It's morning in America, and everything's just a little bit brighter because you voted for Regan...

Also people like to forget she basically won the California Gubernatorial race until an epic, almost legendary gaff during a debate cost her the election. Gerrymandering + voter suppression + money can get anyone or anything elected in America...

Re:Money

[BarbaraHudson]

She was stupid enough to say this:

Fiorina said she could appeal to voters with a “deep understanding of how the economy actually works, having started as a secretary and become the chief executive of the largest technology company in the world.”

If she's running on that "record", she's dead in the water.

Re:Money

[Anonymous Coward]

If you're old enough to remember Regan he didn't have much to run on...

wut? He was president of the Screen Actors Guild, a labor union for television and screen actors, for 5 years. Then later he was a two term Governor of California. He had plenty of political experience before running for President, unlike Carley.

Re:Money

[Alomex]

If you're old enough to remember Regan he didn't have much to run on

I'm as ant-Reagan as they come, but I'm sorry, his two terms as governor of California look positively scholarly compared to the lack of experience from Fiorina.

almost on the California Gubernatorial race until an epic legendary gaff during a debate cost her the election.

Coulda woulda shoulda. But I seriously doubt this is true since she never ran for Governor.

Re:Money

[daremonai]

Also people like to forget she basically won the California Gubernatorial race...

They probably forget this because it's not true. Did you confuse her with Meg Whitman? In any case, both of them lost pretty badly, despite pouring mountains of their own money into their races.

Re:Money

[BarbaraHudson]

“If we want mainstream and the middle class going and growing again, we’ve got to get small and family-owned businesses going and growing again,” she said.

She has the experience - she made a large business into a much smaller business. It's like "how do you get a million dollars?" "start with 10 million."

Re:Money

[Anonymous Coward]

Holy shit that is delusional. "Started as a secretary" when she had graduated from Stanford is about as much bullshit as Hillary saying they were "dead broke" after they left the whitehouse.

Re:Money

[khasim]

And that's not all. From her Wikipedia page:

Following an August 4, 2010, federal court ruling that Proposition 8 was unconstitutional, Fiorina expressed disagreement with the ruling, saying that California voters spoke clearly against same-sex unions when a majority approved the proposition in 2008.

And she wants to lead the Executive Branch?

Majority != Constitutional.

And she's got a bit of money. So .... what's she been doing with it AS A PRIVATE INDIVIDUAL to help with any of the "problems" that she's talking about?

So far it looks like a lot of paid speaking engagements. She is paid to be "concerned" but she doesn't fund anything herself.

Re:Money

[Anonymous Coward]

If she made the USG into a much smaller government, I guess that'd be good.

Re:Money

[ganjadude]

states rights vs federal. the state constitution in cali from my understanding does in fact give the rights to the people on these props. the federal courts went against the constitution claiming cali went against the constitution

Re:Money

[Fire_Wraith]

She ran for Senate (in 2010) in California, not Governor. Perhaps you're thinking of Meg Whitman, who ran for Governor of California?

Re:Money

[Alomex]

Yeah because the best places in the world are those with small governments like Haiti and Somalia, while the worst places in the world are those with large governments such as Germany, Sweden and Canada.

Re:Money

[RightwingNutjob]

With a pretty solid centrist record as governor, if I remember my history books correctly

Re:Money

[RightwingNutjob]

Not if she outsources it to the lowest foreign bidder it wouldn't

Re:Money

[meglon]

Any given state's constitution is subservient to the US Constitution. Period. Anyone who thinks differently is either completely ignorant, or simply a fucking idiot. The US constitution is not in place to empower the majority to be able to use tyranny of the majority to subjugate the rights of the minority; the Bill of Rights IS in place to keep that from happening. Madison always said he saw no need to enumerate a bill of rights, as he never thought citizens would sink to trying to strip others of their rights. Clearly Madison didn't foresee the complete fucking asshats that some worthless fucks would become.

Re:Money

[ganjadude]

except for that pesky 10th amendment which states anything not explict in the constitution is in fact a state right

Re:Money

[MikeKD]

I'll see your 10th Amendment and raise you the Supremacy Clause (Article Six, Clause 2):

This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the constitution or laws of any state to the contrary notwithstanding.

Re:Money

[Anonymous Coward]

How can people "like to forget" something that never happened?

You're mixing up Fiorina with a completely different person, Meg Whitman.

Also note that Whitman lost to Brown by 13 percentage points despite outspending him by 500%.

Re:Money

[Anonymous Coward]

Marriage is a contract and contracts are specifically allowed in the US constitution. Yes, this means polygamy should also not be illegal at the federal level.

It also means that if you follow the constitution, the gov has no authority to ban things like machine guns, etc.

Per the constitution, drug laws are also illegal. As is the NSA spying.

Re:Money

[ChrisMaple]

The 10th Amendment, being part of the Constitution and subsequent to Article 6 Clause 2, supersedes any part of Article 6 Clause 2 with which it conflicts. Further, the judges in the case decided wrongly, and it is the Constitution, not the court, which is the final authority. Fiorina was correct to identify the ruling as a bad one on several grounds. Any president who fails to follow the Constitution, regardless of the claims of any court, is violating the Constitution and should be impeached and removed from office. Any judge who fails to follow the Constitution is violating the Constitution and should be impeached and removed from office.

Re:Money

[ChrisMaple]

And Russia.

Re:Money

[ChrisMaple]

Brown has been known to be a loon for over 30 years. It shames California, not Whitman, that she lost.

Re:Money

[Greg_D]

The term "state's rights" is nothing more than politically charged rhetoric. States do not have rights. They have powers. Those powers are limited by the US constitution and federal statutes.

Re:Money

[Anonymous Coward]

The person you replied to already stated that. Are you confused?

Re:Money

[Anonymous Coward]

she's got lots of money. Also, she has connections with other folks who have lots of money. It's not echo chamber.

That's an interesting point. Maybe she isn't running for president. She's running for vice-president. She's the money and connections, and someone else will be the face and the legend. They might be able to pull that off.

Still, her being a heart attack away from the presidency would be worrisome.

Re:Money

[Anonymous Coward]

having started as a secretary and become the chief executive of the largest technology company in the world.”

I wonder how many cocks you have to suck to get that far?

Let's face it the woman didn't get there with her brains.

Re:Money

[BarbaraHudson]

having started as a secretary and become the chief executive of the largest technology company in the world.”

I wonder how many cocks you have to suck to get that far?

Let's face it the woman didn't get there with her brains.

How about all the male CEOs who have failed, like Ron Wagoneer at GM? You going to make the same assumptions?

Re:Money

[meglon]

Yeh... that's not actually how it works. Why is it there's so many fucking idiots in the US who, like you, never met a civics or US history class they could pass? However, even playing along with your fucking idiocy, the 14th Amendment comes after the 10th Amendment, so even by your fucked in the head idiotic logic, you're still fucking wrong.

Civil rights are not subject to popular vote.... it's WHY we have a bill of rights in the first place, to keep a majority from using tyranny of the majority to curtail a minorities rights.

You fucking idiots need to learn a little history.

Re:Money

[meglon]

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

....except the word "explicit" does not appear in the text, and the courts have routinely held that people pushing that position are simply fucking idiots (paraphrasing, but still an accurate description). Why is it that dumbfucks like you who bring up the constitution so much don't have a fucking clue about it?

"it was impossible to confine a Government to the exercise of express powers; there must necessarily be admitted powers by implication, unless the Constitution descended to recount every minutia." - - James Madison

Re:Not what we need

[hey!]

Another mushy moderate is not what we need. The GOP needs a rock ribbed, conservative bomb thrower. Go Ted Cruz!!!

Not precisely correct from an anatomical standpoint. The rocks in question are superior to the c1 vertebra.

And they said it couldn't be done...

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, if there's one person who could run the USA into the ground faster than either Obama or Hillary, it's her.

Re:And they said it couldn't be done...

[leptons]

Obama has not run the country into the ground, GW Bush did that, if you remember... oh wait, republicans have selective memory.

Re:And they said it couldn't be done...

[ChrisMaple]

The country's current financial problems lie in the erect laps of Barney Frank and Chris Dodd. Due to them, Bush was unable to remove the legislation that caused the 2008 collapse. Granted, Bush is responsible for doing the exact wrong thing in response to the crash, and Obama has followed his lead, compounded with corruption and deliberate destruction.

But don't let me get in the way of your Bush Derangement Syndrome.

Re:And they said it couldn't be done...

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh and let's not forget the 2 unpaid-for wars totalling over 2 trillion that the fiscally responsible republicans started. Yeah, we can go down that rabbit hole if you want to, but republicans have proven again and again they care nothing for fiscal conservatism. Keep drinking that kool-aide.

Re:And they said it couldn't be done...

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh and let's not forget the 2 unpaid-for wars totalling over 2 trillion that the fiscally responsible republicans started. Yeah, we can go down that rabbit hole if you want to, but republicans have proven again and again they care nothing for fiscal conservatism. Keep drinking that kool-aide.

And let's not for get that it was a democrat president that, in one term, doubled the national debt. For those of you taking Common Core math, let me make it simpler for you:

In four years, Obama increased the national debt by more than the total increase that occurred from George Washington to George W. Bush.

Not to mention that Obama has spent more on welfare to keep the poor people poor and dependent on the government (so they'll keep voting democrat) than Bush spent on those two wars.

What republicans arent running for president?

[peterpolle78]

Soon it will be easier to make a list of the republicans that AREN'T running for president.

I'm gonna leave this here...

[Anonymous Coward]

https://youtu.be/Wo_Ejfc5hW8

As somebody who saw her in action

[mykepredko]

during her tree felling heydays at HP, I'm not surprised at the chutzpah that would be required for her to think that she could be president.

And her total lack of self-awareness to understand that she doesn't have a snow-ball's chance in hell.

I don't see her being anything approaching a serious candidate.

myke

qualifications?

[belmolis]

Since when does a series of lackluster to poor stints in upper management and no experience in public affairs make someone a serioius candidate for President?

Yes, why stop at fucking up a company...

[gestalt_n_pepper]

...when you can fuck up the world? Yes, let's put an MBA with a BA in philosophy and medieval history in charge of the USA. I mean, wouldn't *you* give the nuclear codes to the MBAs in your company? What could possibly go wrong?

Re:Yes, why stop at fucking up a company...

[jd2112]

...when you can fuck up the world? Yes, let's put an MBA with a BA in philosophy and medieval history in charge of the USA. I mean, wouldn't *you* give the nuclear codes to the MBAs in your company? What could possibly go wrong?

What do you mean? Surely the nuclear codes are an underutilized asset that money can be made on. There are several highly motivated buyers mostly in the middle-east. You know those new HP servers that the government is going to buy aren't going to buy themselves. (Odd, for some reason HP is the only manufacturer that is able to meet new purchase requirements. And they are a mere 5000% markup over retail).

Re:Yes, why stop at fucking up a company...

[Anonymous Coward]

Shrub Jr. was our first MBA President I thought.

Terrifying that this woman could be worse.

Re:Yes, why stop at fucking up a company...

[hcs_$reboot]

Yes, why stop at fucking up a company...when you can fuck up the world?

Provided that most political figures do not have a strong background in the industry, why would her (failed) experience be a disadvantage, in comparison?

Re:Yes, why stop at fucking up a company...

[silentcoder]

A community organiser with a law degree mind you. Just like Lincoln actually...

Ohcrap

[Chas]

So she can finish bottoming out the economy, put the country into full repo, and then all government forms will come with 17 pages of ads and all government websites will auto-load crapware and malware?

May Fiorina burn in hell!

Oh gee, I'm soo bored..

[chasm22]

Maybe I should spend some of my hundreds of millions playing presidential candidate. It was so cool being on Fox News. I mean, all my BFF's were so jealous.
Oh the attention I'm getting is orgasmic...

Carly Fiorina for President!

[roc97007]

Because HP went so well!

Re:Carly Fiorina for President!

[hambone142]

I am surprised that no one has brought up her famous quote of "No one in this country has a God given right to a job". This said that HP employees during her massive layoffs. Why can't the Republicans offer a sane candidate? First, Palin and now this abomination. " Ding done the witch is dead" was sung in the halls of H.P. when she was fired.

Re:Carly Fiorina for President!

[roc97007]

> I am surprised that no one has brought up her famous quote of "No one in this country has a God given right to a job"

It doesn't do the Democrats any good to bring it out now. Wait until she gets the nomination, and *then* bring it out.

> Why can't the Republicans offer a sane candidate?

I think because all the insane ones have all the political clout.

she fucked up HP

[Anonymous Coward]

and now an entire country. This is what I call dreaming big.

Re:Not what we need

[Anonymous Coward]

That's like saying, "I think we should elect a pedophile only to anger the save-the-children-from-the-molesters crowd and make them whine the world is over."

Carly's platform

[Snufu]

"My plan for America will build on my spectacularly successful tenure atop Hewlett Packard. Therefore, if selected as president by the board members of the U.S. at A I promise to:

1. Sell California to China, because the state never produced anything of value.
2. Merge the supreme court, the FBI, and NASA, because that's the kind of outside the box thinking this country needs.
3. Focus on our core competence: T-shirt manufacturing. We can out-compete third world countries in this area.
4. After my policies have led the country to the top of Fortune 500, I'll ride my golden parachute to Mars.

Thank you!"

Re:Carly's platform

[Overzeetop]

...golden parachute to Mars

Now there's a taxpayer funded option I would vote for. I wonder how many we could send with her?

Re:Carly's platform

[Anonymous Coward]

To be honest, most of that sounds like a good idea to me. We get a manned mission to Mars, hopefully with some of the FBI and SCOTUS going along for the ride, finally get rid of CA, and everybody gets a free T-shirt.

What's not to like?

Re:Carly's platform

[Anonymous Coward]

I'd vote for Carly ...

...

... to be the first female on Mars.

Delusional?

[Anonymous Coward]

Isn't that a vital sorry essential part of any US Politicians way of life?
The more delusional they are, the more power they think they have.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

This woman's ego is amazing! She has a long record of failure, but holds it up as a virtue. I am convinced that the reasons she rose to such a high position in the business world was that she was very ambitious and VERY attractive in her younger days. If you see pictures of her 20 years ago, she looked like she just stepped off the cover of Vogue. To me, she appears to have totally blocked out her performance at HP and clings to the memory that she was a CEO. She should take her money, enjoy life and quit trying to recover her past glory. BTW, she would be a disaster as president! Completely unqualified except for age and citizen by birth.

Carly Fiorina is utterly incompetent.

[Anonymous Coward]

It seems to me that Carly Fiorina is utterly incompetent.

After the Carly as CEO era at HP, we stopped buying HP laser printers.

She has a shot

[ITRambo]

If she says and does what the GOP want to hear, and follows the lead of her handlers exactly, she has a shot of running. Once campaigning, she needs to be a great debater, not get flustered or defensive when presented with her failures.. Promise to go along with all the factions of the GOP by using language that they all want to hear, while staying flexible, if possible. Be likable and convincing to the American people. Don't be a snobbish ass. Look good but not glamorous. Don't focus on how you ran a large company, but on what you will do to help America successfully move into a future of increasing worldwide economic competition without further degrading the middle class. Carly has a shot. A long shot, but a shot as long as she's not snuffed out ahead of time by bigger money than what she has.

Hooray!!!

[frank_adrian314159]

The R's are filling up the clown car again. Will THE Donald be next? Or will Sarah Palin try to climb in hatchback before he and Teddy Cruz can lock it? Maybe Jebediah will announce! Then the banksters can masturbate their piles of money over all of them and they will coast to victory!

Re:Hooray!!!

[frank_adrian314159]

Why yes! Because the alternative of 4 years of Wall Street runamuck, destruction of anything that a normal person might fall back on in times of hardship, and foreign military involvements would be so much better. Get it straight - at least the D's don't have the clowns trying to run their circus.

Re:Hooray!!!

[ebvwfbw]

But don't answer yet. The D's are filling up the clown car again. Will THE Hilary be next? or will Rahm Emmanuel try to climb in hatchback before he and Martin Owe malley can lock it? Maybe crazy crazy all time presidential loser Joe Biden will announce! What a wacky pack that'd be! Then the banksters can masturbate their piles of money over all of them and they will coast to victory!

Mabye we'll get martial law as Obama decides he's not even leaving. Why not, he doesn't care about any other law. He's already a dictator.

Sauce for the goose?

[Anonymous Coward]

States can't, actually, as all questions of citizenship are decided by Congress under the Constitution, who has the right to set Naturalization laws.

All states can determine is residence.

Uh huh. Aside from the fact that the point was about whether state's are allowed to enforce the immigration decisions made by Congress and had nothing to do with who is or is not allowed to be naturalized ...

I'd love to see the Federal reactions if:
1) Texas told the ATF that no Texas state or local LEO will enforce any ATF regulations and it is now 100% up to the ATF to staff any alcohol or firearms regulations.
2) Colorado told the DEA that no Colorado state or local LEO will enforce any DEA regulations and it is now 100% up to the DEA to staff and pharmaceutical regulations.

That's pretty much what the Feds have asked for when it comes to enforcement of CBP regulations, but somehow I think they'd have a cow if the same behavior were applied consistently...

Re:Sauce for the goose?

[armanox]

Well, Colorado at least is heading that direction....

Re: Sauce for the goose?

[Anonymous Coward]

1. The ATF says give back those federal grants then. Texas law enforcement whines at lost funding.

2. Colorado likes it when it comes to Marijuana.

None of this changes the fact that if Congress wanted, citizenship could come with a five cent pricetag and states would have no legal authority.

Re: Sauce for the goose?

[Anonymous Coward]

So citizens send taxes to the Fed and the Fed uses that money as a bribe? Let the states pass laws that payroll is not income and see what happens. If I trade something with my neighbor that is of equal value, neither of us have to report income. If I trade my labor for what my boss and I agree is an equal value, I shouldn't have to report that as income either.

Re: Sauce for the goose?

[pnutjam]

Not so fast...
http://www.irs.gov/uac/Four-Th...

Re: Sauce for the goose?

[Anonymous Coward]

So citizens send taxes to the Fed and the Fed uses that money as a bribe? Let the states pass laws that payroll is not income and see what happens.

No, a bribe is for something illicit. Funding for a job you're supposed to do is compensation or pay, and is enitrely legitimate!ate in the way of interaction. But sure, the states can pass whatever laws they want regarding what they consider income, the federal government has its own.

Is this something hard for you to grasp?

Re: Sauce for the goose?

[Anonymous Coward]

But is the funding required by law to go specifically for that purpose. If not, then in a sense it is a bribe because it asks the state to potentially act unethically to receive that funding.

Re: Sauce for the goose?

[Anonymous Coward]

So whomever is paying the NSA wages and funding their illegal spying programs is basically guilty of bribery then?

Re:Dream ticket - Carly & Mitt

[epyT-R]

Nah, that was mostly caused by democrats and republicans 'reaching across the aisle' to burn the dollar from both ends and corner the market. This has been SOP for quite awhile.

No Thanks

[sexconker]

This woman has destroyed everything she touched.

Re:No Thanks

[Anonymous Coward]

This woman has destroyed everything she touched.

Then she's in good company, because most of the Republican clowns have done the same thing. Some even worse. The problem is that some of them are not so easy to destroy in an election as she would be, especially if she ran against Hillary because then nobody could claim everyone is being mean to her because she's a woman. Gender is of course irrelevant: her record to date indicates massive ego plus either massive incompetence or massive indifference, none of which do we need any more of running this country.

Re:No Thanks

[Anonymous Coward]

Then she's in good company, because most of the Republican clowns have done the same thing. Some even worse.

You mispelled Democrat.

The bitch who killed Compaq?

[Anonymous Coward]

I wouldn't vote for her for county dog killer...

Re:The bitch who killed Compaq?

[The New Guy 2.0]

Compaq was already dead, HP just picked up the rubble just like they did with DEC. HP now owns legacy contracts from both companies, and turned that into a typical Windows PC vendor.

Why not a...

[Anonymous Coward]

Wouldn't it be nice to bypass the rigged political parties and somehow put middle income parent in charge... Really roll the dice, almost anyone would be better than who the voters are 'presented' with.

400 people, own more than half the wealth in the USA.. 400 vs 300,000,000+; Seriously, look it up.. tax/imminent domain their EVerything...

She suffers from delusions of adequacy

[Anonymous Coward]

She suffers from delusions of adequacy.

America needs a woman preident

[Anonymous Coward]

Come on, you know it's coming.
Female is the new black.

Re:America needs a woman preident

[The New Guy 2.0]

Yep, the world leadership jobs are turning towards beautiful females who understand how to work a crowd... think Obama's stage shows mixed with somebody who looks like they belong in positions of beauty.

Re:America needs a woman preident

[ChrisMaple]

Ooh! Wendy O. Williams.

The Republcans would never let her win

[plopez]

Because women don't belong in the WH. Only white rich males are really qualified for leadership. The fact Obama made it in enrages them. They will trot Carly out to show how inclusive they are and split the woman vote but then stab her in the back in the end. See what happened to Herman Cain and Colin Powell as examples of their dirty tricks. Women and minorities will always be outsiders in that party.

Re:The Republcans would never let her win

[Fire_Wraith]

For all I dislike the Republicans and all of their recent actions and policy proposals, I have to disagree on this. The base of their party is deep enough in wingnut land that they absolutely would back even a black woman, IF she gave full throated backing to all of their beliefs, dogmas, and notions. In fact, they'd absolutely relish throwing that in the face of the Left.

That said, this isn't something where they'll simply take anyone. Such a candidate would need to be in a position to take advantage of this, get access to donors, have the "experience" to push ahead. They'd need to be good at putting together and running a campaign. They'd need to be able to go toe to toe with all the other competitors and not stumble/look like an idiot/etc.

Part of the reason the Republican party fields minority candidates at lower rates isn't because they wouldn't back one - even Herman Cain had a moment where he was at the top of the polls, but he was a very flawed candidate once you got past the initial pitch. Go look at the following that Ben Carson has, and how many in the conservative base would love for him to run (and he might, though that doesn't mean he'll succeed, for the same reasons). No, it's because it's not easy to be a candidate for President without having worked your way up through lower offices, building a reputation, establishing contacts, etc. Every single successful candidate for either party in the last hundred years or so has. The only shortcut is through family connections, but even then they're running for Senator or Governor first. It's at the lower ranks that the potential candidates are weeded out, or just never given the opportunities to begin with.

Re:The Republcans would never let her win

[Anonymous Coward]

You missed the part about Democrats generally voting their ideals. I think it would be great for Republicans to try win with Ben Carson.
It might be a lightbulb moment when the "Southern Strategy" voters stay home AND black voters keep voting for the Democratic candidate.

What the what?!

[TigerPlish]

Let's see, what could possibly go wrong with entrusting the keeping of the nation's confidence to a CEO that pretty much steered HP right into the iceberg.

No. Just.. no. NO fucking way.

The only way I'd accept this is if she outsources Congress to a call center in India. They can't do any worse than the locals!

...while simultaneously castrating all the male me

[Anonymous Coward]

http://m.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/1005572/how-mike-capellas-castrated-carly

Goalposts

[Livius]

I would speculate she is not competent enough for certain voters and not irrational enough for certain others, but by participating as a candidate, she will have an effect on which other candidates will be viable, by making others look good or bad by comparison.

Strategic Merger With Mexico

[l0ungeb0y]

Right after jettisoning the unprofitable divisions of NASA, USPS and the EPA, Carly's next big agenda will be merging Mexico with the US to strengthen it's cheap labor market to compete with China and solve the immigration problem for once and for all.

The lesser evil.

[supabeast!]

The really scary thing is that the GOP is such a clusterfuck that Fiorina is probably the best candidate they can scrounge up.

Re:The lesser evil.

[ChrisMaple]

The two leading potential Democrat candidates are Hillary and 'Granny' Warren. Compared to them, Fiorina is a shining star. Fiorina falls about in the middle of the Republican pack, sounding good but with a field of destruction in her wake.

A Democrat president elected in 2016 means the end of the US as a world power, and the beginning of a new dark age. I feel very sorry for the youth of today.

Re:The lesser evil.

[Anonymous Coward]

A new age of hyperbole abounds!

Re:Not what we need

[shutdown -p now]

To drown it once and for all? Yes, that it does.

If Cruz wins the Republican primaries, it will be hilarious, even if it won't really last long. Unfortunately, that's exactly why he won't win them. We'll get someone boring again, like Bush.

She has no sense of value

[The New Guy 2.0]

She led HP into the disaster of overpaying for Digital (DEC) so I wonder how she'd ever be able to handle the US Budget.

Re:She has no sense of value

[Deflatamouse]

It was Compaq that bought DEC.

But HP did bought Compaq a few years later.

Re:She has no sense of value

[The New Guy 2.0]

Thanks, I got that out of sequence. Point is... Compaq paid for DEC and then went bankrupt, HP saw value in that company like no one else did, then had to take a writeoff.

Re:Not what we need

[ChrisMaple]

We already did that in 1992 and again in 1996.

The USA should have a woman president.

[Anonymous Coward]

Then again I also think that all USA presidents should have beards and they should be as majestic as the beard grown by Rutherford B. Hayes.

The two ideals are not entirely mutually exclusive so I am holding on to both for now.

I'd rather have Cruz, TBH

[melted]

If these are the two choices, I'd rather have Cruz. At least he only caused minor clusterfucks so far. Fiorina has ruined one of the most significant US technology companies. I don't want her to do the same to the rest of the country.

Re:I'd rather have Cruz, TBH

[phantomfive]

To be fair, the board had a rather significant hand in destroying HP as well.

Let's hope those are not the only two choices.

Only 10%?

[sabbede]

That's quite the showing considering the strength of Democrats in California and Boxer's accrued power.

Call them The Biofuel Party!

[Anonymous Coward]

They have all of the body fat and other qualifications to have a bright future IN biofuel.

Name Recognition

[Steve B]

it is unclear what level of name recognition she enjoys

"Bad news, Ms Fiorina. According to the latest polls, some of the voters still remember who you are...."

Proven Record of Success

[biggaijin]

The one thing Carly has been really good at is hiring an effective personal press agent. Every few months, I see notices that "Carly is coming". I can't imagine why anyone cares; she has done nothing of note since leaving HP. She fouled up Lucent and failed to merge it with Philips, and then moved on to destroying HP with another ill-considered merger and her profligate personal spending of HP's money (like the G5 she needed). Since leaving HP many years ago with her golden parachute, she has held the full time position of "Former HP CEO" and worked the talk show circuit whenever she could. Who could imagine that this bimbo would be capable of running the U.S.?

I did hear one clever observation from her recently, though: She pointed out that Hillary's millions of miles of travel as the Secretary of State was "an activity, not an accomplishment".

HP Crashes and Burns

[pebear]

I think the Republicans would be better off getting Meg Whitman to run. She cleaned up Ebay, my favorite place to shop, and she is fixing all that Carly broke at HP. Or maybe if Carly gets elected then we will need to elect Meg after her to fix what Carly broke. Of course after 8 years Bush Jr. and 8 years with Obama I can't see much left to break.

Carly Fiorina Near Launching Presidential Bid

[rogerrc47]

Breaking news - Carly Fiorina announces that her Vice Presidential running mate on the "Yesterday's People Party" ticket will be Mitt - "Back From The Dead" Romney.

Fiorina lost to Boxer....

[Anonymous Coward]

by 10 percentage points... not 10%..

Fiorina received 42.2 percent of votes to Boxer's 52.2, and lost by more than 1 million votes.

Re:She tried tokill VMS and foisted ITANIUM on us!

[ebvwfbw]

Really? VMS was already dead. Good to have know ye VMS. As for Itanium, that was one really nice chip.