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Former HP CEO Carly Fiorina Near Launching Presidential Bid

Posted by samzenpus on from the in-the-hunt dept.

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%.

43 of 353 comments (clear)

  1. Oh goody by Rinikusu · · Score: 5, Funny

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

    --
    If you were me, you'd be good lookin'. - six string samurai
    1. Re:Oh goody by Fire_Wraith · · Score: 3, Informative

      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.

    2. Re:Oh goody by BVis · · Score: 4, Informative

      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.

      --
      Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.
  2. This is great! by ColdWetDog · · Score: 5, Funny

    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.

    --
    Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
    1. Re:This is great! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

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

    2. Re:This is great! by r1348 · · Score: 3, Informative

      Nitpicking, or complete lack of imagination?

    3. Re:This is great! by Livius · · Score: 4, Funny

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

    4. Re:This is great! by catchblue22 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      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.

      --
      This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; when first he appears as a protector - Plato (423 to 327 BC)
    5. Re:This is great! by sphealey · · Score: 3

      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.

    6. Re:This is great! by Greg_D · · Score: 3, Insightful

      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.

    7. Re:This is great! by thunderbird32 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Don't blame me! I voted RC Cola.

  3. Simplr math ... by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 3, Interesting

    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."

    --
    "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    1. Re:Simplr math ... by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 3, Insightful

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

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    2. Re:Simplr math ... by Moof123 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      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.

    3. Re:Simplr math ... by serviscope_minor · · Score: 3, Informative

      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.

      --
      SJW n. One who posts facts.
    4. Re:Simplr math ... by silentcoder · · Score: 4, Insightful

      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 !"

      --
      Unicode killed the ASCII-art *
    5. Re:Simplr math ... by silentcoder · · Score: 3, Insightful

      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.

      --
      Unicode killed the ASCII-art *
  4. Never Forget Lucent by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    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.

  5. Echo chamber by RightwingNutjob · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.

    1. Re:Echo chamber by hey! · · Score: 5, Informative

      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.

      --
      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
    2. Re:Echo chamber by jd2112 · · Score: 3, Funny

      I have a slogan for them:

      Fiorina/Palin 2016: Making Hillary the sensible choice.

      --
      Any insufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology.
    3. Re:Echo chamber by TWX · · Score: 4, Interesting

      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.

      --
      Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
    4. Re:Echo chamber by sjames · · Score: 5, Insightful

      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.

  6. Maybe she'd have luck as an independent? by damn_registrars · · Score: 3, Insightful

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

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    Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
  7. Re:Not what we need by hey! · · Score: 3, Funny

    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.

    --
    Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
  8. Re:Money by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 3, Informative
    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.

    --
    "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
  9. As somebody who saw her in action by mykepredko · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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

    --
    Mimetics Inc. Twitter
  10. Yes, why stop at fucking up a company... by gestalt_n_pepper · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ...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?

    --
    Please do not read this sig. Thank you.
  11. Re:Money by Alomex · · Score: 3

    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.

  12. Carly's platform by Snufu · · Score: 5, Funny

    "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!"

  13. Re:Now I understand her record at HP by phantomfive · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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.

    --
    "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  14. Hooray!!! by frank_adrian314159 · · Score: 4, Funny

    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!

    --
    That is all.
  15. Re:So she can do to the US... by epyT-R · · Score: 4, Informative

    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.

  16. Re:Now I understand her record at HP by Darinbob · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.

  17. Re:Now I understand her record at HP by phantomfive · · Score: 3, Informative

    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?)

    --
    "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  18. Re:Now I understand her record at HP by Necron69 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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

  19. Re:Now I understand her record at HP by McGruber · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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.

  20. Re:Now I understand her record at HP by Fire_Wraith · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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."

  21. Re:Now I understand her record at HP by meglon · · Score: 3, Informative
    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?...

    --
    Fascism: An authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization. See also: NAZI's
  22. Goalposts by Livius · · Score: 4, Interesting

    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.

  23. Re:Now I understand her record at HP by phantomfive · · Score: 4, Funny

    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.

    --
    "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  24. Re: Now I understand her record at HP by DigiShaman · · Score: 3, Funny

    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!

    --
    Life is not for the lazy.
  25. Re:The Republcans would never let her win by Fire_Wraith · · Score: 3, Interesting

    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.