Friday, March 11, 2016

Carly Fiorina, Opportunist Extraordinaire

Opportunity knocked for former Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina and she answered the door. Wednesday Carly made a splash by appearing on stage with candidate Ted Cruz and formally endorsing him for President. Not only did she endorse him, she went into full snarl to do so.


Up until Wednesday, I was a supporter of Carly Fiorina. I understood her personal story as well as her professional story.  She was the full package for a Republican woman looking for more conservative women to run for political office.  She is truly in her element when railing against Hillary Clinton, which is where she shines.


Thursday morning, Fiorina appeared on Fox News and did an interview with anchor Bill Hemmer about her endorsement.  When asked by Hemmer why she chose Cruz over endorsing Sen Marco Rubio or Gov John Kasich, she said it was because Rubio and Kasich are "not conservatives."  This is inexcusable and just plain phony. How sad for Carly Fiorina to succumb to his kind of low brow politics.  No wonder she failed so badly in her bid for president, and in her senate race in California before that.
On June 18, 2015, Keep the Promise 1 - a Ted Cruz Super PAC - donated $500,000 to Carly Fiorina's presidential campaign. That donation is under FEC investigation. This is the Super PAC run by Robert Mercer, a Wall Street hedge fund manager.
Maybe it's all just a coincidence. Maybe Fiorina is telling the truth that now she happens to think that Ted Cruz is the best candidate running for president. Maybe she really went into that voting booth and ignored her own name on the ballot and, instead, voted for Cruz. I don't believe that but maybe you are less cynical.
In January, 2016 Fiorina appeared on Fox News with Greta van Susteren.  During that interview, Fiorina said that Ted Cruz was too divisive to beat Hillary Clinton.  She said that "he says one thing in the drawing rooms of Manhattan and another thing in the living rooms of Iowa."  Does she now think he is an honest broker?  How does a grown man get the character of truth telling in the span of a month and a half, especially in politics? 
Maybe the fix was in a long time ago.  The donation in 2015 may have brought with it some strings for the future of the campaign. Maybe she is just looking for a way to stay relevant in the fray.  She is getting face time on television again. 
Whatever the reason, it looks smarmy and desperate.  A sad ending for a once promising woman in politics.












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