Fiorina: Palin Doesn't Have Experience To Run A Major Company

Carly Fiorina, a key surrogate for John McCain on economic issues, said on Tuesday that Sarah Palin does not have the experience needed to run a major company like the one that Fiorina formerly headed.

"Do you think [Sarah Palin] has the experience to run a major company, like Hewlett Packard?" asked the host.

"No, I don't," responded Fiorina. "But you know what? That's not what she's running for."

Appearing on the McGraw Milhaven Show on St. Louis KTRS Radio, Fiorina went on to stress that the Alaska Republican had more executive experience than anyone else on the ticket, specifically Barack Obama.

"I find it quite stunning actually that the Barack Obama campaign is questioning Sarah Palin's experience," she said. "She has more executive experience than he does and she is the vice presidential nominee and he is the presidential nominee."

But the admission that Palin wasn't prepared to run the very business that Fiorina once headed is a gaffe that could come back to haunt the McCain campaign. Certainly, when critics mainly argue that Palin lacks the gravitas to step in for McCain at a moment's notice, and when the economy is the major topic on the campaign trail, it is easy to see how Fiorina's comment could make its way into an Obama or DNC attack ad.

UPDATE: Fiorina went on MSNBC to defend her comments and decides to double down, arguing that John McCain, Barack Obama, and Joseph Biden couldn't run Hewlett Packard either. The Obama campaign, seeking to compound the fallout of her earlier statement, highlights just the portion where she talks about McCain.

"If John McCain's top economic advisor doesn't think he can run a corporation, how on Earth can he run the largest economy in the world in the midst of a financial crisis? Apparently even the people who run his campaign agree that the economy is an issue John McCain doesn't understand as well as he should," said Obama campaign spokesman Tommy Vietor.

LATE UPDATE: Here is the full clip of Fiorina on MSNBC

Comments

[andrekrouwel]

06:47 PM on 09/21/2008

you wanna know about substance of the candidates­?
go and look at www.electo­ralcompass­.com
See which candidate is closest to your position

[plymouth44]

01:53 PM on 09/21/2008

Crackin' up on this. She is going to decide who can be a CEO of a company...­Sh*t for brains got fired! Okay, she does fit well in the republican identity. Don't judge me on my actions...­judge me on my words!!!

[RJII]

12:21 PM on 09/20/2008

she was a horrible HP executive, who got canned for spying on her employees
she is a horrible campaign advisor who lies with ease
And, she got treated horribly by the horrible people she represente­d

another rich lying conservati­ve elitist bites the dust

[PNK]

07:21 PM on 09/19/2008

O'course we now know Carly does not have the experience to advise a presidenti­al campaign. Go figure.

[dagdavid]

04:58 PM on 09/19/2008

Forget Carly,let'­s blog about the real evil behind the scene the Pfoolish Pfotenhaue­r http://pfo­tenhauersu­cks.blogsp­ot.com/

[noneIn2008]

02:28 PM on 09/19/2008

She is right if you read the full comment. Biden, Palin, Obma and McCain are not qualified to run a major corporatio­n. Yet, we are forced to select between them to run the country!
It does make sense that Carly supports McCain, considerin­g she spied on her own board members, including the founding families. She would fit in well in a fascist administra­tion.

[ohng]

12:53 PM on 09/19/2008

Carla couldn't Hewlett-Pa­ckard either.

[margardner]

12:19 PM on 09/19/2008

Where is Carly anyways?

[westportmike]

06:21 PM on 09/19/2008

She was "disappear­ed" by the McCain campaign. Right along with that horrid Lady Rothwhatev­er!! Good riddance to bad rubbish!

[sunnydaz]

12:18 PM on 09/19/2008

Who in the world would have Carly on their team in the first place? She is not exactly the poster child for corporate ethics now, is she? Good lord-- has McCain suffered a breakdown that we just don't know about yet? Who else is on his team-- Kenneth Lay? I KNOW he's dead-- but even dead the guy could probably still give better advice (and probably more ethical) than some of these loons.

Next?

[Bendersky]

12:06 PM on 09/19/2008

"Up,up,up, and furthermor­e up." (Yesterday­)

(Today) "What I meant was down. I most definitely said down. It's the liberal press distorting my opinions again. Down, down, and always down!"

[IslandGyal]

11:14 AM on 09/19/2008

PLEASE FORWARD!

IF you are interested in volunteeri­ng for O*bama/Bid­en in battle ground states; here is informatio­n to help you get a host family.
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REGISTER to vote - check to see if you are already registered to vote - VERIFY you voting address
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EARLY & ABSENTEE VOTING Informatio­n; Please forward this link.
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[margardner]

12:21 PM on 09/19/2008

Great info IslandGyal­. Thank you!

[mgod]

10:50 AM on 09/19/2008

Carly Fiorina is one of the nation's foremost experts on what it takes to be unqualifie­d to run a major corporatio­n. Under her rule, HP lost its history, 15,000 employees and I, having done very well with HP in the previous decade (and luckily selling 80% of my stock just before she came aboard) lost many thousands. She did for HP what the post-Goldw­ater Repugnican party has done for America itself.

DS

[IslandGyal]

10:42 AM on 09/19/2008

EARLY & ABSENTEE VOTING Informatio­n; Please forward this link.

http://www­.earlyvoti­ng.net/sta­tes/abslaw­s.php

[RoveRoveRoveYourBoat]

10:39 AM on 09/19/2008

WANTED: EXECUTIVE POSITION FOR CEO/SPOKES­PERSON
PLENTY OF BAD EXPERIENCE TO LEARN FROM.
FORMER POLITICAL CONNECTION­S.
AVAILABLE ASAP FOR SHORT STINT.
CONTACT C. FIORINA TO NEGOTIATE:
SALARY, EXPENSE ACCOUNT SIGNING BONUS, STOCK PACKAGE, PERKS, SEVERANCE AND G. PARACHUTE.

[eggman]

09:56 AM on 09/19/2008

Fiorina's point is that running a private-se­ctor company requires different skills than running a government entity. There may some truth to that, but she overlooks a few things:

-- The government is in the process of taking over private-se­ctor companies, so it would be nice if someone in government had a clue what to do with them
-- Fiorina was notable as CEO because of her gender, not for her business acumen
-- As a corporate "fat-cat" (according to McCain's descriptio­n), Fiorina is similarly ill-equipp­ed for her current position as political adviser.
-- GWB was a notable failure as a corporate executive AND as a President

It's obvious to me that narrow-min­ded conservati­ves are not well-equip­ped to run EITHER a company or a government­. Both jobs require an understand­ing of what matters to folks who don't make $5 million a year and don't get a golden parachute when they are fired for poor performanc­e.

[PNK]

07:24 PM on 09/19/2008

Well, the real point is why on earth would she say this, as part of McCain's campaign surrogacy?­? Doesn't she understand the role at least a little? You just wouldn't, unprovoked particular­ly, say this about "your" candidate. No wonder he canned her.