The Full Carly: Incompetence, Hubris and Nastiness

CALBUZZ-Having crashed Hewlett-Packard’s stock, destroyed H-P’s legendary civility and been fired as CEO; having been bounced as a spokesperson for John McCain’s presidential campaign, and having lost spectacularly in the race for U.S. Senate in California, what could make more sense than for Carly Fiorina to announce she’s running for president.    

Of the United States. 

There truly are no bounds to the delusional ego of this woman, who once put her own portrait on the wall between Bill Hewlett and David Packard, the revered founders of the Palo Alto company she damn near destroyed. Better she should have slapped up a picture of her doppelganger – Natasha Fatale, Boris Badenov’s nasty sidekick. 

Fiorina, who recently blamed environmentalists for the “man-made drought” in California, is trying to reinvent her business resume, although she was picked as one of the worst CEOs of all time by, among others, Portfolio magazine, which wrote: “A consummate self-promoter, Fiorina was busy pontificating on the lecture circuit and posing for magazine covers while her company floundered.” 

Back in 2009, Media Matters assembled a concise collection of quotes, sources and data outlining Fiorina’s heartless firing of some 18,000 employees and outsourcing H-P jobs, her disastrous corporate leadership, insider and coercive tactics and policies intentionally undercutting U.S. sanctions on Iran, among other issues. 

One example: 

Forbes: Hewlett-Packard Exported Goods To Dubai To Open Up Markets In Iran. In the April 12, 2004 issue a Forbes magazine story titled “Trading With The Enemy” reported, “If you want to get around export controls, just sell the product to a front company in Dubai. The middlemen will take it from there… Hewlett-Packard, Dell and Microsoft, among many other U.S. companies, keep Dubai offices and are favorites these days among Iranian traders in Dubai. Reason? Strong demand for ‘anything high-tech for military or oil services,’ says Bolurfrushan of the Iranian Business Council.” [Forbes, 4/12/04] 

For a comprehensive look at this issue, our own “what did Carly know and when did she know it” resides in the trusty Calbuzz archive.   

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And in her spare time: Carly keeps finding new ways to offend and outrage decent-thinking people. Recently, she said there was “nothing objectionable” in the original Indiana law allowing discrimination against gays in housing (before it was “reformed”), arguing the opposition was a “ginned up controversy.” 

A staunch opponent of abortion and comprehensive immigration reform, Fiorina never had a chance of becoming a U.S. Senator from California. And while those positions might keep her from getting booed off the stage at conservative Republican gatherings in Iowa and South Carolina, they are death to her chances of ever becoming president. 

What is most astounding is that she has managed to convince otherwise sane national political reporters to treat her with anything other than utter contempt. Which is what veterans of  her misadventures in California have for her. 

Politico has a complete run-down of the political professionals she has hired to run her campaign. But despite all the high-priced talent, Ms New Economy seems to have overlooked one teensy item — failing to secure the carlyfiorina.org internet domain, which now belongs to an anonymous critic. 

Oops. 

In other news: Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson and full-time Bible thumper Mike Huckabee, both have jumped into the GOP presidential contest, further crowding the clown car.

 

(Jerry Roberts and Phil Trounstine … long time journalists … publish the award-winning CalBuzz.com) 

-cw

 

 

 

CityWatch

Vol 13 Issue 38

Pub: May 8, 2015