Fiorina: If Hillary Faces A Woman, She Won’t Be Able To Run On Gender

Carly Fiorina speaking at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast on April 16, 2015.
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

WASHINGTON — The way former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina sees it, if former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (D) were to face a woman in the 2016 general election, Clinton wouldn’t be able to use a “whole set” of issues to her advantage.

Fiorina, who is currently mulling whether to run for president in 2016, made the comments at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast on Thursday. Polling has shown Fiorina trailing most of the GOP field in the 2016 primary.

“I think that if Hillary Clinton were to face a female nominee, there are a whole set of things that she won’t be able to talk about. She won’t be able to talk about being the first woman president, she won’t be able to talk about the war on women without being challenged,” Fiorina said. “She won’t be able to play the gender card. And so what she will have to run on is her track record, her accomplishments, her candor and trustworthiness, and policies.”

That, Fiorina added, is “what elections should be run on, not identity politics. Not what you look like, but who you are and what you believe.”

Other Republicans have also argued that part of Fiorina’s strength as a possible contender against Clinton is that she can cancel out any attacks centered on gender.

“She’s the most aggressive Republican candidate when it comes to someone attacking Hillary Clinton,” Iowa Republican party former political director Craig Robinson recently told The Guardian. “She’s not bashful about going right after her. That’s made people sit up and notice —the fact that Hillary Clinton is being critiqued by another woman.”

During the same breakfast, Fiorina indicated that if she did decide to run for president she would angle herself as a conservative pro-life candidate, like she did when she ran for senate in California.

“A conservative can win with moderates as well as conservatives. Conservatives can reach Independents and Democrats,” Fiorina said.

Latest DC

Notable Replies

  1. so Carly is coming out in support of Auntie Lindsey?

  2. I hope Carly will let us know when a woman GOPer decides to run.

  3. A laundry list of personal failures follows Carly Fiorina around. She fucked up HP. She has not yet won an election. And now she thinks she can be president? Guess what: Hillary certainly would be able to run a womens’ issue campaign against you because your policies would be no different than the conservative white men who are running.

    Once and for all, please go away.

  4. I guess she’s found the one thing that sorta qualifies her for the nomination, other than being a panderer. Too bad she’s never won anything.

  5. Carly spent $5,000,000 of her own cash in a failed attempt to buy a Senate seat. She should sit down and STFU.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

50 more replies

Participants

Avatar for fgs Avatar for jootjoint Avatar for littlegirlblue Avatar for marby Avatar for Diogenes67 Avatar for mollynyc Avatar for braxtonbraggart Avatar for avattoir Avatar for trippin Avatar for randyabraham Avatar for sniffit Avatar for richardnixonhuberthumphrey Avatar for starquest Avatar for jcblues Avatar for theotherbear Avatar for khaaannn Avatar for mybeautifulmind Avatar for fiftygigs Avatar for azjude Avatar for DatelessNerd Avatar for beattycat Avatar for Primogen1 Avatar for jonnienohands Avatar for pb1212

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: