Wednesday, February 25, 2015

GRADING ON THE CURVE.

Carly Fiorina? For President? At National Review, Jim Geraghty jokes about the demon sheep ad from her disastrous 2010 Senate campaign, but in his newsletter for the true believers Geraghty circulates some straight-up Fiorina PR: After praising Fiorina's staff hires ("CRC Public Relations is a pretty big mover and shaker in the world of conservative clients"), he says:
You may recall that last month I wrote, “the former Hewlett Packard CEO has a broader and more interesting résumé than you might think -- member of the CIA’s External Advisory Board, committee adviser to Condoleezza Rice, senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies -- and despite the “nice” CEO image, she’s fearless on the attack -- tearing into Hillary for lack of accomplishments, ripping liberals for hypocrisy on abortion, challenging Valerie Jarrett on live television about unequal pay for women at the White House. A cancer survivor with a great personal success story, she may be a much more serious contender for the [vice-presidential] slot than most people think right now.” 
Heading into CPAC, she has the not-so-insignificant advantage of being accomplished and almost entirely dismissed by the political media, so the bar is set pretty low.
Pretty low indeed! "The not-so-insignificant advantage of being accomplished"? The consensus (bipartisan, as it were) on her reign at Hewlett Packard, the most significant of her alleged accomplishments, seems to be that she nearly ruined it. And getting on committees and boards is simple for high-level executives even if they are terrible at their jobs. As for tearing and ripping, you can get a dog to do that. (I will say it's nice that she got over cancer.)

Also: Fiorina has never won elective office. Neither had President Washington and President Grant, but we are talking about a whole different level of being-accomplished here.

In fact this is very close to the imaginary-but-with-a-budget campaigns of Ben Carson and Donald Trump. And it reminds me of the complaining conservatives and consensus-seeking politicos did when Scott Walker was recently mocked as a college dropout. I understand the anxiety that episode raised: American folk wisdom says you shouldn't need certification to excel and prosper, and I hope all good people lament that citizens are badgered by employment anxiety to get a diploma and the gigantic price tag that comes with it just to keep the wolf from the door.

But with  candidates like Fiorina, it looks like the Party of Joe The Plumber, which has never put much stock in fancy book learning anyway, is not merely being open to talents (as if these people really qualify as talents), but favoring people who lack not only traditional qualifications but also common sense, as if having the slightest idea what you're doing is some elitist shibboleth that needs to be refuted once and for all with the election of a total dumbass.

Can they pull it off? Depends on how much the voters remember about George W. Bush.

UPDATE. Geraghty's not Fiorina's only friend in the world of wingnut journamalism -- Al Weaver of The Daily Caller:
Is Hillary Clinton Stealing Speech Lines From Carly Fiorina?
The Answer May Surprise You!
During her speaking event in Silicon Valley, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton seemingly snagged a campaign line from potential GOP 2016 candidate Carly Fiorina, the former CEO of Hewlett-Packard. 
Clinton, the presumptive 2016 candidate for the Democratic Party, called on attendees at the conference to “unlock their full potential,” a line Fiorina uses.
Unlock their full potential -- has a ring to it! I bet it catches on, retroactively. Weaver also claims that "back in June during Clinton’s book release of 'Hard Choices,' much was made of the similarities between her book and Fiorina’s 2007 memoir, 'Tough Choices.'" No links and no quotes, natch, and besides, who believes anyone read enough of both books to make an informed comparison?

90 comments:

  1. Can they pull it off? Maybe. If they don't, it won't be for lack of trying.

    Andy Borowitz explains: "In the hopes of appealing to Republican primary voters, candidates for the 2016 Presidential nomination are working around the clock to unlearn everything that they have learned since the third grade, aides to the candidates have confirmed."

    http://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/republicans-unlearning-facts-learned-third-grade-compete-primary

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  2. (I will say it's nice that she got over cancer.)"I'm a cancer survivor. I got through it thanks to courage, determination, an abiding religious faith, and the best health care millions of dollars in disposable income could buy. Meanwhile, poor people don't actually need affordable health insurance for pre-existing conditions. Thank you, and God bless America."

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  3. Ted the slacker12:40 PM

    "Carly Fiorina? For President?"
    Obviously not. But that's not the point, nor is her impressively thin resume.
    Consider the source. The NRO is the propaganda arm for the GOP establishment - the business elite, the people who actually give a shit about winning elections. Fart jokes and other hippie-punching rube fodder is necessary for the NRO to keep up appearances, but these people are secretly orgasming at the thought of another Bush presidency. That is what they most want.
    And they know that the clown-show that will be the GOP primary, for electability reasons, needs to have some variety. Jindal, Rubio and Carson should cover the diversity angle, but they need someone with ladyparts up on the stage too. At least for a few debates. And that's where Carly Fiorina comes in. That's all that matters, that they have some boobies for the cameras.

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  4. RogerAiles12:40 PM

    Fiornio/Navarro '16.


    That should expand the base.

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  5. The consensus (bipartisan, as it were) on her reign at Hewlett Packard, the most significant of her alleged accomplishments, seems to be that she nearly ruined it.And yet, she personally made an enormous amount of money. Mission accomplished!**


    **Shamelessly stolen from Carly Fiorina

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  6. That's all that matters, that they have some boobies for the cameras.They already do.

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  7. Marion in Savannah12:42 PM

    I'm partial to Trump/Fiorino myself. LOADS of business acumen there.

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  8. I think you're attributing a lot of focus and competence to the publication that has paid Jonah Goldberg to post shit he found on Funny or Die.

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  9. So Fiorina runs the country into the ground, Trump declares bankruptcy and bails, and the American people pick up the tab? Truly, this is a triumph of fiscal conservative thinking.

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  10. PersonaAuGratin1:05 PM

    ...more interesting résumé than you might think...

    Actually that list is exactly consists of exactly the type of "advisory" (as opposed to real responsibility) resume-polishing titles I would expect from someone who is politically well-connected and ambitious (or just bored).

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  11. Jay B.1:05 PM

    despite the “nice” CEO image, she’s fearless on the attack -- tearing into Hillary for lack of accomplishments,


    I literally spit out coffee at that one. Why she's barely above a community organizer! Not like a dynamo like Fiorina who almost single-handedly destroyed one of America's most famous tech brands during a time tech brands made billions in profits in a tech-centric economy. THAT'S an accomplishment.


    ripping liberals for hypocrisy on abortion
    We are in favor of it and vote for it?


    challenging Valerie Jarrett on live television about unequal pay for women at the White House.


    So is iCarly in favor of it?

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  12. satch1:13 PM

    "Clinton, the presumptive 2016 candidate for the Democratic Party, called
    on attendees at the conference to “unlock their full potential,” a line
    Fiorina uses."


    Yeah... her and about twelve thousand other self help guru/grifters over the last seventy five years. Carly Fiorina: Mitt Romney in drag.

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  13. satch1:18 PM

    "...but these people are secretly orgasming at the thought of another Bush presidency. That is what they most want."


    Ah... so, Carly is running to be Jebbie's VP? The plan is already starting to come together!

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  14. GeniusLemur1:18 PM

    "committee adviser to Condoleezza Rice"
    So she advised Rice on how to advise W. Are we supposed to be impressed by a) that position or b) her accomplishments in that position?
    How about c) Neither a) nor b)?

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  15. Ted the slacker1:19 PM

    I'm just assuming Geraghty is able to follow orders from his editors.
    Jonah's there to make the mouthbreathers feel clever and cool - "hey this smart guy wrote liberal fascism and I get his jokes" *high five* - but ultimately he, like all the others there, just wants a stiff suit in the Oval Office.
    They aren't a competent crew, I think we know that's not the standard by which they get chosen.

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  16. GeniusLemur1:20 PM

    But... but... it's such a distinctive arrangement of those four generic words!

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  17. gratuitous1:26 PM

    Republican thinking: "Oh, you Democrats are thinking of nominating a woman in 2016? We got womans running, too! They're pretty interchangeable, aren't they? We still can't believe more of you libruls didn't vote for the Palin ticket in 2008, seeing as how you're all women's lib and stuff, and a lot of you were disappointed that a woman wasn't the nominee then. But we'll get you to cross over this time, for sure!"

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  18. Hillary's book also uses a lot of the same words. Granted, they are in a different order and context but still . . . Hillary also stole her idea of having both a noun and a verb in every sentence, punctuation also, I bet Hillary also stole Carly's idea of having a vagina so as to better snag the wimmen vote.

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  19. ripping liberals for hypocrisy on abortion
    We are in favor of it and vote for it?Yeah, but then we also turn around and support WIC, CHIP, Head Start, parental leave, and the like ... as if we actually cared about children. Hypocrisy!

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  20. "that they have some boobies for the cameras."


    I think it's boobs all the way down already.

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  21. If only Ricky from Trailer Park Boys wasn’t Canadian, he’d be the perfect Republican nominee for either VP or President:
    "Child reports? What? Now you got suit dummies makin' up fancy word papers about me bein' a bad father cause I'm rich now? This is bullshit, Lucy!"

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  22. dmsilev1:44 PM

    Consider: It was recently announced that the first GOP debate would be moderated by Hugh Hewitt and would take place at the Reagan Temple, I mean Library. Does that sound like a party which cares about how its debates look to sane people?

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  23. billcinsd1:45 PM

    ripping liberals for hypocrisy on abortion
    We are in favor of it and vote for it?

    I'm thinking not forcing all liberal women to have abortions immediately on finding out they are pregnant is how liberals are hypocritical on abortion

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  24. billcinsd1:50 PM

    Everything I needed to run in the Republican Presidential primaries, I Learned in Kindergarten. Speaking only when spoken to, napping only at approved nap times (this killed Fred Thompson's run), asking to go to the bathroom only when necessary, making fun of the poor kids with bread bags on their feet, avoiding those who are different

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  25. mgmonklewis1:51 PM

    Candidate Ricky added, "Knock Knock. Who's there? Fuck off."

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  26. Jay B.1:56 PM

    "Well Valerie, I'm sure that's all well and good when your Administration is trolling for votes, but unlike you and your "equality", I demand less pay for women, in fact, when I was CEO of Hewlett-Packard, I fought tooth and nail until we made sure our female employees made exactly 3/4ths what their male counterparts did. Unfortunately, my pay was so obscene, I broke the curve."

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  27. Howlin Wolfe1:56 PM

    A local saxophonist/band leader used to respond to requests for "Satin Doll" by telling the requester, "Well, we'll play one with a lot of the same notes."

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  28. Howlin Wolfe1:57 PM

    That's why we need Navarro instead of Trump. Lance has the goods!

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  29. I hate when someone uses the same cliches as I do. Can't people be unoriginal in different ways than me.

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  30. Candidate Ricky's Educatoin Policy:
    "It doesn't take rocket appliances to get your grade 10."

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  31. Ted the slacker2:15 PM

    I think some in the party do care. It came out in the 2012 election autopsy.
    Still, I don't think you can rebrand a clown-car, but I'm not a paid political consultant so I can say that.

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  32. Oh please. Fiorina's positioning herself to be the V-P candidate the Republicans will need to insult Clinton so the G.O.P. nominee won't look as if he's warring on women.

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  33. Helmut Monotreme2:18 PM

    Wall Street is shorting America's stock! They'll make billions!Trillions!

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  34. I like this. I like it a lot. Hell, I love this, and I adore that Mr. T. Rump is looking to get into the GOP primary as well. Let's see, who else looks to putting on the old hockey helmet, jumping on the short bus, and venturing out into the wide world of stumping?:


    Santorum; Bush, Jeb; Walker; Carson; Christie; Graham; Perry; Pataki; Huckabee; Cruz; Jindal; Kasich; Rand; Rubio; King, Peter; Bolton...and perhaps Mrs. Palin!


    Man, this is shaping up to be the best variety show ever! As a very excited Rick Perry said, adjusting his chin strap as he called "Shotgun!" getting on the bus (everyone ducked), "Today we're going to Hong Kong - but first we're going to the zoo!!!"


    Oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy. Can. Hardly. Wait.

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  35. Helmut Monotreme2:22 PM

    Look, I don't know for a fact that she got hired as some kind of real-life Hudsucker Proxy to drive HP onto the rocks so she could enrich people smart enough to short HP stock, but if she were actually hired for that purpose, I can't think of a single thing she would have needed to do differently.

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  36. Out of curiosity I headed over to Amazon and checked out reviews of her autobiography, which given the melodramatic apologetics on the dust jacket regarding the "tough" circumstances she endured and her "mysterious" firing ought to have been entitled "I, Carly". A number of former employees of HP and Lucent under her reign had much the same thing to say about her, which was that in a word she was enthusiastic but incompetent, always about appearances vs reality, and masterful at shifting the blame of her failures onto others - which makes her a perfect Republican candidate for office. Reviewer G. Mellon below sums it up nicely:

    "As a 21-year HP veteran who survived the Carly "cult of personality" years, I would describe this book as self-serving hogwash. In my opinion, her abrupt dispatch was the much deserved result of arrogance and incompetence, not sexism. In thousands of conversations with other HP employees during those five years, not once did I hear disparaging comments regarding her gender. The merger with Compaq was of dubious business value but allowed her to place her mark on this venerated company while diluting a culture based on egalitarianism and merit. HP missed quarter after quarter under Carly's leadership, the stock price dropped by 75%, and she blames everyone but herself. New CEO Mark Hurd demonstrated a more thorough understanding of the HP businesses during his first employee meeting than Carly ever had, and won back much of the employee drive and dedication that Carly squandered. HP hasn't missed a quarter since and the stock price has more than doubled. Carly bolstered HP's sagging brand, to be sure; spin is her specialty. But it seemed to employees that Carly then usurped the brand for her own personal glory. Carly eliminated [eighteen thousand] competent and loyal HP employees who didn't get $42M golden parachutes, so please spare us the crocodile tears. Avoiding this book shouldn't be a Tough Choice for anyone."

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  37. Megalon2:57 PM

    It's looking more and more like the 2012 grift parade all over again (Santorum surges from behind!) I can only hope Newt is currently preparing to stage his big comeback!

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  38. But with candidates like Fiorina, it looks like the Party of Joe The Plumber, which has never put much stock in fancy book learning anyway, is not merely being open to talents (as if these people really qualify as talents), but favoring people who lack not only traditional qualifications but also common sense, as if having the slightest idea what you're doing is some elitist shibboleth that needs to be refuted once and for all with the election of a total dumbass.

    You would be (sadly) surprised at how far this sort of thing can carry a candidate. We all laugh and point and think "HAHAHAHAHA! That dumbass needs someone to remind them to breathe, they're so fucking dumb! HAHAHAHA!"

    Ted Yoho
    Louie Gohmert
    Michelle Bachmann
    Steve King
    Brent Farenholdt
    These are people who made it into Congress, yet are stupid enough that you could probably hold them up over voicemail.

    Herman Cain
    Rick Santorum
    Michelle Bachmann
    Rick Perry
    These are people who were ALL frontrunners in the Republican presidential primaries in 2012, yet are stupid enough to that they'd probably fail a Turing test.

    So Carly Fiorina is much more of a viable candidate than any sentient person would want to admit--which is why Conservative voters will go for her whole-heartedly.

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  39. synykyl3:09 PM

    ... she’s fearless on the attack ...

    Given her track record, defense is impossible so she damn well *better* be good on the attack ;-)

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  40. SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

    I read a piece this morning about how Condi is the Republican wet dream. She's Black, female, and Republican--and there are groups desperate for her to run for office (a state senate seat in California is the current one they're reaching out to her for). But Condi refuses to run.

    Good for her that she's finally decided to put country first.

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  41. synykyl3:12 PM

    And tons of charisma too.

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  42. Gromet3:14 PM

    called on attendees at the conference to “unlock their full potential,” a line Fiorina uses.


    Ohhhhh shit, wait until Mr. Sheehan* finds out his line's been ripped off by Fiorina. She'll probably write him a $10 million "go away" check on the spot!


    *My high school guidance counselor.

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  43. I bet Hillary also stole Carly's idea of having a vagina so as to better snag the wimmen vote.

    Are you saying she's trying to . . .

    [puts on sunglasses]

    . . . snatch up that vote?

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  44. redoubtagain3:16 PM

    "committee adviser to Condoleezza Rice" AKA "demonstrated incompetence in the service of demonstrated incompetence"

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  45. What would distinguish this from actual Republican economic policy under every GOP president since Reagan?

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  46. redoubtagain3:19 PM

    It Was On Fire When I Laid Down On It = 2016 Republican National Convention

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  47. Hmmm...Boobies for the cameras.
    Hmmm...Hugh Hewitt moderating.

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  48. but ultimately he, like all the others there, just wants a stiff suit in the Oval Office.

    Jonah owes his career to a stiffy in the Oval Office, so why not?

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  49. Han Solo Basura4:16 PM

    who almost single-handedly destroyed one of America's most famous tech brands



    That's an accomplishment of a sort.

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  50. Han Solo Basura4:19 PM

    It's a good thing you can't copyright platitudes!

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  51. I look forward to Fiorina standing beside him, smiling and nodding, while he mansplains how women don't really want control over their reproductive lives. Maybe we'll even get some of that "can you swallow a camera and have it look in your vagina" kind of bioscience Republicans are popularizing now.

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  52. One shared by many, many CEOs--run company into ground, leap (or get pushed) out the door with enormous golden parachute.

    It's a shame how America equates money with smarts.

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  53. smut clyde4:49 PM

    https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4105/4993325873_b1d437f3e4.jpg

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  54. Jay B.4:52 PM

    "Titillation" -- artist unknown

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  55. I lay awake at night wishing for this.

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  56. Bitter Scribe5:50 PM

    Hey, Clinton's book has "Choices" in the title, just like Fiorina's. If that's not plagiarism, I don't know what it.

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  57. I don't know what i[s].You are Al Weaver and I claim my five pounds.

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  58. Wrong! We love to wait till the 3 trimester and THEN force women to have "live birth" abortions. Except in those mean ol' states that banned it.

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  59. So much effort when they could just have themselves lobotomized!

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  60. Repugs want to make it legal to copyright platitudes for eternity.

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  61. So Fiorina runs the country into the ground, Trump declares bankruptcy and bails, and the American people pick up the tab?


    You forgot that the Democrats would be blamed even as they fixed the problem. The cause of the problem would be, of course, teh Gays, teh Blacks, teh wimmins, and of course: immigrants! Oh yeah, don't forget Muslims.

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  62. Everyone knows the camera goes into the EAR.

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  63. Not a dynamo like Fiorina who almost single-handedly destroyed one of America's most famous tech brands during a time tech brands made billions in profits in a tech-centric economy. THAT'S an accomplishment.

    Joseph Heller saw her coming:

    “Colonel Cargill was so awful a marketing executive that his services were much sought after by firms eager to establish losses for tax purposes. His prices were high, for failure often did not come easily. He had to start at the top and work his way down, and with sympathetic friends in Washington, losing money was no simple matter. It took months of hard work and careful misplanning. A person misplaced, disorganized, miscalculated, overlooked everything and open every loophole, and just when he thought he had it made, the government gave him a lake or a forest or an oilfield and spoiled everything. Even with such handicaps, Colonel Cargill could be relied on to run the most prosperous enterprise into the ground. He was a self-made man who owed his lack of success to nobody.”

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  64. mortimer20008:35 PM

    Before she accomplished the near-death of HP, let's not forget that Fiorina helped accomplish the drowning of Lucent. In both instances, she accomplished the accumulation of millions of bonuses and severance. Of course, her accomplishments came at the expense of tens of thousands of people who don't accomplish nearly as much.

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  65. Adrian9:55 PM

    The only reason she's considered a potential candidate is that she can pay a publicist to get her name out there. Nobody's clamoring to hear what she has to say.

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  66. AGoodQuestion10:23 PM

    During her HP days, Fiorina demonstrated a talent not all of her GOP rivals have: appearing on TV without seeming like a total loon. Still, I'm not sure that what voters are looking for in their next president is Martha Stewart's boring sister. Especially when anyone who listens to what she says will suspect she's a loon after all.

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  67. JennOfArk10:29 PM

    I wouldn't worry about that - your average conservative voter won't think too much of her trying to take a man's place.

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  68. AGoodQuestion10:34 PM

    She's Black, female, and Republican
    Also prickly and marked by failure, just in case those are groups they want to reach out to.

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  69. and despite the “nice” CEO image

    I know that bootlickers gotta lick boots, but when the hell have the words "nice" and "CEO" ever been associated with each other?

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  70. Meanwhile, the courtiers are lining up to blow smoke up her ass so they can get cushy "campaign consultant" gigs.

    Grifters gotta grift, and the richer the mark, the better.

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  71. But her shoes are fabulous.

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  72. I know my aunt, who'd worked for Bell Labs for decades and was given Lucent stock when she retired in place of the AT&T stock she'd thought she was supposed to get, was not real pleased about it.

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  73. Pseudonym1:18 AM

    Has anyone tallied up the number of positions in the Wisconsin state government that its governor would be unqualified for due to lack of a college degree?

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  74. drspittle7:36 AM

    She also promoted torture ("It's your baby"), so that also gives her a sadistic, war criminal vibe, which the Fascististas love. Trifecta +1.

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  75. I'm willing to cut her some slack for Lucent. At the time the spin-off was announced, it was clear that the company could never survive. Its entire premise--that of being a pure research company--required time horizons measured in years and sometimes decades to produce amazing break-through technologies (it also require billions in cash). Wall Street, as we know, works only in 90-day increments and has all the foresight of a four-year-old. So there was no possible way Lucent could survive without producing billion-dollar new technology every 90 days like clockwork. And that was quite impossible regardless of who was at the helm.

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  76. Marion in Savannah9:03 AM

    "Santorum is surging from behind!"


    EEEEWWW. Just EEEEWWWW... (I'll leave you to do the laundry.)

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  77. glennisw9:11 AM

    Hillary clearly plagiarized Carly's book, by using the words "and" and "the."

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  78. Yep. They will need a woman to fling the most odious shit at Clinton.

    ...

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  79. Wall Street, as we know, works only in 90-day increments and has all the foresight of a four-year-old.In their defense, it's not as if Bell Labs ever came up with anything practical.

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  80. "The Persistence of Mammary."

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  81. Halloween_Jack11:27 AM

    Your two groups need to be split up. Those members of Congress, as much as they might be laughable on a national stage, are very good at appealing to their constituencies; I'm not sure what Michele Bachmann will do outside of Congress (she resigned under an ethical cloud; Fox News already has an incoherent extreme-right-wing babbler, distaff division, in Sarah Palin, plus Bachmann may actually be too crazy for them, as unlikely as that sounds), but Steve King can have the western Iowa seat for just about as long as he wants, unless literally everyone leaves that half of the state and he has to campaign in a college town. I'd also add Aaron Schock to that list, unless he's plausibly outed and/or can't dodge his own current ethical investigation.


    The GOP primary clown car veterans are another matter, although even they have the particular national constituencies that they were supposed to appeal to; I don't think that many Republicans thought that, say, Herman Cain would make it to the convention, but they put him there to be able to claim that they don't hate the blahs (ditto for Bachmann and women, Santorum and egregious god-botherers, Perry and rednecks/the catastrophically dense, etc.). I'm not sure who Fiorina is supposed to represent; even in the group of female executives taking a sledgehammer to the glass ceiling, she's outranked (and outclassed IMO) by Sheryl Sandberg, and in the class of people who blew millions of their own money on failed attempts at statewide office in California specifically she's eclipsed by Meg Whitman.

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  82. I did not know she was one of the brilliant minds behind the spin-off. In light of that, her slack is hereby revoked!

    This is just one more datapoint in my collection demonstrating that America as a society has come to value failure much more highly than success.

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  83. gocart mozart4:34 PM

    Thanks for the mammaries.

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  84. Jon Hendry10:05 PM

    The government-related ones are probably the thank-you sinecures for supporters who don't want the commitment of being an ambassador.

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  85. Jon Hendry10:08 PM

    I'd be more persuaded if it was "equip your potential with the Dim Mak death touch".

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  86. Jon Hendry10:10 PM

    That's the base.

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  87. Jon Hendry10:29 PM

    And possibly gay or bi, don't forget that.

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  88. Jon Hendry10:41 PM

    I assume that was written before Mark Hurd was turfed out.

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  89. George Washington was in fact elected to the House of Burgesses in 1758. He won his elections Old Dominion style, by throwing a party with barrels of booze for his constituents.

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