Mainstream media never ceases to amaze...Part IV

John McCain has repeatedly said that his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, is qualified to be vice president and that she could step in as president should the need arise.  That prompted St. Louis radio host McGraw Milhaven of KTRS on Tuesday (September 16th) to ask McCain economic advisor Carly Fiorina, former chief executive of Hewlett-Packard Co., whether she thinks the one-term governor has the experience to run a "major company like Hewlett-Packard."

"No, I don't," she replied.  "But you know what?  That's not what she's running for.  Running a corporation is a different set of things."

Fiorina, hailed as the most powerful woman in business before she was fired by HP in 2005, stood by her remarks and then went further in an interview Tuesday afternoon with NBC's Andrea Mitchell.

"Well, I don't think John McCain could run a major corporation,"*Fiorina said when Mitchell asked her about the morning interview. Fiorina added that she didn't think that Democrats Barack Obama and Joe Biden would be up to the job either.

"A major corporation is not the same as being president or vice president of the United States," Fiorina said on MSNBC.

"To run a business you have to have a lifetime of experience in business," she said.  "But that's not what Sarah Palin, John McCain, Joe Biden or Barack Obama are doing."

The rest of the interview was somehow dropped when the mainstream media rehashed this interview on the news outlets.  Here's what was left out:

Fiorini quickly qualified her statement by saying that although she doesn’t feel Palin is qualified to head a major company, that does not mean she doesn’t have plenty of experience for being a heartbeat away from running an entire country.  “That’s not what she’s running for.  Running a corporation is a different set of things.”

Fiorina goes on to say that ''Sarah Palin has more executive experience than Barack Obama. ... Barack Obama has never made an executive decision in his life. He has been in the U.S. Senate for a very short period of time,'' she said.  Besides, ''She's the vice presidential nominee; Barack Obama is the presidential nominee.'' 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnBXXssj0KY

So, in Fiorini's estimation, not one of the four candidates for President or Vice-President could run a  major corporation.   That would be Obama, Biden, McCain, and Palin.   As Fiorini said,  that is not what any of them are running for.   Running a company is different that running a country.  Yet she goes on the say that Palin is more qualified and has more executive experience than Barack Obama.

Palin's background is in politics, not business.  The relevant question McGraw Milhaven of KTRS in St. Louis should have asked Fiorini would have been: "If Palin's background was in business, not politics, would she have the experience to run a major company?"

*The Obama campaign has chosen to use only this quote from the Fiorni interview, taken out of context., saying McCain's own economic advisor doesn't think he is fit to lead a company...misleading?  You be the judge...

(I'd like to thank fellow blogger "Steve T." for providing me with this example of how the mainstream media continues to do its best to help Obama win the presidency.)

Comments

[grumps]

Fiorina couldn't run a major corporation, either. H-P paid her $40M to go away.

[Amy L. Geiger-Hemmer]

Grumps: Before Carly Fiorina was at Hewlett-Packard, she was a Senior Vice-President of AT & T. During that time, she directed the most successful initial public offering of Lucent. At that time, this IPO was considered the best in US history. While at the helm of Hewlett-Packard, Fiorina led the company into a merger with their rival, Compaq in 2002. When Fiorina eventually left Hewlett-Packard in 2005, indeed the stock had been halved in value, but company executives stated that "When Fiorina was asked by the Board of Directors to step down in 2005", she had put in place “a plan that has given HP the capabilities to compete and win" and that HP "looked forward to accelerating execution of the company's strategy". Hmmm...sounds like Fiorina might be qualified to advise McCain on economics. Even her sharpest critics at HP admit that she helped the company: ( from Wikipedia): "After Fiorina's departure from Hewlett-Packard in 2005, the company quickly prospered, overtaking Dell as the top-selling computer maker in the world. Her defenders, and even some critics, credit her with laying the foundations for that prosperity."
Couldn't run a major corporation? Look to Obama's team:
Obama has advisors from Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae on his side! He should really be listening to them. Oh, that's right, he probably had to give them jobs, as both those institutions have given hundreds of thousands to the Obama campaign, (as well as millions to the Democratic party) - the highest totals ever for a presidential candidate. Look at how well those companies have done! Under the Democratic practice of lending money to anyone - no matter whether they are qualified or not - just to be "fair", those companies are on the brink of disaster. Barney Frank led the way. And now we are all paying for two failed companies. I hope McCain really hammers this point home and doesn't let the Democrats point the finger at Bush or the Republicans.