Carly Fiorina Eviscerates Ghost of Trump, Wins Fox News JV Presidential Debate

It's decided.

Fox News

The internet has spoken: Carly Fiorina won the Fox News "kids table" debate in a landslide.

"I have to say I was most impressed by Carly Fiorina," said Fox News Sunday anchor Chris Wallace shortly after the debate concluded.

Wallace's opinion was seemingly shared by the majority of media figures on Twitter (including Reason staffers):

Carly won. Knocked out everyone and everything. Not even close.

— Mollie (@MZHemingway) August 6, 2015

so far my takeaway is that fiorina is by far the best person on stage and lindsey graham believes if we don't elect him we're all gonna die

— andy levy (@andylevy) August 6, 2015

Carly Fiorina, by a country mile. Not even close.

— Noah Rothman (@NoahCRothman) August 6, 2015

I think Perry did quite well. However, Carly is the winner for me. She showed real smarts, policy savvy, good quips, has presidential voice.

— Liz Mair (@LizMair) August 6, 2015

While Fiorina certainly didn't go overboard on specific policies she would like to implement, her rhetorical hold over the debate was masterful. She never stumbled, lost her train of thought, or gave a clunky answer. And her swipe at Donald Trump—who donated to Hillary Clinton and takes phone calls from Bill Clinton—was one of the most gratifying moments of the debate.

Even Rick Perry seemed impressed, and sort of endorsed Fiorina for Secretary of State at one point.

Fiorina also did an adequate job painting a picture of the 2016 election as a showdown between the conflicting ideologies of conservatism and progressivism, and lamented that big government was preventing too many people from realizing the American dream.

"2016 is going to be a fight between conservatism and a Democratic Party that is undermining the very character of this nation," she said. "I'm not a member of the political class… I will, with your help and support, lead the resurgence of this great nation."

She had her weaker moments, too: her foreign policy seemed only marginally more conciliatory than the hawkiest of the hawks, and she punted on an opportunity to stand up for tech privacy rights. Still, she is undoubtedly the candidate most deserving of promotion to the main event.

Comments

[hpearce]

Here here

[William C.]

here where? Over there? Oh over here. Gotcha!

(*Hear, hear)

[R C Dean]

Carly always struck me as the one JV candidate who should have been at the big debate. She's a knife fighter. I like that.

[NotAnotherSkippy]

She's the perfect attack dog as the VP candidate to go after Hillary. That's why Walker won't pick her.

[rocks]

Maybe she will consider Walker as her VP then

[NotAnotherSkippy]

I'd be OK with that, but it won't happen.

[PapayaSF]

Sorry, why wouldn't Walker want that?

[Faceless Woodchipper]

Because it would be smart, and he's a Republican.

[Cytotoxic]

But Walker is a relatively smart Republican.

[soflarider]

Isn't that like being the smartest kid on the short bus, or the coolest nerd in your school?

[Sanjuro Tsubaki]

Of course, one can only hope she never ends up in a gunfight.

[John C. Randolph]

Her track record of incompetence trying to run HP should disqualify her from the presidency.

-jcr

[R C Dean]

Its a shame they didn't save one seat at the big debate for the "winner" of the JV debate. That would have been interesting.

[John]

There will be other debates. Hopefully it will be like the EPL and they will promote her and demote Huckabe

[Tman]

It's ridiculous Huck is even at the big debate to begin with. I know his numbers but still, Mick Huckabee is less serious as a candidate than Trump.

It shold be Carly's spot, but hey WAR ON ZE WIMMINS AND WHAT NOT.

Stupid party gotta stupid.

[Brian]

I'm hoping that the election is between Carly and Hillsry, and Carly wins.

Just because democrat women have been stroking themselves fantasizing over first woman president Hullsry for over 20 years now.

Watching them get so close, having it snatched away, and listening to them lose their shit would be incredibly satisfying.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Carly is an Aborto-Freak.

Not very Liberty minded.

[John]

She doesn't support the murder and parting out of children. But she is the freak. Go duck yourself Weigal.

[MC Guru]

How anyone can call themselves libertarian while supporting fetal human murder is beyond my ken.

I mean, unless a woman is raped, the child is inside her because of her own actions. Actions which reasonably foreseeably result in having a dependent baby human inside your uterus.

If I go and cut a random person's kidneys out against his will, I have to fucking pay for his dialysis at the very least, if I have the money. I waived my right not to when I made him dependent on dialysis through my unilateral actions.

So how is creating a baby through risks you voluntarily undertake any different. What makes it OK to murder a life you created? Its not like the fetus ran, jumped, and implanted itself into you while you were tied down with your legs spread.

[QueerLib]

Classic conservatarian bullshit.

You oppose statist intervention when it would save lives by stealing your money and giving it to someone who wants it to pay for his health care.

But if a woman wants to remove a parasitic organism that you believe is a "baby?"

STOP THE PRESSES AND FEDERALIZE HER BODY AT GUNPOINT!

[NotAnotherSkippy]

So when do you cast your early ballot for Hillary?

[lap83]

often

[Palin's Buttplug]

She sucked as CEO of HP.

What are her qualifications again?

At least Trump posted a profit once in a while.

[The Last American Hero]

She sucked as Secretary of State, helping burn down the Middle East and destroying relations with Russia all while taking bribes from foreign powers. She sucked as a Senator, voting for every foreign intervention and expansive government program and failing to distinguish herself with signature legislation. She sucked as First Lady trying to nationalize healthcare so hamfistedly it cost her party the House in 94 and standing idly by while her husband violated the very sexual harassment laws he worked so hard to pass. She sucked as a partner in a law firm, unless providing access to the governor's office counts.

What are her qualifications again?

Oh, she has a vagina. Good enough for your vote.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Yes, the Middle East was all flowers and democracy when Bush/Cheney left!

Dumbass.

[Irish ?s ESB]

"Yes, the Middle East was all flowers and democracy when Bush/Cheney left!"

Well, Hillary Clinton voting for the Iraq War probably didn't help.

Clinton really is the worst. She's like a less moral Dick Cheney.

[R C Dean]

BOOOOSH!.

We get it. You're a one-trick pony.

[Bill Dalasio]

On the other hand, the fact that Hillary sucks doesn't mean that Carly doesn't.

They can both suck.

[Mrs. Lemuel Struthers]

Yes, but nothing's changing the fact that Carly is politically talented and Hillary isn't.

[Palin's Buttplug]

Let's have a bitch off!

[Mrs. Lemuel Struthers]

Do you understand how stupid you are or are you oblivious to your own idiocy?

Political skill is a real ability. It has nothing to do with policy, background or gender. Most of the country had zero expectation for Fiorina tonight, and she knocked it out of the park. Whatever you think (if you're capable of thinking) of her on any number of issues, she is politically skillful. Period. And, that's a real and useful tool.

[lap83]

Um like that matters. Basically, liking Hillary while being a woman = being a bitch.

[lap83]

ugh *disliking

[Mrs. Lemuel Struthers]

GENDER TRAITOR!!

[MarkLastname]

"Political skill is a real ability. It has nothing to do with policy, background or gender."
Actually, Carly's biggest asset, like it or not, is probably her gender. If she won the nomination that would take a lot of wind out of Clinton's sail right there.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

You already won that years ago, trick.

[Dan Bongard]

Carly's support stands at 1.3%.

Call me cynical, but I'm not going to hand out awards for "political talent" to a candidate whose track record consists of (1) losing to an opponent most voters disliked and (2) spending her current race statistically tied with the palm tree in my front yard.

[Jam4Joy]

Trust me. They do.

[Hank Phillips]

A pox on both their houses. I want to know what the LP is coming up with by way of platforms and candidates.

[MarkLastname]

Having no qualifications is better than having negative qualifications, a la Clinton.

And remind me again what Obama had accomplished before he ran for president? Does he tell you of all the great things he did while you're sucking him off?

[Bill Dalasio]

I keep hearing about how wonderful everyone thinks Fiorina is. The thing that strikes me is that, while I'll certainly agree that she's very good at making the case against everyone else, I don't really seem much in the way of a case for her.

She was a failed tech CEO who didn't really do that good a job. So, the "sheer competence" argument goes out the window. I really don't see much in the way of a policy offering to compensate.

[Palin's Buttplug]

BUT SHE IS OUR TOKEN WOMAN!

(Team Red)

[R C Dean]

Yes, shriek, we know you hate all non-Dems with the white hot passion of a thousand suns.

No need to demonstrate it in ALL CAPS over and over.

[lap83]

How is her lack of success at being a CEO relevant? It's never stopped any other candidate

[Dan Bongard]

No, but "lack of success in general" has stopped pretty much all of them. Even Obama won a Senate race first.

[SQRLSY One]

All of ye Carly-admirers please take note:

Carly is on the way-way-wrong side of the abortion debate!

Given that some substantial fraction of male humanoids are pathetical, sociapathic liars? "Love ya, Babe, Love ya, Love ya, Love ya, now PLEASE can I get into your pants"? ? Then as soon as loved-ya Babe gets pregnant, out comes the abuse, physical and psychological? The female veto of lying bastards is ABORTION! Lying bastard, ya lied, and ya lied BIG-time, to me?!?!? Pass on YOUR genes, and YOUR obviously pathetic potential as a father! Not just NO, but FUCK NO!!!! ... I wish we voters had the same power to ABORT the powert of LYING bastards, like Woodrow Wilson, who ran to keep the boys at home, and sent them to war 3 months after taking power! And Bush Sr., "read my lips, gonna tax the HELL outta ya bastards", he would've said, had he been honest. And Carly is just another power-grabbing bitch, take my word please? At least she is NOT fibbing about Government Almighty asserting its power over our collective wombs!

[Trouser-Pod (The blowhard)]

Yes, because the baby deserves to die for that.

Holy shit, talk about just goin' off the rails.

[MarkLastname]

I'll start to give a shit about the legality of abortion when child support becomes optional. Until then, fuck off.

[Rhino]

So the woman gets to choose who she dates, how long she dates before having sex, how she's going to test her partner to make sure he's not a liar and he's committed before she has sex, whether or not they will use contraception to prevent her from getting pregnant until she's sure he's devoted to her, but somehow it's men who are responsible for women getting pregnant? You are arguing that women should kill babies in order to absolve themselves of any level of personal responsibility. As if they are incapable of personal responsibility, or the idea that holding to the consequences of their mistakes would just be cruel and unusual for women. That is incredibly misogynistic.

[SQRLSY One]

Lying bastard men are a fact of life... Until someone invents a true, reliable and affordable lie detector / brain scanner to allow the women to weed out the lying assholes, these things are going to happen, and they are NOT always the fault of women. Blaming women for the existence of lying bastard men is the TRUE misogyny here. I am not arguing the "women should kill babies", I am arguing that they should be allowed to rid THEIR wombs (not yours, ya know) of fertilized eggs, blastocysts, etc., if they want to.

[MarkLastname]

But lying bitch women is not a fact of life? A woman can lie to a man and get pregnant, force him to pay her child support on pain of imprisonment, or rope him into marriage, then take half their stuff?

"Blaming women for the existence of lying bastard men is the TRUE misogyny here."
Why? People routinely blame men for the things women do to them. When a man foolishly trusts either a woman or another man, he is quite often made to suffer for his misplaced trust. It is in fact quite sexist that you think women, because they have vaginas, should be specially exempt from that.

[SQRLSY One]

Actually I do sympathize with the "roped" and deceived men. I have hear of at least one case in which a desperate woman scrounged sperm out of a discarded condom to make herself pregnant... And yes, then the biological father was "on the hook"!
In general, I don't like abortion, either, but we have to make the best out of what choices we have available... The set-up right now is not fair to men, I grant you that, and whole-heartedly. "Punishing" women for their "wrong choices" that they'd like to back out of... To take away their last-minute veto or changed-mind option, and saddle them with a baby they don't want? Kinda don't look too good for baby's future prospects... If I were in baby-to-be's place, I'd rather go back and get re-cycled and give it another, fresh shot... That kinda view depends on your "meta-physics" of course...

[QueerLib]

Oh, come on. You don't get it and will never make a good Republican.

If it's a few million actual human children who are napalmed, bombed and/or starved to death by the policies of a Republican administration, it's unfortunate collateral damage that is nonetheless justified with a balanced consideration of the facts.

If it's a zygote, it's a fully-empowered citizen human whose interests must be defended by forcing the host of the zygote to bring it all the way to a pregnancy, at gunpoint, because human life is precious!

[Tony]

Huh, seems like it was to her benefit to sit at the kiddie table. I doubt the pundits would be flapping their faces about her great performance if she had to share face flapping time with Trump.

Bringing up Benghazi struck me as strange considering how much it bit Mitt in the ass, but then I realized this is the primary, and those idiots probably still think that is the greatest tragedy in American history.

[Palin's Buttplug]

No, I watched Fox News and Charles (the SS Nazi) Krauthammer is all pro-Carly now.

[Anomalous]

You're an SS Nazi.

[MarkLastname]

Were there ever non-Nazis in the SS?

[What's that smell?]

You know he's Jewish. Anti Semite

[Rhino]

Bit Mitt in the ass? He was right about Benghazi from the get go. It was media bias that bit him. They all went around trying to blame a video or say it was a random demonstration that got out of hand, all to save Obama's ass. Turns out, after the election was over, Mitt was right all along. But can't admit that until after the prospect a Democrat losing an election is no longer on the table.

[QueerLib]

Ah, media bias! The thing Republicans always turn to when they get their asses handed to them. It wasn't me, it was DA LIBRUL MEDIA!

[Rhino]

Bit Mitt in the ass? He was right about Benghazi from the get go. It was media bias that bit him. They all went around trying to blame a video or say it was a random demonstration that got out of hand, all to save Obama's ass. Turns out, after the election was over, Mitt was right all along. But can't admit that until after the prospect a Democrat losing an election is no longer on the table.

[GregMax]

Wow all the dumbasses are here. Time to split.

[Trouser-Pod (The blowhard)]

Seconded.

[R C Dean]

Yeah, nothing brings out the spittle-flecked misogyny like a woman on the wrong Team.

[Mark6]

So Carly wants to do to the country what she did to HP?

[John]

Hillary wants to do to the country what she did to Libya. So Carly looks pretty good

[Tony]

W. bootlickers should be deported for ever mentioning someone else fucking up a country. But at least you're nuanced. Anti-Saddam, pro-Gaddafi.

[NotAnotherSkippy]

Nothing compared to LBJ.

STOP FISTING KITTENS!

[Tony]

It's literally the same people (and occasionally their span) who started that war and the Iraq war and who want to start the next one with Iran. Maybe they should all be deported.

[NotAnotherSkippy]

The father of Medicare/Medicaid and the Gulf of Tonkin is the same person that got us into Iraq? I begin to understand the origin of your pathology...

AND STOP FISTING KITTENS!

[Sapient Mulch]

Perhaps you could teach them another way to make gloves, hmmmm??

[MarkLastname]

Tony now contends that the War on Poverty, the Great Society, and all the other leftist utopian horse shit are the product of the right wing mind of LBJ.

Funnier still, Tonytard once boasted of LBJ's progressive policies on race and gladly affiliated him with the progressive movement and the democratic party then.

I guess LBJ is a left winger when Tony wants him to be and a right winger when he doesn't.

[Procrastinatus]

Hillary voted, she literally voted to invade Iraq you dumb piece of shit.

[psCargile]

You recall how Kuwait felt in August of 1990?

[Mrs. Lemuel Struthers]

Johnson bootlickers should be deported for ever......

Carter bootlickers should be deported for ever......

Clinton bootlickers should be deported for ever.....

See how that works? Because no other American president ever fucked up a country.

Add something substantive or fuck off.

[Tony]

If you supported the Iraq War and still believe it was good, then you can, well, shut the fuck up about foreign policy for the rest of your miserable life. I think that's fair.

Because that actually did happen. Hillary, you might be surprised to know, did not set herself on fire in Tunisia and start the Arab Spring leading to the civil war in Libya.

[NotAnotherSkippy]

If you supported Obamacare and still think it's good, then you can, well, shut the fuck up about domestic policy for the rest of your publicly supported life.

Deal?

[Mrs. Lemuel Struthers]

Tony is already drunk. He's basically typing gibberish.

Ignore him and enjoy the rest of the evening; continue to engage and suffer the consequences by enduring his retardation.

[Sapient Mulch]

Sometimes, it reminds me of the saying: " Some people are like slinkys. They're not really good for anything, but they always bring a smile to your face when you push them down the stairs".

[Tony]

The fact that you can shit on the many many dead by making such a ludicrous comparison means you should probably shut up anyway before you shame yourself further.

[NotAnotherSkippy]

LBJ killed over 50,000 Americans. Oh, and he started the Vietnam war.

[Frankjasper1]

Would you feel the same if he had a D by his name?

[MarkLastname]

But she did support the Iraq war, and therefore should shut the fuck up on foreign policy for the rest of her miserable life, right?

I'm sure you get asked this a lot, but do you ever, like, read your comments back to yourself and think, "garsh I'm a retard, I probably should hold my tongue."?

Never mind that most people here I'm pretty sure didn't support the Iraq war. That would mean you'd have to try have a germane thought. While your at it, why don't you just decide for yourself we all also supported the holocaust and Michael Vick's dog-fighting ring?

[Frankjasper1]

How did GWB fuck up the country?

[MarkLastname]

Apparently in buttplug's pipedream Iraq was all sunshine and rainbows until 2001.

Funny as hell when these morons defend Obama's foreign policy. Republican overthrow Baathist dictator creating vacuum for Islamist take-over bad, Democrat overthrow Baathist dictator creating vacuum for Islamist take-over good.

[Rhino]

Better than Hillary. Anti-Saddam, pro-Ansar Al Sharia.

[lap83]

Her experience at HP seems largely moot to me. If she had been a resounding success at running a huge corporation, she probably wouldn't be running for president.

[NotAnotherSkippy]

Actually Hurd got to take credit for the ultimate results of the Compaq merger (kinda like the way anal wart like to give Barry credit for TARP). Yes, lots of people got laid off but the merger mostly worked for a while. Was she the greatest CEO of all time? No, but she gets dinged more than is warranted.

[PapayaSF]

Having done a little contract work for HP before her arrival, I found it to be a bloated, bureaucrat mess. My exact thought was: "This company is doomed!" So I can't entirely blame her for the results. She was promoted to captain after the ship had hit the iceberg.

[MarkLastname]

And isn't it lefties who are always saying that the performance of a company doesn't really depend on the CEO? Hence why they shouldn't get paid big salaries, or something like that?

[Hank Phillips]

Remember what those candidates said about each other when you get to the polls and see that LIB on the unverifiable ballot. Do you have any idea of the conditions of life in the people's states, where any such opportunity is against the law?

[JeremyR]

Out of the 4 media figures you cite, I've heard of one, and he basically was Ed McMahon to Greg Gutfeld's Johnny Carson on RedEye.

Is he still even on TV?

[chrimony]

Huh? Why do people think she was so impressive? She was competent but unremarkable. Perry's callout to her during the debate was awkward and weird. I thought Pataki, Jindal, and even Santorum had better performances than her. The whole thing feels like the media is trying to shape the narrative to get a woman contender to challenge Hillary.

[MarkLastname]

Probably true. One must fight vagina with vagina.

[Sven Galli]

Quit with the botox! I know women of "a certain age" are at a disadvantage but this is ridiculous. She looks like she's wearing a mask!

[gphx]

Who cares what people look like except stupid people?

[gphx]

Trump/Fiorina 2016

I'd say Paul/Fiorina 2016 but I'm a realist not a fatalist. The GOP Rinos still have the same long knives out they used on his father. Trump may be too big for them to hit in public.

[What's that smell?]

I'd like to see her naked.

[Darkpr0fit]

As good as a speaker as she is, her business sense leaves a lot to be desired. Having worked for HP I know how useless she can be. If you want her as President keep in mind that as she did with HP she will drive this country into the ground. During her term we will fall, into ruin. Can we afford another mistake? She is flashy and can debate with the best but when you have the kind of money she has, well you can prepped by the best. Look past her BS and see her for what she really is.

[QueerLib]

Hahahaha, how fucked are we when our "two best choices" by our anointed Demopublican Party Duopoly are Hillary "I Flew A Million Miles And That's My Biggest Achievement" Clinton and Carly "I Completely Ran America's Biggest Tech Company Into The Ground" Fiorina... with an honorable mention to Donald "I Use Government Power To Personally Enrich Myself By Stealing From People" Trump?

[Praveen R.]

Fiorina is terrible. She is being graded on a curve because the JV debate was one sorry list of losers. And maybe, for once, she didn't come across as creepy as she normally does. And her answer about Day 1 of her presidency where the first thing that comes to her mind would be to talk to her very good friend Bibi along with negating the IRan deal just shows the terrible judgement she showed at HP. Isn't Bibi the same guy who has been caught in the same lie over and over where he keeps warning us that Iran is just months or a year away from a bomb ? He has been saying this since the 90s. And you are going to use this guy as your centerpiece of advisors for any Iran deal???? Sounds like this woman still lacks any common sense.

And as far as style, she is creepier and colder to me than even Hillary who is not exactly among the world;s 1000 most charming leaders. Hillary must be thrilled that she lucked out in such a weak election cycle. I sure hope one of these parties can stop Hillary because I don't like to see third world type politics where a wife of a popular leader gets elected.

BUt I will say this. IN the long history of middle east policy blunders over many decades, Benghazi is a mere footnote. So I don't lose sleep over it as much as I don't want HIllary to become President.