Ted Cruz announced today in Indiana that Carly Fiorina will be his running mate. (I swear, The Onion is not my source for this!) Talking heads seem baffled by this strategy. Nobody seems sure if and how this helps him with delegates. Not since 1976 when Reagan tapped PA Senator Richard Schweiker in a failed bid to woo not only PA delegates, but others who thought Reagan too conservative (RS was firmly in the Rockefeller Republican wing.), has someone selected a running mate without having clinched the nomination. Maybe it’s to get under Trump’s skin, or pressure him to name someone.
I can’t help but think, though, that if Clinton had done this even though she IS almost certainly the Dem nominee (Cruz, of course, isn’t even his party’s frontrunner.), she would have been slammed for being presumptuous. It’s looking like the conventional wisdom is settling on the idea that she should take advantage of the fact that Republicans go first this year and wait until after their convention to name someone so she can take what happens in Cleveland into account.
[Your editor adds the following trenchant commentary:]
I bet his staffers said “you’re pulling a Reagan-be bold!”,alluding to the Gippers 1976 surprise pick of liberal William Schweiker as his Veep. Of course forgetting to mention that Reagan’s move ultimately hurt rather than helped his nomination efforts in 1976. Like I said two months ago, Trumps the nominee.
Richard Schweiker
Borowitz is already all over this.
.
That was hysterical.
This is Cruz eyeing 2020.
… it’s less ‘strategy’ and more default: I’d be interested to know how many people were asked before Fiorina who replied with a whopping “hells, naw!!” People like Lindsay Graham, Scott Walker, and a bunch of others you’d think would be in line, and most of whom would pimp their grandma to a Hell’s Angels dinner party for a chance at Veep, still scruple (sic) do anything alongside Ted Cruz.
he’ll play ball.
Also, it’s a move to make him seem less-crazy to the general electorate. He’s able to present himself as some kind of normal person to non-politicos… instead of the sociopathic ideologue most people in political circles (including establishment republicans) know him as.
Hey, the nomination of Sarah Palin worked really well, right?
McCain tapped Palin in the summer after the primaries were over and he had the nomination in the bag.
She’s run organizations substantially larger and more internationally focused than Alaska. Granted, my statement is akin to saying that Tom Brady is a more credible shortstop than Gweneth Paltrow by virtue of the fact that Brady is at least an athelete.
It’s true that Ms. Fiorina held the position of CEO of HP from 1999 to 2005. It’s also true that multiple sources describe her tenure there as unsuccessful. She was a disaster as a Senate candidate and a disaster as a Presidential candidate (at least Sarah Palin won an election).
Various sources like this provide background on Ms. Fiorina. Even her “success” at Lucent was called into question after her departure (emphasis mine):
A successful executive builds value that lasts after the executive’s departure.
I see precious little evidence that Carly Fiorina has had much success at anything beyond promoting herself (she joins Donald Trump in that regard), and even that did not translate to the political arena (Mr. Trump has done much better).
I’m willing to accept that Ms. Fiorina is more credible than Ms. Palin if we discount Ms. Palin’s political career. On the other hand, various sources report that Ms. Palin actually did win several elections in Alaska. Prior to her gubernatorial run, she ran for and won election to the Wasilla City Council and was subsequently elected as mayor of Wasilla.
As a politician, I think Ms. Palin actually outperforms Ms. Fiorina (at least so far). While Ms. Palin has essentially no business experience, the business track record of Ms. Fiorina is at best suspect.
All in all, I see each is a disaster. Neither is remotely qualified to be a heartbeat away from the Oval Office.
The Carly Fiorina nomination would have been a disaster whenever it happened. I very much doubt that Donald Trump (the likely nominee) will choose her.
I mean that by nominating her, Mr. Cruz demonstrated the same stunning lack of insight about women as Mr. McCain. It is the same pattern that produced the nomination of Clarence Thomas, so that the GOP could later proudly cite Mr. Thomas as evidence that they are not racist.
Carly Fiorina was a disaster as a candidate, just as she was a disaster as a CEO.
I caught a glimpse of the performance in front of a Cruz/Fiorina podium and thought how childish and demeaning it was. How could she allow herself to be used like that, with no upside for the candidacy, to boot?
Well … REALLY sang? She really did something approximating singing.
Ms. Fiorina as a VP candidate for one week — that’s the shortest time known for a major party veep wannabe.
…we can start the predictions for Trump’s pick, including to what extent the party tries to force his hand in this regard.