When I first saw that John McCain was pushing failed CEO Carly Fiorina as his frontperson on business/economic issues I figured it was a little 
weird. There are a lot of successful business/CEO types who are happy little soldiers for the GOP, I can’t for the life of me figure what the upside of picking Fiorina is.
She was brought on board to grow HP, but instead laid off people then pushed the company into a merger with Compaq that turned into a mess and was opposed by Walter Hewlett, son of HP co-founder and tech pioneer Bill Hewlett. A little after that she was effectively fired by the board of directors.
And yet, this is the leading voice on the Republican side for business and economics. She must have some freaky pictures of someone or something, because even the McCain people can’t be this stupid.
Here is a chart of HP’s stock performance during Fiorina’s tenure (July 19, 1999 – February, 10, 2005):
And here is HP’s chart post-Fiorina (July 19, 1999 February, 10, 2005 – present):
Newsweek calls her “McCain’s Economic Brain”. Perhaps a lobotomy is in order.
Related
McCain’s “Economic Brain” Carly Fiorina Violated US Trade Boycott With Iran
McCain Economic Lead Carly Fiorina Cut Jobs & Got A Pay Raise During Tenure At HP
Carly Fiorina For Senate?
Wow, terrific charts. (I think the second one is mislabeled?)
I can’t imagine why, for political reasons, he would pick anyone other than Condi. Yes, even with the August 6 pdb.
Carly is a failure, but the talks nice…
Mislabeled?
Ah, I see. Fixed it.
Don’t forget she ran Lucent Technologies (Bell Labs) into the ground before that.
Seems to me those charts are clear evidence that she’s PERFECTLY qualified to help McCain continue producing the very same level of success that Republican economic policies have had under Bush.
The business press have pumping up Fiorina lately, characterizing HP’s turnaround as due to belatedly accepting her initiatives (for instance, they have a deal in the works to buy EDS).
If you know anything at all about business, a company doesn’t turn on a dime. HP’s stock is where it is today largely due to the cost cutting efforts and processes set in motion by Fiorina before they dumped her. They dumped her and she was right (the relief pitcher just got the credit)…that’s all. She’d be a great VP candidate.
Yeah, Carly’s layoffs, outsourcing, and golden parachute are gonna play real well in the Rust Belt. And somebody’ll calculate and circulate the profit she made off the Bush tax cuts … oh yeah, she’s a great addition to the team.