Fiorina Emerges

At least two conservative columnists have recently made their cases that Carly Fiorina emerged from the second Republican debate as a genuine challenger. Robert Traciniski, who also argued that Marco Rubio did quite well for similar reasons, had the following to say about the former HP CEO:

It's easy to see why Fiorina has done so well. She may have never held office, but I'm now convinced we can't dismiss her as a personality-driven protest vote. (I'll let you decide for yourself who that description applies to.) What struck people about her most in the debate was not just her poise and spunkiness, but the depth of her knowledge and thinking about the big issues. There were only two candidates on stage, for example, who could really tell you exactly what was going wrong in the Middle East and exactly what they would do about. And believe it or not, there are a lot of us who think that's kind of important for someone who wants to be commander-in-chief.

Marco Rubio, whom I have thought the likeliest nominee for some time, was the other.

Cal Thomas is already offering Fiorina campaign advice, some of which I hope she ignores, such as the following:

Here's something else Fiorina might do that Republicans in general are not known for: grab the compassion issue from Democrats and make it her own. Promise to mobilize [How? -- ed] the thousands of churches in America and lead them in what they should be doing anyway -- helping the poor become less so. Two members of my church have decided to leave the comfortable confines of a Sunday school class and spend time at an inner-city mission in Washington, helping poor and homeless people acquire life skills that can lead to a job, independence and a sense of dignity...

To clarify: The above suggestion is not framed in a context of sunsetting all "social programs." Furthermore, Thomas reports from an email exchange with Fiorina a comment that makes me concerned she might try that: "[O]ur government (is) so big, so bloated, and so corrupt that it no longer serves the people it was designed to serve." This comment comes in reply to a suggestion that she indiscriminately audit our many federal agencies, some of which, like the EPA, ought to be removed root and branch. As Tracinski argues, Fiorina is a far better prospect than Donald Trump, as is Rubio. That said, any support I might muster for either would come highly qualified.

-- CAV