So this is what happens when you work at home, and have half-an-eyeball on twitter during the day: the clock strikes 3:00, and you turn on the news to see what the Cruz announcement is all about. (OK, actually, I hardly ever do this.)
Elections are about choices. . . the Republican party faces a choice today. . . . united behind a positive, forward looking campaign based on real policy solutions. The American people deserve a real choice in November, a choice, and not an echo. If the American people have the choice of two big-government liberals, two Washington insiders, then we as a party have failed the people.
One of the most important choices is the VP. You are telling the American people, this is a person I trust, and you can trust, to lead this country. . . The characteristics you look for: knowledge (do they understand why jobs are leaving for overseas, do they understand the constitution and the bill of rights? do they understand the security threats we’re facing?), judgement (do they think through decisions in a rash and impulsive way or are they careful and measured? do they assemble a smart team or “yes men”?), character (are they honest, do they have core principles? how do they treat others? — not their bosses and the powerful but the clerk at the convenience store, the vulnerable?)
If I am nominated as president of the United States I will run on a ticket with my Vice Presidential nominee Carly Fiorina.
She is an extraordinary leader. Climbed the corporate ladder . . . graduate of Stanford and MIT, brilliant and capable and yet faced the world of being a woman in the business world; I say that based on my mother’s experience and my wife’s experience. Over and over again, Carly has shattered glass ceilings.
She is also a woman of deep principles. American Conservative something chairman. Served as chairman of CIA’s external advisory board. She knows how to produce jobs, expand jobs, raise wages. She knows the key to growth is less government. She respects the constitution and bill of rights, she understands the threats facing America.
Regarding judgement: 7 weeks ago, Carly endorsed our campaign. Her condition: if I endorse, I won’t do it half-way, I will be campaigning. Since that time, I have seen her, day in and day out; she is careful, measured, serious. We all saw that when Carly confronted Donald Trump in one of the debates, responding with grace and class to Trump’s “look at that face” insult. Bullies feed off of fear, and they don’t know what to do when a strong powerful woman stands up and says, “I am not afraid.”
About character: if the president is a scoundrel, a narccicist, abusive and angry, they cannot be a good president. A good president must have known struggle and be able to understand other people’s struggles. She’s faced struggle in the workplace, and has faced personal struggle, surviving cancer. My mother died of breast cancer, so I know firsthand what a testament it is. She’s also known tragedy, including loss of her stepdaughter to a drug overdose. It is going through those personal struggles that is when you find your character, your faith. She’s not intimidated by bullies.
Heidi and I have become friends with her on the campaign trail. Our girls adore her. Carly makes up songs and sings them to the girls.
Why now? Unusual to make announcement early, but this race is unusual. Everyone says the race is over, but no one is getting to 1237 delegates. The Hoosier state will have a powerful voice here. In order to win, now and in the fall, we must unite, and Carly will help unite the party. Second, I’m announcing so the voters will know what they’ll get. And, third, to give the American people a clear choice. If you want someone who will stand and fight for the working men and women of this country, then do not go with the Washington insiders who have sold us down the river. This ticket is about the future.
And now Fiorina takes the stage.
Ted Cruz could not be more right. . . there is a lot at stake. This is a fight worth having, this is a fight worth winning and with your help, we will win. Clinton and Trump are two sides of the same coin: Clinton has made millions selling influence, and Trump, buying influence. They are not going to challenge the system. They are the system.
Well, and I’m sure she continues in like vein, but now I have to go downstairs and put on my Mom hat for the afternoon. More to come. . .
. . . and back again, briefly.
In case you’ve forgotten, I’m a big Fiorina fan, and I liked the fact that she did, indeed, endorse Cruz in Never-Trump fashion, and has been campaigning for him rather than sit on the sidelines, which made it natural for him to choose her. It’s a bit like that couple that’s been living together, so that it’s not a big surprise when they announce their engagement, and they might as well do it sooner rather than later (well, at least, in my generation, it’s not a big suprise — I guess with Kids These Days, it’s not a given that they marry). Will it give him a boost? That remains to be seen — but I don’t see any significant risk in the action, so it certainly makes sense for him to have pulled this out of his hat sooner rather than later, if there’s any chance that it improves his odds in Indiana and California.
And now I’m off to do a bit of chauffeuring, then cook dinner, and then I’ll have a chance to see what the reaction is.
Image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ACarly_fiorina_speaking.jpg; By Michael Vadon (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
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