Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina stated that “Hillary Clinton has tried to wage a war on women. She tries to use identity politics to divide the electorate” and “if she were facing a woman as her general election opponent, that she couldn’t roll out some of those old tricks” on Thursday’s “On the Record” on the Fox News Channel.
“Hillary Clinton has tried to wage a war on women. She tries to use identity politics to divide the electorate. I merely pointed out that, if she were facing a woman as her general election opponent, that she couldn’t roll out some of those old tricks and that we might actually have to talk about the issues, the policies, the results she has achieved, or hasn’t achieved, and what we would each do to bring our nation forward” Fiorina declared.
Earlier, she said, “I think we just have to recognize that women, who represent 53 percent of the vote have to be engaged for us to win. We have to win with women in order to win the White House. That’s just a fact. It’s just the laws of numbers. And women, of course, care about every issue. We care about the economy. We care about healthcare. We care about Iran. We care about ISIS. We care about immigration, education, and healthcare.”
Fiorina laid out her tax reform plans, “I would start by lowering every rate and closing every loophole. It’s not just the rates in our tax code that are uncompetitive and too high. It’s also the complexity of our tax code, which makes it so very difficult for small businesses and hard working Americans to dig their way through it. If you’re a big powerful company like Hewlett-Packard, you can make the tax code work, you can make it work for you. But for the small, or the powerless, or the less wealthy, the complexity of the tax code is a problem. And so, let’s start by vastly simplifying it, and if there are one or two deductions that make sense, fine, let’s put them back in. But what we keep doing is adding complexity to the tax code even as we are increasing its rates.”
Regarding the solution to poverty, Fiorina argued “I think, first of all, we have to start by acknowledging that everyone, regardless of their circumstances, needs the tools, the training, the support, the education, to work. Somehow, we have gotten to the place where we think that it’s okay not to work, that it’s okay to be trapped in this web of dependence, and it’s not what people want. I spend time with poor people, they don’t want to be dependent, they want to live a life of dignity, and purpose, and meaning, so we have to give them the education, the tools, and the training. We have to give them support, I happen to be chairman of the largest microfinance organization in the world, it works. So, we ought to bring some of those same tools and innovations to poor places, and finally, we need to restore main street small businesses. Because it’s small businesses that create most of the new jobs and employ half the people. And we can’t grow jobs and grow our economy without small business, and it’s getting crushed right now.”
Fiorina also weighed in on the the controversy over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech before Congress, saying “I would tell the president is that it’s not about him, it is not about him. It is not an offense to him. It has to do with a man, a Prime Minister of Israel, who has warned, for so many years, that a deal with Iran at any cost is a danger. And so I would advise the president to keep his ego in check, and listen carefully to the message that Bibi Netanyahu is trying to deliver to him and to the American people. And I am truly disappointed, I must say, that Democrats are treating this as a partisan issue, it’s not a partisan issue. It is a national security issue.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett