Carly Fiorina: Bashes Establishment for Expressing 'Horror over the Choices of Millions of Voters'

2016 GOP presidential candidate and former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina bashed the establishment from both political parties during her keynote address at the Ronald Reagan dinner Friday night.

At the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) near Washington D.C. hosted by the American Conservative Union, Fiorina lit into the establishment for expressing “horror” at the choice of the voters.

“The Democrat establishment, aided and abetted by the media establishment, decided that it is now Hillary’s turn,” Fiorina said of the Democrats. “At last year’s CPAC, many in the media called me “mean” because I said, ‘Flying is an activity, not an accomplishment. Mrs. Clinton, please name an accomplishment.’”

She then turned to her own party.

The Republican establishment thought it too knew just what to do after the 2012 election. First, they decided, we needed comprehensive immigration reform. Then, we needed to talk less about “the social issues”. And there were too many candidates in the 2012 primaries, and too many debates. So, let’s limit the number of debates. In fact, let’s condense the whole primary calendar so our presumptive nominee can roll up delegates faster. Let’s make sure that the primary voters know who the establishment thinks should be the nominee. Let’s have all the pundits and the money make the case right from the start about who’s up at bat next.

Republican voters said: no, we need to secure the border. No, citizenship in this country must mean something. No, our religious liberty is at stake. No, we don’t want who you want, we want to choose for ourselves and the more choices we have, the better we like it. Many pundits and not a few current and former politicians, now decry the wisdom of these same voters. They don’t like how they happen to be voting right now. But, these voters look at what the Republican Party has produced and think they can do better deciding for themselves.

Fiorina said as the establishment is expressing “horror” over the choice of the voters, “these same voters are asking, ‘What have you done for me?’”

Do not misunderstand me. I am no Donald Trump fan. I did not vote for him in the Virginia primary. Nevertheless, I understand and respect the people who did vote for him. I know many of them. They are not racists, or crazies, or stupid. While many people call the Donald a fraud, a con-man, there are a lot of voters out there who think they have been conned election after election. They know what it is to be promised something and delivered nothing.

Tip O’Neill famously remarked that all politics are local. Actually, I believe politics is personal. People vote based on their own lives, their own experiences, their own beliefs and hopes and dreams. If we want to defeat Donald Trump, we cannot turn to the establishment once again and ask them to guide the citizenry to the right answer. If we want defeat Donald Trump, we must defeat him at the ballot box, by offering citizens conservative solutions to the problems in their lives.

Fiorina suspended her own campaign last month after the New Hampshire Primary.