Carly Fiorina Shows Off Her Expertise in "Not Knowing How to Run a Company"

As mentioned earlier, Carly Fiorina did a great job today of shooting herself and John McCain in the foot. Appearing on a radio show, Fiorina was asked if she thought Sarah Palin had the experience to run a major company like Hewlett-Packard (which Fiorina led). Her response:

No, I don't. But you know what? That's not what she's running for.

...followed by a nervous chuckle.

Oh, okay. So she's not ready to run HP, but she's ready to lead the most powerful nation on earth. Gotcha, Carly.

Fiorina likely caught some flak for this gaffe, so she then went on to MSNBC, where she was asked about it. She replied not by pulling her foot out of her mouth, but rather by sticking the other one in, saying that none of the four candidates currently running would be able to run a major company.

Don't get me wrong: I agree with her basic point that running a company and being president or vice-president are not the same. But she screwed up in three major ways here.

1. While the jobs of CEO and CiC are not the same, they are similar, and coming right out and saying Palin was not able to run one will naturally make people wonder about her ability to run the other.

2. Saying flatly that she also doesn't think McCain could run a big company hurt both her and McCain -- she weakened Mccain and made herself look out of touch with his campaign. Whether it's true or not, you don't say something like that.

3. The fact that she said the same about Obama and Biden doesn't excuse problem #2 -- people expect a McCain surrogate to attack the opposition, so they won't put nearly as much weight on a Fiorina criticizing them as on her playing down the credentials of her own team.

In short, Fiorina's performance illustrated nicely the old saw: "With friends like these, who needs enemies? After all, if anyone knows how not to run a major company, it would be her...