Former HP CEO and outspoken McCain campaign surrogate Carly Fiorina said that Sarah Palin is not qualified to run a Fortune 500 company. (I would venture to guess that that’s probably true, but that’s a different topic.) Presumably after the McCain campaign told Fiorina that she needed to undo the damage caused by this “foot in mouth” slip of the tounge, Carly took to the airwaves to declare that it’s not just Palin. In fact, according to Fiorina, none of the candidates running for president or vice-president could run a major corporation. As the campaign’s economic advisor, Fiorina has spent a lot of time with McCain, so I guess we can trust her judgement on his abilities. However, she’s spent virtually no time with Obama or Biden, so she’s just guessing … she has no real authority on the subject.

In any case, the whole situaiton is ironic since the statement came from the same woman who was outsted by HP’s Board of Directors. Pot, meet Kettle.

 Update: Maureen Dowd makes the same point in Wednesday’s column.

Carly Fiorina, the woman John McCain sent out to defend Sarah Palin and rip anyone who calls her a tabula rasa on foreign policy and the economy, admitted Tuesday that Palin was not capable of running Hewlett-Packard.

That’s pretty damning coming from Fiorina, who also was not capable of running Hewlett-Packard.

Campaigning today in Florida, John McCain once again said the fundamentals of our economy are strong. While that is a position to be debated by economists who know way more about this topic than I do, I’d just like to point out that from a campaigning and messaging perspective, that’s probably not a soundbyte McCain wants hitting the airwaves. As unemployment continues to rise and the market continues to fall, one would think McCain would hate for voters to think he don’t understand their challenges or feel their pain. Unless he really just doesn’t get it.

Rudy just finished. His speech was one low blow after the next. I think that pretty much sums up why I’ll never vote Republican. Being a POW doesn’t qualify anyone to be president. And, I think it’s stupid to attack Obama for being a community organizer. No, it’s not your typical road to the White House, but at least he understands the challenges that people face and how to get people to mobilize to fight for their rights. That’s a clear difference between the parties. Dems want to reward people who volunteer in their communities. Republicans? They mock the concept.

Sarah Palin’s up. Here we go …I don’t like what she stands for, but you have to admit the crowd in the hall is loving her. Uggh. Wonder how she’s playing in the rest of America? Do people buy this, or will they see right through it? Hopefully, they’ll remember that she loved pork-barrel $$ as mayor … she wants to control how science is taught in the classroom … she doesn’t support big government (unless it has to do with controlling reproductive rights and who you can marry) … she supports abstinence-only education … she thinks the war has something to do with a directive from God … the list goes on and on. She may be a good speaker and appealing to soccer (or hockey) moms everywhere — but she and John McCain are not the right leaders to get America back on the right track.

From CNN’s Jeffrey Toobin on one of the oddities of American politics: If you look at the last four presidential elections, the four men with the more honorable military record lost. (Bush, Sr., Dole, Gore, Kerry)

Why is that? And, what does that mean for the McCain campaign?

Take this for what you will …

According to an analysis of campaign contributions by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, Democrat Barack Obama has received nearly six times as much money from troops deployed overseas at the time of their contributions than has Republican John McCain, and the fiercely anti-war Ron Paul, though he suspended his campaign for the Republican nomination months ago, has received more than four times McCain’s haul.

Any smart PR person will tell you that if you have a story that needs to be “buried” there are two ways to go — pick an incredibly busy news day so it gets lost amongst the clutter, or aim for a holiday when people aren’t paying attention.

Well, it so happens that today is a holiday and an extremely busy day — courtesy of Hurricane Gustav. This combination of factors makes it the ideal time to try to hide Sarah Palin’s controversial news. Her 17-year-old daughter is pregnant. Maybe one of these days, abstinence-only supporters will realize that approach isn’t exactly working.

From a PR standpoint, I guess it was kind of brilliant. Limit the damage by getting the story out there on a day when the media has shifted from politics to constant hurricane coverage.

For his part, Obama took the high road, asking the media to lay off these kinds of stories. As he pointed out, his mother had him when she was just 18. He believes families — and especially children — shouldn’t be subjected to the political scrutiny that comes with running for office.

We can only hope the media lay off the tabloid aspects of this story and let this 17-year-old girl deal with this challenge in private, but I hope the media uses this as an opportunity to closely examine Palin’s positions on associated issues like birth control and sex education.

This whole Palin debate is frustrating.

As Fox News put it, the McCain camp is hoping the “Palin narrative” will appeal to women because McCain is trailing Obama among women in the polls. Palin is no Hillary Clinton — yet McCain hopes to trick less-informed women into voting for her anyway You know — Palin’s a woman … finish what you started by supporting Hillary. Does Mccain really think  Hillary supporters are so desperate to see a woman in the White House that they would cross party lines and vote against everything they believe in?

The GOP only considered adding a woman to  the ticket because they needed a “Hail Mary”  — not because they thought she was the best candidate. I’m not a hardcore “hate all men” feminist — but even I take issue with this complete and total pandering to women. No male with a resume this weak would have been tapped to be McCain’s VP — especially since he has focused so much on the value of experience.

This pick doesn’t help the women’s movement. Instead, it says that women are a gimmick — not a serious part of political discourse. The first woman to get to the White House should be qualfied, ready to lead on Day 1. Even the National Organization for Women issued a strong statement against Palin’s nomination. Having someone in the White House who champions women’s issues (like Obama and Biden) is more important that merely having a woman occupying an office.

Setting aside the fact that she’s a token pick, Palin doesn’t have the experience to be a heartbeat away from the VP. She was mayor of a tiny, tiny town and then governor for less than two years of a state smaller than Detroit. Cindy McCain believes Palin is experienced because Alaska is close to Russia. Ah, yes … that makes perfect sense. Would you feel comfortable with her going head-to-head with Putin? Hardly. (As a side note, GOP leaders complained that John Edwards was too inexperienced to be VP in 2004. He at least had 6 years of experience in the Senate. How quickly the GOP changes thier definition of qualified.)

If people say the VP choice is the first presidential-like-decision a nominee makes, then what does that choice say about McCain? According to the NY Times, McCain preferred Lieberman to be his VP — but the ultra-conservative GOP base would have freaked out and stayed home on Election Day. So, instead, McCain made a calculated pick — caving to Rove, Dobson and the extreme right politcal powers-that-be. We just suffered through eight years of that kind of so-called leadership. Look where that got us. We don’t need another president who bases decisions on the political winds instead of what’s best for the country.

I know absolutely nothing about Sarah Palin, so I’ll reserve my comments about her political stances and what she brings to the ticket for a later time. But, it’s worth noting that multiple people in my office think John McCain picked Palin to be his VP in an attempt to woo Hillary supporters.

As my boss so elequantly put it, “McCain must think women are stupid.” Are women really going to vote for McCain now just because he has a woman on the ticket? Hillary supporters — who now will vote for McCain/Palin just to get a woman into the White House – apparently answered “yes” when Hillary asked if they were in the campaign just for her. Certainly they weren’t in it for the issues she believes in.

Seriously … when is Obama going to name his VP? I can’t tell you have many times I’ve checked Drudge today. I’m traveling tomorrow, so I’m going to miss all the fanfare. Crap!

P.S. If you’re a betting man, check out www.intrade.com . According to the gamblers, Biden’s almost a sure thing and Mitt’s the leading contender for the Republicans.

P.P.S. If Mitt is named the GOP VP, he has another three houses that McCain will have to remember.

Now that Tropical Storm Fay is moving on it’s time to go back to watching the Olympics. The second week is never as compelling as the first — I assume that’s why they’re dragging out the gymnastics event finals. Even so this has been the best Olympics that I can remember. Some observations:

• We knew there were serious problems in China, and try as they might, the Chinese weren’t able to hide their control-freak-like behavior behind a glitzy opening ceremony and remarkable competition. What is wrong with the Chinese leaders? First, they issue fake passports and “correct” old media reports to sneak underage girls into the competition. Then, they tell a remarkable singer that she’s not cute enough for television. What lessons are these girls learning about sportsmanship, self-esteem, fairness, compassion and honesty? I guess this glimpse into the Chinese way of life should shed light on why the country is the way is is.
• How great is Nastia? I think that’s my new favorite name. All the hype about Shawn Johnson, and Nastia’s the one who really put on a show.
• There aren’t words to describe Michael Phelps. Somehow, I’m going to work in “Phelpsian feat” into my vernacular. And, maybe I’ll even be inspired to take advantage of the pool at the gym. Are those thing clean??
• Commentators should get off their high horses and leave Bolt alone. Who cares that he was so excited as he officially became the fastest man in the world that he got a little expressive with his excitement? In a world of overguarded athletes afraid to say or do anything, we should appreciate Bolt’s pure joy.
• Love the Visa gold commercials.
• The woman who won the marathon was beyond impressive.
• The American athletes seem more humble this year. It’s a refreshing break from stories we normally hear on SportsCenter about ego-centric athletes. Heck, even Kobe and LeBron are into the swimming. It’s nice to hear Kobe say that it’s cool to be excited about wearing the red, white and blue. Go “Redeem” Team!
• It’s kind of weird that McCain is using the Olympics to attack Obama. Wouldn’t it be more appropriate to air a  positive piece — taking advantage of the captivated audience to shape his own image? Seemed odd to me, but most of what McCain does seems a little off to me.

Woo-hoo! Time for diving … gotta love the Olympics.