http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2010/06/04/global_warming_carly_fiorinaPresumably, the former CEO of one of America's leading technology companies knows the difference between long-term worldwide profitability and product sales on one day in one store.
But apparently to win the Republican nomination for Senate in California these days, even a woman whose brain-power might have been a campaign asset has to pretend she doesn't know the difference between long-term global climate trends and the daily, local weather.
An unintentionally revealing new ad by former Carly Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard chief who is favored to win next Tuesday's GOP primary, quotes Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer saying in 2007, "One of the very important national security issues we face, frankly, is climate change."
Carly then leaps in with this: "Terrorism kills, and Barbara Boxer is worried about the weather. I'm Carly Fiorina. I ran Hewlett-Packard. I chaired the external advisory board for the CIA. We've had enough of her politics. I'll work to keep you safe."
Fiorina's first sentence -- willfully pretending that being concerned about the threat of global warming is the same as being worried about whether it's going to rain today -- should disqualify anyone for higher office, especially in California.
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I suppose the good news for Fiorina is that pretty much the whole Republican Party is dumbing itself down on this issue, so perhaps nobody will notice her IQ drop. Just consider Charles Baker, the Republican candidate for governor of Massachusetts and a man who the Boston Globe has said "has a reputation as a smart guy." But asked in February whether he agrees with scientists that humans are changing the climate, Baker replied: “I absolutely am not smart enough to believe I know the answer to that question."
Perhaps that should be the bumper sticker of every GOP candidate for higher office: “I absolutely am not smart enough.’’