Former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin offered Carly Fiorina, the only female Republican presidential hopeful, a bit of advice Friday: behave more like Donald Trump.
Speaking to conservative activists at the Young America’s Foundation’s Reagan Ranch Center in Santa Barbara, Calif., the erstwhile governor of Alaska said she’s been waiting for Fiorina to “be candid and really tell [Americans] what she’s thinking about a lot of these issues.”
“For what it’s worth, I would encourage her to not let any high-priced consultants who run your campaign mold you into something that’s not politically correct and kind of middle-of-the-road on some issues,” Palin said.
“We want candidates, and we need candidates, to tell us what [they] think,” she added, noting that “that’s kind of lacking in [Fiorina’s] campaign right now.”
Palin’s advice stemmed, mostly, from her experience running for vice president alongside Arizona Sen. John McCain in 2008. The duo lost to then Sens. Barack Obama and Joe Biden in a landslide election with Obama securing 365 electoral votes to McCain’s 173.
“We didn’t win that one [because] someone tried to tell us what to do, and what to say and how to shape our message to the audience,” she said.
Palin later attributed Trump’s unexpected ascension to the top of the GOP field to his characteristic candor.
“What really shot him to the forefront was his candidness, and that should inspire other candidates to be even less guarded [and] not let a filter come between you and the people you are wanting to serve,” she said, adding, “Trump’s been a good example of that and hopefully Carly will do the same.”
A handful of political operatives, lawmakers and veteran campaign strategists have speculated that Fiorina is likely to be the nominee for vice president on the Republican ticket should her bid for the White House go south.
However, the former chief executive of Hewlett-Packard recently dismissed questions as to whether she’s simply seeking to be someone’s running mate as sexist.
“I’m the person who’s asked that question over and over again. So one can only conclude that I’m getting asked that question because I’m a woman, which is disappointing,” Fiorina said in early September.
