Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina and former Johns Hopkins head of pediatric neurosurgery Ben Carson both announced Monday that they would run as Republican presidential candidates in 2016 — but only one of them got a serious look from media.
“Carly Fiorina set a high standard on her announcement press call for taking a long, wide-ranging list of substantive policy questions,” MSNBC’s Kasie Hunt remarked after Fiorina had participated in a conference call with reporters.
Earlier that same day, as the former tech CEO announced her campaign in a low-key interview with ABC News, Fiorina said her background in the private sector qualifies her to run for president.
“I think I’m the best person for the job because I understand how the economy actually works,” Fiorina told ABC anchorman and former Bill Clinton aide George Stephanopoulos. “I understand executive decision making which is making a tough call in a tough time with high stakes.”
Fiorina again explained her vision for the United States in a separate conversation with reporters, emphasizing once more her tenure at Hewlett-Packard.
“Our nation was intended to be a citizen government, and somehow we’ve come to this place in our nation’s history where we think we need a professional political class,” she said, adding that we’re at a “pivotal point” in the country’s history and that we need to start looking for leaders “outside the political class.”
Fiorina’s willingness to engage the press paid off, winning her high marks from a handful of political reporters.
“Kudos to Carly Fiorina for doing on record press call for 43 minutes on announcement days. You can do it too, other 2016 candidates!” The Wall Street Journal’s Reid Epstein said Monday.
In contrast to the former CEO’s more subdued remarks Monday, Carson talked to a crowd of excited supporters gathered at the Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts in Detroit Monday morning that he would run in 2016. The retired brain surgeon’s remarks were made only after the crowd had been entertained for several minutes by various flashy musical performances.
As a result of the fanfare that preceded Carson’s remarks, media appeared to take his announcement less seriously than it took Fiorina’s, with the Washington Post characterizing the retired doctor’s campaign launch as “bizarre and glorious.”
“There were choirs, his wife played the violin and he talked about drug dealers bringing him candy as a child. It was amazing,” the Post reported.
Before Carson even had a chance to announce his candidacy Monday, Politico had already written him of as the fringiest of the GOP’s 2016 “fringe candidates,” which includes Fiorina and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.
Nevertheless, and despite the fact that certain media groups have already declared Fiorina a long-shot candidate not worthy of attention, her announcement and composed remarks Monday won her only media praise, and chatter regarding her campaign launch easily eclipsed coverage of Carson’s announcement.
The difference in media reactions to Carson and Fiorina is not that surprising.
Fiorina has impressed reporters repeatedly since she first signaled in March during a “rousing” speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland that she was interested in exploring a White House bid.
In contrast, Carson has long been mocked by media for some dubious and often off-kilter remarks.
The doctor celebrated for his breakthrough 1987 surgery separating cephalopagus conjoined twins even managed in March to step on his own news that he had filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission by making remarks involving homosexuals and prison sex (he later walked back the comments).
The criticism Carson received from the press for his off-the-cuff musings that prison sex converts convicts to homosexuality did nothing to dampen his spirits.
Carson had been a beloved figure for his medical career and series of inspirational books, which received wide distribution in schools. But since he made a splash in the political world in 2013 with a challenging address aimed at President Obama at the National Prayer Breakfast, Carson has become a popular target for the press — and he in turn has worn the “politically incorrect” badge with honor and pride.
