I want to address Neo’s one point, though:

“I also think that, even though Fiorina seemed to maintain her equanimity during the campaign, something got under her skin ever-so-slightly. She kept her clarity and her ability to get to the heart of the matter, rhetorically speaking, but she made a decision to be very very solemn during the debates. This decision was not a good one; it made her seem hard and humorless. I’ve seen her in person, and she is definitely neither–in fact, she’s feminine and warm and funny. But during the debates, those qualities were muted or absent in her. That did not help her at all, IM”

That was a frequent criticism, yes. But I really appreciated her serious tone. I felt it gave her that Thatcher aura. And I love the professional who acts professional at those important times in his career while clearly having a lively personality when the times are less formal.

I am clearly out of step with the times, it seems, as the more shrill and/or juvenile the candidate, the higher the #%*%#+ polls. (Agree with Rand Paul that the polls and the media are ruining the primary. Have you seen how minuscule the sample sizes are????)

Fiorina was pro-life before the election. Her speech at the Reagan Library had a Q&A at the end (which is only in the video, and not the transcript), and the very last question was from a concern troll that tried to make Fiorina look bad for opposing abortion. Fiorina shut the troll down quite nicely with a very well-done response.

If you’re discussing the videos, then keep in mind that those are primarily anti-Planned Parenthood. And given what the videos have revealed, it’s flat out unethical and immoral to keep providing government subsidies for the company. I’d be concerned about any candidate that shrugged them off due to how horrific the videos are. It’s the Left that’s blown things out of proportion by acting as if any attack against their favorite abortion mill is an attack against women everywhere.

You are correct, in my opinion. People think Trump’s the only one of the candidates who said something because he gets the coverage and they don’t.

And some people didn’t just forget or ignore what Fiorina said about things, a lot of them lied about her, and because other people didn’t know her very well the lies took hold. That’s part of what happened, too. It was because she was rising, and they saw her as a threat. Who were the “they” who lied about her? The Trump supporters, or someone else? I don’t know.

She got attention for being so nonPC attacking H Clinton. But in listening to some of her other interviews I noticed she was much too careful in how far she tacked away from acceptable establishment positions, i.e. too PC. If Trump has shown us anything it’s that the anger at the establishment ignoring the will of the people runs deep.

Well thought out but aggressive assertions tapping into this discontent against elite condescending bull we’ve been betting from the top of both parties will carry somebody into the White House.

I think she could do a lot of good in the White House despite her lack of political office experience.

But one of first essential steps to get there is to recognize her strategic mistakes and correct quickly to tap into the prevailing winds.

I think Fiorina’s problem is two-fold. The first is that a lot of people are lazy. If it’s not mentioned in their favorite news source, then they’re not going to bother researching it any further. Listening to a recorded interview (to use the source I mentioned above) is simply too difficult.

tl;dl

The second is Trump. Trump is so over the top and so bombastic that the news cycle these days essentially revolves around everything that he says. As far as the major news organizations are concerned, the only reason to pay attention to the other candidates is to collect sound bites regarding the opinions of those candidates about Trump’s most recent statement.

On another note, I also noted the deluge of attacks on Fiorina, and commented about it on the AoSHQ Yahoo Group. It seems to have died down for the most part over at Ace’s blog. But I don’t know how much of that is due to time passing, and how much is due to the fact that Fiorina’s not currently a threat to anyone, and thus not worth wasting time attacking.

Beverly –

There are some indications that Hillary’s on the way out once again. Biden’s been making comments that support Sanders at the expense of Hillary, which suggests to me that he thinks she’s not going to get the nomination. And there are rumors circulating that the FBI rank and file will revolt if charges aren’t filed over the e-mail server.

As is their wont.

Ole Hillary is looking in the rear-view mirror — and not seeing Bernie Sanders any more. And the side-view mirror is warning her that “objects in this mirror are closer than they appear!”

Do you all think The Bern can overtake her? Again, using my own personal collection of NYC liberal birdbrains (most of my friends, likeable but political idiots), they’re ALL on the Bernie Bandwagon. Facebook and conversations over dinner: he’s the one they’re backing. I haven’t heard anyone even make a rebuttal in Hillary’s favor.