Senator McCain's (R-AZ) Experience Supporting Women's Issues

Fox News Channel "Strategy Room"
Interview with Carly Fiorina, McCain Adviser

Interviewer: Chris Wallace

Federal News Service Transcript

August 26, 2008 Tuesday


Mr Wallace: The McCain campaign coming out with a new ad attacking Barack Obama, the spot borrowing from Hillary Clinton's 3 a.m. theme used against Obama in the primaries. It was even released at 3 a.m. this morning. Take a look.


(Begin commercial videotape.)


Actor: It's 3 a.m., and your children are safe and asleep. Who do you want answering the phone? Uncertainty, dangerous oppression, rogue nations, radicalism.


Sen HIllary Clinton (D-NY): I know Senator McCain has a lifetime of experience that he will bring to the White House. And Senator Obama has a speech he gave in 2002.


Actor: Hillary's right. John McCain for president.


(End commercial videotape.)


Mr Wallace: This is just the latest in a series of tough ads by the McCain campaign. And joining me now is Carly Fiorina. She is the Chairman of RNC Victory '08. And welcome to Denver.


Ms Fiorina: Great to be with you, Chris.


Mr Wallace: I gotta ask you the question I asked Nicole Wallace yesterday. What's a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?


Ms Fiorina: (Laughs.) Well, you know, Hillary Clinton was right. Experience does count. And we're here to remind people of that.


Mr Wallace: Let me ask you about this strategy of running these ads in the middle of the Democratic convention, even sometimes on the air during convention coverage. I mean, the overwhelming message from the Democratic convention is obviously pro-Democratic, Barack Obama's a good guy. So are you wasting money whistling in the wind to be putting campaign money into these ads in this overwhelmingly positive Democratic message?


Ms Fiorina: I don't think so because underneath the overwhelmingly positive Democratic message exists deep divisions within the Democratic Party. Those divisions are real. They exist. We showcased them yesterday in a press conference with a number of Democrats, both men and women, who were supporters of Hillary Clinton and now are supporting John McCain because they see in John McCain many of the same things that attracted them to Hillary Clinton's candidacy -- experience, judgment, a track record of reaching across the aisle in a bipartisan fashion. So what we're here doing is reminding people that no party owns their vote, no candidate owns their vote, they own their vote. And they should cast their vote as Americans first in November.


Mr Wallace: But you keep talking about Hillary Clinton. I mean, Hillary Clinton is going to get out there tonight and say there's a world of difference between Obama and McCain, and whether you're a woman or just another male supporter of hers, you should vote for Obama.


Ms Fiorina: Well, of course she will say that. And she must say that. And it's also true that there was not that much difference between the policy positions of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. It is also true that many people cast their vote based upon what they think a candidate will do for the economy. A lot of people are convinced that John McCain will do more for a struggling economy, that he will help get it started again as opposed to making a bad situation worse. And there are a lot of people as well who vote on the basis of the total package of the candidate. And that total package includes their character, their judgment and, yes, their experience and their track record.


Mr Wallace: Let's talk about some issues, though, that directly affect women. And we just had Barbara Boxer, the senator from California on. Pay equity -- after the Supreme Court decision, the idea of equal pay for equal work. Contraceptives -- which you got into the question of whether or not healthcare plans should cover women's contraceptives as well as Viagra. Barack Obama was on one side of those issues, John McCain was on the other.


Ms Fiorina: Actually, I disagree with that characterization, although I think it's a typical Democratic talking point. John McCain, of course, believes that there should be equal pay for equal work. And if you look at his Senate staff, you will find that women hold the most senior positions --


Mr Wallace: But on the Ledbetter vote after the Supreme Court decision, they were on opposite sides of the issue.


Ms Fiorina: Yes, they were. And part of that is a view about the role of government. Is it the role of government to go into every business in America and determine whether this job is equal to that job? That isn't particularly good for business. Or, for example, is it the role of government to have a single, mandated healthcare program? Or is it better, as John McCain would support, for people to have a choice about their health care, for people to have a choice about the kind of health insurance they pay for so that they can decide what plan makes the most sense for them? There's no question that a health insurance program for a 28-year-old female will probably look different than for a 60-year-old male. Give them a choice.


Mr Wallace: What about right to life? And obviously, there are millions of women who are very strongly pro life. But if you're a woman and you're very concerned about maintaining Roe versus Wade and the right to choose, Barack Obama and John McCain are on very different sides of that issue and I suspect, and I think you'd agree, would appoint very different justices to the Supreme Court.


Ms Fiorina: Absolutely. They are on different sides of that issue. And John McCain has a long, pro-life record. And he will be a pro-life president. But on the other hand, I know women, who are pro choice as well as pro life, who are pro McCain, and that's because women are not, believe it or not, single-issue voters. This is an issue that the Democratic Party has tried to capture women with as if women don't care about economics. Women start small businesses as twice the rate of men. Women are 52 percent of the voters in this country. And therefore, women care about all those other issues, like economics, national security.


Mr Wallace: I've got 20 seconds left. One thing that people say is that he could put a woman on the ticket. If he were to come to you and say, Carly Fiorina, be my running mate, you would say?


Ms Fiorina: Well, look, anyone would be honored to be asked, as would I. But John McCain is going to make his best judgment about what will serve the country well, as he makes all decisions.


Mr Wallace: Carly Fiorina, thanks so much.


Ms Fiorina: Thank you, Chris.



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