McCain Clueless When Asked About Fiorina’s $40 Million Golden Parachute: ‘I Do Not Know The Details’
McCain Clueless When Asked About Fiorina’s $40 Million Golden Parachute: ‘I Do Not Know The Details’
For the past week, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has been railing against Wall Street “fat cats” and pledging to “stop multi-million dollar payouts to CEOs who have broken the public trust.”
This principled stance against excessive executive compensation, however, is undermined by the fact that McCain’s senior economic adviser and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina received $42 million dollars in compensation after being fired from HP. On NBC this morning, host Meredith Vieira noted that Fiorina “is an example of exactly the kind of person you say is at the root of the problem.” McCain replied, “I don’t think so”:
McCAIN: I don’t think so. … Because I think she did a good job as CEO in many respects. I don’t know the details of her compensation package. But she’s one of many advisers that I have.
Q: But she did get a $45 million dollar golden parachute after being fired while 20,000 of her employees were laid off.
McCAIN: I have many of the people, but I do not know the details of what happened.
“How can you not know the details of her past? I mean, that would be awfully important,” Vieira responded. Watch it:
Nor is McCain’s statement that Fiorina did a “good job” as CEO of Hewlett-Packard quite accurate. The board of HP fired Fiorina in 2005, concluding “that she was spending too much time on the road, neglecting the nuts-and-bolts execution of her own strategic ideas,” according to the New York Times. “[H]er superstar status was also her undoing.”
As CEO, Fiorina parked profits overseas using tax shelters, even though it negatively impacted the economy. The company held more than $14 billion overseas in 2004, according to the Washington Post. The Wall Street Journal noted that her tenure was “marked by a drop in morale at a company with a legendary history of a collegial culture.”
Fiorina’s golden parachute and her rocky tenure at HP, however, don’t seem to matter to McCain, who does “not know the details of what happened.”
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50 Responses to “McCain Clueless When Asked About Fiorina’s $40 Million Golden Parachute: ‘I Do Not Know The Details’”
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We could fill volumes with the things McCain does not know.
September 22nd, 2008 at 10:36 amAnd it's not his bidness what kinds of deals his advisors make.
He thinks $40 MIL is a nice round number for a skinny, skanky, dumber-than-dog-shit corporate dick-sucker...more than he makes, fer sher...
September 22nd, 2008 at 10:37 amMcCain doesn't care about substance in his women, just whether or not he likes how they look (especially from behind).
September 22nd, 2008 at 10:38 amHey, TP. Your headline is entirely too long. It should simply be:
McCain Clueless
There. Fixed it for you.
September 22nd, 2008 at 10:39 amHmm, he knows all about her humble beginnings but nothing about her firing and severance package???? He's a liar or he's demented. I hear the short-term memory is the first to go.
September 22nd, 2008 at 10:39 am"I do not know the details."
September 22nd, 2008 at 10:40 amYep. Sounds like she's been properly vetted according to McCain standards.
McCain is utterly McClueless whilst living in one of several McMansions, driving one of 14 McAutomobiles on his way to McDonalds for his senior McDiscount.
What a Mc-stake.
September 22nd, 2008 at 10:41 amMcCain’s senior economic adviser and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina received $42 million dollars in compensation after being fired from HP.
What I don't get is why, with the top rated MBA programs in the world, we can't find more competent CEOs to run our businesses. It seems the college drop-outs like Bill Gates do a hell of a lot better in tohse roles... Interesting.
September 22nd, 2008 at 10:44 amHe knows the details, and if pressed he say something like: "Sounds pretty good to me, I want most Americans to get $45 mil severance packages when their fired for ineptitude!"
Followed by something like: "Now I got to get back to the Senate and vote down a 'Equal Pay for Equal Work' and 'Raising the Minimum Wage' bills!" Creepy smile insert.
September 22nd, 2008 at 10:45 amFunny in a sad way...most of McLie's campaign staff have received golden parachutes. Is Jack'em Off Abramoff getting a golden parachute right now? he he
September 22nd, 2008 at 10:49 amZooey Says:
We could fill volumes with the things McCain does not know.
Zooey, we could save a lot of time and just make a pop-up, lift the flap picture book of the things McStain does know!
My friends, POW POW POW, my friends! That's about it.
PEACE
September 22nd, 2008 at 10:50 amQ: But she did get a $45 million dollar golden parachute after being fired while 20,000 of her employees were laid off.
McCAIN: I have many of the people
- - You do? Where? Doing what? Cleaning your houses?
September 22nd, 2008 at 10:50 amMcCain is speaking at a townhall this morning. I can hear it from the other room, and it just sounds like he's reading -- not speechifying. It's sad...
September 22nd, 2008 at 10:50 amshades Says:
He’s a liar or he’s demented.
Not an either/or proposition. He's a demented war-mongering liar with delusions of grandeur.
Scary combo.
PEACE
September 22nd, 2008 at 10:53 amI forced myself to watch McCain's interview on 60 Minutes last night, because I wanted to see if they would be willing to grill him on all his lies.
Of course not, but they really didn't have to, because McCain is his own worst enemy. No wonder he and Palin avoid interviews. When they speech extemporaneously, it really shows how unqualified they are compared to Obama and Biden.
I can't wait for the debates.
September 22nd, 2008 at 10:54 amSure John sure. I bet he doesn't know that Phil Gramms works for UBS either, the foreign bank that Gramms has lobbyed for to get bailed out also in this whole trillion dollar corporate socialism scam!
September 22nd, 2008 at 11:04 amWhere is Carly? Where is Vicki Iseman!? Where is truth?
September 22nd, 2008 at 11:05 amYet again, McCain employs the standard Sgt. Schultz response to any question he prefers not to answer.
September 22nd, 2008 at 11:06 amThe McCain-Keating Connection
John McCain's current circle of confidants seem eerily close to those he surrounded himself with during the Saving and Loans crisis of the late '80s and early '90s, when years and years of deregulation that McCain helped facilitate on behalf of Charles Keating--the disgraced chairman of the failed Lincoln Savings & Loan Association--led to the failure of hundreds of banks and a $2.8 billion bail out footed by tax payers. The scandal, known as the Keating Five, involved five senators who took money from Charles Keating and subsequently challenged the regulators investigating Keating's operations.
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20081006/keating_video
September 22nd, 2008 at 11:07 amForeign Banks Hoping For Global Bailout!
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/22/business/22global.html?_r=1&hp=&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1222095972-X1nr3uduPRQEVsoxoTqO/w
September 22nd, 2008 at 11:07 amBe fair -- Fiorina did have a job harder than running the country. Just ask her!
September 22nd, 2008 at 11:09 amThe ultimate irony here is Fiorina's 'disappearance' after stating McCain nor Palin could run a major corporation, which she herself was fired for. I guess the measurement of a successful CEO is not how you ran the business, but rather the size of your golden parachute.
McCain knew that, he just lied again.
The McCampaign appears to be a diversion for Paulson to bend us all over & do something to each of us taxpayers in broad daylight.
Add to that the fact Republics don't want to include any CEO compensation limits in the Trillion dollar Wall St. bailout and you begin to get the picture.
BTW, Palin is much more like Cheney than Bush.
September 22nd, 2008 at 11:10 amWhat McCain really meant was that Carly did a good job by stealing $42 million from the shareholders in the form of a golden parachute.
September 22nd, 2008 at 11:11 amWhen will the Obama/Biden campaign bring up the Keating 5 scandal? If ever there was a time to do so, the time is now!
September 22nd, 2008 at 11:13 amMcCain is developing selective amnesia. Why can't he just admit what he knows? His advisors probably tell him to avoid these type of issues because it would destroy his "maverick" image- whatever that means anyway. It's worse to plead ignorance.
Keep it up Johnny Mac!!!
September 22nd, 2008 at 11:14 amWow! check out the Youtube video link posted by unbelievable's comment #19 at the 1:18 mark of the video it shows a photo of McCain! Damn if you added a funny little mustache who does he remind you of?
September 22nd, 2008 at 11:19 amYESSSSS!! FINALLY the MSM holds McPOW accountable for his decisions, such as puttiny Fiorina as his right-hand on economics!!!
However, please, please TP and responders here, do not focus on saying "she did not run the company well". Fact is that HP went through very good times around the time of the Compaq acquisition and she probably did as well if not better than other high-tech CEOs of the time.
Focus, instead, on the hypocracy that IS John McCain: she received a huge pay-out after SPYING on her employees because she was PARANOID she was being outsted. AND she says the opposite of nearly every position he takes!!
September 22nd, 2008 at 11:20 amSo, what's the big deal?
I mean, $40 million? That's practically middle class, right?
September 22nd, 2008 at 11:23 amThe selective amnesia shown by McCain and the blatant refusal of him and Palin to face any tough, legitimate questions from the media is a scary omen to what a McCain presidency will be like. Vast secrecy, lies, corruption, continued tax cuts for the wealthy, continued corporate socialism and more wars.
If the future looks brighter with McCain as president it is solely due to the blinding blasts from bombs.
September 22nd, 2008 at 11:24 amMcCAIN: I have many of the people, but I do not know the details of what happened.
Then what the fu(k are you doing running for the highest elected office in the land , you stupid old bastard ?
Yeah , just what we need ; another dope who views details and all the pertinent facts as some sort of foolish irrelevancy ........
September 22nd, 2008 at 11:25 amUnfreaking believable.
September 22nd, 2008 at 11:28 amralph the wonder llama Says:
So, what’s the big deal?
I mean, $40 million? That’s practically middle class, right?
*
if it isn't it
soon will be.
^
September 22nd, 2008 at 11:28 amHow do you expect McBrainless to know the details of Carly Fiorina's compensation package when he doesn't even know the details of how many houses he owns or what kind of car he has?
September 22nd, 2008 at 11:31 amWhy should he care about details when hellbent on going for the big win in Iraq. What a cruel joke.
Why is McCain so erratic and angry. Its not the interviewer's fault he has such bad judgment!
September 22nd, 2008 at 11:41 amThe selective amnesia of McCain's supporters is also something to note!
Just saw him railing about CEO executive pay, and how bad the economy is when last week it was everything is GREAT, GREAT, GREAT!
If his supporters weren't such stupid sheep, they would have got up and walked out on his lying a$$.
September 22nd, 2008 at 11:42 amAndrea Mitchell was interviewing Fiorina recently and claimed she walked away with $42 million. Fiorina acted as if she had been slapped and exclaimed the details of that were horribly wrong. I knew it! It was MORE. You have to watch those Republicans and their lying by omission while parsing everything. She got THREE MILLION more so she acted all offended as if she didn't take a huge payout.
September 22nd, 2008 at 11:44 amWait a second....................
How can this stupid old man claim that he believes Fiorina did a "good job as CEO in many respects" if he doesn't even know any of the details of what happened , which he admitted to in the sentence immediately following his praise ?
This guy is a complete joke .................
September 22nd, 2008 at 11:58 amMcCain is a LIAR, HYPOCRITE and a FRAUD.
September 22nd, 2008 at 12:06 pmGoddamn, the speed with which he slipped into his hagiography of Carly was chilling.
He is toast come Friday. What an asshat.
September 22nd, 2008 at 12:13 pmHe can help those CEOs by deregulating them, he's was a POW and he can fix everything by just deregulating everything.
Deregulate phone companies and your phone bill triples
Deregulate energy companies and your energy bill quadruples
Deregulate electronic oil market and your gas bill quadruples
Deregulate financial institutions and your retirement fund goes bye-bye
And this a$$hole wants to deregulate Health Insurance companies????
NO FREAKING WAY....he statement about that gave Obama a nice boost.
September 22nd, 2008 at 12:26 pmBut, but, but he said he knows how to fix the economy. And he said he knows how to win wars.
September 22nd, 2008 at 12:44 pmDon't ask how. Just take him at his word. He's too important to get bogged down in details. That's what his staff is for. How many houses does his wife own? Ask a staffer.
I'm surprised McForgot even remembers Fiorinas name after her truthy statement.
September 22nd, 2008 at 12:54 pmI'm sorry Fiorina knocked herself out as a spokesperson. She's just so damn gruesome that every time she came on TV, thousands of people would decide to go with Obama. She was just as incompetent as a spokesperson as she was a CEO. Sorry to lose her because she was a great resource for the Obama campaign. To think that this woman had designs on going up against Barbara Boxer for Senate - go ahead and give it a shot, Carly. This IS California and we DO have memories here. 20 to 30 thousand of us lost jobs because of you. Get yourself out on the campaign trail and see what we think of you.
September 22nd, 2008 at 1:29 pmThat's what we need another "incurious" president!
September 22nd, 2008 at 1:36 pmMcCain Clueless
And this is news ...how?
September 22nd, 2008 at 1:43 pmThis has been mentioned, but bears repeating.
The last straw in Carly Fiorina's undistinguished tenure at HP was when she hired investigators to spy on HP's own board members.
She is the poster child for all the corporate/fascist evil that the lying old sack of shit McCain wants you to believe he refutes.
Defecate liberally on all of them.
September 22nd, 2008 at 2:32 pmMcSame is not clueless. He is simply dodging the question. He knows all about Fiorina and her balloon package. But, McSame never predicted that the finanical woes on Wall Street, the economy, and the gov't bailouts would come back to bite him. And his past with the Keating five scandal has resurfaced and should be talked about in the media since this current financial crisis is dejavu all over again.
September 22nd, 2008 at 2:44 pmYou mean the old man who chose a VP candidate without checking out her past doesn't check out his staff? I guess that is why most of them are lobbyists who are on the take from the Wall Street firms he is begrudging everyday and his VP candidate is straight from the set of the Jerry Springer show. McSame is worse than Bush.
September 22nd, 2008 at 2:48 pmwow. i think self-destruction has been in the works for the past six months. this man is unbelievable!
September 22nd, 2008 at 4:27 pmum...like everyone working for the obama campaign is perfect... please realize that this detail of the campaign is really insignificant. and please find something more important to spend your time and small brains thinking about.
September 23rd, 2008 at 9:16 pm