WASHINGTON
— She has been the chief executive of Hewlett-Packard, a senior
adviser to a Republican presidential nominee and a candidate for the
United States Senate. But Carly Fiorina recently took on her boldest
role yet: Hillary Rodham Clinton’s loudest critic.
Over
the past few weeks, Ms. Fiorina has mocked Mrs. Clinton’s
globe-trotting as secretary of state, assailed Mrs. Clinton’s use of
only a private email account to do official business, and even accused
Mrs. Clinton of stealing intellectual property. From her. Twice.
Ms.
Fiorina insists she has no problem with Mrs. Clinton personally — only
with her liberal philosophy and policies, and what she dismisses as an
unimpressive record on getting things done.
“Like Hillary Clinton,
I too, have traveled hundreds of thousands of miles around the globe,
but unlike her, I have actually accomplished something,” she told
conservatives in Iowa in January. “Mrs. Clinton: Flying is an activity,
not an accomplishment.”
On
Tuesday, an hour after Mrs. Clinton’s news conference to explain her
email practices, Ms. Fiorina came down on her just as harshly. “In
effect, @HillaryClinton told us to trust her,” Ms. Fiorina said on Twitter. “Nothing in her track record suggests we should do so.”
Ms.
Fiorina easily sticks out among the wide field of possible Republican
contenders for president: Most of the others are white men. But what has
distinguished her most so far, aside from her gender, is not her
private-sector experience or her pro-market policies, but her
increasingly pointed attacks on Mrs. Clinton.
Of
course, every Republican contender has taken aim at Mrs. Clinton, the
presumed Democratic opponent who looms in the distance. But Ms. Fiorina
alone can present herself as a natural foil without the added risk of
being labeled a sexist man.
“In
a field of men, she could really emerge as a very effective critic of
Hillary, which Republicans are going to need,” said Rob Stutzman, a
Republican strategist in Sacramento. “You look at the field, and
obviously there is a space for a very articulate, conservative woman.”
Allies
of Mrs. Clinton, who plans to make gender a central part of her appeal,
call this a cynical ploy. Ms. Fiorina, they say, is being put to use by
a Republican Party that is desperate to damage Mrs. Clinton without
antagonizing female voters.
“These
guys really believe it’s unfair that women are now running,” said Ann
Lewis, a senior adviser to Mrs. Clinton in her 2008 campaign.
Speaking
after Ms. Fiorina had just ridiculed Mrs. Clinton’s travel pace as
secretary of state at the Iowa event, Ms. Lewis said: “Carly Fiorina
went only to show she could be mean to Hillary.”
And
Adrienne Elrod, a spokeswoman for Correct the Record, a group set up to
defend Mrs. Clinton, dismissed Ms. Fiorina as “short on substance, with
sophomoric one-liners,” in contrast to Mrs. Clinton’s “forward-thinking
agenda and lifetime of work fighting for children and families.”
In an interview, Ms. Fiorina, 60, said she was not seeking the approval
of Republican leaders. “The party is not leaning on me to do anything,
and I didn’t ask the party’s permission,” she said.
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