Fiorina delivers fiery speech for CA GOP

Aug. 13, 2012

By Katy Grimes

BURBANK — Mitt Romney’s announcement Saturday that Rep. Paul Ryan would be joining him on the Republican ticket fired up the California Republican Convention. That evening, more fireworks came from Carly Fiorina, the former candidate for U.S. Senate and keynote speaker.

Fiorina no longer lives in California. And who can blame her. However, she has taken on a larger role as Vice-Chairman of the Republican National Senatorial Committee, and now lives in Lorton, Virginia.

But Fiorina came to the convention and fired up Republicans as though she was still trying to oust Barbara Boxer.

“Tonight is not about me, or about the past,” she said. “The choice is about the nation and about the future.”

About Mitt Romney’s announcement of Paul Ryan as his running mate,  Fiorina said that it demonstrates that Romney is serious about setting our nation on another path. “And, we need to make sure we retain Republican majority in the House.”

Because the Senate is legislative body where the business of the nation gets done, everything Romeny/Ryan needs to get done will have to happen in Senate . “But this can’t happen if Harry Reid is still in charge,” Fiorina said to loud clapping.

“We can get Boxer out of her chairmanships, where she leads two committees, ethics, and environment and public works.”

Election in less than 90 days

Romney has made it clear with Ryan that he is serious about fiscal reform, Fiorina said. They want to talk about things that take more than one term to accomplish.

“We know economic growth is at an anemic 2 percent – job growth is paltry, there’s the failed stimulus program. All of those things must be solved in the relatively short term,” Fiorina said.

“Fortunately, there are strong conservatives in all houses of country.”

‘Regulation thicket’ in Washington

“We are destroying the entrepreneurial foundation of the nation,” Fiorina said.  “100 percent of all innovation is from small businesses. New and small businesses create more of the job growth, but today it is shrinking. “Small business owners say that it’s too hard to figure our tax code, and regulations,” Fiorina said.

“But small businesses are the entrepreneurs of this nation. We must roll back the regulatory excesses. A regulation thicket has grown in Washington because big business and big government collude to write law,” Fiornia explained.

“It’s more than about extending the Bush tax cuts,” she said. “How could anyone understand the 74,000 page tax code?”

“We need to lower every rate, close every loophole, and change the tax code.”

Education reforms

Fiorina said that while President Barack Obama wants to say that he invests in education, the budget of Department of Education has grown every year for 40 years, but the quality of education has decreased every year.

California spends more money per pupil in total than any state in nation, but where the money is spent and what it is spent on is the problem.

Fiorina gave her list of education fixes:

* Better teachers in classroom

* Reward the good ones

* Deal with the poor ones

* Give parents a real choice

* Hold administrators truly accountable, and

* Answer the lies in neighborhoods all across the U.S.

Other reforms

Fiorina addressed the need to reform immigration, although she acknowledged that it is a touchy subject. “We need a legal immigration system that works so we don’t continue to argue and fight,” Fiorina said.

“Ask any farmer in California; they beg for a legal immigration system that works. It’s crazy that we have 16 VISA systems, crazy people come here to receive world class education,” Fiorina said. “We know how Democrats use this issue.”

Fiorina said that we must return to being nation of innovation, but “Obama thinks the government should be some big venture capitalist. Solyndra and others like them…” are proof she said.

But there is a roll government can play.

Fiorina said that NASA turned into marvelous applications. Basic research is an important roll government can play.

“If the U.S. is going to be leading the economy in the 21st century, we must must lead in:

* energy

* health tech

* bio tech

* aerospace

“China Brazil, Russia, and Japan are all investing in these,” Fiorina said.

Conservative principals

“Conservative principals are the  only thing that works in the 21st century. The world I come from is technology. The impact of that technology is that any person, anywhere, anytime, on any device, can get a hold of a piece if information they want.”

“For the first time in history, anyone can know anything,” Fiorina said. “Tech is an historic game changer because it empowers the individual. It makes more things possible than anytime in history.”

But Fiorina said that any bureaucracy with their slow, deliberate decisions, cannot keep up with the decisions necessary. “The hierarchical decision-making in bureaucracy is where Democrats want to place power now.”

“What do we as conservatives believe?” Fiorina asked. “Power should be as decentralized as possible. Individuals make better decisions for themselves. We must trust decision makers more than bureaucrats.”

More or less government?

Fiorina said that Democrats believe that more government and government programs are the answer.

“Their political philosophy doesn’t work anymore. Is there anything more callous than an unaccountable bureaucracy unanswerable to anybody?”

Next 90 days

Fiorina told Republicans that for the next 89 days, “let us gather our fight for energy, real reform, fundamental reform – but let us keep fighting for them. What matters is where you want to go–history and technology is on our side.”



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