In her speech to the South Carolina Freedom Summit, Carly Fiorina bookended her remarks by distinguishing herself from Hillary Clinton and from the current Administration. She began with a strong attack on Ms. Clinton’s unwillingness to answer questions, contrasting it to her own willingness to go on the record.
The biographical section of her speech focused on her rise from secretary to company president but also included a tribute to her mother-in-law for choosing not to have an abortion. This allowed her to tout her own pro-life bona fides, nicely highlighting the extreme position of the Democratic Party on the issue:
As you know, I ran for the Senate against Barbara Boxer in California in 2010 and I ran as a proud, pro-life conservative and you don’t do that unless you really mean it. For those of us who believe in the sanctity of life, we know that science is proving us right every day. We now know that the DNA in a zygote is precisely the same as the day you die. Life is a continuum a gift from God passed through the union of a man and a woman and every life is filled with potential. I don’t know about you but I am really tired of being called extreme on this issue. The platform of the Democratic Party is that a life is not a life until it leaves the hospital. That, ladies and gentlemen is extreme.
She did not say anything about marriage, religious liberty or Common Core.
A major theme in her speech was restoring a sense of “limitless possibility,” but she also made some strong statements on Russia, Iran and Israel. She positioned herself as being more experienced in dealing with international leaders. Near the end, she focused on two “ladies” of America—Lady Liberty and Lady Justice—and called for leadership in both areas.
William C. Duncan is executive director of the Marriage Law Foundation.
