Carly Fiorina embedded a message deep within her speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference: Don't count me out of 2016.
As National Journal's Shane Goldmacher astutely points out, Fiorina is on the board of the American Conservative Union—the group that organizes CPAC—meaning she likely had sway over when she gave her speech. And she got a nice deal: Going in between Gov. Chris Christie and Sen. Ted Cruz guaranteed a big audience.
And that audience got a good show, including some red meat they may not have expected from the lesser-known Fiorina, who served as CEO at Hewlett-Packard until 2005. Unlike every other Republican presidential hopeful at CPAC, Fiorina is uniquely able to criticize Clinton without having to worry about cries of sexism. And it's an ability that she did not take for granted on Thursday.
"This is not leadership," she said of Obama. "Nor is it leadership when Secretary Clinton asks what difference does it make when our embassy is deliberately attacked by terrorists and four Americans are murdered," Fiorina said. "It makes all the difference, Mrs. Clinton, and the required response has never come."
Fiorina also took the opportunity to slam the other leading lady in Democratic politics: Sen. Elizabeth Warren.