Fiorina is the knowledgeable outsider

Noemie Emery:

Carly Fiorina is the real Donald Trump. No, she's not a billionaire with bad hair, a loose tongue and an unbridled ego the size of Australia. But she's a non-politician who's never held office, but is unnerved by the decline of American power and wishes to see it reversed.

But unlike Trump she may also be able to do something about it, as she a.) knows how to speak English; b.) is able to think and speak in a rational sequence; c.) has spent years learning how the world works and building relationships with the people who run it; and d.) projects actual strength instead of mere schoolyard bluster, and knows how to bring bullies to heel. She proved this with Trump in the second debate, when, as Rich Lowry said, she excised his gonads with surgical elegance, leaving him in a heap on the floor.

Unlike Trump, who knows nothing, and Carson, who knows his own discipline but not many others, she is that rare bird, an outsider with an insider's experience of how political entities work. When the car breaks down, it's fun for a while to stand there and kick it, but eventually you have to call a mechanic to get the thing moving. When Trump fades, which is starting to happen, his saner supporters might look to the lady, a girl of the world who knows how to project force not in a pantsuit, but in a slim sleeveless shift with a nice floral pattern. Which brings us to point number two.

Fiorina is also the genuine Hillary Clinton, if you have in mind not merely a pro-choice extremist, but an example of how an actual woman who does not have special advantages (such as being the wife of a really good politician) can manage to rise in the world. On the basis of what we have seen now of Hillary's prowess in action — her healthcare plan in 1993-94, her primary campaign in 2008 when she lost as the favorite and her current campaign in 2015 against a 74-year-old socialist who isn't really a Democrat — her political talents are nil.
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She has something in common with Trump and Carson.  All three are not intimidated by the mainstream media's attempt to make them look bad.  She is tough and does not back down when they challenge her credibility.   She does come across as the more knowledgeable of the top three outsiders.  I would put her intellect up there with Ted Cruz and to some extent Marco Rubio.