Fiorina says candidates couldn't run HP

WASHINGTON, Sept. 16 (UPI) -- A senior adviser to Republican presidential hopeful John McCain says the United States' major presidential candidates lack the ability to run a major company.

Carly Fiorina, former chief executive officer of Hewlett Packard, also tossed the Democratic and Republican vice presidential picks into the same category of not having what it takes to successfully run a big business, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.

"I don't think John McCain could run a major corporation," she said on NBC News.

"It is a fallacy to suggest that the country is like a company, so of course, to run a business, you have to have a lifetime of experience in business, but that's not what Sarah Palin, John McCain, Barack Obama or Joe Biden are doing."

Fiorina was asked earlier in the day whether Palin, the Republican vice presidential pick, has the "experience to run a major company, like Hewlett Packard."

"No, I don't," Fiorina said on the McGraw-Hill Show on KTRS Radio in St. Louis. "But you know what? That's not what she's running for."