On Wednesday at around 3 p.m., Carly Fiorina suspended her presidential campaign. She posted a lengthy statement to her Facebook page:
This campaign was always about citizenship—taking back our country from a political class that only serves the big, the powerful, the wealthy, and the well connected. Election after election, the same empty promises are made and the same poll-tested stump speeches are given, but nothing changes. I’ve said throughout this campaign that I will not sit down and be quiet. I’m not going to start now. While I suspend my candidacy today, I will continue to travel this country and fight for those Americans who refuse to settle for the way things are and a status quo that no longer works for them.
Our Republican Party must fight alongside these Americans as well. We must end crony capitalism by fighting the policies that allow it to flourish. We must fix our festering problems by holding our bloated, inept government bureaucracy accountable. Republicans must stand for conservative principles that lift people up and recognize all Americans have the right to fulfill their God-given potential.
Here’s where it gets good:
To young girls and women across the country, I say: do not let others define you. Do not listen to anyone who says you have to vote a certain way or for a certain candidate because you’re a woman. That is not feminism. Feminism doesn’t shut down conversations or threaten women. It is not about ideology. It is not a weapon to wield against your political opponent. A feminist is a woman who lives the life she chooses and uses all her God-given gifts. And always remember that a leader is not born, but made. Choose leadership.
As I have said to the many wonderful Americans I have met throughout this campaign, a leader is a servant whose highest calling is to unlock potential in others. I will continue to serve in order to restore citizen government to this great nation so that together we may fulfill our potential.
Feminism: not about ideology, and certainly not the type of ideology that causes a presidential candidate to lie her goddamn face off to sink an organization that provides basic healthcare to three million Americans a year. And please don’t vote for Hillary for silly, essentialist reasons like, for example, wanting more women in office so your daughter won’t have to, oh, not be able to get birth control when she needs it because some maniac lied her face off about Planned Parenthood, or have to experience the same feelings of hypercriticized powerlessness that you’ve come know so well! Laura June wrote about this at the Cut today, saying: “Sometimes the fact that I’m a woman isn’t the most important thing about me. But sometimes, it is.”
But anyway, let’s not get ideological. RIP Carly Fiorina Campaign, which was just last night promising voters that she would never give up. Guess America, represented here by a turkey, will never know her love.
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Image via AP
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