Carly Fiorina is set to take the stage today as Ted Cruz’s vice presidential pick, but the former Republican presidential candidate and Hewlett-Packard CEO wasn’t always such a fan of the Texas senator.
When Fiorina was still competing with Cruz for the Republican nomination, she said Cruz is just “like any other politician” and will say whatever his audience wants to hear to get elected.
“Ted Cruz is like any other politician. He says one thing in Manhattan, another in Iowa, whatever he needs to say to get elected and do as he pleases,” Fiorina told CNN in January. “I think the American people are tired of the political class that promises much and delivers much of the same.”
Republican front-runner Donald Trump tweeted a clip of the interview after news leaked that Cruz was choosing Fiorina as he would-be running mate.
But those aren’t the only unflattering words Fiorina had for Cruz.
During the Cruz-led government shutdown of 2013, Fiorina said there was “no honor” in the what Cruz was doing and that his “tactics were wrong.”
“There's no honor in charging a hill that you know you can't take, only casualties, although Ted Cruz maybe got name recognition and money along the way," said Fiorina. "But President Obama wanted this shutdown. And Ted Cruz played right into his hands."
Of course, Fiorina’s support for Cruz is about more than an acquired admiration for the Texas senator. It’s also a rejection of Trump – a point she made clear when she first declared her endorsement of Cruz last month.
“There are other people in our party who actually are kind of horrified by Donald Trump. I’m one of them,” Fiorina said. “We’re going to have to beat Donald Trump at the ballot box and the only guy who can beat Donald Trump is Ted Cruz.”
And in remarks at CPAC just days before her endorsement, Fiorina expressed caution against any efforts to wrest the nomination away from Trump by any other means than the ballot box.
"If we want to defeat Donald Trump, we cannot turn to the establishment once again and ask them to guide the citizenry to the right answer. If we want defeat Donald Trump, we must defeat him at the ballot box, by offering citizens conservative solutions to the problems in their lives," she said.