Romney Calls Fiorina ‘Misinformed,’ Says He’d Hire McCain

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) said Wednesday that John McCain does have the experience needed to become a business executive, let alone the background needed to become president.

Romney’s remarks, made on CNN, come a day after McCain aide Carly Fiorina said that neither McCain nor any of the other presidential or vice presidential candidates have the necessary business background to be a CEO.

“I think she’s just misinformed in that regard,” said Romney, who has been CEO of consulting firm Bain & Company and of the 2002 Winter Olympics. “I’d be happy to hire John McCain and Sarah Palin to run a business that I’m an investor in. But I can also tell you that when you compare John McCain with Barack Obama, it’s a pretty, pretty clear comparison that John McCain has experience that’s been, a lot of developed judgment that you need in a time like this.”

Romney noted McCain’s experience in the Senate, where he has served as Commerce Committee chairman.

“[T]hat has given him the kind of experience that allowed him to work with President Reagan, President Ford, President Clinton and so forth and fashion economic policy that frankly has allowed America to outgrow our European competitors, to create many tens of millions of jobs when they have it,” Romney said. “And it’s that kind of policy that’s or experience that’s allowed him to say you know what? Don’t raise tax now, keep taxes down. Make sure that we trade with our countries and do what we have to do to become energy independent. Don’t do what Barack Obama is saying, which is not allowing drilling offshore, not building a nuclear power plant.”

Romney dismissed comparisons between his own vast business background and McCain’s that he had made when running against McCain for the GOP presidential nomination .

“Well, I was trying to convince people that I was the right guy for the job and that just didn’t work, as you know,” Romney said. “In the current setting there’s no question that John McCain has by far the most economic experience of any of the people that are either in the presidential or the vice presidential contest.”