Fiorina says she’ll be one of few GOP candidates last standing

GOP presidential candidate Carly Fiorina on Tuesday said the process to eliminate candidates vying for the White House is just getting started, and she will be one of the last few standing.

The former Hewlett-Packard executive made her comments during an editorial board meeting with the Las Vegas Review-Journal, hours away from the GOP presidential debate at The Venetian.

Fiorina, who came at the bottom of a Monmouth University poll released Monday with 2 percent in support, said it's time for citizens to take this country back, but it's not going to be taken by "bombastic insults" or by "political rhetoric that promises a lot and delivers nothing."

"I'm not bombastic, I am effective, I am consistent, I am a leader," she said.

Fiorina spoke on several issues, including immigration, the vetting process for people entering the country with visas, and transparency among government leaders.

In late February or early March, when there are only four or five candidates standing before the selection process, she said she will be one of them.

"I will be standing," she said.

She said part of taking the country back is taking the government back. The government has been inept on various fronts, such as addressing immigration issues, she said.

"What's going on with immigration, and what we are learning about the San Bernardino attack, are demonstrations of the ineptitude of the government," she said. "We've been talking about immigration for the last 25 years; our border needs to be secured, we haven't done anything."

She said that the vetting for people entering the country checks only databases with known terroritsts or terrorism suspects and doesn't identify people such as one of the terrorist killers in San Bernardino, California, who came into the country with a visa.

"We know ISIS is recruiting people who have never been on this list, and we also know that the government isn't checking social media because they are afraid it might harm someone's civil liberties," she said.

She would advocate of a vetting process that incorporates social media.

During her comments, she criticized President Barack Obama and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton for their handling of affairs in Syria.

"Obama and Clinton have gotten everything wrong in Syria," she said. "They made the situation much worse."

With recent terrorist attacks in California and Paris, tensions have been high regarding Syrian refugees fleeing their war-torn country. Federal officials remain committed to taking in 10,000 of them in fiscal year 2016, which began Oct. 1.

Meanwhile, GOP Ppresidential candidate Donald Trump has made headlines for his plans to ban Muslims from entering the United States.

If elected president, Fiorina pledged to make her administration transparent, a promise that also was made by Obama.

"Transparency is key to accountability, accountability is key to leadership," she said. "Without transparency there is no accountability, and without accountability there is no leadership."

Contact Yesenia Amaro at yamaro@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3843. Find her on Twitter: @YeseniaAmaro