Fiorina, a former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, yesterday provided lots of ammo to McCain’s opponents by saying neither neither McCain nor Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin are qualified to run a major corporation.

From CNN:

A top McCain official contacted by CNN said, on condition on anonymity, “No big deal, but not how you get on the surrogate all-star team. Very Biden-like.”

This campaign source said Fiorina would be discouraged from additional media interviews.

Another top campaign adviser was far less diplomatic.

“Carly will now disappear,” this source said. “Sen. McCain was furious.” Asked to define “disappear,” this source said, adding that she would be off TV for a while -– but remain at the Republican National Committee and keep her role as head of the party’s joint fund-raising committee with the McCain campaign.

Fiorina was booked for several TV interviews over the next few days, including one on CNN. Those interviews have been canceled.

A third source said “it was another bad day for her, and important people are mad because the timing is horrible… But I would not necessarily buy the Siberia storyline.”

Fiorina has been a source of headaches for the GOP presidential nominee in the past. She was the source of the comments on health-insurance coverage for Viagra and birth control that led to an uncomfortable speechless on-camera moment for the Arizona senator.

To be fair, Fiorina also applied her statement to Sen. Barack Obama. But she clearly violated what is possibly the most important rule for a campaign surrogates: Never, ever say something about your candidates that can be construed negatively.

(Via TPM)