Dinosaurs vs. Zillionaires: Four Depressing Candidates Win in California
Big state, weak candidates.
In California’s primary races for the state’s two top positions — governor and senator — four cringe-worthy candidates won the party nominations.
On the Democratic side, Barbara “How-Dare-You-Call-Me-Ma’am” Boxer easily maintained her steely grip on the senatorial seat, while 17-time former governor Jerry Brown reappeared like an acid flashback from a bygone era to audition again for his old gig.
Meanwhile, over in the Republican camp, two insanely rich corporate CEOs essentially bought the nominations.
What did we Californians do to deserve this? In a state with 37 million people, these are the best four we’ve got?
Is This a Monster Movie or a Political Campaign?
Both Boxer and Brown are veritable dinosaurs, clambering out of the Political Tar Pits to lord over the landscape for another eon or two. Boxer has been in politics for 38 years, and has been a member of Congress for 28 years. In all that time her political positions have not evolved one bit. She is still running on the Vietnam-war era anti-military far-left populism which has fueled her career from the start. I can easily imagine her becoming the Helen Thomas of politicians, refusing to retire or go away well into her 90s as she dodders up and down the hallways of power spouting off mean-spirited tirades.
And as for Jerry Brown, I’m awestruck by his audacity. Like, dude, you’ve already been governor. Twice. And your freakin’ father was governor before that. Also twice. Between 1959 and 1983, there was only a brief interlude when somebody not named Brown was governor.
I think we need to stage an intervention. Jerry Brown is obviously addicted to politics. He’s been at it so long (41 years) he makes Boxer look like a madamoiselle, not a ma’am. Not only was he governor twice starting 35 years ago, but he’s also been California Secretary of State, Chairman of the California Democratic Party, Attorney General of California, candidate for Senate, three-time candidate for President of the United States, and when he ran out of high-profile offices to run for, he scraped the residue out of the bottom of his political bong and ran for Mayor of Oakland. I mean, nobody wants to be Mayor of Oakland. It’s what you settle for when you have the DTs and can’t get anything decent, like drinking cough syrup.
It’s time for some tough love with Jerry. Stop enabling him. He needs a trip to the Betty Ford Clinic, not the Governor’s mansion.
With these two embarrassments on the Democratic side, you’d think the Republicans would have a golden opportunity. But no. Instead, we get two clichés straight out of Central Casting, two nearly interchangeable zillionaires who decided it would be amusing to spend some pocket change — $70 million, $80 million, I lost track already — to dabble in politics and buy the governorship and a seat in the senate.
They could have had Chuck DeVore instead of Carly Fiorina. But Californians are so incredibly STUPID (and I lived in CA from the age of 0-16 so I can say of them whatever I like) that they demand more of the same insanity. Well, I hope they’re happy with what they get: they deserve it. Going to hell in a hand basket. The middle class driven out. Nothing left but oligarchical and Hollywoodland blowhards and the permanent underclass they enable, existing only for the joy they bring in helping the CA elite to feel noble, kind, and beneficent: bullcra% to that!
Way to go California!!!! If I didn’t have much-loved ones still in CA, I’d hope for the entire state to slip quietly into the ocean.
How old are you, 12?
Anne, Do the math. He lived in California until he was 16 (that’s what 0-16 means). Thus, he has to be more than 12. However, I probably should not blame you because you probably have been taught that more government jobs are good for the economy. There is a cure however. Read “The Road to Serfdom” by F.A. Hayek.
Duh…
you make a lot of assumptions from so few words, stay in korea
Duh…
16-0=16 not 12. That is a mathematical fact, not an assumption.
For your simple minds…I should have said…you sound more like a 12 year old than a 16 year old…simpletons.
OK I lived there from 0-23 and came back once in the 80′s (so I must be 10 by your math). Likewise,I can say the only reason for it not to become a diving reef off of Hawaii is that a *few* good people still live there. Meg was the idiot who bought Skype for $3bil and Carli…well.. ask the Packard family or the guy who fired her at HP if she is worth a shaker of salt. Jerry signed my diploma, so he did do one thing right and his Dad bought us a soda that he flew into a wilderness area with a helicopter. Boxer!! Hell, she’d get “Worst Politician of the Year” in Zimbabwe.
As a few other comments reflect. They *had* several good folks running but they decided it was between the vampires and the (noveau)rich folks to take on jobs that none of them are remotely qualified to hold.
The good news is if you are Greek. Soon you will be the 2nd biggest failure.
Shoulda,woulda,coulda…
I am 60 years old and have lived in California in all, for 58 years. I was born here but lived in Las Vegas for two years after marrying. Californians have fallen on their swords every stinking election since the sixties. I feel the same way about California slowly sinking into the sea and I live here. We not only enable millions of people to not work, we allow Mexican illegals to get better health care than legal residents. Go suck a lemon, it seems you have way to much time on your hands.
Well, duh yourself, Anne. Calling people names because they pointed out your error? What are you, 12?
Well,
9 out of 4 people hate math.
eh?
see yas all in summer school. Ha.
Math aside–Yeah, California could have had Chuck DeVore. Should have had. Would have been great. Yeah, not choosing him was stupid.
Stupidity is nuthin’ new to the GOP. We COULDA had Huckabee for the presidential candidate in 2008. It WOULDA been fun to see him debate Obama. He COULDA won and our situation WOULDA been a bunch better.
If age is a concern, I have a great-grandchild. I’m mightily concerned about his future.
The California GOP usually nominates some white, pudgy, thinning haired, no body, an extreme bozo who appeals only to the 5% of the GOP hardcore that writes letters to the editor protesting the politics in STAR WARS, and announces that his first priority is to eliminate gay marriage, the second to ban pre marital sex and then they wonder why they lose. OK even if the second one was a joke, the whitman/fiorina duo seem far better than the “I lose being right” people the GOP usually puts up. You are a pessimist. This is not Kentucky and we can’t run a Rand Paul here. The damage done by Gray Davis was immense and the legislature is still heavily democratic. The best thing we can do now is put responsible people in where the democrats would put a union hack. The two women are just fine.
“Social Con” candidates like Chuck DeVore have been trounced by that clown Boxer election after election. Think about that for a second. What was Einstein’s definition of insanity? Doing the same thing over and over, expecting a different result. DeVore was the candidate Boxer and the Democrats were actually hoping for.
darcy: there’s a lot of stupid to go around, and those who turn their backs on an entire state (not necessarily you, but plenty others) should instead consider their own citizenship options.
One of the stupids was DeVore and his helpers. On his website he opposed amnesty, but it took a slew of tweets before I found out that he also opposed immig. “reform”. If he’d been smarter he would have mentioned that on his site and highlighted it and tried to discredit his opponents over it. He was also running against Ms. H1B herself, but he didn’t harp on that (Boxer’s now filling that gap).
Instead, Devore went for the large number of strong conservatives in CA, and as a result got only a fraction of the votes. Now, that’s not too smart, is it?
More stupid comes from the ‘partiers. It’s they who forced him to run as Mr. Conservative in a state that (last I checked) isn’t Indiana. None of them that I saw said a peep about H1B and related issues. That’s not surprising since repeating mantras and waving loopy signs is about the maximum intellectual level they can reach.
Classic Zombie. I couldn’t help but smirk through the whole thing.
It’s been a while since I ventured to California, but during my last trip it appeared to vacillate between Disneyland, Detroit, and Woodstock. Now I know for a fact that there are millions of good people still there, so I commend each of you for your patience and fortitude.
But I did get the distinct impression you were vastly outnumbered. Nice weather only goes so far.
I can see you are an older and wiser traveler; Even on the internet, who would go to Detroit? Maybe a muslim or two.
I know for a fact there are conservatives out there; Living what’s left of their ‘good life’. But, muslims are rare.
But, from the way things are sizing up, California will join Mexico in the next war against the United States.
That should be excellent entertainment!
Does China take a side or sit it out?
I’m going to vote for Whitman and Fiorina.
Fortunately, I’m leaving California in two years and won’t have to live with the results for long.
Hotel California Dreaming is turning into a real-life nightmare;
If Whitman and Fiorina win, there is at least the potential for
reform, which the people will start calling for in a loud, angry,
and fearful voice when the state goes bankrupt.
With the voter turnout in the last CA election, they will get exactly what they deserve.
“a welfare state of mind” = California
Even if the very best of the candidates were elected, it would be the proverbial “hard row to hoe” for CA to come out of the hole. That would take a miracle.
I don’t want to help them print more welfare checks.
Kind of like Bella Abzug on steroids or that female apparatchik from Ayn Rand’s semi-autobiographical novel of Soviet Russia, We the Living. A very unlovely woman with an overweening sense of privilege. But darcy (#1) is right: the California Democratic electorate consists of the elite that run the academies and the organs of information, who have cultivated a vast proletariat of angry clients convinced that the taxpayers owe them a living. The state most likely will experience some kind of social earthquake of a devastating magnitude. Which is unfortunate for the few conservatives. The younger would be well advised to move away, but for us older folk who have called the state home the many decades of our lives (long enough to remember when its political climate was not so insane), moving away is not so easy. And the forests along the coast, the vineyards in the valleys, are still beautiful.
darcy said: “Californians are so incredibly STUPID (and I lived in CA from the age of 0-16 so I can say of them whatever I like)”
Thank you for leaving.
Not one of Zombie’s better efforts. It just comes off sounding resentful of wealthy people. Wealthy people who created their wealth, I might add, not trust-fund babies who tend to vote Democrat.
The “wealthy people” who create jobs left years ago. What is left are wealthy retirees who buy sunsets at the beach. I’ve been here over 50 years and would leave except for my kids and grandkids. Fortunately, most of my income is tax exempt so I can hole up and watch the show. I may add a generator so the Arizona boycott doesn’t hurt too much.
I am amazed anyone wants the Governor’s job to begin with. Anyone who takes it now is going to have to preside over the inevitable crumbling of the entire State, since we are not bankrupt (I would be happy if we were merely bankrupt) but we are bankrupt times ten. The rest of the nation is not going to be happy about paying for our profligate ways. We can’t print our own money. The rest of the wealthy are going to take flight rather than be fleeced by the inevitable tax increases.
I wish Meg well, but I’m puzzled about her sudden onset of civic responsibility after neglecting to do the minimum requirement (vote) for 28 years.
The two zillionaires are using their own money not sugar daddy George Soros’, not the Union bosses’ loots. Be thankful.
Anyway, you Californians have yourselves to blame returning the 60′s retro, reactionaries to office over and over again. Well, shouldn’t laugh, we, in Illinois are getting liars and crime bosses too.
Lived in LA for 10 years and returned to the relative sanity (yeah, VERY relative sanity) of NYC. Devore I think would’ve been great. Real Reaganite. Oh well, I’m stuck with Schumer and the other leftist-corruptocrats. AND, my significant other is a leftist professor.
OY GEVALT!
Not quite the groundswell conservatives expected last night. I guess you’ll have to leave the tidal wave of righteous justice to Glenn Beck. he’s changing the course of American history, you know. Just ask him. And I hope you’ve gotten used to Harry Reid, because he just won re-election. And that raghead in one of the Carolinas, what’s her name? The one those anti-gay family values Republicans say they boinked? Love her – she accuses her opponent of feeding the rumors, so he takes a polygraph to prove he didn’t, challenges her to do the same, she says, “The last thing we need is to go around hooking people up to polygraphs.” She promised to resign if anyone can prove she slept around. We’ll see. And, of course, the aforementioned CEOs, one who nearly ruined HP and another who, if I’m not mistaken, played soffffftttballll as a young laaaadddyyyy. What’s left but to set the over-under on Limbaugh’s 4th marriage.
Yeah, quite a week for the conservatards. Keep up the good work. We need the votes.
Your analysis is rather flawed. You apparently aren’t very good at reading the ‘tea leaves’.
Leave the prognostications for grownups.
And the ‘real’ voting is on Nov 2nd. We shall see what we shall see then.
And your name calling is churlish.
Oh – I think I hear your mummy calling you for din-din.
What name calling?
“What name calling?”
Seriously?
“Raghead”? “Conservatard”? “Played soffffftttballll as a young laaaadddyyyy”?
Harry Reid is done, by the way. It will be delightful to watch that wretched old scorpion crawl back under the rock he came from. Ooops, I guess I’m name calling!
Lets see skeeziks…
“ragheads”, “anti-gay family values Republicans say they boinked” (slut I think you mean), “another who, if I’m not mistaken, played soffffftttballll as a young laaaadddyyyy” (either a crass anti-wealth slur or an anti-gay slur), “conservatards”.
And that’s just grabbing the obvious ones skeeziks. Have you considered throwing in some anti-semitism too and perhaps getting a job with Helen Thomas? Seems to be the only talents you Lefties have anymore.
And the snare snaps shut . . .
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20006815-503544.html
“conservatard” is clearly derived the far more prevalent “libtard” (a favorite of PJM)
the others (slut and softball) are too stupid to comment on
Hail Rush! Go Sarah!
Skeesiks.
You are right about something! Heavens to Murgatroid. Carly Fiorina ripped the Hp cultural Heart right out of the corporation. I wasn’t all that opposed to the merger either, but the method. Walter Hewlett backed down, and shouldn’t have (Being noble gets you killed or exiled to irrelevance).
It was a sad time in my life having lived through it. She’s a shark, and having heard the forewarnings through Lucent clients, there was solemn silence when she came on board.
All that said, she’d probably make a great politician.
“And that raghead in one of the Carolinas”
Scratch a liberal, find a racist.
You “Progressives” HATE Sikhs, Vietnamese and other minorities who refuse to be victims and live on the Democrat plantation.
BTW, read’ em and weep- Reid is TRAILING by double digits. You see, Skidmark- it is YOU and your fellow pinkos who are the wingnut fringe- and you can’t even see it through the hash smoke.
What can I tell you? You folks voted in Ahnowd as your governor. Twice. Not that I have room to criticize. Up here in Minnesota we elected Jesse Ventura to the governorship, and if that isn’t sick enough, we followed that by choosing Al Franken to represent us in the US Senate. Al Franken. That’s right, 3rd string SNL gag meister, Al Franken,
That said, I don’t see that having “too much” money is such a bad thing in a politician. Mitt Romney is a very rich, very successful business man. I’m cool with that. What matters most is her (if I may) basic governing philosophy, her stated policy intentions, and her relevant job experience.
It’s cold comfort, I know, but Minnesotans didn’t actually pick Al Franken. He won through straight up, old fashioned fraud. And, of course, the inevitable ineptness of Republicans at playing vicious, dirty politics.
“3rd string SNL gag writer . . . ”
Must we remind you again . . . Bedtime for Bonzo.
Every actor in Hollywood has performed in low budget movies. It’s part of the process of becoming a big star.
Let me remind you that if Bogart had turned down “Casablanca”, Reagan was second in line for the part.
Are you ever going to make a comment that is intelligent?
Pointing to a movie Reagan wasn’t in as an example . . . intelligent.
1) Reagan didn’t write B for B
2) Reagan was a great President. Franken is a revolting Communist assclown.
“Reagan was a great President. Franken is a revolting Communist assclown.”
My thoughts exactly.
As far as California, yes they’ll reap what they sow. I’ve lived here my whole life(40 years). When they go bankrupt I’ll just move. What do I care. I try to vote the right people in every election, and the dummies keep voting for Brown and Boxer.
And Franken didn’t sell arms to Iran and then lie about it. Care to continue?
To Richard W: I’m not perplexed by Whitman’s sudden interest in politics. It’s pretty clear she wants to be Governor so that she can a) cut her own taxes, b) create policies that further her business interests. That woman NEVER does anything aside from what is in her own personal interest. As for item b) enriching major corporations is not necessarily good for small or local businesses, or for creating jobs in California. Furthering the interests of large corporations is mainly good for creating jobs in India and China, snd making rich people richer.
There’s truth to that.
However, the left side of the aisle in California certainly hasn’t done anything to spur small and medium-sized business development (except in adjacent states and Texas).
Screwed either way — that’s the point of the article, too, I think…
“What did we Californians do to deserve this? In a state with 37 million people, these are the best four we’ve got?”
=======================================
With the economic train-wreck that California is the question should be:
“Why would anyone want these jobs”? Especially the Guv’s job.
More to the point why the hell would anyone pay for campaign expenditures out of pocket to get a shot at either being elected Governor or Senator? The next Governor will have a tough time in trying to derail a Democrat heavy state house and senate hell bent on spending every last dime rattling around in the citizenry’s collective pockets. A tougher act yet will come when its time to beg borrow or steal a bailout from the Federal government.
Such interesting times eh?
13. mel: Let’s face it, you Californians, actually we Americans, have run out of rich people to tax. See, the only taxes the Dems raise are income taxes. Tell you what, the rich don’t pay income taxes. Why don’t the soak-the-rich politicians really soak the rich? Because they are the rich. They are taxing those who still need a pay check.
By the way, how did Brown make his millions? Boxers? From tax payers, cronies, and lobbyists. How did Meg and Carly make theirs? Meg turned a dinky little eBay into a giant corporation; Carley (don’t really care how to spell her name, never a fan of hers) was a secretary, those who typed and took notes in short hand.
Actually, Carly was CEO of H-P, not a great job, and was thrown out. I did two contracts for them – very gray, bureaucratic company but with massive name identification and products people were used to buying. Based on efficiency (and I also had a six-month contract at e-Bay), I’d have to go with Whitman.
Jerry Brown? Does he still sleep on a mattress on the floor?
California as a viable state to live in was destroyed years ago. During the Reagan years, thanks to Prop 13 a great business environment and the armed forces build up, it was one of the few states with jobs, so the left wing locusts, who had destroyed their own states migrated to the land of fruits and nuts and made it far more nutty.
Then came the collapse of the Soviet Union and the great aerospace industry depression. Bases were closed and hundreds of thousands of conservative families had to leave looking for work. Thanks President Clinton.
Next came the Mexican colonization. In 2002, census data showed 37 percent of the population in LA county were not born in this country. What it didn’t show was that a very large percentage didn’t consider themselves Americans and don’t want to. And don’t kid yourself that they and their kids don’t vote, and they vote for more money from other people. Grey Davis was governor during this period and the state was gerrymandered such that the Democrats now have a permanent majority. In addition, some of the worse gun laws in the country were introduced, taxes and spending went through the roof. At this point a large percentage of the natives left for Washington, Nevada and Arizona.
Then came the coupe de grace, public worker unions which now virtually control the Democratic party and hence the state itself. So, it’s not a big surprise that California, with teacher union controlled schools, a massive far left slanted university system is the new New York. I’ll be leaving soon, one more sucker being taxed to death getting out before there’s nothing left. I won’t even be looking back.
Well put! Everything you said is true. At 68 years old, with nearby family, my wife has informed me that California is where we are staying. So, my dreams of living in Montana or Idaho are dashed. I guess I’ll grin and bear it, but it’s sure a hard place for a flag waving conservative to live.
I’ll gladly take Carly over Babs, and Meg over Moonbeam – At this point, what have we got to lose?
It was Jerry Brown, in his first term as Governor, who extended collective bargaining to public employees in CA.
Mel: If all Whitman wanted to do was lower her own taxes, she could have just moved to Nevada or Texas or somewhere else there is no state income tax and pocketed the $70 million.
ic: I agree the tax system in California is weighted to rely to heavily on income tax on wealthy people. The problem is, too many people assume that all proposed tax cuts will mean a tax cut for them, or that any type of tax cut will stimulate the economy. Cutting the corporate tax rate will stimulate the economy, no doubt about that. Cutting the capital gains tax (and not much else)…probably not, because to keep the budget balanced, you will have to raise taxes somewhere else.
Jerry Brown said recently that income taxes are too much of the California revenue base these days, and that back when he was governor, sales tax revenues were 1/3 of revenue. Problem is, in California, we will probably need to revise the state Constitution to put the tax structure where it needs to be.
“to keep the budget balanced, you will have to raise taxes somewhere else”
revenues = expenses = balanced budget
taxes = spending = balanced budget
Where the hell is cut spending to keep the budget balanced? Why should people who work their butts off pay for lounging around govt. employees? There are more than 4 (?) transportation authorities in San Francisco. They still use union govt employees to grade driver’s license tests. Have Californians heard of “computers”? How about the million dollars to build “fish ladders”? Do you know there are UC professors making over $600,000.00 a year. They just have a big raise from the “Stimulus” money, our tax money. Instead of hiring more instructors or paying more grad students to work, they gave huge raises to tenured professors. Yeah, raise taxes to balance the budget.
We really do get the government we deserve. It seems to me that if Republicans and Tea Partiers had done their homework, DeVore and Poizner would have gotten far more votes than they did.
As a conservative Californian, I used to think I was just outnumbered by liberals. This election (including some of CA’s ballot measures) makes me think I’m just out of touch.
I’d move, but I’m 59, born and raised here except for stints in the Army and a Wyoming TV station, and I love the weather here in the Bay Area. But I’m not expecting to enjoy my retirement much.
We really do get the government we deserve.
Wrong wrong wrong.
We get the government voters deserve, most particularly the ones who cast their vote for the winners. Maybe the secret ballot isn’t such a good idea after all. What if the people who voted in those clowns that wrecked the Formerly-Golden State could be outed, say, the way sex offenders are?
A better solution would be to let only those who pay taxes vote.
Here’s a list for you. Al Gore, Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid. Just for starters.
I agree, what the hell is wrong with being successful? The most capable mature people are going to be successful and if they do so in business, they will be very rich. I sure as hell don’t want someone popular who never did anything or handled any responsibility important enough or well enough to be paid highly. This irks many writers who usually do not fit that description and envy it. We have a President who made his money buy writing and never running anything. I’m not impressed.
@ ZOMBIE;
RE: “I can easily imagine her becoming the Helen Thomas of politicians”
Babs is already there: every bit as ‘gorgeous’ as Helen, and every bit as wrongly opinionated.
On CA in general, the majority are not intelligent enough to be permitted voting privileges whatsoever! And I’ve lived here most my life. We need an annual voting skill test put in place!!! Plus proper ID verification of citizenship.
Check this out an eye opening report on just how stupid and uneducated California has become … A State Transformed: Immigration and the New California Spin this one lefties! Facts don’t lie.
As a native who lived all over the Golden State for 22 of my 37 years, I’m so glad we bugged out of there in 2007. The weather is something else and the geographic diversity is unmatched, but I just couldn’t take the psychopath progressives – from the homeless hippie dirtbags at the beach to the weightlifter in Sacramento – any more. Now we’re living the good life somewhere with more humidity, more trees, and better bbq.
I pretty much agree with Zombie. California needs a Chris Christie but we’re going to get either Gray Davis II or Governator II. Whitman is on an ego trip and when the media and chabilis-swillers start savaging her, she’ll fold like Arnold in order to keep getting invites to the better parties.
Brown will probably win anyway, given the voters who eat taxes outnumber those who pay them. The advantage of this is the crash will come sooner rather than being delayed a bit, and the bankruptcy and default on state bonds will force fiscal sanity and the start of a rebuilding. Whether those of us in the taxpaying middle class will survive is of course problematic.
I don’t call two terms of Ronald Reagan as Governor a brief period.
Why would an excellent individual endure entering politics in a state where he could only be ineffectual? Devore made a mistake, and the electorate corrected him.
Alexis de Tocqueville, 1835–
“When I stepped ashore in the United States, I discovered with amazement to what extent merit was common among the government but rare among the rulers.
It is not always the ability to choose men of merit which democracy lacks but the desire and inclination to do so.
In the United States, men of moderate desire commit themselves to the twists and turns of politics.It often comes about that only those who feel inadequate in the conduct of their own business undertake to direct the fortunes of the state.The general and continuous course of government is beneficial even though the rulers are often incompetent and sometimes despicable.”
People have not changed so much as times have changed. Where once the business of the country was business, now it is government–and the inadequate and incompetent ruler counts a great deal.
Zombie is dead on about these candidates. Once more the vote will be choosing the lesser of two evils. California has no Republican Party. There is the Marxist Democrat Party and the Democrat Party lite. That’s it folks. No real choices. And now with the insane passage of the open primary the choices will be limited to two Democrat candidates. Abandon all Hope.
Come November I will have to force my hand to pull the R lever.
I love you Zombie but this article is kind of shallow, and seems unnecessarily resentful of wealth.
I live in CA so I have a vested interest in seeing the state succeed. Meg made her money with her work and wits. If she wants to spend her fortune, and intelligence trying to help CA. then I say “Go for it!”. I have your back, Meg! Go for it! and thanks.
As for Jerry Brown – you did not mention that it was on his watch that the laws allowing public employees to unionize were created. Thanks to Jerry Brown, we have public employee unions with benefits far in excess of their worth – an estimated $100 to $500 billion dollar unfunded public employee union pension liability. Thanks Jerry. I will not be voting for you.
One point that everyone misses is that Carly recognizes the extent to which the left has insinuated itself into the decision making of corporate America.Much of the perception of her as a bad CEO has to do with board politics. The HP board is very left wing. In fact lefties have huge sway in the decision making of most corporations. Do some research on Harrington Investments if you don’t believe me. BTW, I am a farmer HP and Agilent employee.
So this Computer Equipment Manufacturer with a Test and Measurement Company growing out of his forehead walked into a bar. The bartender asked him what happened? The T&M Company replied, “I don’t know. It started as a pimple on my butt this morning.”
Meg’s name was tossed around as a replacement for SP. she didn’t have experience in the political arena. hence buy me a governorship for 2016 experience.
k at 16:were have you been, the colonization in 2002? ebb and flow of demographics. i remember the stats in the 90′s saying majority would be of Hispanic origin by 2k. why are you and your 2.8 kids surprised? for 100 points , when did the baby boom end?
Carly Fiorina didn’t carry the counties where there were significant numbers of people who had worked for her. She was a terrible boss of HP, and people were singing “ding, dong, the witch is dead” when the board canned her. Really, if we’re going to nominate a zillionaire, can’t we nominate a *competent* zillionaire, like Ron Unz?
I think that the main reason we now often get either “dinosaurs or zillionaires” in political contests is the tendency of voters not to look past sound-bites and, as Zombie suggests, images. Advertising, including negative advertising, was a big part of how the Republican primaries turned out. The Democratic candidates didn’t need advertising, because they already had a public forum. Even for someone as depressing as Barbara Boxer, being able to reach voters easily is a big advantage. Name exposure alone is the key to winning many of the lesser offices. I had a tough time finding out detailed positions for the candidates for Superintendent of Public Instruction, for example. Though I did find information on some of them. I imagine that many voters didn’t even try to look up their positions. The guy whose name was on all the fliers that went to Republican primary voters and the guy supported by the teacher’s unions will face off.
The anti-incumbent sentiment on the political right probably contributed to the wins by Fiorina and Whitman, both non-politicians. As well as to the vote for a general primary, which has apparently not worked out real well in Louisiana, where “vote for the crook” was once a real campaign slogan.
classic zombie. not wild about fiorina as the ceo of hp, but unless one subscribes to the “worse is better” approach to politics (i.e., let the Dems run the state SO farinto the ground that nobody with a functional brain would ever vote for them again) I’d have to vote for Krusty the Klown if he’d unseat that “shande” Boxer.
And Jerry Freaking Brown? i thought he’d been put out to pasture a long time ago… live and learn…
BTW, if this is published, Pajamasmedia.com appears to allow posting from an iPad
Whoever has the most gold makes all the rules. If the best person for the job did not get the majority vote, then they did not have enough gold to pitch themselves. As for those who did win…they had enough gold.
Not a fan of Carly, but that hard steely gaze backed by workable conservative principles might do some good against CA’s entitlement class as well as in the halls of Congress. She would make a good counterweight to Olympia Snowe. Glad to hear she stood up for Israel. That takes guts in our present environment.
As to the money behind the Repubs, it’s damned if you have it, damned if you don’t. Yes, they bought their way in….but it was THEIR money. At least they won’t be beholden to a bunch of faceless backers who put up the cash for their run. If they win they’ll be free to exercise the principles they believe in. Voters should closely examine what those principles are before pulling the lever.
California hasn’t had a governor’s mansion since Reagan was governor
It’s true! Reagan was the last to live in it, and it’s been a museum ever since. Our governors have had to find their own places to live for over 30 years now.
“let the Dems run the state SO farinto the ground that nobody with a functional brain would ever vote for them again”
That’s what the Republcans did, and yet, here you go again.
It’s amazing that liberals actually think anyone buys their attempts to rewrite history.
Mark,
They can only function with lies and delusions. The fact that they constantly have to remind people of their honesty just serves to prove it.
Sorry Zombie, but current limits on campaign contributions tends to limit our choices to:
Those that are selected and supported by the existing political apparatus
or
Those with enough money to pay for their own campaign
I am surprised at the classism in your post. Granted, I’m not a regular reader, but what I had read in the past did not lead me to believe you felt that way about the wealthy. Oh well, if I ever happen to become wealthy I suppose I won’t care that you might think me a clod because I shall be so out of touch. Ta-ta *waves frilly handkerchief in dismissal.
Yes, the California GOP’s addicted to self-funded candidates.
That said, I lived through and grew up during Jerry Brown’s first stint as governor. For me, there is nothing more evil, nothing more vile, no fate worse than the prospect of that man getting another term in Sacramento.
His last go-round was the start of this state’s slide into the abyss, he began the ceding of control over the state to the public-employee unions and the environmentalists and the anti-infrastructure crowd.
As mayor of Oakland he cultivated the black-power crony politics that have done so much for that city, great things like Your Black Muslim Bakery. He got very lucky that that particular pot didn’t boil over with the murder of Chauncey Bailey until he was gone.
And as Attorney General he’s been quite happy to take his marching orders from the usual run of Dem power interests.
Further, we’ve seen in DC what happens when one party gets all the levers of power. Arnold’s not much of a Republican, but he’s all we’ve got. Put Jerry in Sacramento and we’re in overdrive on the highway to hell.
What did we Californians do to deserve this? In a state with 37 million people, these are the best four we’ve got?
I totally agree, especially in the case of Governor Moonbeam, whose last term as governor was at half his current age.
I am horrified that this is the all the hugely beleaguered state, in woeful financial straits, can muster in the way of a democrat governor. If Moonbeam were to be elected, Californians can write off any hope of remediating its monstrous financial over-extension, especially when it comes to the pension debacle.
I’ve been astonished as to how such CA congresscritters as Boxer, Pelosi, Maxine Waters can continue to be re-elected.
I’m less familiar with Fiorina & Whitman, tho’ it’s a shame if money triumphed over substance in both cases.
SC Democrats just nominated a homeless guy who didn’t even campaign for their senate seat.
Stay tuned on that one . . . who was the candidate, really, and who actually voted for him? Meanwhile the Republicans just voted for a Scientologist in Nevada.
In Whitman’s case, it can’t fairly be said that money triumphed. Her opponent, Steve Poizner, spent some $40 mil of his own money. Seemingly, he didn’t start campaigning until it was too late.
I hate to be controversial here. But, as bad as Jerry Brown has been at all the other jobs he’s had, he was a GREAT mayor of Oakland! First mayor over there I ever saw who actually got anything positive done. Very pro-business, very practical, not imperial. He, simply, did a GREAT job.
I can’t, for the life of me, figure out why he can’t perform that way in everything else he does. As soon as he became Attorney General, he started up with the useless tired liberal BS again. Sad, really.
Come on Zombie, let the Jerry-love flow! Of course he doesnt have a solution for Cali’s upcoming bankruptcy but neither does Meg. I’m sick of RINOs being the front men for the excesses of the Demos and their union buddies. I want a Demo face on the absolutely inevitable crack-up which is only a few months off. You ask what the voters in a state that voted three billion dollars for stem-cell research just to send that evil old Bush a message (seen any results?) did to deserve this? Look at the confused human refuse they have stuffed the legislature with. Look at Mayor Viva La Raza standing next to the wrinkled and visibly spitting Jerry as he rambled on incoherently; Viva La Raza wins by a landslide in this city, a city whose voters do DESERVE everything that is going to happen to them at the hands of the Party Of Compassion.
So your objection to Whitman and Fiorina is that they are rich and spent zillions on their campaigns? One searches your post in vain for substantive objections to how they might govern and legislate. Having both been extremely successful CEOs of major corporations, they both at least presumably know something about budgeting and operating within the financial means available. This seems to be a relevant thing both for California and our nation, no? Or maybe you have a better idea who might stand up to the public employees’ unions and other special interests driving the spending orgies?
In and case, I’m not impressed by your seemingly sole objection that they both spent a lot on their campaigns. Would it have been preferable if movie moguls, labor unions or rent-seeking corporations had spent those zillions instead?
I love it that Whitman and Fiorina are paying for their own campaigns. If they win, they will be in NOBODY’S pocket. They can carry out reforms without having to cave.They are free.
11. skeeziks
Obligatory bigotry towards the Developmentally Disabled – “…quite a week for the conservatards…” Nothing new, same old sleazits bigot.
Interesting. Do they really deliver all those magazines you see at the checkout counter to the Cesspool? Has the Grand Wizard of Modern Liberal Thought has found its calling – Check Out Counter Philosophy? How quaint. It fits.
And, we have The Principal Liar sleazits Persons Galore showing a most frightened Claude Frollo like fascination with, of all things, women. The drool and the possibilities! If only their thinking was correct. The Principal Liar sleazits Persons Galore could… maybe love something besides raw sewage.
And lie to them too!
Do Cesspoolers have the opportunity to interact? Is there danger that when sparks fly that there may be a methane explosion? Not really, this is a breed that only has passion for itself. Nothing else matters. Sexuality consists of looking in the funhouse mirror and seeing a long standing Modern Liberal White House correspondent rapping out approved bigotry. Love, love love! Bye! Or a Wannabe Jihadist blowing up one’s crotch in a failed attempt to impress murders. Bye again! Mmm, mmm, mmm. Feels so good!
Alert!
The Modern Liberal Cesspooler gets a kick from Mr. President! Find Me Some Ass To Kick! So Mr. President Kick Ass Kicks Ass! And whose? The Principal Liar sleazits! How exciting! The Kick Me sign nailed to your ass pays off! Boom! At least Mr. President finally did something. Why is Mr. President soooo unpopular? Did he kick you hard enough?
How did Mr. President find you? Is it true that Mr. Gibbs sent you a message by stuffing a note into a load and simply flushing? Boy, Modern Liberals sure do know how to network. Then there’s the plugged toilet theory. Use of a plunger has been effective in bringing Persons Galore to the surface.
You know, Van Jones was asking about Kyber. He’s concerned. He did flush some chocolate down the Modern Liberal Expressway to aid with your happiness. After all, Modern Liberals have been known to be kind – sometimes.
Heavy thinking by the Grand Wizard of Modern Liberal Thought –
69. skeeziks:
“You people are children. You remind me of my granddaughter who yesterday got caught feeding chocolate to Kyber our dog. She knows she’s not supposed to do that. She said, ‘You don’t know what Kyber likes, only Kyber does.’”
Jan 29, 2010 – 9:05 am
But more importantly, Modern Liberals, Don’t Let Your Children Grow Up to Be Conservatards. Indeed, freedom of thought in the Cesspool is not allowed.
You made your cesspool. Love it or leave it.
Whatever.
i get it now. Earth is a second language for you. You speak it quite well for an alien. Papers, please.
“i get it now.” Liar. Get that too?
The Principal Liar skeezits Persons Galore actually gets something? Yeah, it’s somewhat like getting the “papers” flushed as a means of communication. The used toilet paper is on the way. Flusssshhhh! You can sort it out on that end.
Little Jenny sleazits [crying]: “Earth is a second language for you”
Of course. And truth is a non-language for The Principal Liar skeezits Persons Galore.
You know, it’s obvious that you are quite beat down. The old cesspool just ain’t what it used to be. Todays 1:00pm scan/remarks are so weak, so lame, shortened, going through the lamest of motions, so sleazits, that it does appear that the conditioning program is having an effect. Persons Galore are falling aside, they have no use any longer, the lying Persons Galore loser ID “game” is exposed, and the dominate/weakling sleazits has taken hold. The remarks are so tepid that the image of Winston Smith post O’Brien comes to mind. And that “pair ” you so desire will never grow on that arid Barbie doll plastic.
So…no, you people, hillbilly references, idiot, stupid, you have no standing, Hail Rush, Go Sarah? Self inflicted choke chain, Kyber, the best kind.
All that is needed is a gushing admission of Love for the Half White Man in the Oval Office. A quote of the approval ratings will suffice. Remember the giddy days when it was “We Won”, “live with it”, and “Mr. Half Black has a 60% approval rating”. Anvil loves the Kick Me sign nailed to your ass. Boom! Was Mr. “Kick Some Ass” President gentle?
You need some gin? I’ll flush some to you as a gesture of understanding. Open wide!
“You speak it quite well for an alien.” Well golly gee, the Modern Liberal Persons Galore believes in flying saucers too! What next, fiscal restraint? Muslim murders are… bad? Conservatives are people?
Van Jones wants you for his next movie, “Green Oakland Le Oscar Ripoff”, starring Pee Wee moho and Now and Then the Basted Modern Liberal Turkey Loser.
Is Little Jenny sleazits [crying]?
You made your cesspool. Love it or leave it.
Whatever.
Blork skoonyta zozz ferntata! Blungsorsik stazi sherade, igno porz? Shapung.
Fale Doosh! Ubo Sassee!
Wow. This is clearly the most coherent argument you have posted yet. I’m ready and willing to become a follower of Principal Skeezits le Grouche levine.
“You made your cesspool. Love it or leave it.
Whatever.”
The problem with leftists is that not only that they want to live in a self-created cesspool, but want to share it with the rest of us. Unfortunately, the anti-liberal left has run on slogans for years. (Hail Rush Go Sarah or something of the sort.) Skeezitski is a typical anti-liberal leftist who depends on bumper sticker slogans to carry a political debate; as previously noted, he/she loves to rail against the lack of intelligence of those that disagree, but recoils in horror when he/she finds out that its detractors are more educated and certainly have more pertinent information. I will amend my earlier comments; if these people want to live in a world that adheres to their beliefs, they should move not only to Europe, but specifically to Greece.
My suggestion? Please move to a state that has followed the advice of your minders for years. Move to Greece and enjoy the benefits of statism.
Also, putting so much personal wealth into the campaign effort indicates to me that Whitman and Fiorina sincerely want those jobs.They have not been selected and groomed for years as “created” candidates by political strategists. They may not be warm and fuzzy but damn, they will get the job done.
Great summary, Zombie. I’m an ABB voter – anybody but Boxer/Brown.
Still, you’ve got to credit Democrats for living up to their environmentalist ideals: they even recycle candidates.
I’m surprised zombie didn’t mention the biggest clown of all. Gavin Newsom, so recently fated for a return to the Sandra Oh side of a wine counter, got the Democrat nomination for California Lieutenant Governor.
Makes me wonder if he doesnt have access to Jerry Brown’s health records. Oh well, Gavin might win if he can paint Abel Maldonado as Cruz Bustamante. My beef with Maldonado was not so much that he raised taxes, but that he held the line on the gas tax…the one tax where illegal aliens pay a proportional, if not outsize share of…due to driving banda bomber SUVs, clunkers and using lawn equipment.
Yes, it was a VERY disappointing election. Spent the Wednesday morning removing my bummper stickers and taking down my yard signs.
Whitman is not a bad candidate, just not a good one. She prevailed over Poizner using money. She saturated the media for MONTHS prior to the primary, building name recognition. However, her talking points were pablum. Personally, my feeling is that if she wins, she will be ineffective against the legislature – a third term of Arnold. Politics is substantially different from business. In business, one is expected to ADD VALUE. Name an elected Democrat who has done that.
Fiorna is likewise not a bad candidate, just not a good one. Her time at HP really made me dislike her. She missed the key to success of HP and took them in the wrong direction. I trust neither to make the right, tough calls ahead.
The upside to these two Republicans is that they won’t be asking me for contrabutions every 8 hours. I’ll vote for them this time.
For Lt. governor, there is a REALLY had choice – Newsom versus Maldonardo. I will not reward the later with my vote after he turned traitor and voted to massively raise our taxes. At least Newsom will be entertaining. Maybe I’ll write-in Mickey Kaus.
The propositions were also tragic. All the winners are losers (expect the earthquake one, 13).
Woe be we.
States cannot take bankruptcy, but there is an equivalent;
Whitman and Fiorina may plan to preside over the forced
restructuring of California’s economy and government,
quite possibly assisted by the state being under
Martial Law during the Reconstruction prosess.
Fiorina is running for United States Senator, and will have no place in any forced restructuring of CA, other than a vote on whether or not the Federal Government will pay for it. It is Whitman who will have to deal with the Receiver appointed by the Court to restructure CA’s government, and the neccessary re-writing of the public-employee union contracts that have driven the State into this intolerable situation.
There will be no Martial Law: That would only increase the velocity of taxpayers leaving the state for better economic climes! The big question is whether Meg has the backbone to fire any public-safety personnel who go out on strike during the restructuring? If she does, she will be favorably compared to Reagan and his treatment of the Air Traffic Controllers. If she doesn’t, she will go down as just another spineless, ineffective politician, more interested in her personal popularity than the interests of her constituency.
Fiorina will be having some very interesting sotto voce
conversations with TPTB in the Senate, come the day.
Whitman will declare, or request, a State of Martial Law and
assistance from the military if things go from bad to worse,
with bad being the way things were during the Watts riots,
and worse being the way they will be if some saboteur targets
a critical component of the infrastructure.
The very fact that you are asking the how California is a nasty sewer full of STUPID most likely explains why your political class is thoroughly depressing.
Look on the bright side, no matter wins in California your sewer-state is only going to grow nastier, uglier and far more STUPID than the STUPID you are today:
http://www.cis.org/california-education
* In 1970, California had the 7th most educated work force of the 50 states in terms of the share of its workers who had completed high school. By 2008 it ranked 50th, making it the least educated state. (Table 1a)
* Education in California has declined relative to other states. The percentage of Californians who have completed high school has increased since 1970; however, all other states made much more progress in improving their education levels; as a result, California has fallen behind the rest of the country. (Table 1b)
* The large relative decline in education in California is a direct result of immigration. Without immigrants, the share of California’s labor force that has completed high school would be above the national average.
* There is no indication that California will soon close the educational gap. California ranks 35th in terms of the share of its 19-year-olds who have completed high school. Moreover, one-third (91,000) of the adult immigrants who arrived in the state in 2007 and 2008 had not completed high school.2
* In 1970 California was right at the national average in terms of income inequality, ranking 25th in the nation. By 2008, it was the 6th most unequal state in the country based on the commonly used Gini coefficient, which measures how evenly income is distributed. (Tables 2a and 2b)
* California’s income distribution in 2008 was more unequal than was Mississippi’s in 1970. (Tables 2a and 2b)
* While historical data are not available, we can say that in 2008 California ranked 11th highest in terms of the share of its households accessing at least one major welfare program and 8th highest in terms of the share of the state’s population without health insurance. (Tables 3 and 4)
* The large share of California adults who have very little education is likely to strain social services and make it challenging for the state to generate sufficient tax revenue to cover the demands for services made by its large unskilled population.
Also, be mindful to the fact that California is a Blue Smurf sewer-state full STUPID since Liberals and Democrats-in general-are economically illiterate idiots:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703561604575282190930932412.html
“Adam Smith described political economy as “a branch of the science of a statesman or legislator.” Governmental power joined with wrongheadedness is something terrible, but all too common. Realizing that many of our leaders and their constituents are economically unenlightened sheds light on the troubles that surround us.”
California. It’s not who you are voting for, it’s who you are voting against. Just for once, I’d like to go into a general election and be able to vote for a candidate who is not the lesser of two evils.
CA is, yes, personna, not ideology. Both Carly & Meg will be much better than the Dems would, but their less-than-star politician qualities are not the tragedy.
Gerrymandered Dem / Rep districts, and the huge number of Dems likely to be re-elected are the problem. So many it’s hard, and boring, to talk about them. The hope of the Tea Parties is to slowly change more of those local district races.
Small gov’t conservatives can NEVER really reduce gov’t by being a better King, not even Reagan. Newt and taking majority control at the national level was needed, and Reps getting enough legislative votes to support a Rep governor will be needed to turn CA around.
It’s probably a multi-election process, probably not successful until it’s too late (too much degradation) to ever again achieve the remarkable 70s-00s 35 year econ boom.
It’s California.
2 rich women think California is worth saving and want to give it a shot. I’m betting left wing zealots and self absorbed elites and sleazy govt. unions will try to crush them. our black”socialism at any cost” president will try to nail our nations coffin shut, by robbing from the treasury money we no longer have to throw to the state as his final tyrranical move.. despicably greedy union members may dance in the streets as muslims did on 9/11. Neverthess…I pray the ladies, both capable women, will succeed.
I thought Jerry Brown had crawled into a hole never to be seen again. WOW, he must be 150 by now. I have not lived in California in over 40 years, it was nice then. The people there keep sending the same people up expecting a different outcome, sounds like insanity too me.
The hole was already occupied by Dick Cheney.
i’m with you about 75 percent of the way, but was the snark about oakland really necessary ? there seems to be no lack of candidates when it comes time to elect a mayor..guess they didn’t get the zombie memo that nobody wants the job. jerry, as it turned out, did a pretty good job as mayor, fulfilling his promise to bring residents downtown, a good number of businesses moved into town (many from san fran across the bay) and the entertainment district is bustling..especially since the re-birth of the classic fox theater..and the port is is the second busiest on the entire west coast. you could run into jerry jogging around beautiful lake merritt any day of the week and engage him in conversation, making him an unusually accessible elected official..and he was always there to promote anything that stood to benefit america’s most diverse and racially integrated city. crime was down thanks to his agressive fight against releasing parolees to oakland..potholes were filled..what more could one want from their mayor ? now, if you want to talk about a do-nothing re-tread from yesteryear, the current mayor, ron dellums, might be deserving of a nasty crack or two.. but jerry is a thoughtful, nuts-and-bolts kinda guy that i wouldn’t mind seeing get another crack at the governorship.. even if he still lives in..eeek!!..oakland.
From Dellums to Brown entails no meaningful change. The garbage pail and the latrine can serve the same purpose. For both the name of the game is money, power, status, and justification of their favorite immoralities.(Which covers lots of possibilities). Born in CA, we left several years ago because, with the influx from all directions, the unwashed masses had become so onerous that one could not live and work in peace. The Land of Fruits and Nuts has become a giant San Francisco, where nobody cares who does what; or why. Look at who they want to lead them: The Gropenator, feminazis, Jerry the Fairy, Ron “Do’em from behind” Dellums, Henry Hochiminh Waxman, et sim. This is the crew from the Welcome Wagon at the Gates of Hell. “Tell me who you voted for, and I’ll tell you what you are.”
Tell us how you really feel.
California truly is the US in small. It has been so rich for so long,
its politicians have become so corrupt and convinced of their power
to solve any problem by throwing money at it, that there is no hope
of gradual reform. The system has to crash and be replaced by reality
based government, which is where the (relatively) honest outsiders
Whitman and Fiorina come in; They can use the emergency powers granted
to carry out the court-ordered restructuring of the economy, and to
cope with civil disturbances, to set up a sustainable state.
So far Fiorina has managed to make a fool of herself on open mikes.
I don’t think she has a chance against Boxer and the Dems are going to have a real party with her track record.
I really really hate to see it but I think Boxer is going win. Fiorina seems smug, esp about her ..hair..and who is going to be on what show.
There had to be someone better.
Whitman…against an aging hippie..it could be a cloudy circus..
230 years ago Jefferson quoted Locke “”Politics attracts the worst of huanity” which is why the best governmentg is almost no government. Was true since the begining of civilization, and is true in 2010.
I spent two years in Los Angeles at USC from 1982 to 1984. California was highly vibrant, then. I came back to Ohio, which has slipped from its long-time rank as #21 in per capita income ten years ago to #31 (or something like that) today. If I had the money I would move to Laramie, Wyoming, due to its low taxes, and non-insane people. Also, it is not hot in summer, there. Our GOP is Democratic Lite. California has an out of control illegal immigration problem, a collapsed higher and lower education system, a collapsed rail and highway transportation system, and is a walking example of the results of casual use of drugs. Plus, it is a magnet for child molesters. The politicians there are largely vaporheads. No need to worry about martial law there, just Martian Law.
Nothing wrong with being a career politician. Its called job experience. Instead we’re stuck on putting naive noobs into office who spend the first two years trying to figure out what the hell is going on and the last two years trying to get re-elected.