RightChange Ad: 'Call Me Senator'

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We don't care who y'are, this is funny:


- JP

Quote of the Day (October 11, 2010)

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Carly Fiorina, re Gov. Palin, in a CNN interview:

"I certainly think she's qualified to be president of the United States."

- JP

You know, maybe endorsing Carly Fiorina wasn't such a bad move after all

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A mea culpa of sorts, from a DeVore supporter:

"During the California Senate primary, my major criticisms of Carly Fiorina were that she had no public track record to back her on the issues, and that as a novice campaigner she was liable to make mistakes and lose a winnable race. During the race I didn’t quite give her the Tom Campbell treatment, but I gave Chuck DeVore all the support I could."

[...]

"Sometimes we’re all just plain wrong about a candidate, and a person who wins a primary has more of what it takes than outsiders ever expected."

"Carly Fiorina has stayed the same person since winning the primary. Some thought that without a track record, she could shift rapidly and hard to the left on key issues, trying to make it easier on herself to win. But no, she’s stuck to her guns on life, on illegal immigration, on radical “green” regulation, and most importantly on the need to get government out of the way in order to let us get some job creation going again in California. And in fact rather than fading or falling apart, she mounted a comeback win in the primary, and has now taken leads in two polls of likely voters."

Well, give our former RS colleague Neil due credit. He's man enough to admit that Carly is not quite the RINO that the DeVore camp insisted she was.

More good conservatives continue to wake up and smell the tea, realizing that Sarah Palin has remarkable political instincts and knows exactly what she's doing, not only with her candidate endorsements, but with the overwhelming majority of her other key decisions as well. Gov. Palin took a lot of flak from many on the right for resigning as governor, taking a pass on CPAC 2010, and a number of other political moves that, in retrospect, have worked very much to her advantage. And yes, we're not above saying, "We told you so." You dang well betcha!

- JP

California Steaming: Fiorina Leads Boxer for First Time in Senate Race

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From John McCormack at TWS Blog comes news that Carly Fiorina, bolstered with an endorsement from Sarah Palin, has taken the lead for the first time in her bid to unseat liberal California Senator Barbara Boxer:

Noxer is trailing Republican challenger Carly Fiorina by 2 points--47% to 45%--in a new SurveyUSA poll of likely voters released this evening. Fiorina has been closing in on Boxer--cutting the Democrat's lead from six, to five, to four, to three points in the last four polls--but this is the first public poll showing Fiorina in the lead.

Read McCormack's orginal post, complete with links, right here.

- JP

Liberal Media Hypocrisy: Mocking Palin Good; Mocking Boxer Bad

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Examiner Devonia Smith blogs from Dallas with yet another textbook example of left wing media hypocrisy:

Left wing Media boobs are pushing their hypocritical agenda again. This time they are busy criticizing Carly Fiorina for her joke about Barbara Boxer's hair - the same media that recently spent days mocking Sarah Palin about whether she had a breast enlargement. Are both an example of left-wing media bias gotcha journalism targeting conservatives?

[...]

Fiorina has been labeled by the left as "a mean girl, catty, tart and unpleasant" and asked repeatedly if she intends to apologize. Where are the calls for apology for unending personal mockery about Palin - everything from her hair, the glasses she wears, her heels, her religion, her intelligence, her family, the way she talks to most recently her boobs? Sarah has been called a saint and a sinner and a dim-wit.

Yet one off the cuff remark about Boxer's hair and Carley is crucified. Obviously, Palin is not a left wing media darling and Boxer is.

The dying lamestream media doesn't understand that an increasingly skeptical public is tired of its biased propaganda and is no longer buying. Or perhaps the mediots do realize it, but they're counting on Obama and the Democrat-controlled to bail them out and save their jobs. Either way, they're playing a very risky game. They would face better odds against any casino in Las Vegas.

- JP

AP declares Fiorina winner in California GOP Senate race

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Carly Fiorina, who was endorsed by Sarah Palin May 6, has won the GOP primary in California and will challenge Sen. Barbara Boxer for her seat in the U.S. Senate. Susan Davis has the details at the WSJ's Washington Wire:

California Republicans elected former Hewlett-Packard Co. CEO Carly Fiorina to take on incumbent Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer this November.

The Associated Press declared Fiorina the winner in Tuesday’s GOP Senate primary with just 10% of precincts reporting. Her closest rival, former Rep. Tom Campbell, led in the early stretch of the primary campaign, but ran out of momentum and money and had to pull his television ads early.

Tea party favorite and Assemblyman Chuck DeVore was also in the race, but proved incapable of getting his message out or gaining traction in a sprawling state with expensive media markets.

Campbell maintained that he was a better general election candidate against Boxer because of his own centrist record and California’s Democratic leanings.

However, Fiorina was well-funded and well-known, even though she has never held elected office—a fact that has proven an asset for candidates in this antiestablishment election year.

- JP

PPP poll confirms SUSA survey: Carly has a big lead

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Hot on the heels of the SurveyUSA (SUSA) poll released yesterday which shows that Carly Fiorina has taken the lead the the California GOP primary race for the U.S. Senate, comes a Public Policy Polling (PPP) survey indicating that the Fiorina lead is even wider than shown in the SUSA poll:

In the Senate race for the right to challenge incumbent Democrat Barbara Boxer, Fiorina pulls 41% to Tom Campbell’s 21% and Chuck DeVore’s 16%, with 4% pledging support to minor candidates and 18% undecided. Campbell actually leads Fiorina 32-30 among the 28% moderate minority, but Fiorina leads 47-15 among the 69% conservative majority, with DeVore at 19%.

PPP's sample of 417 likely California Republican primary voters was conducted May 21 - May 23 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.8 percent. Fiorina was endorsed by Sarah Palin May 6.

- JP

Carly Fiorina surges into GOP lead in new CA poll

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Another candidate who has Sarah Palin's endorsement has jumped into the lead in a new public opinion poll. The latest SurveyUSA poll conducted in California shows that Carly Fiorina has replaced Tom Campbell as the leader in the GOP primary for the U.S. Senate:

In the Republican primary for US Senator, support for former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina is up sharply in the past 2 weeks, from 24% on 05/10/10 to 46% today, 05/24/10. Fiorina's support has more than doubled among women, seniors, Hispanics, the less educated, and in the Inland Empire. During these 2 weeks, Former Congressman Tom Campbell's support dropped 12 points, from 35% on 05/10/10 to 23% today, 05/24/10.

Chuck DeVore, despite claims by his supporters that he would moving up in the polls, remains static in third place. In fact, DeVore is down one point from two weeks ago, from 15 percent to 14 percent.

Another candidate Gov. Palin endorsed, Nikki Haley, shot into a double digit lead over her nearest GOP rival in the primary race for governor of South Carolina immediately after getting the nod from the 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate, while prior polls had shown Haley fourth in the field.

- JP

C. K. Macleod: DeVore should take one for the team

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C. K. Macleod, from Hot Air's Green Room:

Chuck DeVore is a solid conservative, very well-qualified to be senator or to hold other important offices or positions, but he doesn’t seem to have a prayer of both overtaking Carly Fiorina and defeating Tom Campbell in the June 8 Republican senate primary. He should drop out and, following Sarah Palin’s lead, endorse Fiorina for the good of the conservative movement, the state, and the nation.

[...]

California conservatives, who, to say the least, used to be a major positive factor in state and national politics, have a reputation gained since after Ronald Reagan’s time, and especially since the ’90s, of preferring ideological purity and self-defeating gestures over success and influence. Chuck DeVore has a chance to show that they’re now capable of mature calculation and team play.

[...]

Currently, Campbell appears to have a solid but not insurmountable plurality lead over Fiorina, with DeVore’s third-place vote more than making up the potential difference.

Macleod says DeVore and his supporters need to put up or shut up. Show us the money and the polling numbers that show he can win the primary and give Boxer a run for her own considerable money in the general. Otherwise, it's to hang 'em up, endorse Fiorina, and stop the liberal Campbell now.

- JP

Santorum joins Sarah Palin in endorsing Carly Fiorina

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Tuesday night on Fox News' "On The Record" with Greta Susteren, former Sen. Rick Santorum defended Sarah Palin's endorsement of Carly Fiorina and declared his own support for the former Hewlett Packard CEO in California's GOP primary race for the U.S. Senate:



- JP

Sarah Palin Won't Back Down

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Though some of her supporters aren't happy about it, Sarah Palin won't back down from her endorsement of former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina in the California GOP U.S. Senate primary:

"The governor is never one to go with the flow," Jason Recher, a spokesman for Palin said, explaining that the former Alaska governor respects the differing opinions but is sticking by her choice. "She is a very independent person, and she shakes things up in establishments -- including grassroots establishments -- all the time."

The former Republican vice presidential candidate made the endorsement on her Facebook page, saying Fiorina's experience running a major corporation is sorely lacking in Washington.

In the Thursday posting, Palin called Fiorina a "Commonsense Conservative" who has the potential to beat "liberal" Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer in November.

After some of her Facebook fans posted comments asking Gov. Palin to change her endorsement, she posted an update:

She listed reasons for her support, including the endorsement of Fiorina by National Right to Life and the California Pro-Life Council.

"She is pro-life, pro-traditional marriage, pro-military and pro-strict border security and against amnesty," Palin wrote. "Carly is also a strong supporter of the Second Amendment. Like me, she is a member of the (National Rifle Association), has a 100 percent NRA rating, and she and her husband are gun owners."

Fiorina is essentially in a two-person race with former congressman Tom Campbell, a liberal Republican who is leading in most polls. DeVore is lagging far behind, and his campaign is strapped for cash. This bodes ill for DeVore in a hypothetical general election match up with well-financed liberal Democrat Boxer.

- JP

Erickson disses Palin in trying to make the case for DeVore

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This is a post we wish we did not have to write. Criticizing a friend and former colleague from our days as a RedState contributor brings us no joy. But after reading Erick Erickson's front page post "I’m staying with Chuck DeVore," we could not let it go unanswered.

The piece is so heavily laden with condescension that, frankly, we had to check the byline twice to believe that this stuff was coming from Erick. This seems so out of character for Erick that we wonder if someone else had posted it using his name. In the past, he has been both supportive and critical of Sarah Palin, but in every instance he was fair. Even when he slammed the governor for speaking at the National Tea Party Convention and SRLC instead of going with the flow to CPAC, he at least tempered his criticism with follow-up posts based on personal observations.

But Erick's DeVore piece directly insults Gov. Palin's intelligence:

"You can say all day that she doesn’t have the 'intellectual curiosity' to be President — which is to Palin as 'Cheney’s gravitas' was to Bush — but you cannot deny this woman is fundamentally conservative, Christian, and would be a heck of a lot better than the present guy in the White House. For all of you who deny her intellect, you cannot deny her gut is conservative."

Conservatives never look more ridiculous than when they mimic left wing memes, and the old "intellectual curiosity" fake pearl comes right out of the DKos/DNC plastic jewel box.

That Sarah Palin is intellectually curious is a fact that she has proven time and again. She been photographed holding one of her two copies of Mark Levin's Liberty and Tyranny, and lest one believe that book was nothing more than a prop, Gov. Palin has cited Thomas Sowell, the Cato Institute's Michael Cannon, Dr. Stuart Weinstein of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, Thomas L. DiLorenzo of the Mises Institute, and a number of Heritage Foundation scholars in her op-eds on Facebook and in newspapers from The Wall Street Journal to the Washington Post.

In her arguments, she has challenged and refuted President Obama and no small number of his surrogates, from Vice President Joe Biden to Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel on issues from energy security to health care rationing.

She has been praised for her intelligence by politicos from Charlie Black to Newt Gingrich, pundits from Fred Barnes to Camile Paglia, and intellectuals from Victor Davis Hanson to Yuval Levin.

We still can't believe that Erick even brought up the left's "intellectual curiosity" straw man when there was no reason to do so in the context of his argument. It was completely gratuitous and the sort of thing we would expect from The Huffington Post, not from RedState. When will conservatives learn that repeating leftist talking points, unless one is making an argument to refute them, only serves to do damage to the conservative cause? We know Erick is no elitist, so it is puzzling to see him going down the path already well worn by David Frum, Kathleen Parker and others of their ilk. We know that Erick is better than that.

As for his argument for Chuck DeVore, Erick never mentions that California is a blue state. It's not your father's California, nor is it Ronald Reagan's anymore. There are Conservative bastions there, but it has become difficult for a conservative to win an election of national significance in the land of fruits and nuts. No Republican was won a race for the U.S. Senate in California since Pete Wilson did it back in 1983.

You can safely bet that the Golden State's shift leftward was one of the primary factors Sarah Palin weighed in her decision to endorse Carly Fiorina. Just as Scott Brown was about the best conservatives could have reasonably hoped for in a U.S. Senator from blue Massachusetts, Gov. Palin reasoned that Fiorina is the best we can expect to defeat Barbara Boxer with in California. And defeating Boxer is one of the keys to prying control of the U.S. Senate out of the hands of the overreaching Democrats. Against Boxer, Fiorina's poll numbers are trending upward, while those of Devore and Campbell are in decline. This too, was likely part of the Palin political calculus.

All of the positive things Erick had to say about Gov. Palin in his diary were reduced to just backhanded compliments because he played the "intellectual curiosity" card from the bottom of the left's stacked deck. It's a place where Erick didn't have to go, and we are sadly disappointed that he felt the need to go there. As we said, we have always rated Erick as better than that, so we're at a loss to explain why he did it. If you can't make the case for DeVore without dissing Sarah Palin, then perhaps you have no case at all.

- JP

Bad form, Chuck

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The reaction of California Assemblyman Chuck DeVore and his campaign to Sarah Palin's endorsement of Carly Fiorina, one of his opponents in the GOP primary contest to take on Barbara Boxer in the general election, demonstrates a clear lack of good form.

Californian Stacy Drake comments:

My opinion [of DeVore] changed today after Sarah Palin gave her endorsement to DeVore’s challenger, Carly Fiorina. It wasn’t Governor Palin’s endorsement that got me to change my mind about him, it was his reaction to the endorsement that served as a big red flag warning to this man’s leadership capabilities. Plain and simple, Chuck DeVore is no statesmen. The statement he allowed to be released by his campaign was immature and derogatory. It said:

“This grassroots movement is actually a grassroots movement,” said DeVore spokesperson Joshua Trevino. “Carly Fiorina thinks she can find the sheepdog to corral the sheep. Chuck DeVore knows they’re not sheep at all. They’re Americans. And they’ll make their own decisions.”

I was dumbfounded that he would let that be released in his name. It shows that he is lacking in class and maturity. Are we not electing leaders here? What kind of leader lashes out and let’s his staff lash out in this manner? I think they may be in ‘melt-down’ mode over at his headquarters but that is no excuse. This evening has really highlighted a serious character flaw in what I perceived as a good candidate.

[...]

There is a certain way one can handle the various situations life throws at us. Character shows in difficult times and during difficult circumstances. Tonight I saw Chuck DeVore’s character and it wasn’t pretty.

And from Texas, Gary P. Jackson weighs in:

The bottom line on all of this is quite simple really. Tom Campbell is unacceptable, and Chuck DeVore is simply unelectable. So unacceptable is Campbell that leaving Senator “Don’t Call Me Ma’am” in office is almost more preferable! Campbell is more dangerous than Senator Boxer. At least Boxer has never taken money from a convicted terrorist Tom Campbell has! And despite her really long list of faults, Barbara Boxer has never failed to support Israel. Tom Campbell, on the other hand, sides with the Obama regime and share’s the disdain for our friends and allies.

In short…electing Tom Campbell would be a total disaster for the nation.

Sadly, for those who support DeVore, even after he and his supporters lack of class and professionalism, all you may succeed in doing is electing Tom Campbell.

With that thought in mind, we are enthusiastically endorsing Carly Fiorina and encourage our readers to do the same. Carly was the CEO of Hewlett-Packard. She is the only one in the race who has ever had to make payroll. Not sure about anyone else, but I think we need more seasoned business leaders and a hell of a lot less trial lawyers and “constitutional law professors” in D.C. How about you?

But there's more. DeVore, who sounds like he needs some Wisconsin cheese to go with his California whine, posted this op-ed on RedState.com today:

If you didn’t hear, Sarah Palin posted a Facebook message earlier yesterday about the California Republican primary.

She bashed Tom Campbell.

She tried to ignore me.

And she announced her support of Carly Fiorina.

She called Fiorina a “commonsense conservative” and said Fiorina is “the only conservative in the race who can beat Barbara Boxer.”

I like Sarah Palin. I think highly of her. But she got this dead wrong.

[...]

I’m not going to lie to you, I would have liked Sarah Palin’s endorsement, too (and I look forward to getting it after I win the primary).

[...]

Based on the Facebook and Twitter comments, it seems a lot of Sarah’s supporters weren’t very happy about her decision to support Carly.

The rest of DeVore's RS opinion piece is a mixture of Fiorina-bashing and spamming for campaign cash. It's no surprise that DeVore chose RedState to pimp his message. DeVore campaign communications director Josh Trevino is a co-founder of RS, and he's a good friend of those who make RedState's decisions. He knows that the site has a strong anti-Palin contingent among its membership that would fuel a DeVore post with sympathetic, Palin-bashing comments.

This is how politics is played, and its not a game for the faint of heart. Still, by virtue of Trevino's "sheepdog" slap at Sarah Palin and the not-so-subtle sneering at the governor in DeVore's op-ed -- while insisting that he "thinks highly" of her -- the Assemblyman from California has revealed a character flaw that we find... disturbing. He may be the most conservative candidate in the race, but sometimes that isn't quite enough to qualify for an endorsement.

- JP

Quote of the Day (May 6, 2010)

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Carly Fiorina:

"I am honored and grateful to have Sarah Palin’s support. She, too, is a political outsider and a strong fiscal conservative, and we share a common concern for the direction our country is headed in under Barbara Boxer and her allies in Washington. Californians across the state have had enough of Washington insiders and their political games, and together, I am confident we will help restore integrity to our nation’s capital by bringing Barbara Boxer’s 28-year career to an end."

- JP

Marc Ambinder: Why Palin Endorsed Fiorina

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Mark Ambinder, The Atlantic's politics editor, gives his reasons why he thinks Sarah Palin endorsed Carly Fiorina:

Well, it's kind of simple. DeVore is almost certainly going to lose. And more self-identified Tea Partiers back Fiorina, despite what one might assume from looking at the race. Fiorina's spending-cuts message resonates among these voters.

In the long-term, Palin might just have found a wealthy new friend who will be Senator from California and in a position to endorse her in a presidential primary. But there's no shortage of reasons to think that Palin simply decided to pick the person who best represented the values held by her constituency. And that, according to these folks themselves, is Carly Fiorina.

[...]

Palin wants to a pick a winner, she wants to go where her supporters are, and she might simply just enjoy Fiorina's sparking personality.

Read Marc Ambinder's full column here.

Update: Ambinder doesn't mention the buzz about DeVore's campaign allegedly paying staff with taxpayer dollars (h/t: Adrienne Ross). Even if this is not going on, just the appearance of such a practice would be enough by itself to make Gov. Palin cross DeVore off of her endorsement list.

- JP

Sarah Palin Endorses Carly Fiorina (Updated)

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Sarah Palin endorsed Carly Fiorina in a post of the former governor's Facebook Notes page Thursday:

Let’s shake it up in California!

I’d like to tell you about a Commonsense Conservative running for office in California this year. She grew up in a modest home with a school teacher dad, worked her way through several colleges, and then entered an arena where few women had tread. Through a combination of hard work, perseverance, and common sense, she proved the naysayers wrong to reach the top of her field, where she led with distinction – facing hard truths, making tough decisions, and showing real leadership through a rocky transition period. Where others had failed, her company had weathered the storm and settled on a stronger new foundation.

Her name is Carly Fiorina, and I’m proud to endorse her for U.S. Senate.

Carly is the Commonsense Conservative that California needs and our country could sure use in these trying times. Most importantly, she’s running for the right reasons. She has an understanding that is sorely lacking in D.C. She’s not a career politician. She’s a businesswoman who has run a major corporation. She knows how to really incentivize job creation. Her fiscal conservatism is rooted in real life experience. She knows that when government grows, the private sector shrinks under the burden of debt and deficits. We can trust Carly to do the right thing for America’s economy and to make the principled decisions she has throughout her professional career.

Please consider that Carly is the conservative who has the potential to beat California’s liberal senator, Barbara Boxer, in November. I’m a huge proponent of contested primaries, so I’m glad to see the contest in California’s GOP, but I support Carly as she fights through a tough primary against a liberal member of the GOP who seems to bear almost no difference to Boxer, one of the most leftwing members of the Senate. Carly needs our support in this crucial election year when we have a real chance of putting an end to the Pelosi/Reid “Big Government” agenda.

I hope you’ll join me in supporting Carly. Visit her website here, and follow her on Facebook and Twitter. Read up on her positions and plans to help get us on the right track.

California is still Reagan Country, and Carly promises her “Reagan Conservative” values will be put to good use for her state and for our great nation. Shaking it up in California is long overdue. Let’s help Carly do it!

- Sarah Palin

Update: I’d like to add a few things about my Carly endorsement because some reaction right out of the chute calls for more information:

Carly has been endorsed by the National Right to Life, the California Pro-Life Council, and the Susan B. Anthony List. She is pro-life, pro-traditional marriage, pro-military, and pro-strict border security and against amnesty. She is against Obamacare and will vote to repeal it and prevent the government takeover of private companies and industries. Carly is also a strong supporter of the Second Amendment. Like me, she is a member of the NRA, has a 100% NRA rating, and she and her husband are gun owners. She is pro-energy development and believes as I do in an all-of-the-above approach to energy independence. She is against cap and tax. And most importantly, Carly is the only conservative in the race who can beat Barbara Boxer. That’s no RINO. That’s a winner.

- Sarah Palin

This one is already generating controversy, as David Weigel notes. Although Chuck Devore is the more conservative candidate in the primary race, Gov. Palin must see a better chance for Fiorina to win in the general election against Boxer in California, a state which hasn't elected anyone to the U.S. Senate excerpt liberal Dems since the early 1950s. More reaction from Allah here.

- JP