Boxed In
At St. Mary's College, in the leafy East Bay environs of Moraga, California, Barbara Boxer debated Carly Fiorina for the first time. Demeanor and poise are not everything (recall George W. Bush's whiny and put-upon debate performance that gave the world "Bein' President is hard"), but tonight, the contrast spoke volumes. Boxer, the pampered incumbent, came off as worn out, catty, and flustered. Fiorina, the underdog who beat breast cancer last year, was poised, razor sharp, and focused. The types here fit the prevailing political stereotype: on the one hand, government elites, habituated to comfort, who respond to serious challenges with annoyance and condescension; on the other, enterprising individuals, from the unforgiving real world, who step up to the plate when the times demand high performance.
Thematically, Boxer circled Fiorina's record at HP -- specifically, how she shipped jobs overseas. Fiorina returned again and again to Boxer's lackluster record -- drawing a portrait of a polarizing, ineffective, almost fatuous Senator who gets nothing done. The Fiorina campaign was quick tonight with some debate fact checks. Two key items: (1) Senate Democrats wrested control of Boxer's own climate bill away from her, putting the relatively less partisan John Kerry at point. (2) Among only 14 Senators, Boxer voted against the war funding bill that inspired Joe Biden to speak these words:
- “So what did some of my colleagues say about why they voted against the money? They said they voted against the money to make a political point. There’s no political point worth my son’s life. There’s no political point worth anybody’s life out there.” (Remarks At The Iowa State Fair, Des Moines, IA, 8/15/07)
- “I want to ask any of my other colleagues, would they, in fact, vote to cut off the money for those troops to protect them? That’s the right question. This isn’t cutting off the war. This is cutting off support that will save the lives of thousands of American troops.” (NBC, “Meet The Press,” 9/9/07)
Burn. The facts speak for themselves, but the visual and attitudinal contrast between Fiorina and Boxer made for a picture that speaks to the whole momentous national question confronting us in November.
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Comments :
Re: Boxed In
James Poulos, Ed.: Boxer, the pampered incumbent, came off as worn out, catty, and flustered. Fiorina, the underdog who beat breast cancer last year, was poised, razor sharp, and focused.
You stole the words right out of my mouth!
Fiorina won me over tonight. Not that I ever considered voting for Babs, but Fiorina's performance was so stellar that I'd consider volunteering for her campaign.
Jul '10
Re: Boxed In
I live in Marin County, Boxer's home turf.
To date, I have seen one Boxer sign and zero Boxer bumperstickers.
I haven't seen any signs or bumperstickers for Fiorina, but passions run high in Marin, so people prefer not to have their cars keyed or to have their neighbors shun them as though they were on the sex-offender list.
I have noticed that the Obama bumperstickers that were ubiquitous just a year ago are dwindling. I did see one in Hebrew on a Volvo outside my veterinarian's office. I asked the lady driver how that hope and change thing was working out. Her reply was not suitable for Ricochet.
Edited on Sep 1, 2010 at 9:34pmMay '10
Re: Boxed In
The East Bay Tea Party went to St. Mary's to protest Boxer. We were greeted by a Staff member for St. Mary's and told we could hold our signs in "the free speech zone" at the front of the school. We were not allowed on campus and there were about 20 security guards at the entrance of the school. Boxer's SEIU supporters showed up with their scripts and were chanting "Carly shame on you", "power to the people" and at one point they misread their script and chanted something like "Barbara Boxer shame on you" until a different SEIU member corrected the group and reminded them that they were there to protest Carly.
Re: Boxed In
Kenneth: I live in Marin County, Boxer's home turf.
I didn't know that! Hope to see you at the Rico Soiree tomorrow! (It's not tooo far of a drive...)
Jul '10
Re: Boxed In
Purple shirts, brown shirts. All the same.
Jul '10
Re: Boxed In
Diane Ellis, Ed.
Kenneth: I live in Marin County, Boxer's home turf.
I didn't know that! Hope to see you at the Rico Soiree tomorrow! (It's not tooo far of a drive...) · Sep 1 at 10:21pm
Awwww. No one ever says they hope to see me anywhere.
Even my mom.
I'm beginning to like this Ricochet thing.
May '10
Re: Boxed In
Kenneth
Diane Ellis, Ed.
Kenneth: I live in Marin County, Boxer's home turf.
I didn't know that! Hope to see you at the Rico Soiree tomorrow! (It's not tooo far of a drive...) · Sep 1 at 10:21pm
Awwww. No one ever says they hope to see me anywhere.
Even my mom.
I'm beginning to like this Ricochet thing. · Sep 1 at 10:23pm
Haven't you figured out by now Kenneth that Diane is the nice one!