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Can someone post a link to a site that’s streaming the Fiorina/Boxer debate in California for those of us without televisions who want to watch it?
We’d love to live-blog it if we can.
We’d also love all of you watching it to chime in on this thread with your observations, reactions, and analysis.
The debate is the only one Barbara Boxer would allow, saying, as a SENATOR, she’s earned the right to have no debates, and that this job should just be hers for however long she wants it. The nerve of this woman is staggering.
If this is the only one-on-one Fiorina and Boxer will have, we’d love to catch it, and get your take on it, if we can.
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UPDATE: Looks like the easiest place we’ve found to access this debate is at http://www.therightscoop.com/watch-live-carly-fiorina-debates-barbara-boxer
It starts at 10pm EST/9pm CST/7pm PST
Hope you can watch and share your thoughts on it.
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906pm: Moderator keeps calling “Carly” by the name “Carla”. Deliberate?
908pm: Good moves by Fiorina talking about government strangling small businesses. Talking about Fed spending increasing and Fed employees increasing, while small businesses are smothered.
909pm: Barbara Boxer saying she is a product of public schools is not a ringing endorsement of public schools.
915pm: So weird that Boxer keeps talking about her record on veterans when she was so disrespectful to a general during a Senate hearing. She’s doing what Mark Kirk does here in Illinois. When these people have nothing else to say, they talk about medals and awards they won, and they try to say how good they are to the military. If these things were true, then you wouldn’t have to keep telling people this.
917pm: An Asian man on video just asked Boxer why she’s been in office three terms and why she doesn’t let someone else have a turn. Boxer says she can be in the Senate as long as she wants, and she’s going to fight to stay. Then she takes a hit at Fiorina and saying she shipped jobs overseas while making a hundred million dollars. Boxer seems really petty with this.
920om: Fiorina brings up fact Boxer has only 4 bills with her name on it in the 18 years she has been in office. One of them was to name a river, another was to name a courthouse, and then there was some earthquake money back in the 90s.
921pm: A bald man in his living room asks Fiorina about outsourcing jobs when she was at HP. Fiorina says that she knows what credits the governments in other country give to companies to encourage job growth. Two year tax holiday for businesses hiring unemployed. Five year tax holiday for new businesses moving in. Give incentives to hire American workers that will offset what benefits are had going overseas. Be number one in the world in terms of R&D. Fight for private sector jobs. Washington does not understand how private sector jobs are created.
923pm: Fiorina ripped up her HP contract and put her pay up for shareholder vote, so every dollar she made was voted on by shareholders…stock outperformed peer index.
924pm: Boxer speaking: has a sarcastic, swarmy, sing-songy-ness to her voice. She is INCREDIBLY negative and agitated. Keeps making a fist with her left hand, pumping it up and down. Don’t want to say what that looks like, but it would be seen in an adult video.
925pm: Woman asks about Boxer insulting the brigadier general for calling her Ma’am. Formal hearing, and she said she made the call to call General general and that she should be called Senator. She doesn’t think she didn’t do anything wrong. She said she called the general and they work together now.
926pm: Fiorina says she is glad Boxer had the sense enough to call to ask if she should apologize. Shame Boxer is using HP, a California treasure, as a political football. Shame on Boxer. Talking about Wall Street, when 20 agencies in Washington were asleep at the switch. Don’t need new bureaucrats because the ones we have don’t do what they are supposed to do.
927pm: Prop-8 question for Fiorina. Marriage is between a man and a woman but supports civil unions for gay/lesbian couples (that’s our position here at HB, incidentally). Voters were clear on Prop-8. Whatever your views, you would conclude that voters’ decision should not be overturned by a single judge (our opinion too). Fiorina supports overturn of DADT in accordance to what the military thinks best (our opinion too).
928pm: Boxer says the only way to get gay rights is for the judge from the bench to say that’s what’s needed. She says that’s why judges are there. To say things. Boxer talks like she’s being played by Cheri Oteri on a stale episode of SNL. Boxer keeps saying we need more government bureaus watching over your shoulders to keep you from making bad decisions.
932pm: Fiorina says Boxer is short on achievement. Boxer is bitterly partisan. Has only four bills with name on it. Signature piece of legislation was taken away and given to Kerry because she can’t get bipartisan support because people kind of hate her. Her bad attitude and meanness prevent her from getting things done.
933pm: Abortion question for Fiorina. Pro-life because of personal experiences. Husband’s mother did not abort him even though his mother was told to. Most important issue is the creation of jobs and getting government under control. Comfortable with adult stem cell research. If embryos would be destroyed in any event she has no trouble with research but has trouble if embryos would be created just for research. Boxer is against human cloning (we’re against that too, especially if someone is trying to clone Boxer). We need clarity on the rules regarding embryos.
934pm: Moderator calls Fiorina “Carla” again
935pm: Boxer says she is Pro-Choice. She claims Fiorina wants to make women and doctors criminals. Lying some more. Boxer is mad that Fiorina says she only passed four bills, so she says that she’s passed “like a hundred” Boxer provisions to bills. She’s trying to say she does things all day, all evidence to the contrary.
937pm: Boxer asked why Democrats keep blaming Bush for everything, this deep into Obama’s term. Boxer says that Democrats have moved on. She’s living in fantasyworld. Claims that we are not going to solve problems overnight. Says 2000 workers in California already have jobs because of economic recovery act, and that’s better than nothing.
939pm: Fiorina says small businesses being strangled by government. Recovery Summer is a bust. Boxer promised 400,000 jobs with that stimulus. She keeps voting against balanced budget amendments, keeps increasing debt ceiling, keeps voting against efforts to slow government spending.
940pm: Fiorina asked about global warming. Boxer has been campaigning since 1992 on cutting the military. Scientists agree that only way to impact global warming is to act globally. Need national and comprehensive energy bill…that’s not an economy and jobs killer. Cap & Tax is not the answer. Need to fund energy R&D. Need to look at nuclear too. Cannot put bills in place that punish farming, energy intensive industries.
943pm: Moderator is CLEARLY helping Boxer and hurting Fiorina. Keeps interrupting Fiorina and saying she is not answering question. ”Just say YES or NO,” he says. Very bad moderator.
944pm: Just realize Boxer is wearing one of the old, leftover jumpsuits from Saturday Night Fever, as a weird call-out to John Travolta for some reason.
945pm: Boxer is asked why large farms get more subsidies than small family farms. Boxer says she thought up 300 different things that are grown in California and then told people in the Senate about them. People were impressed.
946pm: Fiorina notes that Boxer keeps voting against death tax relief…and that hurts farmers. Boxer refuses to help farms get water. Central Valley struggles with unemployment and needs water while Boxer stands in farms’ way.
948pm: Fiorina asked about people on no-fly list being able to have guns. Lots of people are on the no-fly list. Not well managed. Edward Kennedy was on it, while Christmas Day Bomber was not on it. Should not be taking constitutional rights away from citizens and giving them to terrorists the way Barbara Boxer does. Criminals break laws to get guns, so prosecute those people.
950pm: Boxer says that she wants pilots to have guns in airplanes. She told a rambling story about her watching TV and seeing someone get excited. Made her look stupid.
951pm: Fiorina says we have loads of laws and criminals break the laws and we keep curtailing citizens to have the rights to defend themselves. Calls Boxer confused, because no-fly list and terrorist watch list are two different things.
952pm: Closing statement: Fiorina. Privilege to be here. Traveled up and down state. Struck by beauty and spirit of Californians. People angry, frustrated, fearful. People who built businesses see them ruined by taxation. Own government is destroying our livelihood. 40% unemployment in places. People are afraid for children’s future. Do not forget us when you get to Washington. We can turn nation around, can get state on right track, can grow economy and control spending but we must start by changing the people we send to Washington. I ask for your support. I ask for your vote. I will fight for the millions of Californians who pay their dues, work hard, abide the law, and want to take the government back, make it listen, and make it work.
954pm: Boxer statement: This is a clear choice and I am the best because my opponent shipped jobs to China….proud of her time at HP when she stamped made in China made in India on products…clear choice because opponent fights for the wealthy wealthy few the CEOs and billionaires. I am fighting to make California the hub of new magical clean energy. Brings up abortion…claims Fiorina would make women into abortion criminals. Claims 400,000 jobs rely on the coast, and that Fiorina does not care about the coast. Keeps saying that Fiorina is a CEO and takes things for herself.
NOTE: This was one of the most amateur hour debates we’ve ever seen.
The moderator was a local San Francisco TV personality who kept deliberately calling Fiorina “Carla”….we think on purpose, because this is the sort of antics we pull around here when we want to belittle someone.
Also, the panel of “journalists” who were all asking questions were hostile to Fiorina…and one of them wore a satin orange blouse that looked like it was part of a Halloween pumpkin costume. Another woman, with a thick accent, looked like she was falling asleep. All three of them slouched in their chairs, were disheveled, and could very well have been rescued homeless people who only did this debate because of a promise of free coffee and donuts later (without having to sit through an AA meeting or religious service to get them).
Just our take on it.
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ANALYSIS:
We don’t know Californians AT ALL and none of us here have ever spent much time in that state. So, in terms of what we think this debate means regarding the election, we just can’t comment with confidence on how Californians will take in what they see…because we don’t know how they think.
Now, we can analyze this based on our perch here in the Midwest, and as guys who live in a big city like Chicago, so MAYBE some of what we respond to will jive with what Californians think.
In approaching this election, Boxer has positioned herself as MORE OF THE SAME. She repeatedly talked about how great of a job she is doing as Senator, and how she would just keep doing more of the same if given a fourth term. If you think Boxer is doing a good job, and you like how things are in this country, then you should just re-hire Boxer and keep things going as they are going.
Fiorina (whom we have to admit we like a lot, because we rode a campaign bus with her for a stretch during the early days of Democrats for McCain…before she took a backseat to Lynne Forester de Rothschild in that regard), presented a clear and concise alternative to what’s going on in Washington now. She repeatedly said that government is killing businesses and government needs to be reined in. If you are someone unemployed and you don’t think the government is encouraging businesses to hire, or if you are a small business owner or someone who works for one, then you should be receptive to someone who wants to end the things that are keeping the economy from growing.
So, it’s a clear choice between someone who will give MORE OF THE SAME and Fiorina who will DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT.
We have no idea where Californians are in their thought processes on that matter. We know where they SHOULD be, but we don’t know where their heads actually are.
Fiorina was poised, well-spoken, TOUGH, but relatable and likable. She chose a great color for television in the blue she wore, so she popped on the screen and commanded attention. Boxer wore an old Halloween costume from a disco party, in a rumpled gray suit and a white, flared-collar blouse that John Travolta wouldn’t wear around the house. She looked tired, worn-out, and lacked anything fresh or interesting to say.
She was also so negative, constantly trying to attack Fiorina for being a CEO. She tried to conjure a lot of class warfare nonsense against Fiorina, and to us came off looking very petty and ignorant. Without CEOs and smart people who make lots of money, there would be no successful companies. If job creation is your issue, then whom would you rather put in office: a career politician, tired and worn-out, who helped get us into this mess…or a successful business woman who knows WHY companies outsources workers and has new ideas on how government can back off businesses so they’d start hiring more people.
What choice will Californians make?
We don’t know.
But Fiorina came off as a credible alternative to Boxer, and made a stark contrast for her election.
That was what Fiorina needed to do tonight…and Boxer’s constant attacks, in our opinion, were ineffective in making Fiorina seem like an unacceptable choice.
The loss was Boxer’s, but being California, the state media will no doubt trumpet her instead of the reality that we watched.
What think you?
