What an entertaining week! No, I’m not talking about the re-emergence of the LOST TV series. I’m talking about the dramatic and open fratricide practiced by high profile Republican candidates in California.
“Cutting up” opposition candidates is part of the political game. However, resorting to the use of a “wood chipper” to accomplish this goal takes the analogy to the extreme, as Meg Whitman consultant Mike Murphy did in his infamous email referring to the damage Whitman could inflict on gubernatorial political rival Steve Poizner.
Poizner running off to the FBI over the offending email brought the first of what appears to be a weeklong rush to the thesaurus to find words that match “weird” and “bizarre” to attach to Republican political tactics. Attorney General and would be governor Jerry Brown received one of Poizner’s complaint letters. He’s probably using the letter to cover up his month so we can’t see his smile while he says he’ll keep an investigation alive until, oh let’s say, the first week in June.
Poizner probably was relieved that the demon sheep in the Carly Fiorina video attacking rival Tom Campbell made its appearance to take his story off the political page.
Clearly concerned with Campbell’s lead in the polls after jumping from the governor’s race to the U.S. Senate contest, Fiorina’s campaign has gone all out to tarnish Campbell’s fiscal credentials. Labeling him a FCINO – Fiscal Conservative in Name Only – Fiorina’s campaign team has listed a series of economic sins that counter the image of the man the National Taxpayers Union labeled the Number One Taxpayer’s Friend in Congress when he served there.
Fiorina spokesperson, Julie Soderlund, has come to refer to Campbell as “Taxin’ Tom.” Strange, since one of the sins she attaches to Campbell is his support of Proposition 1A in last May’s Special Election, which would have continued some temporary taxes a couple of years in exchange for a spending limit. The chief spokesperson in support of that same ballot measure was the same Julie Soderlund!
That’s okay. I don’t understand what’s happening on LOST either.
Of course, the Democrats are having a grand old time watching this comedy/tragedy play out. But, as the cliché goes: ‘What goes around comes around’ in this business and they’ll undoubtedly get their turn on stage. The question is will the Republicans do so much damage to their fellow candidates during the Primary tussles that they make it easy for the Democrats to take the Primary Election winners down in November.
Still, for entertainment value the election season is off to a roaring start this week.
And, it’s only Thursday morning—two more days to go this workweek.
One last thought. While I believe the demon sheep could enter into California political lore I doubt the term FCINO has any staying power.