Meg Whitman Week -- Thursday: God and Meg at UCLA

Meg Whitman won't be giving the commencement address at UCLA's Anderson School of Management next month. She was invited before she started expressing her complicated feelings about God hating gay people, and some gay people complained, and now it turns out she has "scheduling conflicts."

She's washing Mitt Romney's hair.

Mitt Romney is the whole reason Meg Whitman got into this Proposition 8 mess in the first place. Anyone who knows Meg Whitman will tell you she doesn't care about gay marriage one way or another -- that would involve "curiosity" about "people" -- and she would have never supported something like Prop. 8 unless:

1. There was money in it.
2. Mitt Romney said so.

Meg Whitman isn't a bigot. Because bigotry is almost a political position. The lone argument for electing her is that she doesn't care about social issues. She just wants to create jobs and attract investment and revitalize California's economy. By making it a maquiladora.

Meg Whitman is running for governor because she thinks billionaires have to obey far too many laws. Gay marriage is a sideshow. If you think lesbians would be the only second-class citizens in Meg Whitman's California, you're not seeing the big picture.

Nothing else that Meg Whitman claims to believe fits with voting "yes" on Prop. 8. The only thing that explains that is Mitt Romney.

Meg Whitman calls Mitt Romney her mentor. She worked for him for eight years at Bain & Co and then served as national finance chair on his repugnant campaign for president. She manned a phone bank during one of his telethon-style "Call Day" fundraisers. Last month in San Jose, Whitman rented a hall for her own "Call Day" and her first call was to Romney. He promised to send her money. She glowed.

Here's the video from her website.

A billionaire asking for cash from a millionaire, so she can run for office in a state where he doesn't live. It's almost like our system is crazy.

She has this weird giddy thing going when she's talking to him, like she's pressing down hard in her shoes just so she won't levitate from pure joy. If Norman Bates and his mother were this close, people would talk.

And what's with the stars and comets flying around Mitt's head on his end of the call? Is he on the space shuttle? Are you allowed to use your cell phone on the space shuttle?

And why does Whitman say the people making her calls are "individuals" and not volunteers? Are they being paid? Is this a video of a billionaire in a hall full of temps?

But it's not just inappropriately personal with Meg & Mitt. The Boston Globe says Meg 2010 is "a campaign-in-exile for Romney's ambitions, which could include another presidential run in 2012."

"A Whitman victory could deliver Romney a valuable foothold in a state that will likely be a big, early prize on the Republican nominating calendar."

The Globe points out that two key Whitman aids, Spencer Zwick and Don Stirling, came from the Romney campaign. And they did one errand for him that got them in a little trouble.

"In late 2006, Zwick and Stirling were both involved in controversial outreach to Mormon church leaders to enlist support for Romney's presidential campaign, the Globe reported at the time. Stirling participated in meetings at the Salt Lake City headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which as a nonprofit institution is prohibited by tax laws from participating in electoral politics."

What was the last political issue in California that really intrigued Salt Lake City?

Oh, right. Proposition 8.

Which brings us back to the commencement at UCLA. I think it's a shame that Meg Whitman can't be there. I'm not really comfortable with the idea of anyone having their right to speak taken away, and also graduations are boring, so imagine a business school graduation. But I don't think this situation -- avoiding protesters -- was where Whitman wanted her campaign to be.

Because she doesn't hate the 800,000 gay people who live and work and pay taxes in California.

She just likes Mitt Romney and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints more.

Comments

[dieselis]

mr romney owned american motors which was bought by chrysler;i can say amc caused chrysler''s downfall.however,i can't rule it out(renaul­t-eagle)te­rrible for business.mr romney should still be having nightmares from tortured mechanics.have you ever seen a amc warranty labor guide.if you take a look at one you'll see where a lot of his money came from.

[bighat]

Thanks for the article which generated many a comment. This will make voting much easier for freinds and family. You just cannot buy this kind of publcity. Rage on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[TomSJ]

"The lone argument for electing her is that she doesn't care about social issues."

Well, gollyopolis, there's a good reason to vote for her! She doesn't care about my civil right as a gay guy to marry the man of my dreams. She sound like Obama, doesn't she?

[julia23]

She sounds like a valley girl. Her voice is incredibly annoying and hard to take seriously.

OMG. Gag me with a spoon. She's running for office.

[Wake-up]

So you bashing Mormons here? There a problem with that??

It would be refreshing to get someone on the ballot (either party) that has actually built and run something successfully... a real break from the usual career politician lawyers so it's all good.

[zola77]

What's your definition of success?

...did you miss the articles about how she ran ebay into the ground?

[Wake-up]

The article is a joke... she made eBay a household name...

Show me someone - anyone that will run against her that has 1/2 the successful experience.

[Alterion]

Ebay met the standard GOP definition of success:

1. Make the top executives rich
2. Ignore the needs of customers
3. Leave a total mess when you leave

Ebay was fantastic for several years, its barely usable now.

[dalienday]

she did not run something succesful, she ran it into the ground..just look at any of ebays community blogs...her own customers, the sellers hate her

[Wake-up]

eBay is a bit of a monopoly and therefore there will always be those types...

I have over 1200 transactions on eBay, I know what I'm talking about...

[OatmealEater]

Priceless, screaming closet case Pete Wilson endorsing Meg Whitman.

Former California governor Pete Wilson's role in California politics is by now ancient history or otherwise he'd be a star of Outrage, the new film featuring famous Republican closet gays.

No children of his own -- married for cover to a divorcee with two kids, thick-as-thieves with Bob White, his closet, I mean closest, political advisor, alter ego, chief of staff, and bed... er, BAD partner in everything.

Pete Wilson, Ralph Nader, and Lindsay Graham in a rented motel room ... now THAT would be quite the gathering!

[colleen2]

LOL! this is great!
Chris Kelly is the funniest political writer ever.

[mheister]

Billionaire former EBay exec, Mitt Romney acolyte and GOP California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman may be on to something. Her bearing, fashion, and flat modulated voice are straight out of The Office.

I never imagined working at EBay would be like a career at Dunder-Mifflin.

[OceanSize]

Great. Mormons from other states trying to influence California politics again. You got Prop H8 passed, what more do you want? Our firstborn?

[Openeyes]

She is completely incompetent to be Governor. She made a statement this week that if she were Governor she would layoff 20,000-30,000 state employees because reducing the state's payroll "hasn't been looked at closely enough." Most all departments in Calif. have had partial or complete hiring freezes off and on for the last 3 years, all departments have been reducing staff, eliminating or not filling positions and had their budgets cut, not counting the furloughs that took effect this year.

The Lieutenant Governor balked at the Governor's request he furlough his staff - the Lt. Gov had voluntarily already cut his own staff by 10% the year before and had cut his own overall budget by 10% the year before that (Lt Gov is a Democrat).

Her statement illustrates her total ignorance about what is going on in the state government that she hopes to run.

She is a hard right Republican who thinks the way to fix the problems in California is to just cut taxes. What she and most Republicans can't grasp is that the state didn't suddenly spend billions of dollars over its last budget, the state is SHORT billions of dollars because of falling property, sales, payroll, and income taxes - it simply isn't collecting the money it was. The budget this year was $10 billion smaller than last year's and we are still SHORT. But every Republican will tell you it's a "spending" problem, not an income problem.

[ProfessorDuh]

I've got a campaign slogan she can use: Vote for the Woman Who Ruined eBay.

[ThinkCreeps]

Didn't Carly Fiorina trademark `The woman who ruined ... Inc.'?

[dalienday]

you got that right

[RAStewart]

OK, I live in Illinois (our new motto: "Defining Bad Government for the 21st Century") and haven't been following California politics lately. Chris's Candidate from Hell Series is the first I've heard of Meg Whitman's decision to acquire the governor's office. Somebody please talk me down, as Rachel Maddow says. Might there be any reason to hope she won't be California's next governor?

[Angie Tyne 1]

Gavin Newsome is running. Does that help? :)

[julia23]

And we don't tend to vote for republicans unless they are movie stars.

[SUIGENEROUSLA]

She's toast. The Dems here aren't that great -- but the GOP -- the few that are left -- are insane and do nothing but obstruct. Arnold is GOP too and has 35% approval now.

[Jonahinatickingwhale]

Anyone considering voting for Whitman should learn as much as possible about her role in the "devastating downward spiral" eBay policies have caused. She and her hand picked successor, former Bain colleague John Donahoe, have instituted irrational and unsuccessful changes that are damaging and in some cases destroying eBay sellers.

I encourage the media to investigate Whitman's claim that "1.3 million Americans are making a living on eBay". That is nearly impossible after the bad ebay management decisions by Whitman and Donahoe.

"Over the weekend, The New York Times reported that Skype founders Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis were in talks with private equity groups to raise about $1 billion and buy their Internet calling service back from eBay. They sold the company to eBay in 2006 for $2.6 billion and later got another $500 million as a final settlement. To say that the eBay-Skype merger was royally botched would be a bit of an understatement. It’s hardly a surprise that eBay CEO John Donhaue is looking to get rid of the $3.1-billion noose put around eBay’s neck by his former boss, Meg Whitman. Whitman signed off on a deal that essentially allowed Niklas and Janus to walk away with the core P2P technology that makes Skype work."

Gigacom 4 12, 2009

http://gigaom.com/2009/04/12/will-ebay-admit-to-its-31-billion-hustle-called-skype/

[RAStewart]

So Whitman fits the Republican philosophy perfectly: government should be run (into the ground) like a business.

[ProfessorDuh]

I walked away from eBay entirely -- or rather was driven away by their money-grubbing, greedy incompetence. They were handed a golden goose and they butchered it.

[r bee]

If Ms. Whitman thinks billionaires have to obey too many laws, she should go to work at her local fast-food joint or big-box store, where you have to ask permission to use the bathroom or do anything else like you're effing 5 years old or something. Those rules the rich folks "have" to follow don't look so bad now, don't they?

[SeenItBefore]

California's track record for flaky, incompetent, boorish, and semi-literate Governors can only be apexed by Texas!

I lived in California during Pete Wilson's terms, which sent intelligent people off on head banging rages.

Meg Whitman can only provide more entertainment for the other 49 states and a big "WTF" for the residents of a once great state.

My birthplace and former residence, I offer my condolences.