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:
- There was money in it.
- 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.